Drum roll ........ And our new captain is ......!

[Desipura]

No problems but that's an easy assumption for me to make when what you quoted of mine does not say that we have a strong leadership group.
For the record I have said a few times that we never had a true standout. We have depth, but not genuine standouts.
Cooney might go close once he gets a few more runs under his belt.

Can I ask why you see Ward as a potential leader?

I see Ward as a potential leader due to the way he plays, his no nonsense approach and hardness not only at the ball but his opponent as well.
I can recall in his first game the ball going out of bounds and he thought he would take it upon himself and give his opponent a hip and shoulder as a show of strength.
Being his first game, that showed me he is not intimidated. I see him as a potential Scott Burns type player, he still needs to mature as a player and person, not much different to most kids his age.

[Desipura]

Nice post with some good points (re balance).
In the Herald article , he kind of stakes his claim as being the the 'blunt ' type. . . I just hope he doesn't pidgeon hole himself and is able to adapt. His intensity obviously worked well for him, but some characters like this find it hard to remember their communication style doesn't always work that way for others.

He is aware that he needs to speak to different players differently. He spoke about how you need to know the personality of the player to know how to approach them. It's 2011, not 1971, Boydy will be fine.

[GVGjr]

Was thinking the exact same thing, regardless if he is injured, he should have been in the very first picture I would have thought.

I agree. He's a great chance to be the next captain so I would have thought he would be very prominent in the picture.

[Mantis]

With respect Mantis, that isn't relevant, my argument is not about what I think of his performance. I've offered no opinion, what I've tried to do is to highlight what seems to be a counter factual argument certain posters been running ad naseum for a few months and squeezing out counter voices.

Others have and used this in raising concerns about his appointment.

What I'm suggesting is that they have come to conclusions about our new skipper completely at divergence with
1. his overall long term and current achievements and reputation, by the way I left out that he was also an All-Australian, all earned solely through hard work and determination
2. the opinion of the match committee
3. a host of others around the club outside the process, including the immediate past skipper.

Agree with these points, except for the All Australian bit... I'm completely over the way the AA team is picked and I think it's lost relevance.

Do you think that the Match Committee in making this decision were unaware of what you point to and went ahead wilfully either in ignorance or unconcern for that matter?

I have no idea.

I guess that will be only be seen in the type of role he plays this year.

Or is it possible that their actions suggest that they think the matter is not fully understood, may be even got blown out of proportion and consequently have a different perspective?

Quite possibly, but from where I sat over the last 6 weeks of the season I was pretty peeved at the way Boyd played and I thought his performance's had a detrimental affect on the overall performance of the team. No doubt we were under-manned through this period, but I would have hoped that a 'senior' player would have tightened up a little, but I guess that might be just what I would have liked to have seen which goes against what the MC was instructing him to do.

Now here's my opinion; I admire what he's done and where he comes from as a footballer. I don't think he's perfect and certainly not all his performances were as he would wish. But I doubt he's blind to his imperfections, could anybody be in a team with the incumbent coach. I'd be fairly certain he'd be working on those things, as he's always done.

As do I.

He could have quite easily chucked it in when he was playing in the Frankston 2's, but it shows the resilience of the person to make it in the big league from the position he was in.

On the last point I hope he is.

My concern with the appointment is of a different order but I hope it works out and in recent years the club has not stuffed up too many of the big decisions.

I'd just be concerned about the balance of personality types; the coach is intense almost in the extreme, and while he didn't lack intensity it wasn't the keystone of Johno's personality.

Now we have an admirable captain renowned for his intensity, but is he too like the other key leader? Is there sufficient variety as no one message or style suits all types?

I guess those concerns are relevant, but I guess it's up to the rest of the MC & leadership group to ensure that there is some sound balance in the messages that they provide, but I do believe that it isn't an area of concern due the seemingly stable environment within the club, but with some key personnel changes it will be up to the incumbents to ensure this remains.

I did hear Boyd interviewed yesterday and he did mention that he had learnt through the previous captain that not all players respond to the same message if it's directed in the style with the same intensity. Boyd admitted he liked a quite blunt assessment of his performances as he responded well to this direct style, but he had learnt over the years that not all others do and this was an area of his leadership that he worked on over the years.

I guess how well he is able to pass on feedback to others will probably determine how successful he is within role, but I was buoyed by his comments that he knew this was an area of concern and it was a skill that he was going to spend a fair bit of time on as he understands how important this aspect of leadership is. And I guess what we have learnt over time is that when Boydy puts his mind to learning a new task his strong ethic ensures that he does all he can to ensure the task is ticked off.

[Mantis]

I agree. He's a great chance to be the next captain so I would have thought he would be very prominent in the picture.

I guess it would be nice to know if the photo was pre-organised or was done as a spur of the moment idea by the photographer.

One would think that if it was an organised photo that Cooney and other members of the leadership group would have been prominent in the photo.

[BulldogBelle]

Some Photo's from friday.

Had all the kids that were there to form a guard of honour.

[boydogs]

I guess it would be nice to know if the photo was pre-organised or was done as a spur of the moment idea by the photographer.

One would think that if it was an organised photo that Cooney and other members of the leadership group would have been prominent in the photo.

I think a bit much is being made of the photo. There are plenty missing from it (Higgins? Lake? Hall? Hudson?) not just Cooney. Boydy and Gia are clearly posing, but a lot of the players are out of shot or not facing the camera

[Desipura]

I guess it would be nice to know if the photo was pre-organised or was done as a spur of the moment idea by the photographer.

One would think that if it was an organised photo that Cooney and other members of the leadership group would have been prominent in the photo.

Gia was prominent

[Greystache]

Apologies if I am going over old ground,
Who was your preferred candidate again?

Morris
Cooney
Boyd
Murphy
Cross
Giansiracusa

[GVGjr]

I guess it would be nice to know if the photo was pre-organised or was done as a spur of the moment idea by the photographer.

One would think that if it was an organised photo that Cooney and other members of the leadership group would have been prominent in the photo.

When the club announced the big drum roll and countdown to the captain leading his team out to train and building up the occasion I think it's a very fair assumption to say the media would be there and pictures would be taken.
With that in mind the leadership group should have been front and centre of the picture without exception. I'm sure a reason will surface why Cooney wasn't there but it's a huge missed opportunity as far as I am concerned.
At the moment it's coming across as the sort of thing Nathan Brown used to do.

[bornadog]

When the club announced the big drum roll and countdown to the captain leading his team out to train and building up the occasion I think it's a very fair assumption to say the media would be there and pictures would be taken.
With that in mind the leadership group should have been front and centre of the picture without exception. I'm sure a reason will surface why Cooney wasn't there but it's a huge missed opportunity as far as I am concerned.
At the moment it's coming across as the sort of thing Nathan Brown used to do.

Does it really matter?

[GVGjr]

Does it really matter?

The club deliberately built up the occasion so to that end I'm 100% certain it does. Boyd led his team out followed by Cooney and Giansiracusa then the more senior players etc.
Cooney was at the ELC but then isn't prominent in the photo.

Why do you believe it doesn't matter?

[alwaysadog]

The club deliberately built up the occasion so to that end I'm 100% certain it does. Boyd led his team out followed by Cooney and Giansiracusa then the more senior players etc.
Cooney was at the ELC but then isn't prominent in the photo.

Why do you believe it doesn't matter?

This is not an answer to your question GVG but by way of amplifying an aspect of Cooney's observed character.

It's not so long ago that I recall, as I'm sure you do, Cooney being interviewed as part of a panel at the annual Player Sponsors dinner and he just texted on his mobile the whole time and had no idea about the substance of the interview. It would be easy to take offence at his actions then, but most just seemed to think it was Coons being Coons.

I've given up trying to make sense of his behaviour off the field, he's what once would have been called a cool cat and inhabits a space all his own.

For me it's hard to know if
a) he was not in the photo because he was required to be elsewhere,
b) had other matters to which he gave priority
c) was unaware that his absence would be the subject of comment
d) kept out of the photo as a snub to Matthew Boyd.
e) some or all of the above

[BulldogBelle]

Getting better at recognising players now.

The above photo is similar to the previous one and is from:
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/mat...-1225992566485

I might have Grant as Libba above. What happened to Roughead between shots - disappeared.

Who are these guys?
1.
12.
15.
17.
24.
29.
32.
33.
35.
37.
Are any wrong?

[comrade]

12 is Schofield, 29 is Picken and 37 is Dalhaus.

I reckon Grant's head can be seen directly under Gia's right ear.