Scythe94
Moderator
- Moderator
- #826
Brilliantly written (would expect nothing less ). Good stuffProper Gander has inspired me to write my own letter to the bigwigs. It's a bit of a brain dump but in doing heaps of thinking about the club in the past 48 hours, the one thing I kept getting angry about is the gamestyle.
Players may come and go but if we continue Goody's current gamestyle, I know one thing - fans will drop off. Which in turn may affect some players' happiness/motivation, which can turn into some sort of doom loop.
Anyway, FWIW, here's what I wrote.
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Dear Gary and Kate,
I doubt I’ll get a reply to this letter.
But the reason I am writing is I once again fear for the future of the club I’ve been supporting for almost 40 years.
I’ve been a member for a long time, donated money, been a part of the Future Fund and now buy annual memberships not for just me, but two children who I’ve tried to indoctrinate into the red and blue family. It’s working, for now, but who knows if it will continue with the way things are progressing.
Of course, from afar, how would I know the inner workings and machinations of the club.
What I can see is the 2+ hours each week we run out in the red and blue.
This year, and the vast majority of the past three years, that product has been dull, lifeless, uninspiring and unfulfilling.
This is the first year I haven’t been to a game for about 25 years. Why would I expend so much time, money and effort to attend a game where the absolute best outcome is a grinding win where we kick 10 goals and our opponents kick 9?
I have a 7 year old son and a 4 year old daughter. I’m yet to take them to a live game. How could our gameplan excite young kids with limited attention spans?
When I watch us on TV, instead of being locked in for the full game, it's not that long before I think about switching channels. Entertainment is everywhere on our screens - if we're not being entertained by the footy being played, why continue watching?
If Christian Petracca (and other players) don’t enjoy playing in front of small crowds, I understand that. But these things go both ways - supporters don’t enjoy watching teams based solely on #contestdefence
C#contestdefenceave (I hope not); so may Kozzie Pickett (doubly hope not), maybe others. I’m not totally stressed about that, as I’m sure we’ll get great compensation for them and our young brigade looks excellent.
After the premiership and getting to record memberships, we had a once-in-a-generation (or multiple generation) opportunity to drag ourselves out of ‘small club’ territory. It looked like we had, until the past 12 months or so.
One thing above all needs to change. We need excitement back on the field - 17 other teams are more exciting than ours; they play with speed, dare and exuberance while we play with a dour determination to grind away and hopefully secure a tight win. The fans hate it, I’m sure the broadcasters don’t enjoy it and even the players look tense and downtrodden and bereft of any joy during games.
Isn’t sport supposed to be fun - for players and spectators?
Simon Goodwin may well be well liked by the players and everyone else at the club, and we will forever be in his debut for helping deliver the 2021 flag. But he must evolve, or we must choose a new coach who can evolve.
Otherwise we’ll slip back into the irrelevance we so bravely (and briefly) conquered in 2021.