Mega Thread The Western Bulldogs - The Sack Macca saga

[ThirdLegUp]

A thought for this thread:

There are some who want to sack Macca immediately, some who want him to see out his contract, and some who want to give him another year and then sack him a year early if we haven't seen an improvement. But the last two views are entirely dependent on the fact the club game him a contract extension this year. If he had never received that contract extension, what would you favour doing with him now his original contract was up?

Speaking for myself, I think I would give him a one year extension. That would be my way of saying, "We want to see more of your plan, but from now on you are going to be made fully accountable."

What about you guys? Are there people who think he should stay for now, but who would have sacked him if he had never received that contract extension?

Yep, i would give him that 1 year extension, just on the basis of what i feel his first phase results were. drafting, and devaloing those drafted by him. I am not as harsh as others with his devalopment of those he did not draft, as macca seems to know his own strengths and weaknesses and drafts kids that would suite himself. and his gameplan. Malthouse is no different. he was given 10 years at two clubs each. the final team was micks to a man. Very few coaches get this sort of luxury. I often think micks greatest strength is saving his own ass for long enough to succeed. Now bucks has the role and wants a different game plan...good luck with that...

 

[yebiga]

The good thing about this thread, is that when we play our next serious game, those that have been impatient for results and those of us who have been patient and forgiving will all be on the same page. Today's result against GWS must now become something from the dark ages.

The honeymoon is now over. I expect a increased professionalism from right across the board. What deficiencies there are must be covered quickly with development, trading and drafting before the ball is bounced on the 2015 season.

It may be difficult to clearly see the huge strides made by some of our players after a loss like this to. GWS but 2014 marks the transition from Eade's team to Macca s team. Our young pups will dominate the BnF.

I am hugely encouraged by the season, in no particular order, of Stringer, Macrae, Bontempelli, JJ, and Wood.
Picken has had his best season. He just keeps on improving aspects of his game. Crameri frustrates but his best is elite and with some height support he will thrive. Together with Dalh, Libba, griff, Cooney, murph and Morris we have more than half an elite team.

If Roberts and Tallia can come on quickly next season then really we are well on track. I believe our biggest difficiency is a lack of pace and when we play two ruckman our lack of leg speed becomes exposed badly.
Playing Campbell, Minson, Young, Higgins and Gia all in the same team today made us sitting ducks for those coast to coast and over the back running goals.

Tutt was very effective today in the VFL. He needs to either come up to speed or we need to. Desperately trade for a speedster who can run both ways.

 

[littlenails]

Our coach has selected Austen for the last 11 games and other than one game against lowly St.Kilda four weeks ago he has proven to be disastrous.

That just seems to me to be plain stupidity.

If the coach is that bad a judge then he does not deserve to coach our team.

Can somebody please explain to me why it was not stupid to select Austen?

Who has a sane mind and thinks that Austen is a better player than Roberts or Talia, or more promising player, or would he even be better than Stevens or Young or Cordy or my grandmother ( as long as she could use her walking frame).

 

[Mattdougie]

McCartney's contracted for another 2 years, so we can put that talk to bed.

Agree with your premise though the dog's kennel.

Another 2 years under this bloke will take a futher 5 years to fix

Contract or no contract he goes end on 2015 and some hope before

He is not teaching these blokes how to play footy properly as he tells it, he is turning us into Melbourne by creating a culture of losing.

 

[Bazza Bulldog]

Another 2 years under this bloke will take a futher 5 years to fix

Contract or no contract he goes end on 2015 and some hope before

He is not teaching these blokes how to play footy properly as he tells it, he is turning us into Melbourne by creating a culture of losing.

It is absolute garbage that it is all about the coaching based on today.

Today inside 50's 67-44 (to us)
Scoring shots 34-25 (to us)
Clearances 48-31 (to us)

I agree the coaching is an issue ... perhaps it is disposal and decision making (not structures/tactics). The coaches are certainly not responsible for Gia's out on the full and Stringers dropped mark (and these 2 were generally very good today). What about some players (perhaps your mates in Maidstone) holding up a giant mirror for a change? Blame the coaches all you like, but from what I saw today it was in the players execution, not the coaching. Let's keep blaming the coaches ... that'll really help long term with helping the players take responsibility.

 

[TedDougChris]

We were outcoached. How do you get +20 inside 50's but lose a match? The way that you kick it inside 50, the type of delivery. Which is an aspect of coaching.
How about something that is entirely tactical, and is measured by the coach Something like kick-ins and defending kick-ins? We're the worst in the league at both of those things to.
He might be a great developer but if he's not the worst tactical coach in the league, I don't know who is.

I agree with an aspect of this. Macca and the MC have to take some responsibility for the team selection, which has been horrible and terribly imbalanced all year. But that doesnt mean the tactics were wrong. Nearly all indicators pointed to a Dogs win, which suggest game plan and style are ok, perhaps the cattle are lacking - which would match what I saw. So blame away on poor team selection...

 

[JJHunter]

hey black pup were you like me at the first bounce ??

HE STARTED THE GAME WITH A 5 MAN FORWARD LINE !!!!
I was astonished and looked down to GWS forward line expecting to see a Lockett or the likes down there.

I will just illustrate my point about wondering how you can start a game with a 5 man forward line (which is happening all the time).

These are all games where opponent backs have especially early hurt us. Gilbert smashed us against the saints even though we won that first qtr.
He had 5 or 6 marks for that qtr alone and similar story against north but they were much better than saints to put it on score board.
These all the last 2 months of footy.

Vs Essendon 4.2 against first qtr
When we game them a loose man again down back in the last quarter Winderlich ran the legs off us had had a part in to crucial goals.

Vs Hawthorn 5.2 against first qtr
Vs North 5.2 against first qtr
This was the poorest I’ve seen him coach. Thompson killed us first half playing as the loose man.
Vs Swans 7.3 against first qtr
Vs Gws 4.0 against first qtr

We come out against GWS (who lets be honest don’t have tony locket up forward nor do we for that matter) and start with a 5 man forward line.
WHY ?????????????????

Here are some key defender stats over last 2 months
- Hooker 12 marks (Winderlich 8 – 5 of which were in the last qtr as loose man)
- Spangher 7 marks
- Fisher, Dempster, Gwilt, 8 marks – Gilbert 7 (5 were first qtr as loose man)
- Harry Taylor 11, Mackie 8, Rivers 7
- S Thompson 8 (6 were first half as loose man), Firrito & Grima 7
- Heath Shaw 12, Phil Davis 8

These are not all marks from chipping to each other – these are marks in a contested situation or floating infront of a fwd.

My frustration is again last night he sits in the presser saying he wants a forward that can clunk a contested mark or bring the ball down to the right parts of the ground. How does he expect anyone to do that when he sets up the ground for our fwds to be outnumbered.
He is teaching a contested style of footy yet continually his one and only move is to play a 5 man fwd line.
Im left scratching my head over this one.

 

[black pup]

The bloke cannot coach, listen to his post match, he his delusional, how would you like to be turning up on a Monday morning, listening to that bullshit.
Game plan, WHAT GAME PLAN men behind the ball, knows nothing else.
A pleasure to watch the way Leon Cameron has the GWS playing, they can actually defend and attack.
Brendan Mc carn't coach, has to be sacked now, the bullshit he is developing and teaching is a load of crap.Look at Melbourne with their early draft picks, those young blokes have been stuffed, by blokes who had more experience than Macca. I am afraid he is way out of his depth.
I believe he will ruin our really good crop of young blokes if we Don't sack him now.I don't believe he will coach out the season next year, we have gone backwards this year, we have won less games. THERE IS NO IMPROVEMENT.
Club will be in dire strait's next year, if he is not SACKED NOW.
THE MACCA APPOINTMENT HAS NOT WORKED.
LEON CAMERON SHOULD BE COACHING THE BULLDOGS.

 

[black pup]

Cyclops, I saw it, he has no bloody idea, just piss him off now, next year will not get any better with this bloke.
Teaching and developing what a load of crap, the sooner we sack him the better, I wish someone would tell me his game plan.

 

[Mofra]

[QUOTE="yebiga, post: 34835676, member: 66782If Roberts and Tallia can come on quickly next season then really we are well on track. I believe our biggest difficiency is a lack of pace and when we play two ruckman our lack of leg speed becomes exposed badly.[/QUOTE]
This. People complain we are a tall short down back, but we've clearly moved from the 'cracking in" phase to the learning to spread phase, and we only do that by putting the runners in.
Rebound is an issue: JJ was very good today I felt - seems to be given a license to run every time he gets the ball. I'm still concerned about what happens when Murphy retires though - Wood is a "straight line" rebounder who often doesn't get enough of the ball and JJ finds himself in the midfield rotations as often as he does in defence. I really like Darley's disposal but he doesn't run the ball out anywhere near as well as Bobby.

 

[black pup]

hey black pup were you like me at the first bounce ??

HE STARTED THE GAME WITH A 5 MAN FORWARD LINE !!!!
I was astonished and looked down to GWS forward line expecting to see a Lockett or the likes down there.

I will just illustrate my point about wondering how you can start a game with a 5 man forward line (which is happening all the time).

These are all games where opponent backs have especially early hurt us. Gilbert smashed us against the saints even though we won that first qtr.
He had 5 or 6 marks for that qtr alone and similar story against north but they were much better than saints to put it on score board.
These all the last 2 months of footy.

Vs Essendon 4.2 against first qtr
When we game them a loose man again down back in the last quarter Winderlich ran the legs off us had had a part in to crucial goals.

Vs Hawthorn 5.2 against first qtr
Vs North 5.2 against first qtr
This was the poorest I’ve seen him coach. Thompson killed us first half playing as the loose man.
Vs Swans 7.3 against first qtr
Vs Gws 4.0 against first qtr

We come out against GWS (who lets be honest don’t have tony locket up forward nor do we for that matter) and start with a 5 man forward line.
WHY ?????????????????

Here are some key defender stats over last 2 months
- Hooker 12 marks (Winderlich 8 – 5 of which were in the last qtr as loose man)
- Spangher 7 marks
- Fisher, Dempster, Gwilt, 8 marks – Gilbert 7 (5 were first qtr as loose man)
- Harry Taylor 11, Mackie 8, Rivers 7
- S Thompson 8 (6 were first half as loose man), Firrito & Grima 7
- Heath Shaw 12, Phil Davis 8

These are not all marks from chipping to each other – these are marks in a contested situation or floating infront of a fwd.

My frustration is again last night he sits in the presser saying he wants a forward that can clunk a contested mark or bring the ball down to the right parts of the ground. How does he expect anyone to do that when he sets up the ground for our fwds to be outnumbered.
He is teaching a contested style of footy yet continually his one and only move is to play a 5 man fwd line.
Im left scratching my head over this one.

Mate, you are so so right, I watch the VFL each week, and the AFL, I don't miss a game, in the VFL yesterday Andy Collin's clearly had a better game plan, they looked the better team until they ran out of condition, and Jones, Tutt and Honeychurch took control of the game.
Maple game plan is Macca's, which is understandable. I believe our list is going backwards, player's are not developing under Macca, but he now wants to blame them.
He has to go now , to stop the damage that is occurring.

 

[black pup]

[QUOTE="yebiga, post: 34835676, member: 66782If Roberts and Tallia can come on quickly next season then really we are well on track. I believe our biggest difficiency is a lack of pace and when we play two ruckman our lack of leg speed becomes exposed badly.

This. People complain we are a tall short down back, but we've clearly moved from the 'cracking in" phase to the learning to spread phase, and we only do that by putting the runners in.
Rebound is an issue: JJ was very good today I felt - seems to be given a license to run every time he gets the ball. I'm still concerned about what happens when Murphy retires though - Wood is a "straight line" rebounder who often doesn't get enough of the ball and JJ finds himself in the midfield rotations as often as he does in defence. I really like Darley's disposal but he doesn't run the ball out anywhere near as well as Bobby.[/QUOTE]
Mate, that's fine, but is this bloke actually teaching or developing anybody, player's on our list that I rate are going backwards. Game plan, what game plan.
He has to go, I don't believe he will see out next year anyhow, let's bit the bullet now, and stop the rot, before he starts to hinder the blokes he is supposed to be developing.

 

[lachy]

hey black pup were you like me at the first bounce ??

HE STARTED THE GAME WITH A 5 MAN FORWARD LINE !!!!
I was astonished and looked down to GWS forward line expecting to see a Lockett or the likes down there.

I will just illustrate my point about wondering how you can start a game with a 5 man forward line (which is happening all the time).

These are all games where opponent backs have especially early hurt us. Gilbert smashed us against the saints even though we won that first qtr.
He had 5 or 6 marks for that qtr alone and similar story against north but they were much better than saints to put it on score board.
These all the last 2 months of footy.

Vs Essendon 4.2 against first qtr
When we game them a loose man again down back in the last quarter Winderlich ran the legs off us had had a part in to crucial goals.

Vs Hawthorn 5.2 against first qtr
Vs North 5.2 against first qtr
This was the poorest I’ve seen him coach. Thompson killed us first half playing as the loose man.
Vs Swans 7.3 against first qtr
Vs Gws 4.0 against first qtr

We come out against GWS (who lets be honest don’t have tony locket up forward nor do we for that matter) and start with a 5 man forward line.
WHY ?????????????????

Here are some key defender stats over last 2 months
- Hooker 12 marks (Winderlich 8 – 5 of which were in the last qtr as loose man)
- Spangher 7 marks
- Fisher, Dempster, Gwilt, 8 marks – Gilbert 7 (5 were first qtr as loose man)
- Harry Taylor 11, Mackie 8, Rivers 7
- S Thompson 8 (6 were first half as loose man), Firrito & Grima 7
- Heath Shaw 12, Phil Davis 8

These are not all marks from chipping to each other – these are marks in a contested situation or floating infront of a fwd.

My frustration is again last night he sits in the presser saying he wants a forward that can clunk a contested mark or bring the ball down to the right parts of the ground. How does he expect anyone to do that when he sets up the ground for our fwds to be outnumbered.
He is teaching a contested style of footy yet continually his one and only move is to play a 5 man fwd line.
Im left scratching my head over this one.

It is not just the set up at the bounce.

Once the game is underway the game is compressed to 60 to 80 meters on the ground. there should ALWAYS be one or 2 back from this compression, they got 7 goals from not having this basic structure in the modern game. Either we have dumb footballers or the instruction is terrible. One of the goals Stephens was set up in the right position but ran in to follow the ball like an under 12's, did not influence the contest and they streamed through where he was set up.

 

[Mofra]

Once the game is underway the game is compressed to 60 to 80 meters on the ground. there should ALWAYS be one or 2 back from this compression, they got 7 goals from not having this basic structure in the modern game. Either we have dumb footballers or the instruction is terrible. One of the goals Stephens was set up in the right position but ran in to follow the ball like an under 12's, did not influence the contest and they streamed through where he was set up.

The disappointing thing about this is we often did set up properly then were often let down by one player - one particular GWS goal we had Higgins set up a kick out of the play, locking the ball in our forward 50. GWS rushed the ball forward 20m then rush kicked it to where Higgins was - he had been sucked into the contest. GWS got the break and were man-on all the way down the line. We need to be smarter with our set ups.
It happened on at least one other occasion, luckily Roberts timed his jump better and marked between two GWS forwards.

We can play - you don't dominate the inside 50s like we did without an ability to set up and play well - but so often we leave our defenders one-out on a fast break that no defender can cope with for a full game. Austin & Roughy have had poor years, but they haven't been helped by mistakes made upfield.

 

[_Mike_]

It comes down to communication, selection and understanding. There is a game plan either our players just dont understand it or we have players who on face value, simply don't get it.

I would expect to see Talia and Roberts progress in 2015 to the seniors at some stage together to help structure the backline, but our forward line is still an awful mess. We simply cant go on with the attitude of playing lots of smalls running around like headless chooks hoping that the goals will kick themselves.

 

[lachy]

The disappointing thing about this is we often did set up properly then were often let down by one player - one particular GWS goal we had Higgins set up a kick out of the play, locking the ball in our forward 50. GWS rushed the ball forward 20m then rush kicked it to where Higgins was - he had been sucked into the contest. GWS got the break and were man-on all the way down the line. We need to be smarter with our set ups.
It happened on at least one other occasion, luckily Roberts timed his jump better and marked between two GWS forwards.

We can play - you don't dominate the inside 50s like we did without an ability to set up and play well - but so often we leave our defenders one-out on a fast break that no defender can cope with for a full game. Austin & Roughy have had poor years, but they haven't been helped by mistakes made upfield.

Spot on Mofra.

a question I would ask when it is someone as experienced as Higgins, is it the coaching panel or is it players who will never learn and should be moved on?

On another note, Austin is not up to this level, Roberts on numerous occasions actually showed how to play as a defender under siege. I really hope the VFL strategy works for him, but would have loved an extra 10 games in him and Tallia for that matter at AFL level.

Roughy and Roberts can both play at either end. Having the 3 of them develop together in the AFL this year would have provided the opportunity to demonstrate development in KPP's and the list. Now we start 2015 needing to get AFL game time into them again, strange and perplexing selections this year

 

[lachy]

It comes down to communication, selection and understanding. There is a game plan either our players just dont understand it or we have players who on face value, simply don't get it.

I would expect to see Talia and Roberts progress in 2015 to the seniors at some stage together to help structure the backline, but our forward line is still an awful mess. We simply cant go on with the attitude of playing lots of smalls running around like headless chooks hoping that the goals will kick themselves.

Agree fully Mike. Would have been nice to rotate Roughy and Roberts down there for 15 or so games this year to see how that developed though

 

[Mofra]

a question I would ask when it is someone as experienced as Higgins, is it the coaching panel or is it players who will never learn and should be moved on?

Higgins is a natural mid who generally plays ok behind the ball, but is prone to occasional lapses with positioning - he was used as an example but is normally pretty good.
Contrast him with Howard, who seems to be the subject of constant finger pointing by the other defenders at every level he plays at. Some players just don't get it.

We are walking a fine line though - since Dalrymple took over we pick natural footballers before athletes and I wonder if it's harder to get them to position correctly as they've been playing instinctively their whole careers, often as the star of their team. B-Mac's comments about Macrae and Libba (noting Libba was only positioning himself correctly from 2013) shows that even the freaks who learn quickly can take time.

 

[BEaston]

The disappointing thing about this is we often did set up properly then were often let down by one player - one particular GWS goal we had Higgins set up a kick out of the play, locking the ball in our forward 50. GWS rushed the ball forward 20m then rush kicked it to where Higgins was - he had been sucked into the contest. GWS got the break and were man-on all the way down the line. We need to be smarter with our set ups.
It happened on at least one other occasion, luckily Roberts timed his jump better and marked between two GWS forwards.

We can play - you don't dominate the inside 50s like we did without an ability to set up and play well - but so often we leave our defenders one-out on a fast break that no defender can cope with for a full game. Austin & Roughy have had poor years, but they haven't been helped by mistakes made upfield.

Higgins does this all the time. He is so crap at sticking to structure. He absolutely gave up in a chase of a GWS player which resulted in a goal as well. OK, he was probably not going to catch him but you don't fking give up. Weak effort and won't be sad to see him go.

Just on the large number or I50's/behinds.... The problem here was where we were kicking the ball into. There is nothing wrong with bombing long to the forward line, a lot of the time it was crowded in there and no space for our forwards. Fine, but when we kick it in there Campbell/Minson/Crameri needed to be another 10 metres forward of the goal square, not right at the top of it. When we bomb into this position it makes it easy for the defenders to punch behind/rush it. That's why we had so many rushed behinds. If we were kicking it 10m further away from goal, it gives our smalls like Hrovat/Dalhaus/Stevens to crumb and have more opportunities for goal sneaking. If we did this instead of repeatedly kicking close to the goal line I beleive we would have won the GWS game.

The other thing we need to do in the off season is practise our disposal. It is shocking. This, along with goal kicking, should be the highest priority. The number of goals we give away from turnovers is ridiculous. Getting rid of Boyd will help immensely with this. Just a 5% increase in our disposal will result in probably 10-20% less goals kicked against us.

 

[BEaston]

The game plan is fine. Execution is letting us down.

 

[VogonProsthetnic]

hey black pup were you like me at the first bounce ??

HE STARTED THE GAME WITH A 5 MAN FORWARD LINE !!!!
I was astonished and looked down to GWS forward line expecting to see a Lockett or the likes down there.

I will just illustrate my point about wondering how you can start a game with a 5 man forward line (which is happening all the time).

These are all games where opponent backs have especially early hurt us. Gilbert smashed us against the saints even though we won that first qtr.
He had 5 or 6 marks for that qtr alone and similar story against north but they were much better than saints to put it on score board.
These all the last 2 months of footy.

Vs Essendon 4.2 against first qtr
When we game them a loose man again down back in the last quarter Winderlich ran the legs off us had had a part in to crucial goals.

Vs Hawthorn 5.2 against first qtr
Vs North 5.2 against first qtr
This was the poorest I’ve seen him coach. Thompson killed us first half playing as the loose man.
Vs Swans 7.3 against first qtr
Vs Gws 4.0 against first qtr

We come out against GWS (who lets be honest don’t have tony locket up forward nor do we for that matter) and start with a 5 man forward line.
WHY ?????????????????

Here are some key defender stats over last 2 months
- Hooker 12 marks (Winderlich 8 – 5 of which were in the last qtr as loose man)
- Spangher 7 marks
- Fisher, Dempster, Gwilt, 8 marks – Gilbert 7 (5 were first qtr as loose man)
- Harry Taylor 11, Mackie 8, Rivers 7
- S Thompson 8 (6 were first half as loose man), Firrito & Grima 7
- Heath Shaw 12, Phil Davis 8

These are not all marks from chipping to each other – these are marks in a contested situation or floating infront of a fwd.

My frustration is again last night he sits in the presser saying he wants a forward that can clunk a contested mark or bring the ball down to the right parts of the ground. How does he expect anyone to do that when he sets up the ground for our fwds to be outnumbered.
He is teaching a contested style of footy yet continually his one and only move is to play a 5 man fwd line.
Im left scratching my head over this one.

Great post, we have been making this mistake for 3 years and accept defeat as soon as the ball is bounced. All our best wins have been when we play man on man (Collingwood for eg, except for the last quarter when we nearly stuffed it up by reverting to a 5 man forward line). In the mean time we have slaughtered at least 6 key forwards that I can count who get continually outmarked having to go 2 on 1. We need a seriously re evaluation of the game style.

 

[VogonProsthetnic]

Higgins does this all the time. He is so crap at sticking to structure. He absolutely gave up in a chase of a GWS player which resulted in a goal as well. OK, he was probably not going to catch him but you don't fking give up. Weak effort and won't be sad to see him go.

Just on the large number or I50's/behinds.... The problem here was where we were kicking the ball into. There is nothing wrong with bombing long to the forward line, a lot of the time it was crowded in there and no space for our forwards. Fine, but when we kick it in there Campbell/Minson/Crameri needed to be another 10 metres forward of the goal square, not right at the top of it. When we bomb into this position it makes it easy for the defenders to punch behind/rush it. That's why we had so many rushed behinds. If we were kicking it 10m further away from goal, it gives our smalls like Hrovat/Dalhaus/Stevens to crumb and have more opportunities for goal sneaking. If we did this instead of repeatedly kicking close to the goal line I beleive we would have won the GWS game.

The other thing we need to do in the off season is practise our disposal. It is shocking. This, along with goal kicking, should be the highest priority. The number of goals we give away from turnovers is ridiculous. Getting rid of Boyd will help immensely with this. Just a 5% increase in our disposal will result in probably 10-20% less goals kicked against us.

If you can get it there a bit quicker the opposition don't get there. We are too slow to move the bal IMO

 

[Mofra]

If you can get it there a bit quicker the opposition don't get there. We are too slow to move the bal IMO

This - I agree with fpCookie's post, but some players stop at every opportunity.
The other issue is the number of times we handball to a stationary player. Handballs are fine if they give a player space, but if the player is stationary by the time they are moving at speed they are under as much pressure as the original player was. Dumb football, although sometimes some of it is not having a decent lead-up marking option as the opposition close down our HFF space.

 

[Sedat!]

I agree the coaching is an issue ... perhaps it is disposal and decision making (not structures/tactics). The coaches are certainly not responsible for Gia's out on the full and Stringers dropped mark (and these 2 were generally very good today). What about some players (perhaps your mates in Maidstone) holding up a giant mirror for a change? Blame the coaches all you like, but from what I saw today it was in the players execution, not the coaching. Let's keep blaming the coaches ... that'll really help long term with helping the players take responsibility.

But they are responsible on match days for altering the course of the game with positional changes and tactical changes. All game GWS managed to find acres of space through the corridor and walked through several easy goals - a really good match day coach will close that down right away.

BMac still has some serious question marks as a match-day strategist. That one element is certainly not the be-all and end-all of senior coaching, but it is an important area. He simply needs to impose himself much more on match days.

 

[JJHunter]

It is absolute garbage that it is all about the coaching based on today.

Today inside 50's 67-44 (to us)
Scoring shots 34-25 (to us)
Clearances 48-31 (to us)

I agree the coaching is an issue ... perhaps it is disposal and decision making (not structures/tactics). The coaches are certainly not responsible for Gia's out on the full and Stringers dropped mark (and these 2 were generally very good today). What about some players (perhaps your mates in Maidstone) holding up a giant mirror for a change? Blame the coaches all you like, but from what I saw today it was in the players execution, not the coaching. Let's keep blaming the coaches ... that'll really help long term with helping the players take responsibility.

Understand where you are coming from but lets get serious here - had we fallen over the line and won would you be thinking anything more positively about our players or our coach ??

Personally I would have gone home just as disappointed in what we put out there last night.
You see we should never have gotten 30 points down in the first place. Maybe read my previous post on more thoughts about how we are being setup wrongly. http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threa...ing-discussion.1000741/page-328#post-34837719

Every week for the last 2 months I have posted here after the game and pointed out coaching moves that have cost us a chance at winning. Largely its been the same thing - next week its like groundhog day. Hell we beat st.kilda but I will still say that we were porrly coached that day - especially in the first qtr qhen giolbert was allowed to run free.

You see id bank on stringer taking that mark 95/100 times Yet mccartney is making the same mistakes time after time after time. His mistakes hurt the side more than a dropped mark 52 metres out !