A former international rugby coach once said: “Every week, 15 blokes thought I was a great coach, seven or eight thought I was OK and another 30 thought I was a total prick. Who thought what might have changed from time to time, but the percentages stayed roughly the same.”

Brendan McCartney is not the whole reason club captain and champion player Ryan Griffen wants to leave his high post and high wage at the Bulldogs.

Peter Gordon is known by insiders as “The Fan”. Photo: Getty

Griffen does not want to be captain. He was at pains to explain to the Bulldogs leadership that the position was not for him.

But he was made captain; he was even pressured into it.

Peter Gordon acknowledged this during his press conference on Friday. That was one of many mistakes.

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This is the case in sporting teams all over the world. The Western Bulldogs are no exception.

Sure, McCartney brought in some of his mates from Geelong in Matthew Scarlett, Cam Mooney and Jason McCartney. Big deal, many believed McCartney could coach.

You have to dig deeper for the truth.

The problems at the Bulldogs haven’t changed in the modern era.

Their decision-making processes are the fundamental reason they are in this position.

After chief executive Campbell Rose finished his highly successful tenure in 2009, the club turned to former Bulldogs player Simon Garlick. Questions need to be asked of him.

By extending McCartney’s contract 11 months ago, Garlick and the board have wasted a resource that the Bulldogs don’t have much of – money.

Simon Garlick (top) and Luke Darcy were members of the ‘A-Team’. Photo: Getty

Many clubs, especially the Bulldogs, have an unhealthy habit of employing
former players.

Back in 2006, when I was looking at joining the Bulldogs, I was told by the hierarchy at the time that they were desperately wanting to change the culture of the club. How can any club do this when they continue to re-employ past players?

Now they have former club great Chris Grant as director of football.

Wonderful fellow, Chris. But his only experience with football is playing. Not good enough.

But hey, the Bulldogs say, let’s sign up all our mates. Don’t worry if they have no experience.

No one denies that these past players probably have a love and passion for the club that they played for.

However, this emotional connection doesn’t always mean that they are the best person for the job and also means that they are often not capable of making the best decisions.

When I first joined the Bulldogs, I was warned by my new teammates about the ‘A-Team’. In the 2000s, the ‘A-Team’ essentially consisted of Luke Darcy, Nathan Brown, Simon Garlick, Robert Murphy and Daniel Giansiracusa.

They stuck fat and had an elitist mentally. Their collective attitude was: “We’re good, you’re not.”

Other teammates would openly clap their hands together as, one by one, for various reasons, members of the ‘A-Team’ left the club. One of these guys remains – Robert Murphy. He continues to be an extremely influential figure at the club.

To stop the rot, the Bulldogs should cease giving jobs to the boys when they are not qualified.

Chris Grant’s only experience is as a player. Photo: Getty

The board should remove Gordon, known as “The Fan” to people on the inside.

He has handed over significant money to help the club, but the organisation needs a clean-out from top to bottom. Garlick and Grant should also go.

The selection panel to appoint a new coach should include at least one person who has coached with success at AFL level.

The previous panel of Tom Harley, Chris Grant, Simon Garlick, Geoff Walsh and James Fantasia simply did not have the credentials to make such a decision. No one on that panel had coached one AFL game, let alone an AFL premiership.

The fans should also hope Bob Murphy calls it quits at the end of this upcoming season.

If this club does not act, we will still be talking about this in another four years, just like we were in 2010.

As the late John Lennon put it: “Being honest may not get you a lot of friends but it’ll always get you the right ones.”

Jason Akermanis played 325 AFL games, including 77 for the Western Bulldogs from 2007-2010.