Stewie - Lead - Follow - or Get out of the way

[Go Swannies]

Originally posted by anne
We are a laughing stock because -
1. We play a boring, non-attacking style of football.
2. Our coach has been comprehensively outcoached in several games this year.
3. We do not drop players whose form is not up to scratch (especially if they are one of the favourites who can do no wrong)
4. We do not give new younger players a chance to prove they can play. Every other team plays first year players, why doesn't Sydney?
5. We keep injury prone players on the list year in year out and sometimes even redraft them!
6. Our drafting is atrocious - why do we keep picking midgets and athletic players who have little football smarts.
7.We keep a captain who does not contribute to the team and then support him captaining by remote.
8. We have a coach who continually tells his players they have no talent and who continually blames anyone but himself when we lose. Now he is saying that there is no problem with himself or his tactics and it is only a Melbourne criticism. Read RWO Paul Roos - plenty of unhappy fans actually seem to live in Sydney.
9. We haven't won a flag in over 70 years but still seem more concerned with mediocre performances IE just making finals rather than the big picture of actually doing whatever is necessary to win a flag.

You write for the Herald Sun?

[mocaholic]

Originally posted by anne
Maxfield is extremely selfish and is putting himself above the good of the team. He must step down. We are in enough trouble as it is without having a part-time captain. There are others who could captain the team. What sort of message is this move sending to the football world? We are a wonderful, caring team who does anything to help the players but we don't give a s--t if we actually WIN a game of football. Sydney is already a laughing stock of the AFL and now it will be worse. I think the Swans have lost the plot.

As much as I have been a Maxy-bollocker in recent times I think we need to tread reasonably carefully in this topic. Firstly, we must separate the Swans current 'football' position (ie, where we are on the ladder, a dull, skillless rabble on the paddock, dubious recruting, coaching etc) from the topic at hand.

This will have significant implications at AFLPA level, more so because he is the captain, and also because it is probably going to be his last year in the game, so the issue of player welfare will be at the forefront.... Think about it....in the space of a year he's lost his marriage, been separated from his kids, stepping down from the captaincy, going to lose his livelihood and importantly he'll stop doing the thing he enjoys doing the most, and from which he draws the most self-respect. Let's not muck about - they are big, big impacts on an individual. We look at Headland and Farmer in particular who moved for family reasons, and to a lesser extent players who have moved to 'go home' - Davis, Rocca, Grant are particular Swans examples (although there are too many here to mention).

I know this is a very PC attitude (and I am generally very anti-PC), and that the Swans are a business that's in the game to win etc, however I just think we should not act too hastily.

Also, as much as we pontificate as to what the club should be doing, we rarely get insights as to what goes on and what gets said in the inner sanctums. I would hardly think that the issue of captaincy at a remote location has not been raised....and I suspect that there will be more forthcoming over the short term. Perhaps the reason that he hasn't stepped down is because there isn't a stand-out replacement. (Step down, stand-out, next-in-line...sounds like the hokey pokey!)

Obviously the next-in-line is Kirky, but there may be other plans afoot. I don't know him personally, but I would be amazed if Maxfield had not thought of the club's welfare in all of this, and I cannot grasp him being selfish. I reckon that's a bit out of order.

My own feeling is that he SHOULD step down as skipper, for the reasons alluded to here: certainly remain in the leadership group however. In truth, he HAS been Cpt Aggro this year, and this may go to some lengths as to figuring out why. Mind you, we are sorely lacking any sort of physicality on the park, as has been recognised by this (very wise) forum, and who knows whether he has seen fit to be Mr. Damage for his (suspected) last year to take this on as an additional requirement of captaincy.

In closing, good luck to you Stewie. I hope everything works out for the best. You've been a great servant of the club.

[Go Swannies]

Excellent post Mocaholic. Team dynamics are very tricky and today's announcement gives an insight into one possible reason for the Swans' substandard performance. No-one on RWO has any real knowledge of the factors Roos has to consider as he manages the team. Unless we think he's lost smarts over the past two years, he's presumably still the same "coach of the year" that he was two years ago. I think he's battling with the joint problems that other coaches now understand some of his thinking - and the increasingly frustrating problem of the players not doing what they should (like "play footy"?).

There's a good chance that the commuting captain is an interim measure and Stewie will step down in the next few weeks. Like everyone else here, I think that not having the captain around while the team is struggling is untenable. But if Stewie had stepped down at the same time as he stated he was moving to Melbourne it would have sent the wrong message in a big way. Good that the club is thinking of lateral ways to get the team back into form - I'd love to see a focussed Maxfield breaking through the field again. And a happy captain lifting his team to a series of victories.

Funny, I was watching Farmer star on the weekend and thought "I guess the tumult in his private life has settled down?"

Maybe Roosy should offer Baz a new set of mags for the ute and see if that lifts him, too?

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by Sanecow
We have won in the past decade+.

I was using that as shorthand for slightly over a decade (ie: back to '94).

[Sanecow]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
I was using that as shorthand for slightly over a decade (ie: back to '94).

Interesting. I was being a smart arse.

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by Sanecow
Interesting. I was being a smart arse.

I know. But I thought one of the idiots with their unsubstantiated cheap shots may jump on it, so I thought I'd best clarify. It seems that facts and data actually scare them off...

[pillowtalk]

Originally posted by Sanecow
Interesting. I was being a smart arse.

Scott - what have you done with cow ?

[anne]

Originally posted by Go Swannies
You write for the Herald Sun?

No - I am just a 40+ year long suffering Swans fan who wants to know what it feels like to win a flag!

[Sanecow]

Originally posted by anne
No - I am just a 40+ year long suffering Swans fan who wants to know what it feels like to win a flag!

It's probably a massive let down I reckon.

[ScottH]

Originally posted by pillowtalk
Scott - what have you done with cow ?

must be contagious

[mocaholic]

Originally posted by Sanecow
It's probably a massive let down I reckon.

You're probably right, but I'd sorta like to find out for myself.




(PS - I absolutely wet myself at your comment.)

[footyhead]

Originally posted by liz

Alternatively use him behind the centre square in a sweeper / spare man role, a distributor in the ilk of Wirrpunda or Johnson. Yes, one of the things that makes those two so effective is their excellent use of the ball, but maybe if he wasn't trying to cover so much ground Maxfield's disposal might improve.

Isn't one of Wirrpunds main weopons excellent pace ??

[ScottH]

Watson calls on Maxfield to stand down as Swans captain

Watson, who admitted it was difficult judging from outside the club, said yesterday this was the opportune time for Maxfield to step down and allow Barry Hall to assume the captaincy.

[Bron]

I think that this is the profound comment: Goodes added that the leadership group meet once a week but wouldn't be changing those meetings to later in the week to have Maxfield there: "If we need Stewey's opinion on anything, he's only a phone call away."

The captain must be part of the leadership group ... captaincy is about leading, if he's not being in that, then it's not enough.

Also, Roos implies in that article that the captaincy will be up for discussion next week.

[Go Swannies]

Originally posted by Go Swannies
There's a good chance that the commuting captain is an interim measure and Stewie will step down in the next few weeks.

Am I allowed an "I told you so"?

The really interesting part of the Roos statement is the obvious lie that he hadn't thought about the captaincy as he was too concerned about Stewie. Noone could believe that. So Roos lies to the media. Probably every week. But would you have had more respect for him if he had said after the Adelaide loss: "Yes, we played terribly but part of the reason for that is that I have to play Stewie because he's the captain even though he's playing badly. Oh, and by the way, much of the reason he's off his game is because his whole private life has gone down the toilet and he misses his kids who have been moved to another state"?