Red But Mostly Blue's Content - Page 93

10 minutes ago, BillyBoy said:

I have been following MFC since the early 1960s and have been a long-time paid up Member (in high tier of the membership commitment).

I live in NSW but up until this year I have attended 16 games a year in Melbourne (as per home-and-away Membership).

I don't think I will renew my membership again this time around.

Why?

1. I did not withdraw my membership this year even though I knew there would be no possibility of attending games. I did write to the MFC asking them to reciprocate by negotiating cheap Kayo subscriptions for members, particularly those in NSW, who rarely are able to even watch the games on TV (7 Mate only carries a few games up here). MFC declined that suggestion. So I concluded the loyalty in these difficult times was one-way - me to them.

2. Irrespective of the fact they mistakenly renewed the senior coaches contract for some years it is clear he is consistently out coached by smarter operators. He needs to be replaced. He appears inflexible and is often outwitted by other strategies (the Footscray game was a classic example of that).

3. His game plan, inasmuch as there is one, relies on skill levels that our players do not seem to have. I cannot tell whether that is a basic talent issue (player problem) or a lack of player development issue (coaching problem).

4. They consistently select players that are incapable of the standard. Hiding Oscar in the forward line yesterday was embarrassing.

5. I did manage to see a game in Sydney this year. Melksham was playing poorly and at one stage he came off the field to the interchange and a supporter (there weren't many) shouted something about getting a move on (nothing offensive) and Melksham replied something like "come down here you [censored]" (threatening the spectator) which summarised his disdain for those who support the club through thick and thin. He rarely sets the world on fire with his play, often doesn't contest and is clearly a product of poor decision-making from the coach via his Essendon connection.

6. The fact they select players who cannot compete with the better teams and/or (most importantly) lesser teams that display more earnest indicates a recruitment problem. Despite all the fanfare about Lever, for example, the rate of return to the club from his contract is very low, and I am not including his injury period (which was not his fault) in that assessment. He talks a lot about leadership but is not worth the fee. Steven May is clearly playing well and apart from his initial misadventure (overweight/undertrained etc) has contributed strongly to the club. But he is also expensive. That outlay might have been justified if we were that close to contesting the GF. But we are light-years from that now and we should have used that cash to develop some younger talents. Some of the other recruitment decisions and trading away draft picks are mind-boggling.

7. I don't mind the team losing - we have been loyal for decades with that the norm - but when I saw players not even running last night as Sydney players broke tackles with ease - then one have to question why I pay several hundred dollars a year to fund that sort of player commitment. There is a disconnect somewhere and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. The post-match analysis from the journalists often highlight the lack of two-way run from many of our players, who often seem to be coasting. I have seen that a lot.

These are reasons among others why I find it difficult to continue. I thought things were on the improve with Jackson/Roos. But whatever development work they put in seems to have been squandered by a series of poor followup decisions, including the senior coach appointment.

It is very hard psychologically to remain anything other than detached from what is going on with the MFC. And, footy after all is just a game that we seek a bit of fun away from our other, more serious endeavours in life.

Two things the club should do to change this:

1. Get an established senior coach who has demonstrated their skills. If the club asked me to put in an extra hundred bucks or something to help them pay out existing contracts I would do that in a flash.

2. Stop talking about brands and all that hype and admit that the team is nowhere near being a successful finals club with its current list and use that cultural shift to renew the list. St Kilda and Carlton are now ahead of us in prospect and Sydney and Fremantle will next overtake us.

Great post, perfect summary really.

Agree - we have an opportunity to correct things but we have to make some immediate, tough decisions or else we'll continue to be overtaken by other clubs.

We're wasting the good talent we DO have (and we do have it), and sorely need to recognise that something very ordinary happened to our culture long ago and it has not been restored. The marketing videos don't restore a thing, they just keep putting our deficiencies in the spotlight to be mocked when we don't deliver, which is about as close a thing as we have to a brand right now - i.e. disappointment, false dawns, over-inflated egos. I don't mind ego, I guess, but you need to win things for that sort of crap.

We're a great club, but the glory days fade day by day and we're at risk of squandering talent and having to do yet another rebuild, which will be harder and harder to do as the years go by - who would want to join this basket case when you could go to the other clubs on the rise?

For things to change, we have to change.

1

Sign In

Posts posted by Red But Mostly Blue