Analysis Is Leppa the Right Man for the Job?

[Cockliff38]

It is 100% true. There are also some journos with amazing contacts who can give you a little insight into the workings of a club - in the NBA as a fan you learn what reporters you can trust and others you can't. In the AFL it is a lot tougher to sift through the shock jocks and BS artists, very few have good track records. AFL clubs are also notoriously closed off to media leaving it to guess work, however, I think some have good contacts. Caro is one who I really trust and as much as Hammo is hated on this board he has a pretty good read on Brisbane IMO.

Caro, Emma Quayle are for mine far and away the most reliable. Personally I find Greg Davis more accurate than Hammo for Brisbane-related matters

 

[Hollow Knight]

Caro, Emma Quayle are for mine far and away the most reliable. Personally I find Greg Davis more accurate than Hammo for Brisbane-related matters

Despite the hard time Hammo has given us for a decade now, there always seems to be a handful of people at the club happy to leak to him. Pisses me off.

 

[Cockliff38]

Despite the hard time Hammo has given us for a decade now, there always seems to be a handful of people at the club happy to leak to him. Pisses me off.

It's funny how he and Rocky have seemingly built an okay relationship now despite that trash opinion piece a few years back about how Rocky isn't a footballer's bum crack

 

[Happy_Neale]

Knowing what I know, if Leppa is the only major casualty of this season and the consequences don't flow down to some sacred cows in the senior playing ranks, then I will have basically zero hope for any modicum of success from this club in the short to medium term.

Our young, next-gen Lions need far better leadership than they are getting. Cut out the rot before the whole place gets gangrene.

Voss must be shaking his head in utter disbelief at the Groundhog Day shit that is unfolding up here. Spinning our wheels in the mud for three more years.

Crazy, isn't it. From the outside looking in it really seems to mirror 2013 to an almost unbelievable extent. Still feel bad for Vossy and will do the same for Leppa if it pans out the same way.

 

[Hollow Knight]

It's funny how he and Rocky have seemingly built an okay relationship now despite that trash opinion piece a few years back about how Rocky isn't a footballer's bum crack

Yep. That was my first thought on Rocky giving Hammo the scoop on his contract standoff. Why him of all people? Christ.

 

[royboys4eva]

Patrick Smith is very good at writing about AFL issues - ie Essendon drugs drama. When it actually comes down to writing about a club that is struggling with its playing list and coaching structure he has very little idea. Greg Denham throws a lot of darts some hit many miss. I think Andrew Hamilton to be be fair has been refreshing of late and not afraid to ask the hard questions.

End of the day the club has a lot of issues to sort through and we need to make the right decisions on some big problems within the four walls. If we try to cover the cracks with tape this on going crap will continue.

 

[Mr Ripper]

It's time to take out the trash.

 

[Cockliff38]

It's time to take out the trash.

 

[snooplions]

In one of those articles it mentioned that rockliff got into an incident with another player, I don't recall hearing anything about that, anyone know anything about it? Really concerning for the club.

 

[WhiteLionFeva]

It's time to take out the trash.

Hopefully not on recycle day.

 

[Big Sauce 21]

In one of those articles it mentioned that rockliff got into an incident with another player, I don't recall hearing anything about that, anyone know anything about it? Really concerning for the club.

Zorko last year ?

 

[notliondown]

It's funny how he and Rocky have seemingly built an okay relationship now despite that trash opinion piece a few years back about how Rocky isn't a footballer's bum crack

I think you'll find that says volumes about personal gain over club gain.

 

[Last of the Roys]

Despite the hard time Hammo has given us for a decade now, there always seems to be a handful of people at the club happy to leak to him. Pisses me off.

I dislike the leaking of confidential info from the Club in general, or the spreading of that information. I just don't understand why people think that is OK to do or that it will help in anyway. Obviously that is a generalisation - there are occasionally times when that is not true.

But the fabric of a footy club starts to dissolve when the onfield performances have been consistently so bad.

 

[SRH17]

I dislike the leaking of confidential info from the Club in general, or the spreading of that information. I just don't understand why people think that is OK to do or that it will help in anyway. Obviously that is a generalisation - there are occasionally times when that is not true.

But the fabric of a footy club starts to dissolve when the onfield performances have been consistently so bad.

You just dont see it happen from a club like the Hawks.

 

[SRH17]

Part of Denham on SEN this morning was that the club cant even afford to engage a leadership consultant to assist in fixing things. So you have got people who are far too close to the issue battling on bravely, when what it needs is a fresh set of eyes from the outside to deliver some home truths.

 

[notliondown]

I'm just staggered at the amount of pull supposed senior players seem to have.

The same senior players named in articles for poor form and leadership. Senior players who are arguably overpaid, in the worst performing team. The same senior players having dummy spits and playing for pathetic free kicks on the field. Senior players who can't break tags, and haven't developed or progressed their own games in years.

If these guys had been busting their guts and carrying the team for months, that would be different. That the media will report with such venom about "senior" players and a revolt angers me beyond belief. Very few of our seniors have a right to be upset over anything - big or small.

If we spill blood because of player unrest AGAIN I will struggle to regain respect for those who should know better.

Right now I will happily take another 2 years as a bottom 4 club to cull those more interested in self interest and preservation, and in causing upset and disharmony.

It's time for the club to man up.

 

[notliondown]

You just dont see it happen from a club like the Hawks.

I'm not sure that's entirely true... you could generalise and say you don't see it from successful clubs. Winning and success smoothes over personality clashes and unrest time and time again. People will suffer discomfort if they see personal gain.

Right now, from our point of view, you get the feeling if some of the players received white bread instead of wholemeal for their morning toast the Courier Mail would know about it - and thats the difference.

 

[SRH17]

I'm not sure that's entirely true... you could generalise and say you don't see it from successful clubs. Winning and success smoothes over personality clashes and unrest time and time again. People will suffer discomfort if they see personal gain.

Right now, from our point of view, you get the feeling if some of the players received white bread instead of wholemeal for their morning toast the Courier Mail would know about it - and thats the difference.

Yes correct, not saying it doesn't happen at successful clubs like the Hawks, but that it doesn't break cover like it does at the Lions. Our blokes just need tp shut up - unless of course they have an agenda for spilling their guts at the drop of a hat.

 

[Always a Lion]

P

Yes correct, not saying it doesn't happen at successful clubs like the Hawks, but that it doesn't break cover like it does at the Lions. Our blokes just need tp shut up - unless of course they have an agenda for spilling their guts at the drop of a hat.

Player Managers are a wealth of info, a fertile source of muck. They're the agenda drivers, but let's not discount the fact that whilst they are particularly influential on younger players, they become the oracle for older ones.

That is what makes the Rocky - Hammo exchange re shelving contract extension astounding.

 

[Last of the Roys]

Here we go again with the gibes at Rockliff. Kernels of truth build into massive assumptions and somehow snowball into damning indictments based on the slimmest of evidence. Answering a question on his contract negotiations to Hammo at the Hall of Fame function is somehow evidence Rocky is only out for himself. Get a grip.....

That doesn't mean that I believe everything is OK at the Club. I am sure things are pretty fractious at the moment. You can't go through the two longest losing streaks in the Brisbane Lions history over the last two years and not lead to that outcome. In 1998 the Club was being torn apart internally, including by players who went on to be part of the golden era.

But beyond knowing that everything is not well, we don't really know anything else. We can speculate about what the divisions might be and what they might be over, but the overall cause is bloody easy to see. We are 1 and 14 - it is as simple and as complicated as that. Players don't like losing - and not only losing, largely being uncompetitive. I mean Leppa now has one of the worst coaching records of all time in the VFL / AFL - there are only two coaches in history that have coached more games but that have a lower winning ratio (looking at it another way, there are only 4 coaches who have coached more than 50 games who have a lower winning ratio).

That has to cause huge frictions within the playing group.

Winning papers over any cracks - just look at the Akermanis situation at the Lions. While we are winning we can put up with his big mouth, when we start heading down the ladder suddenly it becomes a huge problem.

Anyway, I feel Leppa has to take the overall blame for the position we are now in. He has now churned most of the list and the senior players that are left are the only ones Leppa hasn't gotten rid of. So are we now to get rid of some of them too? How the hell would we sell that to the wider supporter base / corporate partners?

Not that the players aren't blameless. It may be the case that a new coach comes in and decides they are not a good influence. But players have a remarkable ability to be rejuvenated under a new coaching regime when they think there is hope and see a way forward.

I tend to think that Leppa did not plan the full re-build we are now going through and that he did not sell that future to the Club / playing list when he first came to the Club. However, it is now clearly the circumstances we find ourselves in and with the struggle of his onfield structures / gameplan to offer any real semblance of hope that we are heading in the right direction, the playing group has started to fracture. The rumours are the first revolt was at the end of last season, with speculation Leppa had lost the players. Again it is all speculation (and probably a fair degree of exaggeration) but what seems to be clear to me is we need a fresh start to turn things around.

I am less gung-ho about shipping off senior players as that is likely to do is make us even less competitive in the short-term, unless we somehow get good senior players in return. I mean the youngest list by a fair way in the League simply can't keeping losing experience and think it will get better onfield.

 

[Nunez]

Here we go again with the gibes at Rockliff. Kernels of truth build into massive assumptions and somehow snowball into damning indictments based on the slimmest of evidence. Answering a question on his contract negotiations to Hammo at the Hall of Fame function is somehow evidence Rocky is only out for himself. Get a grip.....

That doesn't mean that I believe everything is OK at the Club. I am sure things are pretty fractious at the moment. You can't go through the two longest losing streaks in the Brisbane Lions history over the last two years and not lead to that outcome. In 1998 the Club was being torn apart internally, including by players who went on to be part of the golden era.

But beyond knowing that everything is not well, we don't really know anything else. We can speculate about what the divisions might be and what they might be over, but the overall cause is bloody easy to see. We are 1 and 14 - it is as simple and as complicated as that. Players don't like losing - and not only losing, largely being uncompetitive. I mean Leppa now has one of the worst coaching records of all time in the VFL / AFL - there are only two coaches in history that have coached more games but that have a lower winning ratio (looking at it another way, there are only 4 coaches who have coached more than 50 games who have a lower winning ratio).

That has to cause huge frictions within the playing group.

Winning papers over any cracks - just look at the Akermanis situation at the Lions. While we are winning we can put up with his big mouth, when we start heading down the ladder suddenly it becomes a huge problem.

Anyway, I feel Leppa has to take the overall blame for the position we are now in. He has now churned most of the list and the senior players that are left are the only ones Leppa hasn't gotten rid of. So are we now to get rid of some of them too? How the hell would we sell that to the wider supporter base / corporate partners?

Not that the players aren't blameless. It may be the case that a new coach comes in and decides they are not a good influence. But players have a remarkable ability to be rejuvenated under a new coaching regime when they think there is hope and see a way forward.

I tend to think that Leppa did not plan the full re-build we are now going through and that he did not sell that future to the Club / playing list when he first came to the Club. However, it is now clearly the circumstances we find ourselves in and with the struggle of his onfield structures / gameplan to offer any real semblance of hope that we are heading in the right direction, the playing group has started to fracture. The rumours are the first revolt was at the end of last season, with speculation Leppa had lost the players. Again it is all speculation (and probably a fair degree of exaggeration) but what seems to be clear to me is we need a fresh start to turn things around.

I am less gung-ho about shipping off senior players as that is likely to do is make us even less competitive in the short-term, unless we somehow get good senior players in return. I mean the youngest list by a fair way in the League simply can't keeping losing experience and think it will get better onfield.

LOTR, I'm with you in that people shouldn't take what Rocky said at the HoF dinner and claim we should trade him, that would be and is ridiculous. With that said, I've heard similar speak to TBD RE the Rock. I truly feel Rockliff is the main reason our culture is under fire, and I can't see a solution other than trading him.

 

[James North]

Here we go again with the gibes at Rockliff. Kernels of truth build into massive assumptions and somehow snowball into damning indictments based on the slimmest of evidence. Answering a question on his contract negotiations to Hammo at the Hall of Fame function is somehow evidence Rocky is only out for himself. Get a grip.....

It's not just based on this one thing...

I tend to think that Leppa did not plan the full re-build we are now going through and that he did not sell that future to the Club / playing list when he first came to the Club.

That's a big assumption.

Leppa has said a number of times in interviews that he did in fact sell that to the board. I'm not sure he can lie on company time on TV.

I don't sit on any particular side of this in terms of blame - I think it's shared, but this is essentially two coaches who have now been brought down at our club in recent times under similar personalities in the player group.

I've heard stuff about Leppa and I've heard stuff about Rockliff too. It must be said that one pre-dates the other.

 

[dlanod]

You just dont see it happen from a club like the Hawks.

To some degree it's because no one goes digging at successful clubs, and to some degree it's because success acts as a balm to all ills.

 

[James North]

To some degree it's because no one goes digging at successful clubs, and to some degree it's because success acts as a balm to all ills.

Right - we're doing poorly, personality clashes get investigated all year (probably happen at all clubs).

Someone drink-drives (crime) from Hawthorn and it gets 48 hours because - good bloke/winning.

 

[SizeMatters]

In one of those articles it mentioned that rockliff got into an incident with another player, I don't recall hearing anything about that, anyone know anything about it? Really concerning for the club.

Surprised it only said one other...