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Club Mgmt. Board of Directors as led by President Dave Barham - Statement from Barham addressing Merrett etc - 12/9

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owen87 said:
Training smarter might be the go, not necessarily harder.

We’ve seen lots of instances of players breaking down over the preseason, I doubt it’s through lack of effort on the training track, but perhaps it’s a lack of effort off the training track.

Elite runners do something around 80% of their running at very low, easy intensity so they can recover for their harder work. Things like our players learning how to recover appropriately can be massive for the cumulative fitness they build.
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For a club that has had issues with consistency in every facet I'd be surprised if it wasn't a consistency issue.
One of the big things for Melbourne was the non stop training, if you are sore, still getting that cumulative training in even if it meant fewer sessions where you redline it.

If our boys were going flat out in one session at 100% effort followed by 60% in the following three sessions that's not how you build elite fitness.
Drop it down to 80% but hit that every single session, that's how you get there.
 
Mercurial89 said:
For a club that has had issues with consistency in every facet I'd be surprised if it wasn't a consistency issue.
One of the big things for Melbourne was the non stop training, if you are sore, still getting that cumulative training in even if it meant fewer sessions where you redline it.

If our boys were going flat out in one session at 100% effort followed by 60% in the following three sessions that's not how you build elite fitness.
Drop it down to 80% but hit that every single session, that's how you get there.
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Stringer sounds like exactly that kind of guy. Goes at 100% for 1 session, cooks himself for 3 days, goes again at 100%, gets injured, start season unfit, can never get fit, so on and so forth.
 
owen87 said:
Stringer sounds like exactly that kind of guy. Goes at 100% for 1 session, cooks himself for 3 days, goes again at 100%, gets injured, start season unfit, can never get fit, so on and so forth.
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Problem with Jake is he is not used to training at midfield level. His first 5 years where on a modified program due to his broken leg during his under 18 days. They could not push him too far. He is a guy who needs a power of work to get to minimum midfield levels and then games to keep him in shape. Problem is he tends to break down when pushed that far and he will put on 5kg if he can not train.
 
ant555 said:
Problem with Jake is he is not used to training at midfield level. His first 5 years where on a modified program due to his broken leg during his under 18 days. They could not push him too far. He is a guy who needs a power of work to get to minimum midfield levels and then games to keep him in shape. Problem is he tends to break down when pushed that far and he will put on 5kg if he can not train.
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I think we just need to accept that Stringer is unlikely to get midfield loads in without breaking down, so instead the smarter play is get him safely through a forwards program and let him be a cameo guy in the middle. Once he cops a preseason injury he never seems to be able to catch-up.
 

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owen87 said:
I think we just need to accept that Stringer is unlikely to get midfield loads in without breaking down, so instead the smarter play is get him safely through a forwards program and let him be a cameo guy in the middle. Once he cops a preseason injury he never seems to be able to catch-up.
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Agree. Get him fit to do his stuff as a forward. When he is up and going his forward work and pressure is A grade.
 
Mr Mojo Risin said:
Dodo must be feeling under pressure, he's written an article on the Herald Sun under the pseudonym Mark Robinson where he says only he and Mahoney have survived the blood letting but has called Mahoney the great survivor instead of himself.

That's a little obvious Adrian.
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This one?

www.codesports.com.au

CODE Sports

CODE Sports
www.codesports.com.au www.codesports.com.au
 
NAB777 said:
This is true.

AFL players need to compromise somewhat, as elite runners do massive volumes in that 80%, but making sure you can do your hard work HARD...is crucial.

At least we aren't going on high altitude camps anymore.
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Drafting players with the genetic disposition to be an elite runner would also help…..
 
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Lore said:
Having now read it... by golly that's pushing a barrow isn't it
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I've always tolerated Robbo because I don't mind a blue collar drunken approach to footy journalism. He does forge relationships and does bring something different to the game than the ambulance chasers or more polished standard approach.

However he is certainly outing his lack of journalistic impartiality he claims to have as a "previous" Essendon supporter.
 
Mr Mojo Risin said:
I've always tolerated Robbo because I don't mind a blue collar drunken approach to footy journalism. He does forge relationships and does bring something different to the game than the ambulance chasers or more polished standard approach.

However he is certainly outing his lack of journalistic impartiality he claims to have as a "previous" Essendon supporter.
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I don't mind him usually but he's been embarrassing to read the last couple of months
 

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frodos gardener said:
Not that I think it’s a great reason, but the ER’s value isn’t in discovering what the club should already know; it’s about getting the club to wake up and change and doing it publicly and seemingly legitimately so that there’s no choice but to confront it.

You can have an IR and ER find the same things but get very different outcomes because of the way the approaches place pressure on an org.

Again, it shouldn’t work this way, but it does.
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Agreed, but this is also why the members should be entitled to read the full review, lest things get sidelined and the scrutiny of those in charge get diminished. Releasing a summary means once again the club only tells us what it wants us to know. I'm not demanding to know who said what, because anonymity is important for openness in an investigation; however, we should be entitled to know what has been identified without getting the watered-down version, so we can ask what will be done about x-problem.
 
Lore said:
They rarely find things they aren't looking for.

But once you have this air of legitimacy out in the public, the members (or shareholders) expect the findings to be actioned and will hold those in power accountable to the standards they've set for themselves insofar as they are able. It becomes an impetus for change, maybe even real change.
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Exactly. Not releasing the full report reduces the demand for actions. A summary means they are only pressured to act on what they want to.
 
ghostdog said:
Agreed, but this is also why the members should be entitled to read the full review, lest things get sidelined and the scrutiny of those in charge get diminished. Releasing a summary means once again the club only tells us what it wants us to know. I'm not demanding to know who said what, because anonymity is important for openness in an investigation; however, we should be entitled to know what has been identified without getting the watered-down version, so we can ask what will be done about x-problem.
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I’d love to pore through it as much as you however the average nuffy supporter wouldn’t handle it well. They’d go bananas reading all the anonymised feedback (even if it were in summary form). The speculation would be endless and some of them would want to burn The Hangar to the ground.

Ideally everything would be transparent but I’d fear it would destructive to let people get hung up on the details.

I do think a very lite version would be appropriate - not just the points from the email.
 
Old Campaigner said:
Could someone please post the text?
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Adrian Dodoro gives his take on Essendon’s review findings and key club personnel​

If the pillars of Rome were at Essendon, only two are left standing after one of the most tumultuous and bloodied off seasons in the club’s 150 years.
One pillar is Adrian Dodoro.

The other pillar is Josh Mahoney.

Which is ironic because it said those two haven’t always seen eye-to-eye, but not to the point where they can’t work together.

Let’s be frank, the lack of unity, which was a buzz phrase in this week’s external review report, was, in part, directed at Mahoney and Dodoro.

Mahoney is the great survivor of this internal Spring Offensive, which has seen the Bombers ultimately ripped apart and set on a path of a renaissance.

Unbelievably — or is that admirably? — Mahoney has survived as head of football.

Others have gone. There’s a new president, there will be a new football director, there’s a new coach and there will be a new chief executive.

All the while, the head of football, which has been the underperforming arm of the business, keeps his job.

Appointed in 2020 to replace Dan Richardson, Mahoney departed Melbourne after eight years as head of football, a role which became slightly confusing in 2019 when Alan Richardson was appointed director of coaching, which effectively meant Richardson worked solely with the coaches.

Essendon football boss Josh Mahoney. Picture: Michael Klein

Essendon football boss Josh Mahoney. Picture: Michael Klein
Confusing because, when Mahoney departed for Essendon, Richardson was appointed general manager of AFL performance, which meant he was the highest-ranked official in the Demons football department.

Mahoney is now advertising for a general manager of AFL performance at the Bombers, a role which the Bombers this week said would report to Mahoney.

So what is exactly Mahoney’s role?

At Melbourne, Richardson works purely on AFL, which is the players, coaches, development, fitness, medical, high performance, and leaves the AFLW, VFLW and overall operations to Marcus Wagner.

It’s curious because the Richardson role at Melbourne is top dog, but the similar advertised role at Essendon is not.

That’s OK, you’re allowed to be different.

But why have two senior football positions when the soft cap is so tight?

Or is Mahoney now doing the Wagner role at the Bombers?

In effect, Mahoney and the Bombers are creating a new role, a super-duper role which oversees the traditional head of footy.

The release this week of the findings and recommendations in the external review, which was orchestrated by president David Barham, is seen by the club to be a watershed moment.

It was Barham who had earlier thrown in the bin Mahoney’s internal review, which recommended Ben Rutten remain as coach.

Essendon president David Barham Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nicki Connolly

Essendon president David Barham Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nicki Connolly
From reading, it appeared the Essendon football department was non-functioning and a monumental failure on all fronts.

The report made comments on leadership, fitness, training, development, coaching, disunity, list management and recruiting, which all come under Mahoney’s brief.

And he ran the coaching process and he wrote the internal review which was turfed.

Still, he keeps his job.

Under his watch, Essendon did not have a head of development. What is that?

We know under-15 boys and girls teams who have parents who take kids for extra kicking and marking sessions. But Essendon, in the major league, is bereft of a development boss.

And the Bombers quasi pat themselves on the back when they announce they will be adding a head of development and general manager of high performance.

Why didn’t the football program, headed by Mahoney, have those two roles already?

What a joke.

And were the players asked about the game plan, their arousal levels and their relationships with each other.

Former Essendon president Paul Brasher, ex-senior coach Ben Rutten and footy boss Josh Mahoney. Picture: Michael Klein

Former Essendon president Paul Brasher, ex-senior coach Ben Rutten and footy boss Josh Mahoney. Picture: Michael Klein
The recommendation to improve the club’s indigenous space, which includes naming an indigenous board member, is further evidence the Bombers had dropped the ball in that regard.

The most recent red flag was the Nova Peris furore, when she said she felt disrespected by then Bombers chief Xavier Campbell, who might find himself with a role at Collingwood by the way.

Diversity gives you strength, and some people at Essendon never quite got it.

Not just in the indigenous space, either. Inclusivity means everyone. In this external review, were Adam Saad and Bachar Houli, two Muslims, ever spoken to about why they left Essendon?

Inclusivity starts with respect and understanding differences.

An indigenous board member is a step in the right direction, but real change starts at grassroots and community level engagement, of which Richmond is clearly the AFL leader.

The Bombers have been all bluster on this front and it’s embarrassing that it’s taken an external review to highlight their indigenous failings.

In fact, it’s embarrassing from what we’ve read so far the club was so poor in so many areas. Seriously, an external report discovered the players weren’t fit enough and didn’t train hard enough?

Mahoney is smart, he’s supportive and he’s a club-first person and he’s not to blame for all of the failings inside the football department.

But as head of footy, albeit for just short of two years, he has to shoulder a lot of the responsibility.

It’s incredible — or is that admirable? — his pillar is still standing.
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Director of coaching.
I would take Bret Ratten if he was interested. Most who know him or have worked with him say he has an excellent footy mind.
 
ant555 said:
Director of coaching.
I would take Bret Ratten if he was interested. Most who know him or have worked with him say he has an excellent footy mind.
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Are we still getting one of those? Figured it’s one or the other and they’ve announced a GM performance
 
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