Coach 2022 Coaching

Essendon have *ed themselves through cheating, we've *ed ourselves through mediocrity.
Well at least we have our principles to fall back on :p
 
They're just as mediocre now days too.

The thing that annoys me is they will get access to another young gun in the draft... Just highlights how much we really *ed up our drafting when we were a bottom 4 club.
With some "help" from the compromised drafts, to be fair.
 

Saint Christopher

Team Captain
Sep 12, 2012
428
840
sydney
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Essendon have *ed themselves through cheating, we've *ed ourselves through mediocrity.
Hey brother, I agree.
I can’t say I have ever felt this disconsolate about my STKFC. And I am a 50 yo supporter (and now former member) so I have seen some dark times—wooden spoons, diabolical trades and recruiting ( Russell Green, McCartin, for eg) and potential mergers etc.

I think that is probably because I feel a sense of time dwindling and a premiership still remote. We are neither last nor in peril but with every awful Board or recruiting decision I see stagnation, not ascent.

The board that has overseen mediocrity now for over a decade, and I concede there have been changes to its make-up, has now chosen to promote Rath and Lethlean and extend a seriously overwhelmed coach.

My feeling is that Ratten made a great Sergeant to Clarkson’s General and was the hands-on ‘relationships’ assistant while Clarko handled the serious game plan theory, hard conversations and motivation work.

Rath, at Hawthorn, I think was valued as the biomechanic whose principle theory was that left footers opened up more space on the field, this was reflected in their recruiting. He was also credited with being a futurist of the game, something I have no idea about, but never was he a game day or game plan strategist. As evidenced by the interview recently posted on here again (apologies to the poster), his sense of game plan is like improv theatre or jazz ballet, which is confusing as we basically do the same mindless things every week. But now I hear Lade thinks the players are to blame.

We also got the analytics guy from Hawthorn and I can’t see that has helped, but again, not my area of expertise.

The only thing Lethlean has done right is overrule the head recruiter to get King instead of Rozee (hmm, food for thought) and then to demote the head recruiter. He f#d up the Hill trade, gave them Acres basically just to stop having to backtrack and has failed to headhunt and hire the best recruiter available—we missed our chance with Dalrymple.

Like we missed our chance with Mitchell and now unbelievably, Clarkson. The man famous for aligning all aspects of the club into one pure vision. It is astonishing.

And perhaps worst of all our one anchor to a sustained premiership tilt, King, is being psychologically damaged. How his technique is still bad when we have a biomechanic on staff is beyond me and how we have devised a game plan that diminishes his strengths is disgraceful.

I see the repeat of the Richo era playing out again and I am afraid, like many in my ST.K loving family—literally my cousins and uncles and aunts, all of us who lived between Balaclava Rd and Alma Road in the 70’s and 80’s—that the club will be lost to me. I am starting to stop caring, which I feel ashamed to say but it is true. It actually hurt to write that last sentence and I am no sentimentalist.
 
Oct 18, 2011
10,548
28,823
AFL Club
St Kilda
Other Teams
St Kilda, Ocean Grove Collendina Cobras
Essendon had an easy easy draw last year and got excited but now reality has hit and the club is imploding.

Beautiful to watch!!!!

And people say we are badly run - ha ha ha!!!
 
Essendon had an easy easy draw last year and got excited but now reality has hit and the club is imploding.

Beautiful to watch!!!!

And people say we are badly run - ha ha ha!!!


I'd be happy if that was us. Andy Maher was talking about Dave Barham on SEN tonight, he sounds like exactly the guy we need. He seems like he has the tools to really straighten them back up. I wish there was that kind of energy and passion being fed back into Moorabin. Each person we get is a less incompetent of the guy he replaces but they still work at a snails pace and with in the safest boundaries they can set themselves. The whole club plays it safe from President down to the players. We feel lethargic and safety first over over extending ourselves. If we were a car we'd be a 1980s beige Volvo wagon. Won't go anywhere fast and might not even get there but it's built to take plenty of hits and takes heaps of fuel.
 
Oct 18, 2011
10,548
28,823
AFL Club
St Kilda
Other Teams
St Kilda, Ocean Grove Collendina Cobras
I'd be happy if that was us. Andy Maher was talking about Dave Barham on SEN tonight, he sounds like exactly the guy we need. He seems like he has the tools to really straighten them back up. I wish there was that kind of energy and passion being fed back into Moorabin. Each person we get is a less incompetent of the guy he replaces but they still work at a snails pace and with in the safest boundaries they can set themselves. The whole club plays it safe from President down to the players. We feel lethargic and safety first over over extending ourselves. If we were a car we'd be a 1980s beige Volvo wagon. Won't go anywhere fast and might not even get there but it's built to take plenty of hits and takes heaps of fuel.
Straighten them back up to do what exactly?

At next years draft, Dodoro will be picking players who weren't even born the last time they won a final.

And during that time they've had 6 different Presidents and 8 different coaches and here they are - 15th on the ladder with yet another President and looking for another coach.

Prefer us any day.
 
Hey brother, I agree.
I can’t say I have ever felt this disconsolate about my STKFC. And I am a 50 yo supporter (and now former member) so I have seen some dark times—wooden spoons, diabolical trades and recruiting ( Russell Green, McCartin, for eg) and potential mergers etc.

I think that is probably because I feel a sense of time dwindling and a premiership still remote. We are neither last nor in peril but with every awful Board or recruiting decision I see stagnation, not ascent.

The board that has overseen mediocrity now for over a decade, and I concede there have been changes to its make-up, has now chosen to promote Rath and Lethlean and extend a seriously overwhelmed coach.

My feeling is that Ratten made a great Sergeant to Clarkson’s General and was the hands-on ‘relationships’ assistant while Clarko handled the serious game plan theory, hard conversations and motivation work.

Rath, at Hawthorn, I think was valued as the biomechanic whose principle theory was that left footers opened up more space on the field, this was reflected in their recruiting. He was also credited with being a futurist of the game, something I have no idea about, but never was he a game day or game plan strategist. As evidenced by the interview recently posted on here again (apologies to the poster), his sense of game plan is like improv theatre or jazz ballet, which is confusing as we basically do the same mindless things every week. But now I hear Lade thinks the players are to blame.

We also got the analytics guy from Hawthorn and I can’t see that has helped, but again, not my area of expertise.

The only thing Lethlean has done right is overrule the head recruiter to get King instead of Rozee (hmm, food for thought) and then to demote the head recruiter. He f#d up the Hill trade, gave them Acres basically just to stop having to backtrack and has failed to headhunt and hire the best recruiter available—we missed our chance with Dalrymple.

Like we missed our chance with Mitchell and now unbelievably, Clarkson. The man famous for aligning all aspects of the club into one pure vision. It is astonishing.

And perhaps worst of all our one anchor to a sustained premiership tilt, King, is being psychologically damaged. How his technique is still bad when we have a biomechanic on staff is beyond me and how we have devised a game plan that diminishes his strengths is disgraceful.

I see the repeat of the Richo era playing out again and I am afraid, like many in my ST.K loving family—literally my cousins and uncles and aunts, all of us who lived between Balaclava Rd and Alma Road in the 70’s and 80’s—that the club will be lost to me. I am starting to stop caring, which I feel ashamed to say but it is true. It actually hurt to write that last sentence and I am no sentimentalist.
Great post mate
Its 100% on the money sadly
 
Sep 17, 2010
5,538
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Essendon won’t be down for long with Clarko.

A lot of poor coaches in our league that give you no chance as a club of winning the thing (we are in that boat unfortunately).

That’s why, when a bloke like Clarko is available you go all in to land him as he gives you a chance at the big prize.

I want us to win a Premiership. Nothing else matters so it’s really disappointing we never made a serious play at Clarko.
 
Sep 17, 2010
5,538
21,283
AFL Club
St Kilda
Other Teams
Manchester City, AIK, Raiders
Hey brother, I agree.
I can’t say I have ever felt this disconsolate about my STKFC. And I am a 50 yo supporter (and now former member) so I have seen some dark times—wooden spoons, diabolical trades and recruiting ( Russell Green, McCartin, for eg) and potential mergers etc.

I think that is probably because I feel a sense of time dwindling and a premiership still remote. We are neither last nor in peril but with every awful Board or recruiting decision I see stagnation, not ascent.

The board that has overseen mediocrity now for over a decade, and I concede there have been changes to its make-up, has now chosen to promote Rath and Lethlean and extend a seriously overwhelmed coach.

My feeling is that Ratten made a great Sergeant to Clarkson’s General and was the hands-on ‘relationships’ assistant while Clarko handled the serious game plan theory, hard conversations and motivation work.

Rath, at Hawthorn, I think was valued as the biomechanic whose principle theory was that left footers opened up more space on the field, this was reflected in their recruiting. He was also credited with being a futurist of the game, something I have no idea about, but never was he a game day or game plan strategist. As evidenced by the interview recently posted on here again (apologies to the poster), his sense of game plan is like improv theatre or jazz ballet, which is confusing as we basically do the same mindless things every week. But now I hear Lade thinks the players are to blame.

We also got the analytics guy from Hawthorn and I can’t see that has helped, but again, not my area of expertise.

The only thing Lethlean has done right is overrule the head recruiter to get King instead of Rozee (hmm, food for thought) and then to demote the head recruiter. He f#d up the Hill trade, gave them Acres basically just to stop having to backtrack and has failed to headhunt and hire the best recruiter available—we missed our chance with Dalrymple.

Like we missed our chance with Mitchell and now unbelievably, Clarkson. The man famous for aligning all aspects of the club into one pure vision. It is astonishing.

And perhaps worst of all our one anchor to a sustained premiership tilt, King, is being psychologically damaged. How his technique is still bad when we have a biomechanic on staff is beyond me and how we have devised a game plan that diminishes his strengths is disgraceful.

I see the repeat of the Richo era playing out again and I am afraid, like many in my ST.K loving family—literally my cousins and uncles and aunts, all of us who lived between Balaclava Rd and Alma Road in the 70’s and 80’s—that the club will be lost to me. I am starting to stop caring, which I feel ashamed to say but it is true. It actually hurt to write that last sentence and I am no sentimentalist.
Brilliant post!
 
Sep 17, 2010
5,538
21,283
AFL Club
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Manchester City, AIK, Raiders
The other frustrating thing is it looks like Yze is nailed on for the Giants.

It’s not often you get an assistant like him who has done an apprenticeship as a coach without a head coach in the box the whole time.

One big risk with getting an assistant is you never know how they’ll go when given the top job. That risk with Yze is mitigated by how much responsibility he has gotten with Melbourne. There’ll be no fears for him at all being the main guy as he’s pretty much doing it at Melbourne already.

Signing Ratts is the gift that keeps on giving.

Nail us on for a poor year again next year, only this time the likes of Clarko and Yze aren’t on the market.

We are years away turning this ship around without a good coach. I doubt long time members will stay the course for another 5-10 years. I wish the board knew how desperately it was we needed that we acted quickly on Ratts. It could kill the club that they signed him unnecessarily early.
 
Straighten them back up to do what exactly?

At next years draft, Dodoro will be picking players who weren't even born the last time they won a final.

And during that time they've had 6 different Presidents and 8 different coaches and here they are - 15th on the ladder with yet another President and looking for another coach.

Prefer us any day.


We'll see I guess. I just wish we'd roll the dice rather than lie in our bed scratching our bedsores. The Dons have some great kids coming through. If I'm Clarko I'm going there before North. Unlimited resources, any staff he wants even over the cap etc. He could use his pull to bring in a few players to patch up their tall defenders and really move forward pretty quickly.

I see us as staying the course with Ratts middling for a few years then rebuilding if I'm honest. I just don't feel like Ratts is in control and we are very risk averse. I think we'd rather hold on to Ratts than rock the boat as long as we are middling. They'll buy time by selling off players then saying they knew we weren't a finals side.
 

Klaatu

All Australian
Oct 18, 2019
961
2,616
Outer space
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I'd be happy if that was us. Andy Maher was talking about Dave Barham on SEN tonight, he sounds like exactly the guy we need. He seems like he has the tools to really straighten them back up. I wish there was that kind of energy and passion being fed back into Moorabin. Each person we get is a less incompetent of the guy he replaces but they still work at a snails pace and with in the safest boundaries they can set themselves. The whole club plays it safe from President down to the players. We feel lethargic and safety first over over extending ourselves. If we were a car we'd be a 1980s beige Volvo wagon. Won't go anywhere fast and might not even get there but it's built to take plenty of hits and takes heaps of fuel.
He's been at Essendon for 20 years why hasn't he done something before, he is a personel friend of Mahers he's not going to bag him is he.
 
He's been at Essendon for 20 years why hasn't he done something before, he is a personel friend of Mahers he's not going to bag him is he.


Hard to do it from the side of the table. Being a soldier and being the General are different roles.
 

Jade Buddha

Norm Smith Medallist
Nov 16, 2014
5,256
12,741
Adelaide
AFL Club
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Recruitment of assistants in the off season will be as important as player recruitment this year. If Lenny returns that’s a great start.
We need a rethink of the game plan.
The thing that needs to happen is that Ratts and Rath will need to listen to new ideas and not just plough on with slow and stodgy.
 
Clarkson would have a better idea on how the game is played than anyone here and he wants Rath as part of his coaching setup next year. I think that tells us all we need to know about the quality of Rath IMO.
No
It doesn't

Unless we know exactly what Clarkos thinking and why then we have no idea why he wants him.

He might be great at a certain thing Clark won't budge on.
He Might be great at accepting wild ideas
Bloke might make great coffee.
Could be a great tactician
Could be a great communicator.
Could be a great yes man

We have no idea why he wants him
 
No
It doesn't

Unless we know exactly what Clarkos thinking and why then we have no idea why he wants him.

He might be great at a certain thing Clark won't budge on.
He Might be great at accepting wild ideas
Bloke might make great coffee.
Could be a great tactician
Could be a great communicator.
Could be a great yes man

We have no idea why he wants him
Yep so no idea if he's s**t either like some are making out
 
Good
I'm glad you can see both points are exactly the same.

Some people think he is useless, some think he must be great because someone from another club wants him....fine.

My point is if it's a negative opninion in someone else's belief that thinks he must be great, it's shouted down very quickly and barbs are sometimes thrown.
Granted this does happen both ways

But it seems lately anything negative that goes against someone's positive belief system is being targeted.
 
Yep so no idea if he's s**t either like some are making out
It's that whole "messiah" let down thing again.

Happened with Pelchen. (built a great team at the Hawks)
Happened with Ratts (assistant for years under Clarko - must be great.)
Happened with Rath (the stats man and the whole reason for Hawks' great strategy)

We're so desperate for success (understandably) that we are looking for a messiah to save us (see Blight too.) We are all are hoping Lenny will be the midfield saviour too.

I think we really need to go about finding our own, not wishing and hoping and relying on the "cast-offs" of other teams - as good as they may be, or have been elsewhere.
 

ScrappyDo

Norm Smith Medallist
Mar 29, 2018
8,402
25,393
Omnipotent
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No
It doesn't

Unless we know exactly what Clarkos thinking and why then we have no idea why he wants him.

He might be great at a certain thing Clark won't budge on.
He Might be great at accepting wild ideas
Bloke might make great coffee.
Could be a great tactician
Could be a great communicator.
Could be a great yes man

We have no idea why he wants him
We can probably leave the discussion there if the 1+1 = 73 brigade would concede they have absolutely no ******* idea what they're talking about.
 
Good
I'm glad you can see both points are exactly the same.

Some people think he is useless, some think he must be great because someone from another club wants him....fine.

My point is if it's a negative opninion in someone else's belief that thinks he must be great, it's shouted down very quickly and barbs are sometimes thrown.
Granted this does happen both ways

But it seems lately anything negative that goes against someone's positive belief system is being targeted.
It's not alternate views that gets shouted down, it's straight up bullshit that gets shouted down.

Ronnie Byrnes should be captain. Don't attack me for my alternative views.
 
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