Coaching Staff Senior Coach: John Worsfold - Thank you John

[Lore]

I've settled on my Trump inspired nickname for Woosh.

"Head Clown Chuck" Worsfold.

I'm trying to work out who gets my favourite, Jeff Bozo. It's gotta be Dodo, I'd need to have some affection for whoever ends up with it.

Now all I can imagine is a chuckie doll giving a press conference.

 

[Phat Toni]

Rd 1 and you don't want to throw the baby out with the bath water buttt....... that half asleep nature wouldn't inspire me Woosha, no wonder your players didn't show up! Lose in rd 2 and that will be it, I won't be attending a game until his gone.

 

[Lore]

Worsfold, I thought would be a ranting raving guy who put the fear of god into his players with shouting and anger - and he might be? I haven't been behind closed doors, but he more likely seems to be the guy who just looks disappointed in you and hopes you feel guilty and learn from your mistake in your own time.

I think he does do a fair bit of that, but he can be very pointedly disapproving, very clear about what he thinks of what you’re doing, and what he wants from you. Sounds of the track, in the huddle, in the team meetings (channel 7 had access to one during a game last year I think, otherwise at the club when there’s a retirement or a captaincy announcement or that sort of thing), that off-beat presser last year when he basically replied to a journo questioning their question 5 times. You get more of an idea of his personality then than in a postmatch press conference when he’s got his poker face on.

Zaka also mentioned a spray they copped in the podcast the other day which I thought was interesting. The way he said it sounded like it wasn’t the only one they’ve had in the last few years.

At the same time, the culture that is meant to be in place at Essendon is one of collective accountability and holding each other up to the agreed standards.

So we can kind of infer what will be happening now and through the next few days...

Right after the match it was probably a spray. Watch the videos of the players who give interviews after a loss and you can hear it and read it on their faces. The points the players make in those interviews are pretty much going to be cut and paste of what woosha just told them in that huddle.

Monday is recovery, and probably coaches doing a ton of homework. I think Andy said as much in his interview last night.

Tuesday debrief I imagine is probably in that big theatre room with the team sitting on the steps and woosh asking them to think about what happened and what they did well and need to improve and to speak up. He’d be facilitating and guiding that discussion so they know what the expectations of their teammates are and the areas they need to focus on to meet those expectations.

He’d also be providing his own insight based on whatever the KPIs and stats and observations etc that the coaches have discussed.

Then they probably move on to whatever observations the high performance/opposition strategy coach has of st kilda’s game plan and any plans in place for particular strategies they know St Kilda use, onward and upward.

If he spends all week every week yelling it would lose its effectiveness, so at the very least I hope it’s not that.


The big sell on Clarkson (and Bolton too if I remember right) is that they are teachers and approach it differently to the old school coaching of 30 years ago. I don’t know what kind of teachers they are exactly but if they’re any good then something like the above wouldn’t be far off their coaching styles either.

 

[Howard Moon]

 

[daffo]

Sack everyone

 

[donlav99]

alot of "hopefully"... not alot of certainty.

 

[Howard Moon]

alot of "hopefully"... not alot of certainty.

he looks a bit like old gil




awww cmon don't sick ol gil this week, just gimme one more go

 

[citizen-erased]

Show what we're really about......Couldnt play that badly again
FFS. we are going to learn nothing.
What is our identity as a club? In 3 years, i have not seen it.
Play that badly again? We did this against Carlton last year. We served it up in JLT and Rd.1 this year

Those two statements seem very closely linked. Performances like this are what i fear we are about. Promise and let downs

I love that our AA defender was caught out by a defender who went forward because he nearly did an ACL.
Sums us up.

 

[puntingdude22]

4 years as head coach
Still not sure what our distinct style is, what our mantra is , nothing.

 

[Beerfish]

We have a mantra?

 

[Bombermania]

I’d better go and watch some Clarko press conferences, but last time I checked crying and screaming in the press conferences doesn’t achieve much except start rumours that your job is in jeopardy. I guess we could ask woosha to punch a hole in the wall next time we lose just to appease the fans, but honestly I’d rather he was concentrating so that when he does give the players a spray he’d know what the hell he was talking about.

What our coaches and CEO say to the media and the membership is not the same thing as what is said behind closed doors. Or at least it shouldn’t be, in Xavier’s case. If there is one thing we learnt from ASADA it’s that presenting a united front is absolutely imperative.

All that said, I agree that poor cultural habits seem to be a thing at Essendon. Just don’t point to a press conference or a twitter feed as evidence of what happens in the player debrief.

When it comes to press conferences I have no issue with how Woosha dead bats the media as I agree with you that is not the place to start bad mouthing players and I don't think we need Xavier to start being a mini Jeff but culturally we don't seem to have a robust culture but as you hint at I am saying that from the outside looking in and from talking to people near the club they clearly don't like seeing performances like yesterday.

 

[puntingdude22]

Our next coach should be Mark McVeigh or Matthew Lloyd (serious)

 

[Howard Moon]

Our next coach should be Mark McVeigh or Matthew Lloyd (serious)

did you not see what happened 5 years ago?

 

[VelvetSledge]

We have a mantra?

Crown Towers on the Gold Coast is my favourite one tbh

 

[Beerfish]

Our next coach should be Mark McVeigh or Matthew Lloyd (serious)

Maybe we should get Tim Watson as a senior assistant while we're at it just so we've got that experience in the box too. We could call it the dream team.

 

[orco]

Im worried why we have someone like Haden Skipworth as an assistant coach. He did nothing in his career. How can young players look up to people who didnt brint it on the field in their day (same for Paul Corrigan, Rob Harding and Neeld who they thankfully disposed of). Dont these guys have to lead by example. At least Woosha and James Kelly were champion players FFS - get rid of these muppets and bring in poeple like Blake Caracella, Brett Ratten or even Goddard. Is Diesel still helping them out?

 

[quotemokc]

Im worried why we have someone like Haden Skipworth as an assistant coach. He did nothing in his career. How can young players look up to people who didnt brint it on the field in their day (same for Paul Corrigan, Rob Harding and Neeld who they thankfully disposed of). Dont these guys have to lead by example. At least Woosha and James Kelly were champion players FFS - get rid of these muppets and bring in poeple like Blake Caracella, Brett Ratten or even Goddard. Is Diesel still helping them out?

Remember how well he had the forward line functioning in I think it was 2017?

Don't get why he was moved out of where he was having success.

 

[maskmcgee]

We should of sacked Hird at the end of 2013 instead of letting him come back and getting rid of Bomber.

 

[donlav99]

Caracella closer to the premiership cup than Hird.... that's an omen, good footy energies right there. Get him in.

 

[Howard Moon]

Caracella closer to the premiership cup than Hird.... that's an omen, good footy energies right there. Get him in. View attachment 641600

farthest bloke out back on the right only just won one

 

[eth-dog]

Our assistants are getting a bit stale. They've all (bar Rutten) been here for a while. Wouldn't be opposed to clearing them out except Rutten and Kelly and looking into getting a couple more in, players recently out of the game. Maybe Ryan Griffen? Jarryd Roughead would be pretty decent as well.

 

[VelvetSledge]

If this performance trend continues and it becomes apparent that Woosha has lost the players, then we should move heaven and earth to get Caracella.

 

[F_therest]

Our assistants are getting a bit stale. They've all (bar Rutten) been here for a while. Wouldn't be opposed to clearing them out except Rutten and Kelly and looking into getting a couple more in, players recently out of the game. Maybe Ryan Griffen? Jarryd Roughead would be pretty decent as well.

Decision would need to be whether to sweep out the assistants a bit like Richmond and Collingwood did that helped them turn things around, or replace Woosha and have the new coach bring in a new team of assistants. Ultimately it comes down to whether Woosha is seen as the right man or not. Not sure he is imo.

From my perspective compared to really structured and systematic teams like West Coast and Hawthorn, I do feel sometimes that Essendon relies too much on defensive effort and the team being mentally switched on.

Obviously those things are always important to get a win for any team, but it feels like teams like WC and Hawks can be slightly off their game and still grind out wins due to a good gameplan and way of playing, positioning well etc and making things easier for themselves...whereas Bombers need to be going full throttle with defensive pressure and run & gun to get their wins. It's hard, basically impossible, for players to give those kinds of efforts week in, week out over a season.

Not excusing last weekend's performance since they should be fresh, but just looking at what happened last year and moving forward whether Essendon's style of play is realistically sustainable and capable of winning a flag under Woosha the way it is currently.

 

[eth-dog]

Decision would need to be whether to sweep out the assistants a bit like Richmond and Collingwood did that helped them turn things around, or replace Woosha and have the new coach bring in a new team of assistants. Ultimately it comes down to whether Woosha is seen as the right man or not. Not sure he is imo.

From my perspective compared to really structured and systematic teams like West Coast and Hawthorn, I do feel sometimes that Essendon relies too much on defensive effort and the team being mentally switched on.

Obviously those things are always important to get a win for any team, but it feels like teams like WC and Hawks can be slightly off their game and still grind out wins due to a good gameplan and way of playing, positioning well etc and making things easier for themselves...whereas Bombers need to be going full throttle with defensive pressure and run & gun to get their wins. It's hard, basically impossible, for players to give those kinds of efforts week in, week out over a season.

Not excusing last weekend's performance since they should be fresh, but just looking at what happened last year and moving forward whether Essendon's style of play is realistically sustainable and capable of winning a flag under Woosha the way it is currently.

If Woosha isn't the man for the job, then get on the blower to Caracella immediately. Bring in two new line coaches for midfield and forward, maybe a Jarrad McVeigh and Jarryd Roughead or someone of that ilk that has had relatively recent premiership success to bring in strategies and the like.

 

[Burzum]

If this performance trend continues and it becomes apparent that Woosha has lost the players, then we should move heaven and earth to get Caracella.

Who should we get after Caracella inevitably loses the players?