09-14-2020, 12:06 AM
(09-13-2020, 12:27 PM)Baggers link Wrote:Other clubs, all other clubs have had the same handicap, so that excuse or justification doesn't wash.
Time to take off the rose coloured glasses.
And to respond to another couple of your points, Tiggers came good because 1. Balme, 2. A creative 360 degree variant around heroes and Hardwick being removed from some areas and told to focus on coaching only. That session changed the culture, it was brilliant and the concept bound the blokes together in a short period of intense stuff and they've not looked back. Pussycats had a brutal 360 feedback course with Leading Teams and never looked back after that...
For us to toughen up there needs be a conscious exercise of strong confrontation / 360 feedback. Holy crap, we have a culture where players whine about a coach and get him the bullet - been doing it for years. Softness is ingrained, leave everything up to the superstars is ingrained. Relying on a 'tipping point' is living on 'someday isle.' We already have an ingrained tipping point... it come when opponents hit us with sustained pressure - we fold, we go to water, we crap ourselves.
We need to address these issues honestly and even brutally, that'll thin out a few non-hackers, and focus on deep cultural/psychological change. What do we stand for? What is our brand? How does the footy world see us? Chokers, that how we are viewed... big time chokers.
Holy mackerel did you see during the lockdown and no games the senior coach and one of the captains of the club spend a half hour on Zoom or Skype going through the playing list and taking the piss out of most players? I couldn't believe what I was watching.
Then, today (and there are plenty of other examples from the season) too many of our blokes are laughing and joking with opponents after an embarrassing loss. Seems the only people who hurt when we embarrass ourselves is the members and supporters. Too many players don't seem to give a crap... bar Walsh, do you see him after a loss - he hurts, hates losing, there are a few others but not enough. As I said, it is ingrained in our culture, losing... trying for a while... dropping our bundle when heat is applied... This will not change by expecting natural progression to take care of everything. It won't. Choking needs important and strong intervention.
There is nothing ruthless about our club. We're nice, we're talented, and we'll put up a fight... for a while, then... we'll choke.
You trying to tell me Hardwick's success was Hardwick's. It's nice to have help but he has seen that club come from a total rabble for 35 years to a great club. There is no argument. Took 7 years to properly change that culture. Spin doesn't change that. And I can assure you the moment things changed for Geelong is when Chappy said enough is enough. They were 2-3 going not working like they should and that moment changed everything. It was leadership from within.
As for COVID it highly favored clubs with an ingrained, well entrenched game plan, where things were automatic. We started with issues with the connect between the mids and forwards, unlike many other sides. not to mention we had issues with allowing clubs to score easily. With 8 people only training at one time there was no chance to sort any of those issues. Sorry, that's a fact. Every clubs situation is different. Not an excuse though for those horrible, lackadaisical start. That's part is pathetic. No excuse for five 6 to 8 goal starts during the first half. If you're a paid player the least you can do is to turn up to play when the ball is bounced.
The issue we have is to change our losing culture, get that want to win from the first moment. Coach can do so much, and he has improved us quite alot, 13-14 from 4-39. Done a great job there, similar to Ratten's first year. We fight every game out to the end. We missed out on a finals chance with a couple of chokes but i'm prepared to wear that in the short term as part of development. A change being in finals contention up to the penultimate round rather than talking no.1 picks. Acceptable for not but not acceptable, if you know what I mean. as we pissed a gold-plated chance to play finals down the drain. What we need is a few players from within to say enough is enough. One thing psychology teaches you, and spent years studying that as my undergrad degree and partial post grad while getting my Exercise Physiology Masters, and 35 years a coach, is unless motivation is intrinsic you never never get the best from yourself no matter the talent. Extrinsic motivation will only get you so far but if you don't want it badly enough it won't happen to full potential no matter how many coaches, psychologist push it. They can go along way to dragging it out but in the end has to come from within. Cats did that in 2007. it's why cultures take such a long time to change.