binman

Perhaps we need a demonland calender. January - Andy flexing.

Agree. Though I'm not convinced we're that great at number one either. As just one example, I reckon I've looked at the mfc website no more than a dozen times the entire season. I'm a total dees nuffie and there's nothing on my clubs website of interstate. That's poor And the last time was to look at my membership info, which is frustratingly hard to access (partly because of the ticket master sruff now, which is not the clubs fault) I'd add a sub element of number 3 - crisis management, ie comms during a crisis. We have been poor in that space too for a long time - for example we never seem to get out in front of stories and as a result always seem to be reactive.

It's just one platform. Personally, I'm not on any social media, except demonland, never have been. But any modern comms plan has to have mutiple avenues of engagement - insta, twitter, YouTube, tik tok source, discord etc etc. I'll bet our reach on those platforms is equally poor. One of the frustrating things about being a dees supporter as a kid in the 1970s, apart from the fact I knew no other dees fans at all, was this idea the dees were an establishment club full of old fuddy duddys with their blankets and Thermos. We still battle with that image. A 2009 style fans engagement strategy doesn't help on that front.

What a funny coincidence- I just used exactly the same expression!

We could have done that. But it wouldn't be 'authentic' But on a serious note, leaving aside the tetun on investment to sponsors, good comms to fans us a massive part of the value proposition fans amd members of a club. And is also a critical element of bringing new fans on board. It feels like the dees are stuck in the 60s - our strategy to build our support base is hoping dees supporters force their kids to support the dees. The hawks certainly get a benefit from that old school phenomenon with their sustained sucess in the 80s. But they haven't been asleep at the wheel like us in terms of bringing new fans to the club No coincidence the dog hawks final had 97k attend - massive, particularly given the dogs small supporter base.

I hope noone dismisses this as silly. It's not. Every one of our sponsors would look at this table with concern in terms of a return on their investment. It's a perfect visual summary of our woeful comms.

Yep, agree. I didn't mean to say that skill becomes unimportant. My point was less about skill than game style. it wasnt their fast transition off half back using laser kicks that won them the game (the way say it did the hawks in a much lower pressure game) it was their attack on the ball. But as you say their skill was a huge factor. The handball from papley was genius, and arguably won them the game. Heeneys resulting goal was clutch, as was the one he kicked after his one handed mark. Warner was also brilliant. Players with the best skills can execute better under pressure than those with average skills, and I agree it's an area we need to improve. I reckon Windsor might become our Warner, and I have high hopes fir kolt. Two hard at players with good skills. Hopefully our pick 5 gives us one more.

Never was that more evident than in the cracking GWS Swans game. That game highlighted that whilst a good turnover, transition game get you to finals (and therefore silky skills like say Guldens' are important), come finals you still need the hard at it bulls like heeney. The swans won that game because of their intensity and pressure in the second half, not their much vaunted skill and transition game.

It's ironic that other clubs are interested in Oliver but seemingly no interest in Tracc (outside of the usual 'all clubs would love a player of Petracca's ability' palaver). No chance we trade Oliver IMHO.

Yes, i 100% agree. With all of your post. In fact i'd add that Clarry was exemplary this year. Of course his fitness was an issue but he tried his guts out week in, week out. I'd take that every day of the week over the inconsistency in effort of say Fritter. Mark my word, clarry will finish top 10 in the Bluey - ahead of a lot of players who whose fitness wasn't an issue. I actually don't have an major issue with Tracc its not how i would have handled things and think he ended up looking a pretty foolish. But the whole 'our best player wants out is evidence of how bad things are at the club' is carrying an awful lot of water given HE IS STAYING! If things were so bad and he really wanted out, and was prepared to go to any club we 100% would have done the deal. In fact i would not be shocked if they might have been ok with that as my sense is that he has made himself an outlier. And whilst his concerns no doubt have some validity i don't think they are such a big issue for his teammates, who actually seem very united (you only need to see the positive energy after out win over Gold Coast for evidence of that).

A couple of questions: How do you know Stengle's incident is a one off? Well run clubs keep things in house. The cats are a well run club. What are the incidents at the dees over the last few years you are referring to? Not rumours, not innuendo, but incidents comparable to Stengles that have been verified. There is the js stuff. Clarry going off the rails in the 2023 off season. The entrecote dust up. Am i missing any?

With titles like these, sure it wasn't a porn site back then? Pounded at Port. Curve. Dry as a bone r Make a noise please Humiliation.

You'll have to watch the film.

True dat. Gale is a massive loss.

From espn (by Jasper Chellappah - whoever that is) Opening two paragraphs and a bit: The 2024 AFL Draft might still be nearly three months away, but for 10 teams' supporters, attention now turns to the trade period and draft season, and this year offers fascinating subplots throughout. Its headline act is a wide open race to be anointed pick one. Jagga Smith, Finn O'Sullivan, Harvey Langford, Josh Smillie, Sid Draper, Sam Lalor and Levi Ashcroft all have claims; it's a wholly different landscape to Harley Reid's grip on the top spot last year. That isn't to say this draft lacks talent - in truth, this may be the deepest draft ever. He then goes thru each club needs and options etc MELBOURNE Current draft hand: 5, 38, 45, 51, 61 List need: Midfield depth It's a pivotal draft for the Dees who are quietly rebuilding on the run, but there are list holes appearing at a rapid rate and heavy reliance is still being placed on ageing stars Max Gawn, Steven May and Jack Viney. The positive is Jason Taylor's team is positioned to snare a top tier midfielder with pick 5. One of Jagga Smith, Finn O'Sullivan, Sid Draper, Josh Smillie or Harvey Langford will be available, but the most enticing selection could be Sam Lalor. The Rebels powerhouse on-baller shares similarities to Christian Petracca in his explosion from contest and scoreboard impact, and he has the ability to command the football in the forward 50 where his one-on-one work is best in class. A developing ruckman will surely be targeted later in the piece and Lalor's teammate Floyd Burmeister has put together a solid campaign.

Which people? At tiger land? Rioli, Bolton and Baker. All gonski.

That the club didn't do enough to put in boundaries and/or enforce them. Not an unreasonable perspective in my opinion.

I believe all of life's mysteries can be explained by the film Life of Brian:

He'll have to fight JVR for that honour I reckon.

Young gun, who could walk into any club in the AFL, recommits to the club for 4 more years - club's in crisis! Meanwhile at tiger land three of their best five players at the peak of their powers all leave - move along nothing to see here!

Indeed. And even tracc, or at least words attributed to him, described the 'culture' issues in the past tense - eg 'previous' issues. The issues tracc has ventilated this season are a mixture of old grievances (eg how clarry was managed in 2023 and previous years, an implication stuff wasn't reined in etc etc) and the fall out from his injury. And the latter stuff is really tracc's problem, not indicative of a club wide issue amongst players. I'm not debating there were issues in 2023 and in previous years - the club acknowledged as such during the 2023/24 off season. I flagged them myself. And perhaps there still are stilll issues (major ones I mean, there are always minor issues at EVERY club at any given point in time). But the evidence simply does not support there being major issues at the club atm. If the environment is as bad as the media, and many on here, make it out to be, it makes no sense that so many players extend their contracts this year, most in the last couple of months, particularly young guns like jvr, kolt and windsor who had no need to extend now Can someone who thinks we are in crisis or have huge culture issues explain why jvr, kolt and Windsor would choose to extend now when all three could wait until next year or the year after? Or why langers, one of our most professional trainers, would choose to extend his contract? And if it was so bad, tracc could have got to a club who had the capital to get a deal done. Ditto koz. I just think there is a risk of conflating issues and having them blend together into a sense of unbroken chaos. Which doesn't equate to me being naive about issues at the club - i have been consistently critical over a number of years about how we manage things, particularly from a comms perspective. One example - i was very critical of the club for not publicly rebuking Clarry for that stupid, immature pre training interview he did when he was just about to come back into the side late in 2023 and his immature behaviour feigning a hammy injury at that same training. (ironically i copped it pretty hard on that thread for being too precious and making a mountain out of a mole hill - ironic because the subtext was this was a continuation of behaviour that I was aware of and felt the club should do more to rein in and manage. Suffice to say i was in no way surprised when the issues came to light at season's end). But at any given time something is always happening at club land - it's just a matter of whether it gets traction in the media and a story that can endure for more than a day can be spun out of it. Take the Stengle story. The Cats are top 4 and only a few weeks out of finals, having played a game in the arvo, Stengel (a bloke who has got well know form in this space) gets so hammered at a night club that he passed out, collapsed and had to be taken to taken to ER in an ambulance. That's incredibly serious. And only happened a few weeks ago. At a club lauded for its culture.

That's a very long bow. I might argue that there is evidence of trust at all levels, for example mutiple players recommitimg to the club in the last 2 months, two of whom, kolt and Windsor, who did not need to do so for another two years. And I might posit that for all the bluster from tracc, and the whispers about koz (who if crunch came to crunch, we probably agree to a trade if he really needed it done) both are staying. And in regard to leaks, it is supposition not fact the club leaked. I'd say it's more likely in the koz example that it was his player manager who leaked to the media. I mean the alleged info about him being homesick was supposedly discussed in his exit interview. Goody and the player. And perhaps someone else from the fd. Who else is privy to that info - his manager, who may have been with him, and if not would have briefed him before and debriefed after the interview. And who i might add benefits from a potential move financially.

Why?

Agree. That's gold. Love that rather than leaving it there, Barrett goes on to explain their involvement in the Petracca saga - that's to say they apparently basically had no involvement. If true, that's a pretty good gig - one of the highest paid players in the AFL tries to wiggle out of his contract and his managers had no involvement other than putting out some feelers mid season (ie read dinners at the Flower drum with club officials and other player managers).

Fair dinkum there's some nonsense written. An afl.com puff piece that reads more like a 'we've got yiur back' infomercial for his player management team. Like the media and champion data, player managers are part of the closed shop afl monopoly - can't allow members of the AFL boys club to get criticised. The one example given of why conners et al couldn't possibly have been involved is from 17 years ago for petes sake. For what it's worth I think this has been driven by tracc. But that doesn't absolve conners of all responsibility - a big part of a player managers job is protecting their clients from their own stupidity. They clearlyv failed tracc on that front.