Markfs Media Watch

[Markfs]

Chris Dawes being dropped off the Demon's list ends his career as a solid role player at the Pies and an injury-ravaged ordinary player at the Demons....

However, there's life after footy for Dawsie and he lives on in discussions in hundreds of media columns analysing the shortcomings and short-sightedness of Nathan Buckley's decision to clean-out the list post MM. Although his contribution to Melbourne is seldom discussed in detail, he is frequently listed with all the other players who were booted off the list...

Here's an example from Robert Walls https://www.sen.com.au/news/2016/09/22/walls-i-don-t-know-what-s-going-on-at-collingwood/

"“Nathan Buckley came in as coach five years ago and he’s swept through and got rid of quite a few senior players. I thought that’s good, that’s his right to do that as a senior coach. We saw Heath Shaw go, we saw Daisy Thomas go, (Chris) Dawes went to Melbourne,” Walls said on SEN’s Hungry for Sport.

Here's another from that esteemed football journaist Josh Elliot who writes about the "buckley's bust" http://www.theroar.com.au/2016/04/23/the-bust-that-buckley-built/

"Over the course of the next few years this saw a number of senior players leave the club for a variety of reasons, with Dayne Beams, Heath Shaw and Dale Thomas the most prominent, but also Sharrod Wellingham, Chris Dawes, Alan Didak, Darren Jolly and others. The departures netted the Magpies a wealth of high draft picks and some talent from other clubs – a classic ‘rebuild’ strategy."

Some articles do stop to smell the flowers and actually give a reason for Dawes leaving the Pies. http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport...h/news-story/c1d1c83c0a1aa7d893cfb5e06cadb58d

"Key forward Chris Dawes’ potential flatlined and they traded him to Melbourne."

It seems that the poisonous year under Buckley had a lifetime effect. Even two or three years under the coaching genius of Paul Roos couldnt turnaround the flat-lining effect of Buckley's coaching....

In fact, I would argue that Dawsie had more footy coverage in articles referencing his departure from the Pies, than any articles actually discussing his football at Melbourne.

He might even be able to write a book about it and have a successful round of speaking engagements on how Buckley destroyed a promising career in footy....

 

[Anzacday]

Gee whiz, some unfortunate wording here...

PREPARATIONS are underway to deal with the potential ugly side of the new AFL Women's competition.
Fully understanding that AFL Tribunal matters often dominate the footy news cycle after a weekend of matches, female players are set to face the same level of Match Review Panel scrutiny as their male counterparts.
"There'll be an MRP for AFLW and that will be a two or three-person panel much like the men's game, they'll review all the games, all the tapes from the weekend's matches," AFL game development executive Simon Lethlean revealed to AFL.com.au.
"We'll have a Monday release on what charges have been laid."
While there are so many unknowns about the style of play in the new elite women's competition, officials are aware emotions and tensions can boil over in a physical game.
"You expect there to be incidents, with clashes and whatever else, I'm not sure about the biff" Lethlean said.
"They're competitive these women, they're the best athletes in their game and they have a big crack, so I imagine that the MRP will have some things to look at."
The AFL is in talks with broadcasters, and remains hopeful every game in the new competition could be telecast, with at least one likely to be shown on free-to-air broadcaster Channel Seven.
Full broadcasts of games will mean more television cameras and therefore more angles for the MRP to review.

 

[Vicky Park]

Gee whiz, some unfortunate wording here...

PREPARATIONS are underway to deal with the potential ugly side of the new AFL Women's competition.
Fully understanding that AFL Tribunal matters often dominate the footy news cycle after a weekend of matches, female players are set to face the same level of Match Review Panel scrutiny as their male counterparts.
"There'll be an MRP for AFLW and that will be a two or three-person panel much like the men's game, they'll review all the games, all the tapes from the weekend's matches," AFL game development executive Simon Lethlean revealed to AFL.com.au.
"We'll have a Monday release on what charges have been laid."
While there are so many unknowns about the style of play in the new elite women's competition, officials are aware emotions and tensions can boil over in a physical game.
"You expect there to be incidents, with clashes and whatever else, I'm not sure about the biff" Lethlean said.
"They're competitive these women, they're the best athletes in their game and they have a big crack, so I imagine that the MRP will have some things to look at."
The AFL is in talks with broadcasters, and remains hopeful every game in the new competition could be telecast, with at least one likely to be shown on free-to-air broadcaster Channel Seven.
Full broadcasts of games will mean more television cameras and therefore more angles for the MRP to review.

That made me laugh AD, after a gloomy 24 hours. The wording can't be serious...can it?

 

[Markfs]

I laughed... it feels so good to laugh about these things again after so long .... the post-Trump era has exploded off the starting line and political correctness is dead.... I bet we'll see more journalists in the future having a good crack when they're dealing with women's sport.

 

[Anzacday]

That made me laugh AD, after a gloomy 24 hours. The wording can't be serious...can it?

It's a direct quote...
http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-11-10/mrp-in-place-in-case-of-womens-biff

 

[Mongo Ming]

Gee whiz, some unfortunate wording here...

PREPARATIONS are underway to deal with the potential ugly side of the new AFL Women's competition.
Fully understanding that AFL Tribunal matters often dominate the footy news cycle after a weekend of matches, female players are set to face the same level of Match Review Panel scrutiny as their male counterparts.
"There'll be an MRP for AFLW and that will be a two or three-person panel much like the men's game, they'll review all the games, all the tapes from the weekend's matches," AFL game development executive Simon Lethlean revealed to AFL.com.au.
"We'll have a Monday release on what charges have been laid."
While there are so many unknowns about the style of play in the new elite women's competition, officials are aware emotions and tensions can boil over in a physical game.
"You expect there to be incidents, with clashes and whatever else, I'm not sure about the biff" Lethlean said.
"They're competitive these women, they're the best athletes in their game and they have a big crack, so I imagine that the MRP will have some things to look at."
The AFL is in talks with broadcasters, and remains hopeful every game in the new competition could be telecast, with at least one likely to be shown on free-to-air broadcaster Channel Seven.
Full broadcasts of games will mean more television cameras and therefore more angles for the MRP to review.

I wonder if we'll get any Hopoate type incidents

 

[Markfs]

If I see one more newspaper article based on the "American Pie" dribble, I'm going to do a Trump and go out and shoot someone. (Would border protection agencies and the thousand or two other gov't funded agencies from the full spectrum of countries across the universe who are currently monitoring this site for terrorism please ignore that comment because I'm joking..... really I am.)

 

[Markfs]

There's a young woman at my work. She latched on to one of those slimey hipster types. He used to go away with her for weekends and insist on staying in expensive hotels because it was beneath him to stay in anything else. The trouble was ....he used to split costs....Que? Well anyway, she wised up after a while. She split with him and found someone else. I walked into her office last week and she excitedly showed me her phone with a photo of the loser on it. It seems that he was in some compromising clothing but I shut my eyes and protested what the hell was she doing. Hadn't she left him behind?

So what's the moral to the story?

Well Caroline Wilson was writing about Gubby again this morning. She cant seem to let it go. He resigned, Caroline. Isn't that what you wanted? He's no longer involved with the AFL. But alas, the poor woman may have fought like a Tassie Devil to get Gubby sacked but the problem is, he gave meaning to her life. She was hoping for another Essendon drug saga that she could sink her teeth into, for months and months .... and all she got was a few weeks..... and even then she had to rewrite the same story again and again and again.... lucky her editor was supportive...

But maybe there's more.... I couldnt help thinking that Caroline feels just a pang of regret in the way she pointed her fangs at the luckless three. Gubby is famous for taking a few short cuts, isnt he? He's a bit of a lovable rogue..... Caroline sighs and thinks.... i said a few things in the heat of the moment and maybe I was just a bit harsh on the boys....especially that Gubby.

If anyone knows Gubby, I suggest that you tell him to send Caroline a few pics with his tshirt off....

 

[Robroy22]

There's a young woman at my work. She latched on to one of those slimey hipster types. He used to go away with her for weekends and insist on staying in expensive hotels because it was beneath him to stay in anything else. The trouble was ....he used to split costs....Que? Well anyway, she wised up after a while. She split with him and found someone else. I walked into her office last week and she excitedly showed me her phone with a photo of the loser on it. It seems that he was in some compromising clothing but I shut my eyes and protested what the hell was she doing. Hadn't she left him behind?

So what's the moral to the story?

Well Caroline Wilson was writing about Gubby again this morning. She cant seem to let it go. He resigned, Caroline. Isn't that what you wanted? He's no longer involved with the AFL. But alas, the poor woman may have fought like a Tassie Devil to get Gubby sacked but the problem is, he gave meaning to her life. She was hoping for another Essendon drug saga that she could sink her teeth into, for months and months .... and all she got was a few weeks..... and even then she had to rewrite the same story again and again and again.... lucky her editor was supportive...

But maybe there's more.... I couldnt help thinking that Caroline feels just a pang of regret in the way she pointed her fangs at the luckless three. Gubby is famous for taking a few short cuts, isnt he? He's a bit of a lovable rogue..... Caroline sighs and thinks.... i said a few things in the heat of the moment and maybe I was just a bit harsh on the boys....especially that Gubby.

If anyone knows Gubby, I suggest that you tell him to send Caroline a few pics with his tshirt off....

Golly this is priceless! And don't worry Gubby's got HER number.

 

[Markfs]

Golly this is priceless! And don't worry Gubby's got HER number.

i do that too..... put someone's number on my phone so I know when I can ignore a call....

 

[Markfs]

Who will be number 1? I am over it. I was over it about a month ago. I know we havent got a front grid position in the thing, but I still couldnt care less.

The media makes the whole thing look like rocket science but it's more like a chook raffle at the numurkah pub...

The number of first round picks going to queensland is enough to put me to sleep.

The points system is so convoluted now that it's like one of those playstation war game thingies.... it looks interesting from afar but I couldnt be stuffed learning all the rules..

So lets just get this thing over and done with so the media people can turn their minds to booze and christmas parties...

i'm so bored with sport at the moment that i watched manchester play arsenal for about 20 minutes....no one scored during that time of course. I understand that it's not something that soccer puts much emphasis on but it would be nice to see something more than 20 minutes of back passing. It's like watching Richmond replays...

ok i need to get this gardening done..

 

[Markfs]

I have a complaint to make. Like all good complaints, it's been festering like a sore and the pus has been seeping out. It's like an new sore built on older sores underneath...a bit like the ones that you got as a kid on your knees...

And the sore is that stuff that is masquerading as music that is the soundtrack of many of the footy videos that you see on the collingwood and afl sites.

The most recent example for me occurred when I was looking at the AFL site and saw a highlights link to Willie Rioli. I had an interest so I clicked. The click starts off with this inane guitar soundtrack with the faint sound of the commentary underneath. Now I realise that the video is going to be a series of highlights from Rioli's junior footy and the commentary wont really matter. BUT ITS A DAMNSIDE MORE INTERESTING THAN A STUPID REPETITIVE NON-MUSICAL PIECE OF JUNK that was the "musical soundtrack."

I realise that there's a long history of putting music to footy highlights. The classic ACDC etc etc backing a highlights package can be a great idea. I'm not against guitar music...in fact, i'm a fan. However, I'm not a fan of STUPID REPETITIVE NON-MUSICAL INANE MINDLESS PIECES OF CRAP THAT MASQUERADE AS MUSIC.

While I'm at it. If there's any out there who manages a fast-food outlet and believes that a person wandering into Maccas early on a monday morning looking for a quick feed and a coffee, is looking to be assaulted in an audio sense by a pack of fake-laughing radio goons piped down the loudspeakers from the roof.....well let me remind you that there are still humans out here who can sit in peace and quiet and dont have to be tsunamied with crap music and fake overbearing radio DJs to feel happy. This relic from a past age is quite happy to eat and read in peace and quiet.

ok I feel better now.... now where's my adler

 

[Vicky Park]

I have a complaint to make. Like all good complaints, it's been festering like a sore and the pus has been seeping out. It's like an new sore built on older sores underneath...a bit like the ones that you got as a kid on your knees...

And the sore is that stuff that is masquerading as music that is the soundtrack of many of the footy videos that you see on the collingwood and afl sites.

The most recent example for me occurred when I was looking at the AFL site and saw a highlights link to Willie Rioli. I had an interest so I clicked. The click starts off with this inane guitar soundtrack with the faint sound of the commentary underneath. Now I realise that the video is going to be a series of highlights from Rioli's junior footy and the commentary wont really matter. BUT ITS A DAMNSIDE MORE INTERESTING THAN A STUPID REPETITIVE NON-MUSICAL PIECE OF JUNK that was the "musical soundtrack."

I realise that there's a long history of putting music to footy highlights. The classic ACDC etc etc backing a highlights package can be a great idea. I'm not against guitar music...in fact, i'm a fan. However, I'm not a fan of STUPID REPETITIVE NON-MUSICAL INANE MINDLESS PIECES OF CRAP THAT MASQUERADE AS MUSIC.

While I'm at it. If there's any out there who manages a fast-food outlet and believes that a person wandering into Maccas early on a monday morning looking for a quick feed and a coffee, is looking to be assaulted in an audio sense by a pack of fake-laughing radio goons piped down the loudspeakers from the roof.....well let me remind you that there are still humans out here who can sit in peace and quiet and dont have been tsunamied with crap music and fake overbearing radio DJs to feel happy. This relic from a past age is quite happy to eat and read in peace and quiet.

ok I feel better now.... now where's my adler

Markfs, thank you for the sore/scab analogy. I've been reading it over lunch.

 

[Markfs]

Markfs, thank you for the sore/scab analogy. I've been reading it over lunch.

I remember when I was a boy I used to pick the scabs on my knees and feast on them..... save that one for tomorrow's lunch

 

[Vicky Park]

I remember when I was a boy I used to pick the scabs on my knees and feast on them..... save that one for tomorrow's lunch

You're too kind.

 

[Markfs]

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/a...y/news-story/f3c9314abb1f819f194e50ed92e89cb7

The new book talking about the 10 most significant events in Collingwood history might be a good read. However, I dont think using the "10 most significant" format delivers the best outcome. People start arguing about whether the appointment of a coach is more important than a premiership win and, while the debate might be fun, it's really irrelevant to the main game of winning premierships for the club.

So, in response, here are my important events in the last half century....


1. The "Collywobbles"

Coined ironically by Lou Richards, the Pies started wobbling long before the 1970 grand final. To say that the wobbles started then would be wrong. They were festering for number of years. The loss to Melbourne is the 1964 might have been bad luck and it's hard to be critical of the usual last minute ploy of packing the backline when you're in front late in the game, but a Melbourne back pocket still had to kick the winning goal. Two years later was it really more bad luck with Barry Breen? Both losses severely undermined my confidence in the 1970 team's ability to get the job done. If you told me at half time that Carlton would stage a comeback and we'd be knocked over, I probably wouldn't have been surprised.

The 1970 loss is probably the single most important Collingwood event in the last half century. It set the agenda for the next two decades and probably is still having an effect. It's still too painful to write about and so I wont.

2. The loss of faith and the appointment of Tommy Hafey.

I dont think that I enjoyed footy after the 1970 loss and I think a lot of the people connected to the club felt the same. The Tuddy/Thompson thing ....the wooden spoon... It seemed like noone had their heart in it.....and then Tommy arrived.

The proof of Hafey's effect is well documented. The rise from the bottom of the ladder was amazing. The transformation of the old boys like the Richardson bros and Len Thompson and the injection of the younger boys like Picken and Barham was a fantastic bit of coaching. Unfortunately, we didnt make it but Hafey revamped the side for 1979, 1980 and 1981. Yes, we lost them but who in their right minds blame the coach. The Pies did. Here's a quote from wiki

"After years of disappointment players and fans began to criticise Hafey's methods. Several leading players said Hafey over-trained the team, particularly in the lead-up to finals matches. Others said Hafey was too slow to respond when the team was going under. During the 1982 season, a record losing streak of nine games sealed Hafey's fate and he was sacked mid-season"

Well all I know is that when Hafey returned as Geelong's coach the next year, he was warmly clapped by the members on his walk from the race to the players' bench. I'll never forget that.

3. The rise of Leigh Matthews

John Cahill took over from Hafey (via Mick Irwin) and I remember that he didnt do a bad job but he didnt do the deed where it mattered. Allan McAllister came in as President and appointed Bobby Rose and Leigh Matthews as his assistant. Alan always struck me as a fuddy-duddy buffoon but he got this one right. Bob fell on his sword early in the piece and handed the reins to Leigh. I spoke to Bob Rose 20 years ago at a Vic Park training session. He deserved success but that's another story.

Remembering back, I think Collingwood at the time was showing that it had problems dealing with "modern footy" on a number of levels..... the game itself, the payment of players, the professionalism and the rise of the business side. The club was in debt and it seemed that the people associated with the club spent most of their time talking about the past and the honour associated with being involved at the club.... but they didnt seem to have the willpower or the skills to get the job done in the present. Leigh Matthews was an exception.

Leigh was a surfer who picked the right wave and had skills and self-confidence to ride it to the ultimate goal. The wave was built on a 1986 under 19 premiership team that consisted of of Gav Brown and Crossica, McGuane and Monkhurst. Added to that were a few well picked players from other teams and a couple of inspired picks from the draft in Scott Russell and Tony Francis. And Daicos.

But it was Matthews that talked them through the Collywobbles. Maybe they were too young to be affected. Maybe. Maybe if Matthews hadnt arrived at the Pies we would still be looking for a saviour. When Dougie kicked that goal, I cried. We all cried. It was the single biggest feeling of being a Collingwood fan in my lifetime. Elation, relief.... the chance to go to work on the monday morning and let rip....

People said it was the first of many premierships. Leigh Matthews was "coach for life". Is there a sense of deja vu here???

Anyway, a few years on and Matthews has amazingly lost club support and the club itself slides off the edge of the earth.......

And then Eddie comes....


Part 2 to follow. I need to get some work done.

 

[WalterBlaknWhte]

Fine prose Markman

 

[Countrypie]

Excellent analysis. 1970 scarred me for life. It scarred all playing for that team as well. I still remember the 1973 Prelim when Richmond came from 7 or 8 goals down to beat us. We were playing two teams that day- Richmond and the ghost of 1970. Between 1970 and the coming of Hafey was the "Greening incident" I still believe this shook the club at all levels for many years.

 

[Markfs]

Excellent analysis. 1970 scarred me for life. It scarred all playing for that team as well. I still remember the 1973 Prelim when Richmond came from 7 or 8 goals down to beat us. We were playing two teams that day- Richmond and the ghost of 1970. Between 1970 and the coming of Hafey was the "Greening incident" I still believe this shook the club at all levels for many years.

I did consider talking about John Greening for one reason. Up until John got hit, you could categorise the teams in the late 60s/early 70s as being "brilliant but brittle". In fact, I heard that term used a lot around that period. I think there was a concerted attempt to "toughen" the team up in the 1980s, but I'm not sure you could attribute it totally to the greening king-hit or to other things. We seemed to end up with a lot of averaged-paced 6 footers who were hard men and we might have paid the price in some big finals games by these guys being burnt off by the likes of players like Barlett and the carlton "mosquito fleet".....

In the final analysis the 1970 loss and the 1990 win were the two big events in the last 50 years.....i know the youngsters will talk about the 2010 win but it was a hard slog living thru 1970 to 1990. It was like dying and then coming back to life 20 years later. Jesus Christ II. The current problems are not even on the map...

 

[Countrypie]

I did consider talking about John Greening for one reason. Up until John got hit, you could categorise the teams in the late 60s/early 70s as being "brilliant but brittle". In fact, I heard that term used a lot around that period. I think there was a concerted attempt to "toughen" the team up in the 1980s, but I'm not sure you could attribute it totally to the greening king-hit or to other things. We seemed to end up with a lot of averaged-paced 6 footers who were hard men and we might have paid the price in some big finals games by these guys being burnt off by the likes of players like Barlett and the carlton "mosquito fleet".....

In the final analysis the 1970 loss and the 1990 win were the two big events in the last 50 years.....i know the youngsters will talk about the 2010 win but it was a hard slog living thru 1970 to 1990. It was like dying and then coming back to life 20 years later. Jesus Christ II. The current problems are not even on the map...

The brilliant but brittle tag is one that is probably apt. I love the JC II analogy.

1970 and 1990 book ended a really frustrating time no doubt. And I agree that some of our "hard men" got caught out for class and pace in big games. Suffice to say if Greening had a full career he would have played in 1977 and probably 1979. He would've added the polish and class that we lacked. Would it have been enough? I think it would have. WOuld we ever have recruited Hafey if Greening had of been felled? There's every chance that Neil Mann would have led us to a Grand Final that year and who knows how that would have turned out? At the end of 1973 Barry Price left for WA and several other players left the club around the same time.....that year marked the end of the should've been dynasty 1969 -73 and heralded in the decline that led to Hafey.

 

[Vicky Park]

Well all I know is that when Hafey returned as Geelong's coach the next year, he was warmly clapped by the members on his walk from the race to the players' bench. I'll never forget that.

I remember it well. Was a beautiful gesture, and showed the best of Colingwood.

 

[Vicky Park]

In the final analysis the 1970 loss and the 1990 win were the two big events in the last 50 years.....i know the youngsters will talk about the 2010 win but it was a hard slog living thru 1970 to 1990. It was like dying and then coming back to life 20 years later. Jesus Christ II. The current problems are not even on the map...

You nailed it.

 

[Markfs]

You nailed it.

the win in 1990 was surreal.....

 

[WalterBlaknWhte]

the win in 1990 was surreal.....

Was a toddler in '70 but was at the G in '77, '77, '79, '80, and '81

So happy when I knew we would not lose in '90, it was as though the air had more oxygen, and that I was no longer a loser in my vicarious life

2010 replay felt more like a party

 

[Markfs]

Part 2 begins with Eddie... or more accurately, the meltdown prior to his arrival.

I think most of us lived through the 1990s. The club seemed to have no idea how to do anything. It was having real problems in navigating itself to a premiership within the national competition. Sure it had won the first AFL premiership but it did that on the back of one of the best coaches of the modern era and some lucky opportunities provided by a winning under 19 team and the inspired draft selections of a couple of young south australians. In the new era, the club was getting absolutely nothing from the draft and it was sinking. In typical Collingwood style, the club and its supporters were still getting high on the distant memories of the 1990 win. Geez, I can even remember saying to myself in the mid 1990s that if I didnt like what the club was doing, I could put my well-worn premiership video cassette back into the panasonic for another spin.....

By the end of the decade the 1990 premiership spell had just about worn out. A lone gunslinger pushed through the door of the saloon and everyone turned around to look. The place went silent. It was Eddie.

Some people might say the appointment of Malthouse was just as important as Eddie's emergence or they might point to the 2010 premiership as having similar importance. I would argue that if it wasnt Malthouse, it would have been some of other coach. I would even argue that the 2010 premiership was a predictable outcome to someone getting the club back together working cohesively under a single plan. I could even make a case that someone like Leigh Matthews would have delivered a better outcome than Malthouse.

In any event, the Collingwood of today is a far different beast to the pre-Eddie animal. In my younger days, I can remember there were always several high profile Pie supporters snapping at the heels of the incumbent administrations of the day. Collingwood boards were frequently made up of competing interest groups. It showed in a lot of the decision-making. While other teams took risks in recruiting interstate players, the Pies were often tentative. I remember the hiding that the club took for the recruitment of Peter Eakins. Even Phil Carmen copped a lot of negative reactions from diehard pie fans who were more concerned about the "fabulous" way he conducted himself than his game-winning ability.

If you had to pick one thing that was the reason for the emergence of Eddie and the way he was embraced by supporters, it was that everyone seemed to have had enough of disunity, and here was a guy who could Pie supporters together. If that could be done, then premierships would follow, at least that's what I thought at the time and it panned out that way to some degree.

The next great significant event will probably occur when Eddie departs the club, or maybe it's more accurate to say how or if he "departs" the club.

As I said throughout these two posts, the significant events were often at the end of a series related events. The close grand final losses in the 1960s were followed by the punch line of the 1970 grand final disaster. The subsequent depression of the early 1970s was blown away by the arrival of Tommy Hafey. The emergence of Eddie, himself, was in many ways a response to club disunity and its inability to come to grips with operating within the new national competition.

Similar smaller events are happening right now. Eddie has shown himself to be prone to media blunders and the media profile that he needs for his job at MMM and Fox compromises his ability to fly under the radar as Collingwood president. He severely misjudged Malthouse in stitching together the deal of the century, that would have placed an alpha male like Malthouse in the shadow of Buckley. It was never going to happen. He should have know that. Since then he has shown himself to make further errors of judgement like the Gubby Allan matter.

Of course, it's easy to be critical of Eddie in hindsight, but there is one area where you can be critical of Eddie and it's an area which might trigger another key event in the club's history. The fact that he's now the only gunslinger in town.

There is an obvious lack of alternative leaders on the board or in the Collingwood community. As I said earlier, in the past there were always alternative points of view circling the club, waiting for an opportunity to pounce in club elections. Now, Eddie seems to have neutered any alternative view. He's been so inclusive that the only dissenting views are coming from people like Caroline Wilson who have no interest in the welfare of the Pies.

If Eddie was to walk away from the Presidency tomorrow, there's no one who would take over from him. In reality, a replica of Eddie is very unlikely. The problem is that we could drift back into a period of disunity where everyone knows what's best for the club. In short, we could become another Richmond.

Other clubs, built on different leadership models, have transitioned to new Presidents seamlessly. I seriously doubt the Pie's ability to do that.

So that's my take of the important events in the last half century. Rather than single events, they are more like periods where the club has steered a particular direction interspersed with periods where it looked like noone was actually steering the ship. If I had to make a prediction, I think there might be another change in course in the next 5 years or so. I'm hopeful but only 20% of the time.