From the President

[Baloo]

My concern is that Peggy and co have artfully created an environment where democracy and accountability are considered disruptive and anyone who dissents is dismissed as a Judas.

The Focus on Football was a classic example. Putting aside the fact that they were not even slightly media savvy and embarrassed themselves with their launch, what you had was a group of capable, professional people who were exercising their right as members to participate in the democratic process.

Essentially they said the football game style was unclear and needed changing (correct), football management was poor and needed changing (correct), recruiting was hit and miss and needed to be better (correct) and we were underachieving and should be producing better football results (correct and still is).

Not too much wrong with any of that yet their emergence was greeted with an indignant response, not based on issues but based on their right to exist.

Stability was the word Peggy used over and over again.

Instability and change equals chaos she kept spouting, when the reality was the challengers were just pushing sensible solutions to problems everyone could see.

The stability obsession is set in stone now but the thing about stability is it is only useful when the results are positive.

Didn't one of the FOF group only sign up as a member a week or so before they launched their bid?

Imagine if they won. We'd still be sitting here bemoaning that we haven't won a flag since 1980. Any committee worth their money would have done whatever was necessary to swat the FOF mob away.

Though the FOF boys did win a few fans here on PRE.

 

[Tigers of Old]

The stability obsession is set in stone now but the thing about stability is it is only useful when the results are positive.

Yes & no..If we'd turned things upside down in 2016 like we have in times past & turfed everyone out, history says we wouldn't have won our 11th Premiership.
I was as guilty as anyone in saying it was time to do that during the 2016 season.
However Peggy & co. proved that stability & the strength to believe in what they were doing was the right play.
There was pressure on them to implement some changes & they did that with Balme, assistant coaches etc. coming in.
They've got a few runs on the board now.

Of course this period of success won't last forever, nothing does but after the success of the past few seasons, I'll favour stability over chaos from here on. I feel I have learned something over this period at the club.
If things get really bad I have no doubt the supporter base will demand change again & whilst more difficult (than 200 signatures ), it will still be achievable.

 

[Al Bundy]

Didn't one of the FOF group only sign up as a member a week or so before they launched their bid?

Imagine if they won. We'd still be sitting here bemoaning that we haven't won a flag since 1980. Any committee worth their money would have done whatever was necessary to swat the FOF mob away.

Though the FOF boys did win a few fans here on PRE.

and rightlyfully so. And admittingly they were amateur hour BUT everything The Big Richo mentioned was spot on. Nothing wrong with what they did or anyone else. Was it any different to what happened in the Casey years and Phamtom via PRE?

What the challenge groups(not just FOF as everyone seems to concentrate on and belittle) wanted to address & in the end the club did, and , maybe by their own accord too. BUT not saying had they got in they could've achieved what the current board did either. Noone knows. The club though imo did take a good hard look at themselves with angry fans, various challenge groups & even Dimma admitting he threw the game plan out and readdressed it.
Glad the challenge groups did what they did. Without it don't believe the right change could've happened for the success we had. Complacency left the club after 2016 with all the negativity that hit them.

Glad it did. 2017 was so sweet. Hoping for a repeat this year with another flag

Its all been said before though. Just glad we won in 2017. Its all, that all the members wanted no matter how we got there..

 

[Baloo]

Nah. We’d had some good years. Played finals and had some guns. We had an off year and the mob came out to eat our own. It wasn’t like the Casey years at all. This committee run took us from heavy debt to profit. Got us back into regular finals. The club acted like a professionally run unit. We had a Super competent CEO who also bleeds yellow and black. The reaction of the media and fans was over the top. Media was fuelling the Richmond rabble story that kept selling papers through the years. The fans got scared and feared we were heading back to rabble land.

In the face of everything the board held firm, backed their man and less than 12 months later all of us were in tears of joy.

That’s a sign of a strong board. Sacking Dimma would have taken that massive pressure off them and would have been the easy way out.

As for FOF, while we can’t know for certain, but I’d put my house on us being back in the bottom half of the ladder from 2017 onwards, rather than being Premiers 2 years ago and one gastro Attack away from back to back. The media loved them because they knew they’d drag us back to where the AFL world believed we belonged. A joke.

 

[taztiger4]

Nah. We’d had some good years. Played finals and had some guns. We had an off year and the mob came out to eat our own. It wasn’t like the Casey years at all. This committee run took us from heavy debt to profit. Got us back into regular finals. The club acted like a professionally run unit. We had a Super competent CEO who also bleeds yellow and black. The reaction of the media and fans was over the top. Media was fuelling the Richmond rabble story that kept selling papers through the years. The fans got scared and feared we were heading back to rabble land.

In the face of everything the board held firm, backed their man and less than 12 months later all of us were in tears of joy.

That’s a sign of a strong board. Sacking Dimma would have taken that massive pressure off them and would have been the easy way out.

As for FOF, while we can’t know for certain, but I’d put my house on us being back in the bottom half of the ladder from 2017 onwards, rather than being Premiers 2 years ago and one gastro Attack away from back to back. The media loved them because they knew they’d drag us back to where the AFL world believed we belonged. A joke.

:clap

 

[tigerdell]

One of the big issues (or the issue) is the idea that any footy club should be democratic.
But a clear positive in the 2016 off-season was the actions of the board to provide the framework for the organisation to be successful.
In no order they installed people capable of doing their jobs successfully (balme, gale, hardwick) provided resources (new assistant coaches) ensured a harmonious workspace and importantly didnt try to do their job. AFAIK it wasnt the board developing the gameplan but leppacella.
Too often and especially in 2016 was the cry to clear it out and restart.
But that didnt recognise how much right we had it throughout 2013-2015.

Ps personally i was in favour of sacking Dimma so i was wrong.

 

[Al Bundy]

..
Ps personally i was in favour of sacking Dimma so i was wrong.

On that part too, likewise I was wrong too.

 

[Al Bundy]

Totally missed the point Baloo.

Not comparing Casey yrs to 2016 either.

 

[Dont Argue]

My concern is that Peggy and co have artfully created an environment where democracy and accountability are considered disruptive and anyone who dissents is dismissed as a Judas.

The Focus on Football was a classic example. Putting aside the fact that they were not even slightly media savvy and embarrassed themselves with their launch, what you had was a group of capable, professional people who were exercising their right as members to participate in the democratic process.

Essentially they said the football game style was unclear and needed changing (correct), football management was poor and needed changing (correct), recruiting was hit and miss and needed to be better (correct) and we were underachieving and should be producing better football results (correct and still is).

Not too much wrong with any of that yet their emergence was greeted with an indignant response, not based on issues but based on their right to exist.

Stability was the word Peggy used over and over again.

Instability and change equals chaos she kept spouting, when the reality was the challengers were just pushing sensible solutions to problems everyone could see.

The stability obsession is set in stone now but the thing about stability is it is only useful when the results are positive.

Whilst you make some good points, where you are dead wrong is about the FOF group being capable and professional. Do you know them personally? I have had dealings with them and they are your typical self serving, self interested mug supporters like us. A surgeon, an I.T man, a Lawyer who was sacked from the board of Liquor Licensing and wasn't even a member, and a former player who went broke running a cafe and the list goes on. And their lies the issue.
Look no further than Donald Trump. Idiots can and do get elected for all the wrong reasons. It's why I am more than comfortable with a selection committee that elects board members based on specific areas of expertise. It will allow for succession planning also. May not always get it 100% right but allowing self interest groups to run the club? Very 1980s.
And if you really believe that they were responsible for creating change, you'd be 100% incorrect and giving them far too much credit. Performance reports were commissioned way before them and Neil Balme became available very late in the piece only by a set of circumstances that was created by Collingwood. Imagine if the club listened to every heavy hitting coterie member?

 

[RedanTiger]

What most of you are ignoring is the fact that FOF (and IIRC the Malvern Hotel group) demanded a GIFT of a majority of board seats.
They were never a chance of being elected because they did not have the guts to stand.

Only Simon Wallace and Peter Casey stood for election to the board for the two positions contested against Kerry Ryan and Emmett Dunne (replacing John Matthies two months before the election) .
Peggy O'Neal was appointed to her second consecutive term as a director and as President.

None of FOF nominated for election.

 

[TigerFlag2017]

No, have never met any of them, I'm only going from their CVs.

I'm certainly not saying they were responsible for change but I do think they gave the board a hurry up and forced them to address some glaring issues with the football operations. Whether or not the board would have done those things anyway is a hard question to answer.

I think this is an important point. It did create some tension and forced action. I b e lieve the directors do give their time voluntarily but risk getting cosy and complacent.

I am in awe of what the board has achieved. But also applaud Redan and others for calling out the governance breaches.

 

[Al Bundy]

No, have never met any of them, I'm only going from their CVs.

I'm certainly not saying they were responsible for change but I do think they gave the board a hurry up and forced them to address some glaring issues with the football operations. Whether or not the board would have done those things anyway is a hard question to answer.

I think this is an important point. It did create some tension and forced action. I b e lieve the directors do give their time voluntarily but risk getting cosy and complacent.

I am in awe of what the board has achieved. But also applaud Redan and others for calling out the governance breaches.

Well said by both. :clap. captures how I felt. (Better put).

Point also irrespective how people might feel with individuals challenging, they are all within their rights as members to act if they wish and within the rules

 

[tigersnake]

No, have never met any of them, I'm only going from their CVs.

they were clueless, ego-driven clowns. The contrast with our hierarchy could not possibly be any greater.

Not sacking Dimma was one of the greatest moments in football politics history. Nerves of steel, impeccable judgement. Stared down 20,000-odd angry vocal Richmond supporters, and an AFL-white anting campaign, no small thing that.

 

[Baloo]

The premiership is a powerful argument to support that but I'd argue the next couple of seasons will determine the answer to that.

2018 needs to go down as a win too. If not for a bout of gastro and Dusty's amputation we'd be back to back. We dominated the season and were 2 games clear and bucket loads of % ahead. There was no massive fall from grace like the Doggies which would make you question their premiership. We earned and deserved ours.

 

[Baloo]

I guess my point is so far we have one flag which you could say is a fair return for the past two years.

Should we not win 1-2 more as a minimum whilst this group of players is together then I think Hardwick's legacy comes under harder scrutiny.

Harsh. We're in a new era where the AFL do whatever they can to even the comp. 18 teams. Yeah, as supporters we'd want 1 or 2 more but it's a lot tougher than it used to be. Dimma has answered his critics. He's won us a flag. Finals in 4 of the last 5 years.

 

[Midsy]

Dimma has answered his critics. He's won us a flag.

He has the key to Tigerland...!

 

[gutfull]

Dimma will coach for as long as he wants to.
He is not stupid he will know when to walk , so get behind him more games to win....

 

[tigersnake]

The premiership is a powerful argument to support that but I'd argue the next couple of seasons will determine the answer to that.

answer to what? is was a statement not a question.

 

[TigerForce]

Congrats to Peggy for receiving the AO medal.

 

[TT33]

Is that the first time a fictional character has received one?

Nah Mickey Mouse was King of Moomba once.