Synbad wrote:
GWS wrote:
If Fevola had been the fifth musketeer his motto would have been "All for one and all for one!".
he would have been sorted out if he was around in a strong leadership group
Walls always said that every Carlton player had his head pulled in by the group as a whole when a player got ahead of himself... 200 a season was not beyond him .
Fev played at a time we had no leadership....
thats true - a leadership vacuum created by the great Pagan/Elshaugh regime
By 2004/05 the Harris/Barrassi leadership continuity thread was dismantled/severed.
Ratten didn't know or didn't care about this, perhaps thinking it will take care of itself or that Judd will whip the boys in shape. (as we know, and knew then, Judd is not the sort of leader we needed)
Malthouse knows this all too well. Why he opted to essentially squander his first 18 months with respect to this problem is totally beyond me. Perhaps he too was suckered in the fickle surface varnish that coats the Murphys, Waites, Judds etc...I doubt it though. Perhaps he was looking for a Nick Maxwell type of captain? I think he found him in Nick Duigan, but Duigan was certainly not a long term captain.
As a new coach I would have focused on two areas. The basics of the game (ie contested ball, 1%ers, workrate) and honest leadership foundations within the playing group. Let professional assistant coaches and conditioning personnel look after fitness and skills.
I would have cancelled overseas waste of time cost ineffective trips to Arizona to hike low mountains etc and focused on trips out to Bairnsdale and Castlemaine, just like the Cats do each year. In fact the cats send young and new players out in small groups, with a senior member of the leadership group to explain to them what is expected of them when they get a chance in the seniors. This benefits the young players and also builds trust and develops the leadership and responsibility of the experienced player who is in charge of the group (Harry Taylor was describing this process when he took 5 or 6 young players out to Castlemaine one pre season. He said that he gained a lot from the experience as well)
What does Carlton do in this area? Apart of from stagnate and promote elite playing groups that are protected and pampered by the board with little royal visy gifts and commercial partnerships (which often go wrong - ask Judd, Simpson and co)
We get what we deserve as a club.
(we saw how the players responded last week with far better workrate, 1%ers and contested ball. Suddenly they didn't look SHIT and underdone. They were competitive - that's all supporters want. 100% effort - and the first 4 weeks were disgracefull in these basic areas of the game - with the exception of a few patches within games. Not good enough, for professionals being paid top dollar to represent a great club such as Carlton. Lay down the challenge to the playing group. You don't want to do A,B or C, then @#$%&! off and play in the amateurs or play an individual sport like golf or darts. Get the @#$%&! hell out of this club. And I rated Fev very highly as a footballer - a great talent - but for Big Fev to be writing in public about what went wrong with the blues is just sheer lunacy - he was part of the culture that went wrong. When I saw Fev take out Setanta who was going back with the flight of the ball and not even look concerned if he had injured him or not, I understood what sort of person he was, and what sort of club culture we had. The fact that this incident occurred at all says a lot about the club and Fev himself)
Login
Register
FAQ
