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Didn't sound like Simmo was too optimistic about Venners playing soon. A lot of emphasis on his wellbeing rather than footy. Which is fair enough he has been unfit due to concussion since round 5 last year.
- Mar 11, 2015
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People need to temper their expectations on M O'Neill, it looks like Tas might get a team in 2025Intraclub was played last night (Friday) apparently. Here is the club’s in depth review :
Big men press selection case
A number of experienced and young Eagles staked their Marsh Community Series selection claims last nightwww.westcoasteagles.com.au
Eastcoasteagle sounds like your boy MO’Niell gave a good account of himself
Tasmanian AFL/AFLW team must happen to save code, report finds
A Tasmanian AFL/AFLW team would not only thrive in the national competition, it is the only thing that will save Australian Rules Football in the state from dying in the face of competition from other sports, a long-awaited report finds.
www.abc.net.au
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Part 2 of Simmo's interview with the west. Interesting comments about players, especially NicNat, Oscarallen and Brander.
West Coast Eagles coach Adam Simpson’s must-read interview ahead of 2020 AFL season: New captain, and why goals won’t define Josh Kennedy
MD: What do you expect from Josh Kennedy?
AS: He has had a good pre-season because he has been on the track. He is a champion of the game and expectations of him are always at a level that are very hard to meet. He went 60-plus games kicking at least a goal every game. The week he didn’t kick a goal I was asked if I was going to drop him. He is getting to the back of his career. He will still have games when he will blitz. He will have games where he just contributes and hopefully we still win. I look at what JK does in a similar vein to what Jack Riewoldt does for Richmond. You wouldn’t say the team is centred around Riewoldt but you would say that he is an important part of their team. That is how I see Josh. I don’t look at how many goals he kicks and he doesn’t either. The way he trains is the way he plays. He just smashes himself and backs couldn’t keep up with him. That is going to drop a bit at 33 but that doesn’t mean he can’t deliver. Expectations just shouldn’t be as high as they used to be.
Jack Darling finding another level in the last two seasons has helped with that hasn’t it?
You need support. Jack has been in pretty good form for his whole career. He elevated so quickly that there became this expectation of performance that is difficult to reach all of the time. Those two boys probably play the two hardest positions on the field. Jack has put together a magnificent career. He has played nearly 200 games, hasn’t missed too many and he hasn’t let us down too often.
What do you do with Oscar Allen this year?
We have been looking both forward and back and it is not locked away yet. People keep saying he could be a great swingman. As much as I think he can play at both ends we probably need to settle him a bit. He is 20. We have got patience. He has had a bit of an interrupted pre-season. He had a hernia around Christmas time. We will find out in the next couple of weeks where we need him and we will try to settle him down a bit.
Jarrod Brander?
Brander is going really well. He had a bit of a hamstring setback a couple of weeks ago. He just turned 21. He is six foot five, great tank, work ethic and he has set himself up for a good year. Whether we play him midfield or forward would be the two areas we will look at. He could be a really good wingman. He fits the profile we are looking for. Chris Masten is going to be a loss because he was very selfless for us. One of his strengths was his running patterns and the way he helped our team. He was maligned sometimes but he was very important to our system. We need to look at who is going to replace that and that might be a Brander. In the course of the Marsh series we would say he will have a stint there.
Willie Rioli has two doping infractions to answer but the one that is very serious is the tampering with the sample. Will the club make sure it has chaperones with players when they give samples in future or is it up to the player?
I probably shouldn’t comment because I don’t know what the process is now. The whole situation is something I can’t comment on.
How is he?
He is OK. He is with his family, he has got another baby due on March 13. It was really important that he came back to the club because no one had seen him since the semifinal. If he was a WA boy he would have been popping in at some stage but because he has been at Tiwi and Darwin it was really important that he came back. He was back for a few weeks. He trained and now he has gone back to his family. That was an important few weeks for him and for our players as well.
It has been mentioned that he had to rebuild trust. Was that overstating things?
That is a natural question. The players needed to hear Willie talk. I wasn’t in there when he spoke to the players but I am assuming he would have expressed remorse for the whole situation. Then the players needed to follow up on how they respond.
Will you be a two-ruck team this year?
That will depend on Nic. He has completed a lot of the pre-season and hasn’t had too many missed seasons. He still won’t be able to ruck 110 minutes of footy. Often without Nic we have played two rucks but that second ruck has got to be able to play forward.
This is one of the riddles with Oscar Allen isn’t it because he played that role at times last year?
He was second-ruck to Hickey for a big part of the year and Tom Hickey is a 110-minute ruckman so Oscar had to handle 25 to 30 minutes in the ruck and plus he had to play forward and for a 20-year-old that was a big ask. I don’t know if he can sustain a full year doing that and that was with a ruckman who rucked 100 minutes. Nic will ruck for 85 minutes. To have Nic and Oscar working together we would have to really elevate Oscar’s ability to play a full game. That will come but it will take a while to get that continuity and ruck craft. I haven’t got an answer for that yet. We are still working on it.
What is the biggest issue facing the game. What concerns you the most?
The general consensus is that we would like the scoring to go up so what buttons do you need to push for that. If you really want to change the game you are probably going to have to change the numbers on the field. You are going to have to reduce it. There are too many ways to work around ruck rules. Every time we play 14 on 14 or 16 on 16, the game opens up and scoring increases. It is not an issue for me right now but if it continues to be the brief, that they want to increase scoring, then what rules are the AFL going to manipulate to get that. That is not a concern for me. It is just an observation on where it might go. I think the game is in a pretty good position. I think it has elevated again in terms of a spectacle and the players are at the forefront on how they represent themselves as characters and personalities. It is marketed well. But if the purists want to get the game to another level they are probably going to have to do something drastic.
Mental health has become a key issue in the AFL. Are you concerned?
I am proud to be at a club that really values mental health not just for players but for staff as well. The stigma of support as a hindrance to selection is gone. There is no longer players thinking I have an issue but I don’t want to tell the coach because I won’t get a game or I will get delisted. We are working towards a position where no one feels that is a threat. Hopefully we are in that spot now. We want the mechanisms and resources we provide to not only help them get better as footballers but also that their mental health and well being in the long term is really important to us. We have evolved to a position where it is OK to ask for help and we try to provide as much help as we can. I learnt a few years ago how much support the players need and how much pressure they are under. It doesn’t give them an excuse to under perform but we have got their back in every situation and that is important. No one is perfect. Mistakes will be made. We don’t stick our head in the sand with issues but they are all good people and we are here to support them.
It is almost nine months since Daniel Venables’ concussion and he is still not 100 per cent. How concerned are you for him?
That is the priority. He has been like this for probably six months. It is not a new issue for us and it is a waiting game. It is not a quick fix and he has to take his time. We are not thinking about the football aspect. I am trying to respect his privacy on this as well. There is no rush to act on anything related to footy at this stage. It is a sensitive issue. It is just making sure he wakes up feeling good every day.
Are you proud of the style you have been able to develop?
It doesn’t matter as long as we win. We want a system that is sustainable. That is what we look for. The question early days on us was inconsistency. There was the flat track bully conversation. I don’t think that is about the style. It was about us developing resilience as a playing group. They complement what we are trying to push out there as a way of playing but they do it their own way. I can’t sit here and say this is exactly the way we want to be playing. The players take away a description and make it their own and you have to have the confidence to let them develop it. That is what has happened with us. Our leaders have really taken charge with some of the things. We look back on certain things and think that is in a good space and the players have really driven those things. But we have to keep evolving. We finished sixth last year. We need to get better.
Was it the right time to change the captain?
I think so. We have got a list that has got a lot of maturity. It is not an ageing list. We are getting older but we are not just hanging on. Luke Shuey is still at his peak and we have four or five guys like that. Once Shannon (Hurn) makes a decision he makes it. We moved pretty quickly. Players voted, Luke Shuey was a stand out. I thought the club handled it pretty well. Shannon is still here and Luke hasn’t changed at all.
West Coast Eagles coach Adam Simpson’s must-read interview ahead of 2020 AFL season: New captain, and why goals won’t define Josh Kennedy
MD: What do you expect from Josh Kennedy?
AS: He has had a good pre-season because he has been on the track. He is a champion of the game and expectations of him are always at a level that are very hard to meet. He went 60-plus games kicking at least a goal every game. The week he didn’t kick a goal I was asked if I was going to drop him. He is getting to the back of his career. He will still have games when he will blitz. He will have games where he just contributes and hopefully we still win. I look at what JK does in a similar vein to what Jack Riewoldt does for Richmond. You wouldn’t say the team is centred around Riewoldt but you would say that he is an important part of their team. That is how I see Josh. I don’t look at how many goals he kicks and he doesn’t either. The way he trains is the way he plays. He just smashes himself and backs couldn’t keep up with him. That is going to drop a bit at 33 but that doesn’t mean he can’t deliver. Expectations just shouldn’t be as high as they used to be.
Jack Darling finding another level in the last two seasons has helped with that hasn’t it?
You need support. Jack has been in pretty good form for his whole career. He elevated so quickly that there became this expectation of performance that is difficult to reach all of the time. Those two boys probably play the two hardest positions on the field. Jack has put together a magnificent career. He has played nearly 200 games, hasn’t missed too many and he hasn’t let us down too often.
What do you do with Oscar Allen this year?
We have been looking both forward and back and it is not locked away yet. People keep saying he could be a great swingman. As much as I think he can play at both ends we probably need to settle him a bit. He is 20. We have got patience. He has had a bit of an interrupted pre-season. He had a hernia around Christmas time. We will find out in the next couple of weeks where we need him and we will try to settle him down a bit.
Jarrod Brander?
Brander is going really well. He had a bit of a hamstring setback a couple of weeks ago. He just turned 21. He is six foot five, great tank, work ethic and he has set himself up for a good year. Whether we play him midfield or forward would be the two areas we will look at. He could be a really good wingman. He fits the profile we are looking for. Chris Masten is going to be a loss because he was very selfless for us. One of his strengths was his running patterns and the way he helped our team. He was maligned sometimes but he was very important to our system. We need to look at who is going to replace that and that might be a Brander. In the course of the Marsh series we would say he will have a stint there.
Willie Rioli has two doping infractions to answer but the one that is very serious is the tampering with the sample. Will the club make sure it has chaperones with players when they give samples in future or is it up to the player?
I probably shouldn’t comment because I don’t know what the process is now. The whole situation is something I can’t comment on.
How is he?
He is OK. He is with his family, he has got another baby due on March 13. It was really important that he came back to the club because no one had seen him since the semifinal. If he was a WA boy he would have been popping in at some stage but because he has been at Tiwi and Darwin it was really important that he came back. He was back for a few weeks. He trained and now he has gone back to his family. That was an important few weeks for him and for our players as well.
It has been mentioned that he had to rebuild trust. Was that overstating things?
That is a natural question. The players needed to hear Willie talk. I wasn’t in there when he spoke to the players but I am assuming he would have expressed remorse for the whole situation. Then the players needed to follow up on how they respond.
Will you be a two-ruck team this year?
That will depend on Nic. He has completed a lot of the pre-season and hasn’t had too many missed seasons. He still won’t be able to ruck 110 minutes of footy. Often without Nic we have played two rucks but that second ruck has got to be able to play forward.
This is one of the riddles with Oscar Allen isn’t it because he played that role at times last year?
He was second-ruck to Hickey for a big part of the year and Tom Hickey is a 110-minute ruckman so Oscar had to handle 25 to 30 minutes in the ruck and plus he had to play forward and for a 20-year-old that was a big ask. I don’t know if he can sustain a full year doing that and that was with a ruckman who rucked 100 minutes. Nic will ruck for 85 minutes. To have Nic and Oscar working together we would have to really elevate Oscar’s ability to play a full game. That will come but it will take a while to get that continuity and ruck craft. I haven’t got an answer for that yet. We are still working on it.
What is the biggest issue facing the game. What concerns you the most?
The general consensus is that we would like the scoring to go up so what buttons do you need to push for that. If you really want to change the game you are probably going to have to change the numbers on the field. You are going to have to reduce it. There are too many ways to work around ruck rules. Every time we play 14 on 14 or 16 on 16, the game opens up and scoring increases. It is not an issue for me right now but if it continues to be the brief, that they want to increase scoring, then what rules are the AFL going to manipulate to get that. That is not a concern for me. It is just an observation on where it might go. I think the game is in a pretty good position. I think it has elevated again in terms of a spectacle and the players are at the forefront on how they represent themselves as characters and personalities. It is marketed well. But if the purists want to get the game to another level they are probably going to have to do something drastic.
Mental health has become a key issue in the AFL. Are you concerned?
I am proud to be at a club that really values mental health not just for players but for staff as well. The stigma of support as a hindrance to selection is gone. There is no longer players thinking I have an issue but I don’t want to tell the coach because I won’t get a game or I will get delisted. We are working towards a position where no one feels that is a threat. Hopefully we are in that spot now. We want the mechanisms and resources we provide to not only help them get better as footballers but also that their mental health and well being in the long term is really important to us. We have evolved to a position where it is OK to ask for help and we try to provide as much help as we can. I learnt a few years ago how much support the players need and how much pressure they are under. It doesn’t give them an excuse to under perform but we have got their back in every situation and that is important. No one is perfect. Mistakes will be made. We don’t stick our head in the sand with issues but they are all good people and we are here to support them.
It is almost nine months since Daniel Venables’ concussion and he is still not 100 per cent. How concerned are you for him?
That is the priority. He has been like this for probably six months. It is not a new issue for us and it is a waiting game. It is not a quick fix and he has to take his time. We are not thinking about the football aspect. I am trying to respect his privacy on this as well. There is no rush to act on anything related to footy at this stage. It is a sensitive issue. It is just making sure he wakes up feeling good every day.
Are you proud of the style you have been able to develop?
It doesn’t matter as long as we win. We want a system that is sustainable. That is what we look for. The question early days on us was inconsistency. There was the flat track bully conversation. I don’t think that is about the style. It was about us developing resilience as a playing group. They complement what we are trying to push out there as a way of playing but they do it their own way. I can’t sit here and say this is exactly the way we want to be playing. The players take away a description and make it their own and you have to have the confidence to let them develop it. That is what has happened with us. Our leaders have really taken charge with some of the things. We look back on certain things and think that is in a good space and the players have really driven those things. But we have to keep evolving. We finished sixth last year. We need to get better.
Was it the right time to change the captain?
I think so. We have got a list that has got a lot of maturity. It is not an ageing list. We are getting older but we are not just hanging on. Luke Shuey is still at his peak and we have four or five guys like that. Once Shannon (Hurn) makes a decision he makes it. We moved pretty quickly. Players voted, Luke Shuey was a stand out. I thought the club handled it pretty well. Shannon is still here and Luke hasn’t changed at all.
- Oct 20, 2017
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My eyes lit up reading that, like an 18 year old in a strip club.Intraclub was played last night (Friday) apparently. Here is the club’s in depth review :
Big men press selection case
A number of experienced and young Eagles staked their Marsh Community Series selection claims last night
Eastcoasteagle sounds like your boy MO’Niell gave a good account of himself
The boy can play, still intrigued as to why he slide so far...
Miguel Sanchez
(Unique injury) TBC
afl.com.au listed him in the best players
- Sep 28, 2009
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What does 'under notice' mean? Sounds like a threat.
You could call it... his stock phrase.
So looks like we may be down two half forwards in Rioli and Venables possibly the entire season. Venables may get back in the 2nd half of the year.
Certainly explains why we are trialing small / medium forwards with high level defensive pressure games.
Also explains why we may have two spots open.
Certainly explains why we are trialing small / medium forwards with high level defensive pressure games.
Also explains why we may have two spots open.
Unfortunately I don’t think we will get see venables play another game
The risks of another head knock being too high
- Sep 28, 2009
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Really disappointing about Venables. Was one of the only young potential mids I've been excited about since Shuey.
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It doesn't sound like they are particularly optimistic.
I think the club is uncertain what the future hold for DV. If they knew he wont play another game, I doubt they would string him along by keeping him on the list, so I guess he is still in with a chance.
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Dark Sharks
Premium Kent
To the "We should have taken SPP tears" thread!
Simpson -
We are not thinking about the football aspect
There is no rush to act on anything related to footy at this stage
It is a sensitive issue
Maybe the club wants him and is giving him the time to choose to retire
( + public relations etc )
I hope I’m wrong
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I think the club is being extremely conservative with DV, and rightly so. Gone are the days when you walk it off and get back on the field. It seems unlikely to me that DV has been told "one more hit and you might be in trouble" type conversation from doctors. If that was the case, he would have retired immediately.
There is an article on concussion re: Jonathan Brown and he talks about being concussed and having symptoms for up to 6 months are and playing through.
School of hard knocks: Concussion impacts hit home
The days of "walking off" a concussion are long gone but football clubs need to remain vigilant.
We also don't know what symptoms DV has been suffering, the club has spoken about DV training well when he has been able to, however not always able to get himself right for training everyday. Concussion can be known to cause depression, perhaps it is more about his wellbeing and mental health. That could explain the clubs stance on DV and the talk of "day by day" and being "sensitive" to the situation.
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I was thinking the same thing. A depression/anxiety type situation not necessarily physical damage. Hopefully he can work it out
- Sep 21, 2004
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Yeah basically the club dont want to be sued in 20 years for not showing care to DV. They could very easily delist if they were being brutal. But you cant do that these days.
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If he is still feeling the effects nine months afterwards, it doesn't bode particularly well.
It's a difficult situation because it is an injury affecting the brain - standard injury treatment, assessment and rehabilitation (i.e. surgery, physiotherapy) cannot be used n the same way to enhance the player's recovery.
One of the characteristics of severe concussion injuries is of relapse, where the person involved can show full signs of recovery only to regress into a concussive state without any event necessarily triggering it. There is still a lot that is not well understood about these types of injuries, their treatment and prevention.
For the club it does leave uncertainty. It's not like a normal mechanical injury where you cut it open, put a patch on and can easily monitor how it is healing. He could make a full recovery today and be ready for round 1 - or he could be in a P.McCartin situation and be forced into early retirement.
He is also only 21 and will no doubt be very aware that his career is potentially on the brink of being ended prematurely - and no amount of effort on the training track will be able to address the issue that is restricting him - he probably is a bit anxious and feeling some hopelessness about the situation.
Nonetheless, it is good to hear that the club doing what it can to provide the necessary support to Venables (and his family) during this period and hopefully his recovery continues and he can make a return to football soon.
Yes, same here...well, besides AhChee?
It must have been a really serious head injury/concussion to be career threatening?
Presuming if he did return he would always wear the headgear?
Ps- that was a good read Capriatti! -answered a lot of questions...
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HoneyBadger35
The Big Kahuna
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If Venners retires, which is seeming increasingly likely by the day, I don't think it's fair to have it impact the 'we should have drafted ____ over Venables' discussion.
Someone getting a random head knock and having to hang them up at 21 can't factor into your decision to draft them.
Venables had (has) a lot of potential but if he's cut down by a serious injury then that's just one of the unfortunate realities of football, but it's not on the list management team.
Someone getting a random head knock and having to hang them up at 21 can't factor into your decision to draft them.
Venables had (has) a lot of potential but if he's cut down by a serious injury then that's just one of the unfortunate realities of football, but it's not on the list management team.
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From the west:
Delisted Cat to train with West Coast
Eagles football manager Craig Vozzo said the talented forward had several traits which interested the club.
thewest.com.au
Former Geelong forward Jamaine Jones will train with West Coast from next week in a bid to press claims for the club’s Supplemental Selection pick to round out their list.
Jones joins former Fremantle forward Brady Grey and West Coast’s WAFL top up player Nic Reid in the race for either one or two spots on the list.
Jones played seven games for the Cats as a teenager in the 2018 season but did not play AFL at all in 2019.
Eagles football manager Craig Vozzo said the talented forward had several traits which interested the club.
“He is coming next week for a couple of weeks as an SSP player,” he said.
“He is another one in the running.”
“We think he has strong natural defensive tendencies and has a capacity to repeat high end efforts. That is how we like our small forwards to play.”
J
Jones had kicked four goals in his seven games for the Cats in 2018.
Reid was thought to be ahead of Grey in the race for a spot.
South Australian Isaya McKenzie had also impressed the club but had succumbed to a serious knee injury over the summer.
Vozzo said the Eagles had a number of ways they could go and it should not be assumed that only one player would be added to the list.
It was possible to put two players on, or leave a spot open and weigh the options again at the time of the mid-season draft, he said.
Don’t mind this selection at all and prefer Jones to :
Reid who probably needs more time to develop his craft also Grey looks better suited as a tagger or small defender plus the injury plagued Pickett ..McKenzie was just plain unlucky to get injured pretty badly ..
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Into The Black
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If Venables is forced to retire due to health reasons's, Is the club liable to make a compensation payment ? (Injured at work).
I would hope the club would be happy to set Venners up so he can move on. Go to Uni or whatever other dreams he has.
I would hope the club would be happy to set Venners up so he can move on. Go to Uni or whatever other dreams he has.
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