I know this is coincidence, but I can’t help seeing this…
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haha, someone had to say it.
Lots of talk about our ‘game plan’ as if it is some original mythical tactical masterpiece that Rutten and Caracella made up on the back of a bar coaster. Both have played prominent roles in successful Premiership teams, Caracella more than one.
I doubt whether our defensive gameplan is much different to Melbourne’s, Richmond’s or Sydney’s. They are trying to teach the team a rolling zone defence. It is not mastered overnight, particularly with changing personnel due to injuries and retirements.
The only team I can think of that has won a flag in recent years not playing some zone defence was West Coast in 2018, who played a +1 in defence, usually McGovern, who intercepted everything.
The reality is the best teams can play +1 defence, a rolling zone, or a +1 at the back of the stoppage and can switch between each depending on the opposition set up, state of the game, momentum etc. It takes understanding, continuity and onfield leadership. At the moment we are lacking in both these crucial factors.
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Since Shiels arrival:
Our win % with Shiel in the team is 39.6%
Our win % without Shiel in the team is 52.6%
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Maybe they went from 1st gear to 5th gear on implementing the defensive gameplan without considering the ramifications.
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Yeah but this goes for every team in the comp so if your strategy is just let them go out there and do what they want, it won’t win you a flag let alone a final.
Don’t disagree
But if the players don’t see the value in a game plan come up with 3 coaches that have been a part of some bloody strong premiership winning set ups, then the players need to look at themselves imo
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This is great data. Are you able to calculate the median results for the data too. Given the sample sizes (particularly post Neeld-2018 vs 2nd-half 2021) I would be interested if there are any outlier results at either end which distort the general trend.
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I’d get rid of a few players too… but I don’t put this all on players. I do believe there is spirit and drive in this group and I have said that several times.
And I actually see a lot of footage of guys that are actually trying. I just think that effort applied incorrectly is effort wasted. We are talking about very fine margins between success and failure and right now these players have no belief in themselves or the system.
I’d try a new coach and a new plan and see how we go.
My thoughts also
Probably been accelerated by fact we made finals and then got belted. Expectations to go one better.
Then we lose so many senior players over first part of season who understood structures and end up playing such a young inexperienced team that really everything probably needed to be stripped back game plan wise again.
Some senior players likely aren’t on board with the changes made over preseason, other senior players getting annoyed at those who aren’t doing what they meant to and we’ve got division in the ranks
And whole heap of kids/ inexperienced players still trying to find their feet doing their best to try to do as coaches want but not executing (on top of it stifling their natural footy instincts)
…
Things were working last year, now they ain’t
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I have seen Essendon tackle hard, win contested ball and clearances and beat their opponents 1-on-1. I’ve seen us play and win with a strong back 6 and tough contested onballers.
But I have never seen us implement a strong disciplined team defensive structure. I think it is an essential component to success in modern AFL. We need to learn how to do it otherwise come finals we’ll be individuals playing against a team.
It’s the job of coaching staff to find out why we can’t implement team defence correctly and teach it. Any simplification of the team defence element of the game plan will need to be temporary only until we recover some form.
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oUCH!
Based on many posts above, the thing that concerns most is that apparently Rutten has now tried this gameplan 4 times since he arrived, and 4 times it has not worked.
Its either pure arrogance/stubbornness, or inability to teach something new, that you would keep returning to the same well for different results.
And the question has to be raised, has he simply been appointed on the basis of copying a gameplan that was sucessful at another club, without actually having the creditials to implement a gameplan that he has come up with.
That’s exactly what Rutten, Caracella and Gia are meant to be.
Two of those guys are in conversation around the Giants job.
I mean where are highly credentialed coaches if they are not with other clubs?
Your post makes little sense
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Such an excellent articulated post.
I also remembered an interview with Kyle Langford back in 2020 where he said the team we’re focusing on 3 different ways to attack and getting support behind the ball. I thought to myself footy seems such a simple game as Hardwick pointed out. Does the game plan need to be this complex and are we trying to be too tactical and too smart for our own good?
There was hope back then that if they kept working on it at training then it would translate to game day over time despite the struggles, of course what eventuated was a heap of player confusion and a poor season.
Can’t help but think this is a similar story this year, new game plan supposedly working on defence, but players not buying in and are evidently confused
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I dunno I think Rutten is an insecure coach who lacks the relevant experience to implement his own game plan so has brought in people from different areas to help shape his game plan but we are left with a cold soup of nothing.
It’s clear the players are way too overcoached. They are more interested in staying with their man than affecting the contest. So many occasions of players running in the opposite direction of the ball to follow their man despite being able to clearly impact the contest and potentially win the ball back.
I think the players are trying to implement the game plan but due to lack of success that’s its brought, dont have confidence to tweak it on their own on game day as the game requires, leading to a very stale, robotic display.
We either need to change something to the game plan to make it work better for us, or need a coach who is more adapt at instilling confidence within the players.
You can only change things so many times, however, and we have already seemingly done that at the end of last season, and again it looks like we are going to do it again. Times running out for rutten IMO. Needs to show something fast.
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Oh goody.
A “stripped back” game plan will see some more inspiring wins against bottom 4 teams which propel us to a respectable 12th. How exciting.
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What’s really clear is how confused and disappointing this all is. It’s an absolute shamble.
I see the exact opposite, players leaving their structure and opponent to make a play on a ball that 4-5 teammates are also trying to win.
How out of sync is that when the opposites are both visible to the viewers.
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not as pretty as yours but this shows the actual % that appears on the ladder for each rd since the start of 2017.
to me this just underscores that we’ve been steadily going nowhere but have gone backwards this year and significantly so
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You have to ask wether the playing group has ever bought in to it. You can lead a horse to water, but if it won’t drink you need to put it out of its misery.