I'm not so sure. On Wednesday, we did the most anti-AFC thing possible. 4 unforced changes went with 4 forced managements and then when Smith failed to come up, we went with a debutante instead of the much more expected decision to give another lifeline to any of Gibbs, Knight or Atkins. Call me a supreme optimist, I know many do, but I think this could very well have been a Nicks push back against the set in stone selection culture of our club. This is the kind of drastic turnabout that I think Walsh alluded to in his final presser after the GABBA win.
Now, where I have hope, is that if we embrace the rebuild properly, hold senior players to account for their form regardless of the bullshit continuity/experience mantra, we might see progressive improvement over the 2021 & 2022 seasons. I know Melbourne aren't a great side, but we saw for 3 quarters a group of players that had a crack and kept up with an opponent. And this with continuity and experience thrown out the window with a total of 9 changes.
Where the risk exists, is that the coaching group can't be working against prevailing philosophical differences. This is why Fagan, Roo and Chapman must go, so that the key football philosophies of this club can be torn down and rebuilt from scratch. With a fresh new direction, proper fitness manager, even moderately ok assistant coaches, I think we avoid being anchored to the bottom for the next 3 years. Whereas, with no change at the top and the senior coach constantly having to work against club philosophies, all we'll do is spit him out and others out and remain where we presently exist.
Of course, if your definition of pain is failing to deliver against the, " The Club’s primary objective is to deliver consistent finals appearances ", component of our mission statement, then you're probably right. But bottoming out like we have this year and then working back up the ladder driven by with youth is not pain to me. Especially if it results in the club wide changes that need to occur, both in philosophy and personnel.
