BigKev wrote:
Now it appears that the list was not quite that good after all and we now need a coach to rebuild it. MM's record at doing this is pretty good. Give him some time.
He's already hindered the rebuild with his Thomas recruitment - did we decide after last season or during this season that the list was stuffed?
BigKev wrote:
...and who else are we going to get anyway?
Leigh Tudor, Gavin Brown, Mark Stone, David Noble, John Blakey are some candidates (to begin with) - most of them have been assistants for a long time and have been at different clubs.
Go on Carlton, think carefully for once about coaching appointments.
Jake Niall made some interesting comments last year
Quote:
These powerful, heavily supported clubs seem to find the notion of finding an obscure assistant and making him coach unpalatable. Thus, they constantly find themselves hiring one of their own, failing or falling out and then going back to a proven coach from outside their gene pool. Ratten, it must be said, was not terribly favoured for a son; the club and its impatient fans marked him hard. Buckley and Hird had the advantage of strong clubs and support staff that Primus and Voss did not enjoy when they were appointed. Voss did not have Mark Thompson or Rodney Eade at his side. Poor list management calls, as distinct from coaching nous, will probably prove the coach-killer in his case.
It's understandable that clubs install their inspirational icons, who are mostly ex-captains. They are a statement of identity in a professionalised game that no longer has real home grounds (besides Geelong, the SCG and Gabba) and is predominantly populated with AFL careerists - CEOs, coaches and recruiters - who owe no allegiance to any particular tribe. The favourite son preserves the clubs' sense that it stands for something.
Some fortunate sons will succeed, just as surely as career coaches - which remain a clear majority of them - fail. But in this age, the scoreboard heavily favours those who weren't favoured.
Read more:
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/t ... z37hjV5DwR1) I think that Thomas will be a gun next season - but personally I wouldn't have gone after him. No argument with you there.
2) My point is that MM should serve out his contract, or a least most of it. How many of the names you list as being available to take over in 2015 won't still be available in 2016? MM's record on player development is excellent - lets give him another 12 months and see how things are looking then, (we're paying for it anyway).