Yeah, it just dawned on me the minimum length of contract there is 5 years
Bloody hell
Scott going nowhere. Coaching and development may or may not be best in breed, but weāve been in most games all seasonā¦ thatās a pass mark for coaching.
We lose games because thereās not enough quality under pressure, to close out games. Itās not coincidence that the close games we win are down to Durham and Merrett getting plenty of the ball in the last few mins (see Freo game).
If we had no regular winners in their position, then youād have an argument for poor development. We have plentyā¦ but you also need your early picks to show something, and they never do. Rather than pointing the finger at development, (Durham, Caldwell have developed), point the finger at recruitment (Tsatas, Cox, Perkins have never shown the mental aptitude to deliver regularly under pressure - conversely Caddy as a post-Dodoro era pick, has). Development managed to get something out of a basketcase in Wright, even if it was just for a season. Caldwell and Draper have overcome their injuries - sports science is okā¦ itās the list that needs an overhaul
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I stupidly went along on Saturday night and I spent a lot of time watching how Redman positions himself when behind the ball, and man it is mind boggling. He pays his direct opponent no respect at all. He was happy to give 20-40m leg rope on multiple occasions. Itās like, mate, youāre Mason Redman not peak Jeremy McGovern. Itās alarming.
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I wonder if thatās to be ādangerousā or if he is simply out there not adhering to the game plan
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Yeah I mean if he was a spare I could understand it but in the situations Iām referring to he certainly wasnāt that. It would be interesting to know what the instructions are from the coaching group though yeah.
Who was he playing on?
The occasional long-bomb goal buys him a lot of goodwill. He has two for the year. His actual positioning and one-on-one defending is really poor. He is playing behind the ball because he doesnāt have the footy IQ to play any other position, and is on a bloated long-term contract because our list management team blinked when Adelaide came sniffing.
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Iām a little concerned. Iāve always thought if we had a good run with injuries we would play finals at least. Turns out thatās not the case. So many players are just not in good form? We did improve on last year so at least we have that.
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Judging by his positioning, nobody.
But from memory he cycled through Jed Walter and Bailey Humphrey mostly. Maybe Holman at times. I was watching from level 3 and was just focusing on the orange/yellow jumper that he was giving 30 odd metres of leg rope too, not so much who it was.
I didnāt go to the game so have no idea but maybe they were just trying to drag Redmen out of position? I donāt think his opponent did much all game
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For mine itās not a case of needing to flog the players in the offseason or get them to try harder. The coaching largely got that right this season.
In Q4 on the weekend we had the ball in our half 84% of the time, we led scoring shots, I50ās and contested ball. We out worked the opposition and thus the effort was there.
This story has played out in about ten games this year where we matched or bettered the opposition in key stats that indicate the effort is there. Only really a couple of games where it clearly wasnāt.
The problem is class, to get reward for effort.
- we donāt have a key forward who can take a contested mark
- we donāt have any genuinely good small forwards.
- we severely lack kicking skills in the midfield and defence.
- we donāt have much line breaking speed-
- we lack genuine game winners that stand up under pressure -
Coaching canāt fix all those skill and talent issues.
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Yep. This is why I donāt get the āItās not a talent issue. The talent is thereā crew.
Of course like everything itās multi faceted to some degree but itās absolutely still a talent issue in the areas youāve identified.
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Itās because itās a great delusion to buy into. If you believe we have the talent and itās just about trying harder then youāre only one spray or team building camp away from premierships.
Acknowledging we donāt have the talent means years of work to rectify. Even without a rebuild, just addressing our current weaknesses would take multiple off seasons to fix.
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Another massive issue is that we designed a game plan that exposes our weaknesses.
I mean, who in their right mind would look at the team with the meekest key forward and worst small forward stocks in the league and think:
"Iāve got it, letās bomb it to the big guy and let the smalls feast.
It is absolutely, in part, a coaching issue.
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Merrett, Calders and Durham are all above average kicks for midfielders.
I genuinely dont think thats the issue anymore.
I think our set ups, which include defensive set ups, are league worst.
Our coaches have no farking idea.
Imo.
You can have both.
I donāt think we have great talent.
But we have enough talent to be able to kick 3.6 in a quarter instead of 1.9. You cannot tell me that if I take Draper and Stringer out to a paddock that they donāt kick 50% of their shots from the same distance they missed in front of a crowd.
There are mental demons that hold us back and itāll take quite an individual to work their way through it. Especially at a club that gets our results.
You are correct though. Our deficiencies will take longer than an off-season to fix. And we may create more problems along the way. Fitness has been a major problem. We havenāt fixed it yet, but we are better in that area than last year.
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Iām not as concerned as some about the ālocked inā core of senior players even though I agree they all have limitations. For clarity in this instance Iām referring to the Langford, Parish, Redman, McGrath, McKay group. These guys are fine as a mid-tier in a top 4 team but at the moment are in our 1-10 players. We can overthink things too much - we donāt need to get rid of those players IMO, they are an important core but we clearly need a better top tier of talent above them which as pointed out will require at least 4-5 acquisitions of high calibre players through draft\trade\free agency.
Agree that Brad Scott is working with sub-optimal cattle and must be given time to exert influence over playing list and culture.
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This idea that mental fragility isnāt a talent issue, is just laughable.
Seriously, thereās not a lot of difference between skills and physical application of most players picked in the first round. There is some differences, here and there depending on strengths and positions they playā¦. But overall not a lot of difference.
Their mental application in high pressure situations is what separates these players in quality. Itās the differences between the greats and a spuds
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Scottās on a hiding to nowhere. It just feels like he, and the club, feel the list was not far from where it needed to be, and that a couple of years to lift standards, effort, fill some gaps, complement the list, might work out.
It seems the club has an eye on a finals win level (still), and itās a massive mistake. We exist to win premierships, and everything else means f all. The list simply isnāt competitive enough and needs a massive change up. Scott surely has to see this, now that heās had two years to get the best out of certain players and seeing that itās not there.
It feels like do or die time. Overhaul the list as much as possible in this next window, or enjoy another nothing season in 2025.
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Which is what I was getting at with
I do t think you can turn Zaharakis into Joel Selwood. Itās an inherent trait, itās apparent from day 2 and we donāt have enough of it.
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