Micallef didn’t arrive until the end of 2018. Chris Bond was moved on and Brad Lloyd allowed to leave in the month leading up to the 2018 trade period. Bond was installed, with very little experience, shortly thereafter.
It was either Bell’s show to run, or he allowed himself to be installed as Rosich’s puppet. Maybe Lyon - for all his talk of cobblers – had a say. He seemed like a coach who would err towards latitude for star-calibre players at the expense of setting a rigid rule for all (which at least to some degree I have sympathy for).
But no matter the inputs, Bond has to own that trade.
And to be fair, I honestly thought it was a good trade, and I think most on here did too. Sometimes you take a big swing and you miss. Jesse could have handled himself a lot better, but I’ve always taken the mental health issues on face value, because he’s been through a lot (Dad’s death, testicular cancer, serious injuries and this year COVID hubs) leading to in Bond’s poor choice of words ‘clinical anxiety’.
Culture is an interesting thing. I get that you want to set standards (especially with a young squad), and I get (but don’t always agree) with the one rule for everyone thing; but I also think culture can also be about understanding and teaching young people about individual circumstances.
Maybe Jesse burned too many bridges. I don’t know. But games of footy are won by getting the most talent on the park, and getting them to play at their best. It’s not (only) about assembling the easiest players to coach.
I reckon we’ve got enough young talent to be good, but we’ve lost a couple of players who can put the ball through the sticks, which means Bond and Longmuir will need to address the hole they’ve helped create.
