In the last five years the club hasn't put a foot wrong, so where could they have stuffed up...

[Paddywhackers]

I will start with, trading for Judd. I dont think he would have been the difference in 08 or 09. Geelong were much better, and than we won the flag in 2010. Had we traded for Judd, we would have had to given up a Pendles, Thomas, Reid, Brown (his GF's were paramoun to a flag) or maybe even Dawes back than as a sweetener... All that aside, he did ask to go to Carlton, for money.

Other potantial stuff ups could have been selecting Ellis at pick two. Not picking Pendles at five, who was than a surprize selection. Trading Wellers, Goldsack, for a sweetener to get Ball, when we got him for practically nothing in the 2009 draft.

Selecting Sidey ahead of Beams at 11, when Beams lasted until pick 29 anyways when Sidey would have been a one billion to one chance of being available at 29.

Caving in to media pressure and trading Didak or even worse Didak and Shaw, amidst Caroline Wilson was on her moral high horse trying to imply that we had no choice but to trade Didak...

Can people think of other things we could have done wrong over this time of incredibly good fortunes for the pies?

 

[DaVe86]

Not taking Fevola and Cousins were also great decisions.

I was a big advocate for getting Cousins at the time. So glad we didn't. He would've just taken a spot for a kid like Wellingham or Beams who were both great in 2010.

Fev would've held off Dawes. These kids now have 10+ years to serve at the club.

Both also would've caused unrest.


The decision to recruit Ball and Jolly were also inspired. MM had a game-plan in mind, and he needed the best ruck and the best in and under/tackler to pull it off.

 

[Ant85]

Not sacking Malthouse when the anti-MM brigade were at their peak.

Speaking of which, where are they?

 

[mattys123]

You've missed the obvious one;

We could have let Nathan Buckley coach North Melbourne, or any other club.

Instead we made a deal that got the best "old/experienced" coach and the most promising "young/untried" coach together at the club at the same time, most probably for a 5 year deal.

Make no bones about it, Nathan will be an excellent coach, he is far more intelligent then Hird or Voss, or either of the Scott brothers, and more then anything has a determination to succeed that others simply don't have.

Getting Bucks as Mick's assistant visually changed the way we played football straight away, you can't tell me that was a coincidence.

So despite what everyone outside the club says (and also a few of our own supporters) the decision to "keep" both Bucks and Mick at Collingwood will for me, forever go down as the one single "decision/deal" that got us a premiership flag above all us.

 

[mattys123]

Not sacking Malthouse when the anti-MM brigade were at their peak.

Speaking of which, where are they?

The anti-MM bregade have changed their banner, it now reads "Malthouse muse keep coaching if we win back to back".

Staggering turnaround, the same group that hated him now want him to stay forever.

 

[NeRFaHoLIc]

Not making Maxwell captain.

Obviously there weren't many other candidates at the time, but Fraser certainly was a possibility. Maxwell set the tone within the playing group, came out and said our aim was to win the flag, and it paid off.

Don't know 100%, but I don't think we would have won the flag if he wasn't captain.

 

[Optimax]

Not making Maxwell captain.

Obviously there weren't many other candidates at the time, but Fraser certainly was a possibility. Maxwell set the tone within the playing group, came out and said our aim was to win the flag, and it paid off.

Don't know 100%, but I don't think we would have won the flag if he wasn't captain.

Strangely enough it was fraser that first asked the question at the end of 08, why is it that we never talk about let alone state that we want to win the flag. With far more expletives

 

[bradrowe#32]

Not making Maxwell captain.

Obviously there weren't many other candidates at the time, but Fraser certainly was a possibility. Maxwell set the tone within the playing group, came out and said our aim was to win the flag, and it paid off.

Don't know 100%, but I don't think we would have won the flag if he wasn't captain.

Good point. With Fraser captain, we probably wouldn't have acquired Jolly.

 

[PieNSauce]

Apart from the other points mentioned here I think you have to acknowledge the role of blooding our youngsters early. The fact that so many of our younger players have had extended stints in the side has given them great experience and resulted in the perception (if not the fact) of great depth. Even now it's easy to see more than half a dozen players who could and probably will step straight into the side as and when needed. Had we gone with experience alone I doubt we'd be where we are.

 

[Swooop]

Good point. With Fraser captain, we probably wouldn't have acquired Jolly.

Good thread OP.

Don't recall the exact voting numbers, but Fraser came within an ace of being captain.

Maxwell IMO is a gifted leader, he can take a large chunk of the credit for the cohesion and single mindedness that characterised 2010.

Looked how he dragged us up when GF1 looked gone..he refused to be beaten, and got us the second chance.

Particularly also if we then didn't get Jolly, and without Maxy's leadership, it is entirely possible we'd not have won last year. ( notwithstanding Optimax's comment re Fraser perhaps lighting a long slow fuse, but I can't see his onfield persona/charisma matching Maxwell's.)

 

[MarkT2]

The anti-MM bregade have changed their banner, it now reads "Malthouse muse keep coaching if we win back to back".

Staggering turnaround, the same group that hated him now want him to stay forever.

You made that up!

 

[MarkT2]

Anyway, it has all been brought up already but the biggest mistake we could have made would have been not paying the price for Jolly. Maybe that could have been preceeded by a disasterous decision to appoint Fraser captain and thereby not even thinking we need a real ruckman.

The biggest mistake we did actually make was investing in pubs.

Silly to say we haven't put a foot wrong really.

 

[MarkT2]

Strangely enough it was fraser that first asked the question at the end of 08, why is it that we never talk about let alone state that we want to win the flag. With far more expletives

According to MM it was Maxwell that came to him and asked that question. Not sure of the reality however.

 

[Ed D]

Maguire leaving to take on the Channel 9 job full time in Sydney could have been bad.

Pretty much anything to do with players and trades can easily go pear shaped.

Off field financial troubles like the hotels. It didn't hurt us because we have so much revenue coming in, but more of that and/or poor management could have ruined the club if it wasn't prepared for it.

 

[Swooop]

Making the tough calls last year, and they would have been very tough given their loyal service over many years, on old favourites like Fraser, O'Bree, Medhurst, Tarks, and Leon at times, is not to be underestimated.

I don't think the other top three did the same.

Eg Brad Johnson, possibly Eagleton with Dogs, playing Gram and Kosi really quite injured in GFs

 

[Optimax]

According to MM it was Maxwell that came to him and asked that question. Not sure of the reality however.

and it was fraser that said that to maxwell

It's in both One grand week and side by side

 

[Paddywhackers]

and it was fraser that said that to maxwell

It's in both One grand week and side by side

Yep, so Fraser is a great Collingwood servant, and a believer in the Pies. Funnily enough, many of his knockers, the so-called Collingwood supporters were the same people who passionately claimed we couldn't win a flag under MM.

Ironic huh!?!

 

[MarkT2]

and it was fraser that said that to maxwell

It's in both One grand week and side by side

Fair enough.

 

[mdc]

I was a big advocate for getting Cousins at the time. So glad we didn't. He would've just taken a spot for a kid like Wellingham or Beams who were both great in 2010.

Much more likely he would have taken the spot of Lockyer or O'Bree or Blair - the guys that were on the edge. Wellingham (on 2010 form) and especially Beams weren't going anywhere. I don't think there's any question that Cousins would have helped on field in 2009 in particular, but obviously the club felt the off field stuff wasn't worth it, so fair enough.

From the ones mentioned, the Fraser captaincy would have been a disaster; with him as captain we likely can't trade for Jolly, and we don't win the flag.

 

[Baltimore Jack]

I think it would have been a mistake to trade Wellingham to North for pick 25 which would have been on traded to St Kilda for Ball.

I think it would have been a mistake to trade Goldsack to St Kilda for Ball.

I think it would have been a mistake to sack Didak after the night out with Heath Shaw

 

[Football God]

Pretty much an if only thread

If Cameron Ling got that goal against St.Kilda that was called a free kick with a minute to go, that finals series wouldve been a whole new ball game.

 

[soreplums]

14 other clubs made the mistake by not picking Ball ahead of us.

 

[vjknight]

from someone who saw the 70's & 80's and saw constant mistakes with trading, recruiting & admin, this last 5 years is like compensation for all those bad years. the current run of decision making, recruiting & more importantly NOT recruiting has been so, so refreshing.

re:eddie and the sydney job - that was NEVER gonna be a permanent gig, with the pending sale of channel 9 to the US suckers who bought it for billions, eddie was just a temp fill in for old mate james while the process was completed.

 

[Daics35Marvel]

Another good decision was splitting from Williamstown and having a stand alone team in the VFL. Would Reid, Wellingham, Macaffer, Blair, Brown & Dawes have made as big an impact in the seniors if they were playing a completely different game style in the reserves?

Might be more than 5 years ago now, but another correct decision was to move away from Vic Park to the Westpac Centre. To be smack bang in the middle of Melbourne's sporting precinct was a brilliant decision from a branding viewpoint. Investing in top class training facilities was the icing on the cake. Players want the best facilities available to them and I think this has a lot to do with players in recent years nominating us as their club of choice.

 

[Cousin of Daicos]

Not sacking Malthouse when the anti-MM brigade were at their peak.

Speaking of which, where are they?

I'm here. I won't hide.

I still credit Bucks for a lot of last year's flag though, but there are still things Mick does that I DO like.

Back on the OP, I think one of the biggest ones was not giving up Didak for Nick Stevens.