how could you criticise our coach when his video highlight of him belting carnts is him getting done in by harvs?
3 Likes
You are right about that. Loved the one that ironed out Dermie.
And I was not having a go at Worsfold really, just reacting to comments about JHirds coaching. And I was born in the Year of the Monkey and I am hairy and I can type.
3 Likes
I am sure everyone understands why the Woosha 2016 mantra was about learning and all that, but I really hope he dumps that as the prime aim. I want to hear Woosha talk about winning, finding ways to win, about winning the ball and about kicking a winning score.
Out with the L word, in with the W word…
1 Like
I don’t really care about the W/L this season.
Sure i’ll have meltdowns weekly in the match threads but thats a given.
What I want to see is Woosha instilling the ruthlessness he played with in the team. If another teams player irons one of us out, i want to see the team unite and go back at them just as hard. I want to see the team move the ball fast, take it on, and try to fkg win, rather than not lose, this is where I think the biggest issue has been for essendon in the last 5 years. a team gets a run on us and we just chip it for far to long trying to take the sting out. thats all well and good, but once you’ve slowed the tempo, you need to ramp it up again to take the fight to them. I think we can do it, we just need the team to play with a quiet courage.
8 Likes
No comments about him with regards to the Gillard report?
JOHN WORSFOLD
(Page 47)
Coach Worsfold was told by at least three fairly reliable sources in 2002 that some players were taking illicit drugs and were mixing with undesirable persons and could get themselves into trouble.
(Page 25)
After West Coast Eagles were defeated by Collingwood in the finals series in September 2007, coach John Worsfold addressed the players and - after congratulating them and thanking them for their efforts in what was a very close-fought semi-final - proceeded to severely criticise a number of players, whom he named, as derailing the team’s efforts for season 2007.
(Page 37)
It was clear that the coach was extremely disappointed and angry that the season had not ended on a winning note, and in particular talked about the taking of drugs and stated in a belligerent manner that “he would rather die than take a drug”.
2 Likes
Probably Woosha was the first coach to have a problem like that on that scale.
The CBA and AFL 3 strike policy ( as it was) more or less allowed players to get around the issue particularly in the off season.
I think his hands might have been tied at that point.
Today, I would have them tested and out them. That would stamp it out. But getting that into the player contracts would require AFLPA and AFL agreement and they are probably more lenient than clubs and coaches would like to be.
Dale Lewis came out and claimed drug use was rife amongst AFL players. 2002. He was at Sydney then, so maybe Worsfold was just the one where it became more obvious
13 years ago the AFL were issued with a warning that recreational drugs were commonplace at football clubs.
That warning came from ex-Sydney player Dale Lewis. He stated that up to 75 per cent of football’s elite level participants indulged in recreational drug use, that they knew how to use masking agents to beat the drug tests and were aware of how long each substance stayed in their systems.
The drugs of choice were apparently speed and ecstasy.
It was a startling revelation and one that probably warranted further investigation, whether you believed the figures that Lewis bandied about or not.
Instead Lewis was largely derided.
AFL boss Andrew Demetriou dismissed the allegations as being naïve, stupid and an insult to the football community and issued Lewis with a ‘please explain’ letter.
AFL Players Association CEO Rob Kerr fobbed the allegations off as mere rumour and innuendo.
ASADA denied players were regular users and pointed to the 500 tests it had carried out the previous year, none of which had been positive.
And the Sydney Swans expressed disappointment that their former star would say such unpalatable things.
Only Gary Lyon, just three years retired as a player himself, showed any degree of support for Lewis.
Although he added the disclaimer that he thought Lewis’ figure of 75 per cent was too high, he said that there was consistent talk of players trying ecstasy and speed.
The Age newspaper quoted Lyon as saying, “There’s enough talk around to say, ‘Let’s not sweep this under the carpet, let’s deal with this in a mature manner’.”
Unfortunately his was a lone cry in the dark as the rest of the football world covered their ears and screamed, “I can’t hear you!”
This all happened in the pre-season of 2002.
Fast forward 13 years and it seems Lewis has been somewhat vindicated. You can nit-pick about his claim of 75 per cent all you like, but even the most blinkered observers would have to admit that recreational drugs do exist within the world of professional football, just as they do in the wider community.
Since Lewis made his claims we have watched a number of West Coast Eagles players come to grief.
The Ben Cousins situation has been well-documented, and his fight with addiction and mental illness sadly continues to this day.
Daniel Kerr forged prescriptions for valium tablets, dabbled in methamphetamines and was recorded speaking to a convicted drug dealer on a police phone tap.
Chad Fletcher nearly died during a bender with teammates on an end of season trip to Las Vegas and has also been busted for cocaine possession.
Names from other clubs have come to light also
Yes true. More incidents, like players dying ( some being revived) at least one becoming a drug zombie, some fully dead.
Remember Dimwitriou proclaiming it “The cleanest sport in the world”. Hahaha. What a ----.
13 Likes
Matthew Stokes (Geelong) and Michael Johnson (Fremantle) were both charged with cocaine possession in 2010 and Tom Liberatore (Western Bulldogs) was found unconscious and in possession of an ecstasy tablet in 2012.
Then there was Travis Tuck (Hawthorn) who became the first player to receive three strikes under the AFL drugs policy in 2010 while battling clinical depression.
At the moment we have Collingwood pair Lachie O’Keeffe and Josh Thomas awaiting judgement after testing positive to clenbuterol. While the substance is often used as a performance enhancer, helping to improve muscular strength and reduce body fat, some believe that the pair may have ingested it after it was used to lace or ‘cut’ an illicit drug.
And now we have the Gold Coast Suns situation, where ex-player and code hopper Karmichael Hunt claims he snorted cocaine with up to 12 of his teammates and a compromising photograph of Harley Bennell has been splashed across the pages of the nation’s newspapers.
This comes on top of a report by the Herald Sun newspaper which claims that 80 players tested positive to illicit substances over the pre-season.
The AFL is not covering its ears any more. Instead it is throwing its arms up in the air in frustration as its precious brand takes hit after hit after hit.
So, who is to blame for this spate of recreational drug use by AFL players?
Add Whitfield for something?
l am always amused by this comment any time it comes up, because it sells all the years of work that went into getting a team together, short. So, sorry no, you could not have coached them to a flag, and considering the slimness of the margin they won by, neither could anyone else have either.
2 Likes
He improved our interstate W / L record to a positive one, when prior to his arrival it was pitiful. He also made us more formidable at Etihad, so the indications are that he could coach, even though he was too slow to react on game day, when positional changes needed to be made.
5 Likes
With respect Captain, we all need to know our limitations. I never had the ability to platying footy at the highest grade, but had some success coaching a local Under 9 team. Translate this to men who act like idiot kids, then there would have been no issue with winning that flag.
2 Likes
Sydney might have something to say about that. Adelaide as well.
1 Like
Was there rampart drug use in the Under 9’s too?
1 Like
Ritalin?
4 Likes
Well seeing you asked. I reckon some of the Parents either were on drugs or needed drugs to calm them down. The kids were actually great; just wanted to have fun, learn to play footy and roll in the mud. No names, but one of them went on to play AFL (a Bomber ruckman, who fancied himself as a full forward) , and this of course was entirely down to me !!
Some Parents, both Mums and Dads can be absolutely feral when it comes to their kids; and I am sure that there are many on Blitz who have had similar experiences. We played on mostly large full sized grounds, so scoring was low, and mostly you had packs of 6, 7 and 8 years old just running after the ball. We had about 25 kids who came regularly to training and games and so I always tried to make sure all played, which meant that some of the better players had to sit it out on occasion. Most parents were OK, but some where just very angry unreasonable people; and in the end I stopped coaching because of it (and I was getting too old, I still wanted the kids to learn to drop-kick !!)
3 Likes
Bonjela addicts, the lot of them.
7 Likes
Parents are the worst thing about weekend sport.
Was way better when they’d ■■■■ off.
2 Likes
While true, the ‘play for fun’ mantra is maddening. I got to coach my kid’s U7’s soccer last year for one week and we were RELENTLESS after months of watching everyone ‘having a good time’. Flogged the opposition.
6 Likes