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Our game plan over the past couple of years has been about winning the football at the contest. Our Number one strategy was to push an out number to the contest control the football mainly by hand till we get a player in the clear to kick it forward. To achieve this outnumber has severely effected our forward structure, most clubs will push a forward into the midfield to ensure we had the outnumber at the contest we often pushed 2 to 3 forwards to the contest. Our opposition knew this held their back six structure and basically allowed us to win the ball at the contest and get us on the forward 50 turnover/rebound. The main issue with our game plan is we don't have the skill set to keep the football, as soon as we turn the football over which we often did due to over handballing at the contest trying to free up the ball, there was always space outside the contested area and as soon as the ball escaped this area it was an easy take away by our opponents. Teams knew that we couldn't hit a forward target by foot which is vitally important as we are kicking into a outnumbered forward 50. Scoring of a rebound and setting up across half back was the way to beat us. They win the ball and flick it out to the fat side and we had no chance to get over to defend the exit. To me, we need to stop this consistent out number up forward it was often 2 -3 loose defenders against our forwards. Back our mids to win the footy, if you look at Richmond and Bulldogs, that is what they do keep pushing the ball forward knowing the that they have players forward of the ball that will apply pressure.

May is a level above them. Viney has the mentality but not the communication/people skills, Maxy has the communication/people skills but not the mentality.

High performing organisations may have creeds, mission statements, and any number of motherhood statements. However they are not top organisations because of such statements. They are organisations that have appointed talented people and developed that talent. They recruit people that can grow into leaders of the organisation. As a result, they attract the best because everyone wants to be part of the organisation. It’s history and culture of success becomes a way of being and individually and collectively people are driven to work hard and perform at a high level. People are ingrained with this philosophy and way of working. Working as a team is a natural organic thing. There is innate talent/skills and this talent is nurtured and developed. There is mutual respect between team members and these individuals assist one another to achieve their goals. Norm Smith Esprit de Corps as commented on by Lucifer is an effective explanation of success. It’s as good as anything. Slogans will always be used in organisations but it comes about as a result of the people you hire, train, coach, and, the people you place in leadership positions. Then success becomes innate to the organisation and follows almost naturally.

Creed is good.

We had one: 'Esprit de Corps' in 2018, borrowed from Norm Smith: "We have this spirit at Melbourne. It embraces loyalty to the team, to the coach and to teammates. It is the spirit essential for success". We seem to have lost sight of it since then. Don't hear it referred to anymore. Good discussion of it here:

Go for it 'Jimmy', I'm interested...

Agree. Having leaders who can provide on field direction is super important in any team sport, but perhaps even more so in footy given the challenge a coach of getting a message (even more of challenge with the stupid restriction on runners) to players, the size of the playing field and the complexity of having 18 players on the ground. I reckon another key element is players who show leadership with their effort. It has always been the case but more than ever lazy players are exposed in modern footy and it infests the team. In the latter third of the season, Fox and 7 were using more down the ground shots and when watching games i started using the Telstra tracker on the AFL live app (thanks for the tip on that Deaonox). Both reminded me of how many players are within a 50 metre radius of the footy at when the ball is in motion (something you can see siting high in the stands at games), how much running is involved and how critical hard running is in term of both offensive and defensive transition (in particular defending the switch). There is a well established psychological theory called social loafing. Social loafing refers to the concept that people are prone to exert less effort (unconsciously or consciously) when working collectively as part of a group compared to performing a task alone. Applied to sports it can be the difference between winning and losing, particularly I would have though in sport like AFL where a team has 22 players (as opposed to say 10 playing basketball) so plenty of scope for loafing. Leaders play a key role in mitigating against social loafing as the two key strategies to address it are accountability and team cohesion. True leaders apply maximum effort (in games and training), which serves as an important benchmark and supports accountability ('people can see i'm not working as hard as Steve May, i better lift my game'). Their work rate also means leaders are more able to hold team mates accountable for not working hard enough - hard to challenge a teammate for not working hard enough if you don't. His teammates wouldn't have been down on May for giving Frost an on field bake, but i can't imagine they'd be too thrilled with Gus giving anyone a bake (or Melksham for that matter- who seems to do his fair share of on field criticism, which reckon would rankle a bit) And leaders play a critical role in building and maintain team cohesion. During a game of footy this might manifest with the sort of direction BW511 notes, or reinforcing team rules, or standing up for a teammate who has been roughed up, or words of encouragement to a player who who has made a mistake or at quarter time huddle. Conversely something known as the sucker effect suggests if one person starts social loafing more group members will then social loaf. Colin Sylvia was the perfect example of this phenomenon I reckon.

Pointless corporate [censored]. Nothing matters except winning games on the way to a flag.

Maybe some marking advice for the forwards?

A creed is a statement that has an aspirational quality. A game plan is a plan for winning, an implementational strategy. Putting into place individual and team tactics to maximise performance and nullify your opponents. Much prefer the word “tactics” to game plan.

In my case od, the root of evil comes from overloading on Shiraz

Following on from this, I think a ‘game plan’ is reliant on strong leadership and direction from a couple of key players, rather than the whole group intending to play deliberately for 120 minutes. The Lions, Hawks and current Tigers side have/had a few very smart operators on field who control what goes on - when to attack, when to press defensively, when to grind it out. I’ve said a few times before that we don’t have enough on field generals directing traffic. I’m not the biggest Goodwin fan, but it must be infuriating having to hold the players hands all game to get a result. We are also very shaky at winning contests individually, so we have to setup defensively as our default. There’s so many important 1 on 1 contests in a game and I’d guess we would go at 40% or less in them. The only two players on our list I would be 100% confident of winning their position on any day, against any opponent are Steven May and Max Gawn. Even then, a Gawn win can be very hollow

And just to add ... no accident that the one area of our game where we're consistently doing well is in the backline - where we have both experience and in May and Lever, leadership.

Wowsa? It goes without saying that developing and implementing game plan is a key responsibility of a senior coach, but I wasn't making a list of the responsibilities of a coach. I was responding to a comment about about our appalling performance in the two games in cairns. Sure Goody has to bear some responsibility for preparation and poor selection etc but those losses were down to the players, pure and simple. The game plan was barely a factor. In the Freo game the players were simply to too lazy to stop Freo's spread, just as they were against the dogs. Against the Swans, not for the first time they played stupid football in the wet and windy conditions. Is that on Goody? In both games they were clearly not switched on. Of course Goody plays a role in getting them ready but these guys are professional footballers playing at the elite level. Being ready to play is ultimately their responsibility. An AFL player expecting the coach to take responsibility for them being ready is amateursville. And JG, without wanting to open a post Omac argument front, it is just nonsense to suggest Goody has been slow to make changes to the game plan since 2018. The fundamentals haven't changed (contest out, win the ball at the contest, pressure) but our game plan has changed quite markedly over the 2019 and 2020 seasons. I'm surprised you think otherwise. In my view the players have really struggled with the evident change in game plan and this was big factor in our poor 2020 season. And arguing we have selected the same side for too long equally nonsensical, given it is palpably untrue. I mean in 2019 injury made this impossible and i don't think we once had the same team run out. I'm pretty sure we had the most changes of any club in 2019. This season injury was not an issue and from the get go goody elected to chop and change players, positions, set ups and structures and continued to do so all season (eg selecting Preuss to play as a forward in Cairns). Indeed i was critical of his fluid approach to selection all year and would have loved it if he 'selected the same side' week in, week out and kept players in the consistent positions. And to say Goodwin is largely responsible for where we are as a club? Wowsa. Sure he bears his share of responsibility but largely responsible? Please. By that logic Hardwick is largely responsible for the tiger's success. And Clarkson - for both the success of the hawks and the more recent failure. In the book I referenced previously in this thread - the Captain Class - its author, Sam Walker, set out to identify the greatest sports teams of all time and answer the question as to what makes a great team? He devised a formula, then applied it to tens of thousands of teams from different sports leagues all over the world, going back to the 1850s. He ended up with a list of the 16 greatest teams ever, what he refers to as tier one, and 106 tier two teams who were close. There are two Australian teams in tier one: the 1993 -2000 Women's hockey team and the Collingwood 1927-30 VFL team. In the book he specifically addresses the role of the coach and the question of how big a factor they are in making a team great. His answer, based on more than decade of research and hundreds of interviews, was not a very big factor at all and certainly not as influential as most would assume. He noted that whilst of course coaches play an important role, the biggest factor in teams success is it players and in particular inspirational leaders. In terms of the ability of the coaches for his tier one and tier two teams (so in his considered opinion the 131 greatest sports teams of all time) he had this to say in an interview: "I never imagined I’d be saying this, but the evidence was remarkably clear. The coaches of these elite teams were all over the map. Some were successful, inspirational, or tactically brilliant, but others were decidedly not. Most had unremarkable records before (and after) they took over these exceptional teams, or had little to no coaching experience. Several teams even changed coaches. It’s not that coaches are irrelevant – far from it. But even the most revered ones – Vince Lombardi, Alex Ferguson, Bill Belichick and Phil Jackson – achieved their best results in partnership with a captain who didn’t always do what he was told'. In terms of my comment that once the game starts it is 95%, maybe more, on the players, this quote from Alex Ferguson (soccer's Vince Lombardi) makes my point well: “As hard as I worked on my own leadership skills, and as much as I tried to influence every aspect of United’s success on the field, at kickoff on match day things moved beyond my control.”

Can I also point out to Bdh that it's "you're" (short for you are) welcome, not "your". Don't mention it.

Your posting that Goodwin has had an affair, do you realize how dangerous that can be. Rumors spread by fools and believed by idiots.

BOOOOOOOOOO!

You need to have good info regarding this if your going to spread unsubstantiated rumors around.

The value happens when it is lived, not just written down. It has to come from the players, owned by the players and lived by them. Having the club make it is just another waste of paper.

"The love of money is the root of all evil" is the whole saying and is actually a Biblical quotation.

Sam Walker was the founding editor of The Wall Street Journal's sport section and its global sports editor for a decade, covering elite sport around the world. For the book he spent over a decade analyzing data and records and interviewed hundreds of people (coaches, players, managers, owners, administrators etc etc) involved in elite sporting teams across the planet, including Collingwood. Sure its ones man's opinion but he has done the work to back up that opinion. And it is pretty convincing argument I have to say. Don't worry about the essay on why Goodwin is the majority reason of our stagnation. But can you provide some evidence there are 'many footy experts both in the media and or who work within the AFL who know full well that Goodwin's shortcomings as a coach in a variety of areas are the main contributing factor as to why we are a middle of the road side right now'. It shouldn't be difficult to do so since apparently there are so many football experts who hold this view.

It reminds me of that old saying LH. Money is the root of all evil.

LOL! ? Missed it entirely! Covid has numbed my brain!. Have gone into a voluntary mini lockdown as I live right in the middle of half the current covid active cases. With new exposure sites being listed each day some visited by a case 8 -12 days earlier, one never knows where is next. Anyway, that is my excuse. Or I could blame a typo ?. Just for the record post should have read $500k.

That's the 2018 game plan right there. Goodwin's game plan has focused first and foremost on dominating time in forward half. He has always believed that successful footy sides ensure the ball is in their forward half more than their opponents. I don't have the stats to hand to say whether he's right about that or not. In 2018 we achieved this through prioritising stoppages and clearances. We ran one off the back of the square to ensure we had an extra number at centre bounces and we regularly swapped out our sixth forward for an extra number through the middle. We then scored heavily through locking the ball in our forward half. And we used a high forward half press, with our key defenders in the middle of the ground, to lock the ball in that forward half. It largely worked, we scored heavily, and we won 16 games doing it. So we had a game plan. Since 2018 it's fallen apart for a number of reasons, including that it wasn't a particularly sustainable game plan to begin with. We've changed things since then, although Goodwin's core focus appears to me to remain time in forward half dominance.

Money, the AFL prioritised that above the effect on the MFC players.

I've never wanted the Seahawks to win before. I felt significantly dirty doing so yesterday. Then the Titans getting up on that last play field goal thanks to that AJ Brown catch just before was a fitting end to a good game (and saved me in this comp!). Thanks @Macca for running things again!

Very very good point BW Even when our guys are on top in a game there is always a critical turnover at some point in the game that we seem incapable of recovering from and then the momentum changes and we are very soon on the back foot defending grimly> How many times we see this. It is very frustrating to watch and if Goodwin cannot fix this flaw then our improvement and results will not be forthcoming

Browns to beat Steelers!

Yep, particularly May. He was awesome this year. Most of all because of his incredible leadership, desire and a hatred of losing. A team man. In some respects his season reinforced to me how much we have lacked that sort of leadership over the years. Perhaps I'm being a bit harsh on Jones but could argue you need to go back to neita for that level of leadership. I reckon Maxy is getting there and , viney too. So to have three such leaders in this current team is a real positive.

I believe it revolves around inter-office relationships.

For those who don't know, a "Creed" is something that can be a formal doctrine or set of beliefs or philosophy that an organisation can encapsulate what they stand for. The development of a "Creed" is something which can also help with driving the standards and culture of an organisation. A good example of a "Creed" is one that our new MFC Head of Development, Mark "Choco" Williams' Father, the late and great Fos Williams created for the Port Adelaide Football Club in 1962. Here is a link to it for those who haven't read it before: https://www.portadelaidefc.com.au/club/history/the-creed The Port Adelaide "Creed" was recently brought to my attention with the celebrations of the 150th Anniversary of the Port Adelaide Football Club and I thought it would be a good idea to try and emulate something similar. Now obviously, we don't wish to plagiarise what Port Adelaide has done. But I would like to put forward the suggestion that the Melbourne Demons Football Club creates its very own and unique "Creed". Something that I hope will assist with shaping the long term culture of the Demons. Nevertheless, this is something that we as Melbourne Demons members and supporters can only suggest. But I think it is worthwhile pursuing this idea. However, it is crucial that this is driven by the Demons players, the captain Max Gawn, the coach Simon Goodwin, the CEO Gary Pert, the President Glen Bartlett and all other stakeholders of the Melbourne Football Club. Mark "Choco" Williams having input would also be invaluable. This is something the Demons players and coaching staff could develop as an activity while on their Pre-Season camp perhaps? Anyway, I am interested in hearing other Demonlanders opinions on this possible suggestion of developing a "Creed" for the Melbourne Football Club and ideally helping to develop our culture.

"I never dreamed of success. I worked for it." - Estee Lauder.

Only if your Hawthorne

Most of our woes in a nutshell IMHO.

The English language is a beautiful thing old dee, and beautiful things deserve to be treated properly. I'll happily confess to being a pedant but take offence at being termed a "nazi".

I've been schooled. Thank you.

Must admit, sometimes I'm a bit lazy reading emails. I get to the first line and then usually move on. Missed a few things over time I admit

Australia Post lost my pack and then claimed they never received it from MFC. It scanned at one of their locations in Dandenong South. Useless.

Sounds suspiciously like a mission statement. No thanks.

How about... "it will be better next season"

Great post Binman. You see similar evidence when looking at changing coaches mid-season. After all, if it's all down to the coach, or even mostly down to the coach, changing the head coach of a losing team mid-season should see things pick up. Not so it seems. This from a study of sacking coaches mid-season in the Spanish soccer league: "The empirical analysis shows that the shock effect of a turnover has a positive impact on team performance in the short term. Results reveal no impact of coach turnover in the long term. The favourable short-term impact on team performance of a coach turnover is followed by continued gradual worsening of results. The turnover effect is non-existent when the comparison between the new coach and the old coach is done over 10, 15 or 20 matches before and after termination." https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236043349_Coach_Mid-Season_Replacement_and_Team_Performance_in_Professional_Soccer

i would have thought our gameplan was fairly self-evident in the way we have played for several years win stoppages and clearances is the #1 mandate move the ball via overlap run fan wide on the rebound / entering 50 clear out / block central corridor and force teams to use the boundary thus theoretically maximising repeat stoppages and limiting oppo run (doesn't work if we don't defend exits effectively) defend maniacally limit turnovers (which can mean we sometimes look overly cautious when in possession) what i like is that it's not overly complicated, which is genuinely a good guide to the kiss principle; tiggas' game plan to me essentially appears to be defend maniacally, force turnover, run in waves on the rebound

Collingwood fans... "Our contracts aren't"

we have taken the title off Richmond. Our new name is ninthbourne!

All in all the narrative generally follows the performance. Very few people see it coming, they use perfect 20/20 hind sight to tell the story of how Hardwick or Clarkson, or whoever, was always a genius. If Goody coaches us to a flag everyone will say how they saw the seeds of brilliance even in the dark times of 2019. If he flops, well that is another story entirely. People are already warming up that narrative. As for me, I can see a definite game plan based around winning the ball at the contest and pushing forward aggressively. We had problems with getting spread from the point of contest and we seem to have addressed that now. We were leaking goals due to some poor positioning and an overly aggressive press. We have addressed that too, our back 6 are starting to gel and seem to know where to be. I think May and Lever are a big part of that, they both know how to organise. Our forward structure and entries have been a big factor in our losses. I don’t think that is news to Goody or the tactical geniuses on DL. A really big part of that has been confidence though. Fritsch couldn’t miss in 2018 from within the 50 meter arc. With his confidence down and pressure on him to be the major goal kicker he could barely put it through from directly in front during 2019 and to a lesser extent in 2020. Another factor has been forward half pressure. It seemed like when we eased the press our system didn’t adjust to keep the ball locked in the forward half with reduced numbers. Back to that confidence problem, that played out across the whole field in 2020. Suddenly we were making basic skill errors and turning the ball over way more. I think that was mostly between the ears. This team needs to notch up some wins and get some swagger going. We need to stop worrying about drinking our own bath water and embrace a healthy arrogance, and not give a toss what the media says. I am one who believes we do have the people do get the job done. I see talent everywhere and with quite a few, we have only seen the tip of the iceberg. Kossie, Jackson and rivers all have a ton of development in them. I’m watching Baker carefully next season, he has had flashes of real brilliance but let’s see. Brown was the piece we absolutely needed, the competition between him, Weid and TMac will be very healthy. I see Jackson as something completely different and I’m really keen to see him develop. To say we don’t have a game plan or a recognisable style is just wrong. Sure, it is a work in progress, and sometimes we go to pieces or make a string of basic blunders, but I for one can see what Goody and the coaching group are trying to put together. If they tune it and get results they will be hailed as geniuses, if not well, let’s just wait and see. There is plenty of time to get the knives out and carve into our own when and if that happens.

Of course he's under the pump. Should've made finals in 2020 and lost two games to bottom of the ladder sides when it counted as well as getting off to a poor start due to being stubborn with player selection. If the team has a poor start to the season he will be struggling to keep.gis job by Queens Birthday and if we miss finals he's gone.

My view is that we were more looking to supplement Pickett, not replace him.

MELBOURNE B: HIBBERD, MAY, HORE HB: SALEM, LEVER, RIVERS C : LANGDON, PETRACCA, BAKER HF: HUNT, WEIDEMAN, LAURIE F: FRITSCH, B.BROWN, PICKETT FOLL: GAWN, OLIVER, VINEY IC: BRAYSHAW, JACKSON, MELKSHAM, TOMLINSON EMERG: HARMES FREMANTLE B: LOGUE, HAMLING, COX HB: WILSON, PEARCE, RYAN C : SERONG, FYFE, HILL HF: MUNDY, LOBB, WALTERS F: SCHULTZ, TABERNER, STURT FOLL: DARCY, CERRA, BRAYSHAW IC: CONCA, ACRES, AISH, YOUNG EMERG: DUMAN 3 KEY MATCH UPS VINEY V FYFE Viney is a good tagger and should go to their number one player in Fyfe. Harmes is also a chance if he plays. MAY V TABERNER May will hopefully continue on his great season and shut out Taberner. B.BROWN V HAMLING What a way to silence the critics than kick a bag against Freo Go Big Benny!