Meet Up Meet Matthew Richardson at the club

[RussellEbertHandball]

One off field matter that I want to elaborate on, that came up near the end of the 2 hours was the GDV.

I asked why can't Tennis SA get a 365 day liquor licence and we get them to rent us the space. KT said the SMA have opposed it. I said what about for the 4 months tennis is on November to February, can Tennis SA get 7 days a week liquor licence for that period. Both Richo and KT said no. Once again the SMA have opposed it as they want total control of the precinct, so Tennis SA are restricted to a temporary licence for when they have tennis events on. SACA obviously don't want Tennis SA or anyone else to do a GDV when cricket is on.

I already knew it, but the SMA are a bigger pack of arseholes than I thought.

KT did say that the club will make a final submission to the parliamentary select committee looking into the AO hotel.

Don't know what he will say and more importantly what the select committee will do given construction has started.

 

[Far Kern]

EternalOptimist and RussellEbertHandball thanks.

It’s already pretty clear that we’re rebuilding that hole in our list via the draft. Why do we have it? Immediately after we traded to top up? Was this asked, can it be discussed? We have a magical hole and nobody has been held to account?

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

EternalOptimist and RussellEbertHandball thanks.

It’s already pretty clear that we’re rebuilding that hole in our list via the draft. Why do we have it? Immediately after we traded to top up? Was this asked, can it be discussed? We have a magical hole and nobody has been held to account?

The fact we were 11-4 and then fell in a massive hole and missed the finals caused a big shift in our thinking.

 

[Far Kern]

The fact we were 11-4 and then fell in a massive hole and missed the finals caused a big shift in our thinking.

We knew.

 

[Far Kern]

The fact we were 11-4 and then fell in a massive hole and missed the finals caused a big shift in our thinking.

Plus, and thanks for responding, as always, when did they intend to come clean and say so? Years late when it started to hit the bank balance?

I’m not sure which part I’m more disappointed about.

 

[ScottKaysee]

This is no-where near LHR level of narrative, but I HTH posters... no proofing reading (as per usual).

It’s 5:54pm, Rick is nowhere to be seen, as singular cars pull into spaces at regular intervals. People, no supporters, appear and I scan the face… non a familiar to me… wait! Who is that longish hair, Italian, hippy-like, guy in front of me? Oh it’s RHB, “Heya <RHB>, how you been… yadda yadda yadda”. A few brief introductions and another familiar face, PowerKat, arrives. Our motley crew starts assembling like Marvel universe hero montage and the reception door flings open: Louise Broadbridge (?) and Mr Richardson greet us and see us up into the Boardroom. We’re instantly greeted by a wide-eyed Keith Thomas, newly arrived at PAFC Stephen Shirley and an external consultant Darren Bonner (?) who is ready to scribe. Drinks are offered, 8 of us (2 females and 6 males IIRC minus Rick) settle into positions around the round board table over-looking the hallowed turf. Pizza arrives and precisely afterwards Chris Davies enters the room [jokes are made!], so we self-serve, reseat and eagerly kick off the session.

IMPORTANT: establish the NDAs, some topics delved a bit deeper into the detail, and when required, these were indicated as NDA items beyond the room. Mostly due to the personal/sensitive content. Please don’t push for names/details and respect the justification for the NDA.

[This is all paraphrasing, implied by me, my perception and my good/poor short term memory… it is what it is, but allow for variations without taking this as gospel]

* We start by individually introducing ourselves and a comment or 2. I stated my name, that I am one of the lapsed members and felt it was important to be there. Others shared comments about their member linage, occupations, consumption of all things PAFC and existing relationships with those within the club etc. [~10 minutes discussion]

* MR then takes up a marker, wheels the whiteboard around into view and takes up the scriber’s position. We’re asked to start contributing issues, feelings, topics relating to our thoughts and feelings towards the club. AND AWAY WE GO… here follows a breakdown of topics discussed in rough order, there was quite a bit of jumping around between topics and level detail, as you can imagine with 12-14 contributing to the discussion from both sides:

• Language and messaging from the club is poor: examples of Tom Jonas: “white noise” (i.e. member complaints about the co-Captaincy), David Koch: “Lil ole battling Port Adelaide”, Ken Hinkley: “Someone has to lose”… etc. **This is a repeated topic through the meeting, as other events and messaging around them come back to this.** Social media posts after losing to Fremantle, the Broady announcement and others that escape me.

• Club over promising and under delivering: we state that the Member Conventions have been great, but what is said during those events: game style, strategy, sponsor news, etc doesn’t materialise later that year as stated. **This ties into trusting what the club says.** PAFC stated: they want to be the source of “truth” (opposed to the media: journos or social). We replied: hard to trust that truth based on over-promising, language and messaging in recent years.

• [ScottKaysee] mentioned example of “playing the youth” as a 2019 strategy… stated that I doubted PTY was a strategy in pre-season, as we had no idea how the 3 draftees were going to perform until they showed something in preseason games. That when opportunities opened up during the year other youth wasn’t given the chance to develop, but other older players were instead. (I also forgot to mention injuries to Wines, Ebert and Watts allowed more games for youth… so PTY wasn’t a planned strategy for 2019, but a convenient explanation). KT: “When we said ‘playing the youth’ we meant the U23s [DBJ, Houston etc], not just the draftees, which PAFC think they have the best U23s in the AFL”. (I also forgot to mention that those players were already starting 22 in 2018).

• Player trading… (this topic just started as CD had to leave the room. He had already announced he would have to leave, so he wasn’t bailing)… discussion about trading out Wingard and then shifted to Howard. Quite a bit was spent on the Howard matter from various angles: the trade, the development, the messaging etc. Basically, he played well in defence in 2018 under that defensive coach. In 2019, Montgomery arrived and changed the defensive approach to be more attacking, which Howard struggled and was exposed to. They switched him forward with mixed success before spending the final month in the SANFL. End of year discussions: the coaches wanted to continue to use him as a forward, but he wanted to play in defence. At the same time (or very shortly after), Saints presented his manager with a lucrative offer and draft upgrade for Port from #50s to #18. Port thought that opportunity was too good to pass up (along with freeing up cap space), so made the trade. MR: mentioned that our list managers are planning our list 5 years into the future (using data science <buzz word alert>).

• [ScottKaysee] as data science is in my field of work, I responded with: forecasting a playing list 5 years into the future is a long throw given the rate at which playing lists, the AFL and the game can change. If we were to apply that retrospectively (i.e. we can’t measure forward, but we can reliably backwards), go back 5 years to when we were planning our list then: does our currently list align with what we planned 5 years ago? (That was left as a question for them to take away and think about).

• RHB… went into some detailed examples of doing/winning the little things. Using multiple games as examples where we’ve been in winning positions, but managed to lose the close games while not winning the close games. Results that could have made real material impact to our season results.

• We then came back to a round-the-table declaration of what PA means to us, what drew us to PA to begin with or what do we relate PA to… answers ranged from supported since birth, through various decades, their game-style/effort was reliable irrespective of the result (i.e. no yo-yo performances… even when we’re winning), success, confidence/arrogance.

• Question back to KT about how he thought we’ve performed in recent years. IIRC thought that in 2016 we were building, 2017 we were 1 win off of top position and in 2018 we were off to a great start at 11 & 4. We then had 2 bad losses, our culture collapsed and we struggled from there. Some side-tracking conversations, I wasn’t truly listening as I was preparing my next question/topic to touch on several points above (and on the whiteboard by now).

• [ScottKaysee] to KT: you mentioned the culture collapsing earlier. Having being trained in in culture in several corporations: the culture and behaviour starts is driven by the leaders. When you say “the culture collapsed after 2 losses” how do the leaders allow this to happen? This ties back to leadership and culture throughout the club that allow things like: poor messaging/language to occur, the standards to drop etc. That in 2013/2014 those standards and culture was there, Hinkley’s 100 100s, we focused on getting the details right… but that [culture/leadership] has been lost in recent years. KT: was nodding in agreeance (that culture starts with the leaders).

• Less memory on these, but other topics covered: co-Captaincy, membership (current signs aren’t good, on the slide from 2015, while other clubs are increasing)… AO experience (good, but “don’t tell us what to do and how to support”… KT: mentioned how that was a high focus in early move to AO, but they need to tidy that up)… game-style (play our nominated style and back us in win/lose, so we know what to expect… less yo-yoing from quarter to quarter/game to game: the North game 2019, the Ess 2017 game)… the China benefits ($300k profit this year from the game alone, $5m uplift into the club from China related activities… and at a time when China v AU/World relations are at their worst. We’re in for the long haul, there is current profit and more to come in when relations improve) and other topics like feeling more disconnected from the club/players… the current AFL/Player Unions wanting player movement, questioning enforcing a contract (ie Howard) to be honoured v risk… board make-up (8 AFL nominated isn’t quiet true, but didn’t go into detail), RHB questioning how member voted candidates can share wider views beyond 250 word flyer (ie link to webpage like FFA).

• RHB got something wrong (stat about goals kicked on Howard)!!! … room erupts into laughter, PAFC staff are all shocked, lols are had. All good RHB mate.

• Hinkley and coaches… not too much was spoken about Hinkley directly. Although plenty about things in his area. IIRC once it was mentioned that the board extended his contract too early, but we didn’t linger on it. What was mentioned by KT: that we bought in new assistances last year, who have all bought new ideas/styles from across the AFL. Like any new grouping being formed they’ve had issues trying to initially work those ideas in together, but they should settle/gel more with more experience. Also, Hinkley (and 2 others, I forget who) were sent off to the US this off-season for coaching development.

It really wound down from that as we had been going to 90mins. Good byes and thanks at 7:30pm.

SUMMARY

• MR was engaging and attempting to direct conversations, which at times got quite emotional and detailed (due to passion for the club).
• SS is new (4 months in) to the club, from Melbourne, as GM Marketing and was eager throughout… I expect/hopeful that many of the elements from above that fall into his area will be address in some way moving forward.
• DB (? the consultant/scribe), been working with the club for about 1 year, reminded me of Jeremy Irons lol… was quite interested in the cultural, narrative, language and feelings being discussed. Often pulling up the conversation to tease more detail out of comments made (no issues with this methodology, as he is trying to get to the heart of matters/topics etc).
• KT was for the most part extremely interested and engaging throughout. Caught a few moments were he looked (understandably) weary, but he was keen to listen to the end and well over the allotted time.

• Most immediately I would expect our messaging to improve. It is the area they have the most direct control over.
• I suspect that the Captaincy issue will also revert, even though we didn’t spend much time discussing it directly, that is something else they can address immediately.
• Harder to address will be any culture, leadership, behaviours throughout the club or game style elements.

Many topics didn’t get raised, and the above might seem light on, but it is difficult with 12-14 people all chiming in for 30-60 seconds each throughout the conversations… it only leaves time for about 7-8 topics to be covered in 60-90 minutes.

Everyone appreciated the forum and hinted at the potential for more in the future.

 

[FishingRick04]

If anyone would like to attend after hearing the views of the first and feel they would like to share their concerns please contact me and I’ll arrange another

 

[OneGreatClub]

Thanks to Rick and the club for providing this opportunity. I think each of those who attended will have their own impressions so this is purely my personal perspective, and I am conscious to get something up quickly while respecting that it was a full and frank discussion on both sides.

My takeaways;
(My view) The club is absolutely sincere in trying to understand and address the disconnect with members. As well as Matthew Richardson and Stephen Shirley, KT attended for the whole session and CD stepped out of another appointment to join us for a time. There was also an independent professional (psych?) that captured the discussion and will advise the club I think. The meeting went almost two hours rather than the planned 1 hour session.

While I don’t post much on BF I do generally read posts, and I feel that most big ticket items got an airing as well as REH “little things” theme.

To me a key outcome was a likely renewed focus on the language and positioning of what values the club stands for, the direction we are heading, and the strategy we are taking to get there. We would maybe have more trust in the club if we could clearly understand and then judge how club decisions fit within that framework. While it sounds a bit wishy washy as I write it, this was an important discussion I think. It included wide ranging whiteboard notes including;

• Football department – Game plan, player management, coaching group alignment, head coach tenure etc. We acknowledged the head coach issue for members but it was not the focus of the session.
• Misaligned self generated public posturing - Examples “little battler club”, language that AFL is a hard task with the implication we should be happy just to be to be a part of it, member disquiet called “white noise”, social media dept. making light of our losses, “playing the youf”, underwhelming thanks to Matthew Broadbent.
• This discussion contrasted with our view of traditional Port Adelaide values as a family that will take on the world and expect to win. We reflected that members were feeling almost outside the circle of trust instead of a key part of the family (my interpretation). Our posturing should be confident bordering on arrogance, rather than the almost apologetic flavour that colours the club currently.
• Playing/coaching performance and values. Watering down our mission statement from the singular we expect to win to include community pride, lack of traditional PA response within and post games (e.g. North Melbourne game) that questions the resilience and heart of the paying group inc coaches. Lacklustre performance at AO home games, and captaincy/leadership including Co-captains and broader leadership in the playing group. Not living The Creed.

There was a lot more that other more experienced posters will provide I am sure and a bit that is not for broader publication, but I came away confident the club will move to try and address the concerns raised, and that there is a plan they are currently working to even if I can’t see it clearly. The proof will be in the pudding going forwardand I actually look forward to seing some response.

Thank you

 

[OneGreatClub]

Sort of.

We will be pushing for before that, but my scepticism suggests we need a few years of the the under 23's to develop and take over the output from the 9 or 10 older players who wont be there after 2021 season is finished.

If we can play an EF in 2020, then a SF in 2021, then 2023 should be the target. If we don't, then 2025 becomes more realistic.

Hopefully we manage to keep that young group is the concern.
Shame for Boak and Gray though, wonder if they will move on to chase a Premiership elsewhere

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

• RHB got something wrong (stat about goals kicked on Howard)!!! … room erupts into laughter, PAFC staff are all shocked, lols are had. All good RHB mate.

I have sort of wiped the North game from my memory banks.

What I said, was that Howard not playing against North is probably another reason for the angst about him leaving. KT said, he did play and Ben Brown kicked 6 on him. I thought there you go, I completely forgot about that.

If you didn't post this I wouldn't have look it up.

KT you were wrong! Howard didn't play. So Brown couldn't have kicked anything on him. Hmmmmmmmmm.

AFL Tables - North Melbourne v Port Adelaide - Sat, 17-Aug-2019 7:25 PM - Match Stats

afltables.com

 

[Far Kern]

I have sort of wiped the North game from my memory banks.

What I said, was that Howard not playing against North is probably another reason for the angst about him leaving. KT said, he did play and Ben Brown kicked 6 on him. I thought there you go, I completely forgot about that.

If you didn't post this I wouldn't have look it up.

KT you were wrong! Howard didn't play. So Brown couldn't have kicked anything on him. Hmmmmmmmmm.

AFL Tables - North Melbourne v Port Adelaide - Sat, 17-Aug-2019 7:25 PM - Match Stats

afltables.com

LOL

 

[Janus]

I have sort of wiped the North game from my memory banks.

What I said, was that Howard not playing against North is probably another reason for the angst about him leaving. KT said, he did play and Ben Brown kicked 6 on him. I thought there you go, I completely forgot about that.

If you didn't post this I wouldn't have look it up.

KT you were wrong! Howard didn't play. So Brown couldn't have kicked anything on him. Hmmmmmmmmm.

AFL Tables - North Melbourne v Port Adelaide - Sat, 17-Aug-2019 7:25 PM - Match Stats

afltables.com

I would have backed you up dude. Howard was dropped after the GWS game.

However, Howard did play against Brisbane and Hipwood kicked 6 goals on him. So KT was sort of right about his poor performance as a defender.

 

[Jojay]

I find it staggering that after a couple of losses our "culture collapsed" in 2018 after being 11-4...

That just beggars belief and fills me with less confidence than ever going forward with the same pillars still in place (Koch, Thomas, Hinkley).

 

[Relativity]

RussellEbertHandball ScottKaysee was there any discussion on the clubs financial position or was this one of the NDA's?

 

[agmsy]

The fact we were 11-4 and then fell in a massive hole and missed the finals caused a big shift in our thinking.

Perhaps the worst part of this is the implication that, while a significant number of members, fans, and outside observers could see that, on balance of probability, our level of performance was unsustainable given our strategy (the "You weren't complaining when we were 11-4!" meme), the club remained convinced of their approach through its subsequent fall, hard landing, and possibly for some time after.

If anyone would like to attend after hearing the views of the first and feel they would like to share their concerns please contact me and I’ll arrange another

For me, at least, this is mostly a function of when another meeting would be held.

I find it staggering that after a couple of losses our "culture collapsed" in 2018 after being 11-4...

Totally agree. That level of fragility points to no genuine buy-in to what culture there may have been, or no culture at all.

 

[Jojay]

If the club have invested in Hinkley going OS to do more personal/ professional development courses, he ain't going anywhere next year. They club have well and truly hitched their wagon to him.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

RussellEbertHandball ScottKaysee was there any discussion on the clubs financial position or was this one of the NDA's?

None really. China and $300k contribution was the only specific thing I recall.

 

[Far Kern]

I find it staggering that after a couple of losses our "culture collapsed" in 2018 after being 11-4...

That just beggars belief and fills me with less confidence than ever going forward with the same pillars still in place (Koch, Thomas, Hinkley).

I don’t have the memory of others here, but we were never an 11-4 team. Yes we had those wins, no we weren’t that team.

We were never top up to win. We got what was coming to us. The fragility didn’t pop up out of nowhere, it was always there.

 

[Jojay]

It's all excuses... "culture collapsed" in 2018... "played the kids" in 2019.

What a load of crap!

 

[bomberclifford]

For those interested in reading about culture and high performance, this is an excellent article.

Business lessons from the All Blacks

The All Blacks have been an exemplary team for many years, and this does not look like changing any time soon. Amidst the 2019 Rugby World Cup, it’s interesting to reflect on this extraordinary period of sustained success.

www.mybusiness.com.au

A primary mantra of the All Blacks is to ensure they select for character before talent and skill. As in business, select for character, train for skills and you will be more successful.

The structure created by the All Blacks focuses on behaviours that develop and grow characters who contribute to sustained success. They have a policy of no tolerance. What they expect, and grow, in their team is humility, respect and excellence. “No one is bigger than the team. The team always comes first.”

To achieve this, the All Blacks seek humbleness through their leaders. They look for continuous improvement and they encourage leaders to grow leadership in others. Theirs is a learning environment where the bar is constantly raised, and ways of reaching that bar, trained, practised and implemented. Practice is done under pressure, so they train to win.

The bolded parts are areas I suspect we are not doing.

 

[Janus]

No one is bigger than the team.

That’s good advice.

 

[It Just Is]

Was the club surprised by any of the feedback/discussion?

 

[VineValerian]

If the club have invested in Hinkley going OS to do more personal/ professional development courses, he ain't going anywhere next year. They club have well and truly hitched their wagon to him.

Depends on whether the other 2 going for training are "next potential cabs off the rank" in terms of head coach or not

 

[Port85]

What does "the culture collapsed" actually mean?

 

[Workingclass]

Was the club surprised by any of the feedback/discussion?

And, as a rider on this, was anyone surprised to have a psychologist talking notes?