Ten Things I Learned From the B&F 2017

[spirit of norm smith 16,400]

Ten things that I noticed from the 2017 Best and Fairest ...

1. Clarry is a star. Wins B&F in a landslide. He will only get better. Speech was raw but effective. 

2. Viney is loved by the coaches. Not at his best but his heart is huge. His raw determination and ability to play injured obviously got him votes. A true leader and I can see premiership drives this young man. 

3. Jack Trengove. A champion. A champion bloke. Sadly cruelled by injury. Very popular and all class. Overcome with emotions.  He will be missed. 

4. Close outcome from second to sixth. I thought Hibberd would be runner up but he was very unlucky as it was a handful of votes behind Jones, Lewis & Jetta. Surprised to see Lewis in 3rd but his value is more than just stats. 

5. Daisy Pearce is an absolute star. Hope the AFL and MFC appreciate her for what change she is leading and delivering.  We are lucky to have her in red and blue. 

6. Nathan Jones. Great speech. Brief ? Perhaps not but very very effective. Gotta love him. 

7. The coaching rhetoric of culture and standards. Clearly a message to all and what Goodwin demands. Not since Mark Neeld have we had such military style direction at the B&F. I think we are heading up unlike what Neeld created. 

8. Nev Jetta. What a player!! One of my favourites. Rarely rarely beaten one on one. Won us the game v Carlton.  Considering he was delisted then rookied, it is a great story. Great reward and well done.

9. Jack Watts is hugely popular amongst the supporters and players. It will be a sad day to see him in opposition colours. 

10. The disappointment of missing finals will hurt. It should. Jonesy’s speech showed how much it hurt. I felt a sense of ‘Bring it on in 2018’. Unleash hell !!! Go Demons

[Engorged Onion 10,215]

45 minutes ago, spirit of norm smith said:

7. The coaching rhetoric of culture and standards. Clearly a message to all and what Goodwin demands. Not since Mark Neeld have we had such military style direction at the B&F. I think we are heading up unlike what Neeld created. 

Nice work! Interesting point number 7 - between  Neeld and Goodwin...Why would this be the case?, Aside from the media speak - is it because he is also a pretty empathic dude and has other coaches who are that way inclined, yet still make the athletes accountable? Because they're not mutually exclusive?

Edited October 10, 2017 by Danelska

[samcantstandya 1,045]

54 minutes ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Ten things 

1. Clarry is a star. Wins B&F in a landslide. He will only get better. Speech was raw but effective. 

2. Viney is loved by the coaches. Not at his best but his heart is huge. His raw determination and ability to play injured obviously got him votes. A true leader and I can see premiership drives this young man. 

3. Jack Trengove. A champion. A champion bloke. Sadly cruelled by injury. Very popular and all class. Overcome with emotions.  He will be missed. 

4. Close outcome from second to sixth. I thought Hibberd would be runner up but he was very unlucky as it was a handful of votes behind Jones, Lewis & Jetta. Surprised to see Lewis in 3rd but his value is more than just stats. 

5. Daisy Pearce is an absolute star. Hope the AFL and MFC appreciate her for what change she is leading and delivering.  We are lucky to have her in red and blue. 

6. Nathan Jones. Great speech. Brief ? Perhaps not but very very effective. Gotta love him. 

7. The coaching rhetoric of culture and standards. Clearly a message to all and what Goodwin demands. Not since Mark Neeld have we had such military style direction at the B&F. I think we are heading up unlike what Neeld created. 

8. Nev Jetta. What a player!! One of my favourites. Rarely rarely beaten one on one. Won us the game v Carlton.  Considering he was delisted then rookied, it is a great story. Great reward and well done.

9. Jack Watts is hugely popular amongst the supporters and players. It will be a sad day to see him in opposition colours. 

10. The disappointment of missing finals will hurt. It should. Jonesy’s speech showed how much it hurt. I felt a sense of ‘Bring it on in 2018’. Unleash hell !!! Go Demons

9. Shits me that Goodwin wants him gone. It will come back 2 haunt us

[Jara 1,153]

Some excellent points, but I'm so sick of hearing players, coaches etc banging on about the disappointment of missing finals. They can't be that disappointed, or they'd do something about it.

[nosoupforme 3,085]

1 hour ago, Jara said:

Some excellent points, but I'm so sick of hearing players, coaches etc banging on about the disappointment of missing finals. They can't be that disappointed, or they'd do something about it.

I agree with you Jara.

It might be a formality but the deal is not done until it is.HE is a Melbourne person until then.Wait and see.

As for Goodwin well, The sought of honeymoon is . over and now he will be hoping that they do well  next season or else.

[DemonWA 3,932]

4 hours ago, samcantstandya said:

9. Shits me that Goodwin wants him gone. It will come back 2 haunt us

Doubt it tbh. Would love him to stay but hes not going to be an out and out world beater all of a sudden this late in his career 

[bing181 9,200]

Simon Goodwin. Impressive. Take no prisoners.

[Gorgoroth 12,941]

More talk. Same every year. Absolutely sick of the chest puffing talk. Jones and coshould have been livid after putting them into the situation of winning the last game when they had many chances to ensure that they played finals this year. Once again they failed, once again they started talking and coming across like they are angry and up for the fight... then come game day they lose to the bottom teams... constantly.

[Adzman 2,154]

Hopefully Daisy can lead the women's team to a few flags before her time is up. It would be great to talk about her as a premiership winning club champion decades from now.

[Dee Zephyr 19,267]

10 hours ago, Jara said:

Some excellent points, but I'm so sick of hearing players, coaches etc banging on about the disappointment of missing finals. They can't be that disappointed, or they'd do something about it.

The talk of disappointment means nothing , regardless of losses earlier in the year an opportunity was presented in round 23 and they failed miserably.  

No one high up had the balls to label it as unacceptable and that's exactly what round 23 was.

[bing181 9,200]

1 hour ago, Gorgoroth said:

.. then come game day they lose to the bottom teams... constantly.

Actually, if you look at the results, that's not true. We also managed to beat one of the grand finalists, and came within 2 kicks of the other.

[bing181 9,200]

5 minutes ago, Demon77 said:

No one high up had the balls to label it as unacceptable

You just said that talk means nothing.

[GM11 776]

14 hours ago, spirit of norm smith said:

3. Jack Trengove. A champion. A champion bloke. Sadly cruelled by injury. Very popular and all class. Overcome with emotions.  He will be missed.  

Rookie him & give him a decent go at it.

[The Chazz 4,077]

11 minutes ago, GM11 said:

Rookie him & give him a decent go at it.

Why would you?

I seriously think some posters on here just want us to be a middle-of-the-road team for ever.  Just have to look at the outcry over Watts for further proof of that.

For us to be a serious flag contender, we need players like Trengove and Watts off our list.

And so you know, I love both of those blokes, I honestly do.  But I would love a flag more.

[Gorgoroth 12,941]

2 hours ago, bing181 said:

Actually, if you look at the results, that's not true. We also managed to beat one of the grand finalists, and came within 2 kicks of the other.

Lost to North twice, freo, pies just beat Brisbane and blues. 

[Tough Kent 2,137]

To those people who are sick of the talk from players/ coaches about bitterness/anger about missing finals, what else would you have them say?

[GM11 776]

3 hours ago, The Chazz said:

Why would you?

I seriously think some posters on here just want us to be a middle-of-the-road team for ever.  Just have to look at the outcry over Watts for further proof of that.

For us to be a serious flag contender, we need players like Trengove and Watts off our list.

And so you know, I love both of those blokes, I honestly do.  But I would love a flag more.

Because we have no midfield depth.

 

[Diamond_Jim 12,562]

3 hours ago, Gorgoroth said:

Lost to North twice, freo, pies just beat Brisbane and blues. 

spot on G .... it was a horrible season ... hard to believe that with five games to go we were still on track for a possible top 4 spot.

Just unforgivable

[Ron Burgundy 8,584]

3 hours ago, Gorgoroth said:

Lost to North twice, freo, pies just beat Brisbane and blues. 

Hawks loss at the G was pretty poor too.

 

[Rodney (Balls) Grinter 10,806]

26 minutes ago, Diamond_Jim said:

spot on G .... it was a horrible season ... hard to believe that with five games to go we were still on track for a possible top 4 spot.

Just unforgivable

Yep, soo many games we should have, could have - North (twice), Hawthorn, Freo, Collingwood.  I can understand us just scraping in against Carlton the second time given how injury depleted we were at the times, but to not beat the Lions by more when we were clearly dominating and even going back to Rd 1 when we were 50 points up to let St Kilda get back to within 30 or so, shows a lack of ruthlessness to me that in the end cost us finals.  

To me, horror starts against North, Hawthorn and Collinwood (twice) then brain fades against Freo and North are what cost us a finals spot, to me that reeks of bad coaching and leadership.  I haven't heard Jones or Goodwin speak in recent times, but have they taken ownership for these failings as freely as they have expressed their displeasure in Watts?

Edited October 11, 2017 by Rodney (Balls) Grinter

[Gorgoroth 12,941]

1 hour ago, Diamond_Jim said:

spot on G .... it was a horrible season ... hard to believe that with five games to go we were still on track for a possible top 4 spot.

Just unforgivable

And how did that work out for us... oh yes, we choked and finished ninth.

And then like the first bad choke we say all the stuff, then after the second we get the same, then the... well you get the point, we come out and say the usual crud we just heard in the B&F. 

I think I’ve heard Jones say the same point every possible way that you can construct that point with different words.

[Jara 1,153]

4 hours ago, Tough Kent said:

To those people who are sick of the talk from players/ coaches about bitterness/anger about missing finals, what else would you have them say?

I'm not saying they shouldn't say anything. It's all part of the ritual, I suppose. They can say whatever they want. The losers always do. All I'm saying is that I'm bloody sick of hearing it. I've given up listening. Personally, I'd rather they said nothing at all.  I'd rather they were so worn out from busting their guts trying to win a premiership that they were too exhausted to talk.

[The Chazz 4,077]

2 hours ago, GM11 said:

Because we have no midfield depth.

 

He played two games in a season where our midfield was often missing a number of our better players.

JT does NOT provide us with midfield depth.  Please understand that, it's for your own benefit.

[Diamond_Jim 12,562]

Sport's a funny thing

The attached article describes how the almost unthinkable happened in that the USA failed to make the soccer world cup.

Just change the names and you have MFC.

USA just needed to beat the lowly Trinidad who played some fresh untried players (sounds like Collingwood).

Even if USA lost all would probably be okay because the top team Mexico (Adelaide Crows) were playing the not so good Honduras and then the US would have another chance against Australia. You guessed it Mexico who had already topped the group lost to Honduras and the mighty USA are out !

Just goes to show .... never rely on other teams !!

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/oct/10/usa-trinidad-and-tobago-world-cup-2018-qualifier-soccer

[Little Goffy 14,513]

9 hours ago, Tough Kent said:

To those people who are sick of the talk from players/ coaches about bitterness/anger about missing finals, what else would you have them say?

I think what is missing for me is clarity. The kind of clearly defined goals that, for example, if they had been given at last years B&F, we could look at the past year and 'well, you were just huffing and puffing' or 'you did everything you said you would but things didn't quite work out'.

I'm a transparency nut. In just about any context. The natural side-effect of believing in the necessity of active government while also being an avid anti-authoritarian.

So, for 'talk at the B&F' to mean something to me it needs to be telling me what they expect to be judged for and how I am going to be able to assess it.