13 weeks in - Can Brendan McCartney coach?

[acker]

At some stage this season, probably already passed - McCartney would be confronted with the options

• Do I continue with a game plan and players in positions I want them to develop in next few years
• Do I just try and implement game plans and players in positions that minimise losses

I don't mind him sticking to the first option - making the 8 this year is beyond this group of players, lets lay the groundwork for future years.

 

[paulveed]

There is no way any coach can be fairly assessed in his first season in charge. I have watched this game for more decades than I care to admit to, and can only recall two coaches off the top of my head that had Instant Success : Joyce at Hawthorn, and Scott at Geelong. Both inherited fully developed champion teams. Look back at the early years of other premiership coaches of the modern era such as Malthouse, Roos and Mathews etc. None set the world on fire in their first seasons. It took them several years to develop the squad, and the game style, skills and confidence in their charges to achieve the ultimate.

Yes Mac. says all the right things, and some might just interpret that as political spin in the modern mode. But the fact that so many knowledgeable people in the league who have experience of working with him speak so highly of him as a coach suggests to me he might just be the bloke who finally gets it right for the Doggies.

One thing that would worry me however is the concept of playing Williams in the ruck. Ahhhh! He is to valuable a commodity down back to be risking his notoriously fragile body in the ruck, especially given we are not exactly bereft of ruck options at present. Not only would it be a risky strategy, it would hold back the development opportunities for our young genuine ruck options, and I would have thought, to little or no purpose or gain.

Finally the rumour suggested above regarding a rift between the Dogs and Willy. That would be sad, but if true, and is based on difficulties between German and Mac., then rather than tear apart the two clubs the simple answer would be move Peter G. on. If I am not mistaken, the Willy coach is part of Dog's structure [ I do not know if that includes financially as well], so if we are unhappy then we have a right to ask for change surely.

While I would not like to see the W/Ds relationship break down, and running our own reserves side would put more strain on our already shaky bottom line, the idea of Footscray back playing out of the Whitten Oval has a wonderful ring to it [ says he dreaming of his childhood].

 

[dogzrule]

A little too early to say. What I dont like is the current team structure with 3 ruckmen, lack of spread, pace and penetration

Macca has inherted a poor list, with its good players all hitting 30 and only 2 genuine stars in their prime, one with a bung knee, a big hole where players are usually pushing up (22-26 yo's) and some promising youngsters but unfortunetly there are no Judds in that group.

Until he develops the cattle that suit his vision and game plan we will not know the answer to the question, give him a 3 year term and see if things improve. With any luck we will have bottomed out and are looking in the way up

 

[Dogs_r_barking]

I hope the rumours of a rift with Willy are not true. But they certainly have been not been considered when it comes to team selection, they were left without a ruck in one game, resulting in a loss, so it wouldn't surprise me if it was true.
I did hear awhile ago that the doggies were floating the idea of a stand alone team - if we could afford it I would love it.

 

[RedWhite&Blue]

When Rodney Eade was sacked the president of the club said on numerous occasions that we didn't need a full rebuild, rather a refresh. He repeated it again around the time of McCartney's appointment. So how can you say no one expected us to be doing any better? St.Kilda were up longer than us and they haven't dropped away like we have.

I don't recall Smorgon ever saying that... McCartney said it when he accepted the job.

 

[The Standfield Principle]

Glad that Bulldogsnm1 started this thread; the generally consensus appears to be the jury is out;and that is a fair assessment.BMc inherited a fairly tricky list to manage(perhaps those that created the list need the heat of the spotlight), so it would be good to revisit this question after Round Five 2013.

A couple of things do worry me though about the way we set up and the way that we play.
1.Players running around in the Red White and Blue would be getting very little reward for effort at the moment . We score rarely;we string fluent pieces of play together rarely and we threaten the oppostion rarely by placing our most dangerous players in dangerous positions. This may be the one of reasons our lads look disprited (hands on hips and heads down is pretty common)-and our matches are dead set boring.

2.If the master plan is to find out who can play the McCartney way and who cant;well lets bat out the year, and see if those who cant play the McCartney way are asked to depart. What is clear ;is that the current list and the expectations of BMcCartney appear out of sync. 5+5=7 at the moment.

No doubt at around 7.40 this arvo we all might want to add to the discussion.

 

[cromaglife]

I don't have a problem with him at all at the moment. He has basically given an explanation for everything that has unfolded this season and I can see why the coaching panel is going down that path. I just hope Hill and Panos get a run before the end of the year (3-4 just like Ayce and Tutt last year) maybe Roberts getting a game right at the end of the season would be nice too.

 

[Captain Sensible]

I don't have a problem with him at all at the moment. He has basically given an explanation for everything that has unfolded this season and I can see why the coaching panel is going down that path. I just hope Hill and Panos get a run before the end of the year (3-4 just like Ayce and Tutt last year) maybe Roberts getting a game right at the end of the season would be nice too.

Do you mean Redpath?

 

[Sharkey66]

Do you mean Redpath?

Fletcher Roberts

 

[Easty]

I don't recall Smorgon ever saying that... McCartney said it when he accepted the job.

He said that, but he also said we would finish top 2 last year so you have to take it with a grain of salt.

 

[Dogs_r_barking]

Smorgo loves the club, but he does come out with some outrageous statements, he did say we were only having 'a refresh' when we could all see that it was a rebuild. The writing IIRC was on the wall, since we lost to Geelong by 100 points in 2010, we somehow limped into the top four spot (just), but we all new it was an end of an era.

 

[dcs84]

Also another worrying thing is he is in love with hacks such as Addison.........

I find this worrying also..... talent, whether lazy or hard working, beats 'hard working only' nine times out of ten. Addison certainly tries hard he just isn't the most instinctive or intuitive footballer. The worry I have is that Macca rates these guys.........dear me.

 

[yebiga]

Lose no hope. Good times are around the corner. What would be the point of winning more games this year. Ask your self. We looked good against Collingwood, Geelong and won a good game against Norf but stop and think, what is the good of it?
Put on the brakes - skid - stop, look both ways and don't run.

The man is in teaching mode. Grant is putting on baulk and Cordy is taking the odd grab. Jones appears to be going no where but it could all just go click - like a canon camera. The inside mids look good. We are blessed with ruckmen. Will is in the news for giving lip, hip and some stick. But for injury we would be blessed for tall backs. Our problem is just the forward line - but the super draft is coming and the Lakestar will move forward or be traded to Carlton/Hawthorn for another big pick. Yes! good times are coming real soon.

Fear not another false dawn for Macca is here for the long haul. He is the change agent stuffing and lining our intestines so we can consume anything. We will breathe fire and s**t bricks. We will realise our destiny and become the super club diepensing with Collingwood and Essendon as so much hot air.

A forward, a forward, my kingdom for a forward! Yes! put a horse there - who knows the rules?

 

[Barkly St End]

I hope the rumours of a rift with Willy are not true. But they certainly have been not been considered when it comes to team selection, they were left without a ruck in one game, resulting in a loss, so it wouldn't surprise me if it was true.
I did hear awhile ago that the doggies were floating the idea of a stand alone team - if we could afford it I would love it.

We probably can't afford to maintain our own reserves team.

There might be marketing advantages maintaining a partnership with Willy, reaching out to the Western bayside suburbs.

I'd hope we'd be able to have a good relationship with them.

 

[Bulldogsnm1]

After watching last weeks game and then seeing the selections for this week, we are either not trying or BM can't coach.

 

[PCDOGS]

This question can be broadened out to - is our coaching panel light on?

Whist the overall responsibility of team performance lies with the head coach, it is a "team" performance in terms of the overall coaching panel

Rocket had very solid and experienced assistant group - Paul Williams, Leon Cameron and Peter Dean being the main stays during this time.

I think losing Williams and Cameron has hurt us. They have been replaced by a relatively inexperienced group including Shanon Grant, Steven King and Rohan Smith.

 

[inyourfacedunk]

I find this worrying also..... talent, whether lazy or hard working, beats 'hard working only' nine times out of ten. Addison certainly tries hard he just isn't the most instinctive or intuitive footballer. The worry I have is that Macca rates these guys.........dear me.

You only have it half right. Talent only works if they also work hard. I would take hard working over talented any day of the week if talented is not willing to put in some hard yards. This is why Addison is playing at the top level today. He plays with 100% effort 100% of the time. It is also the reason why Josh Hill was let go (sure, he is playing well now but put him on a losing team and he would be just as uninspiring as he was at the Dogs. You only have to look at the games West Coast has lost to see that). It is the same reason why Higgins used to cop a lot of flack before turning things around this year and why Grant copped a fair bit of flak last year. All the talent in the world but the effort just wasn't there unless things were going their way.

I can see what Macca is trying to do and I can understand why his match day coaching may not look up to scratch. Development comes first. Only when the team is settled and does their job without needing to be taught week in week out, will Macca be able to start playing with structures mid game and moving players around to influence games. Trying to do that now would be a waste of valuable game time.

It's not like the NBA where a team gets 70 odd games a season so developing and changing things throughout the season is possible. Footy teams play 22 games a season. You can't waste games trying things that won't be the main focus when the team is up and competing again.

Most people guage a players ability after 50 or so games. I would say it is at least the same, if not more for a team with new structures and coaching and a whole bunch of new kids coming through.

 

[dogwatch]

After watching last weeks game and then seeing the selections for this week, we are either not trying or BM can't coach.

I suspect your mind may already be made up on BM. If so, I guess you will interpret what you see each week as further evidence. That's OK, but my mind is not made up and I will still support him into 2013. (However I've stopped watching his press conferences!) Obviously we'll need to see some "signs" in 2013 that he can get results, even if the ladder position doesn't improve much until 2014.

Personally I don't mind this week's selections. JJ was a near cert to come in and every man and his bulldog were calling for it. Last week's best 3 for Willi also got rewarded (Sherman, Addison, Campbell). At the same time Jones who didn't put in a big effort last week got dropped. Isn't that approach to selection what we've been crying out for since early last year? Skinner may be a bit more speculative but I have read reports that he's been working harder and we know he can do some special things. Probably a good choice for sub. Not sure about Vesz ... could be a touch unlucky but that often happens to fringe players, especially if MC is trying to get a certain mix or team balance.

EDIT: I read today how Sheedy has defended himself against charges of tanking saying you've just got to rest young playerswho get belted around a fair bit in the big league.