Unofficial Preview SEASON 2025 - Best 22, Game Plan, Personnel

[caesar88]

How is Papley not at the top of that list!? Rampe? He's too pretty.

Papley, McCartin, Ladhams, Wicks, Sheldrick would give your top five an almightily epic flogging.

Because Papley is the very definition of all bark no bite.

 

[ShireSwan]

Because Papley is the very definition of all bark no bite.

Haha, no chance he's not first one in for a mate at the local B & S.

He knows the limits on the footy field though, and plays them magnificently, hilariously.

 

[RedBloodBlackSwan]

I wouldn’t mind McLean in a bar fight. Looks like the kind of bloke who would be calm as as tensions first started rising, but then turn it on when he needed to.

Grundy? Haha - no thanks!

 

[RedBloodBlackSwan]

As I understand it there were vice-captains and a leadership group this year. It wasn't formally announced because the voting was so vast and widespread that it was counter-productive to publicly acknowledge the leadership of some but not others, just over a few votes difference.

Mills (C), Rampe (VC), Parker (VC), Heeney, Papley, Adams & Gulden received the most votes, and Cunningham, Lloyd, Hayward, Grundy, Blakey & McCartin were the next-best of the rest.

To that end, I wonder if perhaps it wasn't a lack of leadership that was a problem this year, but a lack of clear leadership. The above results would suggest that there's no shortage of players considered worthy of a 'leadership' role at the club, in fact it's the opposite, we have plenty. But we lacked that one clear voice and character that could change the DNA of the team when needed. Maybe there were so many voices providing leadership that complacency crept in; the players felt so comfortable that there was always enough leadership on offer that no one was quite prepared to be THE leader.

Assuming this is all true, I have some many questions…

Do we let players vote the captains and vice captains, or just the leadership group?

Do the coaches have votes too?

If only the players, then when did leadership become a popularity contest?

What’s the purpose of a leadership group without an arbitrary divide between leadership and rest of team? That is, why not announce the group even if the voting was close?

Who voted for Mills after the mad Monday incident???


Call me old fashioned, but I reckon the coaches should choose the captains with an informed understanding of who the players respect (but not a vote). Pretty simple to have convos with each player to gauge how they see things and who they rate, then come together as a coaching group to respect those views but also select who they think the team needs to set standards and lead the way. Sport is not a democracy.

I am on the record as saying leadership was probably the team’s biggest weakness last season. It showed on GF day, especially with Mills leading a team talk as they walked in at half time I think it was. But also all through the year with the team regularly struggling to put down runs from the opposition.

I am really struggling to understand how a leadership group was not announced because the voting was tight… so because they didn’t want to hurt feelings / explain why someone was left out, they just don’t announce the leaders? Some faith in the leadership group then! And again, if you don’t have voting, you don’t have this problem. And if you do have voting, why not make it about who each player thinks best exemplifies the values the team aspires to, rather than players in general? You could then make sure the leadership group has good coverage of the various values.

Not sure how gulden can stay in the leadership group next year, and foolish of the club to let him in so early. Another reason not to vote on it - sometimes old stays know more!

Rant over