Football Department Review

[PaulP]

It's easy for commentators to seem wise when they are using the retroscope.

But the third quarter on Saturday wasn't just bad from a scoring point of view.  It was out lowest point for at least three years, and it really did look like the players almost gave up.  6 measly tackles in one quarter is hardly the stuff of competitive football.

That's the big worry - that many on our list just don't care enough to want to improve.

We can zero in on one bad quarter (and it absolutely was bad), or we can take a broader view and see improvement (admittedly from a low base) in defence and structures since the bye.  We need to factor in injuries, pressure from media, fans, the club itself (hey Review, I'm looking at you), which as Malthouse said, absolutely affects your ability to coach. I've never really been a fan of the idea that players are there for the pay check only, don't care etc. The most successful clubs over the last 20 years have good recruiting, good development, and most of all internal fortitude to create unity and stability and withstand nonsense and noise from outside.  With very few exceptions, they grow from within. Every current coach except Ratten is a first timer. Hardwick, Simpson, Clarkson, all of them have never coached anywhere else. They've been at the clubs for ages and weathered the nonsense.

Forget the pre season predictions. They were nonsense. The best way forward is to do what the successful clubs do. Be genuinely unified from Board to Boot Studder, provide support and resources as required, keep imports to the bare minimum, no coaching changes every 30 seconds, and erect a sh1t deflecting umbrella around the footy department and give it a chance to grow and evolve - not point a gun at its head every other month. Watch things improve.

Players are all like all of us - creatures of habit, and creatures of history. They feel the discomfort and angst of those above them, and it affects their play. It is very easy for the losses to mount and become habitual. It's a very hard habit to break. Any giving up IMO comes from despair, not from self entitlement or selfishness or lack of interest.

And the Board needs a complete clean out.