Does not even compare…

Daniher quit.
Connolly was sacked after a poor finish to the season
Pagan sacked because Carlton got smashed for a month
Sheedy was moved on due to age and club direction.

Not one of those compares to the ruthlessness that has been seen in the past three years.

Swing and a miss buddy.

The great irony of all this.

Three years ago when it came down to two candidates, Burns and Sanderson. It was Sanderson who got the job because he was positive about the list whereas Burns believed it was a clean out that was needed. Sanderson was super confident about the list and that got him the job.

Three years on and Sanderson gets the sack for keeping that positive vibe and now the board don’t.

CRAZY!

Get Burns back in for an interview.

Thanks for making my point. Ratten was sacked post 2011 in this new world for coaching.

Okay. Research time.

Last three years sackings that were ruthless
2014 Sanderson – Ruthless business sacking
2013 Voss – Ruthless business sacking
2013 Watters – Ruthless business sacking
2013 Neeld – Ruthless business sacking
2012 Ratten – Ruthless business sacking
2011 Harvey – Ruthless business sacking

Go and find me six examples better then that from history previous… Hint. There isn’t any.

It is a new world for coaches. This is far different then prior to 2010.

Was not just the playing group. As I said this was a perfect storm of a movement, underperformance and a new admin wanting to make waves. Waves made.

It is different because clubs are making these decisions in the moment with little regard to the past nor the future.

Norm Smith missed one game. It is stupid to compare and if anything aids my argument that the Australian way has always been different to coaches. People power allowed Smith another two albeit unsuccessful seasons. If Smith had been sacked and stayed sacked you may have a point. But alas. You don’t.

Yes, coaches have always been sacked.

Never in the ruthless way that the last three years has shown.

TomC,
Thanks for the feedback. Probably should have clarified the Buckley comment more to add ‘beat two hall of famers to the Norm Smith’. As for Black I probably had him taking the mantle during the finals of 2000. I think Ratten was the best midfielder towards the end of the season with Black taking the title after Carlton’s finals elimination.

Johno,
Fair point you raise on Bairstow, however my opinion was that Couch had him for consistency while Bairstow had some much bigger individual games.

Ok to follow up on some of the queries:

Balthazar,
I think that Kennedy was the start of the new breed of big bodied midfielders. Fremantle have taken it to a new level with Fyfe, Mundy and Barlow all in the big bodied midfield category. To me the closest comparison that can be made to Fyfe is Hird, and as good as he was as a player even he was never the best midfielder in the game at any one time.

Fussball,
You raise good points around 1991 as Hawthorn and West Coast both had very good midfields. From what I remember though West Coast were more notably led by a strong defence and Hawthorn by a strong attack. Couch never seemed to play a bad game and was the most consistent midfielder in 1991.

Don Freo,
Cousins best years were in the 2000’s when I believe his teammate Chris Judd was far more influential to the success of the Eagles over that era. Prior to that you could make a case of Cousins over Black, but Black was winning premierships at that time. Buckley in 2003 and Ratten in 1999 is undisputed to me. May be a touch unlucky on Cousins, but there are always good midfielders that are great, but maybe not the number one.

As always appreciate the ongoing feedback and support.

Thanks for taking the time to read and comment. In order of appearance:

MH,
You raise fair points about both Pendlebury and Fyfe being deserving of the current belt. However I think what Kennedy is doing with the current premiership favourite deserves recognition. Pendlebury has been down on his usual best this year and I still don’t know if Fyfe has the proven track record to be a better option then Kennedy right now. Personally I believe Kennedy is paving the way for guys like Fyfe to be midfield stars and thought he deserved recognition.

Bosk,
Agree 100% with what you say. A travesty that Kennedy would not be recognised in an award like that. More to AFL then the Brownlow though.

Lewis,
Fair point you raise on Voss. I guess Voss was always a very good big game player as opposed to maybe the best midfielder at any particular time. Voss had great seasons in 1996 and in the early 2000’s; but it was more as a big game player that he was renowned for. If I had a Money in the Bank for best big game performer, he would hold frequent briefcase runs.

As always appreciate the feedback and support of the piece, in order of appearance:

Dylan,
Fair point around Hurn, he may not have been the best example, but then again a contract is not worth the paper it is written on now with trading and free agency so relevant. The point was more then Lycett and Hurn and really about all South Australian’s who come to play at the Adelaide Oval. It is a great selling point that the two SA clubs have to young croweaters who may have dreamed of playing at a stadium like that in front of friends and family every second week.

Pope Paul,
But remember last year GWS actively tried to shop their top pick in the draft but could not get what they thought was adequate value. In the end they ended up with picks one and two and went with the best tall and the best mid projected going into the draft. However I would suggest that the selection of Boyd is backfiring on them. This year there are continued questions about the viability of a Patton-Cameron-Boyd forward trio and serious discussions appear to be going on with the trading of Cameron who 12 months ago seemed untouchable. The only reason he is not touchable is because of GWS making a draft day blunder with the number one pick. Perhaps they have learnt from last year and will take Petracca but I doubt they will be able to trade down. It is just too hard to trade high draft picks in the AFL.

Gecko;
Thanks for the kind words. I just think it is going to be a tough spot for GWS to be in. The best players projected in this draft seem to be tall players and I can imagine it would be hard to go away from that. But for the sake of list management GWS need to look beyond the top two talls.

Balthazar;
It is definitley a tough one to predict and tip this week between Fremantle and Geelong. I think I may be leaning towards Fremantle though. I think that the reason they are so good on the longer break is that they completley structure and focus down on how they want to beat their opponents and I think they are going to shut down the Geelong playmakers in this game. Will see, promises to be a beauty.

Brad,
Yep, a lot would have to right for West Coast and RIchmond. I think they both miss finals by a game or two when it is all said and done.

Anthony,
Can’t explain they psyche of an Adelaide fan, but for a neutral fan, Adelaide are playing in the most attractive games because of their desire to attack first and allow their opponents to play attacking football too. Over the past six weeks they have played in a number of the better games of each round. Vs West Coast, Vs Port Adelaide, Vs Essendon, Vs Hawthorn, Vs Collingwood.

Appreciate all the feedback as always, in order of appearance:

Trev,
Like the points you raise. I too think you can only respect how Geelong have gone about it for the past decade. Sydney it is debatable. I think youy have to at least respect what the players do week in and week out. Whether you respect how their administration and what the AFL has done to grow their team is debatable.

Christo,
I think the easy argument to make against COLA is that teams all have their own advantages. Sydney get it with salary cap relief and Collingwood get it with commercial strength allowing them to dominate in other off field areas. I believe the irony of Eddie being the one who is most vocal against Sydney is that his club enjoys just a strong as an advantage, albeit his advantage has come through a lot of hard work and marketing as opposed to just being given an advantage.

Michael,
It has been an injury plagued year for the Hawks. Roar expert Glenn Mitchell wrote a piece about them being the most impressive team and I think it is hard to aruge that. However having been to the last two Grand finals means you are playing more games each year and as much as clubs prepare for it, I think it has an impact late in the year. Recent history says it is very hard to go to three straight Grand finals and even harder to win back to back. I do agree with you it could be any of the top five, hopefully the percentages reflect that five teams have a reasonable chance.

Tim Holt,
Like your percentage breakdown and appreciate you going into the detail you did. Just a couple of comments I would make, I think Geelong’s campaign is about the youth of the list wanting to win a premiership and join with their veteran premiership teammates. Fremantle have proven over the past two years they are the most dangerous travelling team in finals. Don’t need top two. Agree with your points on Port and North though.

Gene,
Two great points you raise. Geelong have got options up forward now and in finals give me proven defences any day of the week.

TG,
Essendon, I do not know how I even missed them. I don’t know how they can stack the deck. But the AFL DO NOT want Essendon in the Grand final. The AFL ususally get what they want. No chance for the Bombers.

Peter B,
I think with Sydney I wanted to highlight the flaws because all I have heard for the past month is the positives and why they are a shoe in for the Grand final. They still need a lot to go right to make it there. I do however at least need to admit that there is a strong chance.

Rick D,
Not sure what to say. Guess this is my opinion and you have every right to disagree with it and I really don’t care if the bookies agree with me or not. I’m not doing this for profit, simply to give a fresh perspective. In terms of my research I am looking at a wider picture and that no team has gone back to back since 1998. That no team has made three straight Grand finals (replay excluded) since Geelong in 09. It is very hard to keep going back to Grand finals and that is why my percentage has Hawthorn so low. It would shock me if Hawthorn made it back to the Grand final despite how good a team they are.

Rossco,
Would be a great Grand final if it happened. I don’t think it will be though. Personally I think a team from down the highway and a team in purple could be the September surprise packet.

New York Hawk,
Was written this week actually. History lesson, in 2008 Hawthorn was 9-0 mastering a revolutionary game style they had played for a couple of seasons and had got them to finals but not quite to top four. They stuttered to 6-5 over the next 11 weeks as the questions came on whether they had been found out. They had two big wins over West Coast and Carlton leading into finals recapturing their best form when it mattered most with three impressive finals wins including knocking off Geelong in the GF. Port Adelaide were 10-1 mastering a revolutionary game style that had led them to finals the year earlier before stuttering 2-4 over the next 6 weeks with people questioning if they had been found out…. Now you tell me New York Hawk. Is that a fair comparison?

Gene,
Appreciate mate. You seem to be doing the defending for me. I apprecaite it!

As always thanks for the support and giving your opinion on my opinion.

Again, appreciate the feedback, and in order of appearance:

Mac,
I reckon you would take six premiership medals, one for each of them as a top starting point.

Gecko,
That is the beauty of the future. We don’t know what is coming. Doesn’t stop us from speculating and I don’t think you can deny the links that are there to the Geelong of 2001 group.

The Pedge,
Wouldn’t be so sure on Aish. I believe that Brisbane have been burnt by not welcoming their youth and have learnt a number of key lessons that will be used on the ‘Fix Six’. You look at Aish and he appears a player that has really bought into the club. He reminds me a lot of Simon Black going over from WA, the talk was he would always go back to Perth, but it never happend. I back Brisbane in, I think they keep these six.

Malahka,
Haha, I have been writing daily on and off about the AFL for five seasons. I’ve had some good calls over that time and I have had some shockers. Key is I always own my calls, good, bad or indifferent.

Geoff,
Not quite sure what you are trying to get acorss here. As I said, yes it is a different game now, but the similarities of the group are there with or without the stats. Don’t get what point you are making on Playfair/Gardiner Vs Ablett/Bartel. If anything you are strengthening my argument because the performance of those Cats in the first year replicated exactly what happened over their careers. If the ‘Fix Six’ follow the same process, Brisbane are winning a flag with this group for sure.

As always apprecaite all responses and feedback, best of luck to your team over the weekend.

Great call Josh,

You could see last year that the kid could just play. It still amazes me that in all the testing that is done after the season, the biggest question. CAN THE KID ACTUALLY PLAY? never seems to be asked.

A dam shame he is in Brisbane because both Taylor and Aish I believe are two of the best three rookies for the year. You can make a case for Bontempelli, but he hasn’t done it over the season, you could make a case for Langdon but he has struggled for an extended period late and McDonald struggled a little bit early in the year. In my personal opinion it is between Taylor, Aish and Dunstan who should be your top three. However they simply haven’t got the profile in what is a Victorian centric judging panel.

Thanks Mister Football appreciate you posting that information.

Whether it is ex-pats or whether it is just new followers to the game; internationally Aussie Rules is growing. Again i believe the AFL should be taking every chance to promote their game to any potential international following.

Appreciate all the feedback as always and in order of appearance:

SportsfanGC,
You raise an excellent point about this years draft, potentially another three top 25 picks will be the icing on top. Maybe a couple of forwards and another midfielder and the list really starts to come together down the line.

Jack Smith,
Like the point you make about Brisbane expectation going into this year. Remember they had a fairly good 2013 and there was some hope in 2014. Now if they can get full seasons from Rich, Leunberger etc… this starts to look a dangerous team and you may very well be right about a surprise packet for 2015. of course the only caution is the second year blues hitting the ‘Fix Six’.

TomC,
Stranger things have happened. On paper Brisbane will be a more dangerous team then an Ablett-less Suns and GWS in 2015.

Mister Football,
Appreciate the feedback. I have been writing pretty heavily on the AFL for the past five years and this was one of the most fun pieces that I have put together. Dunno what it was, but had fun with the research, had fun writing it and at the end thought it came across the way I wanted. Thanks for the feedback.

Paul,
I think that you will. Brisbane are doing a lot of work on the culture and it is a heavy focus to retain this group. I think they will.

John,
Of course this is all speculation at this point; but history says good things.

Slane,
Two great points you raise.Yes, the game is very different now and how rookies are treated is different and the second point on the 2001 draft being an all-timer. Brisbane is certainly a different looking team then a number of other AFL sides, however maybe they are the start of a new trend. And as much as no draft will every top 2001, I do believe this 2013 will be considered a great draft in a decade time. It may not have had as much top end game changing players, but it does bat deep. For that reason I think Brisbane got the perfect draft for what they wanted and have made the most of what was a tough situation 9 months ago.

As always thanks for having input fellow Roarers.

TomC,
Appreciate the feedback and response.

Geelong’s as stated was more about trying to rejuvenate a list under Mark Thompson. I think the Cats realised they needed new players to be a contender, but at the same time they did not give up an marquee names so they could stay competitive. That to some extent may explain the average and games discrepancy.

However, as I stated throughout, the similarities are striking. If Brisbane do become a force over the next 10 years it will be traced to this very draft. Much as the Geelong 2001 draft was not really spoken about at the time, over the years it has become the benchmark that all list managers strive for. I think Brisbane found it in 2013.

Really like the point you raise about how they have managed their debutantes, especially the two defenders who clearly play the toughest role for a young player in the game. Full credit to Justin Leppitsch and I as one neutral fan look forward to tracking their development over the next five years. Exciting times north of the border I believe.

Grassroots,
Great point you raise. As disappointing and as tough as the times were under Voss towards the end, it has allowed Brisbane to take a deep look at themselves and they seem to have learnt the lessons of mismanaging talent and have really put a strong model that focuses on developing talent both on and off field. Agree, two years ago going into Brisbane was like entering a toxic culture. Now thanks to the hard work of a number of people any young player should be delighted if their name is called to Brisbane on draft night. Thanks for your input Grassroots, always appreciate the reads and the further analysis.

In order of appearance:

Tesla,
You will notice a distinct lack of key position players in this list. Why? Because key position players tend to have a smaller window of being at their peak and typically do not reach their peak to later in their careers. Hence why personally I would say that key position players are a stay away for long contracts.

Gregor,
While Darling is not a key position player, I think Darling’s peak is still a few years away yet and that after his peak he will fall away quicker then most midfielders. The way he throws his body around you would probably hesitate with a nine year contract. The more I look at my list, I dislike having Dangerfield in there for that reason and would probably have him replaced if I were to update.

Thanks for the input though guys, always appreciate the debate.

Didn’t expect this debate to intensify so much.

A few points:

* Going global to me, means getting the game visual in different markets across the world. Going global is important in my opinion as it helps with getting more money into the sport. The AFL should never had an ambition for Aussie Rules to be played professionally elsewhere. Think the way NFL is covered here where Channel 7 pay or Gaelic Football is covered on Setana. Both those sports have a presence in Australia and benefit financially from this. That is what going global means to me.

* Soccer, cricket, Australian Rules are all great sports played in Australia. Personally i love them all and would love to see more and more of them. Hence why I want a longer AFL season, I would be all for a Cricket World Cup every year as well as a FIFA World Cup every year. The debate between these sports in this piece to me as a sports lover is bizarre.

* Foremost this piece was trying to also highlight that the McLachlan era has been one of inclusion and timidness as opposed to the Demetriou era that was a series of bold risks. I don’t think enough is being said about what McLachlan is doing in comparison to what Demetriou did.

Fiver,
Statistically AFL players are underpaid considering the revenue of the game. I can’t see how anyone can argue against AFL players getting a payrise if revenue continues to increase. It is funny that we like to say we could not have a game without umpires, but players are what we need fundamentally and are why we watch each and every week. If AFL can expand globally and can increase its revenue streams then absolutely they deserve more money.

Worlds Biggest,
Fair point you make in that maybe there won’t be as many travellers as is being muted by Cricket Australia and Tourism Australia. In that case it makes even more sense for the AFL to not be interrupted and start their season in mid-March. The NRL and Super Rugby are still going to start their seasons next March and so if the AFL truly do want to make inroads in the northern states as they have claimed over the past two years, you cannot again give NRL and Super Rugby a no contest win.

Thanks for all the feedback and debate, didn’t expect this one to generate quite so much interest so quick, but very appreciative of all those that have gotten involved. In order of appearance:

Greg,
The FIFA World Cup was something I did not even consider when I was writing this piece. You raise an interesting point though about the support the AFL has given to one as opposed to the other. As others have touched on, I guess it is the high level of impact that the World Cup would have on the AFL season. In reality though, did Australia ever really have a chance to host the FIFA World Cup considering it would be a nightmare for most of Europe, Africa and America for viewers.

Casper,
While cricket historically is a part of the fabric looking at Gen Y coming through, you could say that within a generation football will be a bigger deal then cricket through summer months.

Gene,
Like the argument you make given Aussie Rules and Football are really competing brands. Not sure if you can use the historical link in cricket and Aussie Rules argument though as we are talking about the business of sport now and those old school values of cricket in summer and Aussie Rules in winter are a distant memory.

Rodney,
As mentioned in the piece, the AFL could get around lack of availability to the MCG, SCG and Adelaide Oval. It would be tough but they could run three weekends without any of these three grounds.

Flick,
Agree with you, FIFA World Cup was not going to come here.

Perry Bridge,
Like the point you raise. If the FIFA World Cup had have come down here, AFL would have ironed out the minor details. There is a difference as the ICC World Cup is a real, the FIFA World Cup is fantasy talk at the moment.

Gene, Perry, AR, Epiquin,
The global thing is massive. We are talking about $1 billion in TV rights in Australia. That is small change for countries like UK, China, India, USA etc… If we could find a way to promote our game to one of those four markets and get real true belief in the game and viewership from those countries, then you could theoretically double, triple or quadruple the amount of money that is coming into the game. Get more money into the game and that means that players can get paid more, more money can be put into grassroots and as a whole the game will be in a better position. Going global sets the game up for life.

We as fans all love our game. We all think it is a great game to watch. Why then do we shy away from taking our game to the world?

Bosk,
How much are you selling that property for? Beachfront… Ayers Rock… Beautiful… Sounds like a must have.

Seriously though, agree with you that Sydney are only interested in one thing and that is the ongoing success of the Swans in the NSW market. The problem is the AFL have the exact same agenda and desire where they too want ongoing success. It is easy to see why the AFL and Sydney always seem to get along so well. They both want the same thing.

Not sure where you picked the Crows man from? My podcast co-host Mike is an Adelaide man and is still to this day dirty about Tippett leaving. But I follow a different team. Regular listerners to the ‘Mike to Cam Show’ will know who my team is.

Appreciate your feedback Bosk.

Appreciate the feedback and support as well as the debate this topic has drawn up. In order of appearance:

Ando,
You may have a point with Sloane over Dangerfield as I know a number of the Crows fans I am mates with prefer Sloane to Dangerfield. As a neutral though, I think the vast majority like the explosiveness and the all round game of Dangerfield. The injury concerns will always be one of the reasons why you would hesitate in committing long term.

Radelaide,
Great point and I did cover on it briefly. In some regards it may be a surprise if Dangerfield is still going in nine years time. That is the beauty of the future, we just never know.

Don Freo,
Don’t give the AFL an idea… If this happens Don, I come after you.

Josh Hamilton,
Three years. That would be underacheieving with these nine. Give me a premiership within two!

Gecko,
Two excellent points that you raise. One the long term deal gives flexibility to clubs and because we don’t know how wages and salaries are going to rise over the next ten years. There is a lot of negative talk about long term deals, but as your rightly point out, as long as the unthinkable long term injury doesn’t happen there are always ways to milk the system and rework potential contracts. One of the less considered ideas behind the contract that Franklin has, is what happens if he opts to retire? It would be hard to see the AFL being able to enforce the salary in their cap room if it was Franklin’s choice to walk away from the contract. How Franklin’s situation is handled at its conclusion to me is the greatest unknown of the whole saga and will dicatate what loopholes clubs can use in the future. If Sydney can lose Franklin and not be charged to their cap and if the AFL has not closed long term deals, pandora’s box may very well be open. Great points though Gecko.

Bosk,
We had a brief period in 2013 where every contract seemed to be five years with clubs believing that was how to beat free agency. However you are right in recent memory long term deals are now few and far between especially this year. It is probably only the Swans and the AFL that know the intimtate details of the Franklin contract. As a neutral fan, should I believe that the AFL and Sydney are looking out for the game as a whole, or pushing the Sydney agenda. I know which one I believe.

Andy Roo,
100% correct in literal thinking that nine years is a massive risk. I still remain unconvinced on what the AFL would do in the event of a career ending injury though. If the AFL would happily bail out the club; then the risk you are talking about is mitigated. In America they have had to put stingent rules on contracts because owners and general managers were killing clubs. In most cases the team who makes the flaws is lumped with it. In the AFL I do not think the commission would want a team to struggle. Will be interesting days down the line I am sure. Thanks for the input Andy.