04-19-2021, 01:35 AM
Most of the things I wanted to post have already been said in one way or another, but I will put on my 2 cents worth. I am not as angry as I was, so I will probably sound saner.
[1] We won’t really be a contender until we play a brand of football closer to that of Richmond or Port Adelaide. We do not show the desire, the overlying will to get the ball that allows those teams to make tackles and smothers. We do not attack the ball or our opponents enough.
It isn’t a matter of speed, although we looked slow against Port, it is that they moved flat out, while too many of our guys give up far too soon.
It isn’t case where adding a couple of players will make the difference, or, for that matter, just changing the coach. It is something that has to be a part of everyone, the belief in themselves, the will to get the ball against the odds, the willingness to make body contact and make opponents suffer for getting to the ball first.
[2] Our skills are not good enough. Simple as that.
This is an area where the players and coaches do have a fair bit to answer for. We were going around 61%, Port were going around 80%. We need to go around 80%; most of the better teams do.
Now there is a confidence issue here, especially with guys like Levi Casboult, who has improved so much, but is still not the kick you can depend on. We do have a number of players who are similar, and lack faith in their disposal.
However, what do you do it? Practice, training from a brilliant kick, for starters.
It is simply unprofessional that Patrick Cripps constantly misses set shots from 30 m out or less, and he isn’t alone.
Harry McKay may be only young, but with 4 years in the program he should have a set routine for shots at goal for any distance. I don’t care if he kicks around a corner, but he has no know that any shot is more likely to go in than not.
We have had kicking coaches. Certainly, Levi has improved a lot with one. But we need one to rate all of the side’s disposal efficiency and get one or two people in to improve it.
Our coaches need to work on disposing of the ball well under pressure.
Otherwise, we will still loose.
[3] Recruiting:
We do appear to be making some progress in this area, as the rank incompetence of the Hughes - Rogers Era appears to have gone. Silvagni was good at making deals and had a much better eye than his predecessors, but he still missed out badly when we picked Dow and O’Brien.
Austin is going OK so far, but we still don’t have the elite players wanting to come to us.
We need to make sure our recruits have good skills, before anything else. Good kicking covers a lot of other sins.
Our game plan on the weekend was to chip the ball short. However, we don’t have the kicking skills to make it work. Too many times we turned the ball over because the 3rd short kick was too high, or too long, or too short. Even Murphy did this, and he is quite a reasonable kick.
Then want players who have high emotional intelligence, so they don’t panic under pressure. H, for example, makes some silly mistakes because he panics and doesn’t want to have set shots. Nor is her alone. Many of our players look to share the ball when they are within kicking distance. Sometimes that is good team football, but sometimes you just need to take the responsibility and do the job yourself!
[4] Development:
We do seem to be improving in this area, but if you look at some of our competitors, they manage to get kids playing good senior football from the get-go. Other than Cripps and Walsh, that hasn’t been the case with us. We really need for our kids to develop into what we want before they are 30.
[5] Picking physically unbreakable players:
We haven’t had a full list available in any game since the mid 1990’s, and even then, we didn’t do it very often. We have taken one step there in our recruitment of a top fitness/rehab man as out High-Performance manager. Fine.
We also have links with LaTrobe Uni on the sports’ science side of thing. Also, a good move.
But we tend to recruit people who break easily. What is wrong with recruiting people who don’t break easily?
Taking the occasional risk with a player who has had an injury is one thing, taking a guy who is always injured is a serious error. For example, Marchbank. He is a fine player, but he is one who can’t get on the park. Why did we spend so much to get him?
[1] We won’t really be a contender until we play a brand of football closer to that of Richmond or Port Adelaide. We do not show the desire, the overlying will to get the ball that allows those teams to make tackles and smothers. We do not attack the ball or our opponents enough.
It isn’t a matter of speed, although we looked slow against Port, it is that they moved flat out, while too many of our guys give up far too soon.
It isn’t case where adding a couple of players will make the difference, or, for that matter, just changing the coach. It is something that has to be a part of everyone, the belief in themselves, the will to get the ball against the odds, the willingness to make body contact and make opponents suffer for getting to the ball first.
[2] Our skills are not good enough. Simple as that.
This is an area where the players and coaches do have a fair bit to answer for. We were going around 61%, Port were going around 80%. We need to go around 80%; most of the better teams do.
Now there is a confidence issue here, especially with guys like Levi Casboult, who has improved so much, but is still not the kick you can depend on. We do have a number of players who are similar, and lack faith in their disposal.
However, what do you do it? Practice, training from a brilliant kick, for starters.
It is simply unprofessional that Patrick Cripps constantly misses set shots from 30 m out or less, and he isn’t alone.
Harry McKay may be only young, but with 4 years in the program he should have a set routine for shots at goal for any distance. I don’t care if he kicks around a corner, but he has no know that any shot is more likely to go in than not.
We have had kicking coaches. Certainly, Levi has improved a lot with one. But we need one to rate all of the side’s disposal efficiency and get one or two people in to improve it.
Our coaches need to work on disposing of the ball well under pressure.
Otherwise, we will still loose.
[3] Recruiting:
We do appear to be making some progress in this area, as the rank incompetence of the Hughes - Rogers Era appears to have gone. Silvagni was good at making deals and had a much better eye than his predecessors, but he still missed out badly when we picked Dow and O’Brien.
Austin is going OK so far, but we still don’t have the elite players wanting to come to us.
We need to make sure our recruits have good skills, before anything else. Good kicking covers a lot of other sins.
Our game plan on the weekend was to chip the ball short. However, we don’t have the kicking skills to make it work. Too many times we turned the ball over because the 3rd short kick was too high, or too long, or too short. Even Murphy did this, and he is quite a reasonable kick.
Then want players who have high emotional intelligence, so they don’t panic under pressure. H, for example, makes some silly mistakes because he panics and doesn’t want to have set shots. Nor is her alone. Many of our players look to share the ball when they are within kicking distance. Sometimes that is good team football, but sometimes you just need to take the responsibility and do the job yourself!
[4] Development:
We do seem to be improving in this area, but if you look at some of our competitors, they manage to get kids playing good senior football from the get-go. Other than Cripps and Walsh, that hasn’t been the case with us. We really need for our kids to develop into what we want before they are 30.
[5] Picking physically unbreakable players:
We haven’t had a full list available in any game since the mid 1990’s, and even then, we didn’t do it very often. We have taken one step there in our recruitment of a top fitness/rehab man as out High-Performance manager. Fine.
We also have links with LaTrobe Uni on the sports’ science side of thing. Also, a good move.
But we tend to recruit people who break easily. What is wrong with recruiting people who don’t break easily?
Taking the occasional risk with a player who has had an injury is one thing, taking a guy who is always injured is a serious error. For example, Marchbank. He is a fine player, but he is one who can’t get on the park. Why did we spend so much to get him?
Live Long and Prosper!