Think a lot of us thought it might have been a factor, but geez when a former assistant coach says you're lacking leadership it's a bit of a (correct IMO) whack on the directional abilities of the leaders we had out there this year.

Rawlings, who this week accepted a new job at North Melbourne, said a lack of on-field leadership left the Dees exposed when coaches couldn't get a message out.

"The runner thing absolutely killed us, as a young group," Rawlings said on RSN radio.

"The AFL, I'm sure, didn't do it to discriminate against younger lists but we were quite immature across the ground at Melbourne, (there were) some leaders at certain parts but overall quite inexperienced, so the runner thing really kills you."

AFL Daily: Runner crackdown cost Demons

 

This is an indictment on our leaders and or coaching staff to use the players rotating through to pass on messages. 

I thought I would see Nat Jones handing in his captaincy by now. That would be leadership.

3 minutes ago, Damo said:

I thought I would see Nat Jones handing in his captaincy by now. That would be leadership.

The fact that he hasn't would prove to you that he is isn't a leader, i would have thought Damo

Can't argue with this. Jones and Viney played 22 and 21 games respectively, and it's said that we lacked leadership. Proof is in the results. Without a doubt one of the many changes we need to make for 2020.

I had a suspicion about this and now it is confirmed. At least we can do something about it now!

9 minutes ago, Kelpien said:

This is an indictment on our leaders and or coaching staff to use the players rotating through to pass on messages. 

Agreed to a point - depending on where the game is (ie opposite wing) it can take an age to get a rotation on the pitch and to communicate it more broadly. 

2020 leadership group.

Max Gawn - captain

Steven May, NevJet, Milkshake and Viney.

Not sure who'd I'd get as VC though.

Good riddance, eight years of failure and that’s all he can come with, lack of runners, lucky he’s got a bro in the business.

I see it as an indictment of the coaching panel that they had not prepared adequately for the "no runner" situation by developing alternative methods or by developing players to fill the on field role. Its too easy to blame the "system". How many messages does a team need? We performed poorly in other years when there were two runners so that is a feeble excuse. And how many times can we remember a message or a move making a major difference in a game?

Surely there must be many situations that, even if not predicted, can be trialed with the senior players before the season and directions agreed to and implemented. For example, at the end of GC game, after we took the one point lead, it was TMac who responded and told the players to flood back. May apparently has the nous to fill the role down back (when he plays) and Tracca could surely be primed for the mid field even if he does not play there all the time. Clarrie is also seen to give directions and have game awareness.

Get to work coaching panel.

 

 

Leadership is natural to some, the likes of Johnno Brown, selwood and co. Other learn it through being taught. Does anyone know if our leaders do accredited leadership training.

18 minutes ago, Lord Nev said:

"The runner thing absolutely killed us, as a young group," Rawlings said on RSN radio.

 

"The AFL, I'm sure, didn't do it to discriminate against younger lists but we were quite immature across the ground at Melbourne, (there were) some leaders at certain parts but overall quite inexperienced, so the runner thing really kills you."

What anyone with a brain could've told you.

2 minutes ago, Sorry kids said:

Leadership is natural to some, the likes of Johnno Brown, selwood and co. Other learn it through being taught. Does anyone know if our leaders do accredited leadership training.

Corporate/HR onanism.

Edited September 10, 20196 yr by Dr. Gonzo

Goodwin started the year in the box before moving to the bench didn't he? And the McCarney problems. So there's coaching issues not just playing issues.

Backline: No Lewis, no Jetta, no May, missing Lever for more than half the year.
Midfield: We should've been better organised with Viney and Gawn here but the wings are the structural players and they were a disaster
Forwards: No Melksham, Tom McDonald unable to get a kick for half the season. Coach subbed half way through the year

The lack of continuity in players might have made it close to impossible for even Hodge, Hurn and Selwood to steer this years playing group around the park. 

21 minutes ago, Damo said:

I thought I would see Nat Jones handing in his captaincy by now. That would be leadership.

AND Jack Viney!!!

10 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Corporate/HR onanism.

Can be, depends who teaches it. I am not suggesting corporate ra, ra.

19 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

onanism.

Dear Dr Gonzo

Please give up the habit: you'll go blind...As a medical professional I.E Dr Gonzo, you should know by now...

Edited September 10, 20196 yr by dieter

Everyone suggests that Gawn is our only logical leader, however how will the new responsibility impinge on the performance of our ONLY quality player?

Getting rid of Jones and Viney as leaders to be replaced by Max may cause more problems if this year’s leaders get their noses out of joint and Max can’t handle the extra burdens of leadership 

Didn’t affect the top 8 sides playing finals ...ffs what has this club been doing since Roos took over in 2014??? Were are all the so called leaders they should have developed by now???

Our players should be able to think for themselves and act accordingly.

What are all the meetings for? 

Surely they can play footy without the need for a runner telling them what to do.  It's not the under 12's.

They don't do anything else apart from.prepare for the games and play the games. 

Footy IQ - not in abundance at the Demons. 

This year reminded me of the Neeld era where back then we just continually kicked the ball down the line of the boundary.  The replacement model this season was to kick the ball without any purpose into a dysfunctional forward line.

Rawlings comments are extraodinary but they make sense.  I'm just shocked that such occurances can actually happen in a sport which is supposedly professional.  

Playing group & Coaching panel - Fail.

28 minutes ago, joeboy said:

Everyone suggests that Gawn is our only logical leader, however how will the new responsibility impinge on the performance of our ONLY quality player?

Getting rid of Jones and Viney as leaders to be replaced by Max may cause more problems if this year’s leaders get their noses out of joint and Max can’t handle the extra burdens of leadership 

I agree Max would be better to concentrate on his more important job of ruck and should be in the leadership group. Max will talk lots in the media anyway and offer his opinion at every chance, like he did this year. I think someone a bit blue collar with a good work ethic like Harmes would be a better choice for captain. Don't want to see May, Leaver or Jetta  in the leadership group because they struggle to get on the park and do not lead by example. Leadership group should be guys like Salem, Frost, Petracca, Brayshaw and anyone who stepped up in a poor year on the field.

We have had strong leaders and that did not work and they did not rise to the challenges this year. Jones will have a year like Lewis had this year and Viney is no longer a first string midfielder and needs to show more versatility if he is going to be a help and hold his place.

    

Edited September 10, 20196 yr by Mental Demons

Two captains who played most of our games this year in the midfield plus Gawn, then add Lewis down back and up forward and cameos from Lever and May and surely TMac qualifies as a mature leader up forward. But this wasn’t enough leadership to overcome the reduced number of instructions from the coaches via the runners? It may have been a negative compared to last year but really what are our leaders doing?

Would runners have helped our set shot inaccuracies in front of goal? Or reduced our missed 25m passes to leading forwards? Handballs to players feet and all the other basic skill errors we witnessed all year. Not convinced about this excuse. 

Well,I know nuffing anymore. of all the issues raised here this year on demonland and all the issues the review would have looked at I would never have thought of talking about runners.

If fit, Lever should be our captain. He is a wise head, comes across as very decisive, and is a natural leader. He would make a great captain.

1 hour ago, Macca said:

Our players should be able to think for themselves and act accordingly.

What are all the meetings for? 

Surely they can play footy without the need for a runner telling them what to do.  It's not the under 12's.

They don't do anything else apart from.prepare for the games and play the games. 

Footy IQ - not in abundance at the Demons. 

This year reminded me of the Neeld era where back then we just continually kicked the ball down the line of the boundary.  The replacement model this season was to kick the ball without any purpose into a dysfunctional forward line.

Rawlings comments are extraodinary but they make sense.  I'm just shocked that such occurances can actually happen in a sport which is supposedly professional.  

Playing group & Coaching panel - Fail.

I think so too 'Macca', my guess is that the game plan may have been too complex for the players.

A lot of young coaches over complicate things, funny that the fill in coaches let the players play and results followed.

Dimma let go a bit and let the Tiges play and finally got the results.

We had a bunch of headless chooks running around and no runner would have fixed that.

#lettheplayersplay