Quote Originally Posted by EJ Smith View Post
...Please explain to me the link between the change of name and demanding respect on the football field.

.....
Walls questions leadership in a team loaded with talent he labels as equal to if the not the best in the competition. The game breaker, the player who gets the team over the line. Occasional and rare cameos by Johnson, Cooney, (Chris) Grant, Hawkins, none in finals, aside, since the beginning of the current, comparatively successful era commencing in the mid '80s, the club's fallen at the last hurdle consistently because of lack of such players. Why ? Murphy commented that until recently, the players were satisfied that they had the reputation for playing exciting, attacking football. Why be satisfied with that ? All the players come from the same background as the players from Brisbane (Voss/Brown), Hawthorn (Brereton/Hodge), St Kilda (Hayes/Goddard), Geelong (Hocking/Ablett) Adelaide (Jarman), Sydney (Kirk/Goodes), the U 18's, VFL, SANFL and WAFL.

The answer has to lie in the "culture" of the club. Timidity, over caution and lack of belief. The players aren't ruthless. committed and with self belief because the club doesn't demand it. Why doesn't it ? Because the club itself is soft. It takes the easy option, it lacks character. It allows the AFL to negotiate its ground deal, it hawks its symbol, the jumper, to bidders and at the behest of the marketing department, to increased sales revenue, it "sells" its home games interstate. It lacks a history of success that it can build upon however, unlike Hawthorn and North, both of which similarly lacked histories of success but sacrificed, planned and built premiership teams, it resorted to marketing and gimmicks.

That's the link.

Some of the points made in my criticism of the club may be a bit unfair in isolation but taken together a not very pretty picture emerges.