Prediction Dr Sonja Hood AM

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Too Many Hyphens said:
Yeah it's pretty funny the way so many people are all gungho about VFL games but then hardly ever show up. Funnier still when they demand cafes or bars or food truck catering and undercover seating at games and training even though they never turn up.
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Well your spot on remember standing behind the scoreboard goals as a kid no matter what .
Maybe these fair weather club supporters need to wake as we had no AFL game starting 1 hour before the VFL or 1 hour after the AFL but on the other hand promotion would have gone ok.
Well at least I can say I was there with the true die heart supporters of the NMFC even tho it took me almost 3 and a bit hours to get there .
 
Mr north man said:
Well your spot on remember standing behind the scoreboard goals as a kid no matter what .
Maybe these fair weather club supporters need to wake as we had no AFL game starting 1 hour before the VFL or 1 hour after the AFL but on the other hand promotion would have gone ok.
Well at least I can say I was there with the true die heart supporters of the NMFC even tho it took me almost 3 and a bit hours to get there .
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can your true supporter bullshit
 
Sillygit said:
can your true supporter bullshit
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It was cold and drizzling and we'd just been belted the night before in Perth but if this dude spent 3 and a bit hours to get to Arden St to watch the reserves, then I think that's pretty diehard as far as supporters go. Credit where it's due.

But to your point, I don't think there's a need for anyone to be defensive. Being a supporter of North Melbourne is not a zero sum game. Just because Mr north man went the extra mile, doesn't detract from anyone else or make anyone else less of a supporter. As long as we stay on board through thick and thin, then we are all supporters of equal standing.
 

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Bertie22 said:
Ok friends, I have met Sonja on numerous occasions in a variety of contexts. She is very smart, a great communicator and bleeds North Melbourne, like us all. Her job is not related directly to on field. I have every confidence in her ability as our figurehead. I haven't always been prepared to make such comments about her predecessors... and I can go waaaaaay back, believe me. There will be times when hard decisions will need to be made at the Board level. I reckon Sonya will be up to the task. Times are not great right now. Am I happy; what do you think? I am reminded of the early 60s, the early 70s and the early 90s. Hang in. Coming out the other side is so, so wonderful. It doesn't happen too much for we Northerners, but we have to hang tough and be loyal.
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It might not be and let's be clear, she's certainly not just a "figurehead"

She is the constitutional oversight of the employee's of the football club, particularly the football department.

She isn't there in an honorary role, she's there as the leading elected representative of the membership. Shes there to provide governance and to ensure the club is being run correctly by the non-elected, paid staff.

At the moment it's not, shes been delt a shit sandwich and it's bad timing, but she put her hand up for the role and has to deal with it, unfortunately. If these run of results continue, some harsh decisions will have to be made regarding the football department and possibly the CEO, the guy who employed him in the first place and under whose management has lead the club into it's worst onfield position in almost 7 decades.


Boards have to hold the management to account, how do you think all levels of the football club have been run recently?
 
Sphynx said:
It might not be and let's be clear, she's certainly not just a "figurehead"

She is the constitutional oversight of the employee's of the football club, particularly the football department.

She isn't there in an honorary role, she's there as the leading elected representative of the membership. Shes there to provide governance and to ensure the club is being run correctly by the non-elected, paid staff.

At the moment it's not, shes been delt a shit sandwich and it's bad timing, but she put her hand up for the role and has to deal with it, unfortunately. If these run of results continue, some harsh decisions will have to be made regarding the football department and possibly the CEO, the guy who employed him in the first place and under whose management has lead the club into it's worst onfield position in almost 7 decades.


Boards have to hold the management to account, how do you think all levels of the football club have been run recently?
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Yes you are right. My use of "figurehead" was not the best term to use as it undervalues the responsibilities of the role and you have articulated those so well. However, as I outlined, I do believe that she is up to that.
 
Val Keating said:
I don’t have my head in the sand at all. I know there’d be financial ramifications for being shit. It’s why the common line was “North can’t afford to rebuild, they’d go under”…which ultimately lead to “because North can’t afford to rebuild they’ll never be a real contender”.

Now we’re rebuilding and we’re shit. It’s our job as supporters to keep watching this crap and buying memberships and sticking it out, and when we come out the other side it will be glorious and we can tell all the doubters to go and get f’ed.
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This x infinity.
 
Just like every other senior role at the club, the presidency needs more than a few weeks and a dissection of social media posts to constitute a meaningful assessment.

If Sonja was to start publicly talking smack about the coach and players or talking in a big Gerard Healy voice about how she's going to huff and puff and blow Arden Street down - that's what would be setting off alarm bells.

Right now she's these things:
  • Lifelong very passionate supporter
  • Well credentialed and educated in other areas that may assist overseeing a football club (they're certainly not going to detract from doing so)
  • Has involvement with club/league political process via a board position
  • Has taken on a new role which has no direct career path - ie anyone who's ever taken on the el presidente role at an AFL club learns the nuances on the job
Now... if we're sitting here, late 2023, drifting aimlessly down into the sewer and she appears to be twiddling her thumbs.. hell, I'll be the first one in with the pitchforks.

But right now our club is into almost unprecedented sustained run of shocking on-field form as it comes off 4 of its most tumultuous football seasons ever neatly packed together.

My assumption from afar is she's getting acquainted with her responsibilities, slowly speaking to the prime movers and gradually forming her own opinions. Hardly a revolutionary approach to a new role.

This is not the sort of things we want rushed. Maybe Buckley, Archer and then Brady have all walked around the place playing swinging dick a bit too much and what we need is to find a bit of equilibrium before moving on to the next round of strategic decisions.
 
Psicosis said:
I have very high hopes for Sonja. I hope we hear from her this week regarding the rumours.
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You know that when any club president starts responding to rumours and saying that the coach has the full support of the board, that's when the coach needs to worry.

I don't care if we don't hear from Sonja Hood this week about the rumours. In fact, I'd find that pretty funny, seeing as how the well-connected rumour mongers on this forum are adamant that she is going to start swinging the axe before Friday. If we don't hear from her, that will prove that these people are full of shit.
 
Mixed Results said:
It's also the "this is just an ordinary part of a rebuild" rhetoric that becomes harder to listen to each week.

The side I've been watching is on track to be the worst-performing North Melbourne side in 90 years. It's also undoubtedly the worst North Melbourne side of the last 50 years. There are absolutely no excuses for this level of ineptitude and should not be brushed off as the side effects of a rebuild. I don't want to be told to hang in through tough times, I want my football team to display enough competency to identify that something is clearly wrong.

You speak to supporters of other clubs and they give you the same "we've all been there" speech, but the reality is that only a small group of AFL fans have. You take Richmond for example, they were hopeless for 40 odd years but the worst they managed was a 4 win season with a percentage of 69.24%. Effectively what we had last year. This is a new low that has rarely been seen in AFL history.
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Under today’s rules.

At least provide some context.

1983, we got beat by 150 whilst sitting top of the ladder.

We would have the largest qualifying and preliminary final losses in history and surely the most amount of 70+ point final losses.

This is not new for us, this is what we signed up for.
 

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Soft Downhill Skier said:
Here's my take. If you're a North supporter and have the means but choose to not buy a membership, you aren't really a supporter.
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Or you are in fact a member but cannot show your support because they didnt send you a sticker, the last one they sent is becoming illegable, the year part has peeled off just leaving the club insignia.
 
 
A message from the club President Dr Sonja Hood

Nine rounds into the season, and we sit 17th on the ladder. We’ve watched one win, and eight losses, and to say we’ve all experienced a great deal of frustration is an understatement.

When I wrote to you earlier this year, I outlined the five areas of long-term focus for the Board: sustained on-field success in the men’s and women’s programs; improvements to our balance sheet; embedding ourselves in the Arden Precinct; our club culture; and our members.

Over the year, I’ll provide regular updates that address each of these areas as appropriate. Today, we’ll focus on football and members – the two reasons we exist as a club.

Returning to our on-field results – is this where we want to be? Clearly not – as a football club, our primary objective is to win, and that’s what we set out to do every week. But if I look at it in terms of the bigger journey we are on, there are some positives and a whole lot of learnings to take out.

When the club embarked on our aggressive list management program at the end of the 2020 season, we took the decision to hit the draft hard. As a result, we have taken 10 National Draft selections over the last two years, the equal most across the AFL clubs in that time. Our list now contains eight first-round draft picks aged 25 years or under.

This season we’ve seen the AFL debuts of Jason Horne-Francis, Miller Bergman and Paul Curtis, while Hugh Greenwood and Callum Coleman-Jones have played their first games for the club. We were thrilled to see Jason earn a Rising Star nomination in round seven.

David Noble and his coaching group are getting to work on building a physically and mentally healthy football program that will deliver sustained success.

Nobes and our GM of Football Performance Daniel McPherson have been through this process before at Brisbane and Melbourne respectively. They were there when things were tough, they saw success built from the ground up and know that it takes time. There’s nothing in football that will surprise of shake them. They are committed, confident and clear in where we are heading and how we’ll get there.

They are working hard to educate and implement a game style that is selfless, that will be exciting to watch for our supporters and is capable of being successful in finals. It is a work in progress.

In terms of our women’s program – there’s a lot I can’t say as the AFL is still finalising the details for the upcoming season, which we expect to start at the end of August. It’s safe to say, however, that we’ll have some exciting news on the list management front in the coming days and weeks. The coaching and playing leadership group, led by Darren Crocker and Emma Kearney, are plotting a huge pre-season. They’ll be ready whenever the League says we need to be ready.

And so, to our members. As I write this, we’ve passed 47,000 members – another new record for our club. It’s a phenomenal achievement, particularly considering both the on-field performance, and the lack of opportunity we’ve had to go to games in the first half of the season. The team has travelled to Brisbane, Sydney, Hobart (twice) and Perth and played only two home games so far in Melbourne.

We can’t thank our members enough for their support during this phase of the club’s on-field development. I’m constantly reminded about why I love this club so much when supporters reach out to me or other members of the Board to say they are in for the long haul. And that’s been backed up by those wonderful numbers.

I also know the players have missed playing in front of our members. We are all looking forward to the remainder of the season when we play nine of our last 13 games in Victoria (including one in Geelong), and two at our home away from home, Blundstone Arena in Hobart.

With the team being more visible in Melbourne these next few months, we’ll continue to strive to be a club that is accessible to its members and supporters, and for you to receive a personalised and happy experience every time you engage with us. Ben Amarfio and his team are working on a number of initiatives that will enhance our ongoing connection with our people. It’s in that spirit that we again invite our members and supporters to submit questions for Ben, Nobes and our GM of Football Talent, Brady Rawlings, to answer next week about the progress of the club so far this year.

Finally, to all of you – this journey is hard, but we are North Melbourne, and hard journeys are our bread and butter. I’m confident in our playing group and our coaches, our CEO, our Executive team and our administration, and above all else, in our members. We’ll get through this the way we always do – together.

Go Roos and see you at the footy.


Sonja
 
Passmore said:
Not enough ”sack Nobles, Rawling, Luffs, McPhersons, Amarfios, fitness staffs“ in that for my liking.

Sack Hoods.
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There is SFA in there. We're working on a game plan and well do some stuff for our members. That's it, nothing else.
 
Passmore said:
She’s hardly going to say much else. It’s the annual “Yeah, we’re shit “ email from the president.
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"Ben Amarfio and his team are working on a number of initiatives that will enhance our ongoing connection with our people."

Hopefully they've already started planning for next years Family Day!
 
kangatime said:
"Ben Amarfio and his team are working on a number of initiatives that will enhance our ongoing connection with our people."

Hopefully they've already started planning for next years Family Day!
Click to expand...
Getting a day for the kids to train with the players over the mid-year holidays would be a nice start.

Surely running an Auskick like session with the players doing what parents do every weekend at Auskick couldn't be hard to organise.

If they can get this right, I might be able to forgive past sins of the Family Day.
 
leighlee13 said:
A message from the club President Dr Sonja Hood

Nine rounds into the season, and we sit 17th on the ladder. We’ve watched one win, and eight losses, and to say we’ve all experienced a great deal of frustration is an understatement.

When I wrote to you earlier this year, I outlined the five areas of long-term focus for the Board: sustained on-field success in the men’s and women’s programs; improvements to our balance sheet; embedding ourselves in the Arden Precinct; our club culture; and our members.

Over the year, I’ll provide regular updates that address each of these areas as appropriate. Today, we’ll focus on football and members – the two reasons we exist as a club.

Returning to our on-field results – is this where we want to be? Clearly not – as a football club, our primary objective is to win, and that’s what we set out to do every week. But if I look at it in terms of the bigger journey we are on, there are some positives and a whole lot of learnings to take out.

When the club embarked on our aggressive list management program at the end of the 2020 season, we took the decision to hit the draft hard. As a result, we have taken 10 National Draft selections over the last two years, the equal most across the AFL clubs in that time. Our list now contains eight first-round draft picks aged 25 years or under.

This season we’ve seen the AFL debuts of Jason Horne-Francis, Miller Bergman and Paul Curtis, while Hugh Greenwood and Callum Coleman-Jones have played their first games for the club. We were thrilled to see Jason earn a Rising Star nomination in round seven.

David Noble and his coaching group are getting to work on building a physically and mentally healthy football program that will deliver sustained success.

Nobes and our GM of Football Performance Daniel McPherson have been through this process before at Brisbane and Melbourne respectively. They were there when things were tough, they saw success built from the ground up and know that it takes time. There’s nothing in football that will surprise of shake them. They are committed, confident and clear in where we are heading and how we’ll get there.

They are working hard to educate and implement a game style that is selfless, that will be exciting to watch for our supporters and is capable of being successful in finals. It is a work in progress.

In terms of our women’s program – there’s a lot I can’t say as the AFL is still finalising the details for the upcoming season, which we expect to start at the end of August. It’s safe to say, however, that we’ll have some exciting news on the list management front in the coming days and weeks. The coaching and playing leadership group, led by Darren Crocker and Emma Kearney, are plotting a huge pre-season. They’ll be ready whenever the League says we need to be ready.

And so, to our members. As I write this, we’ve passed 47,000 members – another new record for our club. It’s a phenomenal achievement, particularly considering both the on-field performance, and the lack of opportunity we’ve had to go to games in the first half of the season. The team has travelled to Brisbane, Sydney, Hobart (twice) and Perth and played only two home games so far in Melbourne.

We can’t thank our members enough for their support during this phase of the club’s on-field development. I’m constantly reminded about why I love this club so much when supporters reach out to me or other members of the Board to say they are in for the long haul. And that’s been backed up by those wonderful numbers.

I also know the players have missed playing in front of our members. We are all looking forward to the remainder of the season when we play nine of our last 13 games in Victoria (including one in Geelong), and two at our home away from home, Blundstone Arena in Hobart.

With the team being more visible in Melbourne these next few months, we’ll continue to strive to be a club that is accessible to its members and supporters, and for you to receive a personalised and happy experience every time you engage with us. Ben Amarfio and his team are working on a number of initiatives that will enhance our ongoing connection with our people. It’s in that spirit that we again invite our members and supporters to submit questions for Ben, Nobes and our GM of Football Talent, Brady Rawlings, to answer next week about the progress of the club so far this year.

Finally, to all of you – this journey is hard, but we are North Melbourne, and hard journeys are our bread and butter. I’m confident in our playing group and our coaches, our CEO, our Executive team and our administration, and above all else, in our members. We’ll get through this the way we always do – together.

Go Roos and see you at the footy.


Sonja
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I found her words inspiring and they oddly fill me with some hope. 🙂
 
Roogal said:
I found her words inspiring and they oddly fill me with some hope. 🙂
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marketing 101, how are going with all the Election advertising?
 
The Anvil said:
Getting a day for the kids to train with the players over the mid-year holidays would be a nice start.

Surely running an Auskick like session with the players doing what parents do every weekend at Auskick couldn't be hard to organise.

If they can get this right, I might be able to forgive past sins of the Family Day.
Click to expand...

You’d want to be careful who’s involved. Don’t want to be teaching the young ‘uns bad skill habits early on.
 

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Prediction Dr Sonja Hood AM

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