In the good old days, the journos would get their stories down the pub. Then write nothing, because they were mates with all the players and coaches.

I'm sure there's a happy medium somewhere, but the world tends to lurch from one extreme to the other instead.

Its good that we've got the depth on TC to replace Synbad in the unsubstantiated propaganda stakes

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Good leaders will always try and hire a team of people that are smarter than themselves.

Lets hope the other appointments are for equally well credentialled individuals.

The appointment of AR gives us the expertise, experience and technology capabilities to develop individual player skills. I am sure the majority of contributors to this forum are very frustrated by the skill errors that let us down everytime we seem to be making progress. A 5% to 10% improvement in individual skill will make a huge difference to our team.

For eg look at the Dale Thomas and how he has added evasion techniques, a yard of dash and more consistency to his delivery, it has made him much less predictable and much more dangerous. Add some of those subtle skills to some of our guys and we can start to get excited.

Of course individual skill development seems to be AR's core competency. He seems an unknown quantity in regards to overall strategy.

Therefore we also need a strategist, who understands how to construct and deconstruct a zone, a press or a junk rotating defence with double and triple teams.

Our game plan is far to basic for the modern day. Don't get me wrong if you can win the ball out of the middle consistently and roost it into the forward line, or burst clear ahla Judd you will win many more games than you lose. But you can't win finals or premierships until you can play a variety of styles of footy, moreover it is the defensive systems which usually sort out the wheat from the chaff.

Allowing an under manded defence to go one on one isn't going to get the job done.

Lets add the ball pressure, tempo control and channelling the ball with sufficeint rotations and coverage. Take away the soft goals. Make teams kick accurately from set shots on the boundary to beat us. And allow us, by use of zone breaker techniques, to take the heat of the game when we are locked into the opponents forward line.

But more importantly we need to be innovators. The coaches who are bold in their thinking and couragous in their actions are todays winners!

So lets add the strategist.

Then, lets add a leader of men.

If you look at some other sports the best technical coaches can't compete with the legends who know how to lead. Look at Phil Jackson in the NBA 11 titles. He did have some gun players for sure but one star won't win you a title, it is the output he got from players with limited capabilities by clearly defining their role and making them sacrifice for the greater good. Wayne Bennett in the NRL has a simple no nonsense style but has the utmost respect of the men he manages, therefore he gets the results.

Rats still has a key role, to manage. He brings the Blues culture, the history and the responsibility to bring it all together, and work with the Board and adminstration to make sure the whole package is ticking.

One good move to date by the Blues.

Lets hope the other moves are as well thought out.

CB

Butterrs got rid of him for nothing more than PERSONAL reasons..... They had a fallout!!

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Stay tuned We're in for a BUMPY ride

Good post, wrong conclusion.

So we got a leading player developer, need an innovative strategist, and a leader of men. If Ratten is neither, then being a "manager" by your definition is pretty thin stuff to base head coach on.

The leader of men is obviously the role of head coach. If Ratts can't inspire and command respect he's simply not the man to coach. Phil Jackson doesn't work his magic as a subordinate. Neither does Bennett

ugh.

oops duplicate

dupe

So you're talking as if Richardson has engineered and manipulated the whole thing.

He applied for a job and got it.

How does that make him Machiavelli??

Too much time on your hands Josh?

Richo's appointment is great for the Club.

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Bawditawaba

Parko once said there's an average of two crises a week at any AFL Club. Most were dealt with discreetly.

Any meeting's a "crisis meeting"

Big deal.

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Bawditawaba

Greg Denham dropped Gavin Browns name into the mix of potential appointments this morning.

I'm with Josh on this. Senior Assistant? Can you smell what Swann is cooking? Plan B.

Talk about well and truly missing the mark. When did I ever say Richardson engineered this whole thing? I said it was a CEO and board led decision, not a senior coach inspired one. And that is a pertinent point.

Was thinking exactly the same thing JK. Perfect strategic move by AR. The 3 year contract means that they can't piss him off if Ratts goes. He'd have to be a shoe in for the caretaker role if Ratts is given the arse during the year (which I pray doesn't happen cause it will then be a wasted year)

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If I want your opinion, I'll give it to you!

Cimm78 put it beautifully

"Not all appointments are part of a conspiracy and not everyone has a hidden agenda."

I stand by my comments

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Bawditawaba

Not true.

I've read Josh' post 4 times now and I'm stumped how you came to your initial conclusion.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

Guys have a look at some of th backgrounds of people on the board. Owners or advisors to business and government.

Don't forget the Sports press are press that couldn't hack it in the real press where our board members usually operate.

Conversely if a senior gig opens up elsewhere during 2011, or at the end of the year then Richardson might be on the way out anyway.

Who knows, who cares ... all we can do is hope he makes a mark while he is here, however long it may be.

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You're always on the money Josh. If this is true I sense a difficult year ahead. I don't think Ratts is up to it and his appointment was a classic old school out of touch exercise, giving a great player a break when clearly he had far too little experience, but wjile he is coach he must be able to assemble his team. If the committee thinks he can't take us forward, let him go and get someone else but the death by a 1000 cuts never helps anyone. He need to approve the appointments and get the people he thinks will help the club forward. I like the appointments, but unless Ratts is strongly in favour of them then in the short term we will have issues. All the caoches need to be on the same page, and that page needs to be written by the senior coach and not anyone else.