hard to make an assessment when i have no idea what his KPIs are.

you blamed him for our contract situation and even mentioned recruiting. i am saying you cant lump all of that on him when he isn't responsible for many of the decisions that were made in the past. (ie 2 years + ago)

I come from a different perspective. McKay is "General Manager of Football Operations", he is the boss and as such is responsible for the whole football department. It is his responsibility.

As for 2 years I don't understand how you see that as being not long enough to assess someone, IMO it easily enough time. How long do you think is enough?

Both. How Hughes is still at the club is beyond me and I have serious doubts about the McKay selection. Once again no due diligence or process in getting someone with NO experience in the role. We have recruited some very average players and put them on some nice contracts. As such our hands are tied.

Both. How Hughes is still at the club is beyond me and I have serious doubts about the McKay selection. Once again no due diligence or process in getting someone with NO experience in the role. We have recruited some very average players and put them on some nice contracts. As such our hands are tied.

I've been up since 4am...don't you start!

Recruiting based on sabermetrics could work in Australian Rules Football - but not in the same way as baseball. Nearly every event in baseball can be categorized and quantified: walk or strikeout, homerun or flyout, ball or strike. Aussie Rules lacks baseball’s clarity: Did Dennis Armfield execute a good shepherd, or not? When to kick - when to handball. How do you measure that when it's not black and white?

The only way to do it from a coaching point of view is separate the field into three and execute more set-plays from the stoppages. If you viewed each stoppage as a 'down' in American Football parlance, and had set plays called by a midfielder at that stoppage - then you could possibly justify using a data-driven approach to game plans and therefore - enhance your list management based on that. I'm a firm believer that Geelong has been doing that for a few years. Their 'outer circle' at the stoppage changes depending on where they are on the ground - but in essence, all their midfielders have a defined zone and role at the stoppage. Carlton is very ad-hoc depending on the opponent. But anyone who looked at stats from the AFL in 2013 saw that many of the traditional Champion Data stats went out the window.

Our traditional stats look like this:

Disposals: 341.5 (16th)
Contested possession differential: +8.2 (3rd)
Tackles: 64.0 (9th)
Clearance differential: +3.6 (3rd)
Inside-50 differential: +2.0 (10th)
Scoring % inside 50: 51.9% (5th)
Av points for: 96.6 (8th)
Av points against: 90.5 (9th)
Av winning margin: 30
Av losing margin: 18

AS for uncontested possession - only Simpson, Scotland and Walker made the top 50. Gibbs the only other to finish inside the top 100.

Better stats to look at and consider with regard to recruitment of midfielders are metres gained per match and retained possession from disposal. There are a few kids not considered draft worthy until the second round of this draft who fare very well in the aforementioned areas. But because they're south of 180cm and the current vogue is big-bodied mids, they slip down the order rather than go up.

Better stats to look at and consider with regard to recruitment of midfielders are metres gained per match and retained possession from disposal. There are a few kids not considered draft worthy until the second round of this draft who fare very well in the aforementioned areas. But because they're south of 180cm and the current vogue is big-bodied mids, they slip down the order rather than go up.

Running out of heads for TC to kick Bluey?

Regards Cazzesman

Running out of heads for TC to kick Bluey?

Regards Cazzesman

So how do you think McKay is handling the footy department through all this?


IMO he has been flying under the radar BIG TIME throughout this crisis.

People are putting the blowtorch on Malthouse, Sticks, Swann, etc

But if anyone I think McKay has the least credits in the bank at the moment.

Do you think we need a separate list manager?
Or a new head of footy ops?
Or BOTH ?

I'm of the opinion that Andy shouldn't continue in his current capacity / job description.
At minimum some sort of separate list manager role should be created.

Totally agree. I believe his role should be under more scrutiny than anyone else. I am happy if Swann stays but McKay needs to go.

What has happened with our List Management, Contracts, Recruiting has been a disgrace. Worst in the league.

Also, not the right person to be out in front of the media at this time. Doesn't exactly inspire confidence. Sounds like a backbencher.

Fair point.
If he isn't comfortable under the blowtorch, then it's probably better that he has minimal media appearances.

We're not privy to what goes on between him and Swanny, but Andy's honeymoon period in the role has worn off.

It seems he has a reputation as a high performer, but at the moment he doesn't seem to be on top of the tasks at hand.
If he needs help then the CEO and the board should help him to rejig the footy department and get it functioning well.

Sacking the coach again won't do anything if the footy dept is not functioning well as a whole.

Got to go in my books. He very rarely tells the truth when giving updates and tows the political line all the time.

Where has all the smoke and mirrors got us? Nowhere.