Very good point.
Culture....is it soft?
- Thread starter WCE_Phill
- Start date
- Tagged users None
Great question.
When you have a family to support, it can be daunting going back to an entry-level job, especially while my wife wasn't working due to looking after our young child. Taking a near $20k pay cut, on top of needing to study certificates just to get an interview in the first place was pretty daunting.
Covid hit and we were all on jobkeeper and it made me realise I could still quite easily live on the lower income, so I bit the bullet, forked out $4k for a course(which I learnt nothing from but it helped to land my first job) and made the change.
At the end of jobkeeper I got made redundant but was fortunate to land a tech-support job 3 weeks later. Now I work for a different company as an associate cloud engineer and finding it very refreshing to work in an industry with a LOT of downtime, training, career opportunities, no expectation to do OT, etc.
It's quite nice.
Keys
Looking for a cloud to yell at
- Moderator
- #28
Thank * for a rational post in here
It needs to be remembered that because we are now able to arrange our own charter flights, travel isn’t quite the same issue as it was. We play Geelong tomorrow get on a plane soon after and the players are probably home by 9pm if not earlier. Previously that might have been midnight
I’m not buying the family excuse, that’s just convenient. Most of the players with kids are injured (Naitanui, Shuey, Ryan, Gov, Cripps) leaving just 3 with kids who are playing (Kelly, Darling, Barrass). Truth is as the list transitions we’re shedding players with families- JK, Redden and Rioli all left last year
The question that needs to be asked is why stay over and what are the pros/cons of doing so
Pros
• We save a plane trip home and back to SA again (google says 2hrs 50mins there, 3hrs 25mins back)
• The players could use the time away as a bonding/team building exercise over the 4 night layover (Sun-Wed, we fly back Thursday for a Saturday game)
Short list
Cons
• No access to our training facilities as we’d have to use something temporary
• Playing group is split roughly in half. Among other things it means training drills have less participants, many of which require numbers to be useful. Particularly those that are game plan/full field related. Given our injury list there’d be <10 players not rehabbing in Perth
• Support staff including medical are also split
• Players are largely idle whilst away and other clubs who’ve stayed for 2 weeks have had mixed success. Didn’t seem to help Fremantle greatly who nearly got rolled by Gold Coast
• Cost of accommodation for 4 additional nights for 40-50 people is likely more than a return flight. That cost comes out of our football department cap I believe (could be wrong)
• Whilst there’s not a lot of players impacted as mentioned I’m sure those that are, including other football staff, appreciate not being away from families more than necessary
I’m sure the club went through the benefits of staying over. Deciding they weren’t compelling enough doesn’t make the club soft, it’s a ridiculous notion
Imagine coming on here to say you didn’t really like your family.
Fair old fuss over nothing. A 2hr plane trip does not render you unable to train for a day.
Fair old fuss over nothing. A 2hr plane trip does not render you unable to train for a day.
Huh??
Who gives a s**t if they come home between games, not bothered at all
The way they acted and more importantly played when in the hub was also nothing short of pathetic
It was also 3 years ago
The way they acted and more importantly played when in the hub was also nothing short of pathetic
It was also 3 years ago
RedWeddingGuest
Debutant
- Mar 20, 2023
- 134
- 154
- AFL Club
- West Coast
Completely agree that travelling/not travelling says nothing at all about whether the team is soft. Also agree it’s a question of weighing the pros and cons. Freo did the exercise and decided against travelling; we went the other way – so it’s obviously not black and white. You raise some good reasons for travelling, but unfortunately Simmo only mentioned family and sleeping in own bed (which is probably why the original poster made the comments he did).
Still, travelling involves a lot more than just the hours on the plane. Packing, getting to the airport, waiting, waiting longer if there are delays (and there are plenty of them these days, even with charter flights), etc. Plus people (even seasoned travellers) get a bit distracted before flights, and sometimes take time to settle afterwards.
All the other points made applied to Freo as well, but they went the other way.
The fact that our club went through the exercise and decided to travel doesn’t make it right (or wrong), and as I said, softness doesn’t enter the equation.
On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app
- Jun 27, 2006
- 12,869
- 4,032
- AFL Club
- West Coast
- Other Teams
- Lakers,Internazionale, Man U
Considering Melbourne is currently.losing to Essendon I think we're are truly cooked worse than ever. Soft as butter and it doesn't bode well for us over the next two weeks yet alone the season.
On SM-S916B using BigFooty.com mobile app
On SM-S916B using BigFooty.com mobile app
- Sep 16, 2006
- 35,878
- 35,484
- AFL Club
- West Coast
Eagles: asks AFL to schedule a game in SA against Port/Crows the round after Gather Round in order to minimise travelling
also Eagles: team flies home anyway
also Eagles: team flies home anyway
Is it a fact that we actually requested a second game in a row in Adelaide?
Yeah, * it, force them to shack up in an Adelaide hotel for a week between thrashings. Why not…
What's the bet someone trips in the plane on the way to the toilet on the way home and does an ankle!
Better than failing off the pole dancing table at the Crazy Horse and doing a knee I guess.
Or Crazy House even....Better than failing off the pole dancing table at the Crazy Horse and doing a knee I guess.
Deplorable trumpster
Club Legend
- Aug 14, 2019
- 1,101
- 1,990
- AFL Club
- West Coast
I think we are soft. And no discipline or commitment. Not necessarily because of this. But the whole recent timeline of events. The spitting of the dummy in the hubs, half the team turning up with beer guts for the start of the season last year (i still don't understand why or how that hapenned) and the lack of criticism and sanctioning of those players, the blaming of Covid for everything last year and massive self pity party that lasted all year from everybody top to bottom in the club and no admittance at any level that Covid was not the whole story and that the problems were bigger than that, the fact that our club (which was affected more than any other by Covid protocols and Covid related player availability issues at the time) ended being the club who had a large group of players violate the protocols and go to the Hippy club for a piss up during the season. All red flags of a club that has serious internal problems.
Every coaching style or approach has it's pluses and minuses. Simpson won a flag with his softer style and give the boys a hug approach so give him credit. But the pendulum can always swing too far in either direction. And maybe it has at our club. When Simpson eventually goes maybe we need somebody with a hard as nails prick like personality like Ross Lyon to straighten things out. Those type of coaches have shorter lifespans at any one club as people eventually rebel against the authoritarianism. But we might benefit from a dose of it for a while.
Every coaching style or approach has it's pluses and minuses. Simpson won a flag with his softer style and give the boys a hug approach so give him credit. But the pendulum can always swing too far in either direction. And maybe it has at our club. When Simpson eventually goes maybe we need somebody with a hard as nails prick like personality like Ross Lyon to straighten things out. Those type of coaches have shorter lifespans at any one club as people eventually rebel against the authoritarianism. But we might benefit from a dose of it for a while.
Last edited:
Deplorable trumpster
Club Legend
- Aug 14, 2019
- 1,101
- 1,990
- AFL Club
- West Coast
I think you are missing the point. The point is our club has become soft and ill disciplined and somebody needs to reverse that trend and behavioural trajectory.
I mean, have they?
Came back in great nick in the preseason, made a bunch of off-field appointments, which some of the players are crediting for individual turnarounds in form for them.
Players have been cracking in hard during games. Contested stats, tackles, etc all show this.
Not sure how preferring to fly home on a charter flight for a 6 day break can be perceived as 'soft'.
Deplorable trumpster
Club Legend
- Aug 14, 2019
- 1,101
- 1,990
- AFL Club
- West Coast
How come those players ever thought it was acceptable to present for Round 1 with beer guts in the first place? What kind of culture exists at the club that they thought that was acceptable? What kind of culture exists that caused the players who went to the Hippy club to think that that was acceptable? Did they look worried about the consequences of getting caught in the photos where they had s*** eating grins of their faces?
We have eked over the line in contested possession stats in 2 games out of 4. And in the other two games we were belted in CP's. I think you are going a bit early if you are trying to say we are the new hard nuts on the block in the competition.
Didn't see that coming...
It was 12 months ago, time to move on.
The ethos of "friends, family, flags" was proved successful for our club in 2018. But I think since then too many players particularly senior players, have been emboldened by that success to start taking liberties. eg. McGovern ducking pre-seasons, Nicnat turning up with a gut etc. Simpson has failed to hold them accountable.
Similar threads
- Locked
- Poll
- Locked
- Locked
- Locked
- Poll
