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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 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.
- 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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