Norm Smith's Curse

I think Buckley was mindful that he could be paid massively if he got the Tassie gig with almost no pressure whereas while he might have thought of the idea of winning a premiership as attractive, a lot of things can - by historical evidence - go wrong at the dees. I was warming to Buckley mainly because I was impressed with how detailed his awareness of game plans, tactics and even obscure players on every list and I also thought he might help to attract talent. But Kingie comes out of the club that just never bottoms out and that turns middle-range players into guns.

Loyalty? They hate everything that doesnt have the surname Hird, and then they were willing to help pay the legal fees of someone who resided at that time in Toorak.. Matthew Knights on the other hand was at risk of being lynched.

Brad Scott is actually too good for the current culture that is Essendon. But how much support did Matthew Knights get?

'Im telling you now. As it stands Windhager will not be at St KIlda next year and will be playing for the Melbourne Demons' [because his manager wants either another year or a bit more coin and he was never leaving' Mind you imagine being coached by Lyon...

I play golf weekly with a person who works in the sports management industry and is a coterie member at Carlton (and he is also my boss although in something completely different). There is a major thing going on with people knowing internally what might happen and the external 'public' optics. If someone comes out and says I put my hand up for job x while hearing via the inner circle of management teams that someone has likely been earmarked for the role then there is no career upside for putting their hand up. Whereas by coming out and saying you cant or are not interested in role x, everyone wins. As an example if Horse had said 'yeah maybe im interested' and then Nathan Buckley comes in as prince charming all that does is suggest that Buckley was a better candidate than Horse. If however Horse is 50/50 and asks his manager what people in the industry are saying of his chances and they say Buckley is the leader by a fair bit he will just say 'i cant coach now, good bye' and all is well.

i distinctly remember reading that Mark Neeld's powerpoint presentation was amazing.

Get it done Dee's we need the gravitus of Nathan.

The original story sounded just like the manager trying to prize more out of the saints. The comments from Nick sound better as it sounds like he is trying to talk down his trade value. But long way to go.

Any of the peeps with the inside mail hear anything juicy? Other than with the surname Newton?

Sorry was pretty tired last night haha.

Looks like evidence is increasing that this is legit future footage. Done deal: smallish_121008.mp4

Juice Newton has been a huge success since he left Is that you Colin from Camberwell?

100% what a moment.

Sorry meant the midfield now but presume he would be an ideal balance for our future midfield of the same age bracket. Still feel that Harmes should have stayed as he played the same role to a degree. I must admit the whole story did sound a bit like what you would get from a manager trying to nudge contract length or $$$ rather than a 'he sees his future at Melbourne' vibe.

Nah our midfield is slow and one dimensional other than with Pickett in it.

Mate he took over a list that wasn't even VFL standard and with the worst percentage I can remember. He knew it wasn't going to be easy and that it would undermine his past success but he did it anyway. You can't judge his win loss at the Dee's for anything given when he started we were so bad the afl had to step in.

Honestly it was like when Roosey chose the Dees. I dared not think it because I didn't think he would be crazy enough.

The Gabba and Freo games show it's still there. The st Kilda game showed there was problems underneath that there. Love Langford. Fast becoming a favourite.

I feel for Melkie. 2023 was his and Brayshaw's injuries away from potentially being a premiership player. Wish he was about four years younger but you can trust him to take a mark, to field kick smartly and to kick a goal more often than not.

If people go back and watch Spargo in 2021 his disposal at that time and field kicking was elite and a massive help when it counted. Said the same about Harmes second efforts but alas he went. Unfortunately for Spargo his body has just made it impossible to get back to 2021.

Well I'm an office boy and a golfer and I tend to both worse when stressed and not comfortable haha

I'm very sceptical. I'm even sceptical we even made an initial play considering the sources that suggested it. Mail has been from my end Bucks by a country mile. The gravitus alone gets the job done.

Hold up the five year offer is from the dogs or the Dee's? Maybe I'm misinterpreting your post.

Sorry and respectfully but I know that is not accurate. Zero chance.

Are they though? Seems like we will get massive unders for a 33/34 year old who not that long ago was one of the few on our list that could single handedly win or turn games off his own bat.