A Small thing but if i was an exec at AHG (or any other sponsors) i would have preferred the dees announced our skippers today as opposed to yesterday, when the blues, norf, the suns and the big one, the magpies all announced their LGs and skippers.

We still got pretty big coverage but of course pendles becoming skipper was going to be the lead story in the Hun and Age and got the respective back pages. The Maggies also announced a few days ago they were going to announce it last night. Perhaps the dees thought they would get in before then and grab some news space but even in this day and age a back page large photo would be worth a fair bit in terms of exposure for sponsors.

Also i don't know why clubs couldn't have a chat and stagger the announcements which would maximize exposure for all.

Thought I would bring this up, I was speaking to a friend of mine 4 months who works in the media and marketing department at the Dees and we were talking about the leadership group. He mentioned that Byrnes and Dawes were promised when they were signed up with us that they would be included straight into the leadership group as their Grand Final experience and coming from big clubs was too good not to be in the leadership group even if they weren't voted in. Neeld had the last say in this and both Byrnes and Dawes were already in the leadership group as soon as they signed their contracts.

Thought I would bring this up, I was speaking to a friend of mine 4 months who works in the media and marketing department at the Dees and we were talking about the leadership group. He mentioned that Byrnes and Dawes were promised when they were signed up with us that they would be included straight into the leadership group as their Grand Final experience and coming from big clubs was too good not to be in the leadership group even if they weren't voted in. Neeld had the last say in this and both Byrnes and Dawes were already in the leadership group as soon as they signed their contracts.

We were in a dire position in terms of leadership and have been since Jnr left, There was simply no choice hence his recruitment of senior players. Now it didn't work outthat way because of the players but we were completely stuffed in that department.

This year we have many more options....

A Small thing but if i was an exec at AHG (or any other sponsors) i would have preferred the dees announced our skippers today as opposed to yesterday, when the blues, norf, the suns and the big one, the magpies all announced their LGs and skippers.

We still got pretty big coverage but of course pendles becoming skipper was going to be the lead story in the Hun and Age and got the respective back pages. The Maggies also announced a few days ago they were going to announce it last night. Perhaps the dees thought they would get in before then and grab some news space but even in this day and age a back page large photo would be worth a fair bit in terms of exposure for sponsors.

Also i don't know why clubs couldn't have a chat and stagger the announcements which would maximize exposure for all.

Clubs don't talk to each other about this stuff. Simple.

We were unlucky but you can hardly blame the club.

Clubs don't talk to each other about this stuff. Simple.

We were unlucky but you can hardly blame the club.

Well more fool clubs. Makes no sense not to try and coordinate these announcements to maximize exposure for all.

But unlucky? Not in terms of the Maggies announcement - they made it clear some days ago Buckley would be announcing their captain last night so we had ample warning not to announce ours on the same day (though as i said perhaps this was their intention ie gazump collingwood). If we had left it until today we may well have snared tomorrows back page of the Hun and Age and certainly not had the reporting of it diluted.

Well more fool clubs. Makes no sense not to try and coordinate these announcements to maximize exposure for all.

But unlucky? Not in terms of the Maggies announcement - they made it clear some days ago Buckley would be announcing their captain last night so we had ample warning not to announce ours on the same day (though as i said perhaps this was their intention ie gazump collingwood). If we had left it until today we may well have snared tomorrows back page of the Hun and Age and certainly not had the reporting of it diluted.

You never really know what the expectation was but maybe there was another big story expected to blow by the end of the week. Better to get the news out earlier.

You never really know what the expectation was but maybe there was another big story expected to blow by the end of the week. Better to get the news out earlier.

Yep, that may be the case. Even with the magpies announcement we still got pretty good coverage in today's Hun and Age papers - better than Norths who didn't even crack a photo.

Thought I would bring this up, I was speaking to a friend of mine 4 months who works in the media and marketing department at the Dees and we were talking about the leadership group. He mentioned that Byrnes and Dawes were promised when they were signed up with us that they would be included straight into the leadership group as their Grand Final experience and coming from big clubs was too good not to be in the leadership group even if they weren't voted in. Neeld had the last say in this and both Byrnes and Dawes were already in the leadership group as soon as they signed their contracts.

We were in a dire position in terms of leadership and have been since Jnr left, There was simply no choice hence his recruitment of senior players. Now it didn't work outthat way because of the players but we were completely stuffed in that department.

This year we have many more options....

I am not going to get too worked up about this as I can't corroborate the story but this is no way to select a Leadership Group.

The parameters can be different but the playing group should be represented, and led, by those they wish to be represented by.

Clubs don't talk to each other about this stuff. Simple.

We were unlucky but you can hardly blame the club.

I thought they got just as good of a write up as the Blues did in the Sun.

Best thing about our new captain is his relaxed demeanour and smile like he's enjoying it. JT and JG were deadly serious and intense at times (understandable perhaps), but Jones has the confidence to be himself.

Key learning is to give players time to develop as players prior to loading the captaincy on them?

Would Jones have been that person 2 years ago though?

I don't think so.

And I think the captains we chose were the best options at the time.

It didn't work as well as it could have, but the real lesson is not to let the playing group get to a stage where it is bereft of leaders so you have to lump it on a couple of kids.

Green's decline in ability for anything resembling agility or bending at the waist, could not have come at a worse time.

That and he wasn't a great leader to begin with.

As for "promising" leadership group positions to Byrnes and Dawes ... it's a nice juicy little rumour.

But I think there's a big difference in promising to give targets the role to get them across the line, as opposed to indicating an intention that it is why their are being brought to the club - to introduce senior leadership into the playing list and leadership group.

I am not going to get too worked up about this as I can't corroborate the story but this is no way to select a Leadership Group.

The parameters can be different but the playing group should be represented, and led, by those they wish to be represented by.

Agree with you.

It doesn't matter when we announce our leadership team. It is when we are serious Premiership contenders is when we get all the publicity we want. A couple of Premierships under our belt and just watch the membership numbers skyrocket!

Speaking of opening up a can of worms this quote from the Age to me sums up a key difference in approach from Roos and Neeld:

Roos made it clear the coaching staff had the final say on the choice of captain, once the players had gone through the Leading Teams process to select the wider leadership group.

‘‘It was a little bit more transparent than it has been in other years, the players have been able to have a big say in who they want as their leaders," Roos said.

"But it’s a bit of a myth that the players pick the captain, the players pick the leadership group," he said.

"I think it’s really important that the captain is picked from that group by the coaching staff and the board, etc."

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/jack-grimes-and-nathan-jones-to-cocaptain-melbourne-20140129-31me8.html#ixzz2rlADvM5y

When queried about the the the risks of selecting two young skippers Neeld frequently put it back on the players saying that the decision was based on a survey about leadership qualities players had to complete and Trenners and Grimes were by far the top scorers and therefore had to be captain. Poor decision and one he never took any responsibility for.

Neeld was guilty of removing the leading teams program which was running during Baileys tenure.

It was Schwab and the board that approved the process that delivered Grimes and Trengove. The blame should be placed squarely on these people for not having the capabilities to see that the process was flawed and that Neeld had NFI.

Interesting to hear from Col Garland in the video on Club website, that each player had to stand up in front of the rest and nominate 5 players for Leadership Group, you can't get more transparent than that

Interesting to hear from Col Garland in the video on Club website, that each player had to stand up in front of the rest and nominate 5 players for Leadership Group, you can't get more transparent than that

Had to update my faves.

Interesting to hear from Col Garland in the video on Club website, that each player had to stand up in front of the rest and nominate 5 players for Leadership Group, you can't get more transparent than that

Found that interesting and a little surprising, but on reflection it makes a fair bit of sense for the main reasons Col mentions: opening up discussion on what others can do to improve their leadership and being as transparent as possible, which he admitted is something that has been lacking in the past.

Rapt that Grimes has been kept as joint Captain. He was the correct choice 2 years ago. People forget that he was Cotchin’s Captain in the U18 and while Cotchin is a long way ahead as a player no one doubts him being Richmond’s captain or if he’s too young.

A long, long way ahead.

Hoping for a big uninterrupted year.