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Step 1: Back the coach, but ask for honest self-assessment and time frame of succession
Mick is good enough to help us right now and to dig us out of this hole, but he has his weaknesses too. I'd sit down with him and look to identify where he would like to improve the existing list that could conceivably be done, but he feels he would need an upgrade of or additional support staff to achieve. I'd also ask him to sit down over a 6-18 month period and comb through the coaching talent pool to start helping to identify coaches who show the work ethic, research, communication and intellectual capacity to forge themselves into a quality AFL coach.
I'd then bring them in as a senior assistant with an eye to replacing Mick, who would move into a DoF role where he could cherry pick and work on weaker areas of the football side of the club without the day to day stress of the senior & match day roles. He's walked away from this before, but to be completely fair Nathan Buckley still doesn't strike me as an AFL coach yet so his concerns are wholly valid.
Step 2: Restructure the football department around internal and external player valuation and assessment
There are so many models of talent acquisition and development in the AFL and similar and dissimilar sports around the world that the idea of borrowing or adopting from a series of said models can be a daunting prospect, particularly given the sometimes cagey nature of the industry in regards to what they perceive as intellectual property (though from a legal sense this is often not the case).
I'd move towards a standpoint that current performance in the form of attainable targets should factor more heavily into contract structure, and that a blend of short and medium term needs, predicted output, projected ability and market value should be identified and analysed when making decisions regarding draft selection, trades and other forms of player acquisition and sales. Any body not on board with an analysis heavy approach that wants to make gut calls that they cannot remotely articulate in this way needs to be moved on in favour of those who have the communication skills to bring their talent spotting ability to somewhere of substance.
This identification process only enhances the coaching and development areas of the club as they have a more robust SWOT analysis of a player progression and club health. Through video analysis, specialised coaching and mentoring sessions they can better assist a player in making themselves a capable AFL footballer, as well as clearer in discussions with footballers and their managers about their value to the club, their goals for the player and the club and why they want to move them on or bring them into the club.
Finally, the medical, sports science and strength and condition aspects of the club should also be looked at to provide a similarly shrewd and prudent view of player welfare and physical development, and perhaps should be further engineered to naturally compete with the senior coaching staff's competitive drive to bring physically underdeveloped players in early, and injured players back as soon as possible.
Step 3: Construct a financial and organisational model for the club that seeks to drive value for all internal and external stakeholders
This might seem like a somewhat technical term, but quite simply a lack of incentive is evident at all levels of the football club, from the players, to the investors to the supporters. We as supporters are told to do it for love, the players and the coaches are told do it for money and the sponsors are told do it for either love or commercial exposure on national TV. These are primary factors for these particular groups but to suggest they are all the corporate and administrative arm of the club should focus on in the areas of organising, social media, communications, investment, sponsorship, membership and football department budgeting is utterly laughable.
True success in all of these fields of endeavour will come through focussing on these fundamentals while pushing forward a series of incentives and initiatives built around delivering extra reward for the time/money spent, and these do not necessarily have to be mutually exclusive. For example, well costed and innovative social media events or just good old fashioned social functions can blend value-add for players, supporters and sponsors alike.
I would look into some of the best and brightest new talent in social media, marketing and financial circles who are interested in a unique and challenging market place while making their name in their respective fields, and I would challenge them with finding sustainable and cost-effective strategies for growth in their respective fields. I would arm them with a respectable budget and drive them to bring wealth through shrewd business and restoring a sense of community to the entirety of the Carlton Football Club.
I don't expect silvertails, mum-and-dad supporters and players to be rubbing shoulders on a weekly basis but a program that could deliver events like this monthly (and social media events weekly) in a way that doesn't disenfranchise any stakeholders can only do wonders to all aspects of the club and drive every area further by reminding them of exactly why they're all involved in the Club in the first place, and that can only be a good thing. In fact, I would go so far as to say it would have a positive and synergistic influence on the club and perhaps the league as a whole.
Anyway, that's where I'd probably start, alongside building a board that is capable of building and maintaining this vision, as well as keeping tabs on where to introduce new concepts and paradigms to the club, including the transition out of themselves where applicable. Honest, hard working (for the time able to be invested) and passionate to improve the state of affairs at the Club, while maintaining a realistic and studious approach to developing all areas of the place.
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29 different attributes,
And only 7 that you like;
20 ways to see the world,
Or 20 ways to start a fight.
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Pisser. Oops, sorry. I mean p155er.
