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AFLW 2024 - Round 9 - Indigenous Round - Chat, game threads, injury lists, team lineups and more.
News Edwards Retirement - Effective Immediately
- Thread starter Vader
- Start date
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Smoooothy
SACK THE LOT OF THEM!
- Jan 12, 2005
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- North Adelaide; ConeyIslandWarriors
if thats true, that is huge!
jenny61_99
Premium Platinum
Isn't that a good thing though? I'd rather he react to his playing group rather than the supporters to be honest. He has shown that he does listen to his players - particularly the leadership group. His initial decision was wrong, albeit for justifiable reasons under normal circumstances, no doubt about it. I'm grateful that he wasn't so stubborn (as he is accused of being often in here) as to refuse to budge from his position.
Jenny - it should not have hit that point. He was so stubborn and inflexible the playing group had to tell him they'd lost faith in him.
If you think that's a good thing I honestly don't know what to say to you.
If you think that's a good thing I honestly don't know what to say to you.
Ah Jenny, i wish i had your outlook on life...always finding a positive even when it's like finding a needle in a haystack
Funny thing is, i reckon i have a similar attitude to Craigy.
By and large, i want the premiership and personally don't care which player gets culled in that process...the club comes first and it's a cut throat business.
However, there are exceptions to that rule, especially when mistreatment of certain individuals negatively affects the feeling (and hence cohesion and performance) of the club.
I love Craig's ambition and drive for perfection but unfortunately in reality he doesn't know how to blend that with know-how to deviate from that short term to actually allow the train to stay on the track towards long term success.
- Thread starter
- #407
It's incredible though that he managed to get it so very, very wrong the first time around. I'm stunned that it took this much feedback - be it from the fans or from the leadership group - to get him to see the error of his ways.
This has been badly mismanaged by Craig and the Crows hierarchy and there really isn't any defending it.
Dropping Edwards was the right decision. He's been out of sorts all year and it's been sad to see him falling so far from the levels he used to achieve. As you pointed out, this wouldn't have come as a great surprise to Edwards. He would have been receiving feedback for several weeks now warning him that the end was coming - and his game against Brisbane on the weekend was the final straw. You can debate the rights & wrongs of the 2009 list management decisions, but there really isn't any point - the selection committee can't go back 6 months in time, they can only make decisions in the here and now.
Where things went wrong was Craig's refusal to guarantee Edwards a farewell game at home. Neil Craig's quote says it all:
Sometimes you just have to throw out the science, throw out the selection criteria, throw out the principles, and make decisions from the heart. This was clearly one of those times, yet Craig couldn't see that. At this point it's not about golden tickets, it's not about depriving a kid of a game, it's about doing the right thing by the fans - and more importantly about doing the right thing by a player who has given his heart and soul to the club for the last 16 years.
Thankfully, the right decision has been made in the end. Edwards will get his farewell game - and I'm hoping to be there when he receives the standing ovation he so thoroughly deserves. It's galling that it took a player led revolution in order for it to happen.
Absolutely spot on!!
Not doubting you or your source Macca, but I'd like to hear that confirmed by others. If it is the case, then it's the second time (we know of) that Neil has been rolled by the players this year on pretty significant issues.
Is that a sign of healthy player empowerment and flexibility from the coach? Or the iceberg tip of some serious ructions? I'm halfway to thinking that our onfield issues this year are partly related to some off-field disquiet.
macca23 is has an excellent reputation on this board, so I'm not going to question his post, although i can't help but feel there is a little embellishment somewhere along the lines.
Although this whole scenario has been messy, I think its a good thing that NC is such a hard-ass, as long as it is complimented by an equally robust leadership group. Edwards' retirement would have taken many by surprise, (perhaps not in hindsight), but they had to make an instant reaction and rightly NC stuck to his guns. With a bit of time and feedback, it needed to be reconsidered and I think that is an endorsement of the culture of the club going forward. I still maintain that Edwards would have been back and played out the rest of the season after a week out, but going from the press conference he decided that it just wasn't worth continuing the fight when September was out of the question and the club would benefit long term from having another youngster getting regular games.
Although this whole scenario has been messy, I think its a good thing that NC is such a hard-ass, as long as it is complimented by an equally robust leadership group. Edwards' retirement would have taken many by surprise, (perhaps not in hindsight), but they had to make an instant reaction and rightly NC stuck to his guns. With a bit of time and feedback, it needed to be reconsidered and I think that is an endorsement of the culture of the club going forward. I still maintain that Edwards would have been back and played out the rest of the season after a week out, but going from the press conference he decided that it just wasn't worth continuing the fight when September was out of the question and the club would benefit long term from having another youngster getting regular games.
Southerntakeover
Too Sweet
If this is true... Craigs position is no longer practical. He needs to go.
This.
Our club needs a massive cleanout and surprisingly I don't think it's so much the playing list as it is the off field management and coaching panel.
In fact taking it one step further hasn't Craig always said that if he lost the playing group he'd walk away?
I'm pretty sure that even though he's flip flopped on this issue this incident would still have damaged his relationship with the playing group. Perhaps irreparably.
I'm pretty sure that even though he's flip flopped on this issue this incident would still have damaged his relationship with the playing group. Perhaps irreparably.
jenny61_99
Premium Platinum
On the flip side what could have happened is that he refused to listen and Edwards gets no farewell game. Everybody's pissed off from players to supporters and that only exacerbates our shit season. I AM grateful that he listened and changed his mind. At the very least he's shown he can be humble in defeat, because that was a very defeated man in that press conference. I might add here that if things don't improve markedly by season's end, I doubt very much that Craig will stay on.
Smoooothy
SACK THE LOT OF THEM!
- Jan 12, 2005
- 24,485
- 22,706
- AFL Club
- Adelaide
- Other Teams
- North Adelaide; ConeyIslandWarriors
having had a bit more of a think about it, i've got doubts that neil will keep his job if the players actually did that... (keep his job into next year that is)
I trust what macca23 has said & that is the first time i have seen that quote of his so if that is the case then Craigy has in my opinion no other option than to resign.
Saddens me greatly to say that but if he has lost the players & then lets those players dictate to him then he should go.
Can this year get any worse ?
Punchy Bassett
Brownlow Medallist
And that cleanout needs to happen RIGHT FROM THE TOP.
jarmanagic
Club Legend
Can't agree
Firstly is there any real evidence of a player led revolution?
Secondly if Craig made a decision which he (or others) thought in retrospect was wrong full credit to him for being brave enough to change his mind. A brave thing to do
Thirdly farewell games are overated. What is the value in them vs a lap of honour before a game from Edwards and family anyway? It is all about the fans paying respect and thanking an Adelaide club great. Doesn't have to play to do that.
The key issue is his retirement is not over shadowed for long by this whole issue. We need him to go out as he deserves.
People make wrong decisions all the time. Even if this was wrong doesn't mean they need to be ripped apart every time. Anyone on this board made a wrong call today? Cut the club and Craig a bit of slack
jenny61_99
Premium Platinum
Had to think about that for a minute!
Look, I am a glass half full person. It's who I am. I can always find the positive in any situation. I don't think that makes me sycophantic in any way shape or form. And it's a hell of a lot less stressful than the alternative.
Your very colourful description of what you gleaned happened from what Macca23 reported could have a degree of poetic license, don't you think? What if it wasn't a desperate man trying to save his job? What if it was a coach that respects his players input and acted accordingly? I suspect somewhere in the middle lies the truth.
I agree with Vader, Craig looked at this from completely the wrong point of view. He was cold, calculated and professional. What we needed from him was a personal response that sensed the magnitude and significance of the situation.
- Thread starter
- #421
Only the word of macca23, but that's good enough for me. Macca's sources are far better than those of most people on BigFooty.
It was a brave decision yes, but not one he should have got wrong in the first place. The right thing to do was obvious, but he didn't see it because he only looked at his selection criteria and principles. He thought with his head, when he should have been thinking with his heart.
Don't get me wrong, footy is a business and I have no problem with him making harsh calls as he sees them based on his criteria and principles - in 99% of all cases. It's just that this case fell in that 1% and he failed to identify it as such.
Maybe... But I think you'd be in the minority this is actually your preference.
I'm not calling for Neil Craig's head. They've got it right in the end. Craig made a mistake and it was a whopper. Hopefully he'll learn from it - and I really mean learn, not just use it as one of his cliches - and some of the heart and soul will return to the club as a result.
jenny61_99
Premium Platinum
Vader... I was going to say the same thing "Hopefully he will learn from this", but thought better of it for fear of being hung, drawn and quartered.
Actually Jen, that's pretty close to the truth.
Craig was under pressure from both outside the club and inside the club to change his mind, but it wasn't until the leadership group spoke to him of the players feelings that he did change his mind, because the players are everything to him, and what they thought mattered dearly to him.
Look, all's well that ends well, but it should never have got to that stage.
Please go read this post - http://bigfooty.com/forum/showpost.php?p=17898778&postcount=384
I am grateful and congratulated him on the decision. Doesn't change the fact we should never have been in that position and the ongoing concerns that results in - that you obviously share given your last sentence.
Smoooothy
SACK THE LOT OF THEM!
- Jan 12, 2005
- 24,485
- 22,706
- AFL Club
- Adelaide
- Other Teams
- North Adelaide; ConeyIslandWarriors
listening to what neil craig said in the presser today, it sounds like macca's little bombshell is on the money...
hopefully this doesn't turn uglier!!
hopefully this doesn't turn uglier!!
