Coach Welcome to West Coast: Andrew McQualter

[eaglevision]

It is amazing that it’s taken this game for so many to see the obvious. We’ve had these problems for the last 18 months.

Dump kicks for territory when teams are setting up far better defensively and we are still rubbish at the contest

Reactive coaching, oh f**k we are losing Shanahan to defence and a total inability to halt momentum

Trying to build a squad to suit a dated game plan instead of building a game plan with the squad in mind

Drafting for a rigid game plan with absolutely no plan B

Even with Nank, Taranto, Lalor and Prestia out which is close to their first choice midfield out we couldn’t get it done.

 

[WCErevival]

I just dont understand how we've gone from the North and Port game to where we are now. I get that young teams are up and down but we haven't seen any fight for weeks now.

 

[Smotie2]

The problem for McQualter is that he's letting us get beaten by what we know, and that's just unacceptable.

Yeah he said "we knew they were going to go in with a tall forward line and we took a risk to go short"

He's cooked

 

[RookiePick]

The slippery slope had a good dose of detergent squirted on it yesterday.

Mini fell into the classic trap of expecting his senior players to get the job done in a winnable game.

There are so many issues across the ground but surely not giving the ball straight back to the opposition every time we go forward would be a starting point.

We are winning the ball more out of the centre but otherwise we are looking very much like Simpsons side again. Teams just move the ball, with zero risk, from end to end. It's embarrassing to watch.

The game was only close because Richmond are completely ravaged by injury and putting a VFL side on the park.
Melbourne will win by 15+ goals,at a canter next week and Mini will be sitting in the box like a stunned mullet.

 

[FKASC]

Shuey - what qualifications did he have to get that job? Poor captain. Never coached.

Time to go Shue

 

[Smotie2]

I just dont understand how we've gone from the North and Port game to where we are now. I get that young teams are up and down but we haven't seen any fight for weeks now.

Young team put in exceptionally well. Look at who won it for us.
The kids.
Fixturing against 4 top teams after the first 3 weeks destroyed any confidence we had and the senior players dropped off and aren't leading because they are shit themselves and can't stand up.

 

[Smotie2]

Shuey - what qualifications did he have to get that job? Poor captain. Never coached.

It's still.jobs for the boys

 

[Goroyals22]

Yeah he said "we knew they were going to go in with a tall forward line and we took a risk to go short"

He's cooked

Said on Thursday night whilst some here were happy Brock was out that we were to small in defence… it was so obvious bit those paid the big bucks couldn’t or wouldn’t see the issue

 

[Goroyals22]

It's still.jobs for the boys

Suma doesn’t get much right but he was onto this long ago. How has Shuey got a job

 

[BSD]

Suma doesn’t get much right but he was onto this long ago. How has Shuey got a job

Bring back Suma.

 

[Westend]

Don't agree that McQualter needs to go.
He's a year and half in to a job that everyone knew would be the toughest task in the competition.
The glaring problem has been that there are no seniors that can hold the team up. There was an attempt to address this with the off-season, however injuries have cruelled the best of those recruits. That's left us in the same position as the last few years, a smattering of seniors who don't do $#!*, whilst the kids are left to try do too much.
Graham back in to give us much needed pressure acts, Starcevic to shore up a young and undermanned defense.
Before injuries, the gameplan was working and everyone was optimistic about the progress.

The emotion from last night is fresh, but I believe McQualter gets given at least 3 years. Nobody expected a 180 in the space of 12 months, let alone 24.
There has been improvement from last year, which is not something we were able to say in the last few years of Simmo.

Even if we got rid of McQualter this year, what coach would then want to take on the basket case knowing they only have 1-2 years to turn it around given our short patience and how deficient the list is?

If there is someone better available at the end of the year the club has to ask the question.

For me mini has 15 games to turn this club around..atm the clubs brand is broken and we are irrelevant as an organisation

Yes I agree mini inherited a basket case when he took over but in all honestly nothing has changed

Supporters want to see something positive going forward and to blame injuries when you are playing a side that has is riddled with injury is just wrong

 

[UseR2006]

It would be wrong to say nothing has improved. Our contest work in the middle is much better (still lacking) but it's not getting walked out as much compared to previous few years.

That said.

Our biggest issue in the Post GF Simpson era was work rate, players would give up chase, not defend and the ball would just go end to end. Mini was hired because Simmo couldn't get the players to buy in any more.

Nothing has changed work rate wise in the entire time Mini has been here. Defensively the club is still a rabble. How this wasn't the first thing addressed is mind blowing to me.

The fact we are 8 rounds into the season and get beat the same way every week is a complete indictment on the coach and assistants.

 

[Mop]

I don't usually get too angry about losing - god knows we've done enough of it, but its the next day and I'm still angry.

The only time I can recall being this mad was at Bailey Williams in one of the early games of 2024 when he lacked effort.

This is an abhorrent a loss as I can recall. I can cop getting belted by Sydney by 128 points at home. I can just about stomach 101 points vs St Kilda, somehow. I wasn't angry about that.


This.
At home.
Against a mortally wounded opposition who lose one of their key players six minutes in.


And for McQualter to dish out the piss weak nothing response after. The dog has no fight in him.

This is the one team he should KNOW how to beat, he knows the core of the team so well. We've very overtly built ourselves on proto Richmond.

 

[Smotie2]

Said on Thursday night whilst some here were happy Brock was out that we were to small in defence… it was so obvious bit those paid the big bucks couldn’t or wouldn’t see the issue

You know if we had any brains we would seriously have put shanahan back.
I know he's going to be an outstanding forward for us but in the short term he is an excellent choice to shore up the defence.

People may come out and bash menon this but Pavlich spent an entire season in defence and won aa selection on it.
Then he spent seasons in the middle as a mid and won aa selection before ending up at ff also winning as selection.

Shanahans development as a forward may go ahead in leaps and bounds spending some time in defence helping the team and then go back forward when we have cover with Edwards coming back.

Jack Williams can be played at ff with Waterman at chf.

This structure is better than what's currently happening trying to fit them all in the same forward line and going way too tall leaving the opposition ease of exit from defence which is killing us.

8m convinced part of our issues up forward is congestion and poor delivery just bombing it long.
Good teams lead out to drag the defenders out of the forward line to ease congestion.
Surely one of the Muppets coaching us can see this and apply it.

Isolate the forward and have a crumber ready for the spillage. This is what Geelong, Sydney, hawks etc all do.

It's not 4 talls going up with the rick for a mark then the defence swallows it up and runs it out as they are picking themselves up off the floor.

It's little league pathetic and we are an AFL side doing it over and over.

 

[Coasters7]

So many players come into our system like McCarthy and immediately perform above the rest of our squad for six months, only to put in a monster preseason and then decline? Why isn't anyone telling Shanahan to stop trying to go body on body when he is a natural aerialist?

This is the thing for me. So many new players come in and look like they have a spark before regressing to how timid the rest of the team plays.

Harley (still good but has lost his flair), Hewett, McCarthy, Murdock have all come in and looked like our best players for a couple of weeks before mellowing out and losing their dare.

That tells me it’s coaching and/or the senior “leaders” from the previous era sucking the soul out of these new guys that come in with some excitement.

We’re now at the point where the losing culture is overriding the talent and development of these players and at that point harsh early calls need to be made to reverse it or we’ll be here for decades.

Mini isn’t it. Duggan and Flynn as leaders when they’re lucky to be on the list tells you everything.

 

[Goroyals22]

We need to go back to basics… forget our Swiss cheese zone defence… go back to one on one in defence… people can handle if you are beaten one on one by the better or bigger player. That’s fine but make a contest… at the moment the ball goes in one side and comes straight back out the other… it beggars belief for that 5-15 seconds the ball is going forward that our defenders can’t get within 15 metres of a man…

One on one.. the way the game is meant to be played.

Tall forwards. If you all the lead to the same spot you can get off the ground.. lead to different areas so a) the kicker has options b) give the forward some space c) spreads the defence… it’s not a hard game football but from the brain dead we seem to have listed it seems impossible for them to figure it out…

And for the list manager stop drafting the best athlete, how about drafting some blokes with a bit of mongrel and competitive spirit.. yeah they may have lesser skills by 10 percent but at least the will follow up their stuff up and go again. Not drop the head and sulk

 

[GoEaglesGoSGIO]

Wit the new guys coming in I think its fairly simple too.

Murdock trained harder and better with East Freo then he did Eagles, McCarthy trained harder and better with Richmonds VFL team then he does with us. The regression is we train so poorly it drags the players down with us.

I went to 1 training session this off season and didnt bother again. They are so scared of getting injured they forget to actually properly train if you ask me.

Its like when O'Meara fractured his face in training for Freo... I dont think ive ever seen a player fracture a hair folicule in training with us such is the lack of intensity. If you dont train properly you wont play properly

 

[WAFoozy]

Bloke needs to go, Shuey and probably Naitanui too. The club is extremely unserious with how its decided to choose coaching staff. Get some decent people in and pay them accordingly. Horse Longmuir is the one they should be throwing the book at.

 

[GoEaglesGoSGIO]

Alot of the talk is pointless. From the fan base to the CEO, to the boardroom, no one has the strength or fight to put pressure on "da bois". They will do what they want when they want still and we just gotta lump it I suppose

 

[xInfected_Virus]

Unpopular opinion I know but I think the club will see off Mini's contract, he has been put in a position with a poor list but hasn't helped the team since the effort levels are bad. I don't think we can get rid of him early otherwise we'll have to pay him out like we did with Simmo. I think the team will wait until 2027 when we can get a new coach.

I hope the team goes after Horse Longmuir whom set Sydney's defensive identity but whether the cattle can replicate what Horse wants is another thing and if they can't then the team will look no worst than with Mini. Sacking Shuey as the stoppage coach helps and getting a better midfield coach will greatly help the team. Getting a better medical team can also help.

 

[GoEaglesGoSGIO]

Unpopular opinion I know but I think the club will see off Mini's contract, he has been put in a position with a poor list but hasn't helped the team since the effort levels are bad. I don't think we can get rid of him early otherwise we'll have to pay him out like we did with Simmo. I think the team will wait until 2027 when we can get a new coach.

I hope the team goes after Horse Longmuir whom set Sydney's defensive identity but whether the cattle can replicate what Horse wants is another thing and if they can't then the team will look no worst than with Mini. Sacking Shuey as the stoppage coach helps and getting a better midfield coach will greatly help the team. Getting a better medical team can also help.

I think the equation is

If Pyke goes Mini goes
If Pyke stays Mini stays

Not too much more to it than that

 

[Bender_]

Wit the new guys coming in I think its fairly simple too.

Murdock trained harder and better with East Freo then he did Eagles, McCarthy trained harder and better with Richmonds VFL team then he does with us. The regression is we train so poorly it drags the players down with us.

I went to 1 training session this off season and didnt bother again. They are so scared of getting injured they forget to actually properly train if you ask me.

Its like when O'Meara fractured his face in training for Freo... I dont think ive ever seen a player fracture a hair folicule in training with us such is the lack of intensity. If you dont train properly you wont play properly

 

[Mop]

Woodcock's article on McQualter bringing in senior players and how Tom Cole simply HAS to perform is going to hopefully get a nice follow up this week.

Say what you will about Woodcock, he tends to have a finger on the pulse of what fans are saying/thinking.

I’m convinced he’s one of us somewhere

 

[Cuzz09]

The kids were heavy contributors early in the wins and bigger senior guys were coming along for the ride chipping in well.

Now the kids are getting tired but still trying but the old guys are either missing or dropped off.

The mid tier guys are just plodders.

Pretty obvious

 

[Deplorable trumpster]

If the messaging he's getting is as disjointed and inconsistent as this post we're doomed.

If you don't have the mental capacity to be funny and witty then it's better to not embarass yourself by trying.

Instead of personally attacking every poster who is critical of McQualter why don't you make a positive post by telling us your argument for why he is doing a good job?

If we are in the bottom 2 or 3 with a percentage of 50 - 60% this time next year then what are you doing? Re - signing McQualter? How long are you going to re - signing him for? What evidence and logic would you have to justify it and sell it to the supporters that this is still the man to get improvement?

I have nothing against him. And i am not expecting miracles. But at some point things have to move forward. Persistent problems and mistakes need to be rectified. Improvement needs to be visible in the areas you can control. There comes a point in time where if you haven't done it then the only logical conclusion is you can't do it.