Opinion JL and Bell... how long til they pack their bags?

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There is something wrong within the club at the moment. For a start, it’s unusual for any club to lose/discard 4 first 22 players in an off-season. That would suggest a hint of disharmony in the club wouldn’t it?
Now, they weren’t exactly our favourite players but they were each capable of making a contribution. The Acres situation was weird, he was a slightly above average, returned WA player getting paid below average money. He requested a salary commensurate with his ability/contribution and it was rejected, but then we pay Jackson $900K? That was a mistake, even if Jackson turns out to be good it’s still sends a bad message to the playing group and it reeks of arrogance. To think that we could say no to Acres’ request and then think that Hughes could simply step in and fill Acres role??? I think that was arrogant and naive. Whose decision was that?
The whole team is playing uninspiring footy, but to drop a contested ball player in Brodie when any one of Tabs, Henry or Jackson for that matter were also awful is laughable. And then give him one WAFL game before flying him over to SA, as if the flaw in his game has spontaneously been rectified??? Seriously.

Now I know a lot of you dislike Ross, a lot of you think he is a terrible human being, but I don’t. He was our first proper coach, he toughened us up as a club. He brought us respect and a good measure of success. He had a habit of dragging snipers out of the bushes and giving them a good public kicking which many found unsavoury, particularly towards the end of his tenure but I didn’t mind it. After some years of being the laughingstock of the competition and a few more years of simply being disrespected it was kind of nice to be the bully for a change. The thing with Ross was that his messages were simple and clear. We all knew his catch phrases,
anyone, anywhere, any time
never as good, never as bad
effort is non negotiable
we review it, we train it, we move on pretty quickly

There were lots of them, and I reckon he gave the players exactly the same messages he delivered in his press conferences. The messaging was clear and unwavering.

I haven’t watched JL’s pressers since his first year because I actually find them uncomfortable to watch but I did watch the one on Saturday. What I got from it was,
I wasn’t expecting that
I don’t know what to do about it
It‘s up to the players to fix it themselves

The guy seems out of his depth and bereft of ideas, in the very least it was a terrible message for me to hear as a long time supporter.
Do you remember that infamous Mark Harvey interview? What do you stand for?

What do we stand for now?

I actually turned the game off well before it was done. I turned it off when Kelli Underwood has a little sarcastic laugh about Dal Santo’s “Freeze-mantle”. At that point it became very clear that we have returned to being a dull, underperforming and disrespected football club. And whose fault is that? I don’t know, but surely the buck stops with the coach and the head of the footy department.
 
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I've checked out.. JL has done the exact opposite to how he has coached the lads this preseason.

No young guns ready to step up and playing D grade players to fill gaps.

Bar Amiss we haven't looked at recruiting a decent key forward since Pav 20 plus years ago. We move on Neale because he wanted a pay rise. Then wins a brownlow. Logue wanted to sign on. We refused at the time and left after for a much bigger pay check. Now we are stuck with no key position depth.

We have lost most of our wingers and both Hughes and Henry look lost.

We coughed up more than we needed to for Jackson who was uncontracted. We could really do with a top 4 pick as we will most likely end up bottom 4.

Thoughts on what we should do.

Weren’t you the singing our praises over preseason.
 

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There is something wrong within the club at the moment. For a start, it’s unusual for any club to lose/discard 4 first 22 players in an off-season. That would suggest a hint of disharmony in the club wouldn’t it?
Now, they weren’t exactly our favourite players but they were each capable of making a contribution. The Acres situation was weird, he was a slightly above average, returned WA player getting paid below average money. He requested a salary commensurate with his ability/contribution and it was rejected, but then we pay Jackson $900K? That was a mistake, even if Jackson turns out to be good it’s still sends a bad message to the playing group and it reeks of arrogance. To think that we could say no to Acres’ request and then think that Hughes could simply step in and fill Acres role??? I think that was arrogant and naive. Whose decision was that?
The whole team is playing uninspiring footy, but to drop a contested ball player in Brodie when any one of Tabs, Henry or Jackson for that matter were also awful is laughable. And then give him one WAFL game before flying him over to SA, as if the flaw in his game has spontaneously been rectified??? Seriously.

Now I know a lot of you dislike Ross, a lot of you think he is a terrible human being, but I don’t. He was our first proper coach, he toughened us up as a club. He brought us respect and a good measure of success. He had a habit of dragging snipers out of the bushes and giving them a good public kicking which many found unsavoury, particularly towards the end of his tenure but I didn’t mind it. After some years of being the laughingstock of the competition and a few more years of simply being disrespected it was kind of nice to be the bully for a change. The thing with Ross was that his messages were simple and clear. We all knew his catch phrases,
anyone, anywhere, any time
never as good, never as bad
effort is non negotiable
we review it, we train it, we move on pretty quickly

There were lots of them, and I reckon he gave the players exactly the same messages he delivered in his press conferences. The messaging was clear and unwavering.

I haven’t watched JL’s pressers since his first year because I actually find them uncomfortable to watch but I did watch the one on Saturday. What I got from it was,
I wasn’t expecting that
I don’t know what to do about it
It‘s up to the players to fix it themselves

The guy seems out of his depth and bereft of ideas, in the very least it was a terrible message for me to hear as a long time supporter.
Do you remember that infamous Mark Harvey interview? What do you stand for?

What do we stand for now?

I actually turned the game off well before it was done. I turned it off when Kelli Underwood has a little sfellow about Dal Santo’s “Freeze-mantle”. At that point it became very clear that we have returned to being a dull, underperforming and disrespected football club. And whose fault is that? I don’t know, but surely the buck stops with the coach and the head of the footy department.
good post. I agree and Kelli Underwood is a deadset embarrassment, without doubt one of the worst callers I've ever heard. Didn't she call someone Tucker at one point - she has no clue who current Freo players are measured against former. That was our first clue things weren't going to be good...when she was announced as a caller. She's horrendous and needs the flick
 
There is something wrong within the club at the moment. For a start, it’s unusual for any club to lose/discard 4 first 22 players in an off-season. That would suggest a hint of disharmony in the club wouldn’t it?
Now, they weren’t exactly our favourite players but they were each capable of making a contribution. The Acres situation was weird, he was a slightly above average, returned WA player getting paid below average money. He requested a salary commensurate with his ability/contribution and it was rejected, but then we pay Jackson $900K? That was a mistake, even if Jackson turns out to be good it’s still sends a bad message to the playing group and it reeks of arrogance. To think that we could say no to Acres’ request and then think that Hughes could simply step in and fill Acres role??? I think that was arrogant and naive. Whose decision was that?
The whole team is playing uninspiring footy, but to drop a contested ball player in Brodie when any one of Tabs, Henry or Jackson for that matter were also awful is laughable. And then give him one WAFL game before flying him over to SA, as if the flaw in his game has spontaneously been rectified??? Seriously.

Now I know a lot of you dislike Ross, a lot of you think he is a terrible human being, but I don’t. He was our first proper coach, he toughened us up as a club. He brought us respect and a good measure of success. He had a habit of dragging snipers out of the bushes and giving them a good public kicking which many found unsavoury, particularly towards the end of his tenure but I didn’t mind it. After some years of being the laughingstock of the competition and a few more years of simply being disrespected it was kind of nice to be the bully for a change. The thing with Ross was that his messages were simple and clear. We all knew his catch phrases,
anyone, anywhere, any time
never as good, never as bad
effort is non negotiable
we review it, we train it, we move on pretty quickly

There were lots of them, and I reckon he gave the players exactly the same messages he delivered in his press conferences. The messaging was clear and unwavering.

I haven’t watched JL’s pressers since his first year because I actually find them uncomfortable to watch but I did watch the one on Saturday. What I got from it was,
I wasn’t expecting that
I don’t know what to do about it
It‘s up to the players to fix it themselves

The guy seems out of his depth and bereft of ideas, in the very least it was a terrible message for me to hear as a long time supporter.
Do you remember that infamous Mark Harvey interview? What do you stand for?

What do we stand for now?

I actually turned the game off well before it was done. I turned it off when Kelli Underwood has a little sfellow about Dal Santo’s “Freeze-mantle”. At that point it became very clear that we have returned to being a dull, underperforming and disrespected football club. And whose fault is that? I don’t know, but surely the buck stops with the coach and the head of the footy department.
I agree on everything.
Though Ross,his time was done.
All coaches have a shelf life.
He was behind some desperate decisions such as McCarthy and bennel.
And his style of coaching wears the group down.

Saying that I loved what he did for the club.
JL is not Ross Lyon.
He isn't a leader.
He is the perfect right hand man, not the Messiah.
 
Ross unfortunately became too much of a bully on and off the field and found it hard to delegate to his assistants. He may well be a changed man now with a few years on the sideline and realising that this is his last shot to be relevant.
Credit where it is due.
He took a soft team all the way to the dance.
 
I think we focus on that lyonism "never as good, never as bad".

Footy is a game of one percenters and when you're 10% down on you're usual output. You look bog average.
The issue is we're about 20% down right now.

Hopefully Johnson to start a game because him and Erasmus are who I assume we cleared Mundy and Acres out of the way for.
 
Can confirm, Belly meeting with Josh Carr while he is in Adelaide.

Whether thats just mates over a coffee or something more sinister is yet to be seen.
 
I thought Carr was a shoe in for when Hinkley gets sacked. Maybe he'll end up getting to choose which recently vacated throne he wants.

Also feel like bell is the kind of dude who would knife anyone if he thought it helped him.
 
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I agree on everything.
Though Ross,his time was done.
All coaches have a shelf life.
He was behind some desperate decisions such as McCarthy and bennel.
And his style of coaching wears the group down.

Saying that I loved what he did for the club.
JL is not Ross Lyon.
He isn't a leader.
He is the perfect right hand man, not the Messiah.
Spot on as JLO appears to be a nice guy with a mild manner and well liked/respected by the players BUT probably best suited to a loyal 21C
Needs to show some flair /daring etc and a bit of mongrel
 
As dire as things are atm, Longmuir deserves more time but he also may need more support. This is the first gig after development roles for both Boyd and Corey, Graham is more experienced but still not "senior" by industry standards as far as I'm aware.

Bell - yeah his track record is looking dodgy as *. That's even discounting what's looking like an astronomical price for Jackson who I'm still happy enough is on our list. Every trade period he puts on the Bell show and then buys all the tickets himself.
 
On the Shelter footy cast, Schofield insinuated that whsipers are circling that if JLo doesn't perform, he's gone.
 
Josh carr has snaked Freo twice after coming over to us.
And the COVID shenanigans was a piss poor example to be setting a young team.
Don't need carr driving the bus.
 
good post. I agree and Kelli Underwood is a deadset embarrassment, without doubt one of the worst callers I've ever heard. Didn't she call someone Tucker at one point - she has no clue who current Freo players are measured against former. That was our first clue things weren't going to be good...when she was announced as a caller. She's horrendous and needs the flick
Up there with her stupid “couch” comment from last season. NACA…
 
Don't forget, Belly is the smartest guy in any room he walks into.
Smartest or smallest? :p

Jlo if sacked this year will be after rd 23. We learnt it’s messy if it happens before that.

Only Sack him if we have a genuine SuperCoach ready to come in.
My SuperCoach team has a great midfield & forward line, but a sh1t backline. I'll do it :moustache::p
 

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