Carlton Supporters Club

Ouch, probably no greater insult than to liken me to Anthony Robbins.

Unlike Robbins, in my work when I work with my clients on such things as, say, excellence... we pull it apart to see what it means to them - then I stick around to help with the 'fallout' of change... very  unlike Robbins.

The players go through the motions, because they know, as soon as it gets hard, the coach will be sacked and it wont matter what they do anyway.

If you have value, you will be shipped off for a high draft pick.

If you are a high draft pick you will get games no matter how poorly you play.

If you are a battler, you will get dropped the first sign of a form dip.

If you play poorly, the coach will cop it in the neck and the whipping boys will wear the fallout for your inability to perform your role, irrespective of how much time someone like Plowman spends covering up someone elses mistakes. 

Players develop in spite of us not because of us, and most players fail to develop because of us.

Rinse, repeat. 

THIS is the mantra of the Carlton footy club.  22 years later, THIS is what we stand for.

Culture.

And who is responsible for building, improving and maintaining culture?

As just one example, look at the Fluffy Ducks. What they stand for; their culture is unmistakable. Newbies come in and lift to the standards expected. In some respects, the very antithesis of us.

I have formed an opinion of why nothing changes, and its not because nothing changes, its because too many changes.

I work in IT.

When we face one particular issue, the worst thing you can do, is change multiple things at once without knowing precisely what reaction you are going to have.

You need to work through the issue systematically starting with a root cause analysis.

Then you start fixing what you have perceived the issue is, starting with some of the most basic and fundamental changes and working your way down the list.

The scorched earth policy is the last resort of the IT worker *this is a wipe and reinstallation of whatever you are doing from the beginning, or a replacement of said system/device*.

We started with scorched earth and are trying to get a system online and are having people complain that its not working yet when we have barely even begun (for reference see noise re teague and ability to coach).

It's a major worry if, after 6000 players in and out, we still draft and trade players who pick and choose. SOS picked a fair few players on our list, and if he, of all people, can't recognise blokes who will play for the jumper and put in 100%, then we really should hand our licence back to the AFL, and just relive the glory days over and over. If what you say is true, we are really just wasting our time. I don't believe it's true.

Cottrell is getting a game because he puts in, couldn't get a kick at U18 level, think that tells  a story about some of our other higher fancied draftees.
Robbins is a sleazy salesman, his books are a waste of money and are over hyped like his cheesy smile and personality.

There is a bit of discussion on the Jim Parks Medal site about me believing Docherty was our best player. I am not sure that is the site we should be having those discussions. As far as I am concerned on that site it is show your cards then read them and weep.
If you check the stats and look at number of possessions and meters gained, Docherty is up there but that is not how I judge a game. I try and look at how a player plays within the context of the game. As far as I was concerned the ability of Port Adelaide to win the ball from our poor ball use going forward, decision making and lack of teaming, combined with their skills meant that the defence was under constant pressure and considering Jones, Williamson and SPS had shockers down back, the hard work of effective defending  to keep us in the game was down to Saad, Docherty, Weitering and Plowman and while Weitering got better as the game went along, I thought Docherty was the one who was always the last line of defence, putting his body on the line and playing a Captain's and team game.
I mark Walsh down because in my view, even though he gets a lot of the ball and he is very clean and his ball use is pretty good, I don't see him bringing others into the game or impacting by changing the direction of the game with the possessions he gets. I believe he has the capacity to do both of those things but he is yet to do it.
This is the last time I will explain myself.

Apologies for the Robbins reference. That was unnecessary. I have a real problem with buzzwords, because I think they can mean different things to different people, and left unresolved and unchecked, they cause more problems than they solve. We have no idea what happens behind the scenes. We have no idea whether Teague or anyone else demands ruthlessness, persistence, team work etc. Sure, I can look up 20 different dictionary definitions of such words, but how do they manifest themselves in actions ?

It's a major worry if, after 6000 players in and out, we still draft and trade players who pick and choose. SOS picked a fair few players on our list, and if he, of all people, can't recognise blokes who will play for the jumper and put in 100%, then we really should hand our licence back to the AFL, and just relive the glory days over and over. If what you say is true, we are really just wasting our time. I don't believe it's true.

There is a bit of discussion on the Jim Parks Medal site about me believing Docherty was our best player. I am not sure that is the site we should be having those discussions. As far as I am concerned on that site it is show your cards then read them and weep.
If you check the stats and look at number of possessions and meters gained, Docherty is up there but that is not how I judge a game. I try and look at how a player plays within the context of the game. As far as I was concerned the ability of Port Adelaide to win the ball from our poor ball use going forward, decision making and lack of teaming, combined with their skills meant that the defence was under constant pressure and considering Jones, Williamson and SPS had shockers down back, the hard work of effective defending  to keep us in the game was down to Saad, Docherty, Weitering and Plowman and while Weitering got better as the game went along, I thought Docherty was the one who was always the last line of defence, putting his body on the line and playing a Captain's and team game.
I mark Walsh down because in my view, even though he gets a lot of the ball and he is very clean and his ball use is pretty good, I don't see him bringing others into the game or impacting by changing the direction of the game with the possessions he gets. I believe he has the capacity to do both of those things but he is yet to do it.
This is the last time I will explain myself.

He was used primarily as a tagger in juniors but under AFL directions tagging and zones isn't a feature of play because they want more one on one contests. This leaves a lot of good footballers unable to make use of natural aerobic capacity. So it's a bit unfair to comment on his U18s form.

What point are you arguing here Paulp?

I have just outlined why the culture of the place is rotten , and you don't believe a word of it, yet the post itself is a summary of how the Carlton Football Club has performed its business since the year 2001.  We are still unable to exorcise the demons and behave the same way and I hear the fans saying it too "we are not a club to be feared anymore" is the line rolled out on these very forums, yet the reason why that is, is a cause and effect of our whole of club approach and that's what causes players not to buy in.

We have won more wooden spoons and had more high draft picks than almost any other team in the competition and still look much the same every week.  A haphazard approach to playing footy.

The repetition of that cycle causes what LP labels pavlov's dogs.  He points to the kids as being developed that way through adversity by the approach and to a degree he has nailed that.  The club is the one that is placing them in the position of adversity.  The thing is, it isn't restricted to the kids.  Its even affecting a guy like Cripps now.  Its like quicksand.  It eventually drags everyone down to a certain level.

The point of my post is a unheralded battler is getting preferred over some very fancied high picks because he works his ar$e off and will give you 100% every time he fronts up and that is great but in reality tells a tale of where we are.