Maybe Stants has discovered the secret to surviving all the chaos..??
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Should never have got the gig. All assistants should have experience somewhere else first (playing or coaching).
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To be fair guys like
Sharp
Robey
Hawli
Huss
Kako
Caddy
And others
Have all debuted and not looked out of place at all
So the development team must be doing something right
A lot of the poor development has happened once they got in the team and Brad Scott got his hands on them
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Ex-players don’t necessarily make great coaches. We shouldn’t be too hard on Hurley or Stanton, even if the latter sounds half ‘legless’ most of the time. A successful coach needs to be an educator, a communicator, an empathiser, a motivator, a disciplinarian, a mentor, a shoulder to cry on etc etc. Someone who the players respect and want to play their best footy for. It’s a difficult multi-faceted role and that’s why the AFL and VFL coaching ranks are full of ex-teachers like McCrae, Clarkson and Fagan. These are people who honed their communication and relationship skills well before they entered the coaching ranks. Their teaching experience doesn’t guarantee them success but it gives them a seriously good head start. Blokes like sleepy old possum Stants and laid back Hurls are coming from a long way back being armed with mainly their footy smarts and experience to draw from.
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Imagine Roberts going for his next interview -
“So you were the head of development and the foward line coach at Essendon, can you tell me how that went?”
“uuuuuuuum”
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It’s getting towards the end of the season. Lots of assistant coaches and other footy department staff are weighing up their future and looking for the next gig.
Can our next forwards coach please be someone who has actually played as a forward and kicked goals? It will be a nice change.
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Arguably the best forwards coach in the league (Jaymie Graham) was a defender.
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Who replaced Jacobs as mid coach when he left? And then who replaced that coach?
Also the club psychologist left, who replaced him?
Gotta wonder if assistant coaches actually talk to each other, given how dysfunctional for forward ball delivery is.
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Rath will be next.
Totally disagree.
Look at Caddy and Kako’s first seasons and how far they have gone backwards, this argument could be made with most of our list.
Ask Ben Hobbs what is was like playing on a HFF, look at Perkins & Cox, their first season both looked good, then got developed.
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If I was a coaching innovation manager what exactly would I be doing?
Pls don’t go too hard on me I’m a blue collar guy.
But that’s my point. Once Brad got a hold of them they struggled
Caddy is definitely a better player than he was a few years ago though imo
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I don’t think he is or, at least, he has plateaued. He doesn’t lead, his kicking for goal hasn’t improved one iota, his body work has not improved and his positioning is questionable.
Don’t get me wrong, I think he is a marvelous talent, but, I just believe with really clear direction, education and guidance he will start to become the superstar we are all hoping he will be.
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You’d be doing nothing.
(At Essendon)
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Absolutely. Anyone arguing Caddy hasn’t developed isn’t watching very closely. The issue is everyone is expecting him to be a 70 goal forward when he isn’t at that sort of level yet. If he keeps improving and developing then he definitely is a 3 goal a game forward.
That’s rubbish claiming he hasn’t developed at all. It’s Caddy’s 3rd season. Year 1 he kicked 9 goals in 10 games, last year he 20 goals in 17 games and this year he has 36 goals from 19 matches. The only game he hasn’t scored a goal is the one he went off with the heart scare.
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For a club currently in a heavy development phase it does feel like a poor decision to run 2 coaches short for half the season. Surely they could have found someone to at least fill the roles of those that stepped up? Is Hurley doing defensive craft work with all the defenders now, both in development and in the seniors?
It seems madness to not be utilising every in-season moment towards developing these kids as much as possible.
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