Football Department Review

[Baggers]

Both the Geelong and Richmond reviews were initiated 6 years after Thompson and Hardwick took charge, not after 2 1/2 disrupted seasons. The Geelong review was initiated in August 2006 (near the end of the season) and included everybody :

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2006-08-17/g...ew/1240604

It will look into administration, coaching, fitness, medical and sport science, list management, player leadership, recruiting and welfare and development.

That's how you do a review.

I understand the pro review crowd will extol the virtues of being proactive, getting on the front foot, nipping problems in the bud etc., but there is a fine line between proactive and knee jerk, and I'm not convinced our club understands the difference.

Brace yourself for a cliche, Pauly. Ready? The proof of the pudding will be in the eating! Phew, glad that's out of the way.

I recall something my late father said to me many decades ago. By the way, I still think of him every day and even chat to him... and how's this for nuts - I carry the urn that held his ashes in the car, someone to chat to whilst driving. Sorry, back to the story.

My father was probably one of the most highly regarded landscape architects/gardeners in Melbourne. A creative genius. As a parent? Well, not his shtick. The gardens he designed and built were major projects for very wealthy people. Not unusual to take a year or more such was the construction. He once got a massive rock flown in from Europe to achieve the effect he wanted - and the client had the loot to accommodate such a requirement. Anyway, as the construction commenced there would be wholesale mess and absolutely no-one could truly envisage the outcome. There may have been a plan, but that's pale next to the, say 800 square metres, of 3 dimensional reality. But he knew what he was doing, what he wanted. One day I commented on the mess of rocks, backhoes, tip truck deliveries, piles of rio and bags of cement and crushed granite and sand and lime and mud and diggers... you get the picture. Neighbours complained that the garden was already really good and didn't need changing. Anyway, after my comment and the comments from neighbours, he said to me one day, "Fools and children should never see things half done."

In no way am I using this story to accuse anyone of foolishness. I took these words as a guidance for me, personally. To respect that processes can be messy and counter-intuitive in respect to envisaged outcome. And I apply those insights in my own work... the folks I work with can seem 'messy' to begin with and sometimes not apparently so but they're still seeking guidance, and the process I take them through can create more mess and even more discomfort, but I trust the process, carried out with trusted tools and a clear vision of the desired outcome. Back to my father - without exception, despite the chaos and mess along the way, my father's garden's would have neighbours and others like me, in awe. Complete transformation and success. So much so his gardens were often featured in magazines and other media, nationally, even internationally.

So, as I watch our club's review process, I choose to trust it, understanding that initial mess sometimes goes with the territory and just cannot be avoided - much to the chagrin of some. And somehow in amongst the mess of the past few years we've managed to erase debt and assemble a pretty darn good list. Now to just get through this final messiness and see what results.

I understand there are, to anticipate a counter argument to what I've just written, plenty of landscape architects who've created mess and ended up with a disappointing result. There are people who work in the same field as me who do untold damage to people. Don't worry, I've met plenty of psychiatrists, psychologists, counsellors, social workers etc., who I wouldn't trust to boil an egg, let alone be let loose on the general public. Conversely, there are absolute saints working in these areas who achieve wonderful, even spectacular results (healing), even after many months of difficulty. My father had to at times clean up the mess created by others, as I've also, all too often, had to do the same in my chosen field.

The proof of the pudding will be in the eating. Soon enough we'll know how effective our new chef, Mr Sayers, is.

(Apologies for the shaggy dog story).