RalphiusMaximus

Thinking outside the box. I like it. Why not look to something like NFL for a head coach. They have a real understanding of managing a team in the big leagues as far as money and professionalism go. You'd have to have pretty good line coaches under them, but they would take zero crap and our management would be world class.

I note you don't have Mark Neeld on the list. I think that to be a balanced poll he would have to be included even if you don't rate him as a realistic chance.

I have to say, having watched the comments I don't think he was being at all unfair. He went on to say that the bare bones of a very good side ar ethere, but we are missing too many pieces. He said he understands why Neeld wants to stick around because once we get those holes filled in it's going to be a good side for whoever is coaching it. Obviously, the bare bones would be somewhat stripped if we were to loose certain players at season's end, so that is a bit of a priority.

It sounds like a lot of his stability is coming from the family surrounding him. Would he do as well on the other side of the country? Would he backslide without them supporting him? It could be that he is going to be another freeby to WC or Freo because they are close to his family and as such are able to continue his support systems. Still, if we are happy that he will keep his head together I would be thrilled to have him in the red and blue. He's a hell of a player and would be more or less ready to go at this point.

So the answer to all the critics saying there is no gameplan is to "free them up" and go with no gameplan at all. What's it to be, one-on-one all over the park and run the ball at all cost?

Like a knee-jerk reaction to sack the coach halfway through his tenure because we are getting beaten by the good sides?

I know some people see this as a joke, but this really was the beginning of the end for the club. Internal politics took precedence over onfield performance and we've never recovered. It set the standard for the next 50 years. And of course, it was the day the club was cursed...

It's a very fair article actually. He raises the same points our coaches have, that we weren't working as hard as the good clubs and that we needed elite leaders around the club to set the standard at training and on the field. These are both things that Neeld addressed and has attempted to rectify. The level of training has been increased to almost AFL standard and he has tried to import players from successful clubs to give us some leadership and experience. This hasn't been working as well as we might have wished on game day, but id has apparently helped on the training track.

I think perhaps a little Ross Lyon could be the answer. Is someone does not meet the benchmarks set they are dropped regardless of who they are or the place they fill in the team. Nobody is safe. Everybody is accountable.

Choco would be an interesting choice. I have no doubt that there is a hell of a lot of animosity towards GWS and the way they dudded him. Could generate a genuine grudge match for us for a little extra publicity. I don't think the Rat has what it takes to be a senior coach, but I'd take him as midfield coach in a heartbeat. I'm not 100% sold on Eade. He seems a little shaky in finals. I don't think he ever won a premiership did he? Roos would be the other good option along with Choco. He has a good record, has won in finals and has a great pedigree with player development.

A little of both I'd say. The development in recent years has been hampered by the massive number of games lost to injuries to our young players. Strauss and Blease lost a year each to their broken legs, Nev has just finished his first full pre-season, Tapscott had a series of annoying issues requiring minor surgery, Fitzpatrick has had his CFS and Diabetes. In a sense you can forgive these players for not getting their act together sooner, but they have all been on the list for long enough that even taking those issues into account they should be further along than they are. Of course, the classic bad drafting choice is Cook. I know he was AA in the U18s, but surely they could see that he was another Panos? He was too slow and too soft to make anything of himself at AFL level. I have to wonder if this was a knee-jerk reaction to Tom Lynch being taken right before our pick, since I have no doubt we would have grabbed him if we could have. Equally, Tom Scully has never shown the quality you would expect of a number 1 pick, although he at least justifies his place on a list. Guys like Martin and Bastinac have shot right past him and are playing dominant roles for their clubs. Clearly our ability to spot major talent has been flawed in the past. Given that we now have a new recruiter in our club we can hope that this area at least will show some better results in the future.

Just did a little research into recent coaches who have had bad starts. Interestingly, Thompson, Clarkson and Hardwick, who all had people screaming for their blood, had significantly better starts to their tenures than Neeld. I find that quite surprising. Knowing how much pressure there was from fans and media to sack the three of them I had assumed their records would be similarly dismal and appear to have been wrong. The only recent coaches to have had quite this bad a start are Primus and McCartney. Primus made it almost to the end of his second full season and McCartney seems to be avoiding the blowtorch so far despite a record almost as bad as Neelds.

Mr White Line Fever. The impression I get from Davis is he'd do damn near anything to get his hand on the ball. You may recall Moloney getting stuck into him for going in too hard on him in a drill right after he came to the club. He also ran down Jack Watts from a big lead in one of the intra-clubs and managed to get a spoil in right on the goal line. The only thing keeping him out of the firsts is his disposal, but his effort is second to none.

I disagree on Brown, but aside from that it's hard to argue with your conclusions.

Nice and easy I think. In: Strauss, Fitzpatrick, Pedersen Out: Nicholson/Bail, Seller, Jetta It reduces our run slightly, but it gives us much more versatility to have extras able to pinch hit in the ruck and also significantly better disposal. Pedersen goes back in place of Seller, Fitzpatrick into the forward line and Strauss to replace Nicho/Bail and hopefully kick it better. I love Nev, but from all reports he was putrid today.

Obviously the coach has to shoulder a lot of the blame for an insipid performance, but when the team is serving up the same lifeless efforts under two coaches with vastly different philosophies on how the game should be played, we need to say that there is a common denominator here and it's not the head coach. There is something very very wrong with the playing group, going well beyond how they are being coached. The team has no cohesion, no spirit and apparently no pride. Our best players are the ones who have only been in the squad for a year or two, and that is simply horrifying. I honestly don't understand how these people can occupy a position of such privilege and put so little effort into keeping it. Perhaps this goes back to a comment one of the coaches made when they first came to the club about players being happy just to be on an AFL list. It seems that we have a huge proportion of players who are perfectly content to be on a list, collect their paycheques and coast along. Most of the senior players seem utterly indifferent to the notion of success. Maybe it's a case of Why try harder for what ultimately would cost you money? Maybe it's a simple lack of ambition or pride. I know that I couldn't play the way they do. I've never been able to accept a loss and I doubt if I ever will. Regardless, I have to question whether the blame can lie solely with the coaches when the players have been dishing up this crap for five years or more.

We have a serious issue at the club. Due to some highly dubious drafting practices over a number of years, we have a list f players who largely fall into two categories. Hard nuts without skills and skilled players without guts. There are a few players with both qualities who are trying to carry the team, but simply put not enough of them. This leaves us with a dilemma. Do we play the hard players who will fight for the ball, win contests and then turn it over, or do we play the ones who will use the ball really well but can't win a physical contest and so will be smashed at stoppages and in traffic? At present, we appear to be taking the former tack and playing guys who will contest for the footy but who have very limited game sense and skill. It's clearly not working. What do we do to fix this? Again, there are two avenues. Firstly, we can try to get the skilled players to be harder at the ball and the hard players to think about what they are doing and use it better. Secondly, we can call the majority of the list a wash and trade/delist them and start drafting pure footballers who won't shirk a contest and can use the ball. The first option has a chance of delivering a degree of success in the short term, but I don't think we can get either group up to the standard they need to be to compete at the top level. The second option basically admits that the bulk of the list is a wash and starts again, setting us back at the beginning of "the rebuild" and requiring us to do it all over again, but it may in time deliver us a better result. One important point here would be the ongoing issue of a lack of senior players, since they would likely desert in droves if we followed this path.

Not Neeld. The playing group. They've done this to two coaches now.

It was time to bring Fitz a run in the seniors weeks ago. He's continued to produce the goods and given the [censored] we are hearing from Perth, surely it's time to give the guy a go?

And do we need to point out yet again that Clarkson, Bomber Thompson and Hardwick all had media and fans screaming for their heads at various points with the same "the sky is falling" mentality that is prevalent on these boards right now? Their club boards had the fortitude to back in the process they had embarked upon and reaped the rewards. I really hope ours have the same faith and stoicism.

I'm sorry? Jaded's comment is racist how? Is her eloquence oppressing you?

I agree that he deserves to stay in the side, but they have gone for a simple like-for-like swap. Watts will be playing in the spot Strauss was occupying. I would say that he is first emergency should someone not come up for the game.

We are.

Cry.