Rob's Rant...... I am DONE!!! There is nothing new I can add so all I can do is offer my suggested way out of this mess. There is only 1 possible solution that i can see and involves several painful steps:
1. The board come out and sack Malthouse immediately or tell him publicly he will NOT be reappointed next year and thus let him resign now. He has clearly lost the players, in over 30 years of watching my beloved Blues I have never seen them so devoid of passion, soul and pride.
2. The board to resign on mass. - The board has dragged us into this mess and must take responsibility - Logiudice, Jeanne Pratt, Ruffy Geminder, Ahmed Fahour, Zac Fried, Greg Lee, Adrian Gleeson, Luke Sayers, Marcus Clarke, Craig Mathieson,
3. Caretaker board consisting of 6 members to be appointed only 2 members can be from pre-existing board. Ask AFL for assistance in setting up interim board selection. The board must consist of people who not only have business acumen but also have a deep understanding of the machinations of a football club and have the best interests of the club at heart not just deep pockets and a large ego like many of current board.
4. Appoint an interim coach until end of year - the coach is instructed to put 100% emphasis on on playing kids and developing kids for the future, no emphasis whatsoever on short term success. Give games to Cripps, Menzel, Jaksch, Graham, Whiley, Holman, Buckley, DVR, Dick, Smith, Foster, Fields, Johnson, Byrne, etc... We can't play them all at once in the same team but we can give them several games each to get an idea of their capabilities, Lets see what they have got, those that aren't going to make it can be moved on at end of the year (obviously we give them time to develop)
5. Establish a panel to look for next coach - A young coach to be given a 4 year deal. A coach from a successful program that has been involved in player development - Dew, Bolton, Tudor, Lappin, someone else etc... I don't know who should coach us but that is the job for the panel.
6. SOS as list manager and his team to be given carte blanche to manage our list - trade players, delist players and recruiting. - Emphasis on accumulating early draft picks and use these picks on elite skills particularly inside mids and KPPS Suggested moves: Delist (or Trade): Armfield, Ellard, Carrazzo, Judd (retire), Daisy, Watson, Warnock, White, Jones, Everitt, Tutt? Trade at least 2 of our "bigger names" : Yarran, Walker, Gibbs, Touhy, Jamo, - All trades to try and gain early draft picks (will need to combine picks e.g.. Yarran and our second round pick 19 for a top 10 pick etc.. - We need to be aggressive, creative and bold. In reality every player is on the table for the right deal.
7. Club via CEO (Trigg) to acknowledge all their errors and clearly spell out plan forward including emphasis on playing kids until 2016 season. Club to explain to members the direction of the club and make it crystal clear they are committed to a rebuild with no Quick fixes. Apologize to members and plead with them to stay on board for the journey
8. Full independent review of all aspects of the club to start ASAP- Coaching, Match committee, recruiting, development, marketing, media, fitness and conditioning, medical team etc... This should be completed before the end of the regular season
9. Immediate ban on all man-buns, pony tails, hipster facial hair, crappy tattoos etc..
Basically this is like starting a brand new club from the top down. If this fails all I can suggest is that perhaps like all living things perhaps this once great club has reached its twigh-light years and sadly maybe the end is near........ i hope this is not the case! Am I being hysterical? Possibly. Am I being realistic? Definitely
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