King Eddie- The source of our good on-field form aswell?

[johnson_26]

I dont know if you all remember, but after our second consecutive bad season following on from 2004, eddie ordered an independent inqury to analyse the clubs on field performances and what measures needed to be taken to improve them.

Soon after, he signed malthouse for another 2 years? and all of a sudden our luck changed and now we are playing really good footy.

Further, other changes were made, eg: Alan Richardson head of the Young Talented Player Centre at the pies (or whatever it's called), along with a few subtle other changes.

Can we credit this rise to eddie's leadership skills in ordering this review of the footy department, and making appropriate decisions to combat a weakness in structure? It seems he took it on himself to improve the clubs performances, which maybe we can credit him for.

thoughts?

 

[MarkT]

Here is what really happened - or I should say my take on it. Eddie announced the review. A review was undertaken. Some people were put on notice. Some more people were added. The SAS guy came on board to improve accountability (among other things) because people lacked KPI's and measurement of performance. There was never ever any question that MM would not be extended and it was never ever intended that his position be really reviewed. After the AGM and therefore after it could be hammered any more than it was already going to be MM's 1 year extension from 2005 to 2007 was announced.

Whether much of our improved on field form resulted from the review I doubt. We have had a better run with injuries. Malthouse has changed the game plan a bit to be more attacking and less reactive and to better use our potential forward advantage. A few mid tier players have matured (eg Lonie, Didak). A few young players have emerged (eg H. Shaw, Swan).

There is no doubt that we are doing better on many fronts. It bothers me how satisfied we supporters appear to be about that. We haven’t won the flag yet and until we do we should not be satisfied that the sins of the past have been adequately addressed.

 

[johnson_26]

MArkT- couldn't agree with you more...

I'm also of the belief we as a club are satsified with how we've gone this year. As indicated in my previous thread 'this is where we are at...'

However, i think some credit is due to a sudden change in on field performaces. Althought i think it's a bit of a smoke screen to the fact that we aren't ready yet, its a wonderful start none the less.

 

[Vinnie Vegas]

Malthouse has changed the game plan a bit to be more attacking and less reactive and to better use our potential forward advantage.

Well yeah, but the reason we weren't using that game plan, as you said with the injuries, was because with Rocca out and Tarrant on one leg, we didn't really HAVE a forward advantage.

 

[Coin_Toss]

There is no doubt that we are doing better on many fronts. It bothers me how satisfied we supporters appear to be about that. We haven’t won the flag yet and until we do we should not be satisfied that the sins of the past have been adequately addressed.

Well said, Mark T.

I will never be legitimately satisfied until we go all the way and win it. As far as im concerned, supposing we fail this year, questions would be raised. I am a stong believer of winning premierships, and I believe this Collingwood side is good enough to win the flag.

 

[MarkT]

Well yeah, but the reason we weren't using that game plan, as you said with the injuries, was because with Rocca out and Tarrant on one leg, we didn't really HAVE a forward advantage.

Tarrant played most of the season. Regardless we got smashed in the midfield and were 1 - 6 when we had some but not nearly as many injuries as we ended the season with. IMO the injuries killed us off but we were struggling anyway. What I am more concerned with is now though. We are much better off than we were for a number of reasons but can we win the flag?

I will never be legitimately satisfied until we go all the way and win it. As far as im concerned, supposing we fail this year, questions would be raised. I am a stong believer of winning premierships, and I believe this Collingwood side is good enough to win the flag.

IMO if we end up making a PF this year the bulk of the supporters will be happy and the club will sell it as success. Relative to 2004/5 it will be success but the measure of success isn't comparison to failure. If with a near full list we are not good enough then we haven't addressed the weaknesses that saw us fail to win it in 2002 and 2003. The real concern is the pending loss of Buckley and Burns from the midfield, to a lesser extent Wakelin and a couple of others that are a bit less vital nearing the end as well.