Having viewed some threads and seeing people state all manner of reasons for why the Blues are stumbling maybe Leadership is a major issue that has caused the Blues to crash rather than prosper. I know that Leadership is a very important ingredient for a successful team and i think that the Blues probably have the weakest available options for Leadership of all the Clubs. Rather than target specific players though i think some deserve it for not being leaders when they should be maybe worth examining all teams and compare.
I did this list and have really realised how deficient the Blues really are for leaders. The below is pretty daming and even makes sense why the West Coast are on top why Melbourne are second ... Why Port and Lions have struggled due to injury. I really think that the Blues problems really stem from lack of Leadership and i can safely say we have prob around 2-3 who have stood up out of a possible 5 and this is prob 3-4 below most other teams.
ALso have showed comparison of when the Blues most recently were on top of the ladder example being 1995. The list i have compiled may not be 100% but i reckon not far off the mark add or subtract a player here or there which is why i put in a range rather than a specific number.

BLUES: 2005
Kouta - Yes not our best Captain but has been a leader to the team
Stevens - Definately has shown leadership at the Blues
Campo - Should be but has been a bit selfish and undisceplined
Whitnall - Should be but has lacked motivation dosnt do enough
Lappin - Not a natural leader just a experienced player
Thornton - Will be not there quite yet
French - Has set good example but not really a leader

So from the above list really 3 - 5 possible leaders of which really only 2 Kouta and Stevens have put up there hand and i think can explain a lot of the problem with the Blues this year. Also any injuries to this group and there really isnt anything left.

BLUES: 1995
P Dean / Cristou / G Williams / Bradley / Silvani / Spalding / Ratten / D Rice / Kernahan / J Madden / F Brown / B Mitchell / M Sexton
+ Possible others
So Possible Leaders in this era 12-15 players with Leadership prob why we only lost 2 games for the Year

The List below is also good to see which teams have been successful this year and how maybe injuries have affected performance but the 3 top teams are WC / Demons / Crows and they have a pretty good leadership mix


Other Clubs
CROWS:
Ricuito / Clarke / Mcleod / Bassett / Edwards / Hart / Macgregor / Goodwin / Biglands
Possible 7 - 9 Players of showing leadership

LIONS: Aka / Voss / Brown / Leppitsch / Johnson / Black / Power / Scott Brothers (x2) / Lappin - An abundence of Leadership options
Possible 8-10 PLayers showing Leadership - Possibly more than that

PIES:
Clement ./ Buckley / Burns / Caracella / Fraser / Licuria / Lockyer / Rocca / Wakelin
Possible 7 - 9 Players of showing leadership

BOMBERS:
Fletcher / Hird / Lloyd / J Johnson / Lucas / Mcphee / Solomon
Possible 5 - 7 Players of showing leadership

FREO:
Bell / Black / J carr / Hasleby / Macpharlin / Pavliche / Headland / Farmer /
Possible 6 - 8 Players of showing leadership bit more inconsistant due to Farmer and Headland can be but dont always show

CATS:
G Ablett / Bartel / Chapman / Corey / Enright / Harley / Scarlett / King / Ling / Ottens (Maybe) / Riccardi
Possible 8 - 11 Players of showing leadership More even spread than dominent Leaders

HAWKS:
Crawford / Croad / Mitchell / Everitt / Vandenberg / J Smith / Hay / Hodge
Possible 5 - 8 Players of showing leadership, Players as Hodge is still young and Croad and Hay would be senior rather than natural leaders

KANGAS:
Archer / Colbert / Simpson / Grant / B Harvey / B Rawlings / Makepeace / L Brown
Possible 6 - 8 Players of showing leadership

DEMONS:
Bizzell / N Brown / C Bruce / B Green / T Johnstone / Neitz / Robertson / Whelen / Yze / White
Possible 8 - 10 Players of showing leadership

PORT:
Bishop / C Cornes / Tredrea / Francou / Primus / Montgomery / Wakelin / Wangerneen / R James
Possible 7 - 9 Players of showing leadership but have suffered lost of injuries to many of the leadership group may explain more of there season

TIGERS:
Bowden / N Brown / Richo / Campbell / K Johnson / Gasper / Simmonds / Coughlan / Chaffey / A Kellaway
Possible 7-10 Players of showing leadership seems some players have stepped up.

SAINTS:
L Ball / Dal Santo / Hamill / Harvey / Hayes / Hudghton / A Jones / Riewoldt / Thompson / B Voss /
Possible 7-10 Players of showing leadership

SWANS:
J BAll / Barry / C Bolton / J Bolton / Goodes / Crouch / Hall / Kirk / Maxfield / P Williams
Possible 7-10 Players of showing leadership

EAGLES:
Banfield / Cousins / Judd / Chick / Braun / Cox / Embley / Gardiner / Fletcher / Hunter / Stenglein / Wirrpunda
Possible 10 - 12 Players of showing leadership prob explains why they are on top of the ladder lol

BULLDOGS:
Cooney / West / Darcy / Grant / Giansiracusa / Johnson / R Murphey / Smith / Gilbee
Possible 6 - 9 Players of showing leadership Some are more emerging than Leaders but are part of the second rung

If i may have missed players or feel that players maybe shouldnt have been selected let me know

There was this article written in the Herald Sun, by Ron Reed, the Saturday we played the last game at OO against the Dees. The article was basically about how when we won those flags the team was such a tight nit group.

One quote sticks out for mine and it was highlighted in the spread on the article was this one from Peter Bosustow...

"You can't win flags unless you're mates, and we were family"

While I'm sure there is no tension between two players in the team or there are two separate groups in the team, we need every one pulling their weight to drive this team forward and onto their next flag.

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Writer for SuperCoach Paige www.scpaige.com.au
Twitter - @johnfeeney24

good point, PJ.

The club and the team may be feeling pretty upbeat, even in the face of a shitty season, but it's fairly obvious that we're not being pushed along by a strong leader the way other clubs are, or the way Carlton have at other times in it's glorious history.

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And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

Hopefully people dont see this as a shot at the Blues i just think that it explains a lot of why the Blues are performing the way we are why we falter and dont win games when we are in a position to ... or why if we are being badly beaten we get totally smashed we just dont have the Leadership and guidence that other teams have to re spark or rally the guys when we most need it. i dont think all our players are poor but i do think that we are missing experience and more importantly leadership on the field. I was surprised when i did my list how many players the tigers had that do show leadership may also explain why they have emerged and hey i guess Wallace has also given some players more confidence to be leaders.

The Blues struggle as we have 4-5 Players who are over 25 who could be leaders but only 2 showing that. the rest of the list so far really need to be lead by on field leaders and unfortunately we dont have that.. Why i dont know how we have come into this situation .. Maybe the loss of Hickmont / Mackay / Braddles / SOS / Ratten / Dean and a few others has really cost us more than we relaised and there was no plan to cover the complete loss of leadership we see today.

I think your post is pretty much spot on, Wolfe.

What we need are 2 or 3 players who, in a game, can turn to their players when the cards are down and say "lift your heads up fellas and follow us".

Kouta is probably the only one who could do this, but his body is getting tired and old.

_________________
Writer for SuperCoach Paige www.scpaige.com.au
Twitter - @johnfeeney24

Wolfe,

Leadership is an interesting concept and yours is an interesting exercise. In my opinion though, there are far fewer, what you'd call 'genuine' leaders, than the number you've listed there. For instance, I don't think that any club has more than 3-4 true leaders. I believe that most clubs have like a core group of leaders (I guess the leadership group, although personally I think many of these groups are too liberal in terms of certain players in the groups). However, I think that it is pushing it to say that some clubs have as many as 10 or 12 leaders, like you've listed here. I believe that a lot of player thrive under good leadership, which gives off the impression that these players are actually "leaders" themselves, when it's probably not the case.

At Carlton, only Kouta is a "leader" and even then, as much as I love and respect Kouta as a player, I don't think he's as natural or quintessential a leader as certain other players in the AFL. I am sure that Kouta is a good leader in his own right, but I'm not sure he's the true definition of a leader. Maybe it's just the fact that in some ways he's just not as demonstrative as other leaders going around.

Camporeale it is pretty clear is not a true leader, but I don't think that there's any crime in that. I do agree with those that think that Campo should at times perhaps show more leadership, but I think some people assume that because Camporeale is the second or third oldest player on our list, that he has to be a brilliant leader. I believe this notion is fallacious. Age for me is not necessarily a factor in determining whether a player should or should not be a leader. Luke Ball is only young but it would appear that he has far more leadership traits than Camporeale. But each player is different.

Players like French and Lappin are not leaders as such, they are just relatively experienced and good footballers, Lappin especially. But I'm not certain that we have any true leaders at the club. Nick Stevens and Thornton would seem like the two most viable candidates for the captaincy when Kouta retires/steps down etc. I think that Thornton shows signs that he could be a good leader but I don't attach any certainty to it. Stevens might be a good leader, I like the way he goes about the game, doesn't whinge or carry on.

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Formerly Blues-Back2003.

i Prob add Stevens not in every game but i have seen him display passion but we lucky we even have him as 2 years ago he wasnt there so if you have only 1 maybe 2 players who are displaying leadership out of 22 we are in big trouble

And yep you are correct we need players who can be leaders and if Fev cracks it go up to him and get him re-focused or when the pressure is in the midfield or backline rally the troops but we dont have this at the moment go back to the teams that win premierships ie Brisbane / Bombers in prime / Blues 1995 / Adelaide in there prime and look through the list the mix is good between leaders and players who can play but need on field assitance ... something we dont have that moment. Dont get me wrong talented and skilled players are also important but if you have a lot of that but no leaders then the pressure and guidence they still need will even cause them to make mistakes and crumble under pressure.. until we get back some balance we are going to struggle.
So this year we ned some players to step up over the year for 2006 ie Waite / Thornton ... emerging / Teague ..... hmmmm i am struggling to find many more out of our list that could stand up next year ......

SO besides getting some good draft players we need to target some leadership type players by PSD if we qualify or through trades and fix up our balance a bit

Yep i agree with that assessment Blues2005 i think most teams have a core 3-5 Leader types and maybe 3-5 secondary types who can rally the troops and get them up if they make mistakes or get lost in the game but if that is the case the Blues only have 1-2 core and 1-2 Secondary and really that is a big gap on the other clubs and i am stuggling to find were we will find more on our current list other than maybe 1-2 more secondary...... which does worry me also makes me understand why the coach is having trouble and why we are travelling the way we are. People may find that Pagan hasnt instilled confidence in some of our players but i just dont thing we have much leadership options to play with bit sad really.

I think we have potential leaders in our side.

Guys like Waite, Fisher, Thornton, Setanta etc etc are, IMO, future leaders of the club and will be the core group to lead us to that next flag.

I reckon once a few of the old firm are gone, we should be right in terms of leaders.

_________________
Writer for SuperCoach Paige www.scpaige.com.au
Twitter - @johnfeeney24

Looking to the future, how do we get new leaders into Carlton?

1. by importing them

2. by developing them.

Looking at leader development, who in our very young crop of players other than the ones mentioned like Thornton, might become leaders.

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My Blue Heaven

The thing that concerns me the most is the stories that keep poping up time and time again first the Angwin issue, then Teaguey getting king hit, players out till 5am in the morning then front up at recovery, Norman and Clarke out the night before a Bullants game, Ex girlfriends dad ringing radio stations and making accusations, gambling and the latest about Stevo and his so called "gastro hospitalisation".

This club as much as i hate to say it is in shambles, and the pretty picture being painted by the club is all a load of hog wash. All our senior group care about is $$$$ ie Lance and Campo not setting the example and leading from the front on and off the field.

Most of you will tear me to shreds over this but all the incidents above would not be tolerated any where else but they seem to be at Carlton

There may well be something in that although we arent the only club to have players go out at night.

what evidence is there that problems caused by late nights, too much booze etc is happening more at Carlton that at other clubs?

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My Blue Heaven

As I mentioned in my post...

Waite, Fisher, Setanta.

Could probably even throw Livo in there as well.
If he were to properly develop and make it, imagine the quality of advice he could pass on to the future younger players of Carlton?!

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Writer for SuperCoach Paige www.scpaige.com.au
Twitter - @johnfeeney24

Also, you'll find that most sides with a good leadership group have players in all areas of the ground covered: back, mid, fwd.

Look at our side and there is a gaping leadership hole in defence. Our backline contains 1 player that has played more than 100 games!!!... Houla... and he's no leader at this point in time.

Post-Kouta, I reckon Waite will be our next long term captain (with perhaps Stevo in contention- maybe as caretaker captain till Vinny's ready). Waite is starting to develop a presence on the field, busts his gut every week, is becoming a key player in the side, and obviously has great pride in the jumper. I'm not sold on T/Bird as a potential captain just yet.

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When Dick became President, it was as if everyone at Carlton came out of the hailstorm and into the sunshine - Stephen Kernahan

YARRAN!!





.

I think to be honest we're just mentioning the younger blokes in the hope that they become young players more than anything. I think it's a bit too early to call with Setanta, he's only played the one game. I think Livo is a great bloke and a great trier but not a leader. Fisher, well who knows, still probably too early to tell.

I personally don't think Jarrod Waite is leadership material, I just get the feeling that he's the sort of player that would do better without the added responsibility.

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Formerly Blues-Back2003.

I agree with playes having a social life enjoying a night out im going on this year atleast once a month a issue is raised that involves a Carlton player and examples must be made.

Jarrod Waite could be a future Captain but hate to say this i believe that our caption should of been Aaron Hamil, this guy tore the soul out of us but how much did we miss his influence, agression and passion.

PJ, wise man, you are.

Our biggest problem is we lack the middle-aged players who have developed through the club - we've got young kids, rejects from other clubs, and the old stalwarts. Once the younger guys begin to develop, and are freed of the restraints imposed by the established 'leaders' of the group, then we'll begin to see who the real leaders are. Until then, we're just treading water...

Yep i agree Pheonix there are some prospects more longterm ie
Thornton emerging maybe Waite

Fisher and Santanta longterm prospects not in next 2-3 years at this stage... dont get me wrong in 3-4 years we may have a few more options but i am looking at 2006 / 2007 and other than Waite and Thornton as possible options i dont see much else unless maybe we do import and we are lucky if we qualify for low drafts to pluck a really good 1st year player like a Judd / Hodge / Riewalt / Delidio / Ball ect

But again my main analaysis is to highlight our current situation and i hope you are right Pheonix and a few of our secondary players stand up and display some leadership traits within next 1-2 years.

Waite and Tbird for sure. A couple of potential pillars at either end of the ground there that could lead in every sense of the word.

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Chris Bryans enthusiasm spread throgh most of the team on saturday, why not give players like Bowyer a go. He plays with guts and shows some passion he will put his head over the ball. Players like Bryan and Bowyer could set a tone on field and others will just follow unlike Stevens who chases cheap kicks and Campo who looks for free's or fights.