Remove this Banner Ad

Prediction Dr Sonja Hood AM

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

Mixed Results said:
The entire AFL media would have had our back had we reversed the Clarkson decision.
Click to expand...
Could not disagree more. We would be wrong either way. They are not our friends, they will not give us a cookie for doing what they demand - they will give us nothing either way.
 
ferball said:
Things were perfect before she became president. Its an outright scandal.
Click to expand...
Sonja was on the board before she became president, right? Has been a part of the embarrassment that our club has become for a long time.

But sure let's change the constitution to allow the shitshow to continue.

Straight out of a Trump playbook.
 
Arathrawn said:
Sonja was on the board before she became president, right? Has been a part of the embarrassment that our club has become for a long time.

But sure let's change the constitution to allow the shitshow to continue.

Straight out of a Trump playbook.
Click to expand...
Maybe but in 2022 she took over then we replaced the rest of the board and then the footy department.

We don't know what happened in the board meetings for the three years prior to that. We don't know whether or not there was pressure on Buckley because of the decisions he made. He stepped down early. Maybe that was because Sonja Hood had seen three years of inteptitude as junior board member who didn't make waves, had enough and staged a board coup. It certainly seems that way given the wholesale changes that were made.

We don't know. All we do know is that once she became president she started to change everything that led our men's side to that shitful place. And that she gave the new (men's) coach a five year contract because that was what they thought they'd need to fix the men's side.

Even without the racism scandal that's five years to turn things around. We're just over halfway thru that now. You can't just snap your fingers and magically have a functional football team. Especially if you've gone down the path of bottoming out and are now at the very bottom. Like we were in 2022.

The other thing is this - despite all the criticism AFLW isn't going away. It'll be part of Aussie Rules football for as long as footy exists now. In 50-100 years time people will look back on out AFLW side the way they look back on the successful VFL "big clubs" of 100+ years ago. If we still have a club the AFLW sides dominance will be a big part of that.

You may not care right now about AFLW but in 50 years no one else is gonna care about your opinion. What North supporters then will care about is that our AFLW side will be considered on of the greatest and most successful teams in Australian sporting history.

Hopefully they'll say that about our men's side of the next decade too.
 

Log in to remove this Banner Ad

ferball said:
Maybe but in 2022 she took over then we replaced the rest of the board and then the footy department.

We don't know what happened in the board meetings for the three years prior to that. We don't know whether or not there was pressure on Buckley because of the decisions he made. He stepped down early. Maybe that was because Sonja Hood had seen three years of inteptitude as junior board member who didn't make waves, had enough and staged a board coup. It certainly seems that way given the wholesale changes that were made.

We don't know. All we do know is that once she became president she started to change everything that led our men's side to that shitful place. And that she gave the new (men's) coach a five year contract because that was what they thought they'd need to fix the men's side.

Even without the racism scandal that's five years to turn things around. We're just over halfway thru that now. You can't just snap your fingers and magically have a functional football team. Especially if you've gone down the path of bottoming out and are now at the very bottom. Like we were in 2022.

The other thing is this - despite all the criticism AFLW isn't going away. It'll be part of Aussie Rules football for as long as footy exists now. In 50-100 years time people will look back on out AFLW side the way they look back on the successful VFL "big clubs" of 100+ years ago. If we still have a club the AFLW sides dominance will be a big part of that.

You may not care right now about AFLW but in 50 years no one else is gonna care about your opinion. What North supporters then will care about is that our AFLW side will be considered on of the greatest and most successful teams in Australian sporting history.

Hopefully they'll say that about our men's side of the next decade too.
Click to expand...
All fair and reasonable points.

My main gripe in this thread, is what you are highlighting here. The North Melbourne AFLW team being so successful.

People point out the successes and contribute those to Sonja.

But the failures of the club...... oh no that's not Sonja's fault, that was someone else.

It's pure hypocrisy.
 
ferball said:
Maybe that was because Sonja Hood had seen three years of inteptitude as junior board member who didn't make waves, had enough and staged a board coup. It certainly seems that way given the wholesale changes that were made.

We don't know.
Click to expand...
Ummm...yes we do know.
Ben Buckley anointed Sonja as his successor, quite happily.
To suggest otherwise is absolute nonsense.
 
scottywiper said:
Ummm...yes we do know.
Ben Buckley anointed Sonja as his successor, quite happily.
To suggest otherwise is absolute nonsense.
Click to expand...
And then she went on to completely change the board and the footy department.

He might have been quite happy to appoint her because he realised he was making things worse and needed to stop. I'm not aware of their private discussions about the issue.
 
ferball said:
And then she went on to completely change the board and the footy department.

He might have been quite happy to appoint her because he realised he was making things worse and needed to stop. I'm not aware of their private discussions about the issue.
Click to expand...
I am. And that was absolutely not the case.
 
Sonja Hood’s tenure as the President of the North Melbourne Football Club is a study in definitive ambiguity. To understand her impact, one must first recognize that she has been an unwavering pillar of stability, while simultaneously serving as the primary catalyst for constant, necessary upheaval. Her leadership style is characterized by a bold, hands-off approach, ensuring she is deeply involved in every granular decision while remaining entirely detached from the day-to-day operations.
 
Arathrawn said:
All fair and reasonable points.

My main gripe in this thread, is what you are highlighting here. The North Melbourne AFLW team being so successful.

People point out the successes and contribute those to Sonja.

But the failures of the club...... oh no that's not Sonja's fault, that was someone else.

It's pure hypocrisy.
Click to expand...
Most of it was someone else's fault. She wasn't even on the board when the drafting decisions that mean we have **** all effective veteran players were made.

But everything that's happened since the middle of 2022 is her responsibility.

So if the men's team is still putrid by the end of the 2027 season then that's her responsibility too and you'd think (or hope) she'd know that and do the right thing. And even now the men's team has turned it around. When she took over our momentum was we were getting worse, now we're getting better. But on its own that's not enough - we need to improve significantly by the end of 2027 to say the men's team has become a good side under her tenure.
 
scottywiper said:
I am. And that was absolutely not the case.
Click to expand...
You're aware of the board's discussions? Okay.

Either way since she took over she's changed the direction of the men's side. We were moving down the ladder and the whole club was going backwards, now we're moving up the ladder and the only person still in the footy department (or on the board for that matter) since then is the bloke who told you to **** off or whatever it was he said when he was at WC.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Chip Scab1 said:
Ponting, Peter De Rauch's kids?, Bob Ansett's grand kids... I guess. Simon Crean would be ok too.

We've got more options at CHF than we do for future Pres.
Click to expand...
A guy who says he doesn't want to do it, a couple of nepo babies and another who is dead.

Great stuff, wonderful contribution to the debate.
 
ferball said:
You're aware of the board's discussions? Okay.

Either way since she took over she's changed the direction of the men's side. We were moving down the ladder and the whole club was going backwards, now we're moving up the ladder and the only person still in the footy department (or on the board for that matter) since then is the bloke who told you to **** off or whatever it was he said when he was at WC.
Click to expand...
I am fully aware. Yes. Multiple sources involved
 
big_e said:
A guy who says he doesn't want to do it, a couple of nepo babies and another who is dead.

Great stuff, wonderful contribution to the debate.
Click to expand...
Yes, but in saying all that, was the question answered?

Love the anal-ysis, but have you got something to add to the thread? Like a name or two maybe?!
 
ferball said:
You're aware of the board's discussions? Okay.

Either way since she took over she's changed the direction of the men's side. We were moving down the ladder and the whole club was going backwards, now we're moving up the ladder and the only person still in the footy department (or on the board for that matter) since then is the bloke who told you to **** off or whatever it was he said when he was at WC.
Click to expand...
LOL. We have finished bottom 2 in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 and managed to rise one spot to 3rd last in 2025. So yeah we are moving up the ladder. 😵‍💫
 
Zondor said:
LOL. We have finished bottom 2 in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 and managed to rise one spot to 3rd last in 2025. So yeah we are moving up the ladder. 😵‍💫
Click to expand...
We finished last in 2022 and third last in 2025.

That's two spots since she took over not one. Can't you count?
 

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

shintemaster said:
Could not disagree more. We would be wrong either way. They are not our friends, they will not give us a cookie for doing what they demand - they will give us nothing either way.
Click to expand...
If you’re not one of us you’re against us.

This extends to AFL house and practically all media outlets.

I really don’t understand why people don’t get this.
 
Arathrawn said:
Bro, that is not the argument you think it is.
Click to expand...
LOL, true. But that wasn't my point.

Zonder and I both know that when she became president we were a wooden spoon team that could only win games under extraordinary circumstances. He chose to pretend that wasn't the case so he could say we've improved one place on the ladder under her tenure. It was more a comment on his dodgy personality than an endorsement of anything.

Like I said, if our men's team is still putrid at the end of 2027 then her admin failed to deliver us out of the shit we were in.

But I don't think that will happen.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Prediction Dr Sonja Hood AM

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

Back
Top