Autopsy Gold Coast - What needs to happen?

[citizen-erased]

for all the talk of the list, when you look at it, it looks like what a good 1st/2nd year team list should look like. Which is what they are after embarking on a list refresh. Turned over a good dozen players last year i believe.

Bookends of Lynch/Wright & May/Thompson.
Witts & Nicholls in ruck.
Senior mids in Ablett, Barlow, Hanley & Rosa
Classy developed kids in Hall, Swallow, Martin, Miller and Sexton
Younger brigade of Lyons, Brodie (where is he?), Ainsworth, Bowes, Ah Chee, Fiorini.

You can somewhat defend their start to a season. a close derby loss to a revitalised Brisbane and pumped away by a premiership fancied team on the rebound.
Big week this week hosting the 0-2 Hawks.
Statement of intent is required. Otherwise, Rocket needs to go. A list this good shouldn't be underperforming.

 

[Bokonon_]

It hasn't really been mentioned much in this thread but the Karmichael Hunt experiment likely had a hugely negative effect on the culture of the club. He was recruited to be a leader of a club filled with impressionable teenagers but it turned out he was a drug abuser. It can't be underestimated how much damage that may have potentially caused.

I think the NRL players were always a marketing exercise that would only be a negative on the field for both clubs.

I take your point that Folau seems to have been of better character and done less harm overall.

The leadership thing is interesting and hard to read. Although Davis and Ward are our captains and no-ones seeking a change, it's clearly Heater that leads the backs on the field from outside the leadership group. I think it's more about each player contributing what they can in a successful team.

I do think we were lucky to miss Buddy and even more so to pick up Mummy in the backwash. Both our clubs had talent given in the start up concessions and the need was for experienced players of character rather than prodigious talents.
That's not to say GAJ isn't of good character but he was obviously selected for talent and anything else was a stab in the dark.

 

[dlanod]

They've got plenty of talent but the exodus has really hurt their inside game - JOM and Prestia were two of their best, Rischitelli was ok but is injured, Ablett and Swallow both look a touch underdone in the middle. When they get the ball out to Hall or Miller they look competitive.

They also need a decent coach.

Park Ablett as a small forward if he's not going to get the hard ball.

Get a light rail line from the train station past Metricon to Southport or somewhere. It's painful to get there at the moment. The same problem VFL Park used to have.

 

[Sttew]

It's easy to pin all the blame on Eade, but it's a lot more than that if you ask me. They need a big cleanout at the top.

Eade out
Ashcroft out
Clayton out
Ablett out

Maybe bring in someone like Ratten or Bomber as the coach.

Merge Brisbane Lions and Gold Coast and based the team at Metricon. QLD does not give a flying toss about Australian Rules, so why bother? We only need the one team to remain national

 

[Sttew]

Not trading Ablett was a disastrous decision and an opportunity to refresh missed.

When a footballer doesn't want to play for a team and the team forces him to continue, this can go either of two ways - disastrous or not. So far it is clear GAJ is out of sorts. Yes it's his own fault. He went for the big $$$. The love of money is the root of all evil.

The amateurs who run GC, or more particularly, Coughlan, didn't recognise an opportunity when GAJ asked out. So I have no sympathy.

 

[TouchFrost]

Merge Brisbane Lions and Gold Coast and based the team at Metricon. QLD does not give a flying toss about Australian Rules, so why bother? We only need the one team to remain national

First you need to grow a brain.

 

[citizen-erased]

Merge Brisbane Lions and Gold Coast and based the team at Metricon. QLD does not give a flying toss about Australian Rules, so why bother? We only need the one team to remain national

ultimate model is 2 in QLD, along with 2 in NSW and 2/3 in WA and SA.
22k on the weekend at the Lions v Dons game, after a week of pretty poor weather in the state.
The lions are viable and merging them (again) is not the answer.

The Gold Coast is a tough market to sustain, and the Suns have done themselves no favours to date falling well behind GWS.
A restart and some good form should correct it.

Merging is not the answer.

 

[TouchFrost]

The Gold Coast is a tough market to sustain, and the Suns have done themselves no favours to date falling well behind GWS.
A restart and some good form should correct it.

Merging is not the answer.

The guy you replied to might be clueless, but can you say with certainty a merge isn't the answer?

North Melbourne were all set to sign off on a deal to relocate to the Gold Coast about 10 years ago, but pulled out at the last minute. 10 years later, we still have 10 Victorian Clubs in an 18-club national competition: North are starting a rebuild and the Gold Coast are struggling.

 

[Hamingja]

He was always going to decline physically as he got older and the injury has probably accelerated that decline but it's more about the way he has carried himself over the last 12 months. He's the franchise player on big money who was just 12 months into a three-year contract but he decided to request a trade at one of the worst possible moments in the club's history (Prestia and O'Meara leaving at the same time). He's been very selfish of late and you could see it in the way he played yesterday when he was complaining about not getting calls. Even after the JLT3 game he said he wanted more time in the midfield, despite the coach trialling him up forward for the betterment of the team. It's the kind of selfish attitude that I imagine would unnerve some of the other players at the club that are constantly putting the team before themselves.

This isn't an of late thing.

To this day you still have people blaming Bomber for pushing Ablett out the door.

Bomber knew he was gone and tried to do the best thing by the club moving forward by giving more midfield time to the likes of SJ, Chapman and Stokes to be prepared for life after Ablett.

That meant Ablett had to play some more minutes forward. You don't get Brownlow votes playing half forward. The toys went out of the cot, sooking to umpires, no defensive efforts and public conflict with Bomber.

Compare that to Buddy who in the last year at the Hawks did sacrifice his game and play up the ground a bit more and let the Hawthorn forward line function around Roughead, Gunston and Hale.

Clarkson is a genius for it, Bomber is the villain but at the end of the day it is purely the selfishness and selflessness of the two respective players.

 

[Scotland]

Spot on. It's the Suns club management who are most to blame for GAJs listless on field performance on the weekend.

They should have let Gary go, and gotten what they could for him in exchange.

This is a cop out.

Gary Ablett is a professional who has played nearly 300 games and won nearly every award there is. If he's happy to run around for $1m a year or whatever he's getting now, then he can put in.

 

[Scotland]

Bomber knew he was gone and tried to do the best thing by the club moving forward by giving more midfield time to the likes of SJ, Chapman and Stokes to be prepared for life after Ablett.

That meant Ablett had to play some more minutes forward. You don't get Brownlow votes playing half forward. The toys went out of the cot, sooking to umpires, no defensive efforts and public conflict with Bomber.

Agree with most but he still had career high disposals and polled 26 Brownlow votes in 2010.

 

[Sedat!]

This is a cop out.

Gary Ablett is a professional who has played nearly 300 games and won nearly every award there is. If he's happy to run around for $1m a year or whatever he's getting now, then he can put in.

100% correct. Who does GAJ think he is to sulk about where he plays on the ground when he has given that club almost zero return on his $1.8m odd a year for the last 3 years? Injuries have played a part but he also opted out of playing at not quite 100% fitness and help out a desperately undermanned team in 2016, when as captain he absolutely should have. A more selfish player I don't think exists in the competition right now.

 

[deltablues]

Merge Brisbane Lions and Gold Coast and based the team at Metricon. QLD does not give a flying toss about Australian Rules, so why bother? We only need the one team to remain national[/QUOTE]
I wasn't aware that Tasmania was not an Australian state...

 

[StillAtLarge]

Park Ablett as a small forward if he's not going to get the hard ball.

This x1000

 

[citizen-erased]

The guy you replied to might be clueless, but can you say with certainty a merge isn't the answer?

North Melbourne were all set to sign off on a deal to relocate to the Gold Coast about 10 years ago, but pulled out at the last minute. 10 years later, we still have 10 Victorian Clubs in an 18-club national competition: North are starting a rebuild and the Gold Coast are struggling.

I can't, but i would rarely say anything with certainty tbh. Other than i can't fly.

I dont know the Gold Coast at all. Never been, so i can't really say whether the market is sports mad or fickle in their attention.
But i don't see how merging them with a brisbane team works. the Lions already carry a Vic supporter base on top of a brisbane/QLD base. They have a history of shared flags. Moving them to Gold Coast doesn't seem right

Nor does the idea of moving another Melbourne team north to be combined with a struggling QLD team.
The lions had some initial success after the merger, but it was still a tough road, and the makings of Suns is in their list and better development of that list. I dont see what a merger with North brings them, or the Roos fans, or the AFL.

 

[Scotland]

100% correct. Who does GAJ think he is to sulk about where he plays on the ground when he has given that club almost zero return on his $1.8m odd a year for the last 3 years? Injuries have played a part but he also opted out of playing at not quite 100% fitness and help out a desperately undermanned team in 2016, when as captain he absolutely should have. A more selfish player I don't think exists in the competition right now.

I can't help feeling his 'me first' approach has rubbed off on the other players. Prestia missed half the games over the last two years. Bailed. O'Meara missed all of the last two years. Bailed. Bennell lacked consistency and seemed to do what he wanted. Bailed/was pushed out.

Then you have Dixon who is a Queenslander who wanted out, too. Clearly all has not been well the last couple of years.

 

[TouchFrost]

I dont know the Gold Coast at all. Never been, so i can't really say whether the market is sports mad or fickle in their attention.
But i don't see how merging them with a brisbane team works. the Lions already carry a Vic supporter base on top of a brisbane/QLD base. They have a history of shared flags. Moving them to Gold Coast doesn't seem right

Forget this argument. Nobody with a brain is suggesting Brisbane and Gold Coast should merge.

Nor does the idea of moving another Melbourne team north to be combined with a struggling QLD team.
The lions had some initial success after the merger, but it was still a tough road, and the makings of Suns is in their list and better development of that list. I dont see what a merger with North brings them, or the Roos fans, or the AFL.

We had huge success with our Fitzroy merger and the effects are still being felt today.

A North/Gold Coast merger would combine two non-competitive teams and create one VERY competitive team that will instantly challenge for flags, all the while providing a better balance of teams across Australia.

Not saying it should happen, but it's at very least worth discussing. Again, North were all but ready to relocate back in 2007.

 

[citizen-erased]

Forget this argument. Nobody with a brain is suggesting Brisbane and Gold Coast should merge.


We had huge success with our merger and the effects are still being felt today.

A North/Gold Coast merger would remove two non-competitive teams and create one VERY competitive team that will instantly challenge for flags, all the while providing a better balance of teams across Australia.

agree, a Brisbane/GCS merger would not happen.

i really don't like the idea of mergers.
competitiveness will come from the Suns. The list is very good after the draft and trade period last year.
And merging with North isn't going to give them a massive financial/fan boost. The Roos are only just emerging from some hard times in that area as it is. A merger would destroy all that work for very little net benefit to the Suns.

 

[Roylion]

A North/Gold Coast merger would combine two non-competitive teams and create one VERY competitive team that will instantly challenge for flags, all the while providing a better balance of teams across Australia.

Why would a 'merger' between Gold Coast and the Kangaroos do anything but maybe offer some short term on-field success?

The Kangaroos fan base have already seen the future of such a venture writ in the current situation of Brisbane Lions Victorian supporters. 5-6 games in Melbourne per year, a small Victorian office and the focus of club activities in Queensland. There have been attempts to change the agreed jumper and any AFL promises about games at particular venues in perpetuity have shown themselves to be completely false.

There will never be the 'merger' of a Victorian club and an non-Victorian club. A North-Gold Coast merger wouldn't get close to being considered. The AFL shot themselves in the foot in regards to that sometime ago with their litany of broken promises and fixture manipulation.

 

[TouchFrost]

Why would a 'merger' between Gold Coast and the Kangaroos do anything but maybe offer some short term on-field success?

The Kangaroos fan base have already seen the future of such a venture writ in the current situation of Brisbane Lions Victorian supporters. 5-6 games in Melbourne per year, a small Victorian office and the focus of club activities in Queensland. There have been attempts to change the agreed jumper and any AFL promises about games at particular venues in perpetuity have shown themselves to be completely false.

There will never be the 'merger' of a Victorian club and an non-Victorian club. A North-Gold Coast merger wouldn't get close to being considered. The AFL shot themselves in the foot in regards to that sometime ago with their litany of broken promises and fixture manipulation.

Read the second part of my post. It makes sense to have a more even spread of teams across Australia for a national competition, but more than half the teams are still Victorian. Even more so when you see all these people whinging for a Tasmanian team. Aside from that, I agree with you.

For what it's worth, some success is exactly what they need right now, even if it's short term, if only to give them something to build upon. I'd imagine they're going to hemorrhage players again in this year's trade period, and as we've learned the hard way, it's hard to build a winning team/culture when players are leaking out as fast as they're coming in. The only real alternative to a merge would be more drastic concessions, which would no doubt cause opposition supporters to start crying.

 

[Roylion]

Read the second part of my post. It makes sense to have a more even spread of teams across Australia for a national competition, but more than half the teams are still Victorian. Even more so when you see all these people whinging for a Tasmanian team.

Who's going to make North Melbourne 'merge'? The AFL won't be able to do it. They couldn't get them to relocate in 2007. North aren't going to merge to create "one VERY competitive team that will instantly challenge for flags", much less to create "a better balance of teams across Australia." The first is short term and North would argue that there's room enough for them in the Victorian / Tasmanian market. Suggesting a merger for the Suns on the basis of two poor games is little more than a knee-jerk reaction.

For what it's worth, some success is exactly what they need right now, even if it's short term, if only to give them something to build upon.

And what do North get out of a 'merger'? Fleeting on-field success? A 'merger' is no guarantee of long term success or sustainability. In my view if North were ever to consider a merger (and I can't even see them doing this in the short to medium term) they woud do so with a Victorian based club, such as the Western Bulldogs.

I'd imagine they're going to hemorrhage players again in this year's trade period, and as we've learned the hard way, it's hard to build a winning team/culture when players are leaking out as fast as they're coming in. The only real alternative to a merge would be more drastic concessions, which would no doubt cause opposition supporters to start crying.

They'll 'cry' in the event of a 'merger' too, especially if the merger concessions / incentives are perceived to be too generous. Look at Richmond and Collingwood in 1996 whingeing about concessions to North / Fitzroy and Melbourne / Hawthorn.

 

[JPetro83]

FOLD. Relocate them.. give the licence to the Fitzroy Reds....

 

[Rusty Brookes]

Get a light rail line from the train station past Metricon to Southport or somewhere. It's painful to get there at the moment. The same problem VFL Park used to have.

Waverley Park had a carpark which Metricon does not. I've been to Metricon once - I thought the ground itself was terrific. Getting there was a nightmare. I ended up getting the last car spot at the golf club across the road ($20 lighter) but there were heaps of people that couldn't find anywhere to park. Those that chanced the shuttle bus hardly did better - bloke sitting next to me got in after the second quarter started after waiting for over an hour to actually get on a bus. This was for a crowd of 18,000. I'm hoping the situation has improved (this was 2014) and maybe I am spoilt living in Melbourne but it came across as though stadium management had no idea how to cater for a crowd and neither did the council.

Given how poor they are and given how hard the ground is to get to I can't see them growing in any meaningful way in the future.

 

[maskmcgee]

Barrett claiming if Gold Coast lose to Carlton in round 4 Eade will be sacked immidently.

Fold the club. Its a complete joke. Reduce the size of the leauge to 17 teams.

 

[LynchysMob]

Barrett claiming if Gold Coast lose to Carlton in round 4 Eade will be sacked immidently.

Fold the club. Its a complete joke. Reduce the size of the leauge to 17 teams.

Your right. They do need to reduce the leauge size immidently.

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