Watson11

The point was that changes don't necessarily mean 3 years of wooden spoons and ending up like Norf. Would you rather Geelongs record the last 3 years or ours. Chris Scott is on the record as saying he would rather miss finals than hit September in poor form.

I’m not one that wants everything changed unless it’s needed. Let the review do its job. But if it’s needed no club has had more changes than Collingwood since the end of 2021. 3 CEOs, entirely new board, new coach. 1 flag, 2 prelims, one missed finals. A bit better than Norf.

Quote from Speed in the interview about the review. “Whether Gary Pert should be involved in this, there will be debate about that. I would prefer in those circumstances, in a year where there has been such turmoil there, that the chief executive not being involved in the review”

He was appointed in 2009. He famously developed the 10-year strategic plan in 2010 where they planned to win 3 flags by 2020......

With Daniel Shand, I would expect the review to be mostly focussed on culture which is what should happen. Daniel Shand would have learnt a lot about culture from Graham Henry, who is credited for building the All Black culture and for a period being the most successful team ever. Shand was there from 2004 with Henry. Henry is well known for stating "“Culture eats strategy for breakfast”. When he took over the All Blacks they had a win percentage of 75%, the best in the world, but a [censored] culture. They had failed in 4 consecutive world cups despite being favourites (A lesson for all demonlanders who defend our culture based on W-L records and not finals results). This article delves into it a little bit https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/sep/08/graham-henry-new-zealand-rugby-world-cup Under Henry their motto became "You’re an All Black 24/7" and they were expected to behave off-field, sweep the change rooms, be selfless etc etc. But the player leadership were a key part of the change. Under his reign the win percentage went up to 86%. The 2011 - 2015 percentage was 94% and they won the 2015 WC. The 2011 world cup is an interesting read in the context of our 2022/2023 straight sets exits. Everything that could go wrong went wrong for the All Blacks. But they had planned for it and their 4th string fly-half (Stephen Donald) got them over the line in the final. Henry was criticised a lot for "gifting" players All Black Caps over the years (Stephen Donald as a 4th stringer had 22 caps by 2011). But it was all about planning for World Cup scenarios such as the What-ifs. They knew exactly what to do if anyone got injured or in any unexpected scenario. Ironically, after 2015 the All Blacks have been gradually sliding. Their win rate over the last 4 years is down to 70%. Their could be other factors, but it would not surprise me that if the culture that Henry built over 7 years was maintained for a while and then started to slide. I trust Shand will do a great job.

You might struggle with the character limit on Twitter.

I agree that if it isn't a full external review its disappointing but don't agree that the FD is solely responsible for on-field performance. Fitness and injuries are critical. Our injury management has been poor since the end of 2021. If you send players out to play that are unfit or injured then either they don't perform to the standard (ie our entire team from mid 2022) or exacerbate the injury and miss lots of time (ala Clarry, Spargo etc). A review absolutely should include our medical/fitness departments and the CEOs role in resourcing and managing those departments. If the CEO does the review it will be a whitewash.

No that is not a fact. A possible scenario is Tracc confidentially raised the issue about standards and stated if he was not contracted he would leave. Club leaks this to Tom Morris. It gets reported, Tracc gets angry and the stand-off begins and it turned into a total firestorm, with Tracc trying to then find a way out. Does that mean Tracc is the catalyst for raising the issue? Or is the leak of confidential discussions the catalyst. I would argue the latter. The media wrote a lot of unsubstantiated stuff from "anonymous sources" and only towards the end identified the source for the Brand Petracca stuff. Both Morris and Barrett publicly identified the Brand Petracca stuff was leaked from inside the club and not Tracc. The club leaked other stuff trying to discredit Tracc. I have my suspicions as to why the media sought to clarify this. Bring on the review.

The 2020 strategic plan definitely should have had a goal to release another when the first one finished in 2023. Probably the most simple one to achieve as well. They could have just changed the dates.

Pies had one in 2017. Missed a flag by a flukey Dom Sheed kick in 2018.

Shoutout to @binman When everyone was saying the swans were gone 4 weeks ago he was saying they were loading…. That last quarter was something else. First time GWS have lost a 4th qtr when leading at 3qtr time under Adam Kingsley.

Zone defence through the middle of the ground in the absence of F50 pressure is absolutely dead. Mitchell killed it against us in 2022. He is an absolutely elite coach even though the stats are yet to demonstrate it.

I would add: High Performance Management/Medical Management Our fitness this year has not been as good as prior years. In my opinion, our fitness/medical management in 2022 cost us the flag that year. No one could get near us in the first half of games. This is not a personal indictment on our Chief Medical Officer, as I am sure she is a very good doctor and will be an even better one as she gets more experience. But she was appointed Chief Medical Officer of MFC in 2020, and at that time had not finished sportsmed training (From her bio - "she commenced her specialty training in Sports Medicine in 2016 and completed it in 2021"). I think a lot of the poor decisions that have been made re injuries are not helped by the issues/manner of dealing with the previous doctor, the AFL culture around playing injured, and the relative inexperience of the replacement.

I think it’s a very short bow. It’s fact that both Damien Barrett and Tom Morris said the brand Petracca [censored] came from inside the club and not Tracc or his team. If that’s a lie then the club should sue them. It’s also fact that it was reported that Tracc told the leaders the problem was the players, and he told the players the problem was the leaders. Was that made up, sourced from Tracc, or a leak? In your opinion did ANBs manager leak ANBs announcement? People stay with an organisation for a lot of reasons. Law firms get a bad rap about toxic culture and misogyny. But people still stay. They have formed close friendships with some colleagues, get paid well, think things will improve, concerned things are no better elsewhere etc. You’re welcome to your view about our culture. I won’t be convinced all is well or that Tracc is the problem after the events of the last month.

All true. Although conflict and disagreement is absolutely constructive in the right culture and extremely helpful. The blog below is a simple but powerful tool for teams. https://www.executiveagenda.com/resources/blog/five-dysfunctions-team The problem we have, is a complete breakdown in trust at all levels, amplified by the recent leaks.

But Tracc didn’t walk away. It seems he may have wanted out but that is unverified. And even if he did, it’s possible he initially had issues with the direction of the club which are legitimate, raised them, and said he would leave if he didn’t have a contract (initial Morris story). It’s also possible that Tracc was so aggrieved by that story leaking that it made everything worse and he suddenly entertained leaving more seriously. But no-one really knows as everything other than Tracc’s media statement is based on unverified sources and leaks. I’ll back Tracc. I’m usually pretty quiet at the footy but I’ll be as vocal as I can be when Tracc runs out for us next year.

He did an interview on AFL360 a couple of nights before that piece when he broke down on national TV when discussing the effect his injury had on his partner and family. He was clearly traumatised. And I don’t doubt that at that time Tracc was still coming to terms with all the events that happened. As he was when he sat down for his MFC video.

Because my belief is he raised serious issues in the club confidentially, issues that need to be addressed, and the initial leaks more than likely came from the club, just like the ANB leaks, Kozzie leaks, and several leaks related to Tracc. It’s a long piece of string for Tracc to state to insiders that he is unhappy and if he didn’t have a contract he would leave, to what ended up playing out in the media.

There are 2 takeaways from the Tracc debacle for me. The first is that Tracc’s reputation has been smashed. The second is that our club has at least 1 and probably more people that are totally happy to relay private conversations to the media. It seems to be generally accepted that Tracc or those close to him leaked the initial story to Tom Morris. Skuit stated “Things are said along these lines to people within his circle, which then filters into the media” How does anyone know that? It’s taken as fact but totally unsubstantiated. What about the leak of ANBs trade request. Or Kozzies? I listened to Barrett yesterday and he ranted about Brand Petracca wanting to go to a big club and going rogue etc. When challenged as to how he knew that, he said because that’s what Petracca said. When challenged further Tracc hadn’t spoken to Barrett and it was clarified that Tracc told people inside Melbourne who told Barrett. Who knows whether that message was skewed to try and make it look like Tracc was the problem. It’s also reported by the media that Tracc was telling MFC players Tracc is unhappy with the leadership, and telling the leadership he was unhappy with the players. I’m not sure about journo’s, but if an untrustworthy rat(s) is telling me about confidential conversations, I wouldn’t trust them. I would want to check with the original source. But it seems journos don’t do that. They trust the snakes that leak confidential stuff out. And once every 20 years someone takes legal action against them and it costs the newspaper dollars. But they don’t care because of all the other 1000 “stories” they source from dishonest people that create clicks and make money. But everyone knows that’s how the media work. So as a club, control what you can control and don’t talk to the media, and if stuff leaks take action so you get to a position where the club doesn’t leak. Remember when we never leaked. It wasn’t that long ago. Tracc, ANB, Kozzie’s confidential conversations have all been leaked and surely it’s not too hard to identify who by. Their exit interviews were not public events. Tracc’s stuff all broke when he came back to the club after his break. We have big issues to sort out urgently starting with who in the club are breaching their employment contracts by leaking confidential information to the media, contributing to dividing the players and damaging the club. This would be a start in uniting the players again. I’m probably one of the few supporters whose opinion of Tracc hasn’t been tarnished by this entire episode. My opinion of him has gone up.

It’s really shameful some of the stuff reported in the media and said by Barrett. Barrett had a massive tirade against Tracc and was then asked “where did this brand Petracca stuff come from”. Barrett says “from Tracc himself. People from inside Melbourne said Petracca raised it”. Shameful for the media to assassinate Traccs reputation without getting confirmation of accuracy, and shameful of our club to leak private conversations out of the club.

No. We need one. A bit like West Coast did in 2008. Because the noise around that club stank and it needed an independent review. https://www.westcoasteagles.com.au/club/history/2008 Hopefully, the outcome will be the same as West Coasts and it ticks off the leadership and steps they have taken to address our annus horribilus. The parents of our number 5 pick need to trust the leadership of our club.

I agree. I wonder who seriously believes Hawthorn had a better 2018 season than us. Finals changes everything. I agree also that the Hawks highly successful era finished in 2015. The 2016 and 2018 seasons were not successful seasons for them. They went out in straight sets twice.

I dont know. Ask Pert. He was at the Pies when they did theirs in 2017. Since that review, in the 7 seasons since, they have made 4 prelims (2 they lost were 1 point and 2 points), 2 GFs (one they lost was 2 points), and 1 flag. They missed finals 4 season prior. I’d take that in our next 7 seasons.

I think CEOs are actually the main driver of culture. They manage every department. They need an aligned board. If you get a great playing group and everything goes right you can win a flag, but without an aligned board and CEO who are strong on culture success is inevitably fleeting. Brian Cook is the best CEO in the business. This is a really long watch but really great video about his thoughts, culture, and alignment. He totally sorted out West Coast from 1990-1998. Geelong's current era started with him becoming the CEO in 1999. He had a lot of issues to deal with during that time with a rebuild, player behaviour, coaches etc but stuck to his philosophy around culture. Geelong's outstanding culture over the past 20+ years was not driven by Bomber Thompson! I'm a bit worried about Carlton now that he is there. I preferred the 8 years prior when they never played finals.

His contract is with us. Nothing to do with any other club. It’s different with Grundy who had a contract with the pies and could have remained, played VFL, and been paid his large salary still. The pies wanted him out and off their books, we were only prepared to pay less, so the Pies paid part of his salary. In Traccs case, if he wants out of his contract, he needs to negotiate with any club that wants him and no guarantee they are prepared to pay his current salary. The media’s understanding of basic contract law is ridiculously shallow.