Merrett seemed to disappear from the centre after the high hit. Wonder if he was a little foggy after that…
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Shiel getting 18 is 1, a joke and 2, more proof Rutten has no idea and still trying to coach for the immediate future at 2-7
Swap the hobbs and Shiel numbers. every week. same with caldwell. Shiel should never again in his life get more CBA’s than those guys
it also highlights how utterly one dimensional Shiel is. literally cannot play another role. ffs
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This has been glaringly obvious since the footscray preseason game though and has not been changed.
It wouldn’t surprise me if rutten backed X in getting Shiel to the club.
Parish Caldwell Hobbs and perkins need to become the engine room. Merrett pushing up from the front half to be the link man seagull. McGrath back. Shiel can use his pace to get behind the defence and run down defenders and if he’s not prepared to do that he can play vfl for the rest of the year and then he and his manager can find a club who his prepared to pay 70% of his salary.
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it’s comes down too, and similar to best 22’s on here.
coaches get into this rigid mindset about who they have in their best 22. they then want to implement a system (defensive system) that doesn’t suit the players in the current combinations they have.
so instead of trying to find better balance in the combinations they try and turn players into things they aren’t or have never had to focus on, and you’re left with a bunch of guys who want to play a “ballistic and flair” based attacking game and don’t care about the defensive stuff.
The not dropping shiel shows they actually think they can change him, instead of trying to find someone to put in the midfield who will actually do more defensively while still contributing offensively.
and then the more losses that come, the more pressure the coach feels, the more he relies on “senior” and “experienced” players, and the cycle repeats.
ultimately until he gets sacked.
I said last year we’d struggle this year cos i had 0 faith in them handling ego’s well and fitting in a declining smith (cos he’s mates with stringer and a couple other senior players) and shiel because merrett and parish aren’t going to sacrifice their game and possession count and having sheil as the 3rd main midfielder wouldn’t work out well, and it hasn’t and never will.
but they will keep persisting with it, because of stubborness, rigid beliefs that they know everything and can a square peg into a round hole and magically make it fit.
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Yes and the problem is that clarkson will want short/medium term success imo. He’ll go with GWS, their list is in far better shape
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I don’t know about that. I think He’d will be interested in long term legacy more than anything else. He went to the Hawks and tore up a team that made a prelim a few years earlier.
He lost his way and tried to top up the Hawks since 2016 but there’s no reason to think he’d take that approach at a new team.
Nothing would hurt Hawthorn more than having Clarkson make Essendon a power house again and that’s legacy right there.
We’re miles away from making the hard calls to make this happen though
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In his interview this week he said he’s motivated by premierships and nothing else.
He will pick a side with good senior talent that’s underperformed. Perhaps use a player or two to trade out for currency and bring a good FA in so the he has a side that will play in prelims for the next 4 years.
That’s not us, it’s nowhere near us.
Taking on the challenge of having to fix a club as well as onfeild. He’s not that stupid.
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That’s probably true. But I think there is a good pitch to be made to his ego. That would be my pitch
We’ve had a gameplan that we’ve tried to implement for 4 years. And somehow haven’t made recruiting decisions to match. Wonder ■■■■■■■ why?
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Shiel:all
Shiel…defence. You’re kidding right?
What about Leon Cameron? At least he’s not soft as butter.
I just can’t work out with all the supposed coaching talent we have we look so ■■■■. These are well successful assistant coaches that have come from successful clubs that have implemented successful game plans. Why isn’t it working with us?
Almost certainly but if you give him a role where it’s a kpi there is nowhere for him to hide. He will either get totally exposed and get dropped or he’ll be a professional and carry out the role. Win win.
He basically needs to play like Nick Kommer of 2013 for a month to earn some respect back. Or he can go to the vfl
They’re trying to implement what had worked elsewhere rather than innovate something that will work for this squad.
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True that could be our pitch, but it’s a little desperate.
He has direct first hand experience of how important the off field stuff is. When Neiwbold was president and Fagan ran the footy department Hawthorn was a fantastic footy club. Fagan got poached and Kennet came back and the club turned to a rabble. That hurt his legacy and what he’s now trying to correct it.
Being top class off field will be one of his considerations. Maybe he wants some tweaks but he will want to go somewhere a club has the offfeild well run. It’s why he’s no chance of going to Gold Coast.
He has 4 flags the same as Sheedy and Matthew’s if he gets one more he gets into rarefied air for modern coaches.
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I think EFC ticks all the boxes for Clarkson right now.
1.Underperforming yet talented list.
2.Tradeable Senior players.
3.Melbourne based.
Make him an offer he can’t refuse.
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Yes it is a desperate pitch but that’s what we are no?
I’m not sure gws is well run either. No doubt the AFL will make it very lucrative for him though.
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Exactly this.
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I agree Rutten takes responsibility for our crappy defence. Including while he’s head coach. Gia doesn’t get a pass either.
But to say it’s on him and Gia gets a pass because he works within what Rutten wants doesn’t match the ‘Rutten has been in charge of defence since he’s been here and we’re worse off’ rhetoric.
We have a ‘one super coach will fix it all’ complex. Just get Blake Caracalla or Gia and he’ll fix it all. They were successful elsewhere, so they should be successful here.
That’s not the case.
You need the right mix. From assistant coaching, to development, to recruiting, to fitness staff, etc. And they all need to be working together to get the best out of the players they have.
That’s why Bomba didn’t work here. At Geelong, he could do his bit and everyone else complemented him. It’s also why Clarko will not do well here. Clark had great assistant coaches around him that complemented his style and the clubs direction. The people around Essendon just aren’t up to it. And need replacing.
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