Graham Wright - ex-General Manager of Football

[Newelly]

Might be a “Devil” of a job retaining GW

Punny business indeed, I would recommend his underlings staying close to him and get inside his head to learn from him.

[lazzadesilva]

I hope Nick Maxwell is doing a great job and is demonstrating enough competence to be considered as a replacement for Wright.

[K]

He’s dead to me if he pulls that crap on us.

Will ya give him Guillain-Barré syndrome?

It would be disappointing, but I'd have nothing but respect for him with how he pulled the club together through 2021 with phasing out Buckley, appointing Fly and sorting out our list management troubles at the time.

If it did happen, Simon Lloyd (leaving Geebung next month with no new home) is an obvious replacement.

[qldmagpie67]

I’m hearing some noise from a source that he was sounded out by the AFL for a position internally there.
His break is legitimate he wanted a break and did offer up his resignation end of last season but it wasn’t totally about about the break itself
He was strongly of the belief that a couple veterans should be moved on and bank that cap money and go heavy into the free agency market either this preseason gone or next season
I’m hearing he believes that Rowell at suns or a big name from GWS is gettable but they need the cash freed up
The coaching group thought the moving on from a couple veterans after the GF wouldn’t sit well among the group
Wright relented but made it very clear come end of 2024 there would be changes to the list and no veterans contracts would be renewed during the course of early stages of the year prior to June/July when they could make assessments on how they where travelling
Hence why they didn’t fight hard to keep Adam’s

He’s in contact with the club every week to 10 days doing evaluation on there form
Watch this space for some announcements to come mid year

[WhyPhilWhy?]

Well, at least he wont be the CEO of the Devils.

The Tigers have lost Brendon Gale.

[SLORT]

Would you stay or leave to be a part of Tassie Devils?

STAY
- You know the club, the club knows you.
- You've done the work and won a flag.
- You have a long term vision and plan and would like to see it through.
- Biggest club in the AFL.

GO
- A new team that you can colour your way.
- AFL subsidies for bringing in the best young talent and luring existing players.
- AFL financial subsidies.
- Less pressure (at least for the next 3-5 years).
- Less feral fan expectation.
- A move home to where it all began.

I think a lot will depend on his personal relationship with Brendon Gale (both from Tassie, drafted into the AFL on the same year so expect they'd no each other pretty well). Looking at wiki one line stands out ~ "A shock came to coach Leigh Matthews and players at the end of 1991 when Wright announced he wanted to return to Tasmania to play football, but was talked out of it by Matthews".

As a club we are missing too many pieces to make a "dynasty", and little draft capital (plus gettable talent) this year means that situation is unlikely to change.

I'm hoping he stays, but I think if he chooses to leave it'd be completely understandable.

[think positive]

Not a bad thing,someone has todo the hard things.

[warburton lad]

Not a bad thing,someone has todo the hard things.

100% this.

There will need to be some tough decisions made at the end of 2024.

I believe that Wright WILL stay at the Magpies beyond this season.

With any luck, he will be back in time to see how our lads compete in the 2024 finals at AFL level- I am still bullish about this happening.

Graeme Wright is ruthless in the same way that Craig McRae is ruthless.

Whilst there is enormous 'love' for our veterans, the greatest driver for Premiership 17 will be the recognition that change is both necessary and inevitable.

Mihocek, Cox, Sidebottom, Pendlebury, Howe, WHE, Crisp, Elliott, Mitchell will all be over 30 at the start of the 2025 season.

McStay, Cameron, De Goey & Moore will all be 29 at the start of the 2025 season.

I am not postulating that the baby is thrown out with the bathwater at season's end, but a man like Wright (in concert with the Coaching Panel) will need to judiciously prune the vine to encourage new shoots.

Wright is absolutely the man to make the toughest of calls.

If a number of veterans are 'eased out' by the end of 2024 & 2025, there will be significant funds available to pursue Free Agents and list space to accomodate them.

The skill is knowing which rein to pull at what time- that is why Wright is the perfect person to be in the position to make this happen.

Floreat Pica.

[dalyc]

Moving on veterans isn’t easy but you need to refresh your list every year
The thing is how do you get game time into a kid when there spot is being given to a veteran ?
You don’t know how good the kid will be until they’ve been given time.

Firstly, spots aren’t “given” to veterans. They’re earned through talent, skill, dedication and experience.

Secondly, it’s rare that the quality and potential isn’t known pretty quickly. If a player is still playing mostly in the VFL after 2 seasons ( I could make the case for 1 season ) then in my book they’re depth players at best. We’ve got a few of these on our current list, as do all clubs. If a player isn’t cutting it up in the magoos they’ve got no chance of suddenly transforming in the one’s.

There will be players that get quoted as examples to the contrary. Jaicos looked average in his first few years for instance. But for every 1 that breaks the mould, I’ll give you 10 that don’t.

Giving spots in the team solely on the basis of age and some philosophy of natural succession would be a highway to hell.

[SLORT]

I personally don't think he'll be at the club much longer.

[BazBoy]

Is he back in Australia or was that media crud

[Jezza]

Can't access an article from The Age due to a paywall, but it says the club is in talks with Wright to keep him at the club.

Hopefully he stays because he was pivotal to our resurgence in the past few years.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/col ... 5jtw2.html

[WhyPhilWhy?]

The gist of it is that Wright offered his resignation in December, which Jeff Browne refusing to accept and instead offering to restructure the football department to find him a "new challenge", and allowing him to take the planned trip.

[MatthewBoydFanClub]

My experience in business is if someone resigns, you don't talk them out of it because you're just delaying the inevitable. Graham Wright should have been let go and the club move on. Now all that happens is the club is left in the lurch and decisions that need to be made about the list are delayed and at some point in time Graham Wright leaves anyway and you've just thrown away the last 12 months.

[SLORT]

^This.