Sydney Blue wrote:
No what I am saying is that I fail to believe that a self made billionaire would throw his money behind something on the advice of a old boys club that didn't know what they were doing.
See being critical of Sticks and Ratts you are in turn saying that a group of guys managed to con an old man out of a lot of money to feather their own nest and look after themselves
I am saying you don't become that rich being that stupid . If Pratt thinks that Sticks is the right man and put his faith in him - I would say their is a fair chance that Sticks is the right man - I have had dealings with Visy for some 15 odd years and I haven't met a person in senior management there yet that wasn't totally on top of his job
They were playing with Pratts money and reputation - I fail to be even slightly convinced that Sticks and others have the agenda you think they have and they are not as incompetent as you are suggesting
I'm with you line of argument.
No way Pratt would just say to Sticks "whatever you reckon Sticks...your choice".
Pratt would have spoken to the right people and asked the appropriate people about the coaching job and process. He would have his people asking the football world the same questions. Pratt diligence and process; the one that works without all the process.
Pratt knew the answers as to the requirements of the list (on field) and went out and got the best in the land (Judd) and nearly snagged the best big player (Pavlich)...both were out of contract and there was no way Jonathon Brown, Ablett, Chapman ....other elite players were going to leave their club, their culture to come to Carlton. IMO as far as recruiting is concerned we did very well indeed with Judd....still don't believe it.
Face it, at the time of the coaching appointment there was no options. Roos was a no, Eade was out to pasture etc etc...my fav at the time was Bond...there wasn't much else I was hooked on. I truly believed that Ratts wasn't going to be considered after holding the baby after the Pagan sacking. I was spewing to see Ratts at Melbourne, then to see what he'd done to their midfield (played out of their skins and from cellar dweller into finals).
When I heard Ratts had been selected above Bond, I was damn excited. Parkin made mention several times of the advice he received from Ratts in the 90's; he said Ratts was a born coach. He has fantastic ability to build rapport with people and has the knack of making people feel comfortable around him.
Now I wasn't happy with Ratts from rounds 3 to 8, and other than the Adelaide and Bombers game I have been pretty happy. I believe the players we shit against the Bombers not so much Ratten.
We are expected to play finals. There's 8 games to go and we're sitting 7th. It's a close field, and that's not Rattnes fault what they other teams around him are doing. Sure we could have won 3 close ones and sit 4th, but we didn't. We are heading in the right direction imo.
Bloody hell, we've been without Walker, Warnock, and now Waite and Bower, Carrazzo and Grigg for a big period. Injury plays a big part.
There's no way Pratt was badly influenced, and ther's no way Ratts has proved he is the right choice for Carlton. But then again, on the flipside, he hasn't shown he's not, with 8 rounds to go and possibly finals.
Great post SB
