PLEASE DONT COME TO THE FORCE MICHAEL

[sittingbison]

Bison can you help me out for a second. I am trying to understand what exactly the board did wrong in the past three months and in particular the two weeks?

You've pretty well nailed much of it Ex, but the difference is perspective.

I fully appreciate the Board cannot make pronouncements until contracts are signed, after all we are the only team I believe to have actually been punished for this infraction (Kanaar?). However, there are numerous instances of a breakdown in corporate governance:

1) Making Pocock captain instead of Hodgo. This now looks with hindsoght to have been a lilly livered effort to retain Pocock. For all his stirling qualities, Pocock is not a great inspiring leader, and has almost zero outgoing presence.
2) it appears that despite our protestations to the contrary and bashing of Horan, it may have been EWF who leaked GeniaGate (many ES guys are convinced of this). More on leaks later.
3) they dropped the ball badly (got to use sporting metaphor lol) with GrahamGate. The moment he made his pronouncement MIDSEASON viz a viz coaching the Reds, he should have been fired. He was in negotiations from pre-season while under contract, and was solely in charge of player recruitment and largely of player retention. To make matters worse Reid had a press conference with him offering support. Then to make them even more worse (oops grammar hehe) they then abrogated their responsibility TO THE PLAYERS.
4) Before talking to any prospective new coaches, without conducting a review of the requirements of the club (sorry cannot bring myself to say "franchise"), Reid announced a new coach had to be an Australian. Frak off Saffers and Kiwis, and anybody else that might fit the bill, might be infinitely more qualified. This after saffer Jake White has transformed the Brumbies from clag to Caufield!!
5) Reading between lines of Pococks and Reids statements, yes it looks like he was actually leaving long ago. This ongoing saga has been possibly more destructive, distracting and destabilising than JudasGate last year. To be brutally frank, Pocock should have been offered a new contract WITH AN ULTIMATUM months ago. Make the contract as desirable as possible, best paid player in the universe, support charity etc, but with a deadline.
6) an offer was made to Cheika, and the other contestants told no thanks. Ludicrous!
7) after selecting their man, the offer (for whatever unknown reason) was not tempting enough and was turned down. Even more ludicrous!!
8) after failing with Cheika, they should have re-opened the alpplication and selection process. Instead they offered the position to a bloke who was contracted to another club, and had incidentally just led that club to worst ever season despite the team being chocca with internationals. And had to have a performance review before season was finished to avoid being sacked. And whose team played the worst style of braindead aimless kicking ever seen in southern hemisphere (except for the Force under Graham), so bad even their own 'adoring' fans boo them (couldn't resist hehe).
9) Foley ALSO turned down their offer. Apparently it was determinant on Pocock staying, but Pocock somehow managed to make his announcement that he was off AFTER the offer was made and before it was accepted. Like with Cheika, if Foley really WAS their man, the offer should have been too tempting to refuse. Completely ludicrous, especially given the experience with Cheika!!!
10) unnamed sauces!!! More than a dozen hack stories, all revealing the inner workings of contract negotiations including Judas, Genia, Graham and now Cheika and Foley. The whole of Australia regaled with laughable tales of incompetence.

If it was a publicly listed company the stock would have fallen so fast the ASIC would have investigated for insider trading, and the shareholders would have called for the board to resign en masse.

However despite all this, I am now quietly hopeful that Foley, in a Director role and NOT head coach, with quality smart assistants like Meehan and Louden, plus Stiles and Sharpie, can turn his own and this clubs fortunes around, and instill some sort of foundation standards of operation.

[onions]

I was always under the impression Mitch H. was the worker of the management.I was suprised that he got the boot as opposed to being moved.Just a question-Was he the leak?

[.X.]

You've pretty well nailed much of it Ex, but the difference is perspective.

I fully appreciate the Board cannot make pronouncements until contracts are signed, after all we are the only team I believe to have actually been punished for this infraction (Kanaar?). However, there are numerous instances of a breakdown in corporate governance:

1) Making Pocock captain instead of Hodgo. This now looks with hindsoght to have been a lilly livered effort to retain Pocock. For all his stirling qualities, Pocock is not a great inspiring leader, and has almost zero outgoing presence.
2) it appears that despite our protestations to the contrary and bashing of Horan, it may have been EWF who leaked GeniaGate (many ES guys are convinced of this). More on leaks later.
3) they dropped the ball badly (got to use sporting metaphor lol) with GrahamGate. The moment he made his pronouncement MIDSEASON viz a viz coaching the Reds, he should have been fired. He was in negotiations from pre-season while under contract, and was solely in charge of player recruitment and largely of player retention. To make matters worse Reid had a press conference with him offering support. Then to make them even more worse (oops grammar hehe) they then abrogated their responsibility TO THE PLAYERS.
4) Before talking to any prospective new coaches, without conducting a review of the requirements of the club (sorry cannot bring myself to say "franchise"), Reid announced a new coach had to be an Australian. Frak off Saffers and Kiwis, and anybody else that might fit the bill, might be infinitely more qualified. This after saffer Jake White has transformed the Brumbies from clag to Caufield!!
5) Reading between lines of Pococks and Reids statements, yes it looks like he was actually leaving long ago. This ongoing saga has been possibly more destructive, distracting and destabilising than JudasGate last year. To be brutally frank, Pocock should have been offered a new contract WITH AN ULTIMATUM months ago. Make the contract as desirable as possible, best paid player in the universe, support charity etc, but with a deadline.
6) an offer was made to Cheika, and the other contestants told no thanks. Ludicrous!
7) after selecting their man, the offer (for whatever unknown reason) was not tempting enough and was turned down. Even more ludicrous!!
8) after failing with Cheika, they should have re-opened the alpplication and selection process. Instead they offered the position to a bloke who was contracted to another club, and had incidentally just led that club to worst ever season despite the team being chocca with internationals. And had to have a performance review before season was finished to avoid being sacked. And whose team played the worst style of braindead aimless kicking ever seen in southern hemisphere (except for the Force under Graham), so bad even their own 'adoring' fans boo them (couldn't resist hehe).
9) Foley ALSO turned down their offer. Apparently it was determinant on Pocock staying, but Pocock somehow managed to make his announcement that he was off AFTER the offer was made and before it was accepted. Like with Cheika, if Foley really WAS their man, the offer should have been too tempting to refuse. Completely ludicrous, especially given the experience with Cheika!!!
10) unnamed sauces!!! More than a dozen hack stories, all revealing the inner workings of contract negotiations including Judas, Genia, Graham and now Cheika and Foley. The whole of Australia regaled with laughable tales of incompetence.

If it was a publicly listed company the stock would have fallen so fast the ASIC would have investigated for insider trading, and the shareholders would have called for the board to resign en masse.

However despite all this, I am now quietly hopeful that Foley, in a Director role and NOT head coach, with quality smart assistants like Meehan and Louden, plus Stiles and Sharpie, can turn his own and this clubs fortunes around, and instill some sort of foundation standards of operation.

Thanks Bison - appreciate the time and effort of your reply.

[shasta]

was he the leak?

I have been pondering that. Under the new structure Foley will assume those duties. As much as we.dislike Greg Growden's vitriolic writings, he has been all over this from the off. He'll not likely reveal the sauce. Brett Harris by comparison seems to read Growden first, then TWF and speculate from there on in.