PAFC CEO Matthew Richardson

[portly]

Hang on, is this another Janus alt?

No, Enoch seems a little more sensible, and a genuine supporter.

Thing is, s/he doesn't understand about winning premierships is more important than any business wins.

 

[DaTBird187]

So you're all sheep? All think the same? No room for a different approach?

Come on man, grow a pair.

I have a different approach.

As Hinkley is not contracted past this year we don't have to sack him. Just tell him to **** off.

Consider this pair grown.

 

[Enoch Blaze]

No, Enoch seems a little more sensible, and a genuine supporter.

Thing is, s/he doesn't understand about winning premierships is more important than any business wins.

He.

It’s both. Can’t do sh*t without money.

And my original comment that kicked all this off cited list build as a win. No one’s arguing that.

 

[PeacefulWarrior]

I have bled at times. Bulldogs prelim was the worst. My son was pretty young, didn't get the concept of choking or a thrashing - given what we had shown going in. Very hard being a parent that day and trying to work it through with him.

Probably one of the things that made me craziest was the consistent talk of "Dusty the guy who couldn't be tagged". That was the Hinkley narrative after the Richmond PF loss. Yet within a year or so run-with players were being used again and now they're almost the norm. Infuriating.

Right now this season feels wide open - my view is Melbourne is the front runner at the minute, Blues are the dark horse with the players they've still got coming back in. We just have to win now.

Hinkley on the bench and Carr in the box is intriguing indeed.

There was a glint in Butters' eye at the end of the Magpies loss. He was fuming. If we can wrap our arms around that as a playing/coaching group, anything could still happen. I'm not giving up hope yet.

I find it odd that losing a game of football is your definition of it being very hard to be a parent.

 

[Enoch Blaze]

I find it odd that losing a game of football is your definition of it being very hard to be a parent.

Only that loss.

My son was super young and in tears, it was hard for a few minutes when it was clear we had lost the game. “Why aren’t they trying Dad?” He said over and over.

He didn’t get it, the thrashing, the choke - call it what you want. Thought they’d play the consistent footy they’d been playing. Within a year he’d grown out of that stage. I found it hard in that moment explaining it and getting him through it - that’s all.

 

[Schulzenfest]

Only that loss.

My son was super young and in tears, it was hard for a few minutes when it was clear we had lost the game. “Why aren’t they trying Dad?” He said over and over.

He didn’t get it, the thrashing, the choke - call it what you want. Thought they’d play the consistent footy they’d been playing. Within a year he’d grown out of that stage. I found it hard in that moment explaining it and getting him through it - that’s all.

I'm in my thirties and my reaction to that game wasn't much more mature than your son's.

 

[Duck Farmer]

Hang on, is this another Janus alt?

That's my take. Especially since Enoch was an apocryphal prophet who according to Jewish kabbalah was the interlocutor between God and Moses and was the first Masonic Grand Master according to the Theosophists.

That shît's got Janus written all over it.

 

[Lightning_Rod]

Not quite true as I have followed Port since they came into the AFL in '97. I became a member in 2014.

So how do we build this club moving forward? With an aging demographic that insists on constantly looking back and telling everyone "you don't understand because you weren't there". Pretty soon all the people were there in the 80s and 90s will be retired and won't be the financial backbone of the club any more.

Lol great growth strategy. I can see how you're really going to win over new people by constantly looking back.

Tell that to all the Aussie NBA-obsessed kids. You really think they're going to hang on to old historical stories of the SANFL? Let alone become fans of AFL.

You sound like John James.

On moto g62 5G using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Lightning_Rod]

Is it comparable though? What was won in a 8/9 team competition in a small city? DNA - sure. But expecting those results on the back of a small club smaller a smaller commercial footprint?



"We exist to win premierships"

What a curse.

Genuine question - when did this become the public-facing vision statement of the football club - as in - across the entire history of the club? When did this idea begin, given we didn't always have a bag full of premierships?

"Hoist by his own petard" comes to mind.

Definitely tricky with Hinkley, I'm not sure where I sit. If we lose Carr I'll be filthy.

Some of those goals feel copycat, especially the 100K members - in a city that crawls in its numerical and economic growth.

This entire thread began - because I simply questioned overwhelming negativity and hate in many parts of this forum, despite obvious parts of our program that are in good health - including our list build.

Could you imagine how this guy would react seeing members asking the hard questions down at Alberton after a bitterly disappointing loss. "Oh come on guys ease up on the players"

On moto g62 5G using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[PA88]

No, Enoch seems a little more sensible, and a genuine supporter.

He.

It’s both. Can’t do sh*t without money.

And my original comment that kicked all this off cited list build as a win. No one’s arguing that.

The list build is still not good enough.

Overall, Enoch, when your eyes cast over yonder at the failures of another club to justify our club's 20 years of failure, then you are an excuser.

 

[Peninsula Boy]

One of my favourite things on this forum is when the collective Power fans, usually rightfully, talks and criticises a person in our administration or coaching panel and there is a bit of a pile on and then a newish poster comes in from the ether and completely changes the conversation away from deserved criticism, sometimes harsh criticism to anything else, most of which should be on other thread, I mean, even life stuff.

At the start, usually the word toxic is used to whitewash basic constructive criticism of poor performance. You guys are toxic. This forum is toxic. But 11 years of mediocrity is immune to any real sense of accountability.

 

[Poo Eckert]

If you think Jim Collins would use our current predicament as a proof of concept for his good to great companies and promoting from within, you respectfully didn’t read the book properly or failed to grasp the concept. Brian Cunningham and Choco would be examples. Matty Primus as coach would also fit the case. We made the mistake of bringing in outside leadership with John James and have been on a downward spiral since (exactly as Jim Collins would predict). What people on here are advocating for is a clear acknowledgment of the failures and for a true, authentic insider to come onboard and sort this out. It’s a mess and needs to be dealt with. But it’s not a case for not making change because promoting from within works better. Bringing in outsiders to a successful organisation resulted in cultural change that became entrenched, started to rot and is now a stinking mess that will most likely result in a complete failure of the club if not addressed and turned around within the next 3-5 years.

Relying on from within brings another problem.

Chris Davies who has been associated with Ken for 9 years knows his job is tied to Ken. A new coach may cause enough disturbance for his position to be destabilised.

 

[Enviable Tradition]

And we don't have it. That's the point champ.

The key to long term good leadership is hanging onto the good ones not the mediocre ones.

You need to understand the bias to really get anything out of a Jim Collins book.

Just because many good companies have stability doesn't mean all companies with stability are good.

There are thousands of stable companies with the wrong person at the helm that will never end up in a Jim Collins book.

You need to find the RIGHT people (by sacking the mediocre and poor ones) and THEN develop them and create stability.

On SM-G975F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Enviable Tradition]

The 3 flag thing just felt copycat and a mistake, I agree. Koch had no strong leadership record pre Port Adelaide. KT underrated IMO.

I'm listening and considering your comments about demanding leadership. How does this approach compare say with the Cats?

How about we co pare it to Hawthorn?

Move on plenty to get Clarkson etc. Won 3 flags.

Moved on Hodge, Mitchell, Lewis, Clarkson.

Just beat Collignwood as they rebuild.

On SM-G975F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Poo Eckert]

Our list build is okay but we are short KPP.

Ken’s teams over the course of history lack composure, I have not seen this change in 2023. I was fooled for 14 games but Pies and Geelong have rectified that ship.

We are not the EPL yet where there is no hope of winning, therefore Len has had 11 years, no GF with a consistent pattern of under achieving whilst his CV looks above average.

It’s time to let him go elsewhere.

I’ve said this before, 4-5 years ago when we lost to the dogs at home in the rain. Richo sat in front of me, we got pummelled in the last. It was trash, the crowd thought so too, all those around him, however he was oblivious when we spoke post game. Unless he’s learn something he lacks feel. Koch does also

 

[rogerjames]

The parameters of long-term sustained success are good leadership. Always have been, always will be.

And unfortunately we have lacked that for most of our AFL journey. Reluctant captains, non-performing leadership groups & a lack of obvious candidates over a sustained period.

 

[rogerjames]

Relying on from within brings another problem.

Chris Davies who has been associated with Ken for 9 years knows his job is tied to Ken. A new coach may cause enough disturbance for his position to be destabilised.

They're all protecting each other. Their aim is to survive in their jobs firstly, premiership success is way down the list of priorities. That rot set in many years ago. It's depressing.

 

[chiwigi]

No, Enoch seems a little more sensible, and a genuine supporter.

Thing is, s/he doesn't understand about winning premierships is more important than any business wins.

Nah, it's a troll.

A fun one and creating a decent debate, but still one.

 

[Harlott]

They're all protecting each other. Their aim is to survive in their jobs firstly, premiership success is way down the list of priorities. That rot set in many years ago. It's depressing.

I think you’re right. It’s as if the more money that’s become involved the more people are protecting their livelihood. Goes all the way to the top of the AFL.

 

[El Zorro]

We are a mediocre club run by mediocre people and with no sufficient external or internal pressure to change. Either you get used to it or you stress about it. Or you stop caring. I am in the stress stage, fast approaching the do not care stage.

 

[MrMeaner]

Human endeavour on the playing field completely exhausted.

One thing that's often struck me is that the history that Port Adelaide stands upon, wasn't always that history. The creed wasn't always there. The 1914 Invincibles won their games without that creed and way before Fos.

They didn't always have 36 premierships.

It's very easy to take a snapshot of that history and apply it to all of time. It simply isn't so.



I don't really get this part of it as I don't fully understand the mechanics or politics - take your word for it.


This is interesting. People generally look back and yearn for simpler times. I do. The smart phone has killed the drop in. People don't drop in any more. Noticed that? I'm of the view that we all look back with fondness at a richer, simpler time of community - in all walks of life.



No doubt some of those people are always there. It's an industry. How are you going to avoid it? 80/20 rule in most environments suggests there are always key people, then the rest.

Destroying the club? I just don't see it. I see issues, same as every club. Destruction? I don't see it.

That reply is constructing a lot of straw men. The first of those being a mischaracterisation of what I was saying about the Creed. I did not say and did not imply Port's history was wholly based upon it. It clearly was not. It's importance for those who look to it as something reflective of the club is in the way that it reflected how the club was run for much of the time from Fos joining to sometime in the early 2000s. It meant something to many people who came through Alberton's gates. However, in my opinion, it has not been put in to practice for some time.

On the mechanics and politics, I take your concession. It's quite clear you don't get what it means to have been a supporter in the pre-AFL days. Most years we were not seen as the best side but the effort was always there. Being a Port player meant getting the absolute best out of yourself on the ground, even if it did not mean that you won. The thing is, that mentality often broke other teams. It was also that mentality that got us, as the only actual non-Victorian club, into the AFL.

As for yearning for simpler times, that is another straw man. I certainly do not do that. I look back on where I have come from with some pride but my family made sacrifices that mean that I had advantages they did not have and my kid has many more. I realised my dream job but grew up amongst people who did not have the same kind of hope of doing so.

My connection to the community does not come from some kind of nostalgia but in the knowledge that for my great grandmother, going to games with her friends was the way of escaping from the drudge of work that literally broke her body. That she could do so in the knowledge that the club of wharfies and mariners would fight like hell for the win, just as those they represented did each other day of the week.

As for my assertion that the current administration is destroying the club, I can see that others will obviously disagree. My point though is that it is destroying the very real connection that members and supporters had with their club. Part of this mob's motto is 'to make the community proud.' They did that in the past by doing the things I mentioned before: by working their arses off to get the most out of themselves, by being connected to the people supporting them, by being accountable to them. That is what has been destroyed.

I'm sure you will disagree with pretty-much all of that. I can tell you that the feeling here is not because of some cultural conditioning but because many others feel similarly. We all would love to have the kind of dominance that we had in the SANFL but most of us know that is not possible. What we object, what does not represent the Port, is the acceptance of mediocrity all while blowing smoke up our arses about how good we WILL be, particularly when there is no accountability when the goal is so clearly missed.

THAT is the destruction of the club. In its rubble all we are left with is another franchise borrowing the brandname.

 

[Capital Power]

Any members post mechanical fist float are not to be trusted.

I think I just make it. I think I have a photo of it somewhere if proof is needed . I think we must have seen the Funk Squad(?) at some stage too.

 

[Capital Power]

Just a comment on the importance of the Bars to older supporters and the inference that when we shuffle off to the great Sherrin in the sky they won't matter as much to the next generation.

I'm a blow in here, have never lived in the Port, never followed the SANFL, but consider myself as baked on as the legends in here, simply because you've taken the time to explain our history and what it means.

My son has a collection of guernseys, starting with his signed Gav #4 that was his prized possession as a youngster. When he goes to a game, he'll wear his Bars.

My grandson was quite distressed when I turned up one day in my "Collingwood jumper" until I explained the history and significance to him. Now he too considers it our "real jumper" and his own is his most prized possession.

So that's two generations agitating for our heritage that will survive me. I imagine all of you have similar scenarios in your families.

First world problems, sure, but mess with history at your peril. I want a management team willing to embrace heritage and fight for the same rights every other team has. I don't see that in a lot of the engagement these days.

TL;DR - BBTB

 

[chiwigi]

Just a comment on the importance of the Bars to older supporters and the inference that when we shuffle off to the great Sherrin in the sky they won't matter as much to the next generation.

I'm a blow in here, have never lived in the Port, never followed the SANFL, but consider myself as baked on as the legends in here, simply because you've taken the time to explain our history and what it means.

My son has a collection of guernseys, starting with his signed Gav #4 that was his prized possession as a youngster. When he goes to a game, he'll wear his Bars.

My grandson was quite distressed when I turned up one day in my "Collingwood jumper" until I explained the history and significance to him. Now he too considers it our "real jumper" and his own is his most prized possession.

So that's two generations agitating for our heritage that will survive me. I imagine all of you have similar scenarios in your families.

First world problems, sure, but mess with history at your peril. I want a management team willing to embrace heritage and fight for the same rights every other team has. I don't see that in a lot of the engagement these days.

TL;DR - BBTB

Same from me, I'm not even Australian, but I understand and appreciate what the history and the bars mean.

Without it, we are not Port Adelaide.

 

[afl2004]

Wonder what the board thinks about the membership and game day loss of revenue over his tenure and the online hatred , I'm sure aflw and the precinct have made the books look good but hopefully they think he needs removing