Most members on here may not be aware just how close we came to losing the vote at the AGM a few years back which ultimately lead to the club reforms
I was at that meeting and there were 2 votes that night, the first was to vote in the reforms to the club constitution put forward by Max and the second was to vote in postal / electronic voting for future AMGs
The first vote was defeated by less than 10 votes, there was a short break before the next vote
some of Roy Spagnolo's guys who were voting in a block against the reforms left to go home
The next vote was held it we got the 75% majority we needed which meant members coukd cast postal votes etc at the next AGM
The next AGM saw the reforms get up and that lead to the better governance we have now
HOWEVER.....
My concern is this and I'm not the first person to say it
Whilst men like Jim and the other two boards have given us steady and calm leadership and management it's not ideal
Ultimately the key football department appointments are made by the board, Head of football and head NRL coach, As well as general manager of the football club.
But if the people making the appointments have a deficiency of football club success and knowing what successful football club people look like then how can we blame the people they appoint for their failures
People sometimes or often say professional football or sporting clubs are like big businesses simply because they have millions of dollars in expenses and operating costs and staff
But winning football competitions requires the best football people who know what they are doing from the top down in all of the key positions and the margins for error are small and it is not like running a business.
my main concern is our board and Jim are fine good quality people who are serving the club honestly and selflessly and making the best decisions they can given their backgrounds- most of which are solid professionals with string governance credential
but if they can't spot the right people when it's time to appoint a key person ( like BA or Mark O'Neil or Jim Sarsntinos) then we will continue to fall short
Winning comps is like making a cake - you need to know the right ingredients and how to cook it
reading between the lines I'd guess that our head coach and head of football are not on the same page with how to win a comp and build a winning team - that spells disaster
Jim doesn't have the footy experience to know what to do instinctively- not his fault - will lead an end of year review and make a conservative decision with the board
Contrast this to the Melbourne Storm
Matthew Trippe - Frank Panisi and Craig Bellamy all on the same page - all agree on the recipe and methods and all they do is go out and find the right ingredients
we don't appear to be on the same page with the right ingredients or how to cook the cake... no wonder our season crumbles away when it really matters
Replies
Could you hire a bigger pair of mick mock , Doofus's than Kidwell and O'Neil .
Good point
What I think I'd bring back Dennis Fitzgerald lol
Or head-hunter a proven sports administrator with success and give them full reign to do what they want.
Imagine a Fitzy , Brain Smith , Dan Ando and Jason Taylor reunion. It'd be like a John Farnham retirement tour. " One last time , again "
Fitzy wouid simply have O'Neils and the current coaching staffs cars towed off the premises.
With a blog referencing cakes I thought for sure you'd be making the immediate jump to cream pies :)
Hahaha ! Someone's been watching too much PornHub during lockdown.
I'm bored. I'm very, very bored....
Actually mate, bit of a coincidence you say that. I actually went to the office last night and another bloke was there. He mentioned that he had completely drained the content he liked on xvideos. I referred him to pornhub for which he was most grateful.
He hadn't heard of pornhub, can you believe that?
Where is Phil Simms in all this? Can he not be a voice of the tragic suuporters that follow this club?
Calvin it is Phil Sim and he is on the Leagues club board and not the football club.
Wiz, you make a mockery of people without really knowing who your knocking and why? If you told me you had some personal knowledge then I might take some notice/
Embers, this is a great blog, thought provoking and knowledgable to a point....the point being is I do not know the footy IQ of Saratinos or for that matter the other board members. I am guessing you may not either, but I stand to be corrected and I am not disputing your assumptions, probably agreeing.
Notwithstanding that the points you raise need to be understood by the board themselves if those shortcomings are real. It may be that Saratinos is a rusted on Parra Tragic that has a deep knowledge of Rugby League and maybe sport in General. Many of the punters on this site think they know something about the game but when they comment it is pretty obvious it is pretty thin. No more so than Calvin's post on this blog.Do we need to have a voice of Tragic supporters back to the club? No, they wouuld be as embarrassing as having Wiz as a diplomat.
I was having a Tuesday discussion with Doc Wong and we were touching on how things may happen which causes us to lose out chasing the X level player. Wongy is a very asute man for a medico and someone who makes a number of salient points on this forum.
Lets assume through good management we set a price ceiling on players we want to purchase, lets assume we went to 650 for Kotoni Staggs and 500 for JAC, now those two reputably went for 800 and 550 respectively. Now without getting lost on the subjectivity of the right price or what we should have paid, lets look at it the way your blog implies (the main point for my liking). i.e. A benevolent dictatorial and knowledgeable management would have said, I want those two and if we are close enough, we will not lose them. They also know that those type of players cannot be picked off the vine if you miss them.
Politis, Ponissi etc would just make it happen, because they know that you are not going to get established X level players as a bargain. They also know they need those type of players to make the difference of being a top 6 club or a top 2 club and breaking their self made rules. I have a saying of never be rigid making rules, inevitably you will need to break them.
I believe that O'Neill is actually pretty smart and doing a good job, he is just not hard enough yet to asert himself in the fashion required. Maybe Jim Saratinos should seek out a few hard heads and have a chat to them about the things we are talking about, it doesn't take long for a smart man to take on some sage advice.
In summary Embers a great blog, I hope there is a way to subtley get that message through other than using the diplomatic corridoors that members of this site love not to travel.
Hi Poppa, I have no inside knowledge of those on the board other than their CV and there's not a lot of experience there in running winning football clubs - however I think you are right about Mark and Jim
When BA says things like "I've never complained about the teams I've been given" that says two things
1. he's just never complained
2. he's been given the team perhaps not the team he wanted - not making excuses for his results
A more senior coach like a Bennett or Robbo Woukd just get their way and wouldn't sign on without that proviso, it's probably a bit of inexperience on all parties to not have this alignment - BA probably not being assertive enough as a rookie and the for the others
Yes Embers, it's an evolutionary process and the perfect "map" is still to be written. I have a feeling that BA has never been given much as a human being, other than being a good bloke and a hard worker. He is not likely to do an Oliver Twist and go up with his empty bowl and say I want more.
This is an illustration of why BA's time is up. He has done his job, we need a more advanced chef in the kitchen now.....
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