Bulldog4life
19-02-2020, 05:48 PM
The five and 10-year plans that Richmond put forth early in 2010 were greeted with the kind of scoffs that accompanied Bob Hawke's 1987 pledge that no child would be living in poverty by 1990. Richmond had played finals only twice in the preceding 27 seasons, had a debt of well over $4 million and a far smaller, sullen membership.
Melbourne's plan, by comparison, is actually a little less ambitious than the Tigers of a decade ago. The Demons are aiming for "only" one flag in four years and finals every year, compared to what then seemed an outrageous Richmond ambit of three premierships by the end of 2020.
Melbourne's 55-year drought – the AFL's longest by two years (St Kilda's is 53 and counting) – and their one finals series in 13 years means there's probably even less faith in the Demons of 2020 than the Tigers of 2010, who had just hired Damien Hardwick and Brendon Gale as coach and chief executive, but didn't have the depth of talent that the Dees have today.
Four consecutive finals series and one flag is ambitious but also achievable if the Demons get their act together in football and get lucky. The plan to have a new, permanent home base under construction by 2023 might have as high a degree of difficulty as the premiership/finals objective, although Melbourne fans would say there's nothing more improbable than that first premiership since dollars replaced the pound.
But whether these targets are harder than getting emissions to zero, the Demons were right to challenge themselves with their four-season plan; it will keep the football department, board and administration accountable, although the acid is mainly on the coaches and football staff, given that the financial targets are – as CEO Gary Pert acknowledged – largely dependant on what happens on the field.
The goal of immediate and consecutive finals confirms that the Demons see themselves as a ready-to-contend team that had a disastrous 2019, rather than a developing list that fluked a finals surge in 2018. The objectives put further heat on Simon Goodwin, who arguably enters this season with more pressure to get results than any other AFL coach, bar Port Adelaide's Ken Hinkley.
The Demons will need to get Steven May and Neville Jetta fit and firing and improve their defensive method and ball use, while finding another post-Jesse Hogan route to goal. The Demons have played a brand that places too much store in winning the ball first, when the game's benchmark, Richmond, take a completely different approach by having an insurance system in place for the event that the opposition takes the ball forward from the middle.
Goodwin has a revamped coaching panel in which Alan Richardson has replaced Brendan McCartney, and a new fitness chief in the ex-Port conditioner-in-chief Darren Burgess. The decision to offload Jesse Hogan – criticised in some quarters during Melbourne's early struggles in 2019 – has been justified by the gifted forward's own battles to overcome the demons he carried with him.
If Goodwin will feel the fire should the Demons fail to meet their own expectations, the club board headed by president Glenn Bartlett will also face significant scrutiny from media and their membership base given the long-term extension handed to Goodwin, the decision to hire Pert shortly after his exit from Collingwood and the growing impatience within a supporter base that, contrary to stereotype, is highly engaged (relative to their numbers, they are possibly the most engaged) and desperate for the club to restore some of the glories of the '50s and '60s. Significantly, Pert describes Melbourne as a shrunken version of a big club.
Demons design plan to make finals every year and win a flag by 2023
In their search for a new base within the walking distance of the MCG, the Dees have identified five active sites within the precinct (Gosch's Paddock's being an obvious contender for a ground), with none said to be more likely than any other; there is, as the club admits, a long way to go to land that elusive facility, for which they are counting on the state government in particular.
But it is the task of climbing the ladder – with the first summit since '64 the club's stated mission by 2023 – that will define Simon Goodwin's coaching career and the fate of the Bartlett board. For once, the Demons have set themselves a standard they can't walk past.
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/demon-targets-pile-extra-pressure-on-coach-simon-goodwin-20200218-p541za.html
Melbourne's plan, by comparison, is actually a little less ambitious than the Tigers of a decade ago. The Demons are aiming for "only" one flag in four years and finals every year, compared to what then seemed an outrageous Richmond ambit of three premierships by the end of 2020.
Melbourne's 55-year drought – the AFL's longest by two years (St Kilda's is 53 and counting) – and their one finals series in 13 years means there's probably even less faith in the Demons of 2020 than the Tigers of 2010, who had just hired Damien Hardwick and Brendon Gale as coach and chief executive, but didn't have the depth of talent that the Dees have today.
Four consecutive finals series and one flag is ambitious but also achievable if the Demons get their act together in football and get lucky. The plan to have a new, permanent home base under construction by 2023 might have as high a degree of difficulty as the premiership/finals objective, although Melbourne fans would say there's nothing more improbable than that first premiership since dollars replaced the pound.
But whether these targets are harder than getting emissions to zero, the Demons were right to challenge themselves with their four-season plan; it will keep the football department, board and administration accountable, although the acid is mainly on the coaches and football staff, given that the financial targets are – as CEO Gary Pert acknowledged – largely dependant on what happens on the field.
The goal of immediate and consecutive finals confirms that the Demons see themselves as a ready-to-contend team that had a disastrous 2019, rather than a developing list that fluked a finals surge in 2018. The objectives put further heat on Simon Goodwin, who arguably enters this season with more pressure to get results than any other AFL coach, bar Port Adelaide's Ken Hinkley.
The Demons will need to get Steven May and Neville Jetta fit and firing and improve their defensive method and ball use, while finding another post-Jesse Hogan route to goal. The Demons have played a brand that places too much store in winning the ball first, when the game's benchmark, Richmond, take a completely different approach by having an insurance system in place for the event that the opposition takes the ball forward from the middle.
Goodwin has a revamped coaching panel in which Alan Richardson has replaced Brendan McCartney, and a new fitness chief in the ex-Port conditioner-in-chief Darren Burgess. The decision to offload Jesse Hogan – criticised in some quarters during Melbourne's early struggles in 2019 – has been justified by the gifted forward's own battles to overcome the demons he carried with him.
If Goodwin will feel the fire should the Demons fail to meet their own expectations, the club board headed by president Glenn Bartlett will also face significant scrutiny from media and their membership base given the long-term extension handed to Goodwin, the decision to hire Pert shortly after his exit from Collingwood and the growing impatience within a supporter base that, contrary to stereotype, is highly engaged (relative to their numbers, they are possibly the most engaged) and desperate for the club to restore some of the glories of the '50s and '60s. Significantly, Pert describes Melbourne as a shrunken version of a big club.
Demons design plan to make finals every year and win a flag by 2023
In their search for a new base within the walking distance of the MCG, the Dees have identified five active sites within the precinct (Gosch's Paddock's being an obvious contender for a ground), with none said to be more likely than any other; there is, as the club admits, a long way to go to land that elusive facility, for which they are counting on the state government in particular.
But it is the task of climbing the ladder – with the first summit since '64 the club's stated mission by 2023 – that will define Simon Goodwin's coaching career and the fate of the Bartlett board. For once, the Demons have set themselves a standard they can't walk past.
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/demon-targets-pile-extra-pressure-on-coach-simon-goodwin-20200218-p541za.html