Jump to content

Featured Replies

2 hours ago, Demonstone said:

That could be said for all of us at this point!

What I was curious about was how Cameron leaving GWS could cause a domino effect - ie, a chain reaction, the cumulative effect produced when one event sets off a chain of similar events.

It will speed up the process at other clubs in 1) sacking their current coach 2) wanting to court Clarkson or Buckley or another highly rated coach. 

FOMO will set in.

The most recent example was last year when Buckley was sacked, quickly followed by Teague being sacked.  Then much courting by both clubs of Clarkson, Lyon et al and when Coll wanted to interview Mitchell he goes to the club and they sack Clarkson. 

There are a few more coaches in the gun this year or who may want to move and will cause more dominoes to fall.

Edited by Lucifers Hero

 

FWIW . . . I have no idea if Cameron can coach or not. I do know this first hand though. There's been deep discontent within the playing group about the money some players are being paid relevant to their footy output. Or said another way, their highest paid players are not necessarily pulling their weight nor rowing in the same direction. There have been many peculiar management decisions at GWS. And as far as I know,  the most dysfunctional decisions didn't have Cameron's blessing. The organisation escapes deep scrutiny in Victoria because they are off-broadway. 

Edited by Queanbeyan Demon
Typo

1 hour ago, rpfc said:

I have heard internally they like Hird. 

Well someone’s got to, because the non-Essendon public think the guy still stinks of drugs, medical ambivalence and denial.

 

I don’t know what is more concerning, that Hird wants to be a head coach again or that a club would even consider it

Hands off Ooooze


The only thing GWS need is some culture and a will to win.

They have a good enough list, maybe lacking a couple of good solid defenders, but their issue is they stand for nothing and they don't play for one another.

They are selfish individuals who have no drive to play for a jumper that literally means nothing to nobody.

It will be a hard task to make them a consistently selfless outfit with a common goal to succeed while they continue to play in front of 3000 supporters in a state that could not give a stuff about AFL. 

29 minutes ago, Queanbeyan Demon said:

FWIW . . . I have no idea if Cameron can coach or not. I do know this first hand though. There's been deep discontent within the playing group about the money some players are being paid relevant to their footy output. Or said another way, their highest paid players are not necessarily pulling their weight nor rowing in the same direction. There have been many peculiar management decisions at GWS. The organisation escapes deep scrutiny in Victoria because they are off-broadway. 

Not surprising. 

The reported Kelly, Corniglio, Green and Whitfield contracts are huge.  Not just $ but also the length of, meaning they will drain the sal cap for many years to come until those guys are well into their 30's.  The newer talent would wonder what is left for them to share in in the next 5 years.

And the 'eye test' would support the view that those guys are not performing to the level of their contract $.

From the outside those guys seem to have formed a little clique.  Again from the outside, Cameron does not seem to have succeeded in developing a 'selfless' culture.

Edited by Lucifers Hero

Adem Yze is a champion of our club, who has returned and helped us win a premiership. I don’t want to lose him one bit, but I desperately hope he gets to be a senior coach as I know it is what he wants.

 

Good luck to him.

 

Culture is the killer at GWS. I watched them the other week and their so called leader who is really just a thug, only has the captains role because he is their best player and they needed to keep him at all costs. 
If you compare them to our culture (which was terrible for a long time). The other week when Sparrow made that unbelievable effort to dive and tap the ball to Frisch for his easy goal. The team ran straight for sparrow and it was the team effort that was recognised. 

I watched GWS who had a young player who made a great effort around the 50m area to get the ball out to Toby who ran in a pretty easy goal. All Toby did was puff out his chest and walk slowly back to his position.

they are a team of (so called) champions not a champion team.

An incoming coach would want to have a close look at the player contracts. There's a few trip wires in place apparently. 


Goody should have added that Adem will not be available until October at the earliest

Edited by Demon Disciple

You just know Sheeds will be in their ear to give the Golden Boy another chance. It's right up his sentimental avenue for HIrd to be rehabilitated. Plus, with GWS being a fairly small fish, the decision could fly under the radar to a much greater extent than if it happened in an AFL state.

That said, while he would be attracted to the sentimentality, most of the football world would be repulsed, shocked or angered (and rightfully so).

In his 9th season as coach, from memory he was there under Sheedy before that.

Had the luxury of watching / learning from the Suns develop a club from the ground up.

They targeted contested ball winning types.

Had an abundance of first round picks, zone/academy players.

I said earlier in the year that I thought he had lost the players. 

4 goals in a game of footy is unacceptable.  

They’ve been underperforming long before Toby got suspended….again.
 

 


Anyone who watched that Amazon doco instantly knew that Cameron wasn't the right guy. 

My money is on Hird being given the job. Clarkson will want something more fulfilling. 

I still predict the NT will get a licence at the end of the year. And that would be a fulfilling coaching gig.  

29 minutes ago, Skuit said:

I still predict the NT will get a licence at the end of the year.

Serious? Have I been living under a rock? Where has this been surmised?

"Players have resonated towards him."

Resonate towards?!? Tom Browne's schooldays were a bust? Who uses resonate in a semi-transitive sense? The man's a journalist, for Pete's sake. And a lawyer. Philistine! 
 

Lot of talk of culture. I think the culture they established as a start up club under Ward and Davis as captains and in the early years of Leon Cameron's time was incredibly good. They were fit, reasonably hard at it, aggressive, in your face and tricky to beat.

They also put together some good finals runs.

The issues seem to have come up post Grand Final IMO.

- Davis played the grand final when he wasn't right.
- Coniglio signed a 7 year deal at the exact moment his body started to break down and hasn't been able to get back in to the midfield to earn it. There's rumours he wanted the captaincy more than a player should want it too.
- Kelly signed a silly contract which was really designed for him to leave, then battled injuries and hasn't been a A grader, so ended up locking in the 8 year extension
- Whitfield had a stinker in the granny and hasn't really come back to his best, still got a 7 year deal
 

They all took long term deals which means they probably sacrificed the most money up front. But they certainly put the club in a tricky spot especially when that's 2 of your 3 captains and the other one is Toby.

Personally I think Coniglio's body might just be no good and some ok role playing on a half forward flank might be it for him, but the other 2 could be rejuvenated under a new coach. 

The list needs pressure forwards more than anything though. Forward pressure sets the tone for a defensive system and creates turnovers that leads to scores. Without the right players and the right attitude it's hard to win.

 

I reckon that GWS should appoint an experienced senior coach, rather than a first timer. The list might be ok (although perhaps some tensions between the players), but it would be a lonely job as GWS well and truly flys under the radar here in Sydney. Very few care, and the initial hype of Sheedy etc has dissipated. Sydney does enjoy AFL - see Swans, Buddy etc, but not too much love for GWS, and the support for a first timer would be minimal.


3 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

Lot of talk of culture. I think the culture they established as a start up club under Ward and Davis as captains and in the early years of Leon Cameron's time was incredibly good. They were fit, reasonably hard at it, aggressive, in your face and tricky to beat.

They also put together some good finals runs.

The issues seem to have come up post Grand Final IMO.

- Davis played the grand final when he wasn't right.
- Coniglio signed a 7 year deal at the exact moment his body started to break down and hasn't been able to get back in to the midfield to earn it. There's rumours he wanted the captaincy more than a player should want it too.
- Kelly signed a silly contract which was really designed for him to leave, then battled injuries and hasn't been a A grader, so ended up locking in the 8 year extension
- Whitfield had a stinker in the granny and hasn't really come back to his best, still got a 7 year deal
 

They all took long term deals which means they probably sacrificed the most money up front. But they certainly put the club in a tricky spot especially when that's 2 of your 3 captains and the other one is Toby.

Personally I think Coniglio's body might just be no good and some ok role playing on a half forward flank might be it for him, but the other 2 could be rejuvenated under a new coach. 

The list needs pressure forwards more than anything though. Forward pressure sets the tone for a defensive system and creates turnovers that leads to scores. Without the right players and the right attitude it's hard to win.

 

I agree completely, whoever accepts the Giants job i think needs to be eyes open that there is going to be some tough decisions to make and some challenging times ahead, they almost need to bottom out to re-build the list to be more even across the 22. 

Just now, Engorged Onion said:

Serious? Have I been living under a rock? Where has this been surmised?

Serious yup.

Our own Peter Jackson is a member of the task-force trying to make it happen. It's an intriguing prospect based on a social model and I expect that with (Labor) federal support the NT will get a staggered licence alongside Tasmania. 

A report from Bastion: https://www.aflnt.com.au/sites/default/files/uploads/NT AFL Team Scoping Report.pdf

Or a summary here: https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/an-afl-team-in-the-top-end-it-s-not-as-out-there-as-you-might-think-20210830-p58n90.html

NT gov just closed a tender for another social impact report, which basically means they are looking for more credible justification to go ahead. I don't know how Gunner's resignation will impact things, but I think (know) there's widespread support for the concept within the local Labor party. Will be a world-first. 

 

 

 

He was asked a few weeks ago on AFL 360 if he wanted to coach beyond this year and he basically said he’d have to think about it.

He was gone from then but fair play to him for walking away and not continuing on when he wasn’t happy or committed.

 
1 hour ago, Clint Bizkit said:

He was asked a few weeks ago on AFL 360 if he wanted to coach beyond this year and he basically said he’d have to think about it.

He was gone from then but fair play to him for walking away and not continuing on when he wasn’t happy or committed.

I agree with this. I think he might have also had a look around having seen what’s happened for Ratten and Voss and thought ‘I’ll get out now, take a lower profile head of football role somewhere, and still come back to coaching once I’ve learnt from being somewhere new’.

I actually like that the AFL is mature enough of an industry now for that to happen. It doesn’t feel so dire for the coaches.


Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

Featured Content

  • PREGAME: Rd 17 vs Adelaide

    With their season all over bar the shouting the Demons head back on the road for the third week in a row as they return to Adelaide to take on the Crows. Who comes in and who goes out?

    • 28 replies
  • POSTGAME: Rd 16 vs Gold Coast

    The Demons did not come to play from the opening bounce and let the Gold Coast kick the first 5 goals of the match. They then outscored the Suns for the next 3 quarters but it was too little too late and their season is now effectively over.

      • Like
    • 157 replies
  • VOTES: Rd 16 vs Gold Coast

    Max Gawn has a massive lead in the Demonland Player of the Year award ahead of Jake Bowey, Christian Petracca, Clayton Oliver and Kysaiah Pickett. Your votes please. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 & 1.

      • Thanks
    • 31 replies
  • GAMEDAY: Rd 16 vs Gold Coast

    It's Game Day and the Demons are back on the road again and this may be the last roll of the dice to get their 2025 season back on track as they take on the Gold Coast Suns at People First Stadium.

      • Thanks
      • Like
    • 546 replies
  • PREVIEW: Gold Coast

    The Gold Coast Suns find themselves outside of the top eight for the first time since Round 1 with pressure is mounting on the entire organisation. Their coach Damien Hardwick expressed his frustration at his team’s condition last week by making a middle-finger gesture on television that earned him a fine for his troubles. He showed his desperation by claiming that Fox should pick up the tab.  There’s little doubt the Suns have shown improvement in 2025, and their position on the ladder is influenced to some extent by having played fewer games than their rivals for a playoff role at the end of the season, courtesy of the disruption caused by Cyclone Alfred in March.  However, they are following the same trajectory that hindered the club in past years whenever they appeared to be nearing their potential. As a consequence, that Hardwick gesture should be considered as more than a mere behavioral lapse. It’s a distress signal that does not bode well for the Queenslanders. While the Suns are eager to remain in contention with the top eight, Melbourne faces its own crisis, which is similarly deep-seated but in a much different way. After recovering from a disappointing start to the season and nearing a return to respectability among its peer clubs, the Demons have experienced a decline in status, driven by the fact that while their form has been reasonable (see their performance against the ladder leader in the Kings Birthday match), their conversion in front of goal is poor enough to rank last in the competition. Furthermore, their opponents find them exceptionally easy to score against. As a result, they have effectively eliminated themselves from the finals race and are again positioned to finish in the bottom half of the ladder.

      • Thanks
      • Like
    • 4 replies
  • NON-MFC: Round 15

    As the Demons head into their Bye Round, it's time to turn our attention to the other matches being played. Which teams are you tipping this week? And which results would be most favourable for the Demons if we can manage to turn our season around? Follow all the non-Melbourne games here and join the conversation as the ladder continues to take shape.

      • Like
    • 287 replies