Mega Thread The Western Bulldogs - The Sack Macca saga

[Dogs_R_Us]

Sorry to intrude guys but just wondering the general consensus from you guys regarding what's happened today. Hard to judge from the outside looking in but seems like a player has now dictated the coaching position which wouldn't sit well with me personally.

Um... just read the thread and you will pick up the "consensus".

 

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

F.......g free agency is to blame for this (and Adelaide's) debacle. AFL need to do something unless they want to screw up the whole competition.

They won't. The AFLPA run the AFL. They've got their way and they're extremely happy about it. Players now have more say than ever and the AFLPA will continue to push for them to have more and more.

 

[SammoSammo]

I guess I'd really just love to know what the younger players think about all this- if they felt there was communication problems then I guess we had a real issue and perhaps the in this untennable situation this is the least bad outcome.

If not, and it is the older/soft players causing this, then surely that's just part of the change in attitudes that Macca was brought on specifically to change and the club should have backed the coach.

 

[1961grandfinal]

Clarko hadn't lost the players to the point where even he acknowledged he could not continue.

Absolutely, completely different situations; Ling is in the media, just his opinion of a mate.

Why didn't he say that was what Geelong thought of him when they offered BMac their academy coaching position, Balme etc never thought he would be their senior coasch. Off he goes to druggies with bc bomber and we take his recommendation. Due diligence lacking there.

 

[JJHunter]

I'm as pissed off at Griff and the club as everybody else is but we need to step back and realise that they spoke to the players, and there was enough negative feedback for them to believe Macca's position was untenable. I very much doubt that it's a very small number of senior players as we've been led to believe. In that case, it was the right decision - whether we agree that Macca wasn't the man to take us forward or not. At the end of the day the players expressed enough concerns to make Macca think that he could not continue. The board agreed. I don't think we can judge this on the basis of "three or four senior players" as we've been told. There were enough players with legitimate concerns to make this the best course of action.

I'm just replying so this post gets read by people again. The perfect summary and better way to make the point I was trying to make in my posts.

 

[Barking Mad]

Clarko hadn't lost the players to the point where even he acknowledged he could not continue.

I think Lingy is spot on with his comments.


Speaking of Lingy, he'd be an option but I fear too many out there may thinks it's more of the "Geelong" influence. Funny how apparently nothing good can come out of a very successful team. With that analogy, I feel we may need to look at someone out of the Chicago Cubs organisation.

 

[littlenails]

I think the captaincy issue was huge in Griffens thinking. Should never have been made captain.

I agree. I was strongly against Griffen being made captain. It was a big mistake and I hope that members learn from this.

You don't make your best player captain, just because he can give on-field leadership by example. Being captain means much, much more than that. I was strongly in favour of Shaun Higgins as captain. How things might have turned out if that happened is anybody's guess.

 

[JJHunter]

I guess I'd really just love to know what the younger players think about all this- if they felt there was communication problems then I guess we had a real issue and perhaps the in this untennable situation this is the least bad outcome.

If not, and it is the older/soft players causing this, then surely that's just part of the change in attitudes that Macca was brought on specifically to change and the club should have backed the coach.

young players don't speak up - Not sure if you heard Kozi with Mike this year say he thought Blight was a shocker but would never say anything as he was only young. Young players know you have to earn respect enough to have a say on things like the coach.

 

[DogDays]

And ouch! Exactly the point I've been trying to get across.

 

[Ant_]

I agree. I was strongly against Griffen being made captain. It was a big mistake and I hope that members learn from this.

You don't make your best player captain, just because he can give on-field leadership by example. Being captain means much, much more than that. I was strongly in favour of Shaun Higgins as captain. How things might have turned out if that happened is anybody's guess.

I agree on Griff but you lost me at Higgins

 

[Cudi]

Cameron Ling is missing the point though. Macca was not sacked for onfield performance, he had lost some players and thought he could never re-build that. Clarko never had that issue.

 

[cammo78]

I agree. I was strongly against Griffen being made captain. It was a big mistake and I hope that members learn from this.

You don't make your best player captain, just because he can give on-field leadership by example. Being captain means much, much more than that. I was strongly in favour of Shaun Higgins as captain. How things might have turned out if that happened is anybody's guess.

Surely you are kidding.

 

[cammo78]

Cameron Ling is missing the point though. Macca was not sacked for onfield performance, he had lost some players and thought he could never re-build that. Clarko never had that issue.

No, he didn't - because their players weren't so pissweak as to be above criticism and hard work.

Three flags later...

 

[Dogs Rule]

And ouch! Exactly the point I've been trying to get across.

Precisely why those among the playing group that were agitating for Macca to go, now also have to go.

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

Just my opinion but we cannot afford to go for a rookie coach, especially someone like Bolton.

Apparently early on Macca was 'too nice & not mongrel enough' so Brendan 'always happy' Bolton would have no hope with our mob!

Plus he's too short

 

[littlenails]

I agree on Griff but you lost me at Higgins

I guess I would lose a lot of people. I gave all of my reasons at the time, no sense in going over all that again, especially in light of current developments.

 

[Butane]

Clarko didn't lose the players. Not sure where Ling was going with that tweet. We all understood we were going to slowly get better but Macca was sacked for different reasons.

 

[hoianbulldog]

Peter Gordon
Today may be the beginning of the end for this club
Nothing could be more divisive and destructive than your lack of backbone during the last few weeks - nothing

My god what a disaster

Your administration awol

Good leadership would have gone something like this.
1. Do internal review.
2. Identify ways to improve performance based on outcome of the review.
3. Implement plans for improvement.
4. (Here is the hard bit)......You stick to the FARKN plan.

Peter Gordon has admitted 1 of 2 things today.

1. His board totally screwed up the internal review and failed miserably to see what was actually going on. Heads need to roll if this is the case.

or

2. Didn't have either the guts to stick to their own plan when a few shadows appeared and/or didn't have any confidence in the plan that they themselves implemented on a few weeks ago.

He was a bit like a duck out of water today.....Saying he hopes that Griff shot a few pigs....WTF?
Saying that Grant should have won a brownlow....WTF?
He was almost pleading for Griff to stay, hopes he wins the brownlow playing for the Bulldogs............Here is a tip Peter, Ryan Griffen has to go. No if's buts or maybes.

I've always been a fan of Gordon and believe the club exists today largely because of him but geez I am thinking maybe he is not what I hoped in his second incarnation. I thought he had more courage than he has shown the last few days.

 

[Mofra]

He was a bit like a duck out of water today.....Saying he hopes that Griff shot a few pigs....WTF?
Saying that Grant should have won a brownlow....WTF?
He was almost pleading for Griff to stay, hopes he wins the brownlow playing for the Bulldogs............Here is a tip Peter, Ryan Griffen has to go. No if's buts or maybes.

I was disappointed by the Brownlow reference - it's an individual award in a team sport, and we've just had a coach resign who preached a team-first mantra.

Worrying

 

[yebiga]

I always thought Mark Harvey was good at Freo and was unlucky to be sacked after one year of being ravaged by injuries (to the point they had to apply to the AFL to be allowed to upgrade another rookie towards the end of the season).

Anyone else think he might be worth chasing?

On what possible basis could you think that
My god the world has gone completely mad

 

[hoianbulldog]

Clarko didn't lose the players. Not sure where Ling was going with that tweet. We all understood we were going to slowly get better but Macca was sacked for different reasons.

Clarko kicked out senior players who's name wasn't crawford. Hay, Thompson, Rawlings.....Even traded Croad. The club made tough calls and stuck the coarse.

He built a new culture with young players.

 

[DylanW]

On what possible basis could you think that
My god the world has gone completely mad

I found myself wondering if Leigh Matthews would ever consider a return to coaching. I want a legend of the game who the players have no choice but to respect who's a hard bastard.

Reckon I've lost the plot?

 

[yebiga]

Clarko hadn't lost the players to the point where even he acknowledged he could not continue.

Clarke may have had some love from his board - dun stall etc

 

[Mofra]

Clarko kicked out senior players who's name wasn't crawford. Hay, Thompson, Rawlings.....Even traded Croad. The club made tough calls and stuck the coarse.

He built a new culture with young players.

Exactly.
We had the greatest opportunity in years to clean out and rebuild properly, and we blew it.

 

[Butane]

Plus sacking senior coaches shouldn't hinder the improvement of our young players. They might learn something different from another coach to add to their game.

The rebuild is still going Lingy, just that Macca wasn't the man to take us all the way through(and not just because of his dubious on field tactics)