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2020 was shall we say an interesting year. Three days before a scheduled Knee replacement in February, we discovered that despite 25 years of Private Health Cover, Knee replacements were 'off-side'. In the meantime, our one year old Swiss White Shepherd began its journey into some kind of urban sanity, our daughter, despite being put off from her part-time job at Laurent, had a good year at Uni, and from April onwards my Wine Agency business went uphill instead of treading water. And, most importantly, I managed to get my tally of Short Stories from 14 at this time last year to 43. In the meantime, my wife has found a UK publisher for her Novella and I started an exercise regime which alleviated the pain of my severe case of Double Knee-monia. If there are any publishers in this readership group, I assure you that my stories are Nobel Prize quality. Ha Ha. All the best to the lot of you, friends and jousters alike, and though I have learned to not anticipate much, I have a feeling the Demons might be onto something bonzer in 2021.

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.”

Here we go LH. Membership prices frozen across all categories. Complimentary general admission tickets offered to 2021 members renewing as compensation. Membership packages with included hospitality offered complimentary function. Reserved seat renewal period extended to ensure no member loses a seat. htp://membership.melbournefc.com.au That is all she wrote LH. As I probably wont be going to a game next season I get nil. However it does not worry me I paid last year and would this year even if there was not season. Just a rusted on [censored].

The HS website has an article on how AFL clubs are rewarding member loyalty. Can someone who can get behind the paywall report what MFC is doing and how it compares to other clubs? Thanks in advance. btw, I didn't see or hear that there would be a 'reward' of some sort from mfc. Some people here reported receiving a pin with membership packs but neither myself nor my niece received one in our 'Redlegs' packs.

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

It seems that the team returns to full training on Wednesday, presumably at Casey Fields. Reports from any correspondents who own drones or who are capable of climbing the trees around the oval would be appreciated.

This is a good point. The first year they did custom cards I got a bit overexcited and paid $5 (!) for one, then the next year a blank card turned up when I would probably have paid them another fiver. Every dollar counts.

perhaps that was the point...

That is not a game plan. You have just described a game of footy.

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

Skills 101 of AFL game plans. Kick a higher score than the opposition.

I don't watch them I feel ill thinking of the game we tried very hard to lose and they have gone on to win flags and we cannot even get into the top eight most years.

I’m a Trident member. I received my badge, a lanyard and a couple of stickers No pin or any other “reward” offers

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

Do we have one?

Yep, wouldn't think Bartlett would make the public comments he did (which heaped the pressure on Goodwin) only to head in to a backroom and tell Goody to ignore it; everything's fine.

I got a pin but it might vary by membership category? Port gave a keyring. Some clubs upgraded everyone by one category.

I have hope of seeing our great club play at the Gee in front of a crowd in 2021 and in front of their members waving red and blue flags and cheering the boys on. Twenty thousand or so mostly members and singing the song as they venture out onto the ground. So be it to start with. The adrenalin pumping through your veins and being loud just supporting the boys in that famous jumper. I won't miss it for the world. Ending the day with a big win singing the song again and again, Bring on the opening round against Freo.

You don’t need to have been a forward to coach a forward line and a mentor such as Brown is not a replacement for a coach. Brown is a sounding board if he’s good at mentoring.

Sorry, jnrmac, on the day the Demons capitulated a final final's chance in Geelong at the end of 2016 I saw Weidemann take 6 pack marks in a game against Box Hill. He had six goals up by half time.The lad can mark. It's about confidence, and, unfortunately, in our case, [censored] delivery.

I thought it was just a lunch box cooler, but maybe your kids are tougher than mine! ;)

I signed up for a digital membership, and I already regret it. Firstly I can already tell given the AFL is running the digital memberships that it is going to be a big dumpster fire, as apparently the membership and tickets are loaded together as the fixture gets released. Trusting the AFL to do anything digitally, especially in combination with the powerhouse that is Ticketmaster (remember the joys of trying to buy finals tickets on their server?) doesn't sound good. Had I known the digital membership was being run by the AFL I wouldn't have signed up for it. Secondly, they still mailed me a pack, which is pointless because I asked for a digital membership to save on paper, and the pack itself was completely empty except for a thank you pin for sticking with the club in 2020. WTF? If you are going to waste postage and trees and plastic, all the things I specifically didn't want, can you at least send me some stickers so I can drive around in my 4WD with my Melbourne sticker like a [censored]?! Uncool.

I think they tell you when you get the renewal email to login to your member account for those extras. I'm an AFL member with MFC club support but I've done it for my kids memberships (selected a player for the card as well as purchase the birthday club add-on).

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.

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

We didnt even have one in 2018. We won through sheer weight of numbers by dominating clearances and getting an ungodly amount of inside 50's West Coast showed in the prelim final how easy we were to beat. Now they had a gameplan.

Cheers Macca, finally got some momentum at the right time but left the run too late. Was hoping for the Seahawks to lose?

THE GAME PLAN HMMM ! this is what l think , Get the ball to Big Ben as quickly as possible and if he doesn't get it then the crumbers have a chance if it hits the ground or the Weid and LJ could chip in for a mark. It is Simple just get the ball deep into the forward line. If that doesn't work then there is no game plan. The Game plan is get it to big Ben !

I contacted the club via email, and they said that you had to nominate whether you wanted a pin, and If i replied to the email, they would send me one. I replied and stated "yes please", I also explained that members who choose the roll over option don't get the opportunity to select such items or choose a picture for their membership, and suggested maybe they could fix this. Ph: (03) 9652 1111 PO Box 254 East Melbourne Victoria 8002 Email: [email protected]

And I’d love to know who was responsible for playing a 7 foot 8 ruckman at full forward in wild tropical conditions for a return of 3 possessions, 1 mark and 0.0. We all saw it as an own goal when the teams were announced to play Freo in a season defining game. Why couldn’t the coaching staff?

I believe it revolves around inter-office relationships.

What purpose does that fulfill? We need to beat them regularly, that is all that matters

That plan will get you a flag every year. our missing ingredient is we cannot hit targets going forward.

To strangle 17 opposition teams into submission. Otherwise it fails

2021 will be no better, except we know what to expect. Life will be shiphouse until a vaccine ? arrives, and that won’t be for many months yet. Football will be in hubs again this year, I suspect. The new UK strain is far easier to catch. i won’t be going anywhere near a stadium in Winter ? Pure Madness!!

What a finish in the Titans/Houston match! t_u was riding on a Tennessee win to tie with Clint in the tipping comp. The Titans won so we ended up with joint winners Seattle got up in the end too after being down 6 - 16 in the 4th Gorg wins silver whilst GtB wins bronze after Washington won More details to come later

2020 was incredibly tough, obviously no-where near as tough for me as others but it was a major drag. Caught up with a 'sort of' ex today who moved back to Adelaide in May and was getting some stuff back off me. I really don't think she fully understood how hard the Stage 4 lockdown period was. It can be real frustrating when people in that position who never really felt it use the line 'well it would have been like that for everyone'. Like many others I was hoping the mere changing of the calendar would change everything and I'm confident it will eventually but it's definitely going to be a slow burn.

Wowsa you've missed out arguably the most important responsibility a coach holds. Gameplan. Since 2018, Goodwin has been too slow to make changes to an unbelievable one-dimensional game plan which in-turn has seen us select the same side for too long, have the same problems during games for too long and lose games in a similar fashion for too long. Goodwin is largely responsible for where we are as a club. The two losses you speak about can still be linked to the same problem areas we've seen for this entire period I'm speaking about. It's nothing new.

Great stuff... I see these guys (North Mississippi Allstars) at Byron Bay Bluesfest a few years ago... another brilliant, yet largely unknown, band.

This.

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.

Jones was never an A grader. A solid B grader in a very poor side for years.

Second to none in ‘21. Best wishes to everyone.

Another great Demonland myth. (Though most supporters at most clubs think the same thing.)

My problem with Goodwin is his match day performance. For 3 years now we have seen him out coached during a game. I don't expect this to change.

I think positioning and not getting enough easy ball are far bigger problems for Weid than toughness or presence. The lack of reliable second option meant he had to be up the ground, and the game plan to get goal side for long bombs to the square left him sprinting deep. The Jackson - Weid combo worked briefly before Jacko went down. Personally I’d rather stick with that but the Brown-Weid combo should be able to produce similar results. But part of that is Weid finding easy ball when he’s up the ground or even leading inside 50. Add a couple of uncontested marks each game and another half a goal a week and he’s right up with the best forwards.

Coll vs WBD: Friday Night, FTA - AFL and broadcasters wanting to 'cash in' on the Treloar trade debacle. As an aside, not expecting much prime time, FTA exposure. With last year's top 8 teams to accommodate plus the AFL perpetual need to give Carlton and Ess maximum exposure we will be well down the pecking order. We will be in the bottom 8 in the tv stakes at least for the early rounds of the 'moving fixture'. Hopefully we start winning and earn better exposure as each fixture block is date/time scheduled

My 18 year old daughter receiving the “adult” membership pack, for the first time, complained there was no pencil case and face paint!

You must really dislike May, Lever, Hibberd and Langdon, then. It works both ways, you realise.

I have not thought about Terry Johnston for 50 years. Wow memory is an amazing thing. Now have a clear vision of Terry. A very good tap ruckman but slow and took very few marks. Naturally, running was not his forte. And he had a body like a Noons meat pie. The face on the Demonwicki link says it all.