deelusions from afar

I know he was a whipping boy for the fans but I really respected the way he went about his footy. If the rest of our players had his dedication and calmness we would be premiers. I feel like he was always up against it - a bit small, not overly quick for a small, couldn't kick over 40m and recently a lot of injury issues. But always gave 110%. I remember an important match (maybe the Hawks semi final in 2018) where we needed a goal and he had a shot from on the boundary line at his range (about 40-45 out). He just willed it through. A big role in our premiership side - wish him all the best!

Spargone(ski)

I see to be reading this all different than most. It may be Buckley. But I think he's just the media front-runner because he's a champion of the game, experienced coach who works in the media (and they love him). The process of selecting someone for a position means you start broad and narrow the field. If someone is not in your top 3, then it is better to let them know rather than stringing them along. Yes it is a two way street - they might think this is the wrong fit. But AFL coaching jobs don't come round very long and the Tassie job and any other ones that come up in the next 2 years, they will be battling Longmire, Hinkley, Goodwin, Simpson in addition to other exerienced assistants. There are some drawbacks with the Melbourne job - but most clubs have that one way or another - particularly if they're at the stage of needing a new coach (but things are never as bad / good as you think they are). So I don't think Skipworth pulling out is necessarily because he doesn't want the job - it's more likely because he knows he's not in the running and so wants to save face. Equally I don't think it's Buckley's job yet. He has the biggest profile so it makes sense in the media. But if those on the panel go through a sham process select Buckley and one of the others goes onto be the next Clarkson / Scott etc then it will be embarrassing for them and the club. It is their job to find the best person - how could any of us say for sure that's Buckley? I'm hoping for King / Kelly. Obviously will get behind Buckley if it's him. A potential bonus of an untried coach is I assume they would be paid less than Buckley - which may free up som $$ to get some high quality assistants in.

I see it similarly. Surely assistants that have been at the likes of Geelong and Collingwood who have overseen a reinvention with a list that many said was "past it" could potentially be a better fit. I think Buckley would probably do a good job - but being out of the systen for so long surely hurts him. To me he represents the old ways before the new came through (in coaching style and game plan etc). The talk of him not being interested / interested in Tassie to me is just about looking after his brand - which is fair enough in my opinion. If he missed out when he's wanting the role, then it hurts his chances at Tassie (or anywhere else). But if he says we're not the right fit, it means it doesn't damage his reputation. For that reason I think he has to hedge his bets until he knows he's across the line - to me, he seems VERY keen.

I've got no inside knowledge / intel but a little underwhelmed by this list if its the list - don't worry this is equivalent to people talking about draftees who've never watched them play live! Anyway - I thought we would want people that have had played a big role in teams playing the modern game (but no one from Adelaide, Hawthorn, Brisbane - maybe they want to ride the wave where they are). Can someone explain why Giansiricusa is rated so highly - he's been at Essendon since 2021. Obviously the persformance of a club is not down to an assistant... but they've treaded water in that time. I hope our CEO has taken his red and black glasses off - nearly all of the candidates have strangely had stints at essendon. I hate Geelong with a passion - but respect how they were able to rejig their gameplan from the ground up at the end of 2021 when they looked cooked to winning a flag in 2022. So someone who was part of that (eg Kelly and King (not on the list) would at a minimum have some useful IP for the MFC people on the panel. Part of it is excellent recruiting (and some unfair advantages with the surfcoast lifestyle) - but if we were told after 2021 that at this point in 2025, we would be where we are and Geelong would have won another flag and be contending (finished top 4) for another, it would have been laughable. What they have done is pretty amazing - and I hope through this process we can take some "learnings" from that!

Dogs under Bevo are flat track bullies - they belt the lowly sides and it gives them an inflated rating in so many stats. But compare that to how they go against top 8-9 sides. Obviously it's no where near as good - which is true for all sides. But the drop off for them is far worse. Once they're against sides that have elite midfields / defences their deficiencies in defence are shown for what they are. How that list does not make finals is a reflection on their system, coaching and recruiting. We have had problems with bombing the ball into 50 for years... the dogs have had an equivalent issue with their defence. And what has actually changed?

Heard the interviews with our new CEO and he spoke well. But it is a head-scratcher to me that so many people think he's doing a great job because he's "pondering this new position". Like the axing of Goody, I feel like many supporters will clap change for changes sake. Surely it's too early to know? At the end of the day, there's more than one structure that works and a lot of it is about the personalities / skills of the key people and setting it up to function most effectively. Obviously they need to make some decisions before the head coach is installed, but equally shouldn't this structure / new position be a little dependent on the coach we select?

It's an interesting point. Brisbane's defence and ball movement seemed to be their achilles heel in 2021 / 2022 and with the injection of a few players and changing their style, it has become a strength. With the right direction surely this is not beyond us.

It's too early for mine... it depends on what Max does. But if Max stays captain next season and Disco keeps us this form (I get the sense he is well liked and has natural leadership qualities) then he should definitely be in the frame.

The main criticism in the media about SG's sacking seems to be the timing. To me, the timing isn't that odd. They all seem to think we did it because we wanted to get ahead of Carlton. I think it's more about having enough time to properly go through the process to choose the coach well before players head away and the trade period commences?

While I agree, they're no 1 pick last year Jagger Smith (touted to be the no1 pick overall) has been injured all year and some of their kids eg Moir showed quite a bit against us!

GIven we don't have a first round draft pick and we look to have a father son and possible NGA... Jason Taylor might have less to do this time of year. Can we put him on the coaching selection panel? (only half joking)

Unless you actually know, I don't think you should be posting this type of thing

I don't know if that's right. Last year's draft was very strong and this year's is not only weak but further diluted with the large number of father sons and academy players. Yes it would be nice to have a first round pick this year... but I don't think we would get a better player than Lindsay? Despite an injury interrupted pre-season has played most games and been a solid contributor - good kick, calm under pressure, outside player that has shown ability and toughness to play inside in the future.

It was interesting to hear Josh Mahoney acknowledged by SG along with Peter Jackson and Todd Viney in setting the ground work for our premiership. Obviously have no idea but from what I do know, he seemed to not get enough recognition after we did win the flag. Would love to see what would have happened had Josh Mahoney got the CEO role rather than Pert.

Goody was loved by the players - so it's not a surprise. But that may have been part of the problem.

A decent summary. I know Whately and others in the media are trying to show the inconsistency in expectations in terms of whether this team can make finals. Yes Brad did say that... but I think because it was more polite to say than the truth. Goody has done incredibly well for Melbourne. But recent years has accumulated baggage - much of it is not his doing. But some of it is. His close connection to the players has been an asset but more recently has been his achilles heel as (it appears from the outside) he has been unable to ensure there is discipline and consistency in treatment of players. The primary reason Green gave was "we need a new voice". Goody might be right about the team being able to bounce back up... but with what has gone on the last 4 years, there needs to be a clean slate. How can we do that if he is still there. He's been unlucky in so many ways... but he's also had 9 years. I don't think anyone who follows / watches Melbourne closely would expect a different trajectory next year without significant change. I don't think (or at least hope) Green and the coaching selection panel are going to simply appoint who thinks we have a finals list - it sounds like from other reports they did not agree with Goody's assessment that we were a chance for the flag next year (At least if he was coaching). Surely it's about who has a sense of where the game is going, who gets the best out of people, knows how to maximise our strengths and knows how to fix our weaknesses. As much as most supporters hate it (as it was Goody's mantra) it's not so much about the result - its getting the process right (so the result looks after itself). I still think the untried coach is the best option. Ideally they can bring in their choice of people. I'd be wanting to know about the process and criteria that the pies and GWS used when selecting their coach.

I'd want to go for assistants that have been involved in teams that have performed above expectations with their list. I hate Geelong with a passion more than any other team... but they looked completely cooked in 2021. They went through a process of starting fresh and designing a game plan that suited the strengths they had. They had a couple of good kids but looked like they were going to fall off a cliff... when in fact they have evoled and now we look more likely to fall off a cliff. Obviously it's a lot to do with recruiting (and what they offer out of contract players etc) but it's more than that to stay up for so long.

How many recent examples are there of experienced coaches achieving the ultimate success? I'd rather go for an experienced assistant how has been involved with multiple successful teams. It also might mean we have more $$ to put towards a better coaching group.

I'm not saying we don't need change (clearly we do) - but I think so many of us think that change = better. In many cases it won't. Most of us have very little idea about who is responsible for what and because we're not happy with the output everyone's name gets thrown up. As an example, Selwyn Griffiths is our "high performance manager" which despite the title is really in charge of managing injuries and fitness. Early in the season we were struggling to win last quarters - perhaps we were not fit enough. Mid season that seemed to be less of an issue with many strong performances in last quarters. Does that mean its the fitness, or is it coaching, tactics, rotation management, or psychology? Who really knows? What I do know, is that we have actually had a pretty good season in terms of management of injuries. Is that because without playing finals, we had a longer pre-season and so players with niggles could rest more? Or is it because Selwyn and his team actually know what they're doing? I have no idea - but I would hate to see us weild the axe here to placate the angry members, sponsors etc and find a replacement that is similar to what essendon / carlton have had in recent times. Because the reality is, there's a pretty small pool of ppl that can actually do this type of job. Remember what it was like before we got Burgo?

All duck and no dinner?

I think it would be partly because we will struggle to attract talent that is in demand due to how we have gone the last few seasons on and off field. Secondly just because someone can't get a game in one side doesn't mean they can't be an asset in another. They're not superstars but Toby Bedford wasn't a regular when GWS picked him up from Melbourne (we wanted to keep him and were blindsided) and has become a much better player. Even Jordon at Sydney - they didn't win the flag but he was in their grand final team in a very deep midfield after being on the outer at Melbourne.

Agree 100% - there's not much to say right now. Decisions have to be made, but they can't be made without the new president / CEO in place and it would make us look like we're panicking off field in the same way we did on field in the last quarter (and particularly the last 8 seconds). So maybe it's better to say nothing? But then we have supporters / media saying we're hearing crickets from the president / the club and that obviously means they're ok with this result. It's a no win position for Brad and the board. At a minimum he's saying the performance is not up to scratch (duh) and setting the foundations for change. Whereas last year a trade of Oliver / Trac was off the table... it seems like those sorts of things won't be this time round. (Maybe Goody too... but who knows) We're all p!ssed off right now - but a knee [censored] reaction / statement will make us even less attractive for prospective players, coaches, other staff who WE NEED to attract to get better.

It could actually be the other way round... the players seem to LOVE SG. From their point of view the onfield performance could be more about other factors - off field management, players behaviour off field etc

Isn't the problem though that it is reportedly a weak draft and in addition to that very compromised with academy and father sons - so draft picks are less valuable this year? It's why trading out our first last year and netting Lindsay is a win pretty much regardless of where we finish. And why it made sense for Richmond to load up with so many draft picks last year. We could potentially trade for future picks.. but that delays the rebuild (and I have no idea on the quality for that draft)