Balme joined us at the end of 2006 and our success since then has been well-publicised. He leaves us end of last year and we begin an immediate spiral down the ladder while his new team, Collingwood, are sitting pretty at the pointy end.
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I think it's very hard to tell what influence someone in Balme's position has on on-field success.I understand that. After opinions nonetheless.
We were similarly placed in 2012 at Round 13 but with a far a better list and far fewer injuries than this year.Balme joined us at the end of 2006 and our success since then has been well-publicised. He leaves us end of last year and we begin an immediate spiral down the ladder while his new team, Collingwood, are sitting pretty at the pointy end.
Is it an account of the events at Simonds Stadium last Sunday??I was going to suggest reading 'The Demon-Haunted World'.
I understand that. After opinions nonetheless.
- Eighth year of consistent rebuild of the list to a point where a huge core was approaching their individual peaksI'd say he was one component. And he certainly helped enormously in especially 2007. But I think a lot of equally important factors contributed to our turnaround and success. Off the top of my head, I'd nominate all of the following as crucial to various degrees:
- Thompson focusing solely on coaching
- Harley's appointment as Captain
- The off-season review
- Harley's push to suspend Johnson until Round 6 which worked brilliantly
- The round 5 loss and the internal reaction to it
- Chapman's very public self-criticisms of the team after round 5, which was unheard of at Geelong
- Ottens playing solely as a ruckman after Round 1 (which we lost; he played 20 games for the remainder of the year and we won 19 of them)
- Balme handling the off field load that Scott had been doing
- Nathan Ablett being preferred to Playfair and Gardiner as Mooney's key forward partner (less experienced; much more talented)
- Mooney's maturity and continuation of excellent form from 2006
- Gary Ablett becoming the best midfielder in the game
- Ling's readjustment to becoming a pure tagger instead of ballwinner as he was in 2006
So I wouldn't downgrade Balme's contributions. But he was one cog out of many.
I'll get back to you in 2 weeks.
I'd say he was one component. And he certainly helped enormously in especially 2007. But I think a lot of equally important factors contributed to our turnaround and success. Off the top of my head, I'd nominate all of the following as crucial to various degrees:
- Thompson focusing solely on coaching
- Harley's appointment as Captain
- The off-season review
- Harley's push to suspend Johnson until Round 6 which worked brilliantly
- The round 5 loss and the internal reaction to it
- Chapman's very public self-criticisms of the team after round 5, which was unheard of at Geelong
- Ottens playing solely as a ruckman after Round 1 (which we lost; he played 20 games for the remainder of the year and we won 19 of them)
- Balme handling the off field load that Scott had been doing
- Nathan Ablett being preferred to Playfair and Gardiner as Mooney's key forward partner (less experienced; much more talented)
- Mooney's maturity and continuation of excellent form from 2006
- Gary Ablett becoming the best midfielder in the game
- Ling's readjustment to becoming a pure tagger instead of ballwinner as he was in 2006
So I wouldn't downgrade Balme's contributions. But he was one cog out of many.
So cya in 6 weeks thenI'll get back to you in 2 weeks.
So cya in 16 weeks then
Is that short-term or medium-term, Partridge?2-3.
I'm with those above- my opinion is that it is just coincidence that the "one up and one down" is not attributable to Balme. The GFC slide has been predicted for quite some time now, the list shape has been well documented both age-wise and LTI-wise. Blind Freddie would've known we'd hit a dip at some stage and nobody from the Engine Room at the Cattery would be anywhere near as blind as Blind Freddie, so Balmy would know exactly where the club stood.Balme joined us at the end of 2006 and our success since then has been well-publicised. He leaves us end of last year and we begin an immediate spiral down the ladder while his new team, Collingwood, are sitting pretty at the pointy end.
What makes you place blame with Balme for list management decisions?His list management needs to be seriously questioned.
I'd even go as far to say he he has left us in pretty bad shape for the future. The amount of injured players he kept, and proceeded to continually bring onto the list which has literally catapulted us down the ladder, it all has to be largely pointed at Neil Balme.
The handling of other players who are now on other clubs lists is yet another example of his undoing.
He, along with the original pioneers need to be congratulated for what they achieved, 3 flags in 5 years but at the same time, it's a shame he was not able to stay ahead of his game and in doing so, the club is now paying a price for some of those monumental blunders.
What makes you place blame with Balme for list management decisions?
I just find it odd to blame the football manager for list management decisions when they are made by a football department consisting of, among others, a senior coach and an aptly named List Manager.he was footballer operations director.
I'd say he was very much the guy who steered the ship in that regard.
But of course, Geelong supporters in here simply do not like to here anything untoward said of past/present players or staff so I'm sure you are going to proceed to tell me Neil Balme was not even part of the list managing delegations