The Review

[LostDoggy]

Going back to the mid way mark of the 2007 season everything looked to be travelling well at the Kennel.
Yes we weren't playing as well as 2006 but all things considered we were roughly on track albeit a win or two shy of where we should be.

Fast forward to the end of the season after 7 losses and most of them out-n-out thrashings and all things didn't seem to be well at the Kennel.
Word had started to leak out that the coach had lost the players confidence but not on a coaching level but more so on a personal one.
Word had also started to leak that Eade had a fractured relationship with his assistant coaching ranks and finally the Werribee relationship was broken with word that Eade had pro actively engineered it without necessarily informing the powers that be of his actions.

Basically the way I am reading this now is Eade got the players, his assistant coaches and the board all off side.

What has happened to the football department recently
* An alignment with Willamstown was formed but without any real detail on why it will be better than the Werribee one.
* Several changes to the coaching ranks including the departure of Mifsud to the AFL, Drain to the St Kilda, Bond to Fremantle, Wellman to Melbourne and Montgomery to Carlton.
* Several new assistant coaching appointments including Peter Dean, Wayne Campbell, Brad Gotch and John Barnes joining Leon Cameron as Eades deputies.
* A new football manager to be appointed
* Rumours that Eade and Rose have a frosty working relationship.
* Clayton yet to recommit

What has happened to the club in general
* The redevelopment going extremely well.
* A $500,000 profit to be announced.
* A football department review has been completed.
* A football manager will be appointed reporting to Rose.
* Smorgon to seek another 3 years at the club.

Clearly, results aside, the football department is not functionally performing and given the incredible increase in funds and resources to the football department over the last 3 years this is not acceptable.

Some of the comments in the Australian today summarises things in my opinion
* Smorgon said yesterday that there has been robust discussion on these matters with Eade and the board and that area's of improvement had been identified.
* The review found that Eade had to improve his communication and transparency
* It also identified that the communication between Eade and his assistants was not as good as it should be.

and finally and perhaps the most damning
* Smorgon said that "When you eyeball people you get solutions"
* The club had been prepared to give the football department its head but a return on investment was required.

Clearly the facilities at the Whitten Oval is not the only redevelopment that needs to occur with out club. Things are crook and whilst we have at least had some clarity to the rumours than have been circulating for the last 10 weeks or more I think there is a lot more to this than what we are currently hearing.
Lets hope that a Neil Balme type can be found. Someone like Sheedy could be the answer and thats not easy for me to say.

People were quick to dismiss Caroline Wilson's comments a few weeks back on the ABC but if anything she was very light on with the detail of the problems we are facing.

We have this habit of going from crisis to crisis and this might be the real culture of the club that needs to be removed.

I would really like to hear everyone's thoughts on this.

[always right]

No question there are things that need to be sorted out but not every problem at a club is a "crisis".

Sounds to me like the club are being upfront about the issues. I think their approach is a rational one rather than one borne out of a crisis.

Perspective please.....we don't have a president convicted in court, a star player on the gear, or a push to move us to the Gold Coast. They'll got over this road hump and come out stronger.

[LostDoggy]

No question there are things that need to be sorted out but not every problem at a club is a "crisis".

Sounds to me like the club are being upfront about the issues. I think their approach is a rational one rather than one borne out of a crisis.

Perspective please.....we don't have a president convicted in court, a star player on the gear, or a push to move us to the Gold Coast. They'll got over this road hump and come out stronger.

I understand your concerns about the crisis comment I made but isn't your perspective examples a little extreme?
The Gold Coast issue is a highly emotional one for the Kangaroos. We may face this issue ourselves somewhere down the track. The president in court issue is a problem for only one club as is the star player being on the gear.

Our problems are around the areas of competency and results and we have come up well short.
I'm frustrated because we seem to go through these issues of survival, lack of membership and sponsorship or coaches not measuring up all to frequently. I just hope an era of stability and success isn't far away.

[Go_Dogs]

This is a replay I posted elsewhere but I think it suits the topic well.

I feel for Rocket, he's certainly been put in a compromised position as far as having himself open to a lot of speculation with the review, mass exodus of staff and some of the comments made in the media.

I think we need to have faith in Rocket, I for one have seen enough positives with the majority of the list and game plan. Perhaps having some tweaking and different/better structures involved at the club will allow coaching staff to only worry about coaching, and have someone over looking the whole operation to give honest feedback.

I think we are going in the right direction, and it's something we needed to do. A lot of change has happened already in Rocket's 3 seasons as coach, and I think the vast majority has been for the clubs betterment.

We are looking a lot more professional nowadays, something a club like Port has always stood out for - at least to me, as well as some others. It's a professional sport, and we need to have that mentality the whole way through.

Basically, I think we're heading in the right direction, however we need to have patience and belief that it will all come together.

[LostDoggy]

I'm just listening to Smorgon now and I'm more than happy with his explanation on things and the direction he is taking.
It was heartening to hear Smorgon say that the issues between Eade and Rose have been resolved.
Now that the club has started to address all these issues I'm more confident now that we are on the right track than I was an hour ago.
I really liked they fact that Smorgon mentioned the inhouse fighting between the football department and the reasons why the board didn't step in earlier.
Smorgon did say that there was support for the coach by the players and assistant coaches.
Clayton is very likely to be staying with us.

[aker39]

My summary of Smorgon interview

Every department within the football club has been positive, except for the footy department.

Been open, honest & transparent. Everything said in the media has been said face to face with those people.

Ultimately responsible to the members.

Patrick Smith asked if Campbell Rose had alienated the footy department. Smorgon denied this and said Rose is responsible for the whole club, including the footy department.

Some candidates have applied for the new position. Looking for someone who can understand where the game is going from a technology point of view, science point of view, as well as on ground.

53 people were interviewed during the review.

Patrick Smith put it to Smorgon that Rocket did not respect Rose due to his lack of football background. Smorgon said that that may be the case.

Williams and Everitt put on 5kg each

Scott Clayton about to sign a contract

Disconect between footy dept and coach, but no dispute between the players and coach.

[Mantis]

Interesting stuff....It is strange that Eade isn't here when all this comes out. Not to defend himself, but to show that the club is unified. This is big and I don't think it is great that the key man of the footy department over the past 3 years is not here.

[LostDoggy]

Interesting stuff....It is strange that Eade isn't here when all this comes out. Not to defend himself, but to show that the club is unified. This is big and I don't think it is great that the key man of the footy department over the past 3 years is not here.

They have done Eade a favour by him not being here but I agree that ideally he should be here to present a united front. I think the real concern might be if something else unravels in the next couple of weeks and I think there is a chance something will.

It does leave Smorgon to do what he does best and that is put out the bushfires.

Eade will return just prior to draft day and will get all enthused about our recruits and hopefully thgis will divert everything away from these issues and having the supporters and media all looking forward.

[The Coon Dog]

I think the real concern might be if something else unravels in the next couple of weeks and I think there is a chance something will.

Anything you can divulge here BB?

[LostDoggy]

What has happened to the football department recently
* An alignment with Willamstown was formed but without any real detail on why it will be better than the Werribee one.

Anything you can divulge here BB?

I think there is some outstanding issues here.

[Bulldog Revolution]

Interesting stuff....It is strange that Eade isn't here when all this comes out. Not to defend himself, but to show that the club is unified. This is big and I don't think it is great that the key man of the footy department over the past 3 years is not here.

I think its pretty understandable that Eade takes a break after a very tough year. He needs to recharge and prepare for the battle ahead.

I think whilst the results have only just been released to the public they have been informing all the changes (Gotch, Barnes, Dean, Dalrymple, Footy Manager) that have been made in the football department.

Call me the optimist but I think it is better times ahead. We have a lot of new coaches and will have new players who will bring their own enthusiasm. We hired Eade to coach and I still have faith in him to do that job. The club has to take a large part of the responsibility for loading on to him duties to which he was either not suited, or not the best allocation of his time.

There are very few AFL coaches who have not had a bad year - if they are smart the learn from those experiences and emerge to fight again another day.

[LostDoggy]

Doesn't today's news really make a goose out of Mark Robinson's interview with Eade a couple of weeks back?

If anyone missed it have a look here

http://woof.net.au/forum/showthread.php?t=1292

[GVGjr]

My brief take on all this is:

Rocket underestimated the CEO and the President's need for clear communication.
The job was too big for any one man.
Rocket still has some areas that he needs to improve with.
Rocket will be far better with just focusing on coaching.

Full steam ahead for 2008.

[Bulldog Revolution]

Doesn't today's news really make a goose out of Mark Robinson's interview with Eade a couple of weeks back?

If anyone missed it have a look here

http://woof.net.au/forum/showthread.php?t=1292

I wondered if Eade basically just said I wont answer any questions on those topics and so Robinson decided that it wasn't the approach he would take

[LostDoggy]

I wondered if Eade basically just said I wont answer any questions on those topics and so Robinson decided that it wasn't the approach he would take

I don't read it that way. Robbo had a bit of a crack at the club and Eade in an article a few days earlier then didn't follow through with it. I think he is just too friendly with Eade.

Anyway if Eade is putting those conditions on his appearance on the show then he should give it away. He doesn't say much anyway at the best of times.