rpfc

I'm not quite sure what you mean with that last sentence. If you think 'senior players' is referring to older players? The 'senior players' are the ones in the LG, are the ones the rest of the team look to, Green is one but so is Grimes. Whether or not Trengove has a title in 2012 - he will probably be a senior player due to extra responsibility on the field and other players looking to him for leadership and motivation. What my previous post was basically saying, and I have said this ad nauseum (probably literally), is that we won't improve as a team until the names Green, Davey, Rivers, and Moloney are replaced by Grimes, Trengove, McKenzie, and Frawley as senior players. Because they are far more consistent, less intimidated, and have better body language in trying times when the team is looking at the senior players for motivation and leadership.

The most elegant solutions are usually simple.

Here's a novel idea: pick the best leader(s) as captain(s) every year. If there are consecutive years of the same captain(s) then so be it, if not - then grow up.

I wish we would stop caring about how players would accept the captaincy to be taken off them... The highest honour is to be a captain of the MFC and if you it for 12 months or 5 weeks - you are a blessed individual. If Brent is captain for 2012 and only 2012 then he can be very proud that he managed such an achievement.

Too bad he's an assistant coach...

This time last year I said we have three adequate options for captain and a dearth of good, reliable senior players. I didn't see the disaster that was about to befall though... It panned out that we had a captain in 15 goal wins and a scared little boy when times were tough. We had a senior player group comprising a bustling frontrunner, a selfless albeit mute defender with awful body language, an out of form easily antagonised designated left foot, an injured 'born leader,' and a bald chirping battler of consistency as a shining light. The kids had no-one but themselves to turn to and it was a disaster that led to thorough thrashings throughout the season and 186. We had a leadership crisis that we have respite from at the moment because it's pre-season.

It was in crisis in 2011 and not much has changed for 2012. Again, we have many 'born leaders' on our list now, but they were born too late and the massive issues with our senior players won't resolve themselves until they are no longer senior players.

Cliques form without co-captains... And on the field there should plenty of 'commanders,' if we have multiple commanders it will be a hell of alot better then our usual - none.

Stop trying to create enemies...

Yes, in waiting... We have a few 'born captains' on the list, but they were just born a few years too late... Joint captaincy isn't something that is set in concrete - you can give it solely to a 22 year old Trengove for a decade if you want to.

If you don't have a captain amongst the playing group, you don't have a captain amongst the playing group. I don't like the idea much but it may be the best way to A) have a strengthened yet less burdened leadership core in 2012 and B) develop two young leaders into captain material for the future.

I am sure LT or something or an equivalent consulting firm will be involved. Leading Teams didn't give us an awful senior player group last year. The senior players gave us an awful senior player group last year. I'm not a fan of consultants (Garry Lyon aside) but they can't be blamed for not turning hay into gold.

Oh, I assume that do I? And again, how are you not putting words in my mouth if you are telling me what I assume? This was a good thread and now we have to sit back and analyse my involvement? Is every line in the post going to be a question? No, it's not.

Moloney © Grimes © Trengove © Rivers Frawley Jones McKenzie Having Jordie in there is wishful thinking on my part. And I believe the paper report about shared captaincy. I don't like them normally, but these are not normal circumstances.

If Green remains captain I will accept and understand it, but it will mean that we have a leadership vacuum to Grimes and Trengove and some serious issues with our 'senior players' but we knew that already...

Must be the 'ghost in the machine' for a few of us then...

I went to their 'experts' drop down at the top and under Jake Niall, lo and behold, it exists. Honestly, The Age website needs some work.

Yes, he has certainly has the pulse of the place after reading that...

But RF didn't mention 'imposing himself on a game" - he merely mentioned the easiest of tasks for a leader - encouragement and proper body language. And it shouldn't matter whether you are 90 points up or down - you should be always encouraging and urging your teammates to look to you for the right attitude.

Wow. Where the hell did that come from? I don't even understand that last line... I rarely gloat and wouldn't if Sellar doesn't make it, I can't believe I had to write that sentence. You expect to see Frawley freed up by Sellar. I expect that to happen rarely, even with Sellar in the team. We could end it, or we can swap some more passive aggression. Demonland is groaning in anticipation...

rpfc sez 'we'll bump it in 6 months.' Night.

I got rid of the asides... And I believe that that ceiling is too high for him and that it is too much to ask of him to be as effective as Frawley as a pure defender to release Frawley. Let others read that - you don't have re-publish... I believe you are tacitly saying, by the fact that you have written so extensively, that Sellar is a good chance to play this role. That is where I made that judgement. I apologise for jumping to that conclusion. I'm happy to stop arguing the future role and merits of the 35th best player on our list.

And thank you for the juxtaposition that made jnrmac's mindless contribution apt.

I will get excited when actual news is heard. I don't mean to sound negative but I would like to hear something.

I think what DA is getting at is that we are all thanking people for a training report through their biased eyes, not a training report by an expert. Therefore conclusions on reality cannot be taken by Land training reports. On that I agree. But I am more than happy for people to post them, and I thank them for driving down and sharing their views, however biased.