Re: Blues V Bulldogs @ Princes Park (Friday Arvo Match)
Reply #128 –
Winston Churchill was an introvert :-)
And a depressive and an alcoholic. He was very good at self medicating! The Poms like their introverts... 'one should conduct one's self with decorum and dignity... one should.'
Not a bad bloke to have in a crisis though! Although, if you read Allanbrooke's autobiography, Churchill needed a lot of massaging to get the job done.
I'm an introvert but, at work I was at the extrovert end of the scale. Having lots of introverts shouldn't be a problem as long as they can develop their leadership and I think the club is well placed for that. Reading about how Judd has mentored Murphy fills me with confidence as far as leadership goes. Clunking marks and kicking goals is another matter!
It would be typical of us to blame our woes on lack of a certain personality type and again we would miss the point. Hawthorn are apparently a bunch of quiet, introverted types but it doesn't impact them on field.
Time for Carlton to stop looking for excuses and accept we are crape at identifying our weaknesses and in developing players and leaders.
You're taking the p1ss, right? Gibson, Roughhead, Mitchell... they've a lot of 'personalities' at the club. They have a good balance on the leadership team of introverts and extroverts.
No one is 'blaming' introversion. The argument is about lack of balance in personality types and is only 1 factor in our troubles at present. Player development... recruiting... just to name another 2 factors impacting our lack of success.
I worked with Roughead's aunt and have met him a couple of times; both introverts, high achievers, but introverts.
It was fashionable for a while in staff recruitment to try to achieve a balance between introverts and extroverts but it turned out to be a complete waste of time. Most of the introverts could assume an extrovert personality if their role required it, and the introverts were often better at their jobs than the extroverts (some of whom talked their way into positions that were beyond their ability).
The balance between introverts and extroverts in our club is the least of our problems (if indeed it is a problem); I'd take an introvert who can get the footy and use it well ahead of an extrovert who gets the footy occasionally and makes poor decisions.
It doesn't seem that long ago that the club was criticised for engaging Leading Teams to develop players' self belief, team ethic and leadership; what's the point of that if they can't get the footy? Player development has been one of my hobbyhorses but, on reflection, we've done extremely well developing our rookie selections, and perhaps the short window between drafting and free agency has consigned player development to the history books. While we may bemoan our inability to recruit a key forward, they aren't exactly queuing up to be drafted.
Sometimes I yearn for the good old days when footballers just had to mark the footy, kick it long or stab pass it to a leading forward, dish out a decent hip and shoulder, or ride one from an opponent.