Richmond Tigers focus on Neil BalmeMichael Gleeson
The Age
7 September 2016Within minutes the focus of Richmond's Focus on Footy ticket appeared to narrow to a simpler vision: Focus on Balme.
The problem with this tight focus on Neil Balme as a football panacea was two-fold and the first was rapidly apparent – they hadn't asked Neil. Obviously you can't hire someone until you have the job yourself, but putting even that aside, it was a clumsy move to nominate who you want before you've spoken to them.
Balme wanted no part of it. Not necessarily the job, mind you, just the politics. He didn't want to be dropped into the middle of an election. But it was a bit late for that by then – he had already been dropped in the middle of it.
Still it is nice to be wanted – it made a change to how he would have felt at Collingwood.
The second problem for the Focus on Footy ticket was this: the incumbent board was already looking at Balme, contemplating the former premiership player for a role at the club. Plainly there is an acknowledgement of an obvious and logical symmetry between the need at Richmond and the apparent lack of want at Collingwood.
The simplest political manoeuvre that the Richmond board could thus offer to squeeze the rebel ticket would be to appoint Balme.
Where would that leave the Focus on Footy ticket? The large part of their football plan involved hiring Balme to the newly titled (but still essentially the same football director role) called CEO of football. True they eventually said "if not Balme then someone of his calibre", but the messaging was clearly "we want Balme".
Without that as an element of their plan the main traction the Focus on Footy group would hope to draw is in the empathy they offer to the disenchanted fan frustrated to the point of disgust with what they have endured on the field.
The smartest political move the Focus on Footy group could have made – which is not to say necessarily the right move merely the smarter move to differentiate themselves from the board and validate themselves as a new broom – would have been to say "we would sack [Damien] Hardwick and we have the cash pay him out".
This would have been a far better political sell than the message they ended up with, which was "we want Hardwick, but not his game plan ... in fact we really don't want Hardwick either but we are stuck with him".
Later on the day of the launch they outright admitted that they were saddled with the two-year contract that the previous board signed Hardwick to and they could not afford to pay him out. They would only guarantee him his job next year but not beyond.
So they did not make sacking Hardwick their pitch because they either do not have the financial backer to fund the payout, or they do not want to waste money in this way.
The rebel ticket want the recruiting overturned but that too has been telegraphed by Brendon Gale's executive team and the ongoing review, which has already seen an overhaul of the assistant coaches. It would appear only a matter of time and timing before further changes occur in recruiting or list management.
(It would incidentally be an unenvious position to be in this week to be the Richmond person returning to the management of Dion Prestia or sounding out Jaeger O'Meara or Jack Steele for instance and insisting that Richmond should be their club of choice.)
If nothing else what the Focus on Footy ticket has done is flush out Peggy O'Neal to deliver the sort of response too long lacking at Richmond.
O'Neal is well respected in the AFL as sharp as a whip and effective. She can make a decision and has clarity around her thinking but she has also plainly preferred the back room to the front.
Clubs are member-based organisations and so the boards and their presidents – at all clubs – do well to remember they need to not only speak for the members they need to speak to them.
On Monday at her press conference there was the strength, the anger and the sense of understanding and empathy Richmond's membership has wanted to hear. In short there was leadership.
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-2016-richmond-tigers-focus-on-neil-balme-20160906-gra7jk.html
