Well said. We need a bit of competitive mongrel. With Mitch gone we are just pillow fighters.100% correct MSB ROYS - 100%
In the final analysis, we just were not coached well enough, our list is not quite strong enough, Fagan consistently ‘doubled down’ on out of form ‘favourites’ and we had to take the hard road, due to serial lapses after we were sitting on the top of the ladder after 14 rounds.
The part of your post that resonates loudest, however, is the need for Fagan to get rid of all the talk about “learnings” and “growth mindset”. As someone who has worked in education for over thirty years, the most disturbing and destructive morale killer in the workplace that I have seen has been the rise of TOXIC POSITIVITY. This is where staff, who are exhausted and disenchanted are required to attend staff meetings where people are ‘encouraged’ to share with the group the things they want to ‘celebrate’ about their experience at work. This sort of ‘happy clappy’ approach is often the most pronounced in workplaces that have the most real problems.
Forget ‘learnings’ - Geelong taught us a lesson last night and no amount of ‘growth mindset’ is going to improve our team if we don’t heed that lesson. Positive thinking, for example, is not going to improve Noah Answerth’s poor disposal skills and it is not going to help us to play with the hard drilled disciple displayed by Geelong.
We are a team that has enormous flair, skill and potential, but we need much less talk and much more action from our football department. If Zorko, Rich, Lyons and Gardiner are at the Lions next year, they should not be guaranteed games. Similarly, players like Robertson and Prior deserve a proper run in the Seniors and if Cam Rayner is not going to be the high impact midfield bull we had hoped for, then he needs a role he can learn and successfully execute.
Fagan needs to take a lesson from Chris Scott too. Scott was a hard and uncompromising footballer and he comes across as the same sort of coach. Less Kumbaya from Fagan and more ruthlessness is needed if he is ever going to win a Premiership at Brisbane.