Trust in Woosha!
Its really hard to comment in here because of a few things.
Firstly, its hard to respond to a “general consensus” because its arguing against a straw man, and secondly, we don’t really know what Woosha was thinking etc.
What I will say is this. Woosha doesnt give games to kids on a whim. He made use of the senior players and he’s burnt a few if them too. He’s retired Watson and Kelly and Ill be ■■■■■■ if i dont think he did the right thing by playing Jobe all year instead of Bird.
Langford and Laverde got games, and basically proved they weren’t up to it yet.
Sorry to say it, but Kobe Mutch wasn’t going to get us into finals this year, not int he AFL.
Given our gameplan, I’m guessing the young ones just aren’t fit enough or strong enough, or he just wants them to work harder, dig deeper etc.
Whatever, i think we have done ok this year, in what has been a strange season all round (or just a very even season), our list is probably somewhere between 5th and 10th, only 1 or 2 games separating those positions.
Still, no need for an extension just yet, he deserves to remain for next year, but i cant see why we would need to lock him in.
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My core belief is coaches need 5 years to fully implement their plan - You have a good idea in year 2 if the plan is working - And in Worsfold’s case you could argue this is really Year 1.
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As I said a year ago, … there is no way to assess the coaching as a single entity in the equation until mid next year.
Which really should be easily evidenced as the Clubs & John’s view also, given the length of contract.
I really wish everyone would just shut it until then. It really is pointless with all the extraordinary variables during the 1st 2 years of his tenure…
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Because it’s a big step up from vfl level to afl. And there’s been plently of chances to give some kids some experience at afl level, if for nothing else so they can see how fierce the difference is, and what they need to do to pick it up.
instead we are facing missing the finals having little to no development in that area. We have ONE kid at vfl level developing in langford, yes ONE young player is being groomed, how long has our midfield been ■■■■ ? and we have one player in the ressies being tried.
I mock about it feeling like the Knights days on gamedays and that, but ■■■■ outside of the weekend it so just feels like the end od days sheedy era. picking players on name and supposed reputation and them continually not producing.
Not saying sack him or anything like that. Just reckon there’s been plently of good oppotunities to find out this year if players are up to afl level, that have gone wasted, and now we have to go into yet another year not knowing if half our list outside of the 22 will actually ever make it as players.
Howlett, has had poor form most games, but still geting games. Mystifying.
That is a load of tripe. To assume that playing AFL means development is just wrong. Downgrading VFL because it suits your argument is wrong. To make the claim that only one player is being developed is wrong.
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I might be way off here, and the lack of games for Hocking and Stanton doesn’t really support this theory, but maybe this year has been about repaying the players we stuffed around for 12 months of their footballing lives. Maybe not.
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I felt similarly earlier in the season. It’s of course turned out to be a mixture due to the fact that some guys unfortunately have lost too much ground, those whom you have mentioned. This season has had a very unique set of circumstances attached to it.
Baring in mind our seniors are coming from a long way back, I’d really love to see a VFL flag for those guys. That in itself would aid development too.
Clarke. Mutch. Begley. Langford.
I remember years ago (probably 7-8) talking footy with a knowledgeable type from WA, telling me that it was Wooshas view that playing ‘the kids’ wasn’t sustainable for a season and you had to manage a team for the full 22 rounds. The latter point sounds so obvious as to be redundant, and it would be, if it weren’t for how many fans/coaches/pundits have teams written off 10 rounds in.
I feel like Woosha plans from season to season, and is willing to stay the course and evaluate tactics/players once they’ve been given a proper chance. This is why Hooker never went back, why McG won’t play midfield this season, and why he didn’t start tagging players and shutting down games in the middle of last season.
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If that’s the case we may as well have just signed any coach to continue on and get whoever is ‘the vibe’ by mid next year.
Poor performances (by individuals or coaches) require critique just as much as great performances require praise.
Worsfold gets a tick for what he got out of the squad last year. He also gets a tick for what he got out of the group this year as he has gotten more put of them than I expected.
Having said that, we are in the race for a finals spot. Lose one of our remaining two games and we would have lost to three of the bottom five teams and were fortunate not to lose to the fifth team. That cannot go without criticism and it could cost these players valuable finals experience that they need to realise what level of intensity is required in finals.
The not running a tagger is a fair argument. It would have probably won us a few more games, but also lost us some other games if we carried the same principle throughout the season.
As far as next season…
I hate the culture we are breading. For the last decade we have been accepting of excuses and saying ‘it’ll be better next year’. This is not saga related, it was happening before that time. We need to get to a point where we realise we are not good enough and need to judge the performance for what it is, not what it might turn into in a few years time.
We must improve next season on this year. Otherwise the last two years have been another wasted time. Just like the last decade.
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Equally you (plural, not you specifically) cannot lay blame at Woosha’s feet for the past. You can only judge him on last year and this year, which are two very different seasons and not a continuation of progression fully.
Last year he achieved quite a bit and should receive a massive tick imo.
This year has been a positive overall with some excellent games and much to be excited about. It hasn’t been perfect though with some possible poor selection options and some decisions made on game day that in retrospect should not have been followed through on.
So there needs to be improvement in those areas and next year will show us if this occurs.
As far as saying that things seem to be on the improve and how that’s been said before, well, it was true back then but didn’t eventually pan out. Again though, it’s not Woosha’s fault this has happened and it is fair to say that at this time in his tenure he has the club moving in the right direction and things seem to be on the improve. Based on what we are seeing it is fair to expect improvement.
Whether that happens will only be judged after the fact and using the past to say we can’t be positive about the future is plainly silly.
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The games Ive seen Clarke’s been a hf. Begley spends 5 minutes in the midfield and mutch is equal parts wing and half back.
BBB spends more than 5 minutes in the mid.
Has anyone straight up asked Woosha why he hates Craig Bird so much and why he would voluntarily lose games by not picking him and how doing this helps us at all?
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I reckon they’ll all be mids, if they make it anywhere.
Write him a letter and ask him?
PM Mendozza
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Dear John.
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