Strategy 3 priorities for our new coach

[Moe B]

Does anyone think he would be more likely after winning a flag this year or missing out again?

Definitely more likely if he wins one, but whoever it is, I hope they've got plenty of energy to burn, will not be easy!!

 

[Moe B]

1. Stop hoofing the ball to the wing.
2. Play the younger guys
3. dont win any games, top draft picks are crucial.

No.3 is not the carlton way and should never be...

 

[MrsEddieBetts]

1. Don't play favourites. Even 'big names' should be dropped sometimes if it's for the betterment of the team
2. Get on the same page with the List Manager. If one of the junior guys is going to be part of the future then please get some games under their belt before Juddy etc retire. PLEASE.
3. Don't bring over any of your old mates just cos you like them, whether that's players (ahem, Daisy) or staff. Do what's best for Carlton, not what's best for you.

 

[Dramoth]

1. Clean out the dead wood in the non-playing staff. Evaluate their performances to date and ask then to re-interview for their jobs.
2. Put together a decent game plan that includes defensive elements and some of the famed Carlton running game.
3. Don't tank because the board wants you to.

 

[thylacine60]

Add to that; clear doesn't mean throw it on the boot and hope.

this this this

 

[AndyLucimitis]

In my opinion the single thing that can be gained this year is for the coach to make Carlton a fun place to be ie. get rid of the Toxic atmosphere.

I know this sounds cheesy but we need to at least get the club back to the point where a Hendo or a Yarran are happy to stay. That they can confidently say ' yep - the place was a mess earlier in the year but in he last 16 weeks we have gelled together, we have some low draft picks and can really see that it's going to be an exciting place to be around in the next few years'. This will also help to attract other players if needed.

 

[HBF]

Anyone know when they'll make a call on a new coach? Hope it's not end of year...

When they have completed their interviews. There is no rush with this. I dare say they'll want to have a new coach in place by the time the trade/FA period commences.

 

[Windhover]

What are the 3 or more things you are going to want our new coach to implement in the off season?
For this exercise we should assume that list management and drafting will be left to SOS and co. On the track, game day, player management what changes do you want to see..

Interesting thread and good thoughts. It is a pity the intention of the thread has been misconstrued by some. And, as will be seen, I do not believe that it is possible to disregard list management and drafting in the assessment of the new coach because these matters necessarily overlap. For example, SOS might think that a well-structured list needs a dinosaur type ruckman (most lists do have one), but clearly not if the new coach's game plan only uses Biclavs/Stanley type runners.

The first thing I want the new coach to implement is oversight and direction of the medical science at the Club so that:
(a) the players we recruit are tested to ensure they meet the specific demands of the coach's game-plan. If the intended game plan involves fast ball movement I am happy to recruit the Pavs of this world who came to AFL fat and unfit but had the capacity to improve. I do not want to recruit players that are already fully developed and will always be slow by hand, foot and mind. Unless the player is expected in the game plan to play the role of a Tony Lockett.
(b) the players are developed according to the needs of the game plan. Cripps apparently spent last off-season with a sprints coach to speed him up. Presumably by speeding up Cripps has sacrificed strength that extra weight might have given him. Cripps is so valuable because he is so good at whatever he does (a bit like Pav himself) and therefore could, conceivably, be a KPF. I doubt anyone would want to take him out of the midfield but how he is used will be the new coach's call based on the needs of the game plan. All I am saying is Cripps (and others) need to be carefully developed for whatever role he is to play. The great James Hird (as a player) once spent an off-season building up his weight so he could be more dominant up forward and wrecked his season and threatened his career with a navicular bone fracture for his efforts. This is what needs to be avoided.
(c) players are treated respectfully, as human beings, and not as some sort of anonymous farm factory animals. This means having rigorous protocols in place to (i) prevent the Essendope debacle; (ii) avoid having injured/concussed players going back onto the field because of a perception the Club "needs" them to be playing and causing longer term damage and delayed returns to playing. i.e. Adrian Whitehead should NEVER happen again; (iii) ensure players understand and have bought into the body and lifestyle transformations that medical science driven body shaping technology (fitness programs etc) will deliver.
(d) fans are treated respectfully. This means the Club being transparent about the medical science processes. For example we see Graham earning senior selection and wondering why he is not being picked. Maybe it is because Graham is expected to be able to cover X km in 85% game time and he is being built up to achieve that so that when he is promoted he can play to the game plan from the get go. This means when a player is listed with a 2 week injury, as near as dammit that is what it means, not a frustrating season ending injury after 3 rounds of football. I have no doubt opposition Clubs knew Daisy's shoulder was a pop-out problem well before it was announced his season had ended still recovering from a "toe" injury. All this nonsense does is treat the fans as fools. I don't recall the last Flag that was won because no one knew about a star player's real injury. We all knew Nigel Lappin had broken ribs. But Flags have been lost by players not being honest about their injuries - think back to Bairstow in 94/95 or Eddy at St Kilda who didn't tell the club he had a broken jaw and played in 2010 GF. And how many times do we see a player who looks "lazy" and whom we rightly berate when in fact the poor bugger should never have played. Brendan Gale was hopeless one year for the Tiges and had even their mild fans baying for his blood unaware he was playing with serious knee injury. I wonder how many games the Tiges won by not telling anyone? I am sure the other Clubs weren't fooled.

The second thing I want is for the new Coach to tell us what his game plan is, and how he proposes to develop it. This involves having an honest conversation with the fans about list deficiencies and strengths and how his game plan is intended to minimise the list weaknesses and maximise its strengths. For example, Warnock - who is much despised in these parts (not by me) - has obvious strengths and weaknesses. It may be the new coach doesn't see a place for 206 in his plans. Fair enough, delist or trade. It may be the new coach does see a role. Fair enough, tell us what Warnock is expected to do and what the plan is in place to develop him. Ditto Caz.

Clarkson used Mark Williams at full forward to begin with but was very clear that it was an interim measure only and that the game plan he intended to develop required big target forwards. Sure it wasn't much fun for Williams to hear he was stop-gap expendable but it was honest. And being honest didn't cost the Hawks a flag AFAIK. Clarkson made it plain in his first season that he wanted to develop a game plan that involved retention of the footy. It was particularly ill-suited to the talentless players he then had so they suffered big losses. We can all suffer big losses if we understand where we are going and how it is intended to get there.

A real test for the new coach will be to explain after games where he felt his game plan was working, where he felt it was not working and what mistakes he made either tactically or strategically. Alan Richardson at St Kilda regularly and Paul Roos last week admitted coaching error. Did we ever hear such error from Notmyfaulthouse?

The third thing I want is to see players with special talent being used in ways that maximise that talent. Walker is (when fit, hmmm) a great endurance runner, capable of running opposing defenders/forwards into the ground. Ditto Curnow. Yarran is express paced and a creative kick. I want to see supports that prevent the Chapman's hanging on to him to stop him from going. Whether this means Yarran being instructed to make sure the umpire knows what is going on, team mates (Bell, Cripps etc) helping him out with blocks and bumps I don't care. Tuohy is a long, accurate kick for goal outside 50 and should be used in a Stewie Dew way to kick goals.

This also involves understanding player's weaknesses. Is there any point shifting Warnock to the forward line if most times he cannot get to the fall of the ball, if he did he would drop the mark and means his direct opponent will be able to start a counter-attacking over-lap run out of defence that can itself be impossible to defend against if executed properly?

May be controversial, but one of the first things should be pocking a new captain.
And new faces in the leadership group (looking at you Sammy and Paddy).

Pocking the face of the new captain would make him look meaner but I do not think, in this day and age, it will add much threat to the opposition. Couldn't he just wear transferable tatts? And face transplants for the leadership group, particularly if it were to include our future leaders Paddy and Sam, is an abhorrent thought. Couldn't they just be forced to grow beards?

 

[Windhover]

Shorter Windhover for those who, rightly, regard the above as TLDR.

(I get stuck into MM again, but no one notices my obscure reference and the thread is thereby not derailed.).

 

[Cripps 'n' Blue Bloods]

Anyone know when they'll make a call on a new coach? Hope it's not end of year...

Will probably depend largely on whether or not the new coach is currently contracted to another club. There will need to be some sort of agreement.

 

[Aphrodite]

Shorter Windhover for those who, rightly, regard the above as TLDR.

(I get stuck into MM again, but no one notices my obscure reference and the thread is thereby not derailed.).

TLDR!

 

[DaVillaBlues]

Shorter Windhover for those who, rightly, regard the above as TLDR.

(I get stuck into MM again, but no one notices my obscure reference and the thread is thereby not derailed.).

I actually enjoyed your lengthy dossier on what you want the new coach to bring to the club, probably your best/most agreeable post on this board so far, but what I would say is that I don't think Yarran will be at the club next year and I don't think Walker is

a best/starting 22 player, this might be harsh but I am genuinely fed up with Walker and his laconic approach to footy these days, been our club's most disappointing player these past two years.

 

[Windhover]

I actually enjoyed your lengthy dossier on what you want the new coach to bring to the club, probably your best/most agreeable post on this board so far,

Why should a post be "agreeable"? It is the contested space between us that makes communication of any value whatsoever. (Eg. If there is a hungry lion in front of you and you would have to be dead not to smell the rotting flesh in its gaping jaw, already deafened by its mighty roar, it would doubtless be "agreeable" (i.e. something you would readily agree with) for me to point the lion out to you but unlikely to be regarded by you as helpful. If, on the other hand I suggested you might like to relinquish from your vice-like grasp the sheep carcass you were holding back from the lion, you may not agree with me but it would surely be worth considering.

. . . but what I would say is that . . .

Oh no.

. . .I don't think . . .

Stop. Stop. STOP, i can still agree with you thus far

. . .Yarran will be at the club next year

and so what is the point of this fascinating gem, particularly its relevance to this thread? (I will ignore seeking its source).

. . .and I don't think Walker is a best/starting 22 player, this might be harsh but I am genuinely fed up with Walker and his laconic approach to footy these days, been our club's most disappointing player these past two years.

Also way off thread. What you say is not harsh, it is either a sensible opinion or it is not. Walker has been damned by supporters such as your good self for years for his laconic approach. Then under Ratts he had break-out consistency and all the critics fell in love with him.

To bring the discussion back on thread, the reality is that Walker is an extremely talented footballer with a rare blend of athleticism and ball-handling skills. A downside to athleticism is that he is more finely-tuned than less athletic players like Cripps and therefore more prone to injury effected performance. There are plenty of such players, Waite is another. Walker represents a case in point where the Club, having advised that he has been hampered by knee problems this year, has chosen to play him rather than repair him. I am not in a position to know whether the Club is right or not to play him injured but I share your disappointment in his output this year and generally think if a player is picked he should be fit enough to play to his expected standard. That is why I want the MEDICAL DIVISION to have a long hard look at itself.

I don't disparage Walker any more than I disparage Daisy (who you have more sympathy for) for the fact that he has played injured.

 

[Chookie]

1. I want to see our new coach give some of the youngsters more of a go. IMO a player has either got the talent for AFL or he doesn't. There are probably a few players in a category similar to Dylan Buckley, where there is some potential there but how much I'm not sure..And I think the only way we'll know if they're good enough is by playing them. Take Buckley for example, he's averaged 11 touches a game this season, you'd probably want a bit more than that from someone drafted four years ago. But at the same time he's had a bad run with injuries over the past couple of seasons so its not entirely his fault that his development hasn't come on as you'd like.

2. Culture. Don't know if this is coach specific so much, but it probably starts with him. It's always hard to know what really goes on inside a club but what I've seen on match day is players playing for themselves, they're in survival mode (mind you this is inevitable when your bottom of the ladder) and you want your players really doing the team things. Hopefully the new coach can get the players out of survival mode and back pulling for each other a bit more. I think its pretty interesting watching a club like Melbourne over the last however long they've been down the bottom. You could see that Bailey and Neeld really struggled to turn the culture of the club around, it was like the players were scarred from all the loses they'd endured.

3. I'm not too fussed what the game plan is, I think that's more important is that there is buy in from the players. Game plans constantly change and evolve and obviously things like effort and commitment are non negotiables. As long as the players are all the on the same page I'm happy.

 

[BlueJet]

1) Play the "heart and soul" guys: If it means more talented players miss out so be it, it's about setting a minimum requirement of what you must put into your footy. Without naming names - too many players have seemed to coast by on reputation that they can be a match-winner rather than actually being one. IMO this can be our 'line in the sand', our club needs to have some non-negotiatable principles as to what is expected of anyone wearing our jumper.

2) Don't tank: play those that deserve games. If a young fella isn't ready - don't play him in the seniors just for the hell of it. It isn't beneficial and may stunt the development of a player just finding his way. Rather than instilling negatives for only a slight (if any) upgrade in the draft, try to end the season on a high and give the group a bit of confidence for next season.

3) If we must play stopping midfielders - play them in a Brad Sewell/Carrots style role where you do have to worry about them setting up play the other way. The good teams bat way deeper than we do through the middle of the park so even if we can negate one or two players impact on the match it also draws our guys out of the contest and exposes our lack of midfield depth. I think Curnow despite any weaknesses that he has can be an extremely valuable asset with a bit of confidence/development as he can get his hands on the ball.