8 hours ago, Demonsone said:

Appreciate the detailed response, I’m old fashioned but simply the theme of selfless in 21 & moving on from mistakes and player body language has vanished, what concerns me is the leaders are not living this and have become selfish, my point is just that if any players are not happy and if it’s the same ones on large contracts then they should request a trade and if need be take a pay cut to facilitate this!

Sure. But that’s an indictment on the club . For not knowing how to manage people, or to keep them inspired. So we’re not fixing the club problems in doing that.

The idea that we are "so close" is either an outright lie or vibrant delusion.

When challenged in any significant way, this team has lost any capacity to grit its teeth and fight back. The result was inevitable from the five-minute mark - and that's disgraceful for a group with so many proven senior footballers in it.

2 hours ago, pitmaster said:

Spot on.

Gunston's lead towards open space 30-40 metres out as the ball carrier heads towards goal, then with a shift in direction towards the corridor for two steps caused Turner to change stride, then to resume his original course towards that open space gifted him an uncontested mark. No fault of Turner's who was on the job but just one play in a master class.

The second point is equally right. Gunston took several marks in the 15-40 metre space that was wide open. Hawks delivered it there and he knew to run into it. We tried it as well with a number of spearing passes into the hot spot at the PUNT ROAD end but no forward of ours knew to run to the spot and interceptions resulted.

We seem not to know how to create space or how to use it, hence we won the inside 50s but never looked like winning the game.

Could it be because 2 of our forwards are not natural forwards and no amount of coaching, instruction or game plan is going to make them such. You cant really teach that feign from Gunston, its pure instinct in the moment, otherwise its too rehearsed and afl defender doesnt fall for it.

15 hours ago, Smokey said:

Take cents on the dollar for Petracca and Clarry and just find a way to trade them. Then we can start the mini rebuild.

That’s wilderness not ‘mini- rebuild’

11 hours ago, Dee Zephyr said:

The top 6 for contested possessions with a round to go.

1. Serong 299

2. Tom Greene 297

3. Gawn 284

4. Rowell 277

5. Cripps 277

6. Hewett 274

What's the veracity of this stat. Averaging 10 per game?

Not saying your wrong. Just would like to know how an unbelievable stat like this was calculated.

If true. Hand Max his 8th AA now.

3 hours ago, jnrmac said:

I'll start by saying Max is phenomenal but it's also a major reason we're no good

Our midst have been useless for a few years and one of the reasons is the Max is generating these kinds of stats.

Our miss rely on Max too muchto do grunt work they should be doing

And Max should be kicking less. When he gets it it should've be hand balled to a distributor that can kick like Bowey

We have an unhealthy reliance on Max

I agree Max should be handballing off at every opportunity but the problem is who too? Because my other instruction, if I were coach, is that Oliver and Viney should only ever kick the ball in an emergency and I would be considering the same instructions to Petracca and Langdon! That’s the entire original V8 engine room, now operating as a 2 stroke!

I am really confused at Oliver and Tracc’s lack of composure in traffic, just grabbing the ball and throwing it on the boot immediately. These guys should be playing their best footy at their ages and experience.

1 hour ago, The Taciturn Demon said:

The idea that we are "so close" is either an outright lie or vibrant delusion.

When challenged in any significant way, this team has lost any capacity to grit its teeth and fight back. The result was inevitable from the five-minute mark - and that's disgraceful for a group with so many proven senior footballers in it.

I wouldn't take the 'so close' remark too seriously. Remembering that Goodwin had just been sacked

Upon his dismissal, the late Dean Bailey (RIP) remarked that we had a premiership list. The comments are almost like a fail-safe move

But the reality is that we need to overhaul the list and overhaul the FD

In my view, unless we act in these 2 areas we can or could get even worse no matter who the new coach might be

The ladder doesn't lie nor does the W/L record

We look good on paper only

We're slow, we lack basic skills and we aren't going hard enough at the ball or the contest

We have no marking presence up forward and our mids just blaze away indiscriminately

Issues everywhere but if we take affirmative action, we can march up the ladder

But if the club actually believes we're not far away, we're in trouble

16 hours ago, BoBo said:

Bloody chandler and his inappropriate and insecure hand gestures cost us that game.

I was an energetics sceptic, but perhaps I'll need to revaluate.

3 hours ago, jnrmac said:

I'll start by saying Max is phenomenal but it's also a major reason we're no good

Our midst have been useless for a few years and one of the reasons is the Max is generating these kinds of stats.

Our miss rely on Max too muchto do grunt work they should be doing

And Max should be kicking less. When he gets it it should've be hand balled to a distributor that can kick like Bowey

We have an unhealthy reliance on Max

Agree entirely.

Man is a Goliath and it's hard to criticise him given the way he's been carrying us on and off the field.

But geez his grabbing it out of the ruck to slam it on the boot is no better than Viney, Trac or Oliver scrap kicking forward.

It's that 'run out of ideas' look and desperation.

A bad habit.

Edited 16 hours ago16 hr by Howard_Grimes

3 hours ago, Dee Zephyr said:

Well done to both of you for going the other way on this. That was just to highlight how good Max has been this year, nothing else. Oliver and Petracca are 11th and 12th respectively in that particular stat.

Viney has played 5-6 games less than the other 3 and on average would be on par with Oliver and Trac.

Gathers from hit-outs, contested marks and frees for count for contested possessions so i don’t think it’s an unhealthy reliance on Max.

Grundy is the Swans leading contested possession winner, Heeney must lift his game according to you.

Yes. Heeney has been inconsistent this year.

But anyway that is beside the point. We are paying 2.5 million for two midfielders whose ruckman wins more contested ball than they do.

Edited 16 hours ago16 hr by praha

The initial decision to play May on Gunston was a shocker.

Petracca is 4kg too heavy.

Jones is the root cause of our midfield issues (being the midfield coach)

Blaming Gawn for grabbing the ball at ruck contests is blaming the A-End of the problem.

When was the last time we had a clean clearance where a mid is released but not under pressure? And therefore, be in a position to deliver it forward to a leading target?

We have no schemes, no playbook, no science, we just hack it forward like a bunch of unskilled hacks

And our forward line is a shambles

As for Chaplin. He's in charge of our overall offense! Massive Fail

Bassett has failed as well as our defence has gone backwards

Mark Williams is just a Cheerleader and our GM just hides away and stays out of sight. Jobs for the boys

Our list manager (Lamb) hands out the money & contracts like confetti

Taylor should stick to the draft only as the experienced players that he has brought in have offered nothing in the last 4 or 5 years

Lord knows what he saw in Schache or Billings ... oh that's right, they were formally high draft picks that Taylor couldn't let go of

Stick to what you're good at, JT

Drain the Swamp

The new coach needs a new list and a new FD

Edited 14 hours ago14 hr by Macca

10 minutes ago, Macca said:

Drain the Swamp

Make Melbourne Great Again

Just now, BDA said:

Make Melbourne Great Again

We need a major overhaul, Betters

If we were to evaluate each individual within the FD (including Goodwin) then there's no success stories that I can see (in the last 2 seasons at least)

Reality is that we've gone backwards since Yze departed (was he not 'coaching' the team from upstairs?)

The GM (Richardson) oversees it all yet he gets to keep his $500k+ per year job? He should have been dismissed before Goodwin

I said it back in early April, when things go bad it's never one persons fault

Clear the decks, drain the Swamp and make Melbourne great again!

And if it is Buckley, I want him to have every chance to be a successful coach

Give him the same FD (and playing list) and I can't see it working

I think @Meggs does this (?)

4 hours ago, Ghostwriter said:

It’s difficult to write up a report when you’re a cheer squad member; as with the men’s, I spend a lot of game time apologising to folks for almost taking their eye out with my flag or concussing them with my flagpole 😁

LOL, my friend and I ended up sitting with the Cheer Squad yesterday. He’s only been to 2 other footy games and supposedly barracks for Richmond—although when I dropped him off, he was still wearing my Melbourne scarf and saying he’ll come anytime :)

I completely get the flagpole bit. Although my biggest worry was the thought of not seeing the ball come through and getting hit with it.

Edited 15 hours ago15 hr by 710 Asbury St

2 hours ago, The Taciturn Demon said:

The idea that we are "so close" is either an outright lie or vibrant delusion.

100% agreed.

It’s not unprecedented and we wouldn’t be the first bottom 4/5 side to lose a couple of close games to good teams.

I reckon we’re miles off being a top 8 team next year.

10 hours ago, BoBo said:

You didn’t know what the word energetics meant and it’s no surprise that in Girards theory of mimetics you have neglected to mention that a crucial end state of his theory is that of scapegoating: I.e. arbitrarily and subjectively selecting a group or individual and placing blame on them as a post-hoc fix for the failures identified in the mimetic process in the first place.

So right now you are doing, literally, what Girard says happens in his model of mimetics in scapegoating Chandler.

I guess everyone should thank you in being the perfect example of his model.

You don’t understand Energetics and you don’t understand Mimetics.

Please continue in explaining how all Dees supporters are clueless in what they’re talking about.

Energetics as I was describing it is a subtle art, unaffected by the nomenclature of ‘scientism’. I was referring to more occult knowledge of energy (Taoism specifically), which is by virtue of its significant even today in a world that thinks everything can be reduced to data, metrics; the spirit impoverished paradigm - scientism. That’s not science btw. Science is the shiii. But scientism not so - scientism is the expectation of science (with the limited instruments we have tapped into of the ‘energy-laden’ ‘energy-dense’ ‘energy-saturated’ human resource that we all are) to be the sole arbiter of ‘truth’.

Th Tao te Ching , as well as Tao Qi and Tantric Buddhism, have done far more tapping into subtle patterns of energy (OR ‘energetics’ - your allegation of my incorrect usage of energetics is a matter of semantics, which allegation you by the way inherited from the tyranny of scientism).

All you have to do is pick up a tantric Buddhist or Taoist text and reserve your scientism informed judgement that Tibetan tantric Buddhists are up the tree coo-coo, and see that these people (some of whom I have been privileged to learn from in India and Australia) are actually far advanced in subtle perception of how energy works - subtle energy between people, within groups, yes even pertaining to such things as football teams.

These are subtle skills of reading the room. Reading what works, for example: where the humility within the team is generated and sustained, and what doesn’t work: for example, where the humility within a team is fractured or losing integrity.

My estimation about Chandler being an overall negative, or at the very least divergent and distracting energy in the team, is based on studying the art of where and how humility within groups, grace and honesty within groups, is arrived at AND sustained.

If I was coaching the dees I would make it a fundamental practice to treat the team much like a class where each individual receives the attention to the or relevant shortcomings and strengths.

BUT, not in a solely ‘football’ sense!

Because often the things that are letting down the individual and the team are shortcomings of a personal nature, of attitude, and awareness of role, limitation and strength with respect to the persons ‘nature’ and ‘behaviour’ not just their skills and abilities as a footballer (which are often an imprecise descriptor of the real-world - multifaceted - impact or lack thereof of a person/player within a group dynamic.

As we know: some of the most prized players in a team often go unheralded in a purely ‘stats’ sense : perhaps T-Mac is a good example of that. And the way he ‘carries himself’ with a humility and integrity counts for A LOT of that in terms of the ‘energetic’ ripple effect among his colleagues and mates on the field. For example I would be selecting T-Mac over Lever AND May at times this year almost PURELY on an ‘attitude’ basis, and more importantly : recognising how that ‘attitude’ will effect his teammates (make them stand a little taller) through an energetic ripple effect.

What I’m trying to describe about Kade Chandler is that I PERCEIVE his attitude to be negative on the whole. BUT in his particular case it is a VERY SUBTLE read as to where and how his attitude, actions and behaviours have a detrimental ripple effect.

It is only subtly perceptible (and no you don’t have to be a Taoist to perceive it, but you do otherwise have to be incredibly perceptive of human behaviour as related to a success or failure in a group.

For instance: you have to understand how team balance works. But this isn’t a thing data or metrics can tell you. Rather you have to be able to INTUIT the right balance THROUGH TRIAL and ERROR of course (which is actually the scientific method)!

So: understanding as an example this fact:

In the forward line we have a few egos : petracca, Fritsch, and even Pickett, and Melksham. Great! Fine. As a coach or a person reading the energy of that balance what would you say we need to regulate those egos: I think the answer is quite clear : someone like a Neal-Bullen. But not in role per se, but importantly in ATTITUDE. Someone who calms and regulates and humbles these egos. Petty and van Royen are reasonably good regulators of these egos. Because they both are fairly f-ing honest in their nature. You will never see them gesticulating in a demonstrative way, they are humble people. And they do what’s best for the team, they are not thinking about themselves. Though at times their form has been down, supporters want to trust these two guys because their attitude, their AIM IS TRUE. They draw on our trust because they are humble.

I mean: who the [censored] cries when an opposition player taunts them about their mother. Only a very emotionally honest person like Harrison Petty - bless his heart.

I argue that Kade Chandler does not draw on the supporters trust, rather he draws on our ‘excitement’ like a Pickett or Petracca does. But we don’t need another player like that. We specifically need a player in attitude like Neal-Bullen. Who will regulate the egos of Trac and Pickett and Fritsch.

We are not getting a ‘reliable‘ ‘trustworthy’ output from Chandler. And my contention is that if we had a player in that position who was ‘reliable’ and ‘trustworthy’ then our players with volition egos would be regulated and they could access their best footy.

You can’t ask a Pickett or a petracca for complete reliability because what they offer is ‘flare’ and ‘match-winning’ awareness and impact. Same with Fritsch.

And that’s the trade off you make with highly valuable players like that.

What Chandler has been assigned to is a role beyond his natural abilities and natural attitude. He was a goal sneak in the VFL who loves a goal above anything else. And who liked being a ‘star’ when he was in the VFL. He has brought that psychology to a team that has already enough stars and needs grounded heads who do the nibbler work, put their body on the line, and serve our elite players with consistency and sober deliberateness, the actual antithesis of a goal-hungry player. I would argue that Sparrow does a better job of this than Chandler. Because his attitude is team first.

Chandler has tried. But his tendency is to default back to a self interested ‘star’ player , a ‘fan favourite’. That is my read on him. And it’s no slight on him. It’s just that it’s not what the team needs. And it’s not that Chandler is particularly bad, but it’s the footy clubs inability to see what kind of player we need in that position to ‘enable’ the best in trac Pickett and Fritsch.

Energetically the Chandler-role is blocking us from flourishing at present.

So we lost Neal-Bullen AND Brayshaw - both natural regulators of big egos on the field. Just in their attitude alone they could bring out the best and humility of players like petracca and Oliver.

This is the subtle art of energetics - reading what is different since our flag year, reading not only what is ‘missing’ but what roles are not being filled adequately.

And you don’t need a wizard The Chandler position - you need someone not looking even remotely for accolades or fancy goals and fancy celebrations.

My contention is that dees fans like Chandler because we think we have extra ‘fire power’ or extra ‘goal-kicking Power in him, and we ‘fall for’ his own ‘flare’ and believe that that is meritorious for our team. BUT my contention is that it is too much of a pile of ‘flare’ and we need ‘balance’ in the ‘energy’ - respecting the volatility of literally remarkable innate footballers like Fritsch petracca Pickett and Melksham -and what is opposite to ‘flare’ (opposition is a key component of the Taoist science of energy) is deliberate unaffected uninterested in the spotlight kind of players (as seen in Mcvee, or T-Mac, or X Lindsay) - their attitude accentuates the ‘grounded’ , ‘sober’ ‘unaffected’ attributes rather than the ‘flighty’ ‘volatile’ ‘unpredictable’ attributes. In their ATTITUDE above all else.

While players like petracca have to deal with their egos because they have an innate flare that the football world has seen, Chandler has almost no right to have to contend with his own ego - because he hasn’t set the world on fire like a petracca or Pickett or Oliver , BUT (and this is crucial) that is what he desires, it is his blueprint as a player, it is what he defaults to.

And while he has tried admirably in the role he plays I fear that he continues to revert to his blueprint of ‘spotlight-hungry’ attitude (evident in his incessant gesticulating and hyper awareness of the cameras) who loves a goal and a celebration above all else.

This is the science of energy among people that I am talking about.

It takes an intuitive feel for ‘team-balance’ to underStand this. And it is a gross misread to put the blame on norm smith medallists and league-appraised players, because they are the ones who do have to deal with admiration from far and wide and continue to show up each week and practice humility.

It is incumbent on the club and match committee and coaches to potently understand the psychology of the group. And to identify where some players’ behaviours and attitudes are incommensurate with their impact and actually detrimental even INDIRECTLY to the potential for our best players to thrive.

BUT alas, we don’t have people who recognise that sort of stuff.

Also. Spargo is another one with a humble grounded nature, not flighty, not spotlight hungry. That’s why I advocate for his selection.

It is based on attitude for team balance and specifically NOT metrics and data or goals kicked.

This is a subtle science of energetics among people in teams.

Mimesis is a word that can be variously applied to the imitative compulsion in groups. No more, no less. People Mimic each other in behaviour. Mimesis is opposite Poeisis, both Ancient Greek words pre-dating their annexation by scientism.

Poeisis describes the leading creative innovative force (like what we have in Max - the driving of where this club has come to will only be fully realised when he retires)

Mimesis describes the force among humans to unthinkingly imitate and follow in herd like mentality.

Mimesis is an undeniable force, everyone one of us is entrained in it, it simply is nature.

This is why it’s so important to have humble people of a high self-standard to direct and demonstrate to the team by actions of their own (Poeisis).

Chandler is not that. Yet he masquerades as that. And that is what is subtly detrimental about his place in this team.

3 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

Hes close to never again. Dumb, selfish and soft

14 hours ago, Jjrogan said:

Look it was great we gutsed it out in the last half (talk of players not giving effort is nonsense). But at the same time what difference would had it made if we lost by 70 and found out wow, May as a forward actually looks good. Rivers in the middle gives us overlap etc. A totally missed opportunity.

That's what I'm finding so annoying it's like the football equivalent of Groundhog Day. We could've tried some of the younger guys, moved May to FF and experimented especially in the second half. But no just keep the same structures and keep getting the same results. We are so conservative and predictable. Just bomb it long and they rebound and goal. I've got 7.21 and the St.Kilda loss etched into my brain and we really keep doing the same stuff over and over and keep selecting the same players. We are so predictable.

1 minute ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

I reckon we’re miles off being a top 8 team next year.

Right now we are but is the board and the club thinking we are a contender with the individuals we have now?

It seems to me that the Board was expecting success this season and when that didn't happen, they blamed the coach and then sacked him

That's usually how it works but reality bites. Yesterday was living proof that the playing list has issues, left, right and centre

Not only is there a distinct lack of talent but there's a complete disconnect on the field and our players look lost.

We're clearly not good enough

I watched the Crows/Pies game last night and there's no way we can compete at that level. We're a long way off

Bringing in a new coach (alone) isn't going to fix our issues. An overhaul is needed and we need to surround the new coach with the right people

And go hard at the trade table as we need some future stars. Our existing stars are now no better than B or B+ and even then it's inconsistent performances (or outcomes) They are on the wane

It used to be that our stars would stand up in the last quarter (or 2nd halves) but now they are not noticable. We either keep losing the close ones or are outclassed

We can't be expecting the 'messiah' coach

3 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

I reckon we’re miles off being a top 8 team next year.

Miles off.

I thought we were a fair way off at the start of this year. I could see a narrow path to sneaking into the eight. Now that seems absurdly over-optimistic.

Our top paid and once best players (minus Max) are either horribly out of form or over the edge of respective career cliffs. (I've admired the way Petracca has returned from his awful inury, but his last few weeks have been so deflating.)

We've lost any semblance of consistency and our period as the most difficult-to-play-against team in the comp seems like a fever dream. We get thrashed by the best teams. We get thrashed by the mediocre teams. And we get thrashed by the stragglers. The team with the worst list in the competition beat us by breaking one of the most unlikely records in the book.

We've lost important second-tier players and have resolutely kept playing third-tier players who don't make us better in any meaningful way.

Our overall kicking skills remain the worst in the league or very close to it.

Yes, we have some beauties under the age of 20. So does just about every other team.

I love Paul Roos, but if we win the Flag next year it will make Leicester City 2016 seem unremarkable.

Just now, Macca said:

Right now we are but is the board and the club thinking we are a contender with the individuals we have now?

It seems to me that the Board was expecting success this season and when that didn't happen, they blamed the coach and then sacked him

That's usually how it works but reality bites. Yesterday was living proof that the playing list has issues, left, right and centre

Not only is there a distinct lack of talent but there's a complete disconnect on the field and our players look lost.

We're clearly not good enough

I watched the Crows/Pies game last night and there's no way we can compete at that level. We're a long way off

Bringing in a new coach (alone) isn't going to fix our issues. An overhaul is needed and we need to surround the new coach with the right people

And go hard at the trade table as we need some future stars. Our existing stars are now no better than B or B+ and even then it's inconsistent performances (or outcomes) They are on the wane

It used to be that our stars would stand up in the last quarter (or 2nd halves) but now they are not noticable. We either keep losing the close ones or are outclassed

We can't be expecting the 'messiah' coach

Is there a possibility that the Board took the'review' and FDs views as gospel ?

Obviously nearly everyone has been wide of the mark. That realisation culminating in bye bye Simon, as well I suspect the realisation we'd been sold a pup.

6 minutes ago, beelzebub said:

Is there a possibility that the Board took the'review' and FDs views as gospel ?

The 'Review' that didn't review properly? It can't be assumed that any review is going to be accurate

Any number of people telling other people what they want to hear. I'm a sceptic on that stuff, bub

We actually need another review but will another review reveal anything?

What we need is a board that knows precisely where the club is at (in all areas)

Couldn't the sacking have been conducted within the confines of the club? Why did we feel compelled to have 4 individuals visit the coach's house in the evening to deliver the news?

Couldn't it have waited for first thing in the morning in a professional environment?

It's any wonder that Goodwin tossed them out. Amateur hour

Edited 13 hours ago13 hr by Macca

36 minutes ago, nextskipclaz said:

Energetics as I was describing it is a subtle art, unaffected by the nomenclature of ‘scientism’. I was referring to more occult knowledge of energy (Taoism specifically), which is by virtue of its significant even today in a world that thinks everything can be reduced to data, metrics; the spirit impoverished paradigm - scientism. That’s not science btw. Science is the shiii. But scientism not so - scientism is the expectation of science (with the limited instruments we have tapped into of the ‘energy-laden’ ‘energy-dense’ ‘energy-saturated’ human resource that we all are) to be the sole arbiter of ‘truth’.

Th Tao te Ching , as well as Tao Qi and Tantric Buddhism, have done far more tapping into subtle patterns of energy (OR ‘energetics’ - your allegation of my incorrect usage of energetics is a matter of semantics, which allegation you by the way inherited from the tyranny of scientism).

All you have to do is pick up a tantric Buddhist or Taoist text and reserve your scientism informed judgement that Tibetan tantric Buddhists are up the tree coo-coo, and see that these people (some of whom I have been privileged to learn from in India and Australia) are actually far advanced in subtle perception of how energy works - subtle energy between people, within groups, yes even pertaining to such things as football teams.

These are subtle skills of reading the room. Reading what works, for example: where the humility within the team is generated and sustained, and what doesn’t work: for example, where the humility within a team is fractured or losing integrity.

My estimation about Chandler being an overall negative, or at the very least divergent and distracting energy in the team, is based on studying the art of where and how humility within groups, grace and honesty within groups, is arrived at AND sustained.

If I was coaching the dees I would make it a fundamental practice to treat the team much like a class where each individual receives the attention to the or relevant shortcomings and strengths.

BUT, not in a solely ‘football’ sense!

Because often the things that are letting down the individual and the team are shortcomings of a personal nature, of attitude, and awareness of role, limitation and strength with respect to the persons ‘nature’ and ‘behaviour’ not just their skills and abilities as a footballer (which are often an imprecise descriptor of the real-world - multifaceted - impact or lack thereof of a person/player within a group dynamic.

As we know: some of the most prized players in a team often go unheralded in a purely ‘stats’ sense : perhaps T-Mac is a good example of that. And the way he ‘carries himself’ with a humility and integrity counts for A LOT of that in terms of the ‘energetic’ ripple effect among his colleagues and mates on the field. For example I would be selecting T-Mac over Lever AND May at times this year almost PURELY on an ‘attitude’ basis, and more importantly : recognising how that ‘attitude’ will effect his teammates (make them stand a little taller) through an energetic ripple effect.

What I’m trying to describe about Kade Chandler is that I PERCEIVE his attitude to be negative on the whole. BUT in his particular case it is a VERY SUBTLE read as to where and how his attitude, actions and behaviours have a detrimental ripple effect.

It is only subtly perceptible (and no you don’t have to be a Taoist to perceive it, but you do otherwise have to be incredibly perceptive of human behaviour as related to a success or failure in a group.

For instance: you have to understand how team balance works. But this isn’t a thing data or metrics can tell you. Rather you have to be able to INTUIT the right balance THROUGH TRIAL and ERROR of course (which is actually the scientific method)!

So: understanding as an example this fact:

In the forward line we have a few egos : petracca, Fritsch, and even Pickett, and Melksham. Great! Fine. As a coach or a person reading the energy of that balance what would you say we need to regulate those egos: I think the answer is quite clear : someone like a Neal-Bullen. But not in role per se, but importantly in ATTITUDE. Someone who calms and regulates and humbles these egos. Petty and van Royen are reasonably good regulators of these egos. Because they both are fairly f-ing honest in their nature. You will never see them gesticulating in a demonstrative way, they are humble people. And they do what’s best for the team, they are not thinking about themselves. Though at times their form has been down, supporters want to trust these two guys because their attitude, their AIM IS TRUE. They draw on our trust because they are humble.

I mean: who the [censored] cries when an opposition player taunts them about their mother. Only a very emotionally honest person like Harrison Petty - bless his heart.

I argue that Kade Chandler does not draw on the supporters trust, rather he draws on our ‘excitement’ like a Pickett or Petracca does. But we don’t need another player like that. We specifically need a player in attitude like Neal-Bullen. Who will regulate the egos of Trac and Pickett and Fritsch.

We are not getting a ‘reliable‘ ‘trustworthy’ output from Chandler. And my contention is that if we had a player in that position who was ‘reliable’ and ‘trustworthy’ then our players with volition egos would be regulated and they could access their best footy.

You can’t ask a Pickett or a petracca for complete reliability because what they offer is ‘flare’ and ‘match-winning’ awareness and impact. Same with Fritsch.

And that’s the trade off you make with highly valuable players like that.

What Chandler has been assigned to is a role beyond his natural abilities and natural attitude. He was a goal sneak in the VFL who loves a goal above anything else. And who liked being a ‘star’ when he was in the VFL. He has brought that psychology to a team that has already enough stars and needs grounded heads who do the nibbler work, put their body on the line, and serve our elite players with consistency and sober deliberateness, the actual antithesis of a goal-hungry player. I would argue that Sparrow does a better job of this than Chandler. Because his attitude is team first.

Chandler has tried. But his tendency is to default back to a self interested ‘star’ player , a ‘fan favourite’. That is my read on him. And it’s no slight on him. It’s just that it’s not what the team needs. And it’s not that Chandler is particularly bad, but it’s the footy clubs inability to see what kind of player we need in that position to ‘enable’ the best in trac Pickett and Fritsch.

Energetically the Chandler-role is blocking us from flourishing at present.

So we lost Neal-Bullen AND Brayshaw - both natural regulators of big egos on the field. Just in their attitude alone they could bring out the best and humility of players like petracca and Oliver.

This is the subtle art of energetics - reading what is different since our flag year, reading not only what is ‘missing’ but what roles are not being filled adequately.

And you don’t need a wizard The Chandler position - you need someone not looking even remotely for accolades or fancy goals and fancy celebrations.

My contention is that dees fans like Chandler because we think we have extra ‘fire power’ or extra ‘goal-kicking Power in him, and we ‘fall for’ his own ‘flare’ and believe that that is meritorious for our team. BUT my contention is that it is too much of a pile of ‘flare’ and we need ‘balance’ in the ‘energy’ - respecting the volatility of literally remarkable innate footballers like Fritsch petracca Pickett and Melksham -and what is opposite to ‘flare’ (opposition is a key component of the Taoist science of energy) is deliberate unaffected uninterested in the spotlight kind of players (as seen in Mcvee, or T-Mac, or X Lindsay) - their attitude accentuates the ‘grounded’ , ‘sober’ ‘unaffected’ attributes rather than the ‘flighty’ ‘volatile’ ‘unpredictable’ attributes. In their ATTITUDE above all else.

While players like petracca have to deal with their egos because they have an innate flare that the football world has seen, Chandler has almost no right to have to contend with his own ego - because he hasn’t set the world on fire like a petracca or Pickett or Oliver , BUT (and this is crucial) that is what he desires, it is his blueprint as a player, it is what he defaults to.

And while he has tried admirably in the role he plays I fear that he continues to revert to his blueprint of ‘spotlight-hungry’ attitude (evident in his incessant gesticulating and hyper awareness of the cameras) who loves a goal and a celebration above all else.

This is the science of energy among people that I am talking about.

It takes an intuitive feel for ‘team-balance’ to underStand this. And it is a gross misread to put the blame on norm smith medallists and league-appraised players, because they are the ones who do have to deal with admiration from far and wide and continue to show up each week and practice humility.

It is incumbent on the club and match committee and coaches to potently understand the psychology of the group. And to identify where some players’ behaviours and attitudes are incommensurate with their impact and actually detrimental even INDIRECTLY to the potential for our best players to thrive.

BUT alas, we don’t have people who recognise that sort of stuff.

Also. Spargo is another one with a humble grounded nature, not flighty, not spotlight hungry. That’s why I advocate for his selection.

It is based on attitude for team balance and specifically NOT metrics and data or goals kicked.

This is a subtle science of energetics among people in teams.

Mimesis is a word that can be variously applied to the imitative compulsion in groups. No more, no less. People Mimic each other in behaviour. Mimesis is opposite Poeisis, both Ancient Greek words pre-dating their annexation by scientism.

Poeisis describes the leading creative innovative force (like what we have in Max - the driving of where this club has come to will only be fully realised when he retires)

Mimesis describes the force among humans to unthinkingly imitate and follow in herd like mentality.

Mimesis is an undeniable force, everyone one of us is entrained in it, it simply is nature.

This is why it’s so important to have humble people of a high self-standard to direct and demonstrate to the team by actions of their own (Poeisis).

Chandler is not that. Yet he masquerades as that. And that is what is subtly detrimental about his place in this team.

quite an amazing read, thankyou Nextskip, you have definitely made me think a little more deeply, you have offered something here that all of us could take notice of

37 minutes ago, The Ox said:

quite an amazing read, thankyou Nextskip, you have definitely made me think a little more deeply, you have offered something here that all of us could take notice of

[censored] yeh! Sorry I am a deep thinker! And i don’t actually like to [censored] on players. Kade Chandler is for all intents and purposes a bloody legend. I just sometimes have a hard time getting my point across because it is quite detailed and I do tend to think through a lot of stuff , for better or worse 😮‍💨 😅

2 hours ago, Fat Tony said:

The initial decision to play May on Gunston was a shocker.

Petracca is 4kg too heavy.

Not to mention completely cooked.

The curious thing was how long Chaplin took to change tge match up.

Though it has to be said Howes was no better. Couldn't believe the space he gave Gunston.

All that said neither May or Howes were helped out by the woeful pressure we applied to the kickers spotting up Gunston or the fact we couldn't get back on turnover and transtion and block his leading lanes.