rpfc

We will be eating salary for half a decade all over the shop.

Save for the fact that our best player was actively trying to leave the club, yes it could have been handled by the club… Some of you are twisted around like pretzels right now; just straighten up and give in to the facts. We have a bit of a work to do across the admin, FD, and playing group to get back to where we were.

I don’t have to name names - our best player did an actual ‘ruction’ in trying to leave and implicated the ‘names’ as having dropped standards and professionalism. This is such a silly argument - we are going to have an external review, possibly a new President, probably two new line coaches, and whatever recommendations come from this review that some of you have convinced yourselves will find little that the playing group can do better in both their professional preparation and behaviour… Ahh, might want to look behind who before you backtrack too quickly.

Steven King? Jeez, that’s a real kick in the teeth! - Jeff White

Seriously? Without getting into incidents that would get this post deleted - there has been players behaving an ill manner. That is either quietly condoned or not adequately dealt with, but the ultimate evidence is that of our champion player, our only Norm Smith medallist, so disappointed in our dropping standards and professionalism that he made a right pickle of himself to escape This Club Of Great Leaders (c). I don’t want to say these things… I don’t know what to say…we have some things to fix, and some home truths to sacrifice ourselves to.

And while those 46 hours of leadership are important, they are not formative, only performative. The evidence of recent experiences does not suggest the off-field leadership of our on-field leaders is very strong.

This admin has won more championships than Sam Presti… Those moves would ruin the club fabric and guarantee nothing. Football is not like bball, especially NBA; you get the right one person or two people and you can be in the top tier of the NBA. Not the same in footy. At all.

There is fault on all sides and the media only flavours it. The mental gymnastics on here to absolve the club or to pin it on the media or his advisors is ridiculous . Some of you look like sheep walking on its hind legs.

She was very circumspect about it all but did agree that a review should be done as ’its been 2 years now’ and also said that the club seems overly defensive with reference to its culture and that ‘owning up to things’ is a sign of a good culture.

If we are doing hypothetical counter-factuals - how about this; he leaves as one of the top 5 players in the game and wins a flag for some other club…

Footy teams are very forgiving and malleable for their own. I think you are projecting that damage. Some fans will not get over the injustice of a player’s seeming recalcitrance or disloyalty or ambivalence to appearance keeping. Ah well, I am a forgiver and I will enjoy watching him run around in the red and the blue.

Is this something Ted Lasso would say?

The answer isn’t less access to the media - it’s engaging in the right way. And the leaking that pits club against player (and the reverse from his agents) is obviously happening - regardless about what you think about the embellishment of Morris and Purple.

Squaring that circle…

‘The media started it’ How are people squaring that circle after all that has come out and that guarded and stilted press release? Just surrender yourself to the truth; we got some issues to deal with.

Some nuanced responses, some (ahem) less nuanced - but I appreciate the gravity. I think @JJJ hits the nail pretty close to the head on the type of leader that Max is and how that can be great in some areas (player comfort, self-actualisation, young players allowed to be themselves, etc) and lacking in the areas that a hard arsed, zero compromising leader would be. I suppose I would want some home truths for Max if nothing else - if we are to do a review it should include the playing group and the leadership in the locker room. And of course that would include Jack, Jake, Steven, and Christian. Just a final thought - Max is likened to the great Jimmy Stynes in leadership and values; he even seems to model and imbue it. Stynes was never captain and had some very strong leaders - in personality and style to partner with. One can take that multiple ways and they are probably both right.

I expected the response, and I don’t think it is wrong. Where I am coming from is that we (the royal ‘we’ - not each individual) are questioning Pert, Roffey, Richardson, Lamb, and Goodwin for various aspects of the predicament we are in. Max can’t be questioned as the leader of the group having such problems? Of course he can be, and any Coach or Footy Head or Director worth their salt should be asking strong, possibly disrespectful, questions of the democratic leader of the playing group. And I am not taking about performance, I am talking about standards, behaviour, and the seeming schism in the leadership of that playing group. Maybe its Lever now, maybe its a redeemed CP5 in 2026, but I just haven’t been impressed and it’s worth a discussion.

I think it’s time. You don’t have to agree but I think it’s a conversation worth having.

Anti-Gawn as captain. And it’s nuanced - I would much prefer to let him get the most out of his last few years without the burden. But, tbh, I have been a captain of a team and a group, and if it got to the point we are at - I would have handed it in already… I know there is a level of Max the Messiah with his AA jackets, flag winning leadership, and his great personality but we are not in a great spot across the group with maintenance of standards and leadership being on completely different pages. I just think it is time to move on.

As someone from Canberra-proper, yes I am serious. I will admit that this urge is more anti-Gawn than pro-CP5 but if he puts the work in he has to be considered, otherwise he isn’t worth keeping around.

Perhaps. Whatever the case, I think Max has run his race.

Maybe he is that tho. I think most of the arguments people will come at me with are also arguments against retaining him.

5 year contracts are a real sobering thing… In all seriousness - some on here will not like it - but we have to have a talk about the captaincy for 2025. I am not saying there isn’t work to be done but I have been saying for 3 years now that CP5 is the next captain. I want to hold to it.

In all fairness, they could have done that before this press release.