Opinion Commentary & Media VII

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Be fair to say that any reasonable appraisal of Laura Kane's first year in the job would see her meeting very few markers.

  • The umpiring is a mess. Very few working at the top level, the ones at the bottom level are rock bottom. They seem confused and marginalised. The pathway into the elite level isn't clear. Even the goal umpires couldn't work out what they were supposed to do at one point.
  • The rules are all over the place. They change from week to week, never making things noticeably better but regardless they morph back again for no apparent reason. Players, coaches, fans, media have absolutely no idea what's going on.
  • The tribunal is a inefficient, inconsistent and inept. Every week there is something that seems either out of kilter or makes no sense at all. Totally at odds with what anybody wants in the game.
  • Drafting and player movement is up in the air. Potential changes are announced with no notice given to clubs and then awkwardly backtracked on.
  • Communication is poor. Fans get told one thing, umpires something else. Messages delivered in gobbledygook. One minute happy to be open about explaining something, next minute avoidant on the same issue.
  • Consistent whinging from clubs about fairness (academies, travel, fixturing) allowed to fester.

The only slack I'll cut her is that the AFL in its wisdom thought fit to her fill her role with an empty chair for a year so all of these things were allowed to drift.

She potentially seems to be a victim of the Peter Principle - she's done well enough in her previous positions to be consistently pushed up the chain until she's finally reached a level where she's now out of her depth.
 
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Be fair to say that any reasonable appraisal of Laura Kane's first year in the job would see her meeting very few markers.

  • The umpiring is a mess. Very few working at the top level, the ones at the bottom level are rock bottom. They seem confused and marginalised. The pathway into the elite level isn't clear. Even the goal umpires couldn't work out what they were supposed to do at one point.
  • The rules are all over the place. They change from week to week, never making things noticeably better but regardless they morph back again for no apparent reason. Players, coaches, fans, media have absolutely no idea what's going on.
  • The tribunal is a inefficient, inconsistent and inept. Every week there is something that seems either out of kilter or makes no sense at all. Totally at odds with what anybody wants in the game.
  • Drafting and player movement is up in the air. Potential changes are announced with notice given to clubs and then awkwardly backtracked on.
  • Communication is poor. Fans get told one things, umpires something else. Messages delivered in gobbledygook.
  • Consistent whinging from clubs about fairness (academies, travel, fixturing) allowed to fester.

The only slack I'll cut her is that the AFL in its wisdom thought fit her fill her role with an empty chair for a year so all of these things were allowed to drift.

She potentially seems to be a victim of the Peter Principle - she's done well enough in her previous positions to be consistently pushed up the chain until she's finally reached a level where she's now out of her depth.
Thoroughly unimpressive in every aspect.

The clown like explanation of the Bailey Scott non 50 should’ve seen her exited stage left.

Along with Dillon, she’s damaging the sport
 
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Thoroughly unimpressive in every aspect.

The clown like explanation of the Bailey Scott non 50 should’ve seen her exited stage left.

Along with Dillon, she’s damaging the sport
The damage is coming from higher IMO. The commission provide the framework, reward structure and incentives - it is a failure of leadership.
 

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The damage is coming from higher IMO. The commission provide the framework, reward structure and incentives - it is a failure of leadership.
Oh very much so.

Personal gain ahead of the integrity of a sporting competition.

Classic.
 


For those who need some help getting angry on a Thursday afternoon.. 😠😠

I remember I was very angry at the time. Now, watching the replay (and the score), I’m a little bit more meh. If the situation was reversed, though, it would have been a free kick - guaranteed. Also, guaranteed, we’d be complaining that it was “accidental” and should have been play on.
 
**** the campaigners who make fake AFL journo twitter accounts tweeting realistic sounding news, and **** twitter for picking it up and pushing it to my notifications instead of real news stories.

Got pushed a story earlier about McKercher being out again with a re-inflammation of his foot soreness and almost threw my phone at the wall.
 
** the campaigners who make fake AFL journo twitter accounts tweeting realistic sounding news, and ** twitter for picking it up and pushing it to my notifications instead of real news stories.

Got pushed a story earlier about McKercher being out again with a re-inflammation of his foot soreness and almost threw my phone at the wall.
Twitter was once a credible and reliable place to get information. Since Elron has made it a free for all, subscription based cess pit, it is trash
 

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North vs Gold Coast just under 18k
Richmond vs GWS 19k

Richmond fans all fair weather glory hunters.

There’s (obviously) way less North fans but we’re hardened through thick & thin.

Tigers fans can’t handle a little run down the bottom of the ladder it seems.

Carro where’s your arrow?
 
North vs Gold Coast just under 18k
Richmond vs GWS 19k

Richmond fans all fair weather glory hunters.

There’s (obviously) way less North fans but we’re hardened through thick & thin.

Tigers fans can’t handle a little run down the bottom of the ladder it seems.

Carro where’s your arrow?
At a ground that has the ability for 22,000 to just head in and watch….
 
North vs Gold Coast just under 18k
Richmond vs GWS 19k

Richmond fans all fair weather glory hunters.

There’s (obviously) way less North fans but we’re hardened through thick & thin.

Tigers fans can’t handle a little run down the bottom of the ladder it seems.

Carro where’s your arrow?

I've been taking some friends to the Premiership club this year as guests. They're always impressed with our numbers and our loyalty despite the spankings we've been getting over the past few years. And when we win, we're LOUD. Always proud to be a Shinboner.
 
North vs Gold Coast just under 18k
Richmond vs GWS 19k

Richmond fans all fair weather glory hunters.

There’s (obviously) way less North fans but we’re hardened through thick & thin.

Tigers fans can’t handle a little run down the bottom of the ladder it seems.

Carro where’s your arrow?
lol "the AFL is very worried" i believe were her words when talking about the North Freo game
 
The problem with these two, besides being shit, is that one is focused on showing a composed, calm image. Nothing to see hear folks, even though their backyard is on fire. The other is getting way too big for their shoes - and is letting the position title get to their head.
 
She potentially seems to be a victim of the Peter Principle - she's done well enough in her previous positions to be consistently pushed up the chain until she's finally reached a level where she's now out of her depth.

Has she though? Her credentials from start up until her current position at just 33 is dubious at best, and I can’t point to anything she did at her time at North that was a net positive, we completely plummeted as a club in 2017, the year she was appointed and nothing was done to remediate things and somehow she ends up in the biggest chair on AFL land.

Makes no sense at all.
 
Has she though? Her credentials from start up until her current position at just 33 is dubious at best, and I can’t point to anything she did at her time at North that was a net positive, we completely plummeted as a club in 2017, the year she was appointed and nothing was done to remediate things and somehow she ends up in the biggest chair on AFL land.

Makes no sense at all.
It’s interesting, the narrative was very different around here when she first got the job.

People were very complimentary.
 
The problem with these two, besides being shit, is that one is focused on showing a composed, calm image. Nothing to see hear folks, even though their backyard is on fire. The other is getting way too big for their shoes - and is letting the position title get to their head.

It’s pretty amazing but Gil looks so much better by comparison. Gil made plenty of knee jerk decisions and had bad judgements, but at least he was a charismatic leader. At least he had the capability of communicating his plans and vision and of explaining the rationale behind his decisions.

As for Laura Kane, it’s going to take a lot for her to change my perception of her that she doesn’t actually know the rules of football. That Scott fifty explanation had me choosing between a Kim Jong Un “record grain harvest” situation vs she doesn’t know the rules and I landed on the latter
 
It’s interesting, the narrative was very different around here when she first got the job.

People were very complimentary.

I have no idea why quite frankly, I had no idea who she was and where she came from and it’s pointless to get overly excited about appointments before the work begins.

At this point I find her entire career extremely suspect and she’s shown zero examples of her being qualified for the job she’s in now.
 

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Opinion Commentary & Media VII

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