BDA

We’ve had plenty of passengers the last 2 games but I can’t see us winning tonight if Weideman has another poor game. He needs to lift otherwise I don’t see where the goals are going to come from.

It’s much easier to point to the countless number of clubs and administrations who had plenty of passionate club people involved and were not successful. You feel that the club needs one Melbourne person involved. Fair enough. But I would like to know why exactly. What quality does a Melbourne person bring to the table that a non-Melbourne person doesn’t have and how does this quality lead to better decisions? Brendan Gale and Peggy O’Neal are successful because they are competent and know what they are doing not because they are Richmond people. Do you think if they were at other clubs they won’t be successful and if so, why?

I want to see people in leadership roles who have the aptitude for the job. Too many people think passion and enthusiasm translate into competency and good decisions. They don’t. In fact, the opposite is usually true as our track record over the past 50 years proves (Jim Stynes being the lone exception).

Why do you think it wasn't a shrewd move? Do you think we should have held on? And if yes, why?

We wouldn’t get the same price now, not even close, and would be lumbered with a venue which is a drain on cash (running, maintenance costs etc. but no income due to covid). The cash from the sale is banked and provides a buffer so we are not reliant on the AFL to prop us up and therefore beholden to them. An inspired decision as it turned out.

Selling the Leighoak club has turned out to be quite a shrewd move. He deserves more time because of that move alone. I thought his spray after the Port game was perfectly timed as well. I don’t think Bartlett should be the focus at the moment at all. There are always people looking to get on footy boards. It’s the easiest story in the world to peddle. Politics is a sh*tty business and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s someone from the FD who fed this story to Wilson to take the spotlight of themselves.

And her tone. Her tone always grates with me.

I got to the end and wondered why I bothered to read it. Same old back room gossip and tittle tattle from Wilson. Her stock in trade.

puts paid to the Viney or Brayshaw in midfield debate for 2020 and perhaps beyond. Which of them will return i wonder?

No

They have the pick of Western Australia, benefit from home town umpiring, excellent club facilities, winning tradition, very good coach, competent list management, proven player development program, sponsors and money. I might have missed some.

hmmm.... where in the first round?

Mathematically yes. Sportbet price is $6. Not very appealing odds.

His career has been cruelled by injury. He is obviously not fit. If Burgess can’t get him right then I’m not sure anyone can. Hawthorn have a lot of faith in their medical team so perhaps they might take the chance. Very sad to see as I like Tmac.

It wasn’t a soft interview imv. The boys had to tread a fine line between going too hard and risk never getting an interview with Pert again (and he wouldn’t answer the questions anyways) and going too soft in which case the whole thing becomes pointless. There was plenty of corporate speak but that’s the norm for these type of interviews. Talk of frustration, passion, traits, qualities is fluff but these questions allowed Pert to get comfortable and rhyme off his responses. The question about the final 2 games caught him off balance, he wasn’t expecting it and his answer spoke volumes. My read is Goodwin is coaching for his job these last 2 games.

My preference is we make finals, see where how far we go, and sack Goodwin anyways.

Good interview. Well played Naughtsie to sneak in that question about Goodwin and the last 2 games. He caught Pert off-guard and he obviously wasn’t expecting it. His response was far from a ringing endorsement.

I assume there was a consultation process with the clubs given the unique nature of covid fixturing. If there was then the club hasn’t fought its corner very well. Perhaps they thought with Burgess on board they could deal with it. There was a lot of big talk before the Port game about how the 4 day turnaround didn’t matter, they could handle it, no excuses, rah rah. 5 minutes into the game put paid to that pipe dream. Chalk it down to another learning.

Bring in either Tmac or Brown for Preuss. I’m not fussed which one. Don’t care about other changes tbh. It’s just shuffling the deck chairs. But for the love of God can we bring some intensity and urgency.

Granted its too early to tell but they have played a lot better over the last 12 months. Percentage over a hundred compared to sixty last year reflects that. I guess we’ll see whether he’s ultimately successful.

are you aware that there is a pandemic??

If I recall correctly Roos wanted to take Stuart Dew from Sydney to groom him for the head coach role before he decided on Goodwin. I often wonder where we’d be if he had arrived. I’ve watched the Gold Coast a few times this year. They compete hard for a young group, they’re organised, play for each other and have bags of talent (Tell me who’s a more exciting young player in the league than Izak Rankine). They are definitely on the right track. Of course if he’s successful on the Gold Coast the AFL would never let him leave for another club.

A vaccine. Failing that the Smiths to reform. It would be a real tonic to see Morrissey and Johnny Marr together again playing all the old hits.

I tend to agree with you. Different players deal with disappointment in different ways. You would need to see the entire segment from once they entered the dressing room until they left to get a proper read on what happened.

Tmac is our biggest list management problem. It has been painful to watch his decline. Weids has shown improvement this year but has reverted to type over the last few games, lazy and ineffectual. He does not have the mantle to be our no.1 forward. If we can move TMac on and negotiate a trade for Hogan I think we should do it. I could be reading way too much into it, but when I watched the footage from the Freo dressing room last night, when Longmuir was addressing the group, Hogan was stood to side looking sheepish. The other players were seated and chatting to each other. I didn’t see Hogan speak to anyone else. He looks lost to me. Getting him for a 3rd round pick would be a cheap solution to our biggest need imv. I think we’re as good a chance as any other club to pick him up. Having Hogan in the forward line with Weids takes the pressure off Jackson so he can develop in his own time. The worst thing we can do for his development is put him in a forward line with just a flaky Weids for company. As a second year player he is not ready to beat the best defenders in the league and expecting him to do so would be very poor management. We have form mis-managing players careers (Tmac, Watts, Trengrove) and it would be criminal if we did the same thing to Jackson. Bring in Hogan and manufacture a trade for Williams (package up Brayshaw, picks, multi-club if needs be) and suddenly our list will have a much better look and balance to it.