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September 26, 2006
Thompson to stay & King steps down as captain...among other things.
Well probably the most public football department review in the history of football has finally come to an end. If you are a GFC member you will receive the outcome of the review in the mail. But for those who cannot wait or aren't members here's what they media are reporting:
Cats stick with Thompson amid a raft of changes
Mark Thompson will coach a restructured Geelong Football Club for at least one more season after convincing the board yesterday he still had the passion for the job and was prepared to change his style.Among a series of significant on- and off-field changes, the club has appointed experienced defender Tom Harley as its new captain after Steven King said he no longer wanted the job, while influential president Frank Costa has indicated he could now remain at the helm for at least another three years.
Chief executive Brian Cook, who has admitted his lengthy and controversial review had been the hardest two months of his career, will take charge of the football department temporarily while the club searches for a new football chief, who will carry much of the load previously shouldered by Thompson.
"The players all indicated their admiration and respect for Mark's coaching ability," Cook told The Age yesterday. "But it became clear to us the time he had for (coaching) has been eroded. The job almost got too big for Mark and he was trying to do everything. At Geelong, we weren't really aware it was happening, but we were going down the St Kilda road of Grant Thomas, although not quite to that extent."
The coach refused to blame the break-up of his marriage on his diminished coaching focus, though he admitted: "You don't know from the inside whether it did or not … but this year, we had a lot of distractions and I just have to change that and concentrate on my strengths, start work on the pre-season program and put the boots back on..."
This view was supported by players interviewed by Cook, who admitted his review came one year too late. "I think the circumstances of the loss to Sydney in the finals last year camouflaged a lot of problems," he said. "We thought we were better than we were."
Thompson's survival is a victory for Costa's authority, given that as recently as a fortnight ago, four board members raised strong doubts about whether the coach should continue. Cook says he anticipated no resignations from the board and that any challenge to Costa now would come from outside.
In a series of moves ratified by the Geelong board early yesterday:
■ Thompson will concentrate purely on day-to-day coaching next season after conceding he had become distracted by extra responsibilities;
■ The Cats will replace assistant Andy Lovell with a new midfield coach, conceding its midfielders had not advanced this season;
■ A further $400,000 will be injected into the football department for a soon-to-be-appointed development coach and a new strength and conditioning chief;
■ The Cats' on-field leadership group has pushed for and will receive a bigger say over trade decisions, list management and day-to-day football decisions, including a revolving position on the match committee;
■ The Cats will advertise for a football operations chief in the mould of Sydney's Andrew Ireland, who would oversee coaching, list management, football budgets and possibly chair the match committee;
■ Football manager Garry Davidson's future at the club could not be guaranteed and would depend on the new football boss, with Steven Hocking a potential candidate;
■ The club would await a review of Geelong's recruiting, being undertaken by AFL executives Tony Peek and Kevin Sheehan, before moving to boost the recruiting department;
■ Costa would fight any challenge to his presidency from former vice-president Denis McMurrich and had the cautious blessing of his family to serve a further three years should he be forced to face an election.
Cook and Costa insisted Thompson would serve the final year of his contract with the unanimous support of the board, despite the previous misgivings of several directors, including Gareth Andrews and Doug Wade. Thompson said he was prepared to withstand the scrutiny of his short-term deal knowing he had not always enjoyed the full confidence of all the Geelong directors.
"I've had a pretty tough year but I think I've handled it pretty well," Thompson said. "I've got a thick hide. If I can survive what I've taken this year, I can survive anything. Whatever comes, I can take it. I'm a man."
McMurrich said he would petition the club to have the board elections held before the end of the year. The club also faces a special general meeting on October 11.
There is a lot to take out of that article and it will be interesting to see how in depth the letter is that is mailed out to the members, but here is my take on things:
Firstly I am not over the moon Thompson will coach on, but I think we all saw this coming with one year left on his contract and I am willing to give him one last shot and it will be interesting to see how things progress this off-season and next year.
I agree with Cook that the Sydney game disguised a lot of problems. I've been saying all year that our 2005 wasn't up to standard and our finals campaign hid a lot of problems. Being 7-3 after 10 rounds we should have been looking at top 4 instead of stumbling into the 8 like we did. In a lot of way 2006 is the same as 2005 but reversed except for not making the finals which is a good thing as it kept the pressure on the hierarchy at the club.
Now for the proposed changes; it is obviously a plus to have Thompson focus on the coaching side of things. I heard Cook interviewed Monday morning on SEN 1116 and he said everyone he talked to thought Thompson was excellent with the coaching side of things and his tactics. Now I don't think his tactics are too flash, but it occurred to me that too often when you win coaching moves/tactics are overlooked yet they are critically reviewed by nearly everyone during a loss so I will try and keep a more open mind this season on Thompson's coaching skills and moves.
The termination or end of Andy Lovell was easily the most predictable thing to come out of the review. Since Cresswell has left the club's midfield has gone backwards under Lovell, end of.
More money into the football department is always a good thing, however the interstate clubs are so far ahead in this department to most Victorian clubs how much difference will $400k actually make?
The 4th dot point I am not so thrilled about. Why should the leadership group have a say in trades & list management etc. It seems at first thoughts to be too easily corrupted by the group to get who they want to play in etc. Maybe they should get some say, I just hope it isn't too heavily weighted.
A Football Operations Chief sounds like the thing to do, to get Thompson back to focussing on coaching. The next point is my favourite. I've been wanting this for so long...DAVIDSON OUT
The club's recruiting certainly needs to be looked at so this is a good move. You just have to compare some of our picks to a side like Sydney's picks recently to see where improvement is needed.
As for the final point about a possible McMurrich challenge, I believe I read he will not challenge the board anymore after the reviews findings, but if he does, why would he bother? He was a part of they Hovey regime that got the club into the financial state that we found ourselves in 1999.
The majority of members it seems are still behind the combination of Costa & Cook and in my opinion rightly so. Without them right now we could be playing all our home games at the Gold Coast or West Sydney. Instead we have a brand new stand and our city still has a football team in the national competition.
Posted by Sammy D at September 26, 2006 02:19 PM