Opinion Chris Scott's coaching - Part 1 [closed, see Part II]

[Vdubs]

Zac Smith isn't much better than Leuenberger on the injury front

OK, we get Dangerfield and swap him for Goldstein. He is big, strong, highly skilled, never gets injured, then we can play Blic as a true mid!?

 

[Art Vandelay_]

OK, we get Dangerfield and swap him for Goldstein. He is big, strong, highly skilled, never gets injured, then we can play Blic as a true mid!?

937 hitouts this season. WOW!

 

[Vdubs]

937 hitouts this season. WOW!

He gives his mids the best armchair ride I've ever seen, big statement, but I really believe it to be true.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

He gives his mids the best armchair ride I've ever seen, big statement, but I really believe it to be true.

He's wasted at Dads Army

 

[Vdubs]

He's wasted at Dads Army

Great around the ground too, gets better a bit each year, peaking next year I would anticipate.

 

[Teriyakicat]

Reason I was and am still a big fan of McCarthy is that even when he only got 10-15 touches in the VFL there was just that indescribable thing about him that screamed AFL player, Gore has it, Bates has it, the skill and poise he showed in the VFL was somewhat lost in his few AFL games but am happy to put that down to nerves.

I assume you're talking about McCarthy here?
He just looked like an excited little puppy trying to be everywhere at once. Hopefully he will settle down as he plays a few more games and we will get to see the best of him from next year.

 

[Teriyakicat]

Great around the ground too, gets better a bit each year, peaking next year I would anticipate.

lol
Imagine the Sunday dinner table at the Scott boys' Mum's place if Chris stole him out from under Brad's nose! What a coup that would be!

 

[catempire]

Zac Smith isn't much better than Leuenberger on the injury front

Smith has only had one LTI, hasn't he?

 

[thejester]

I'm disappointed in how the season ended, because regardless of how we went in finals the actual act of making them would have been a positive step for the group. But if there's a silver lining it's that there are now some pretty clear objectives for Scott to achieve if he wants to be judged well next season:

- Reinvigorate Selwood, Taylor and Hawkins. I think most people see all three as having had sub-par years by their standards, and they're our best players. Hawkins lost his Mum and I suspect Harry has been carrying an injury. But whatever the case, the onus is on the coach to get the best out of them.

- Improve our work in the contest. Too many times Scott has fronted the media after a game and said 'we got smashed in the contest.' Well, that is a coachable skill and the fact that at times we matched it with nominally superior sides suggests it's something that is well within the ability of the existing team to achieve. Absence of personnel plays a part but the fact our entire group frequently looked like it was getting physically bullied was a significant problem throughout the season.

- Continue to develop players. We've got a handful of players like Smedts, GHS, Murdoch and Walker who at times look like they can play and other times...don't. I don't expect a 100% strike rate but turning at least some of those guys into best 22 players is a necessity - not least because it demonstrates our systems can deal with marginal players, of who were likely to get a lot of given our list turnover.

If all of those things happen, results should to an extent look after themselves - and at minimum there'll be a sense that we're on the right track.

 

[Lana]

Smith has only had one LTI, hasn't he?

He's done his ACL and from memory he has had a bunch of ankle issues

 

[Boxhead_31]

Zac Smith???

Take Smith over Berger any day of the week

 

[catempire]

He's done his ACL and from memory he has had a bunch of ankle issues

I was referring to the ACL as the one. Minor ankles but no other LTIs so nothing like Leuenberger who has had three long stretches out of the game.

 

[Lana]

I was referring to the ACL as the one. Minor ankles but no other LTIs so nothing like Leuenberger who has had three long stretches out of the game.

The ankle injury wasn't minor it ended his season.

 

[catempire]

The ankle injury wasn't minor it ended his season.

Minor compared with Leuey's long history of woes!

 

[Tackle_happy]

Take Smith over Berger any day of the week

Currie looked good for Werribee on the weekend (just back from an LTI I believe). He beat Minson most of the time (especially around the ground). Surely would not be expensive and I do recall people on here thinking he could be a handy pick up a couple of years ago.

 

[Corio cat]

The whole year he was talked up as a top 3 pick, check all of the phantom drafts that year and he was considered a good talent but at lot of rumors were flying around him that he was a bit of a tool and he started sliding as the draft approached, the biggest being was that during interviews during draft camp it was almost him interviewing the clubs as much as they were interviewing him. When I was watching the draft live I was excited that he was still around when our pick turned around which turned to shock when Thurlow's name was read out I was like Thurlow who. Same thing happened the next year when we picked Lang over Dunstan... and to a much lesser extent Smedts over Atley and I.Smith). Not that I'm currently resentful or upset with our picks.

I'm hardly a draft guru I mainly just read the phantoms and watch the highlight clips of the players. I occasionally I catch a of the championships.
So my personal shock doesn't mean much but Grundy was certainly rated pre-draft.

FYI , This is straight from a Collingwood recruiter.....Did you know in the 2012 draft that Collingwood with picks 18 and 19 were never going to take Grundy they were always going to take the 2 x Tassie boys Thurlow and Lonergan with their 18 and 19 picks, they rated the 2 x Launceston boys better at the draft than Grundy... when Lonergan 14 and Thurlow 16 were taken by Gold coast and Cats they selected Grundy and Kennedy. People seem to think Collingwood trumped Cats but that is pure rubbish.... Cats got who they wanted and Grundy fell to Collingwood. Proof of who got the better deal will be determined in a few years time.

 

[Bobby_]

OK, we get Dangerfield and swap him for Goldstein. He is big, strong, highly skilled, never gets injured, then we can play Blic as a true mid!?

I'd do that in a heart beat if we could.
Not that he's a better player, actually far from it but Goldstein would make Guthrie, Caddy, Duncan, Motlop so much better. He'd also get the ball 15 times a game while giving us 4 clearances. He's almost a midfielder playing in a ruckman's body.

He and Fyfe will probably tie for this years Brownlow medal.

 

[Seeds]

Or Zac Clarke. He's still un-signed.

hes no different to stanley, Vardy and Blicavs. need a big ruckman who is a gun at hit outs. we already have the mobile back ups in spades.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

hes no different to stanley, Vardy and Blicavs. need a big ruckman who is a gun at hit outs. we already have the mobile back ups in spades.

Oh contraire when Sandi has been out, like half of 2013 his ruck numbers are quite solid. I think iirc it was around 30 hit outs per game.

 

[David the Cat]

Currie looked good for Werribee on the weekend (just back from an LTI I believe). He beat Minson most of the time (especially around the ground). Surely would not be expensive and I do recall people on here thinking he could be a handy pick up a couple of years ago.

YEs...I was one of those who thought currie looked like a real prospect. Has he even had a run with North?

Looked to have talent all right, but maybe there's a head problem?

 

[Vdubs]

YEs...I was one of those who thought currie looked like a real prospect. Has he even had a run with North?

Looked to have talent all right, but maybe there's a head problem?

Has played a handful of games with NM.
Goldy is so good and fit and dominant , there is only room for one #1 ruck at NM. He will not share the load, and doesn't need to. HMac was not able to get his spot back when anywhere near fit.
Currie can play.
He's no Goldy though.

 

[FredLeDeux]

Has played a handful of games with NM.
Goldy is so good and fit and dominant , there is only room for one #1 ruck at NM. He will not share the load, and doesn't need to. HMac was not able to get his spot back when anywhere near fit.
Currie can play.
He's no Goldy though.

3 games in 8 years with Sydney and NM.

 

[thejester]

3 games in 8 years with Sydney and NM.

Keep chasing that white whale brothers!

 

[WillowSF]

Scott hasn't done much wrong since joining as senior coach; he's gotten really remarkable results from the team with this year being the major exception. (Disappointingly you guys were good enough to play finals and fell away when it counted most to two mediocre sides.) Contrast that with Buckley at Collingwood who has turned the list over and gone for youth instead of topping up for another crack at a premiership. A mistake in my mind.

That said, Scott had a list of once in a generation star players at his disposal, so while 2011 was probably the club's finest moment there's some truth to the notion that he took the keys of a Rolls Royce.

His big challenge is to reinvent this side and develop the middle tier players who have been underwhelming and too reliant on Selwood, Hawkins & Taylor. Scott has yet to show that he is capable of doing that like a Lyon or Clarkson but it's early days. The club's mature age recruiting also has been poor in some respects but if you snare Dangerfield, Henderson & Selwood, finals again is a near certainty. I suspect a good result next year would be a place in the bottom half of the Top 8. If you miss out again the heat is definitely on him.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

Once we traded for McIntosh and already had Simpson and Vardy on the list it didn't make sense to select Grundy.

McIntosh was the mistake that had a domino-like effect on our ruck situation for years to come. Only now are we free of it.

I think that's very debatable. Even if McIntosh had been a best case scenario outcome (and he was always a gamble), we couldn't have expected him to go far beyond this year. At which point, Grundy would have had/does have ten or so years left in him. I'm not saying Thurlow over Grundy was a mistake; I'm saying there's a clear case of a ruckman being up for grabs and we chose not to pursue it.