- Jan 15, 2015
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Give it to Keays. Prob need a midfielder to be captain with a young group of players, someone consistently around the ball. The bloke is the epitome of team first and work ethic. Much loved player.
Player Watch Rory Sloane - Re-Signed for 2024
- Thread starter I Lost My Keays
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It looks like there is a big void of player leadership at the club.
The experienced guys are past their prime and the young guys haven't had time to develop their leadership
It's going to be a tricky spot for the club for a couple of years until the younger guys take ownership of the team
The experienced guys are past their prime and the young guys haven't had time to develop their leadership
It's going to be a tricky spot for the club for a couple of years until the younger guys take ownership of the team
- May 10, 2016
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I would prefer Laird as captain over Sloane. Currently Sloane is struggling to hold his position on field and Laird is currently our best mid. Could be a good transition until we hand it to Doedee. Laird is a very well respected one club player who will be around for the next 5years. Leads by example and a good media performer. It's a no brainer which would hopefully free Sloane up to concentrate on playing some good footy off the half forward line. Needs to happen at the end of this season.
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Laird's a quiet type. Very much doubt he'd make a good leader & likely wouldn't want it.
He's been average at best & going backwards no doubt. If "leading by example" is judged by output then he's a fail.
If its judged by the effort to push to the limits of what your body is able to deliver as a footballer, then he's always set a bloody good example and still does. Have a look again at the last few minutes of the close Melbourne and St Kilda games.
That said, as soon as players are no longer an automatic selection the club needs to move on with the captaincy and could be at that point next year.
Our mids are flat out being mids, their only respite is what the see on the bench. I like the idea of the captain playing b3hind or in front of the the ball because they get the opportunity to see play unfolding in both directions.
I don't think playing averagely whilst injured is leading by example. Espracially when there's 3 mids in the team all crying out for midfield minutes. Now, if he said to the coaches that he reckons a move to half forward or half back would benefit the kids and also allow him to lead on field then I'd be hopping on board. And pullingg a couple of isolated examples (you forgot the Suns game) of one quarter high level output for a player that spends 81% TOG and 100% in the middle is evidence contrary to a good example being set.
How do you know that he hasnt?
You're putting selection onus on the player and that belongs with the coaching staff - even for the captain.
Rory gets the "good bloke pass" everyone loves him, theres no doubt he has been a terrible captain.
Imagine the pile on if Tex was still our captain and had led us to a spoon with continual poor personal performances over the last 2 years.
Dont mind the left field option of Keays until Doedee is ready.
Imagine the pile on if Tex was still our captain and had led us to a spoon with continual poor personal performances over the last 2 years.
Dont mind the left field option of Keays until Doedee is ready.
- May 10, 2016
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I think Laird is a very similar personality to Goodwin who was one of our better captain's imo. The main thing is that the captain leads by example on field and is generally in our top 5 best players.
I've never been a fan. As a player, his courage is his one unquestionable trait, but his brief period as an A Grade mid was extinguished by his inability to manage a tag and his influence has been downhill ever since. As captain or captain-in-waiting, he's been utterly unimpressive. He doesn't speak particularly insightfully and in fact has a repeat tendency to spout the company line in a particularly sucky way - the most egregious example being the squirmingly over-egged camp testimonial...ugh. I've never seen anything in his off-field persona that suggested 'leader' to me.
What was that game where there was footage of him trying to rev the players up when they came onto the ground? That was lauded in the media but I just found it butt-clenchingly embarrassing, more like the yapping of a team mascot than any captain-my-captain sort of stuff. And the nonsense he came out with in that behind-the-scenes doco was equally cringe-worthy.
I don't want to dump on him particularly. He's probably a decent bloke and been a fairly good player for us but his captaincy credentials are pretty thin. Tex is still the spiritual captain for my money, on-field anyway. I don't think we'd lose anything at all by handing over to Doedee at this point.
For some reason our coaches have always had the philosophy that experienced players make the call and aren't held to account for performance when playing injured. Sure, it's on the coaches and that's why this 'rebuild' will amount to nothing under Nicks. His philosophies align with those that failed before him. But you can't put it all on the coaches when discussing leadership by example. The coaches left it up to Rory and he came out with utter garbage as to the reason he's going to keep playing. Yes, the coaches should drop him if he's not performing, injured or otherwise. But it's been made clear that Rory made the final call on this and him choosing to play in the midfield is appalling leadership. And if you reckon they'd refuse an offer to play elsewhere then I've got a bridge to sell you.
I liked the bit where he chose to tell everyone how brilliant the camp was for him whilst he knew teammates were troubled and being silenced under the excuse of an NDA the club signed. And when he described Chapman as the Godfather of our football club. It's abundantly clear that Rory was nothing more than a Chapman/Fagan shill, so it's no wonder the place turned so toxic.
I didn't see the doco, but I do remember the u10 style ra ra ra gee up before running onto the ground. That CM stuff is totally unforgivable given what was going on with some members of the playing group at the time. Imagine being aggrieved and silenced and watching the club role out the captain to speak in the most g
owimg terms possible. Better father, husband, son, brother, sure. Better teammate, sorry mate, you just blew that apart. He's all sizzle and no steak and our results under his captaincy and co-captaincy align with the worst period the club has ever gone through.
And that is the problem, like Chapman he'll want to hold on for dear life so that he doesn't leave with the worst captaincy record by a stretch. Just as he's clinging to his first bounce midfielder status, he'll cling to the captaincy. Ano like VB, will be one of the rare occasions where a captain has the job taken away from them. That we've got the likes of VB, Thommo and Sauce with their distaste for handing over to the next generation recently recruited will ensure he's plenty of support inside the fabled 4 walls.
You've changed scope from discussion of whether he's leading by example to this monstrosity. Somewhere underneath all the hysteria we actually agree to some extent, but I dont have the patience these days to spell it out for you.
- Aug 29, 2013
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I love Doedee but I think he has a bit more work to do on his game. Let Sloane battle it out for one more year and hand it over to whoever naturally steps up in 2023.
I think Doedee is a known quantity at this point. I don't really see him being a much better player in a years time. I think it's less a question of Doedee's quality though and more about what we can get out of Sloane. Would removing the captaincy improve his form by allowing him to focus more on his own footy? I'm not sure but I think given what the footy producing atm, it's worth it to roll the dice.
How bloody dumb is it that Sloane is putting off surgery so he can increase our chances of a mid-table finish this year? You would think they'd have learned from Talia last year that it's not worth putting off surgery if the team isn't contending. It's clear that Nicks has been instructed to win at all costs and that the club admin hasn't actually accepted the rebuild. I wonder what our recruiters think of this s**t given it makes their job that much harder.
- Aug 20, 2013
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I actually wouldn't mind seeing Brodie Smith take over the job for a couple of years until Doedee is ready. Has been part of the leadership group, very well liked at the club, and doesn't seem the type to have the captaincy affect his own play.
- May 10, 2016
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I think it goes deeper in that Sloane didn't want to allow one of our younger mids such as Berry or Schoenberg to cement a full time mid position for the remainder of the season. It seemed a strange decision that he would permanently risk the usage of his finger to lead us to 15th or 16th. He knows that once he is out of the midfield his importance will diminish. Never underestimate the selfishness of some of our experienced brigade. It has been endemic for some time.
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He's not leading by example if he's overcooked the 'play through pain' mantra and chosen to delay surgery so he can perform poorly as a midfielder. It's not rocket science. His decision to continue playing injured is clearly up to him and that is not good leadership. It was you that changed the scope to his selection being up to the coaches. I can spell it out for you. You're saying that if he doesn't perform up to standard while injured then that's on the coaches for selecting him. But if does perform then he's showing, "effort to push to the limits of what your body is able to deliver as a footballer, then he's always set a bloody good example and still does" and that's good leadership. So your view is that no matter what Rory does, he's golden in a leadership sense. This is not true.
Right now he is showing terrible leadership delaying surgery in a bottom six year and hogging 87% of TOG as a midfielder whilst gathering 18 touches when there's Schoey, Pedlar, Berry and even McHenry that should be sharing those midfield minutes. A good leader right now wouldn't crawl to the finish line, they'd pull the pin on the season, lead and coach the kids from the interchange bench and start preparing physically for 2022. Playing injured and poorly is s**t leadership.
I don't think that he's been instructed per se. His selection philosphies would have aligned with Roo, Fagan, Chapman otherwise he'd have not gotten the job in the first place. He's not being forced to play injured seniors, he would be encouraging Sloane to play and bringing up how brave he is at every opportunity. The players know that they're protected from being held accountable for their output whilst injured, so they keep putting up their hand. If you went to Sloane tomorrow and said, "Mate, it's omit or injured, your choice, but you're not playing in the 1s having dished up 9 effective disposals from 11 kicks and 7 handballs while spending 87% TOG in the stoppage rotation. We wouldn't cop it from a kid and 'selection integrity' demands we don't cop it from you."
Would Sloane's hand remain up if he was going down to the 2s to help develop the kids there? * no.
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