Geelongs nine year journey by Jake Niall.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/af ... 30575.htmlQuote:
Geelong would miscalculate 12 months later and try to top up with West Coast's Mitchell White and Carlton midfielder Justin Murphy in a short-lived experiment with Band-aid recruiting.
There was a smell about Geelong that afternoon. It was flogged, and finished 12th in 2001. Burnt by the failed top-up, the club went back to the draft, and the other major influx came: Jimmy Bartel, Steve Johnson, Gary Ablett — courtesy of the father-son rule — and James Kelly all came on board; they and the 1999ers are now the core of the grand final team.
Geelong's steadily improving financial position meant the club was always able to have its full complement of rookies, and, as Costa observed, it was able to field its own Geelong team in the VFL, rather than form an alliance with Werribee — a point of difference between it and the other Victorian clubs.
Sources from that period said the other significant decision the club made was to resist overtures from the AFL to have many, if not all, of its home games shifted from Geelong to Telstra Dome or the MCG.
As one insider posited, the Cats might have struggled to refuse — and to push ahead and develop their ground — had the weight of debt not been lifted.
Geelong ascended slowly under the Cook-Thompson plan. In 2003, Bomber had advised the board that Geelong would enter its premiership window in 2006 and 2007, but that the group was sufficiently talented enough that it "might pinch one before then".
This nearly occurred in 2004, when the Cats fell nine points shy of Brisbane in the preliminary final. The following year, they were within three seconds of another prelim, beaten by the astonishing goal to Sydney's Nick Davis.
When the Cats won the pre-season last year, the faithful believed the premiership was nigh. Instead, 2006 turned into the season of discontent, as the Cats whimpered to 10th, amid a dispute with sacked fitness coach Loris Bertolacci.
Cook and the board, with Andrews and Wade agitating for change, instituted an in-depth review of the football club. Thompson, who labelled the review "crap" this year, survived the process, but the upshot was that the fitness team was overhauled, and Neil Balme left Collingwood to become Bomber's foil as the new football operations manager.
Henceforth, Thompson would report to Balme, and, as Costa explained, the coach was more able to concentrate on "one-on-one coaching" — his strength — instead of administrative matters, contracts and so forth.
A new game emphasising quick ball movement from half-back through the corridor replaced the more conservative style Thompson had favoured.
Then, at Balme's behest, Geelong hired Gerard Murphy to implement a new leadership program.
Tom Harley, whose replacedment of Steven King as captain marked another watershed, became the driver of a more demanding and accountable leadership group.
The new leadership group presided over Steve Johnson's five-match suspension at the beginning of the season — from which he emerged as an All-Australian. Harley and co also told Cameron Mooney to pull his head in, and suggested to Gary Ablett that he had the capacity to play at the level of Chris Judd, which he duly did.
It began with a new leadership of the club in '99, and it ended with a new leadership of the team — and perhaps a flag — eight years later.
Notice any similarities?
The reality is it's not so much about who does the review. The requirement is the people involved need the courage and impartiality to make the hard calls when required.
David Parkin believes clubs will always struggle to succeed until they can honestly review their operations with active participation from all involved. No exceptions.
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