Qwerty30

Flat track, b grade bowling.

of course he will cash in.

Back is shot, he has lost a close mate......

How much easier can it get?

Oh dear, sorry but it is very relevant.

He was re-signed on a 3 year multi million $$$$$ contract to coach for 3 years during 2013 in the middle of the drugs saga. Its ironic that he has hardly coached during that period!!! So his sacking cant be for his performance as Coach!!

Given the contract was negotiated and signed when the heat of the drugs saga was on and there was already pressure on Hird to quit by the broader football public, I strongly doubt he would have left all the aces in the pack on the other contractual parties hand. He would have enshrined some watertight exit clauses in his contract. He had the whip hand at the time as Little needed Hird to rollover and accept the AFL suspennsion.

The contract and situation under which it was negotiated between Hird and Little was unusual and contrived. It was not the normal situation under which a coach is normally engaged or extended in his tenure. And given it was the Messiah I doubt whether it was a standard contract that applied to other coaches. And from what we have seen from Hird it would have included special protections of his situation especially given he was already under siege for the scandal.

I am not sure he has a winning case for damages to reputation or career. I didn’t think he or EFC had a viable case to challenge ASADA through the Courts. But has that stopped him in any way from vexatious and litigious behaviour??? Hmmm……..

And Blind Freddie can realize that if he is removed from EFC he is finished in football and has no future in the football world. The messiah is finished. However he wont see it that way and I believe will take aim at EFC and AFL and argue any potential loss of income. He has shown if he is going down he will take all and sundry with him. He will try and maximize his exit. Aside from writing a book about it I am not sure how he will leverage any future benefit from his ungracious fall from grace.

All the other coaches you have spoken of have been able to find future sustainable work in the AFL. Hird wont. Hird’s contract conditions and its $$$ size, the extent of the reputational damage of the scandal on his future and the fact that he has not actually coached the side under this current contract makes this unique.

A question you might like to ask yourself is given the interests of EFC and James Hird appear to have diverged and given there have public strains between EFC/Little and Hird, why hasn’t Hird then been terminated? How do you explain the unusual flip flop behavior between the treatment and retention of Bomber and Hird?

I believe the Board are prepared to jettison Hird but Little’s diamond crusted contract with Hird has severely limited their power to do so and that when they have sought to move on him, Hird and his advisers have clearly reminded them of whats at stake.

And the Board would have an impossible case to sack Hird on the basis of the drugs scandal given there was no clear roles and accountabilities for any EFC executive at that time in regard player welfare, they have since endorsed Hird by giving him another more expensive contract.

That wasn't my point. I said that our financial problems weren't confined to the one administration but to successive administrations and that relates to the one from which Schwab took over which left a $5m black hole and the one before that when a previous CEO was said to have left a substantial unpaid tax bill in the drawer of his desk. The other point was that throughout these periods we were a house divided which is a condition that leads you to debacles like the tanking investigation, the collapse of our playing list from 2006/7 onwards, on field failures, poor recruiting, player development and coaching.

The thread is about the 2014 profit result and every time someone comments on an adverse outcome from the previous administration you undertake this continual and silly exoneration of them. Any time there is a question about the past administration of McLardy and Schwab you have to immediately try and re write history or weave in the accountability of administrations before them. And regardless of whether you think we tanked or not, the fall out from the AFL investigation was 100% the domain of the Board and management from 2009 onwards. And if its a “house divided” then its their responsibility and no one else to resolve it. You have been vociferous in your condemnation of the EFC Board, coach and players in respect the drug scandal. It’s a pity you cant seem to do the same in respect of MFC issues.

And I am glad PJ is undertaking the appropriate early steps to move us forward.

Should the players receive bans then id expect Hird and the remaining board members would have to go.

Agree.

But I think regardless they should have all gone by now.

I am not sure there is a practical or financial mechanism to exit Hird, Little and others quickly and efficiently for good.

So why does this not occur more often, there are examples of coaches getting sacked every year for doing a lot less then Hirdy. The board can sack the coach any time they wish they could sack him tomorrow and say they wanted to go in a different direction with a new coach, sure they will have to pay out his contract but breach of contract, damage to reputation and loss of future earnings is a bit of a stretch.

If you are aware of similar cases being won by AFL coaches where they have sued for damage to reputation and loss of future earnings etc I would love to hear about them.

The Hird case is quite unique as against other coaches.

1. Hird is on a fat contract of over $1 million per year for another 2 years.

2. Hird's case is unique given he is indelibly linked to the one of the worst sporting administration debacles ever

3. If sacked Hird would see for breach of contract (EFC would have to prove that they had Hird solely responsible for the drug debacle. I reckon they would struggle to stand a case against him)

4. If Hird wins a breach of contract he would be entitled to payment of his contract and awarding of damages in the case.

5. In addition, Hird would argue that illegal breach of contract has damaged his reputation within the sports industry and damaged his future earning capacity (ie further contracts of $1mil). The reality is IMO that once Hird is somehow extracted from EFC he is finished making any sort of living from football. He knows it and his dogged legal self serving litigation spree against ASADA is all about trying to pull others down to mitigate his fall. If sacked by EFC he would be going for broke against his old club (The reality is that this saga is destroying him financially given he has sold the Toorak mansion to fund the legal furnace).

6. Hird is in a corner and IMO would not hesitate to take his club to the cleaners to save his own bacon. It could get very messy, bitter and protacted. And also very expensive.

Ironically, the cheapest way out for EFC would be to have Hird finish his contract and they let him sail off into the sunset. However what is necessarily cheapest may not be necessarily be the most optimal way of addressing this situation.

I think the profit and loss figures show that it's more than just a matter of cleaning up the mess caused by one administration. The figures show it's far more deep seated and has been recurring through various administrations. The reality is that we need to have the whole club working together and not like a camp divided. The best outcome is one that allows for on field improvement as well as making good strides financially. That's PJ's challenge.

Actually the turn around in profit and loss figures from the current year and past year reflect the past administration's ills being cleaned up and put to bed by PJ.

In the Directors report from the 2013 Annual Report there was this:

Operating Net Loss (1,704,557) - PJ has cut over $ 1 million of unnecessary operating costs that he inherited from the past CEO.

AFL Investigation Costs (787,091) - Hmmmm - this was in regard matters occurring under the previous administration

Net Restructure Costs (after AFL funding of $1.45mil) (584,457) - Closing out contracts to members of the past administration including Schwab, Neeld and Connolly

Fixed Asset Write Offs (26,456)

Net Loss as reported in Statement of Comprehensive Income (3,102,561)

We still have the structural and strategic challenges ahead for the Club but PJ buried in one financial hit the restructuring costs from the old guard to try and right the ship. Its early days and there is much still to be done

But I am glad we agree on the challenge ahead for PJ.

Here is to making further progress on and off the field!!

Go Dees!

ed: Also they can whack Hird and the admin without doing much damage to competitiveness. So they can be hard on them and soft on the players which will have broad appeal.

The AFL need to be concerned with how the penalties appeal to ASADA first and foremost.

They need to strike a balance between appeasing ASADA/WADA and trying to minimise further destabilise and derail the competition. Its not in the AFL's interest to go soft in way they attract WADA's ire and challenge. They will be slaughtered in the media for doing so.

I suspect any penalty they hand down would have been road tested with ASADA/WADA. I suspect it will be 6 months.

And how are the AFL going to "whack" Hird? Hird already has the EFC board over a legal threat that if they remove him he is going to sue the living daylights out of them for breach of contract, damage to reputation and loss of future earnings. And aside from Dr Reid who in the administration should be whacked? Havent they all left the ship? The AFL do need to pressure Little and the relevant EFC board members involved over this period out of EFC and the AFL

FWIW, after cleaning up the debacle of the past administration during 2013 with a $3.1 million loss, the ability to steady the ship after such a woeful 2014 on field is notable.

Good sponsorship and benefit of cutting over $1 million of off field costs have certainly helped us toward forming a base from which to grow the Club.

The attraction of a marque coach in Roos has helped win back some of the disenchanted faithful. However the honeymoon is over and we need to see tangible results on the field to provide momentum to build on this outcome.

Well done PJ but the challenge is still definitely in front of you.

Are you suggesting some kind of disturbance in the force Luke?

Just made myself laugh as I envisaged a Jedi looking over financial reports!

May the force be with you.

I would not jump up for joy over the financial report for the MFC.

As there appears to be some very concerning issues in the Statement of Financial Position.

I will need to read the report before I can comment further, but from a quick look I am very concerned.

Crying wolf??

If they are repeatedly concerning why cant you articulate them.now?

I look forward to the indepth analysis..

The sad part for me is that all three can actually kick a ball which is what we desperately need, it's just all other aspects that they struggled with. However, it must be said all three had a fairly horror run of inuries for a while.

I think we needed the other facets more and that's why there gone.

The obsession with Scully is alarming, get over him ffs.

Completely agree.

It's not as though we have lost a star. We could not meet his exorbitant salary.

And is anyone prepared to give up Hogan and Toumpas.

We dodged a bullet with Scully. The club has moved on. So should its supporters

Another poster referred that Howe had been training with the defenders.

It will get crowded on the wing as there have been a number of leads suggesting Lumumba will be played on the wing.

Was pretty relaxed with the heading given MFC have had trouble hitting targets for years now

Yes we have great depth......just hope there enough class amongst it.

I don't hope, I know. We will see over the next months who is right OD: your relentless pessimism seemingly on all things, or my views on informed balance of probabilities. Best of luck!

Agree with you on the relentless pessimism matter.

Informed balance of probabilities = someone else's opinion not necessarily based on factual data

I instinctively agreed. But if you take a look into the stats, comparing 2014 to Howe's 2012, 2013:

2012: 16 disposals avg, 5.5 mks, 19 goals 25 behinds

2013: 13.5 disposalvs avg, 5.71 mks, 28 goals 16 behinds

2014: 17 disposals avg, 6.05, 5 goals 5 behinds

Now that's pretty basic stuff, but I'd argue that this probably suggests that Jeremy actually gets involved a lot when he's up forward and that's probably more valuable. 44 shots apiece in 2012 and 2013 will increase in a better side.

He's accountable and plays a better team game up back. Up forward he has been often not accountable and tends to play low % cute football.

I am more than prepared to sacrifice the sometime indulgent highlights reel if he is playing a more effective team style of game.

Swing man able to go between half back and half forward as required by the game (similar to Watts)

Watts a swing man???? Well I never.

I will concede that pick 3 for Frawley is above market value - but pick 3 is only a number - lets see how the player goes.

Disagree we have lost a match hardened KPP who has been sought after by the reigning premiers and we get an unproven junior who has potential but will likely take 3-5 years to validate that potential.

Can't see how we got above market value unless Brayshaw is a Gary Ablettt clone.

And who knows what type of impact the captaincy may have had on Jones three years ago. I remember at the time thinking how horrible all the options were. I thought Trengove in particular and Grimes were natural leaders but was worried about their inexperience. So glad this horrible chapter is in the past. Jones could quite easily be our captain for the next few seasons. Viney would be nicely placed to take over assuming his game develops to anticipated levels.

Agree about Jones. At the end of 2011, he wasn't the leader he is now. And there was the risk you speak about that it would have adversely impacted him.

Might be that the AFL needs more focus on the MFC than first thought.

Trust this assists PJ becoming more publicly vocal in support of MFCs interests in 2015.

And there is a little pre-season training grab of Howe from a couple of weeks ago talking about the team's progress and he makes reference to himself as a defender.

Gets his hands on the ball in the back line where he didn't do it enough in the forward line. Defender for mine.

somebody with at least a few years under the belt

Frawley Dunn Jones

You have proved Goodvibes point

Frawley had played 80 games and is not a recognised leader at the club.

Dunn was a fringe player who played 11 games in 2011 and was good a jumper punching.

In hindsight Jones would have been a better bet but has done little to date to establish his credentials.

While the Two jacks decision was poor, there was no clear cut or obvious alternatives at the time.

And if Neeld had not have come in and immediately destroyed his relationships with the few existing senior players there might have been broader options.

But it boggles that the MFC "brains trust" gave a newly appointed coach with no senior coaching experience a blank page to re write the club culture.

Brock has put in some really good games with the Blues. Putting him on the rookie list is not so silly as some think. Adds experience and depth.

It is very silly. Too slow in a a midfield that lacks leg speed

We don't need depth in the midfield.

We lack class. He offers us none of that.

I am not sure what your tetchy about in respect of the Cronulla decision. A deal was cut whichever we you want to nit pick it.

And I don't know why you are on your soapbox about the differences between EFC & Cronulla. That's a given. The seriousness of the EFC situation will result in more serious penalties than Cronulla. You have already acknowledge where in the same ballpark on that issue re the penalties. And that's going to require a deal to be forged.

As for ambulance chasing, it's a case of a number of poster chasing this disaster with rather ridiculous and hyperbolic assertions that reflect a sense of revelling in the drama for personal benefit. And it's ironic you accuse my ambulance chasing comment as over the top when you then go and accuse me of it. Well done sir. And as a lawyer you would be well versed in this art form so I guess I should defer to you on the practice