We used to have a goldfish bowl when the kids were small. At some point, one of the fish got sick, started swimming slower, and eventually died. The other two quickly followed.

Of course, being good parents, we went to a pet shop, and bought a couple of new fish. Unfortunately, they quickly died too.

OK, what to do. Obviously, we're not getting good enough fish... So we looked up the Yellow Pages, asked around, found the best pet shop in our area, and went and bought two REALLY good, REALLY expensive fish, brought them home, and whacked them into the tank. Of course, they died within a few days.

Before you ask "Who are you, and what have you done with Pafloyul, I better get to the point of the story.

The point of the story, as is obvious from the Subject, is: it doesn't matter how many fish you get, how great the fish are, what accessories you have, what plants and decorations you put in; if the water's contaminated, the fish will die!

OUR WATER IS CONTAMINATED!! And we need to fix that first. The environment of the CFC is not conducive to winning premierships. And it doesn't matter how many Judds we bring in, how many number 1 and number 2 draft picks we get, which coaches we attract; they all come into this same environment. And of course, the environment quickly absorbs them. We've pretty much actually demonstrated that already!

So all this talk about injuries, tactics, structures, playing list - it's all pretty much irrelevant IMO. We need to fix our club first. This is 1964 revisited. And until we do something about the environment that new coaches and players walk into, until we do something about the dirty water that any new goldfish get to swim in, we will continue to struggle.

And THAT, good doctor, is my two cents worth!!!

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Never argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience!!!

After Monday and Tuesday, even the calendar says W T F .........
Visit http://fromthemoshpit.com/

Love the analogy. I turned my fish tank into a dust collector, hope we don't take that path

We've got too many Nemos and not enough Bruces...

Too many Seagulls .... Mate .. Mate ... Mate ... Mate

Unfortunately Moshe, I suspect you're absolutely right.

Dick Pratt's input did nothing but paper over some very substantial cracks, caused by some very dodgy foundations.

(this could well turn into the metaphor thread)

I like this metaphor - unsure how much it applies though.

The Club is as to a tree full of monkeys.

The monkeys on the higher branches look down to see the lower monkeys looking up and smiling at them.

The monkeys on the lower branches look up and see a bunch of assholes.

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"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." - Howard Thurman

..first of all, change the bloody water you pol potting aquatic serial killer..

..secondly, while from the outside it does seem that off-field the CFC isn't the best run organisation,, that's still very much an outsiders view.. ..i'm not sure if it really is as bad as it seems, but sometimes it does feel like we ought to switch the club theme song to springsteen's "glory days"..

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..if you can't be good, be good at it..

Once again, I am more than happy to run the Club if they will let me. I profess to know very little about the tactical side of the game, but God as my witness, I can herd cats better than most. And thats what the Club needs at the moment - to be cleansed both administratively and culturally.

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"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." - Howard Thurman

Trust me...from the outside - it ain't as bad as it really is on the inside.

Wise words gwasshopper.

Who will issue the purifying tablets?

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That’s not a political statement — it’s a harsh reality, and we must act,” she said. “He is a clear and present danger to the things that keep us strong and free. I support impeachment.”

Nice analogy Moshe, wth some validity I'm sure.

What makes a successful club is obviously multifactorial. We seemed to be on the rise, now we're flat as pancakes, all the more dissappointing because we feel something has been stolen from us just as we were building to something great.

The loss of Dick Pratt, and the hole he has left with caretaker Kernahan, is significant, particularly as the boys club appointment of Ratts was probably not one a truly professional club should have made. An inexperienced and plodding senior coach must have difficulty recruiting high calibre assistants, and at the moment I'm not sure what these assistants are offering.

We've been smashed tactically and been unable to respond. A better coach and coaching panel should have been able to not only come up with solutions but motivate the playing group to lift in times of adversity. Maybe this will still happen. Players have lost confidence, are not responding in a discipined and automatic way on the field in the way a well drilled team should respond, and are starting to panic. Our best players individually are still as good as any, but individual brilliance is no match for very ordinary structures and game plan and lack of intensity.

Our player development (and perhaps recruiting) is clearly substandard. This is now really obvious, given how few of our lower tier have come on in leaps and bounds and moved to become genuine A and B grade players. This is showing up big time now with our injuries, and revealing our lack of depth. The superior Collingwood team of the last few years had very few high draft picks but have been able to develop a range of initially ordinary players into real top liners. IMO this is a really significant issue.

So for me the big ones are coaching ineptitude, injuries, confidence (and therefore effort) and player development.

I dont think we need to throw the baby out with the bathwater, or more specifically the fish out with the fishwater, but there is clearly something seriously wrong at multiple levels at the moment to explain our pathetic recent performances.

I don't know about our internal workings, but back in the good old day's of the WAFL, my team, West Perth was a proud club with a rich history of success (coincidentally we were known for our large supporter base of southern European's). Unfortunately as an organisation the club was being used by various factions and people to promote their own agenda's. Some people where there to network for business, some where there for the prestige. Appointments were made politically and not for the best of the club. Cliques formed and the club stagnated, people who were best qualified to fill roles (and this extended to match day selections) did't get the jobs because they didn't know the right people.

The place was full of hanger's on and people without either the will (because it meant compromising their positions) or the power to change things.

Does any of this sound familiar.?

We went round in circles for 20 years.

The only change really came after the WAFL lost its shine (The Eagles formed), West Perth relocated to the extreme northern suburbs and changed our name. By then there was no prestige in being involved in a WAFL club, almost no business opportunity for anyone and so the only people left were people who wanted to be there to help the club.

We got good administrators and we also got a guy called Jeff Geishen (don't laugh) who turned the team from one where people were selected on reputation and how well they got on with the coach to one where only results mattered.

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I hope Essendon* folds.

As someone else said on another thread, WTF are you on???

How it seems is that we are five years on .... from five years on ..... from the sanctions. That's a generation!!!
How it seems is we now have Judd, Murphy, Gibbs, Walker, Kreuzer, Henderson, Russell (7 top 10 picks) and no Pagan for 5 years, and are still getting regular 8-10 goal hidings.
How it seems is that when we get 2 or 3 injuries, we have nothing to bring in.
How it seems is that we can't develop young players.
How it seems is that we can't bring a young player into a known, understood, and well-drilled structured game style and have him play well in it (cf Collingwood, WCE, etc).
How it seems is that we're a rabble.

You'd bloody hope it's not as bad as it seems. But ya know, my grandfather used to say "If it looks like a duck......."

_________________
Never argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience!!!

After Monday and Tuesday, even the calendar says W T F .........
Visit http://fromthemoshpit.com/

We need people with integrity, intelligence, and more than a dash of vision and boldness.
Corrupt people, buying their way in to positions of power at OUR club, ain't the way.

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That’s not a political statement — it’s a harsh reality, and we must act,” she said. “He is a clear and present danger to the things that keep us strong and free. I support impeachment.”

Nice one Moshe.
Hoping people spread the word

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Loved that bit.


Some cereal questions though.

- What is the environment you speak of?
- An environment is made up of a set and setting. Which of these particular aspects do you feel are poisonous at the CFC?
- What are in your opinion, possible solutions (I loved the metaphor, but can I get this answer in a more literal sense)?

Chairs.

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STURDYISM!!

To tell you the truth, I'm not sure. It's just that it seems obvious that something is wrong BEYOND all the lower-level issues. We've brought in the great players, we've fixed the facilities, we got supposedly top assistant coaches, et, etc. None of this is working!! So, it must be the environment into which we're bringing them.

It's got to start at the top.

_________________
Never argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience!!!

After Monday and Tuesday, even the calendar says W T F .........
Visit http://fromthemoshpit.com/

great post moshe.

exactly what synbad has been saying but just put in nicer words.

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"You're not gonna believe this. The guy killed 16 czechoslovakians. He was an interior decorator."

"His house looked like shit!"

Who is this Synbad you speak of?

_________________
Never argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience!!!

After Monday and Tuesday, even the calendar says W T F .........
Visit http://fromthemoshpit.com/

And he used punctuation and correct spelling and shiz.

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STURDYISM!!