32 minutes ago, Dannyz said:

Am I in the minority in saying that King should not be involved with Geelong?

The minute you are appointed as coach of the Melbourne Football Club, Geelong and the other 16 teams are instantly a rival.

Doing Geelong any form of favour is in contrast to the fiercely competitive elite clubs who don’t have room for niceties. See Sam Mitchell.

It is a strange situation but I also respect King and both clubs for working through it. Imagine if Carlton also did the right thing and went and got Kelly. What is Geelong supposed to do?

Happy to begin to hold people to contracts tbh.

If nothing else at least we’ll be able to say King was involved in two premierships as assistant coach 🤷

On 16/09/2025 at 19:59, BAMF said:

Frank Ponissi was also apparently an odd choice despite being highly respected.

On 16/09/2025 at 21:33, rpfc said:

hence questioning of Ponissi who would be exalted space in sports admin in Australia.

On 16/09/2025 at 20:51, DeeSpencer said:

I’m sure Ponissi would’ve been a great help,

Ponissi was a great get on the panel...he knows what a great coach looks like, he knows what winning is.

Some people like Caro are quite insular, happy to live in their own little world.

I'm happy we're expanding our world view, may it continue.

Edited Friday at 15:012 days by rjay

2 hours ago, Dannyz said:

The minute you are appointed as coach of the Melbourne Football Club, Geelong and the other 16 teams are instantly a rival.

Doing Geelong any form of favour is in contrast to the fiercely competitive elite clubs who don’t have room for niceties. See Sam Mitchell.

I get it but I would also like our coach to have as much experience as possible too. Seeing what Geelong do in another finals campaign and preparing for a grand final gives King great experience.

8 hours ago, rjay said:

Ponissi was a great get on the panel...he knows what a great coach looks like, he knows what winning is.

Some people like Caro are quite insular, happy to live in their own little world.

I'm happy we're expanding our world view, may it continue.

The panel we selected showed we were more interested in finding someone who was a strong managerial presence who could take ownership of the whole football program rather than just being a good tactician or whatever.

9 hours ago, Dannyz said:

Am I in the minority in saying that King should not be involved with Geelong?

The minute you are appointed as coach of the Melbourne Football Club, Geelong and the other 16 teams are instantly a rival.

Doing Geelong any form of favour is in contrast to the fiercely competitive elite clubs who don’t have room for niceties. See Sam Mitchell.

Good thought provoking post @Dannyz - my perspective is I think it’s a pretty outdated view to suggest that the minute you’re appointed coach of Melbourne, every other club suddenly becomes your sworn rival and therefore you should sever ties immediately.

Yes, of course Geelong is a competitor on the field, but “rival” doesn’t mean “enemy.” Modern coaching isn’t tribal in that sense. It’s relational, professional, and grounded in integrity. Coaches regularly move between clubs, finish out contracts, and maintain friendships across the competition without compromising their new role.

To assume that King can’t act with professionalism while helping Geelong through finals is to mistake rivalry for bad faith, and that’s a fallacy.The suggestion that he’s somehow disloyal for honouring his commitments underestimates both him and the systems in place.

Transitions take time, and part of being a professional—whether in sport or any workplace—is seeing through the work you’ve started, showing respect for colleagues, and leaving an organisation the right way. I'd say far from being a weakness, that’s actually the very quality Melbourne have hired him for: integrity under pressure.

The bigger picture here is that the game has evolved beyond the old “us versus them” lens. Rivalries matter, yes, but the best modern coaches know that composure, relationships, and respect are just as important. King staying the course with Geelong isn’t a betrayal of Melbourne—it’s a demonstration of the kind of leader he’ll be once he starts work. This is contemporary leadership, from all of the MFC FD, and Steven himself and the GFC.

Most jobs have a '2 weeks notice' period don't they

The etiquette for a while has been to not annouce the coach until the team they are working with finishes their campaign. We just called up Geelong and worked it out maturely in advance instead. Really not an issue whatsoever.

10 hours ago, Dannyz said:

Am I in the minority in saying that King should not be involved with Geelong?

The minute you are appointed as coach of the Melbourne Football Club, Geelong and the other 16 teams are instantly a rival.

Doing Geelong any form of favour is in contrast to the fiercely competitive elite clubs who don’t have room for niceties. See Sam Mitchell.

Danny I think he is doing the right thing honoring his commitment.

It should be Geelong that might have reservations not us.

Also just to shut McClure up, if the Cats win the GF, we have a 3 time Premiership Assistant Coach, rather than a 1 time one in Bucks.

Edited Friday at 23:252 days by Redleg

1 hour ago, Engorged Onion said:

Good thought provoking post @Dannyz - my perspective is I think it’s a pretty outdated view to suggest that the minute you’re appointed coach of Melbourne, every other club suddenly becomes your sworn rival and therefore you should sever ties immediately.

Yes, of course Geelong is a competitor on the field, but “rival” doesn’t mean “enemy.” Modern coaching isn’t tribal in that sense. It’s relational, professional, and grounded in integrity. Coaches regularly move between clubs, finish out contracts, and maintain friendships across the competition without compromising their new role.

To assume that King can’t act with professionalism while helping Geelong through finals is to mistake rivalry for bad faith, and that’s a fallacy.The suggestion that he’s somehow disloyal for honouring his commitments underestimates both him and the systems in place.

Transitions take time, and part of being a professional—whether in sport or any workplace—is seeing through the work you’ve started, showing respect for colleagues, and leaving an organisation the right way. I'd say far from being a weakness, that’s actually the very quality Melbourne have hired him for: integrity under pressure.

The bigger picture here is that the game has evolved beyond the old “us versus them” lens. Rivalries matter, yes, but the best modern coaches know that composure, relationships, and respect are just as important. King staying the course with Geelong isn’t a betrayal of Melbourne—it’s a demonstration of the kind of leader he’ll be once he starts work. This is contemporary leadership, from all of the MFC FD, and Steven himself and the GFC.

Another layer to add to this is also the Geelong side of it. You all of a sudden have the head coach of an opposition team with full access to your club still. The way I see it, is it speaks volume of the character of King and the culture of Geelong that he wanted to see it out.

In almost all other situations the new coach has left the team playing deep into September to hang out to dry somewhat. Something I've always thought is a massive disadvantage, and frankly unfair.

To me it shows his integrity and how strong of a club Geelong is that he wants to stay there with them to finish what he's started.

@WiseDeeMan Again, great point. I do question what else is he going to learn in 14 days what he hasn’t learned already however. Kind of like this espionage

Edited Saturday at 00:042 days by Engorged Onion

It sounds petty but I really didn’t like seeing the Melbourne head coach in a cats polo. I’m being unreasonable but it just felt wrong

More than happy for King to finish of the season with the Cats

It’s good business from both us and them

Besides, if he can do for us what he’s doing for the Cats I don’t think too many people will be unhappy

47 minutes ago, Ted Lasso said:

It sounds petty but I really didn’t like seeing the Melbourne head coach in a cats polo. I’m being unreasonable but it just felt wrong

Would the pettyness change if you saw the contract start date? 😘

Practically, he's merely finishing one project and moving onto another project... like going from Barwon Water to Melbourne Water and unlike supporters it's not evocative for him in the same way.

Can you imagine working in the industry and going through 4,5,6 different clubs, you'd be inoculated to the emotional meaning of the colours, the words, and the hysterical us vs them that most of us as young supporters are thrust in to.

Edited Saturday at 01:042 days by Engorged Onion

Do I have a problem with our new coach being deeply entrenched in finals footy, as a key member of arguably the greatest team of the 21st century - with access to their coaching IP and training standards and game day practices?

Lol no. To even for a second think him seeing out his time at Geelong is a negative is sheer madness - you literally couldn't get a better apprenticeship!

Well said engorged.

With the professionalism of the game now, any notion of someone having to overcome ‘competing loyalties’ is perfunctory performative parochialism in my view.

Steven King must take as much Geelong IQ as he can. They just seem to know how to extract the best from their players & create a system to beat teams.

7 minutes ago, Mouseymoo said:

Do I have a problem with our new coach being deeply entrenched in finals footy, as a key member of arguably the greatest team of the 21st century - with access to their coaching IP and training standards and game day practices?

Lol no. To even for a second think him seeing out his time at Geelong is a negative is sheer madness - you literally couldn't get a better apprenticeship!

I agree now that Geelong are in the GF. But I think I'd have preferred him to start at MFC this week after Geelong lost to Hawthorn (arrggh, what a choice). The trading/recruiting season is short and every week counts. He already has their IP. So is an extra GF experience of more value to us than an extra week involved with our list management? I suspect not, but it is what it is now.

Well I think he's entitled to it and we will reap the benefit of it.

3 hours ago, Dannyz said:

Am I in the minority in saying that King should not be involved with Geelong?

The minute you are appointed as coach of the Melbourne Football Club, Geelong and the other 16 teams are instantly a rival.

Doing Geelong any form of favour is in contrast to the fiercely competitive elite clubs who don’t have room for niceties. See Sam Mitchell.

Think you’re in the minority.

It’s an imperfect system but the real answer is to not appoint coaches prior to the end of the year. King’s worked for 12 months to get Geelong to a grand final, let him see it out.

Remember it’s a 2 way street. Geelong likely gave us their blessing for their best 2 assistants to present in lengthy interviews on Monday. King also was introduced on Friday, went to Brisbane for the weekend rather than Adelaide to watch the Hawks (likely family related) and came back for the presser and full day with the footy department.

24 minutes ago, Engorged Onion said:

Can you imagine working in the industry and going through 4,5,6 different clubs, you'd be inoculated to the emotional meaning of the colours, the words, and the hysterical us vs them that most of us as young supporters are thrust in to.

I kind of disagree on this tho. The best coaches lean in to the members support and healthy traditions of a club. When King is fully on board as of Monday next week I expect he’ll embrace red and blue. It’s not a regular work place

13 hours ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

Weddle (not wettle, as the commentators say), is having a stinker (he’s not alone).

Not a good game.

(Hawks used our pick 18 to draft him. We drafted Jeffo at pick 15. Which would you prefer?)

14 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

Think you’re in the minority.

It’s an imperfect system but the real answer is to not appoint coaches prior to the end of the year. King’s worked for 12 months to get Geelong to a grand final, let him see it out.

Remember it’s a 2 way street. Geelong likely gave us their blessing for their best 2 assistants to present in lengthy interviews on Monday. King also was introduced on Friday, went to Brisbane for the weekend rather than Adelaide to watch the Hawks (likely family related) and came back for the presser and full day with the footy department.

I kind of disagree on this tho. The best coaches lean in to the members support and healthy traditions of a club. When King is fully on board as of Monday next week I expect he’ll embrace red and blue. It’s not a regular work place

Agreed @DeeSpencer - of course when you're within the next club - you use 'we' 'us' and learn about the club invest in the relationships and the cultural ways of being, rather than remaining aloof...

Things that King had to deal with last night:

1. Stewart going off, meaning Clark came on and they had to decide where to use him

2. Weddle going forward to stretch the Cats backline. O’Connor follows him back spitting Logan Humphries to a wing

3. Ginnivan moves to the wing to add more skill

4. Dangerfield has to just about play full time mid to give the Cats the grunt after getting smacked in there early

5. Holmes isn’t getting a kick on ball, so he moves to the wing and plays a wing/back role to get involved in the game

6. Wizard is suddenly on ball and whether Hoisin Mullin tags him or stays back?

7. A chain reaction of how they manage Impey forward and looking super dangerous. Then Sicily forward late. Weddle in the ruck etc

8. The balancing act to save the game vs kick another goal and end it when the Hawks made their late charge in the last quarter

12 hours ago, Dannyz said:

Am I in the minority in saying that King should not be involved with Geelong?

The minute you are appointed as coach of the Melbourne Football Club, Geelong and the other 16 teams are instantly a rival.

Doing Geelong any form of favour is in contrast to the fiercely competitive elite clubs who don’t have room for niceties. See Sam Mitchell.

Seems you are in the minority but definitely not alone.

1 hour ago, Engorged Onion said:

Would the pettyness change if you saw the contract start date? 😘

Practically, he's merely finishing one project and moving onto another project... like going from Barwon Water to Melbourne Water and unlike supporters it's not evocative for him in the same way.

Can you imagine working in the industry and going through 4,5,6 different clubs, you'd be inoculated to the emotional meaning of the colours, the words, and the hysterical us vs them that most of us as young supporters are thrust in to.

Footy is different to working for some utilities company no matter how much people try to paint it as "just another job". If you remove the emotion and tribalism what is left? We're all just barracking for laundry to misquote Seinfeld, makes it all rather pointless.