Prediction Dr Sonja Hood AM

[apollo_creed]

There's more to performance than Clarko and Viney btw.

I would not have included that line. Your suggestion is actually the truth, but I'm not an idiot and appreciate that would never be published. I would certainly not write the line I highlighted.

"We will review where we can improve and will not just accept the status quo, changes will be made."

Her worst line was this one:

"The list needs time and experience – the two things you can’t fast track – but we have talent in spades. We know it, and the external validation via the awards and nominations underlines that confidence."

We have good individual young players because we have been terrible and continue to be terrible. That's the reward for that. But after five years of being terrible there is no tangible improvement. The list remains in a terrible state.

 

[backtothedraft]

Hello all, At the end of the men’s season and on the eve of our women’s season, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on where we are and where we are headed. First, the men’s season. One word – disappointing. The disappointment doesn’t nullify the moments of light – and I’ll get to those in a minute – but let’s not pretend it was a good 24 weeks overall. For many of us, it’s 24 disappointing weeks on top of a succession of disappointing seasons. And that takes its toll – inside and outside the club. I remain bullishly optimistic about our future, but I am as flattened as anyone by the football we watched to finish our year. I know you are, too. Although those last two results are fresh in our mind, it’s important to acknowledge the realities of having the youngest and least experienced list in the competition, and some of the positives from the year. So what are those positives? If I was to summarise, some of our young players took big steps forward, our medical and conditioning team kept our list relatively fit and healthy, and players continue to commit to the club long-term. And next year, for the first time in a very long time, we enter the pre-season with a stable football department with minimal changes. This stability on and off the field is something we’ve been striving to achieve, because a strong, stable organisation is the bedrock from which improvement will come. Not just promising signs – but sustainable, long-term success. And, eventually, silverware. I simply cannot think of two better people to lead us out of this on-field predicament than Alastair Clarkson and Todd Viney. Their experience and the confidence they and their team bring to the club is as important as the instability has been challenging in the preceding years. Make no mistake, though – stability doesn’t mean performance isn’t questioned or challenged. It is, and will continue to be. But the people we have in place are the people who will fix this performance issue. Going back for a moment to the theme of players taking steps forward, it’s important to recognise those who have received industry awards or nominations in recent weeks. Congratulations firstly to Tristan Xerri and Harry Sheezel, who earned All-Australian squad nominations this year. Harry was also voted by the AFL coaches as their Best Young Player on Thursday night. George Wardlaw finished runner-up in the AFL Rising Star Award, and won a place in the AFLPA’s 22Under22 team alongside Colby McKercher and Harry. Tom Powell and Paul Curtis were named in the AFLPA’s extended squad of 44 players. And Jackson Archer’s Rising Star nomination was just reward for a strong finish to the season. Add the stellar seasons of Luke Davies-Uniacke and Charlie Comben, who both put their recent injury issues behind them, and the first-year draftees who each made their AFL debuts – Zane Duursma, Riley Hardeman and Wil Dawson – and there is a great core of players aged 25 and under who will take us forward. The list needs time and experience – the two things you can’t fast track – but we have talent in spades. We know it, and the external validation via the awards and nominations underlines that confidence. Second, to AFLW, where expectations are high and performance hasn’t been an issue in our seven seasons in the competition. It’s a little over eight months since we fell agonisingly short against Brisbane in our first Grand Final. It’s painful looking back at that day. Making it was wonderful – but it wasn’t enough. I look back at that day – in fact, at last season as a whole – with incredible pride. Pride in the way that our team demonstrated to the whole world just what the North Melbourne Football Club is capable of. And pride in the roar of our fans when the team ran out onto the ground. I sense our players discovered what that pride feels like when they stood side by side with fellow North people on the hill at Port Melbourne for the magnificent VFLW premiership win. All loudly wearing the blue and white, singing Hearts to Hearts with gusto and joy – just like so many have done with the team in past seasons. So to coach Darren Crocker, our incredible skipper Emma Kearney and the entire team, make no mistake, we all believe in you. Bring your best, be your best, and expect the best from everyone around you. There are plenty of places in your life where it’s okay to just be okay, to turn up and tick the boxes – but this isn’t one of them. And finally, to all of you, our members and supporters, the best in the competition – your passion and love for this club is what keeps us going. Bring on Brisbane in Round 1 on Sunday, and ‘Go Roos!’ Sonja

Great to see some optimism and confidence. Hoping for an incident free offseason and a few more wins next season.

 

[TurnoverMerchant]

I deleted it without reading.

Instead of the copy paste emails every 12 months, why not get in front of the members/fans and answer questions in one of those q&a videos they do.

They’d filter out the hard-hitting, legitimate questions as per.

 

[apollo_creed]

you know what, nevermind, the entirely predictable bitch and moan session is inevitable it seems

Get a grip buddy. This club is historically bad and comically went backwards this season.
Changes need to be made. We are an embarassment.

If you want to give everyone at the club handies (assume you're a brady apologist) then line up but don't think you'll have to wait long as that line-up of apologists is getting shorter by the season.

Whining because people are upset with the current state of the club is pathetic on your part.

 

[apollo_creed]

Great see some optimism and confidence. Hoping for an incident free offseason and a few more wins next season.

There should have been 'a few more wins' this season. there's wasn't. Same wins, much worse percentage.

Good to see you have high hopes for the club.

 

[Sillygit]

Get a grip buddy. This club is historically bad and comically went backwards this season.
Changes need to be made. We are an embarassment.

If you want to give everyone at the club handies (assume you're a brady apologist) then line up but don't think you'll have to wait long as that line-up of apologists is getting shorter by the season.

Whining because people are upset with the current state of the club is pathetic on your part.

yea yea yea, if you're not bitching and moaning you must love everything, say it again for the millionth time and mabye itll suddenly be true, fingers crosesd for ya

 

[Rod Stroker]

I read it again. Depressingly sad. It has been eons since we were any good, and the 90s where we were feared and respected, feels like light years away. Sigh.

How did it all come to this?

 

[Only Forwards]

And "we don't know what to do about it except be patient."

I get she can't spruik doom and gloom or tee off against the coaches and players, but pissing down our backs probably isn't a great move either, yet she has to say something at some point. Tough gig. Maybe just let the dust settle a bit, wait for the whole shebang to wrap up and take the time to offer up something more substantial and constructive.

There were already people on here asking when is she going to make a comment on Monday?

There was literally no way to win with whatever she said.

little more than a tick a box exercise.

It'll be incredibly similar when she speaks at the Syd Barker. It'll be a whole lot of we're disappointed but we have to keep going.

 

[TurnoverMerchant]

I’ve honestly had it with the lacklustre statements put out by the club. So many red flags are apparent in the letter, which are as follows:

- “eventually silverware” excuse me?? What part of this season gave you, the president, the right to possess such arrogance. This reaffirms what the players are saying. They all expect a premiership to fall into their laps because of high draft picks;

- “bullishly optimistic” lip service. Boring and easy to read through;

- seemingly they are comfortable with the coaching and list management staff. Xavier Clarke was gleefully let go by the tigers (the current worst team in it!) due to their woeful forward structure under him. Ours now looks woeful. Coincidence? And the man himself Brady Rawlings

Brady Rawlings

Age

43

Ht

184cm

Wt

82kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

17.7

4star

K

8.7

3star

HB

9.0

5star

M

3.6

4star

T

2.3

4star

No current season stats available

D

8.6

3star

K

4.6

2star

HB

4.0

3star

M

1.0

1star

T

0.8

3star

. Can someone tell what he’s done so far that warrants praise? At the trade table, he’s been WOEFUL. He’s given up a bounty of picks for poor-to-average footballers in Fisher, Stephens, CCJ, etc. He’s given long-term deals to players who have not deserved it in McDonald, Simpkin, Zurhaar. This is a man who was released from his contract by the Eagles! SCOTT CLAYTON. Incompetence follows this man. He has overseen some of the most god awful list management decisions at each of his other clubs. I don’t know how the man is still employed

TL;DR: I am tired of the yes men at my football club who constantly demonstrate arrogance, negligence and incompetence. Sonja is a decent president who has a difficult role, but we have wanted action for years and it seems like we are still at square one.

 

[The Warlord]

I deleted it without reading.

Instead of the copy paste emails every 12 months, why not get in front of the members/fans and answer questions in one of those q&a videos they do.

Doesn't read email, has a cry anyway.

Magic stuff.

You will be going to the AGM right?

 

[Its a Process]

Unfortunately the initial attempts to refresh out list in 2017-18 and 20-21 haven't really worked and we are basically at level 1.

We are by far the youngest and most in-experienced team and our best players are pretty much all 26 and under. We are on the right path, we have just taken 10 years to due to some poor management and board decisions.

Over the past 12 months we have locked away certain positions on the ground:

• Curtis as a medium/small forward
• Xerri as a ruckman
• Comben as defender/swingman
• Archer as a lockdown small/tall defender
• Sheezel as an elite mid/forward
• Mckercher as a gun! (most likely moves to a wing)

Larkey, Scott and Tucker are decent in their respective positions and and Durs, Hardeman and Dawson all look really promising.

The list is in a much better position that what it was 12 months ago and I think her sentiment in the letter reflected this. I know it's painful and frustrating but the foundations are there, we are just 24 months away form being really competitive.

 

[Billy Not Really]

Pretty weak statement, to be honest, sounds like another capitulation and cop out and reassuring everything is fine.

It really isn't, we went backwards overall. Individual accolades and progression don't count for much when it's predominantly a given for your prospective younger talents but everywhere else is a shambles.'

We can't keep hanging our hat on "The kids are great aren't they" -- yeah, they are can we not ruin them and turn the list over again? Can we draft and trade properly to address our needs? Can we win 6 games next year? Nobodys asking for much just shows sustained measurable improvement as a whole.

The fans are right to say this isn't good enough. We keep resetting ourselves back to square 1, it reeks of endless rebuild territory.

 

[backtothedraft]

There were already people on here asking when is she going to make a comment on Monday?

There was literally no way to win with whatever she said.

little more than a tick a box exercise.

It'll be incredibly similar when she speaks at the Syd Barker. It'll be a whole lot of we're disappointed but we have to keep going.

Agree here. I don't think the external messaging needs to reflect the conversations that are had internally, as long as their is alignment across the club. The coaches, players and administration would all be fully aware that the year was disappointing, and you'd be naive to think that hard conversations wouldn't have taken place. I'd personally prefer the public message to be realistic but positive, and try and inspire hope. You place trust the football department (Clarkson/Viney) is going to be doing the right thing in the background to get the club moving back up the ladder.

 

[trooroo4life]

Doesn't read email, has a cry anyway.

Magic stuff.

You will be going to the AGM right?

Cry? I raised an alternate method so we can have our questions answered rather then get the same rubbish every 12 months.

 

[Mr north man]

"The disappointment doesn’t nullify the moments of light"

Yeah, dunno about that. 4 decent weeks against 20 absolute shits ones.

Then again, this is a club who's happy to have a captain who has had about 20 good games out of 200, so the bar is already low.

Absolute correct in what you have said that’s why the Rawlings and McDonald’s of our club will still be in the same positions this time next year.

 

[backtothedraft]

I’ve honestly had it with the lacklustre statements put out by the club. So many red flags are apparent in the letter, which are as follows:

- “eventually silverware” excuse me?? What part of this season gave you, the president, the right to possess such arrogance. This reaffirms what the players are saying. They all expect a premiership to fall into their laps because of high draft picks;

- “bullishly optimistic” lip service. Boring and easy to read through;

- seemingly they are comfortable with the coaching and list management staff. Xavier Clarke was gleefully let go by the tigers (the current worst team in it!) due to their woeful forward structure under him. Ours now looks woeful. Coincidence? And the man himself Brady Rawlings. Can someone tell what he’s done so far that warrants praise? At the trade table, he’s been WOEFUL. He’s given up a bounty of picks for poor-to-average footballers in Fisher, Stephens, CCJ, etc. He’s given long-term deals to players who have not deserved it in McDonald, Simpkin, Zurhaar. This is a man who was released from his contract by the Eagles! SCOTT CLAYTON. Incompetence follows this man. He has overseen some of the most god awful list management decisions at each of his other clubs. I don’t know how the man is still employed

TL;DR: I am tired of the yes men at my football club who constantly demonstrate arrogance, negligence and incompetence. Sonja is a decent president who has a difficult role, but we have wanted action for years and it seems like we are still at square one.

If your personally aggrieved, are a paying member, and aren't happy with the public messaging, why wouldn't you reach out to the club directly to put questions to them? This way your concerns can be addressed a in a private matter and allow for more transparent communication.

 

[muttley45]

I suppose the " haven't heard from the President " laments are now a bit passe`

 

[Mr north man]

They’d filter out the hard-hitting, legitimate questions as per.

Of course as they don’t want to hear the truth that’s why the members are conceived as in the eyes of the board of our club.

 

[CURVE]

What an embarrassingly arrogant club we have.

"The people we have in place are the people who will fix this performance issue"

2024 3 wins 20 losses 17th
2023 3 wins 20 losses 17th
2022 2 wins 20 losses 18th
2021. 4 wins 1 draw 17 losses 18th
2020 3 wins 14 losses 17th

Can we ask what she's basing that statement on? There is literally nothing to indicate the people in place are competent in the slightest. Where is the evidence?

To be fair "the people we have in place" have only been together since the end of the 2023 season, there are some who have been around longer, but most have come in with the arrival of Clarkson and Viney at the end of 2022 and in the preceding years we've chopped and changed so many coaches and assistant coaches that players' minds must be every bit as messed up as our playing list, even 2023 was tumultuous with Clarko missing half the season because of the Hawthorn debacle. Stability is what is needed to repair the list and the players confidence.

As for Sonja's letter, it's a nice letter, and I can understand both her disappointment and optimism, but I would hope internally she is a bit stronger in expressing her disappointment to the Football Department regarding how the season ended, those final two games put a real dampener on what had been a positive 2/3 months previous. I suspect the message she is trying to convey is there is still a long road ahead before we start seeing any success, but improvement should start happening now that we have a stable team to guide the team forward. Her future as Club President is riding on it.

 

[archereleven]

It should have had 1 paragraph.

"Dear members, Brady the campaigner has ****ed the list and all our problems pretty much stem from there. He has 1 off-season to get the required talent on the field, or he will be lining up at centrelink. The players have been put on notice for their shitful efforts in the last 2 rounds. Pea hearted campaigners. Quite a few are on very thin ice."

Sonja.

On SM-G991B using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[TurnoverMerchant]

If your personally aggrieved, are a paying member, and aren't happy with the public messaging, why wouldn't you reach out to the club directly to put questions to them? This way your concerns can be addressed a in a private matter and allow for more transparent communication.

Ah in the perfect world I would bother doing that, but I know I’ll just be fed a bunch of PR responses. Why would they ever listen to one individual member? Individual members are powerless.

 

[CURVE]

It should have had 1 paragraph.

"Dear members, Brady the campaigner has ****ed the list and all our problems pretty much stem from there. He has 1 off-season to get the required talent on the field, or he will be lining up at centrelink. The players have been put on notice for their shitful efforts in the last 2 rounds. Pea hearted campaigners. Quite a few are on very thin ice."

Sonja.

On SM-G991B using BigFooty.com mobile app

Why does everybody blame Brady for our draft and trade failings? Surely these decisions are based on consultation with the Coaches and their plans and needs, and over the last five years he had had three different coaches all with different coaching philosophies and different drafting plans. It's "Trumpism" at its dumbest.

 

[apollo_creed]

Why does everybody blame Brady for our draft and trade failings? Surely these decisions are based on consultation with the Coaches and their plans and needs, and over the last five years he had had three different coaches all with different coaching philosophies and different drafting plans. It's "Trumpism" at its dumbest.

So what's the point of him then?

If he doesn't have say, or a responsibility or an overseeing capacity then his role is utterly pointless.

 

[backtothedraft]

Why does everybody blame Brady for our draft and trade failings? Surely these decisions are based on consultation with the Coaches and their plans and needs, and over the last five years he had had three different coaches all with different coaching philosophies and different drafting plans. It's "Trumpism" at its dumbest.

I think the scrutiny and criticism of draft picks is fair when it comes to Brady and the list management team, though believe they've been okay in this space recently, albeit we have had the picks to get it right.

Judging Brady and teams performance in free agency and trade is really complex and difficult imo. You can guarantee that they are having conversations with many of the players mentioned on this forum over the past few years, but the reality is you need to be able to convince them to come. This is large reason why we've adopted this draft strategy in the first place as we have found it challenging to bring top line talent to the club for 2 decades plus. No doubt there has been more misses than hits, but there are mitigating circumstances.

 

[hilly]

You can guarantee that they are having conversations with many of the players mentioned on this forum over the past few years, but the reality is you need to be able to convince them to come.

Let me tell you something, there are many ways to get footballers to the club outside of this.

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