Lucifers Hero

If it is some consolation many of us feel the same. Hopefully the weeks ahead are much brighter.

The GM Football structure split, I referred to was Neil Balme's role at Richmond. Simon Lloyd is at Geelong. Can we just leave it that there are a variety of structures and reporting lines. Mine was but one example to focus on football outcomes/performance. Richmond has another. Other clubs might have something else. This is where it would be very valuable for an external consultant to do our review: Review the structure first and determine roles and job requirements before appointing someone.

I didn't think to much about the title (GM or Manager), it was more an example of a structural split to make the FD more focused on football outcomes. I just looked at Richmond and found that last year they split Neil Balme's GM Football role into two parts: "Tim Livingstone... General Manager – Football Performance and Blair Hartley ...General Manager – Football Talent. Both Tim and Blair will be a part of the Club’s senior management team. I haven't found what the two involve to compare to my theoretical functional structure but it shows there is a precedent for suggesting the GM FD role is too big for one person and needs to be split to give the right focus on Football /OutcomesPerformance.

I was being a little facetious. To be fair to the coaches the votes were very close from 3rd to 5th. 3rd: Viney, 311 4th: Langdon, 296 5th: Oliver, 291 I really think 5th being an issue for Oliver is a furphy

4 coaches vote each week. Maybe one coach consistently gave Viney more votes than other coaches.

Good comments. Perhaps I was a bit vague. The idea was to split the GM Football role into two Managers. The Manager Football would be responsible for all things football of which the coach is a part of. If the coach becomes too powerful it hasn't been set up well. Not sure how other sports are structured.

I've reflected on the list in my earlier post and believe The GM's 'Span of Control' is too wide. There is a real case to restructure the GM department and separate roles into those directly related to football outcomes (The Coalface) and those that support those outcomes (The Back Office): eg To reclassify the list in my earlier post: Football (The Coalface): List Manager - Lamb (incl recruitment) Coach (and Player Development) - Goodwin Sports Science & Medical - Burgess Technology - ? AFLW Coach - Stinear Football Support (The Back Office): Football Admin - Academy - ? Sports Psychologist - ? Player Development (Admin) - ? Casey Football Manager - Maynard (I think) This structure creates a real focus on the reason we exist: to regularly contend for the premiership and win some. The Football Manager (The Coalface) role is where we need a new person. One who can ensure we have the right coaches and development staff to maximise the players capabilities.

Hard to think that 5th in the BnF on its own, would prompt him to look elsewhere The impact of 5th is disappointment and he gets a lower $ bonus than finishing higher, which could be enough to concern him. I would guess at least half a dozen players earn more than he does so a big package elsewhere could be attractive. There could be any number of other issues: pace of his development, the blowtorch from the media and no-one at the club stood up for him, other players get lots more than him but contributing less, other players not working as hard as he does on and off the field, relationships with teammate(s) etc. @Demons11and @Demon3usually have good mail and don't post on a whim. So if they are saying Oliver is restless I believe them. I also believe their view that he won't be traded this year and next year is critical to keeping him (as it is to keeping many others).

Unfortunately, the club no longer publishes a staff list so don't have all the latest names. The FD structure is: GM Football - Mahoney. His director reports are: List Manager - Lamb (incl recruitment) Coach (and Player Development) - Goodwin Sports Science & Medical - Burgess Football Admin - AFLW Coach - Stinear Casey Football Manager - Maynard (I think) Technology - ? Academy - ? Sports Psychologist - ? Player Development - ?

The alternative is to change the people that keep making the wrong decisions and those that are 'round pegs in square holes'. I've lost faith in the FD department. I'm looking to Pert to take decisive action to ensure all parts of the FD are functioning effectively.

I'm all for regular reviews and changes for the better. My question was how many chances is someone given to' get it right' if they regularly don't and we don't improve. On your basis we could get it wrong, learn, adjust, get it wrong, learn, adjust ad infinitum. It has been happening for too long and it isn't acceptable any longer.

Huh!! Maybe to Melbourne (and its supporters) making the 8 is the goal. Other clubs are chasing their next piece of silverware! For some anything less than top 4 is a failed season. In terms of review after review after review 'until you get the mix right': how many chances do people get if they regularly get it wrong?

Updated for the very important re-signings of Fritsch for 2 years and Rivers for 3 years. I will update the # Games Played when the final 2021 list is known.

Because he isn't as tall and because he doesn't have the help: Our ruckman rests in defence. And we don't have another effective tall fwd. Also the bulldogs defence was very poor yesterday. Steven May took King to the cleaners so it shows what a decent defender can do. Max will be a champion. Sam perhaps not but he will still be a very good player if developed properly.

Re the bolded parts. My comments were based on a fit TMac and he gives us those. As I said, TMac gives us more list flexibilty going forward than being locked into a 3+ year contract with Brown. We can't afford both. If we can't trade TMac (and it seems there are no takers) then we can't have Brown.

Who selected his current coaching panel? And who decided to let his experienced coaching support go last year and hire Richardson, if he didn't? Based on the last 4 years, I have little confidence in his judgement of what makes a successful coaching panel.

Melbourne has the better top 8 players. Saints list has better positional balance and overall skills. So Saint's list is better placed for success.

Yep, Astbury was given a clear role in a strong system and is an asset. Oscar could well be the same. Deserves another go, elsewhere.

I didn't say our defence was a shambles! Doubt your claim that our defence set up this year was excellent. Really? And even if it was, Oscar wasn't given many chances this year. Can't see how that is making excuses for Oscar.

That is an outcome. The role is the part in the team process to achieve that outcome. There are many such processes varying with game plan, structures, set-ups, ball movement etc. Since 2018 the defensive players have changed, the zone has changed, our defence structures and processes have changed, ball movement has changed and he has been in and out of the team. I don't describe those as circumstances which foster 'a strong system, belief in the game plan and belief in the team' to enable a player to be the best he can be in his role.. He is known to read the play well and that is a real asset in defence. I would like to see him go to a club that can better use his skills.

The big question is why no club selected him before pick #57 which allowed him to go to Coll as F/S for peanuts! Massive free kick to the pies!

Carins was bad for us in challenging scheduling circumstances. But what really cost us were two games we let slip earlier in the season that would have got us into finals: Geelong where we experimented with one tall fwd being a sluggish TMac. It didn't work. We lost by a few points. Bulldogs. We played them off long breaks (7 days and before that 6 days) after 3 good wins and we were terrible. We gave them our spot in the finals that day. Win either of those and we would have been 7th playing the saints yesterday who we could have beaten. And play the pies next week, another winnable game to make a prelim vs Brisbane. But for the ifs and buts we were 9th. Oh, what might have been...

Bradtke is a 'B' rookie so that could be why he was left out but not sure. Good pick up on Smith. Thanks, I will go back and edit.

We know the problem - what is the solution?

Status of our OOC players: re-sign-or-let-go-your-club-s-out-of-contract-players (I've edited out recent changes announced) Out of Contract: Toby Bedford, Mitch Brown, Kade Chandler, Mitch Hannan, Michael Hibberd, Marty Hore, Jayden Hunt, Nathan Jones, James Jordon, Jay Lockhart, Oscar McDonald, Aaron Nietschke, Charlie Spargo, Jack Viney. Summary: Viney still unsigned. Jones future unclear. Hibberd will want multiple years. Bedford will stay but rival clubs interested. Oscar is waiting for an offer. Nietschke has been guaranteed a deal for 2021 I had thought a year by year contract would be the way to go with Hibberd. Would really like to see Lockhart signed up. He had a pretty good year until Rivers took his spot. Would still be very good back up in that small defender role especially with Jetta slowing down.