Matthew Pavlich is one of the greatest Australian Rules Footballers .. and a terrific servant and captain of his club. Reflecting after the 2013 Grand Final he wrote – “You think about the what-ifs and the missed opportunities.
What was that set shot of mine in the second quarter? Why did we slip over? How could we kick so many out on the full? We should have been harder. Could I have done more?
I should have done more, what if I had done that? Why didn’t he do this?” (Matthew Pavlich, ‘Purple Heart’ p4)
Ruthlessly honest self reflection – but “why didn’t he do this” verges towards an invitation to blame.
This passage (Ref Matthew Pavlich, ‘Purple Heart’ p. 87) is from the aftermath of Fremantle’s 2001 season – the board sacked coach Damian Drum after nine straight losses, and he reportedly learned of it through the media, with the players left mid-season, winless, and, in the writer’s words, with “not much of a clue as to how to deal with the situation”. It’s a striking case study for Candid Cycle, because almost every failure in it is a debriefing failure.[2]
Candour arrived too late
The most telling line is Drum’s: “Sometimes you can trust people and sometimes you can’t.” That sentiment – distrust inside the organisation – was clearly not news to him when he packed his bags. It had presumably been simmering for months, but there was no channel for it to surface safely while it could still be acted on. It only came out as a bitter parting shot.
Candid Cycle’s structured submissions are designed for exactly this. Participants can contribute honest observations about how the club was actually functioning – coaching, board support, player cohesion – without having to raise them face-to-face in a politicised environment. The distrust gets documented in week three, not dramatised in week nine.
Nine losses, no learning loop
The club lost nine consecutive games and, as far as the passage suggests, ran no structured process to extract what was going wrong. Candid Cycle’s reflection–submission–analysis–iteration loop would have forced a debrief after each round or each losing streak: what’s actually failing, what’s within our control, what are the priorities for next week. Whether or not it saved Drum’s job, the club would have been acting on evidence rather than letting the season rot quietly until the board’s patience expired.
“The last one to know”
The board decided over the coach’s head, and the players found out after the fact. Candid Cycle’s account-holder approval gate means leadership reviews an evidence-backed report before decisions and communications happen – so a sacking, if it came to that, would rest on documented patterns rather than media leaks and rumour, and could be communicated to the people affected with some structure rather than a shocked dressing-room farewell.
Picking up the pieces
Even where Candid Cycle can’t prevent a sacking, it addresses the aftermath: the young players who “couldn’t really process” what happened needed exactly what a structured debrief provides – a safe way to articulate the experience, an analysis that turns it into lessons, and practical next steps for the caretaker coach taking over a season with 13 games left.
One caveat: software can’t stop a board from panicking, and governance failures like this often run deeper than a missing process. But the passage is essentially a portrait of an organisation with no functioning feedback loop – candour only at the exit, learning only after collapse. That is precisely the gap Candid Cycle fills.
Reflect on strengths, learning and action.
Sources
[1] Damian Drum: Former Fremantle Dockers coach set to … https://thewest.com.au/sport/fremantle-dockers/damian-drum-former-fremantle-dockers-coach-set-to-make-coaching-return-for-first-time-in-two-decades-c-9776610
[2] Damian Drum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damian_Drum
[3] The agony of Dockers supporter over a yet another Eagles … https://www.antoniobuti.com/media/opinion-pieces/the-agony-of-dockers-supporter-over-a-yet-another-eagles-grand-final/
[4] List of Fremantle Football Club coaches – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Fremantle_Football_Club_coaches
[5] Fremantle Football Club – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fremantle_Football_Club
[6] Ben Allan – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Allan
[7] Fremantle Dockers champion Paul Hasleby reveals stunning story … https://thewest.com.au/sport/fremantle-dockers/fremantle-dockers-champion-paul-hasleby-reveals-stunning-story-about-then-coach-damian-drum-ng-b881105868z
[8] How AFL clubs have fared after sudden mid-season coach … https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-2019-how-afl-clubs-have-fared-after-sudden-midseason-coach-departures/news-story/d747d907cd1edb605cfe7760d50c7306
[9] Fremantle Football Club drafting and trading history – Wikiwand https://www.wikiwand.com/en/articles/Fremantle_Football_Club_drafting_and_trading_history
[10] Damian Drum – Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia https://alchetron.com/Damian-Drum
[11] Feature: A way to go: despondency and expectation in the life of a Freo supporter https://www.footyalmanac.com.au/feature-loving-the-purple-haze/
[12] Round 12 Footy Flashbacks https://www.hawthornfc.com.au/news/757757/round-12-footy-flashbacks
[13] The History Of Teams Playing Against Caretaker Coaches https://www.lions.com.au/news/1597980/the-history-of-teams-playing-against-caretaker-coaches
[14] 2001 WAFL season – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_WAFL_season
[15] 2002: Prodigal son returns https://www.westcoasteagles.com.au/club/history/2002
[16] Justin Longmuir appointed Fremantle coach https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/justin-longmuir-appointed-fremantle-coach-20190930-p52w3z.html
[17] Damian Drum (Nats-Murray) – Maiden Speech https://australianpolitics.com/2016/09/14/damian-drum-nats-murray-maiden-speech.html/
[18] Fremantle appoints former captain Allan as vice-president https://www.afl.com.au/news/470921/fremantle-appoints-former-captain-allan-as-vice-president
[19] SACKED: AFL | Podcast on Podbay https://podbay.fm/p/sacked
[20] Chris Connolly (footballer) – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Connolly_(footballer)
