Anthony Rocca

[Kappa]

Good to see he's picked up another role. Must be somewhat rated within the AFL system as more than a few assistants made redundant through cutbacks couldn't get another gig at AFL level. Never got the hate he copped on here.

He seemed like another appointment because he was good mates with the people in charge.

Not gonna hate on him, but quite happy we've moved him on and maybe now we'll get a better ruck coach AND ACTUALLY TAKE ADVANTAGE OF GRUNDY'S HITOUTS FOR ONCE !!!!!

 

[Carringbush2010]

Good move, much loved player and person around the club - couldn’t for the life of me work out how he was a ruck coach to our star ruckman whose key attribute is around the ground work.

Really need a ruck coach highly skilled in tap work, if BG could unlock this part of his game then it changes our whole midfield equation.

You're onto something here Shawbs!

 

[Carringbush2010]

I still hold out hope we bring in Monkhorst!

Now we're talkin! doubt Clarko would let him go though.

 

[jackcass]

No hate, he just had zero business being a Ruck coach.

Seems it’s now 2 clubs who think differently to you. Was a very good ruck man and would have played the role more if had any aerobic capacity.

 

[jackcass]

Happy with that as been a Coach at the Club for a Very Long Time and really did not a Good Job

According to?

 

[Kappa]

According to?

Well our ruckwork has been terrible for a long time now.

Even if we win the tap outs most of them go to the opposition or go to no one.

The club clearly isn't a bad fan either considering we let him go.

 

[Albert Parker]

Currently at Safety Beach with Pebbles (Mason also made an appearance today) show a little more respect than Malthouse showed his brother people.

Disappointed in you to be honest Apples

Sounds like you're hardly an impartial observer.

Pebbles is a really fun and personable guy from what i have observed around the club.

But he didn't play much ruck time and despite Grundy being No 1 for hit-outs in 2020, 2019 and 2nd in 2018, it's plain to all that his ruckwork has been relatively ineffective in terms of our clearance numbers in the past 2-3 seasons. As a team we ranked 12th for average clearances in 2020, 14th in 2019 and 4th in 2018.

I suspect that this has got worse since Grundy has seemed to have stopped following up his own work. An approach of grounding himself and then knocking the ball straight to his feet has not worked to the advantage of our team, which has not really had a big-bodied clearance beast to make use of that set up although Tay has battled admirably.

I spoke to a former ruckman who was observing training one day and had raised the same issue with me, observing that he questioned whether the club had placed sufficient emphasis on the role in light of the fact that neither Buckley or Harvey had probably played with a great ruckman. He had observed that his own craft had improved materially after spending a small amount of time with Polly Farmer back in the day. He had nominated Scott Wynd as someone that he thought the club should approach, as a former Brownlow medallist and who was not tied to any AFL club at present.

 

[TakingThePies]

Happy with that as been a Coach at the Club for a Very Long Time and really did not a Good Job

Did you work with him?

 

[Matt_352]

Seems it’s now 2 clubs who think differently to you. Was a very good ruck man and would have played the role more if had any aerobic capacity.

Yet Grundy's taps go straight down the throat of the opposition so maybe they are both wrong?

 

[No SPIN]

Yes, because NM are the pinnacle of success in management and achievement, and something the Collingwood football club should aspire to.

FMD some Collingwood supporters have a low barometer of success.

NM, for instance, let the competition know that one of their better players wasn't required and got a crap deal for them. The CFC would never do that.

With so many assistants available after the unprecedented sackings in 2020, Rocca got the gig.
So by any measure that’s a huge positive, regardless of how hard you try to belittle the achievement in your naivety, and uniquely warped view of the club.

 

[No SPIN]

You think a bloke that made a career out of being a CHF kicking 400+ goals (occasionally pinch hitting in the ruck) was the best ruck coach for the Pies?

You think Rocca had no value and was a “job for the boys” appointment ? - if so then his NM appointment proves otherwise.
Especially at a time when last years sacking would have seen a huge number of applicants for the job.
When all said an done the “market/industry”, decides value, and has now refuted Rocca’s “dud status”, asserted by so many here.

 

[Jasper84]

You think Rocca had no value and was a “job for the boys” appointment ? - if so then his NM appointment proves otherwise.
Especially at a time when last years sacking would have seen a huge number of applicants for the job.
When all said an done the “market/industry”, decides value, and has now refuted Rocca’s “dud status”, asserted by so many here.

He's a part time, development coach. Perhaps the market/industry doesn't have many of the highly sought after coaches willing to work in such a minor (possibly low paying) role.

 

[Lockyer24]

Either way he's landed a similar job at another club and one that also involves working with young rucks. As outsiders it's difficult to judge assistants and what they bring, but I think that some were too quick/harsh.

Many on here judge Harvey and Rocca based on their known public personality. (Softly spoken nice guys)

Reality is the posters have NFI whether they are a good coach or not.

 

[Stripes B and W]

Y

I was talking to someone closely connected to the Club, before Xmas about Grundy, and he said the Club was looking for a ruck coach. I forgot that we had let Ants go so did not connect the dots. I said " that can't be that difficult" he replied that getting a coach is easy but getting a GOOD ruck coach was very hard. Also said Steven Taubert (Swans) was the best going around but that he had retired in 2017, the next best, Cox, was now also at the Swans. So it seems the Swans rate ruck coaches higher than most.
Still, at least we are looking.

Yet Sydney probably have had the worst ruck output over the previous decade. Rucks have been a massive weakness at the SS, last good ruck may even be Jolly? ( i might have missed someone )

 

[AndrewShawble]

You think Rocca had no value and was a “job for the boys” appointment ? - if so then his NM appointment proves otherwise.
Especially at a time when last years sacking would have seen a huge number of applicants for the job.
When all said an done the “market/industry”, decides value, and has now refuted Rocca’s “dud status”, asserted by so many here.

I asked you if you think that Rocca is the best ruck coach for the Pies, especially when we have someone to Brodie’s talent in his prime, given Rocca’s career was mainly a CHF.

I didn’t say he was a dud coach.
I didn’t say he got the job as part of a ‘jobs for the boys culture’.

Don’t get sidetracked as usual.

 

[Leviathan Pie]

I think the NM appoint proves your theory wrong, and that of others mercilessly bagging Rocca as incompetent, and being a “job for the boys” appointment.
They look like fools now.

Because the worst club in the competition has picked him up, probably for pennies on the dollar?

No-one looks a fool.

 

[Maurice Mitchell]

Y

Yet Sydney probably have had the worst ruck output over the previous decade. Rucks have been a massive weakness at the SS, last good ruck may even be Jolly? ( i might have missed someone )

Mumford was good at the Swans

 

[pies 4 ever]

Yet Sydney probably have had the worst ruck output over the previous decade. Rucks have been a massive weakness at the SS, last good ruck may even be Jolly? ( i might have missed someone )

He made Jolly, Stafford, Jason Ball & Mumford into far better ruckmen at Swans and he turned a Canadian rugby union player, Mike Pyke, into a premiership ruckman. Naismith was also very highly rated, but has been cruelled by injuries.
Don't forget Taubert retired in 2017, so he is not to blame for the Swans weak rucks at present.

 

[jackcass]

Well our ruckwork has been terrible for a long time now.

Even if we win the tap outs most of them go to the opposition or go to no one.

The club clearly isn't a bad fan either considering we let him go.

There you go again with the hyperbole. Grundy was arguably the top rated ruckman in the league in 2019. Our ruck work could improve but it has hardly been terrible, and most of the issues are related to connectivity with the midfield. Maybe it's the midfield coaching that should bare much of the attention. Maybe it's the midfielders themselves.

Pebbles was a victim of the FD cuts, as was Rendell who also helped out in the ruck training. Pebbles has been at the club for a long time and they are looking at a fresh face. Whoever they recruit doesn't mean we'll see dramatic changes anymore than you'd expect with Grundy now entering what should be his prime years.

 

[jackcass]

Yet Grundy's taps go straight down the throat of the opposition so maybe they are both wrong?

Maybe it's the midfielders and the midfield coaching.

 

[Len Smith Medallist]

In appointing a new ruck coach they should look for someone who played similarly to Grundy at his best, i.e. competes for the tap, follows up a lot of his own hit outs and competes around the ground. Maybe someone whose best footy is not in his ruck work. I wonder what Adam Goodes is doing these days?

 

[jackcass]

I asked you if you think that Rocca is the best ruck coach for the Pies, especially when we have someone to Brodie’s talent in his prime, given Rocca’s career was mainly a CHF.

I didn’t say he was a dud coach.
I didn’t say he got the job as part of a ‘jobs for the boys culture’.

Don’t get sidetracked as usual.

Who would know, certainly not us sitting on the outside looking in.

I don't have an issue with the club looking for a fresh face. Pebbles has been involved in the coaching aspects at the club since he was appointed under MM unless I'm mistaken. But that doesn't mean he was a poor coach. Everyone bemoaned Tarkyn Lockyer as a coach yet the AFL saw fit to appoint him the AFL academy head coach.

 

[Carringbush2010]

Don't know if Pebbles is / was a good coach or not, don't know if Harves is a good mid coach or not.

By looking at where we're lacking, mid and ruck to mid connection (or serious lack of) well the math is pretty simple. Coincidence?

In any case we need to improve in both of these areas, drastically, and that is not an understatement. Not by any stretch.

It'd be a shame to waste such a talent as Grundy (which we're doing currently), please Collingwood make the most of this talent and indeed our supposed mid talent in general. Don't waste it.

 

[Maggie5]

I thought that Rocca was a strange appointment to begin with. I think he had a different role prior to becoming the ruck coach. VFL assistant coach?

He may have just learned on the job which is why North have offered him a position but I would prefer someone with experience in the role.

Found it! Gee he too has been there awhile.

 

[AndrewShawble]

Who would know, certainly not us sitting on the outside looking in.

I don't have an issue with the club looking for a fresh face. Pebbles has been involved in the coaching aspects at the club since he was appointed under MM unless I'm mistaken. But that doesn't mean he was a poor coach. Everyone bemoaned Tarkyn Lockyer as a coach yet the AFL saw fit to appoint him the AFL academy head coach.

I’m not saying he’s a poor coach.

Making the point that I think a 1mil a season ruckman should be coached by a former expert ruck, not a CHF.

That’s just my opinion.

If you come on BigFooty and trot out the ‘what would we know from the outside looking in’, then why come on this forum? A lot of it is peoples personal opinions.