‘Frustrated and embarrassed’: Roos drama as explosive emails leaked
There’s fresh drama at North Melbourne, with a prominent supporter calling for the heads of the club’s bosses as the civil war explodes.
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There’s fresh drama at North Melbourne, with a prominent member of Kangaroos supporter coterie group calling for president Sonja Hood and chief executive Ben Amarfio to immediately resign.
The Herald Sun first leaked the email chain from this week between Adrian Kinderis, member of the Shinboners Club, and about 50 staff past and present at North Melbourne including Amarfio demanding change at the club.
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It comes as the Roos have called on long-time football administrator Geoff Walsh to conduct a review of the 1-14 club amid its struggles as coach David Noble’s future comes into question.
But in his email Kinderis called for those who appointed Noble to be held responsible, expressing dissatisfaction with the way it initially handled his correspondence with Amarfio from May.
“Apologies upfront for the unsolicited email but I‘ve had enough,” Kinderis wrote in an email sent on Monday.
“I wanted to share an exchange I had with the CEO earlier in the year (see email chain below - start at bottom) - it is lengthy but hopefully worth the read.
“The CEO and executive team that installed the current coaching regime have to be held accountable for the current state of the club.
“Clearly there are some fundamental issues with the performance measurement.
“Bringing in Geoff Walsh, who, by the way, I understand was around at the time of the previously unsuccessful regime is a band aid placed over a gaping wound to placate the supporters and those that care.
“I am frustrated and, quite frankly, embarrassed.
“I pay my money and have done for many years, too many. I will say what I think and I think it is time for action.
“Sorry Ben, you gotta go and take the club president with you - anyone that backed this experiment that was called wrong at the time and has been wrong ever since needs to be held accountable.”
Kindervis, who’s currently in Germany on work commitments, in his original email expressed concern with the club’s direction and progress.
“It is worrying that, we are apparently judging the performance of the club on internal Key Performance Indicators (KPI‘s) and there is little visibility as to how these are connected to actually winning games,” he wrote at the time.
“If these KPI‘s that are apparently “all moving in the right direction” aren’t resulting in stronger performances then I would argue that perhaps they need to be reassessed as a means of measuring on field performance.
“I have watched a lot of footy over my time. I am troubled by our current list, strategy and execution.
“Call this email “venting” call it an old fashion ”piss and moan” but I feel like, as someone who has contributed to this club over a number of years, that we are not heading in the right direction and you‘ll hopefully forgive me for my words and tone.”
Amarfio responded at the time saying: “I can point to the views of several experts including Paul Roos and others who have been through similar exercises who believe we are indeed setting the right foundations and have a very sound rebuild strategy.
“True, it doesn‘t seem like it at the moment, but things will turn as our game plan is embedded, our players develop and we attract more talent to the club.
“We have been very public in saying that we want to see continuous improvement, both collectively and individually.
“We saw that across the season last year we accept that our gains on last year have been patchy so far this season.
“The club made a collective decision a couple of years ago to refresh a list that was among the oldest in the competition.
“The entire footy department - staff and players - have specific KPIs that align with the teaching, learning and growing mindset that David Noble has brought to the club. We‘re all accountable to those measures.
“The group is united, determined and focused on making supporters proud. We know we‘re going through a tough spell at the moment but as David saw with Brisbane and our GM of footy performance Dan McPherson witnessed at Melbourne, these things take time.
“In terms of definitive KPIs, our pre-season GPS comparisons (these are confidential, by the way) showed that the total volume of distance covered across the group increased year on year by 10% and the high intensity running and sprint training volumes were both up by over 30%. Clearly coming off a low base.”
Originally published as ‘Frustrated and embarrassed’: Roos drama as explosive emails leaked
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