deanox

I've been saying for a while it cannot be addressed under the current AFL player movement rules. It is not possible to clean out and start again. It is not possible to bring in 5-6 players of true quality in a single year. We are in a cycle where it won't get better because we can only really being in 2-3 quality players max (trade our 1st and 2nd picks plus a FA) per year. And if you do that you don't get any quality kids. We have the ways forward: 1) draft/list assistance from the AFL to enable us to turn the list quickly, refresh the playing group, and bring in on field leaders. This would involve bringing in 5-7 new senior players to the club. Not necessarily world beaters but culture builders, leaders. One of them at least needs to be a good mid fielder. The others all need to be workhorses who run hard and do the team thing and expect it of others. 2) We do the above the long way. That will involve long term (5-7 years) off field stability in both administration and footy department combined with continued large list turnover each year to constantly remove the poor culture and attitude thatdevelops, reinvigorating the list. This will be combined with incremental improvement in the list, a couple of players a year, will get added to the "keep" list while the others rotate. The problems with this are that it takes a long time to get the base culture right with only incremental improvement in the list (but once we are there and this culture is removed we are placed to improve quickly like other clubs do) and neither supporters, media or players like this. The club will be under intense pressure in the media to perform on field. Players that represent good leaders and culture will not want to waste their career "fixing" our club but will look to move on. 3) we fold because it is too hard. And although we might not choose to fold, if we continually force off field changes through dissatisfaction with "performance" we will never get the opportunity to fix the culture first, so we will kill ourselves without realizing. I don't like being crap but unless we get a massive leg up in October/November, we need to stick it out long term. I hope that Roos coaches next year and doesn't hand over till 2017 as planned, because it will mean stability for 4 years before we start to come under real pressure (Goodwin will get at least one year of grace from the media) and 4 years may be enough see the culture turn. I hope that this year we trade well again; another Salem/Tyson 2 for 1 deal because we need a to bring in lots of quality players. I how we throw big money at a free agent for the same reason. And although i don't like the "trade future picks" because i think for most clubs it represents list management risk, I hope we on trade picks so that we can get an addition senior player boost immediately. A FA, plus two players for our first round pick plus one for next year's first round pick, plus one for this year's 2nd round pick. Loose Howe/Garland for picks and replace with another untainted senior player. Delist ~10 others and draft 4 other kids. Bring in 5 senior players and a draftee as above. All 6 in our best 22. Bring in four other kids to the list. Take 10-12 off it. We might have a chance of fixing the culture a bit quicker but our onfield crap will persist a bit longer.

So basically he said we, as a club, suffer from MFCSS?

You can teach them to run but you can't force them to run hard both ways or start next to their men. I don't know if he knows what he is doing but our players don't seem out of puff at any time, they just seem lazy. When we get caught it tends to be about positioning and the same when they seem to run past us.

You know, as much as it hurts to say this - because Hogan is the one true star we have - but if someone wanted him bad enough that they were happy to throw 2 first round picks, and there was a way we could turn those 2 first round picks into 4 starting midfield players, i think we'd be better off.

Another [censored] terrible 50 m penalty. And it went closer to 70 m.

Hard to believe we've had more scoring shots.

Pay the first free kick (Howe in the back) instead of giving them their 4th (?) from free kicks.

Fair call!

Agreed. The problem is that we are so bad that the current mechanisms for changing the list over aren't enough. We can really being at best 3 players into the club worthy of being in an AFL 22 immediately. A FA, and two trades with our first and second picks. We need to bring 8 players in worthy of that status just to be competitive.

Weer don't need a priority pick. We need 3 or 4 2nd round picks, all to be used to trade players in and let us turn the list over. Even with that we won't be any good. But at least we may be able to start building this list properly. Without that we are still 3 years away from getting the [censored] culture out completely.

Should be more than 8 goals down.

This may be the case. But it hasn't been today. The sane decisions are going different ways. Holding the ball. Chopping the arms. Nothing to do with first to the footy.

He has kicked 3/4 of our score today!

One sided umpiring right now

You can't have it both ways. You either play the whistle and everyone stops or you give the benefit of the doubt. If Hogan had stopped and not kicked it and find out our was our free, he'd get tackled and lose it. Stupid bloody rule.

There is more to the Bailey era than "we looked great in attack" or "we lacked defence". Those outlooks ignore the fact that the list was a shambles with no leaders, that we had been left behind in the massive cultural shift of the AFL which went from the 90s where success was built around individual stars who did their own thing and played like millionaires to the 2005 onwards era where it was team first, foot soldiers working hard together to a plan. We were caught 5-10 years behind that shift. Everyone else became modern professionals while we were still stuck in the 90s. We were never going to make it without instilling that change.

I'm going because i have seen is lose enough. We should win. If we only midday won i will be bitter and all in good spirits as we will get to sing the song. If we happen to belt them i want to be there for that to enjoy it. I figure we have more chance of winning this week than most so to miss out on such rare odds just because it is a dead rubber would be crazy after the [censored] we sit through at other times. Looking for the boys to play with cohesion that we've been lacking: maybe we will put it together with a bit less pressure? Looking for Hogan to dominate: that would put a smile on my face. Looking for to Garlett kicking a few against his old team. Looking for us to hit them hard and physically: I know Robinson plays elsewhere now but i still hold it personally against this mob.

I had stress leg fractures when i was younger and was told by medical professionals they could be managed through the rest of the season. I'm not professional level, so I'd like to know what the usual approach is for such injuries at that level. Is a "manage the injuries until we can't" approach typical? We know it is for many other injuries when we say "he's been carrying a knee" etc. So I imagine this isn't much different.

I agree with you on this. Even McDonald was probably pushed on the back of his calf injury. The origin of our current woes harks back further than just Neeld or Bailey. It is the lack of onfield leadership development to replace these guys, which goes back to the Daniher era.

Probably not well stated. But if the argument is that the extra public holiday hurts small business owners who have to pay their employees extra, there is also a fair argument that the public holiday is potentially beneficial to non small business owners (i.e. everyone else) who get a day off to spend with family friends etc. And given there are a lot more people who are employees than employers, i suspect the majority of people would benefit from this.

My small business credentials are not in the hospitality industry. They are in the consulting industry. It will hit us harder than you because we don't have the option of opening and making money that day like you do. Our product is man hours, and changes like this cost are factored into our hourly rates when they are reviewed. But the simple thing is, like any regulaton, we all just have to suck it up and work within the system. There are about 5 million people in Victoria. In 2009 there were ~500,000 of which over 300,000 were non-employing. This is beneficial for a lot more people than it will potentially hurt.

So in this statement you showed that a) you obviously don't frequent cafes/restaurants /etc. regularly and that b) you clearly don't understand basic business. Many cafes already implement public holiday surcharge. It is pretty much expected anywhere in Fitzroy, Richmond, Brunswick etc. And given that supplies and goods, and overheads (including rent, power, administration, equipment etc) all remain constant whether you open or not, that increase in staff wages for the day is more than off set by a small percentage increase in menu prices that day.

I do get it. I have previously been a long term casual worker and now I am part of a small business. I do get 4 weeks leave, of which the first 8 days automatically goes at xmas. Basically most workers get 2 weeks a year outside of Christmas. That isn't much time to spend with their kids or spend their money at tourism/hospitality/recreational services which will generate additional income as a result of this decision. In a society that is as time poor but financially well off as ours, there is nothing lost by having some time at aside where work isn't the priority. If a small business owner cannot manage this into their yearly budget they are a terrible manager. The carry on its effect is over the top. I agree some casual staff may lose a shift, but only if the business closes. If it stays open the casual staff are just as likely to gain a shift, as the regular full and part timers take the day off so extra casuals are required to fill the roster. And I'd love to know what business isn't price based. Are you giving away your good and services for free? Or are you a not for profit organization? Otherwise there is a price somewhere. And that price should factor this in.

I have no problem with an extra public holiday in the second half of the year. From Easter to Christmas there are only 2 (melbourne cup and queens birthday) so an extra one gives people a break. And it is in school holidays which is important for families. Anyone who is saying that it will "cost" too much is focusing on that particular weeks balance sheet or just the cost and not the bigger picture. An extra public holiday reduces staff output by 0.4% for the year, or assuming double time would increase wage costs by that much. Assuming staff costs are half your product cost then you are only looking at 0.2% increase in your product price. Will it impact this year? Maybe. But when you do your business planning and assessment you factor these things into your cost and pass them on to customers. Standard annual wage increases would impact more than this. All Victorian business is on the sane boat so it had minimal impact in competitiveness in most industries. If you run a small business in hospitality change a 20% public holiday surcharge. People will still pay it. I'm not sure I like grand final Friday though. It is set up to fail. If the parade flops it will be front and center on the news. I would have picked another day in those school holidays and found another reason to justify it.

In my view Roos was brought in to bring stability to the football department and to develop a culture in the footy department and playing group that week at us up for the long term. That process was always going to take 3 years to establish the culture. Weer are on our way. Key resignings. The list is improving. In the meantime we are seeing some signs of improvement on field but not as much as some people have hoped. That will continue to improve as a) Viney, Brayshaw, Hogan etc play more games together b) we continue to draft/trade to improve our midfield c) we rid the list of players like Bail and Jones, who while they give their all, will never be quality AFL players and d) the playing list gets used to stability of footy dept and therfore message and game plan, learn the systems etc. Yes out match day coaching could improve, but that isn't the difference between finals or not. At the start of next year, we are legitimately going to say "we are aiming for finals this year". Will we make it? Maybe. I expect we'll finish between 7-12. But when was the last time that we could say with honesty, that we were aiming for finals and had a realistic chance (no matter how small)?