Stripes ...I agree with you entirely. Very well thought out and reasoned post.
A few years ago, I spoke with Steve Alessio when he was an assistant at Tigerland in 05. He said the biggest thing he saw was that the Tigers lacked leadership. Leadership in the way he knew it at Essendon...Daniher hands it down to Watson who hands it down to Hird who hands it down to Lloyd etc...
We have been bereft of true on field quality leadership. I have no issue with Knights Campbell Johnson...all great guys but non in the Buckley Hird Voss league as far as on field leadership...
Another thing about our list Alessio noted back then, is that we are too quiet as a group...and to a large extent we still are..
Our team fears losing/failure instead of embracing success. It is like standing on a golf course about to tee off and your mate says...watch out there is a lake on the left...dont hit it there...You think..i cant hit it left..i cant hit it left...What do you do...you hit it left and into the lake. It is negativity of thought.
The Hawks' Kennett said : "We will have 50000 members and win a flag by 2009". When he said that - i, like most people, thought he was looney. But he was right...Positivity of thought can carry you a long way.
Leadership and culture need to change...and you are right so too does the game plan...but does he have the cattle to implent a different game plan or is he stuck with the cattle the recruiters have delivered to him.
The recruiters need to stand up and take some of the blame...They do a great job...tireless hours..scouring the countryside...but sometimes their calls on players are wrong...and we seem to have made less progress than other teams that were down the bottom of the ladder in 04 (ex hawks and bulldogs and blues).