nextskipclaz

Sure. But that’s an indictment on the club . For not knowing how to manage people, or to keep them inspired. So we’re not fixing the club problems in doing that.

Well if you're asking about homo sexual tension I'd say clearly none of them - because likely they've had very sheltered footy boy lives. But I could be wrong - I'll stop my speculation at people's sexuality, I think that's reasonable! But Paul Guerra looks like he has the stud in him, looks like he might get what it's all about fellas. No frills. [censored] out and show us what you're actually all about please. let's hope he can call bs on niceness and get back to grass roots expressions and values.

They aren't getting to their best for a number of reasons, but that has to do with team balance. Egos are a difficult thing to tame and rein in, i.e. Petracca (his character is particularly aloof and disconnected at times - yes on par with a Chandler), But the important thing is to know what kinds of people and players Petracca needs around him in order for him to pull his head in and play with humility and intent - this is a social science that I'm suggesting is beyond some of the football-brained people. But a classic coach like Kevin Sheedy or Dennis Pagan might have been abreast of such things. For example (and it's only an example, though a wild one) - Kevin Sheedy once said that he needed to harness the tension of the group of players and that it was like harnessing their sexual tension, acknowledging the latent homoeroticism of football (after-all we are all sexual beings and this is a signature form of desire), these were some of his observations. What I'm saying is, classic, more worldly people who used to be associated with footy understood people dynamics differently. Understood men differently. More boldly. In fact, homosexuality was probably a far less taboo thing in footy then, only it was private of course. I think what we have today instead is a rather deafeningly quiet 'niceness' and 'faux chivalry' where no ones deep motives are really harnessed let alone recognised or even challenged. Try developing a contending and formidable football team on such premises. Back to the point: Petracca would benefit from the humility of an Alex Neal-Bullen up at half-forward becaause the way Alex would look at Trac in the eyes would not for a second allow Christian to get withdrawn or 'over-thinky' or self-conscious or arrogant. WHEREAS (you guessed it) Kade Chandler encourages all manner of the worst expressions in all of his teammates [perhaps we might argue because he is younger than them - though it can't be the only reason because Bowey is the seminal example that age doesnt mean shiii for the values you have and the philosophy you practice on field]. It is because his philosophy, his intent, his raison d etre is UNPREDICTABLE, UNCERTAIN, and his eyes and gait act in a vapidly demonstrative yet persuasive way toward his teammates (seeking approval - even through remonstrating them, a bizarre and confoundingly annoying paradox of that particularly insecure psyche) - Petracca, next to Chandler has less chance of realising his best football. More to come on this subtle education - keep the hate (more appropriately, the discomfort) flowing please TYSM

boy that's such a creative diversional therapy solution! every week too! the absolute epitome of going through the motions and hoping. No... but.. seriously... it's good. At least it's something. But... gotta reach a bit further into the pantry. The world is full of treasures that these men (Gawn the perfect leader into the broader aspects of life) should be voyaging into and simply playing with, in good humour and curiosity and inspiration

You can't ground them. They've hard enough hardship. You need to bring in more atmosphere for young men. Parties, chillouts, sharing music and quality movies (not the [censored] that's rolled out in cinemas today, but draw on good culture) go to art gallery together etc. Cultural expeditions are important. Camping! Essential. Team bonding. Something where the cameras are off too. So MFC media doesn't have to infiltrate that space for them. And! They should all bring at least 1 mate with them to extend to friendships and networks and conversations. If I was in a position to facilitate this stuff then I would do it. They need someone, a cultural informant. An elder maybe. Someone from a different walk of life. Artists, writers, performers... you know... dees fans, like myself or anyone else. They need different input. Not just 'footy brained' people. NOTE: The levity and humour that is brought to the group by someone like Mark Choco Williams would be invaluable. And footy brained coaches can't get the job done without these characterful informants, elders and guides in life not just football . Women are integral. And also more diversity of men drawing from different fields of expertise. Sport and footy particularly at its best brings in people of all kinds and that's one of the main reasons that we love it .

They’re all football people. Chaplin is no different. And he’s under 40y/o! Unworldly and green, and completely ‘footballed’ in the brains. These days team science is a lot more about understanding the subtle synergies (or lack thereof) within the group. The relationships, the friendships, the accountability between ‘people’ not just players. There transparency, the understanding of personal and self development, the inclusion of art , philosophy , discussion, challenging the nature of these human beings and young men (who all have variety of callings and proclivities) . It is a for a good coach to draw on these elements. And if it can’t be done by a coach , then the club needs other cultural ambassadors and informants: women, people from artistic backgrounds, from various cultural backgrounds etc. to take them away from footy, for part of the week. And to develop connection with each other. Deepen , broaden connection. Footy is hard to do for half the year , let alone having a coach or coaches endlessly spouting more ‘footy knowledge’ - like imagine Nate jones. He’d just be prattling on the same [censored] . You’ve gotta get worldly, you’ve gotta have experiences. [censored] football. ‘Get to know each other’. But no. This would be blasphemy for all stoic football heads and supporters. Well we’re not the players . And I would bet these players need a narrative arc of relationship more than learning more football related stuff that would be delivered in even more cliche and generality by the likes of the coach-desperados Chaplin and N Jones

You might be onto something… mimetic social behaviour. Average players demonstratively gesticulating to the team mates (who are their betters and their seniors) gives momentum to an incremental pattern of degeneracy and poor standards. Well done! Your IQ might be quite good I imagine

Notice how he comes alive (!) when the game is dead in the last qtr - that is the mentality of a VFL player. He jumps on the teams back when we're up, but he is impotent when the team meets a challenge, in any quality team. [censored] I miss Neal Bullen.

good question.

Chandler doesn't do anything. He's had two bad misses today (one of them bounced in for a goal completely unpredictably) When the heat is on he is a [censored] player. Just scrambles like a silly person, like a dog chasing his own tail. Bring on the hate. I'll die on the hill with this opinion. To me the dees faithful are clueless. Very few folks switched on to what a 'good player' actually means.

And yet I've never seen him impact a game against a really quality opposition. This year he had a a lot of the football agains the kangaroos and the eagles. Those stats are deceiving because he has clangers - but not only clangers , it's more how he makes himself redundant around a contest, or runs to the outside before we've won the footy. And more importantly I still have trauma around him just never impacting in a game against a really good team. And actaully stunting our flow with his insecure play in last qtrs and when the game is there to be won. Yes he has improved, but he keeps defaulting to being an un-impactful player. He has got a lot of his possessions as that link player this year, but his ball use isn't particularly good, in fact USUALLY his kick misses his target inside 50. His tackles rarely stick!!!! And yes he tries to tackle a lot - so great fantasy score. His goals are often cheap. But apart from all of that his true sensibility is often scared and insecure but he masks it by being overly talkative even telling other players what to do, and that has bred a fakeness in our group. He should have come into the team and just put his head down. But he tries to organise everyone, but we've never looked so unorganised as a team. Pre-chandler we had good shape. With Chandler and all of his gesticulating we actually lost shape and became confused - ala the last 4 years. Why did he take it on himself to be a General? It totally bugged us and put us in a funk. Because his intent, the way he does it, was always out of scarcity/insecurity/ rather than true Generalship which is unhesitant and confident. Chandler has been detrimental to our balance. I don't back down from that.

Social energetics; particularly disruption to a flow state in a group - see Steven Koetler. But I study the Tao te Ching, an ancient Chinese text. You can call this a philosophy of energetics/an animating force. A successful football team will have this. It's not just about who can kick the footy. It's about team balance, and who is really committed to the cause and who is only superficially committed (not necessarily because they don't want to be committed but because it is beyond their capabilities to be committed to what is being asked) In Taoism excessive action or inaction can lead to disharmony. Chandler is blocking our flow with excessive gesticulations, and excessive 'trying' 'scrambling', but not always listening to what the game needs. He is incredibly flighty, runs through contests and makes himself redundant, and spends half his time congratulating his team mates when they mark in front of goal or even get a free kick or whatever (trust me, it's random behaviour and it's not good for team mimicry). His head is in the sky. He's unbalanced. His raison d'etre is nebulous. Unlike a Windsor or a McVee or anyone else in our team for that matter who simply play their role with groundedness, balance, without overthinking. In Sunday's game he didn't take the first option to Salem on the far south wing and ended up running too far (it should be noted, he's not even very fast if people think that is an asset of his) he didn't take the first option to kick to Petty on the MCC wing - he overthinks and bugs the team flow when it was clear our MO was to keep moving the footy. Sometimes Chandler (because I surmise that he is insecure about his footy and not wanting to [censored] up) takes too long behind the mark. That kick ended up going to Petty (on his second lead to the same spot!) and was spoiled over the boundary. A perfect waste of a possession off half-back at a critical time to move the energy. NOTE: Chandler did the same against Hawthorn kicking out on the full in the last qtr inexplicably - but i'm only highlighting that because of the similar context : LAST QTR, high stakes, heat is on, game is there to be won. There is no 'coincidence' that this happens at this time - rather, it has to do with the player's in-game constitution, what they are and are not capable of when it comes to the crunch. NOTE 2: Chandler also butchered our flow in those finals series 2022 and 2023 and was absolutely insignficant in his impact in those games. NOTE 3: He plays well when the team is up and when we play the easy beats. AGAIN, there is no coincidence here - it has to do with his limitations as a player. It's no shade on Kade, it's just that he cannot help us get to the next level. He stagnates us and clips our potential. So either he stagnates play (excessive inaction), or he creates random struggles for himself when he has the ball or when he's defending (excessive action) - in other words he is an unbalanced player and unpredictable, which is why some of his highlights are actually randomly impressive because every so often something positive happens out of pure chance ... but i'm not fooled by that. And while most supporters watch and remember what 'happens' , they don't remember what 'doesn't happen' which is A LOT of missed opportunites when Chandler is around the football because of his poor positioning, ineffective scrambling (excessive action) or insecure overthinking and stagnating play when he takes a mark (excessive inaction). And my overall contention (in this game of AFL, 'a game INCHES' as is always said) is that Chandler is bugging our flow. We can go into the whys and wherefores of Chandler's particular psychology that makes him do this (including his insecurity, self-consciousness, his disbelief that he is out there on the big stage that leads to a misplaced arrogance to try to inflate his inner self-worth). OR - we can just drop him or even trade him.

it's a decent shout, but T-Mac is needed for this one.

i'm competitive. and I believe in the dees. I think we could have won multiple premierships. And I think there's a few things in the road of that that most people don't look at. Including being nice and selecting nice players. So i want to say it. I am nice too. but there's a time and a place as well :)

I've never bought into the idea that Kade Chandler's place in the team is secure. So i'm not denigrating him. Yes it is about me. I speak things that I think others don't notice. I search for the mole. It is a common trait of mine. And sometimes i'm wrong about it. But I still believe it should be heard without sugar coating.

tysm. would love to hear what you have to offer about where the team could get better, which players are advancing us and which ones are more dispensable for something better. i imagine the specificity you would be willing to pursue in that opinion might be retarded by wanting to fit in/be a nice person/get likes on your post for keeping the peace. certainly, someone needs to take that role, so...great job.

same guy. dying on this hill. yes i am a philosophy major. and also a musician. it's a curious take maybe, but it's just the difference between having a really integral grounded and consistent player in that position like a neal bullen, dylan moore, liam baker (head down bum up) , someone with the humble demeanor of a Mcvee but in our forward line rather than a flighty energy, over celebrate-y, low impact, loud in words but quiet in impact player like Kade Chandler. It would make an enormous difference to the synergy of our team. An emotionless workhorse who serves pickett petty and van royen on a platter. (We already have flighty players up forward like Pickett and Fritsch, and I KNOW that we would benefit from a real work horse player up there rather than another goal sneak). Chandler is redundant. If you're a player looking in his eyes at the huddle you are lowering the standard to a VFL mindset - and many of our players have gone to a Kade Chandler pretend level and forgotten what it takes to play with impact and intelligence and humility at AFL level.

I come from the point of view of 1: behavioural science ala Chase Hughes 'The Behaviour Ops' and 2: ancient chinese philosophy of Taoism - which describes such events as even 1 or 2 pieces of a whole destabilising the potential of the whole, and USUALLY these 1 or 2 pieces are only subtly perceptible. and what I think Chandler has brought into our team is subtle but widely detrimental. His raison d'etre on the field (unlike a Mcvee, Windsor, Langford even Rivers) is unstable, uncertain, and pretend (always 'trying' to show' his made of the right stuff, without actually just BEING the right stuff. And because he has such an enthusiastic energy, his hesitant and insecure playing style (both with ball in hand and when running around 'defending' is MUCH harder to read for the average supporter. He is not providing the Alex Neal Bullen type honesty and APPROPRIATE enthusiasm. It is all INAPPROPRTIATE enthusiasm and while it looks good while we're up, it only breeds an AVERAGE in-game responses when the heat is on, when we are under true adversity, and when the game is there to be won. Many will say: Kade Chandler is the least of our problems. My philosophy of subtle energetics and behavioural imitation in groups (mimetics) makes Kade Chandler A BIG MOLE and a dsignificant problem for our culture that should be head down bum up and less flighty [censored] gesticulating , random celebrating, and then just NOT IMPACTING the [censored] game bar a 'cheeky goal' (which UNFORTUNATELY is the only thing most clueless fans care about)

You’re right, sorry.

I thought we’d lose by 40. And going by expected score we should have. We kicked straight yesterday. And Kade Chandler waves the flag at the front of the ‘jovial group of losers’ parade

Mate he’s alright. But we could be getting much more bang for buck in that position. Chandler is a vfl player. He plays under a veil of insecurity that reminds me of demons of 2012. I don’t want to see anymore pretend [censored]. We are gonna get smacked by hawthorn

The last censored word was a synonym for a little cat. 🐱= dee supporters

Happy to reiterate for those who don’t understand football and energetics Kade Chandler [censored] blocks our flow, and Here’s why: He plays with an insecurity that he masks by overgesticulating, applauding other players, pointing and remonstrating, and keeping a ‘hopeful’ look about him. His insecurity shows up in these ways and more: hesitant to move the move on once he marks it (last qtr should have gone to petty on the wing. Hesitated and then petty made the same lead but with less space and the mark was spoiled), overruns footy and/or opponent consistently making himself a desperate scrambly ‘looking’ player but with very meagre effect. He is a limited player. You might think he has upside, but the truth is he will only ever get so far. He will have 4 decent games a year and they will be always a result of having a [censored] one the week before - which is old melbourne standards - rather than being consistently contributory on a level of substantial significance within game. Why be so Kade Chandler positive (like EVERYONE in the demon community). I understand he’s cute and has a nice smile and you think he’s contributing to vibe, but actually he makes our grand purpose less sincere and less potent. He dulls our will to will with his paraded perkiness. He tries to be an energiser bunny because his footy is Carlton b grader standard. We have enough energiser bunnies with our youth. demon fans need to realise what is holding us back so we can move forward, and a better more consistent player in Kade chandler’s position would do wonders for our success It’s no shade on Kade. It’s just : trade out players like that, and bring in non-insecure beasts like Dylan Moore , Shawn mannagh or whatever his name is. Some real solid smart no frills half forwards who actually [censored] impact. I know that dees fans will hate this and that’s because they are largely [censored] Tysm

Goodwin had already won a flag. So in a way he knows how to do it. Getting any of the up and comers is just going to put the team way behind the premiership race. Bring in Horse and he knows how footy premierships are fought for and won. Only Horse for mine. Alternatively ask for Goodwin's forgiveness and give him one more shot next year (oh but the club probably is too proud to admit they made a mistake). There is really no-one out there that I would prefer to Goodwin. We needed to throw Nate Jones and Selwyn Griffith out at least. But Goody?? Big call. It's all too familiar melbourne demons melodrama for mine. Prediction is that they'll sink hard

I didn't see an 'edit' function, but what i didn't say was : Included in a coaches acumen should be his ability to be dynamic in the way he can galvanize a group, and if he can't do it all the time because he's not getting through to the team, then he needs to RECOGNISE that limitation and outsource the input to INSPIRE the team to their potential (or to keep them evolving in their purpose both individually and as a team). This might look like: bringing in alternative educational resources not only on football or pro sports but on life, philosophy, nature immersion, meditation, who knows what. I'm not the [censored] guy to decide that, but the footy club has a world of resources at its disposal and a coach should understand the subtle sciences of team synergy that include players' INDIVIDUAL GROWTH (personal, experiential, cultural, spiritual, philosophical). Unfortunately the football day-to-day can be a very closed circuit of experience. But a man in a coaching job these days needs to be abreast of the complexities in young men's lives. NOTE: for this reason I think a younger coach makes sense for next year. A coach needs to know his limitations, he's a single man prattling on about the same [censored] every week to the same guys; the reception to that will go through peaks and troughs, but Simon Goodwin doesn't seem like the kind of man with a sensitivity to this subtle science. He might indeed be saying all the right things, but he has to also understand HOW to broadcast that to his players - i.e. he has to be more creative, rather than just being an ORATOR. Unfortunately, he doesn't have a breadth of people skills in this way. He is a nice guy, amicable with the players, with a passable sense of humour (i guess), a passion for footy, but all of this is swathed in a kind of stoic, stubborn and somewhat brutish competitive etiquette that is blind to the subtler sciences of communication and curiosity in professional relationships. There is not enough dynamism. There is not enough REAL edge. There is not enough freshness, and true evolution within him - no matter how many words he says to the contrary. SO the conclusion is that our ability to WIN and to have ENERGETIC BREAK THROUGHS in games is clipped and muted by what Simon Goodwin provides. They will not arrive at that next level, so to speak. We will come close to winning the next 3 games, but we WON'T win because WINNING TAKES A DIFFERENT KIND OF ENERGY THAT GOODWIN IS NOT ABLE TO PROVIDE OR SUPPLY ANYMORE. It takes novelty. It takes dare. It takes real reinvention. NOT words to the public ABOUT reinvention. IN fact, if the club and Goodwin were SERIOUS about REINVENTION and NOVELTY and DARE then guess what...: THEY WOULDN'T even WANT TO let alone HAVE TO talk about it publicly!!!!!!! They'd just [censored] do it. AS THE TAO TE CHING (a ancient book on the energetics of life) SAYS : "Let your workings remain a mystery. Just show people the results"