From the crux of it all, the main beef Tracc had was with the supporters. I haven't been to many games since 2018 but some people don't have the luxury to go to he's. We are living in difficult times where you have to prioritise your work life to pay bills. Very surprised if there is any real cultural problems from a players perspective. Maybe board level and coaching level. Most of our loses have been in the coaching box and list management.

4 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Did I list Pendlebury as a good captain did I?? What's Pendles got to do with this actual discussion? Way to miss a point old timer.

If anything Nick Maxwell was a much better captain then Pendles.

Nick Maxwell, captain at a time when several players (by their own post-career confessions and unashamed reflections) were topping up with all kinds of wacky social ingredients, that Nick Maxwell?

If we had the level of disorder, miscreant enthusiasms and plain old anti-social toxicity that Collingwood had then (and has had since and to forever, it would seem) we would be pilloried all week then up in a gibbet every thursday.

Next thing someone will tell me Chris Judd was a cultural standard-setter.

Max Gawn might realistically be the best captain in the AFL. A unifying and nurturing figure rivalling Jim Stynes.

Right now the club and playing group need stability.  I suspect Max would want to steer things through 2025.

After that, who knows.

I am all for careful and measured change within the Club, at all levels 

That includes Max’s Captaincy should be reviewed. I listen to his radio spots on YouTube regularly. Max is a Top Guy, can he improve as a leader, of course he can, i am sure he would agree. 
The leadership group as a whole must demand a higher standard of the whole list, including themselves. 
But Max is the (C) for 2025 for me. I am not sure who follows him, Jake Lever is a very intelligent guy, but he has too many hissy fits under pressure for my liking 

Max 2025

Max stays skipper for now.

But if there's any people demanding a widespread review of the club that doesn't involve the captain's position, would you please care to elaborate?

Edited September 1, 20241 yr by layzie

Max has never been and will never be a hard line leader. This is not his style, in fact, I think the days of hard line leaders are numbered. As you get more and more millennials in positions of seniority, you will see more and more leaders who have high levels of EQ and very little desire to be a “you do as I say or else” type of leader. 

If you told me 3 months ago that it might be time for new leadership, and that Max deserves to enjoy the remaining years of his career without the burden of the captaincy, I would have agreed. In fact, I’m sure I wrote exactly that a little while back. 

However, what is very clear after the last two weeks, is that more than anything our playing group needs unity. And nobody does unity better than Max, because nobody has the ability to connect with all types of personalities as well as Max does, whether it’s a disgruntled senior player or a second year kid. 
He needs to remain captain in 2025 and see the unification of purpose within the playing group through. If he can’t make it happen, I’m afraid nobody can. 

And having said all of that, what any of us thinks is absolutely irrelevant. Players vote on who they would like their captain to be. Only time will tell us if what we see standing on the outside looking in, is a reflection of the playing group’s thoughts or merely our own. 

Max Gawn is an unbelievably good leader, who loves the club as much as you and I do. That, in itself, is rare.

More than that, he leads by example - putting the whole club upon his back at times. He goes about his business with gravity, yet cuts through all the AFL bulltish with a great sense of humour and self deprecation. Every single club would love to have Max Gawn as their captain.

We should go to the football for Max Gawn alone: it is rare that we will see a character like him in the game, and before long it’ll be too late.

Max Gawn should be captain for as long as he wants it.

Edited September 1, 20241 yr by 3183 Dee

Boys will be boys but a bit too much?  Maybe way too much?

Max ticks most, if not, all the boxes but is maybe a bit too trusting of the players

It's impossible to make an accurate appraisal but the numbers are adding up and I'd be surprised if the player standards haven't dropped to some some sort of degree

Going back 10 years or more, we had an issue with the player managers (according to Roos)  But the players are connected to the player managers so I reckon what Roos said back then was quite pointed (players ruling the Roost?)

Edited September 3, 20241 yr by Macca

On 31/08/2024 at 21:43, John Crow Batty said:

I as many others don’t  have much of an idea of the inner machinations of leadership at the club. We hear snippets here and there about so and so. Max has been great.  I’d leave to the club to decide and forgo an opinion. 

Remembering, of course, that Max - in several moments of Club stress - has propelled all before them, ridden the journey and provided the examples, then took them all to somewhere they needed to be and still persists to the benefits of 'everyone MFC'.