Observations on internal issues?

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Was she selected from an open field of candidates in the first place?
Is there a shred of evidence to the contrary?
From what I can gather she was promoted internally without the position ever going to tender, so how you expect anyone to engage in a market approach to this is puzzling. All I can deduce is that she must have been some seriously magnificent operator with the Melbourne University women's team.
Again, any proof? Seems like you're offering nothing more than an opinion based on speculation.
This reeks of an internal gender quota appointment. I'm happy to retract that position if it's proven not to be the case.
You're the one making the assertions here, how about you prove (with actual facts) that it is the case?
 
Mar 16, 2001
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Just catching up with replay of Talking Footy and saw Tom Browne say that Ben Buckley will soon announce independent footy department review. Didn’t see it mentioned anywhere else here.
 
Dec 27, 2017
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Just catching up with replay of Talking Footy and saw Tom Browne say that Ben Buckley will soon announce independent footy department review. Didn’t see it mentioned anywhere else here.

I just came here thinking I’d missed about 10 pages on the topic only to find find some completely unrelated stuff. Yours being the only post related. Gees that was tough going.

Anyway, I think it’s a good step. I was a bit worried they’d still back with their fingers crossed after beating Carlton.
 

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lockheed

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Oct 22, 2005
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Just catching up with replay of Talking Footy and saw Tom Browne say that Ben Buckley will soon announce independent footy department review. Didn’t see it mentioned anywhere else here.
Good. The club needs to be so much better, both on and off the field.

Although I've just checked the club's web page, and couldn't see an announcement.
 

big_e

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Good. The club needs to be so much better, both on and off the field.

Although I've just checked the club's web page, and couldn't see an announcement.
Tom Browne jumping the gun a bit here, just for a change.

Listen closely and he said there is a board meeting next week. So BB is probably drafting the terms of reference, etc this week to have it signed off next week. There may never be an announcement - it becomes a news story that way when it probably shouldn't be.
 
Tom Browne jumping the gun a bit here, just for a change.

Listen closely and he said there is a board meeting next week. So BB is probably drafting the terms of reference, etc this week to have it signed off next week. There may never be an announcement - it becomes a news story that way when it probably shouldn't be.

It would be nice if the club called Tom out on this rubbish. Just a statement to the effect that the meeting agenda hadn't even been set when he came out with it. This, added to the way Riewoldt shot him down for stating something before it happened, might make more people (including his employers) start to notice that Tom's happy to make stuff up to be the first with a story.


PS - In no way am I against a full independent review. Indeed, I think it's necessary and I hope they have the balls to do it properly.
 

big_e

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It would be nice if the club called Tom out on this rubbish. Just a statement to the effect that the meeting agenda hadn't even been set when he came out with it. This, added to the way Riewoldt shot him down for stating something before it happened, might make more people (including his employers) start to notice that Tom's happy to make stuff up to be the first with a story.


PS - In no way am I against a full independent review. Indeed, I think it's necessary and I hope they have the balls to do it properly.
Unless he's right....
 
will happen at the end of the year. Wouldn't hold your breath for any great changes though. Will need the wheels to fall right off.

Mate, we're on a toboggan and sliding down a pile of excrement at great speed. No wheels involved at all.
 

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Rad Roo

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Well if we go according to the media, we have drafted poorly between 2013 - 2017, out of the 17 players we have drafted only 4 stayed. Also we have a really s**t development program. I completely agree with this as i was thinking our high performance program was severely lacking. Crocker needs to go, Mcdonald needs to go as their presence at the club meant our drafting and development strategies are very much 90s as these people came through that era when things went well for us. The 'blue collar' nature of our club is very much an issue due to the person in charge of this still thinks like the 90s. We have had quite a few very good players that never progressed beyond good, think of Atley, Bastinac, Harper, Mullet etc. We let hartung go which was still a bullshit decision. We failed to recruit houli when he was leaving essendon. We cut daniel nielson which we should have kept as a succesor to thompson. So some really bad decision making along the way. But the 'boys club' at the top kinda need to be phased out. We need some new blood in the draft and development area. You can say our trade was good but that's because our drafting was s**t so the holes were glaringly obvious hence getting FA is kinda easy if you know what's missing. But the fact that there were these big holes was a problem in the first place.
 
Can’t believe after the Fab4 debacle we are again in a position of a sieve of leaks. Should be an interesting Presser at midday tomorrow to see who why and what this leaked out.
I wonder if we just sacked the leak.
 

Reverend Shinboner

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Mar 6, 2009
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Agree with most here - a thorough review of the football department, with a full and uninhibited remit, is what I want to see. And see enacted soon.

As to who/how/what, I revisited the successful football department reviews that came to mind over the last 20 years:
- Geoff Walsh, Collingwood, 2017 (GM of Football) - stuck fat with the coach
- Neil Balme, Richmond, 2016 (GM of Football) - stuck fat with coach, provided new/different support
- Peter Gordon (not formally in charge of a review, but clearly the main driver/decision-maker), Bulldogs, 2014 (President) - sacked coach out of the blue, appointed Beveridge
- Brian Cook, Geelong, 2006 (CEO) - stuck fat with coach, but with pretty clear directives on changes that needed to be made
- Jason Dunstall? (not sure there was a formal review, but there was a minor crisis, and Dunstall was Acting CEO that led them through it), 2004 (Acting CEO) - appointed Clarkson

Interestingly enough, all of these reviews were driven by people already at the club; a bunch were rusted on clubmen (Balme, Gordon, Dunstall). Also key, in my humble opinion/observation, is that those undertaking the review had the power to deliver on its recommendations. And were around the club long enough afterwards to be held accountable to it, one way or the other.

Personally, I wouldn't be adverse to Ben Buckley rolling up the sleeves - Peter Gordon-style - and undertaking a thorough review. (Side note: read this letter to members by Gordon in Sep 2014 before he sacked McCartney - it shows the leadership I'd love to see from B. Buckley - which he still has the time and space to deliver on ...). But I can't see that happening, unfortunately. Beyond him, I don't see any NMFC internal candidate (Board or staff member) with the credentials to do the job. Which leaves me scratching my head.

Gubby Allan? (not on the market)
Denis Pagan? (out of the game too long)
Rodney Eade?
Paul Roos?

You know what I'd love? I'd love the club go out and poach the likes of Brady Rawlings or Jason McCartney - highly credentialed football managers (without having held the role of Football Manager per se) and bona fide Shinboners - make them Head of Football, with assignment #1 being the footy dept review (which is basically what Walsh and Balme did at Collingwood and Richmond respectively). And then let them deliver on said review in full.

Unfortunately, this either pushes out Joyce, or demotes him, on the premise that he is part of the problem and not the solution - which I don't have the scrote knowledge to say one way or the other - and which would presumably be a big part of said review. But I'm not sure how to go around that.
I'm very happy to see signs that the club is responding exactly as I had hoped...
 
Apr 24, 2013
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I'm very happy to see signs that the club is responding exactly as I had hoped...

Self interest has played a role here.

The board were committing suicide if they didn't act, and they're still not out of the woods yet.
 
Feb 11, 2013
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Self interest has played a role here.

The board were committing suicide if they didn't act, and they're still not out of the woods yet.
Mate, a lot of the board members probably have day jobs as well as being on other boards. Not sure why the angst.

A lot of the fault lies at the Scott contract extension. Previous admin, It was nuts at the time and lead to a consolidation of power in the football department by Scott, Joyce and co.

Buckley has done pretty well, let Scott hang himself and then brung in the big broom. As resignations go it was pretty amicable.

He just needs to nail a couple of key posts and if Brady is coming home that’s a mighty big pillar.
 
Jun 9, 2001
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Mate, a lot of the board members probably have day jobs as well as being on other boards. Not sure why the angst.

A lot of the fault lies at the Scott contract extension. Previous admin, It was nuts at the time and lead to a consolidation of power in the football department by Scott, Joyce and co.

Buckley has done pretty well, let Scott hang himself and then brung in the big broom. As resignations go it was pretty amicable.

He just needs to nail a couple of key posts and if Brady is coming home that’s a mighty big pillar.

The failure may have been the result of good intentions gone wrong from the board level.

They might've been too respectful of not meddling at a football level. To the point they just trusted the feedback from Joyce and Scott on club direction rather than using their own eyes. Even Archer made a comment when he was on the board about never questioning the coach because it's such a tough job. Nice sentiment but probably not the rigour you need in a very competitive pursuit.

Similarly club boards have often been criticised for being too jumpy and under-rating stability. Cue over-corrections like blindly giving new coaches 5 year deals - Frawley, Wallace et al. The club re-signing Scott in 2017 was probably seen as a cool headed strategic move internally, not being swayed by "short-term" failure and giving the group and future prospects a facade of a strong, stable club headed the right way.

In the end it just created an illusion that nobody fell for and kept a coach in place who'd had long enough to take the list through build, deliver, rebuild phases.
 

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