everything coach - mark jamar
problem solved. he’d crack skulls like nobodies business!
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A-■■■■■■■-men. Not only no idea and no system - but letting teams walk out of the debacle that has been our forward line for so long. Also, no point getting an inside 50 if the forwards can’t execute a basic set shot for goal - which is close to the stupidest way to hand the opposition the ball, though we are working on new and interesting strategies in this field.
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Sean Wellman is on the Essendon board if I’m not mistaken
I posted this earlier today in the Worsfold thread, this thread seems more appropriate, the last line though I’m not sure about now after reading Le_Archie post.:
Clearly there is a problem with player development at the club, would you think Darren Bewick would be a option to bring in as a development, possible forwards coach. He can obviously spot talent and develop them thanks to his coaching role at Eastern Ranges (hello Josh Begley).
The guy is essendon through and through, can coach, know’s how to deal with kids, knew how to kick beautifully straight. Had the unique ability to know how to play as a focal point forward, crumber and flanker. I say get him in.
This isn’t a knock on Paul Corrigan btw, in fact I think he is one of the current assistants I’d keep.
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To be Honest I would rather Him and Simon Madden on the coaching staff.
Even Darren Bewick, he has a good grass roots experience. And is good at Developing kids, so maybe a development role for him, just look at what he did to Begley.
past players who i would advocate for the Board - Michael long, Mark Bolton, Paul Salmon, Jason Winderlich, and James Hird 
, If he was on the Board and Coach he might have saved himself from getting sacked.
Sack Neeld.
The rest may fall into place.
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At the time i rhought it was a bad thing to say, simply cos footballers are by nature dumb, so thwir automatic response would be ro slow everything right down.
But for some reason the gameplan doesnt really allow them to slow it down, because all our players get sucked up the ground.
So not only is it fully congested in tight and they want them ro slow it down, they want and expect them to hit a target in said congwstion under so much pressure.
Its undoable to hold up the play when your whole twam is wihtin 60-70 meters of the oppositions goal
Robert Shaw analysis on coaching in modern football
AFL Analyst-EssendonFC blogger - Teacher-Director of Football-Writer
Shawry’s Monday Microscope Where are we heading? The search for the Unbreakable Game.
Every club is searching for what I describe as the ‘Unbreakable Game’. A game that stands up against all styles and systems. Clubs are still chasing the ultimate game, but history says there is a window. Get it right in a particular era and you may well take home the ultimate prize. The search continues and it’s interesting to look at how success has been created, and speculate about the next phase of coaching and training.
The ruckman used to sit behind the play unopposed. The CHF used to compete with his man and the ruckman and players played in traditional positions head to head. Professionalism came to the game, and full time coaches meant that all clubs had longer to analyse, dissect and research the game. Overseas fact finding missions (formerly junkets) saw the coaches visiting EPL, NFL and NBA clubs while one coach (Neesham at Fremantle) adopted water polo zoning, and Clarkson went and watched Lacrosse. Terry Wallace took his passion for basketball and showed us how a team could do a full zone in the back half of the ground. Then Plough’s flood became outdated as skill level improved.
Essendon’s great sides of late 90’s and early 2000’s perfected formations like soccer. Soccer played traditional 4-4-2. Melbourne Victory coach Ernie Merrick visited the club and taught us how to defend areas…not opponents. Essendon would adopt 8-6-4 formation. 8 defenders allowing Fletcher and Wellman to be released with devastating results, six midfielders, playing strong tight football (aimed at slowing down opposition ball movement) and four forwards. Only four forwards you say? Yes but they were Hird, Lucas, Lloyd and Mercuri!
Unfortunately, one of the downsides of research and study, plus the extraordinary number of assistants being employed, has seen the game ‘lost in translation’. It’s very complex, structure-minded and we are slowly losing the basic look of what our game used to look like. Coaching has gone to high levels of sophistication. Over coached? Not really. It’s just that the successful formula from the premiership team is examined and other clubs attempt produce the anecdote. So the game keeps stepping ahead bit by bit.
Hawthorn’s development, recruiting and more important THE PLACEMENT of their left footers was no fluke. Birchall, Hodge, Smith, Dew, Ellis, Guerra, Ladson, Young, Roughead, Lewis, Rioli, Franklin, Gibson and Suckling played in premierships. That’s nearly a team of left footers over the premiership era. I’ve probably missed the odd one. I’m giving Clarko the benefit of the doubt here; that it was a calculated process and that it did not just fall in his lap. So as teams began the process of applying more and more pressure the Hawks had a ‘get out’ clause. A left footer turns the other way and added to the Hawks skill level they regularly turned out of trouble, left foot out (to space) and found a team mate. Remember, when Hawthorn would have 90+ uncontested marks …they never lost. It also allowed them to turn out and away of the full ground press. Hawthorn cleared congestion better than any team.
The Full Ground Press, Clarko’s Cluster, Roosy’s Slingshot or The Weagles Web.
Clarko’s Cluster- the pressure was not related to tackles or contested possession, but more the weight of numbers in key areas leading to turnovers. The Hawks were generally in the bottom 4 of tackles for the year. In 2015, the Eagles introduced the Team or Zone Defence or, as Gerard Healy called it, the Eagles Web. The Subiaco Oval is very narrow in parts and it is very easy to defend the narrow flanks and wings. This basically meant that if the ball was at a boundary throw-in deep inside your own forward half, the WHOLE TEAM would push up and PRESS with ALL players within 80-100m of the ball. Hence weaving a web. The Cats out possessed (417.5 disposals a game), out-handballed (210.1), outran and outscored (15.2 goals a game) their opponents in a dominant season under Thompson. Maybe the Cats just outplayed you. Simple as that.
In 2016, Western Bulldogs handballed extensively, focused on speed and the contested game. In 2017, Richmond focused on speed but prioritised manic forward pressure and an unconventional forward system. In 2012, however, the Sydney Swans took a different approach. Under coach Paul Roos, the Swans introduced the concept of “slingshot football”, where they would absorb everything their opponents could throw at them, and then hit them twice as hard on the counter. So, as you can see, every couple of years, a trend will emerge. Then they are examined and researched and a response is executed. Well, actually, they all copy each other for a year or two until a team wins it doing something different. That is how the game evolves, like it or not.
Game Style, Game System or Game Plan are all names for the fundamental way a team is coached to play. The evolution of the game since 2000 has seen the defensive zone/flood come and go and the imperative nature of the full ground press to ensure teams do not use the ball effectively out of the backline. Famously, Terry Wallace put his whole team behind the ball and invited Essendon to attack in 2000. In 2018 teams would dissect this and destroy his plan through sophisticated ball use. 18 years ago Essendon would just hammer it in. This is where scoring sources have changed and have resulted in a huge emphasis on ‘forward pressure’. This includes intercepts, tackles in forward 50, % time in forward 50 and repeat entries inside forward 50. The last three premiers have been brilliant at this with their small forward, not only destructive around goal, but defensively proud!
In the past 20 years Scoring Sources have changed with a sharp spike in the last two years. Scoring sources in the Back Half have jumped from 35 points for game at the end of 2016 to 52.7 pints approaching 2018. To combat these, coaches of the last 3 premiership teams have assembled a ‘team’ of small professional tacklers and the focus is to intercept or keep applying pressure. The other layer that is added is that recruiters have basically ruled a line through any player that does not have an elite kick. IF the game is played under extreme congestion and numbers then it makes sense. So while scoring sources continue to be back half dominated manic forward pressure/presses have to dominate any premiership assault for the time being.
When zoning became prevalent it came from basketball and water polo as you ‘gave’ the ball to your opponent and guarded the key areas, frustrating and foiling. The press came from soccer where you now ‘press down’ with the view to not allowing opposition time on the ball to execute the perfect pass. Interestingly in another code, former Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou basically demanded that the long ball be cut out and that his defenders must ‘play out’ from defence. This means using the ball and passing the ball. This also doubles as drawing opposition midfielders forward and opening up space. It was debated whether the current team had the technical proficiency to adopt this tactic. Over the past 20 years coaches have spent a lot of time overseas analysing game systems and other sports. Clarkson from Hawthorn has been the best at researching this. He has a great capacity to analyze and then TEACH as a system. He’s the best at this over 10 years by a mile.
Forward pressure will be with us for some time I believe, as clubs are too adept at kicking the ball out of defence. With such high skill level and ball movement patterns, if forward pressure isn’t a premium solution I’d be very much surprised.
Where to?
I’d like to discuss how teams are coached or should be coached and this will give an indication of where the game could be heading. This theory is not so much the next trend but how those clubs arrive at that trend. Tactical Periodisation is a training model where the primary aim is the next play the coach wants his team to produce at a particular scenario. I think it will happen in the training methods of how teams are coached on the training track and the terminology used, Tactical Periodisation is a term adopted from soccer and popularized by the likes of the Portuguese and Spanish. It was once called Mourinho’s best-kept secret.
They will include Defensive Transition, Offensive Transition, Offensive Organisation and Defensive Organisation. In other words, a team must be able to structurally adjust itself through the cooperation of teammates and coaches. This is referred to as Moments in the Game, and I think clubs are going to become so adept at this. Some clubs are very advanced in this process already. You will hear it in dialogue and terminology during coaches’ interviews.
So what are Moments of The Game?
Accordingly, there is one of any four moments in a game.
• Offensive Organsisation (Setting up forwards to maximise entries)
• Offensive Transition (Disorganise the opposition defence to score in transition)
• Defensive Organisation (Pressure and Press as a cohesive unit…Prevent the build up of opposition attack)
• Defensive Transition (Prevent and slow opposition ball progression)
** There is a 5th phase of our game that other codes and sports do not have. The Stoppage.
The major point of Tactical Periodisation is that these moments of the game cannot be isolated as say, traditional backs, forwards, midfield and indeed the ‘line coaching’ system. Some clubs still use this system and I think it is antiquated, placing pressure on players to achieve statistical standards and making Super Coach a barometer of selection (well in the eyes of the public). A team divided into areas doesn’t make sense in 2018.
The randomness and unpredictability of our game requires coaching and training as a ‘whole’. The factors of ‘Moments of the Game ‘are not aligned to line coaching in any way shape or form and therefore these phases of play can never be viewed in ISOLATION. (‘Lines’). It always focuses on what the ‘team’ is seeking to play at all times and how individuals contribute to the overall game plan in all ways (physical, technical, tactical and psychological) at all times. It does not judge all individuals on kicks, marks, handballs but more so how you fit into that structure. Coaches continually discuss playing your role. In effect this is what this means. I believe it will also challenge the notion of coaches absorbed in statistics and data. While we cannot forsake statistical analysis the team should not be reduced to analysis of players in individual terms.
Coaching Structure
Under this system, no, any current system, this is how I would set up the basic coaching structure both on the training track and coaches box. Line coaching is ‘dead’.
• Strong experienced Football Head Coach/Manager
• Offensive Organisation and Transition Coach
• Defensive Organisation and Transition Coach
• Stoppage and Clearance Specialist Coach
• Opposition Monitoring Coach
• Senior Head of Player Football Development staff
• Education,Teaching and Learning specialist (with strong football background)
Once upon a time the backs would defend, the midfields create and the forwards score. They were each coached by a line coach. Now I challenge breaking up into groups and not hearing the instructions to 2/3 of your team mates. The game has gone beyond ‘coaching in isolation’. Not sure the next trend, but I’m positive it will come from the next team/coaching group that fully adopts and understands the four moments of the game and how every player cooperates and works as a ‘whole’.
Robert Shaw
16/4/2018
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about as interesting to read as a that bruce nutter.
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Neeld had come from a stint coaching young players after his failure at Melbourne. OK, we brought him in for that, but somehow has become more involved in actual game day/ game planning at AFL level. There is something NQR about this setup. Is it a formalisation of who has Wooshas ear ?
I have no idea whether Neeld devised the game plan, or had some input into it, but he is “game performance manager” so he is next in line to Worsfold.
A management consultant needs to come in by appointment of the board and interview each of the coaches, and the senior players one at a time in private on a confidential basis and try to find out wtf is going on.
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Oh. ■■■■.
After finishing minor premiers in 2015 Ross Lyon got 2 of his coaches to change the Freo gameplan, which they trained for in the preseason. It completely wrecked their 2016 season ( along with some list changes etc). The players could not execute it. They dropped to 16th in one year
Lyon had to abandon the changes and undo all the harm, just to start going forward again this year.
Sound familiar?
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That’s what they employed Luke Ball to do
So…other clubs like to tell amusing stories about the premiership team?
It’d be a good start.
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Not quite. Some overlap for sure, but not quite.
Because Blitz doesn’t understand?
If we put all the blame on one coach, even if we don’t know if it’s really him, when he is replaced, we can pretend like we’ve solved the problem! Maybe sell some more memberships too!
Why does everyone make such a big deal about extending Worsfold’s contract? Can’t we just fire him anyway?
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Yes yes yes, I cannot believe he is with our club, what on earth goes on in their heads. Jeez I’ll be over the ■■■■■■ rainbow before it all ever makes sense again