Bomber's Press Conference Tuesday 22/4/14

Football Discussion Dustin Fletcher Hangar
1

Karma Bomber and I attended Bomber's press conference this morning and I thought Bomber looked tired and lacking his usual bounce.  Most of the questions were standard but two points were of interest.

 

Firstly he said that Carlisle was not working hard enough - no equivocation here but a bald statement.

 

Secondly Dempsey trained with the main group today and addressed the players before training - mea culpa, Humble Pie, its good to be back etc. etc.  I'm pleased to see him back.

 

The season has reached an interesting stage where Bomber's long term strategies are clashing with the immediate tactical imperatives necessary on match day to win games.

 

Here are four of them from the pre-season.

 

1) We need to address the tendency to fall away at the end of the season.  Thus we have seen relatively poor pre-season match form as the team went through a solid twelve week block of training that will presumably (hopefully) benefit the team in the latter part of the season.  It could be argued that the indifferent showing of the past two games is part of this overall strategy - slower start, stronger finish.

 

2) Joe Daniher will be played in every possible game and will be a better player after thirty games.  We must expect there will be some games where he doesn't play well but its something we must do for the long term strategy of his development as the key to the forward line.  Daniher has kicked very few goals and not taken a lot of marks often going to ground when he misses them.  Last week he was eventually played off the bench.  Thus Bomber faces the tough decision of balancing an out of form but undroppable Joe, an out of form Carlisle and the return of a third big man in Bellchambers.

 

3) Daniher and Carlisle will constitute a successful forward line and need games together to develop an understanding and a forward system.  (This has been hampered by Carlisle having to play in the ruck for two weeks.)  So far they have produced little in terms of goals and marks (although other players have managed to put the score on the board in two games) and tactically you would be tempted to change this but strategically you can't.

 

4) Hurley back and Carlisle forward.  So far Hurley is a marginally better player in the backline - at times good but so far not approaching the almost All Australian standard that Carlisle had set.  Carlisle, according to the coach is on the cusp of being dropped and has been a clear loser in the swap so far.  Again the long term strategy is for this to continue but it is leading to a degree of inflexibility tactically as we saw against St Kilda when many would have called for a swap.

 

The way in which Bomber handles the conflict between his long term strategies and the tactics of match day will be fascinating to watch and its resolution will determine whether his plan is that of a genius or stems from feet of clay. 

2

Thanks Jackie for your report, as always a great read.

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Excellent.....nice work.

4

great post

5

It’s like our very own Gerard Whately.

6

Ballsy by Bomber, I'm glad he is sticking to his guns.

7

It's like our very own Gerard Whately.

Pffft!....................Gerard Whately can only dream of being as articulate and insightful as Jackie.

8

It's like our very own Gerard Whately.

Needs more 'Agenda'

9

It's like our very own Gerard Whately.

but better

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We all rate Daniher but how is he, nor anyone undroppable ?

 

That's one of the biggest problems with this club, we have way to many players who are undroppable, for a middle of the table club that's just unacceptable.

Daniher could be anything but he shouldn't get a free ride til the 50 game mark where supposedly players somehow click, he like everyone should be made to earn their ■■■■■■■ spot and actually cheerish it.

Instead we have players continually coasting along cos they know their spot is safe, no matter what.

11

i'd be stunned if anyone in the footy media appreciates the difference between a strategy and a tactic. very astute post by Jackie. Wouldn't be surprised if some media troll does a cut and paste job in the next few days.

12

No MAYO with Jackie. great stuff, thank you.

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It's like our very own Gerard Whately.

With Tiff Cherry erotic awkwardness.
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It's like our very own Gerard Whately.

With Tiff Cherry erotic awkwardness.

 

Doesn't his show have that?

15

jackie - thanks for the update.

 

I don't think I've seen it elsewhere, but what are your thoughts on game style in recent weeks versus how they've trained in the pre-season?  I just can't imagine the coaches want them chipping sideways and backwards as much as they have the last couple of weeks.

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I thought Bomber looked tired and lacking his usual bounce.


Has Bomber been sick as well?
I imagine it's weeks like these that remind him why he was done with senior coaching.
Anyway, the 2 points from the press conference.
Good to see Dempsey making his way back. Hopefully he can get some fitness fairly quickly, he can be such a valuable player.
Happy enough for Bomber to challenge Carlisle to lift if he thinks he's not performing to his best. Time will tell if it's a good piece or man management or not.
As for your discussion topic of short term tactical thinking versus the overall strategy, the key will be whether we can win enough games for the strategy to be implemented succefully.
It's such a fine balancing act, and with JMs thoughts being the closest any of us get to understanding the thinking behind the scenes it's very difficult to get a good idea as to how they intend to balance short term, medium term and long term goals.
I think we've all been working under the assumption that Bomber and the club are looking at a flag *this year*. To get there it means we need to balance getting games into the Carlisle / Daniher combo so as to fast track their development into premiership winning key position players, against the need to win games in the short term so that top 4 remains within reach. That's an incredibly tough task, and relies on the KPF combination to go from nowhere to premiership quality in 20 games.
If that can't happen then the question becomes about what takes priority. Developing our KPFs for longer term success or finding a different forward setup that will allow us to perhaps steal a flag this year?
We're not at critical decision time yet, regarding this development versus winning question, and it may end up being that our best option is the same for each goal, but I am certain that Bomber and Craig and Bassett and everyone else behind the scenes will be spending a lot of time thinking about the questions over the next 20 odd weeks.
Hopefully they have all of the answers.
17

Just on the Carlisle work rate issue, I have no doubt it’s true, as when he makes searching leads he usually gets the footy, but I have not seen a game live yet so I can’t really confirm if it’s a lack of leading from him or just that he gets overlooked and then stops leading.

I think as much as I am paines me to say it, the work rate of Ambrose has probably been a glaring hole the last two weeks. Its hard to think a 2 game player can creat that hole already. It’s something Kommer did last year and if we can get those two back in the side, just to increase the work rate of the forward line, we might see some improvement. Winderlich also has the same effect but with more class, his work rate alone is astonishing.

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Just on the Carlisle work rate issue, I have no doubt it's true, as when he makes searching leads he usually gets the footy, but I have not seen a game live yet so I can't really confirm if it's a lack of leading from him or just that he gets overlooked and then stops leading.
I think as much as I am paines me to say it, the work rate of Ambrose has probably been a glaring hole the last two weeks. Its hard to think a 2 game player can creat that hole already. It's something Kommer did last year and if we can get those two back in the side, just to increase the work rate of the forward line, we might see some improvement. Winderlich also has the same effect but with more class, his work rate alone is astonishing.


This is a snippet from the latest article on the Bombers website:
"Young gun Patrick Ambrose is also set to return to action after overcoming a minor quad complaint.
“Hopefully he will play this week, basically he has been running flat out now for five or six days so he will put his hand up and we will tick it off this week.”
19

jackie - thanks for the update.

 

I don't think I've seen it elsewhere, but what are your thoughts on game style in recent weeks versus how they've trained in the pre-season?  I just can't imagine the coaches want them chipping sideways and backwards as much as they have the last couple of weeks.

In very, very simple terms the game style has three parts:

 

1) Keeping possession.

 

2) Moving the ball forward quickly whenever possible, being patient when we have to.

 

3) Not bombing long into the forward line unless when have a good one on one, two on two or favourable terms.

 

Against St. Kilda we did part one (often by going backwards or sideways) but not part two or three.

 

What you see at training is the ball being moved quickly forward from leads at 45 degrees from the kicker and getting the ball back into the corridor when possible.

20

Great post JM.