Anthony Rocca

[jackcass]

I’m not saying he’s a poor coach.

Not saying you were

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.

Happy for anyone to express an opinion but there are others who seem to want their opinion's considered as fact.

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.

The vast majority is opinion. I come on here to read the opinions of others and discuss aspects of the game. I don't need to agree with everyone to justify reading it and I'm just as entitled to challenge those opinions I disagree with as any other poster.

 

[Len Smith Medallist]

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

Surely the reality is that whether Pebbles or Harvey are good coaches is based on whether the ruck and the mids are effective. Posters have every right to have an opinion on that.

 

[lyfsux]

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?

Waiting for Eddie to step down then maybe

 

[Tarkyn_24]

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

How the **** would you know?

Or are you directly correlating Rocca’s coaching ability to Grundy’s inability to hit a teammate with his taps, ever? Because maybe you should start with Brodie because Mason Cox doesn’t seem to have the same issue

 

[No SPIN]

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.

With so many coaches sacked ANY AFL job would have seen a huge number of applicants.

 

[sr36]

How the fu** would you know?

Or are you directly correlating Rocca’s coaching ability to Grundy’s inability to hit a teammate with his taps, ever? Because maybe you should start with Brodie because Mason Cox doesn’t seem to have the same issue

This. Brodie looks to me like he's been well coached - consistently uses a range of tactics and body positions to outpoint his opponent and win the hitout. But unfortunately, he's got hard hands so doesn't control the hit effectively.

 

[Good_Old]

This. Brodie looks to me like he's been well coached - consistently uses a range of tactics and body positions to outpoint his opponent and win the hitout. But unfortunately, he's got hard hands so doesn't control the hit effectively.

Wouldn't a good coach be able to identify this issue and create drills to correct or at least reduce it? I remember a Nic Nat interview where he suggested he taps into garbage bins or something similar.

Maybe we should buy the club some of these?

 

[Maurice Mitchell]

How the fu** would you know?

Or are you directly correlating Rocca’s coaching ability to Grundy’s inability to hit a teammate with his taps, ever? Because maybe you should start with Brodie because Mason Cox doesn’t seem to have the same issue

I’ve often thought, probably unfairly, that he’s directing his taps so he can get his own clearance.

 

[Carringbush2010]

This. Brodie looks to me like he's been well coached - consistently uses a range of tactics and body positions to outpoint his opponent and win the hitout. But unfortunately, he's got hard hands so doesn't control the hit effectively.

Wouldn't a good coach be able to identify this issue and create drills to correct or at least reduce it? I remember a Nic Nat interview where he suggested he taps into garbage bins or something similar.

Maybe we should buy the club some of these?
View attachment 1039232

Good points, maybe Brody is not that good as a tap ruck or maybe Pebbles is not able to coach the flaws out. Or maybe a combination of both.

I seriously doubt Brody does not have the ability to improve his tapwork to our advantage, I also doubt our mids do not have the ability to rove better.

Something is not right here and am not sure a new ruck coach would fix the problem, I'm not convinced that our mid coaching (or forward coaching for that matter) is up to speed. That obviously has some impact on our ruck / mid woes.

 

[Toecrusher]

I’ve often thought, probably unfairly, that he’s directing his taps so he can get his own clearance.

Based on that comment, you're probably better off giving up on this thinking idea. It's really not working for you.

 

[TKiL]

Wouldn't a good coach be able to identify this issue and create drills to correct or at least reduce it? I remember a Nic Nat interview where he suggested he taps into garbage bins or something similar.

Maybe we should buy the club some of these?
View attachment 1039232

not a bad idea at all.............
maybe some of the game plans, salary cap s/sheets etc would belong there?

 

[Johno9911]

Good points, maybe Brody is not that good as a tap ruck or maybe Pebbles is not able to coach the flaws out. Or maybe a combination of both.

I seriously doubt Brody does not have the ability to improve his tapwork to our advantage, I also doubt our mids do not have the ability to rove better.

Something is not right here and am not sure a new ruck coach would fix the problem, I'm not convinced that our mid coaching (or forward coaching for that matter) is up to speed. That obviously has some impact on our ruck / mid woes.

I think Grundy has the ability to improve his tapwork, really it's the only area he needs to improve in, and imo it's just a matter of finding someone who can teach and train him in improving that area of his game. Rocca was never a tap ruckman, however I'm sure a lot of Grundy's physical work and positioning came from Pebbles as that is what he was good at, but now Grundy requires someone who can teach him the "finer points" of being a gun ruckman.

As a side note - surely the ruck and mid coach should be intertwined. Yes they're different areas but the mid coach should be coaching in the knowledge of what the Rucks are doing and how they're being trained and vice versa the Ruck coach should be working in tandem with the midfield coach to insure that Grundy or Lynch etc are being trained/coached in a way that works with what the mids are trying to do. I'm sure this would be the case at the club, but maybe it's a matter of finding a ruck/mid coaching duo who have history of working together - either as players or coaches.

 

[Apples]

Gee, I didn't think a simple question would lead to so much angst. So we now know Anthony has moved to North and good luck to him.
The issue about him being an effective ruck coach is up for discussion of course, but I think it's fair enough to ask that question. He was never more than a fill-in ruck for a few minutes a game in any case. At the end of the Club Review in 2017, Anthony was not renewed and later was brought back in a part-time capacity. That's my recollection, but happy to be corrected.

Jackcass and Tarkyn-24 are right though; nobody really knows how effective coaches are. For people to constantly criticise Robert Harvey, for instance, is a bit bewildering. If he were hopeless as a strategist, I'm pretty certain it would have come out during the 2017 Review. As far as we know, he was given a tick of approval.

My point initially was that as a non-recognised ruckman, I always found it somewhat odd that Anthony became our only ruck coach; I'm not sure why that bothered you JB007.

 

[rand corp]

Wishing Pebbles all the very best in his new role, he loves coaching, loves the game, loves the involvement. Happy for him, a Collingwood great.

 

[sr36]

Gee, I didn't think a simple question would lead to so much angst. So we now know Anthony has moved to North and good luck to him.
The issue about him being an effective ruck coach is up for discussion of course, but I think it's fair enough to ask that question. He was never more than a fill-in ruck for a few minutes a game in any case. At the end of the Club Review in 2017, Anthony was not renewed and later was brought back in a part-time capacity. That's my recollection, but happy to be corrected.

Jackcass and Tarkyn-24 are right though; nobody really knows how effective coaches are. For people to constantly criticise Robert Harvey, for instance, is a bit bewildering. If he were hopeless as a strategist, I'm pretty certain it would have come out during the 2017 Review. As far as we know, he was given a tick of approval.

My point initially was that as a non-recognised ruckman, I always found it somewhat odd that Anthony became our only ruck coach; I'm not sure why that bothered you JB007.

He was never a ruckman around the ground, but at his best - in 2002 and 2003, Rocca took the centre bounces and then moved forward, because he was our best tap ruckman.

 

[Albert Parker]

I think Grundy has the ability to improve his tapwork, really it's the only area he needs to improve in, and imo it's just a matter of finding someone who can teach and train him in improving that area of his game. Rocca was never a tap ruckman, however I'm sure a lot of Grundy's physical work and positioning came from Pebbles as that is what he was good at, but now Grundy requires someone who can teach him the "finer points" of being a gun ruckman.

As a side note - surely the ruck and mid coach should be intertwined. Yes they're different areas but the mid coach should be coaching in the knowledge of what the Rucks are doing and how they're being trained and vice versa the Ruck coach should be working in tandem with the midfield coach to insure that Grundy or Lynch etc are being trained/coached in a way that works with what the mids are trying to do. I'm sure this would be the case at the club, but maybe it's a matter of finding a ruck/mid coaching duo who have history of working together - either as players or coaches.

Didn't Buddha Hocking have stoppage responsibility (before he departed)?
That would incorporate the mix of Rucks and Mids working together at ball ups and ball ins and sat outside the remit of mids and Ruck coaching.
I would think a lot of the effectiveness of the mids comes down to stoppages. Beyond that it's get back into defence to help out.

 

[Albert Parker]

Jackcass and Tarkyn-24 are right though; nobody really knows how effective coaches are. For people to constantly criticise Robert Harvey, for instance, is a bit bewildering. If he were hopeless as a strategist, I'm pretty certain it would have come out during the 2017 Review. As far as we know, he was given a tick of approval.

My point initially was that as a non-recognised ruckman, I always found it somewhat odd that Anthony became our only ruck coach; I'm not sure why that bothered you JB007.

It is hard to recognise the coach effectiveness precisely however

- Harvey has been overlooked for senior roles several times. By contrast, Longmuir was quickly picked up

- Longmuir then selected Boyd from those he worked with. May have been about proximity and availability, but no-one has grabbed Harvey (nor Sanderson) best we can tell

- Sanderson did have a go as senior coach. He was dumped with 2 years to go on his contract given senior player feedback but had a 56% Win ratio, the second best of any Crows coach and the club rose to 3rd (goal away from a GF) in his first season from 14th (with a 72% win ratio). When the line coach is the best mate of the senior coach though, you wonder whether the same sort of feedback emerges.

Pre the 2017 review, you may also recall that Buckley was criticised for not allowing his line coaches to do their job and micro-managing, making it more challenging again to assess an individual coach's performance.

Ever been blown away when you've heard Robert Harvey interviewed though?
I think our midfield has been underwhelming given the reputation of the players and the money we've been paying them.

 

[TKiL]

Didn't Buddha Hocking have stoppage responsibility (before he departed)?
That would incorporate the mix of Rucks and Mids working together at ball ups and ball ins and sat outside the remit of mids and Ruck coaching. I would think a lot of the effectiveness of the mids comes down to stoppages. Beyond that it's get back into defence to help out.

was shown the door? - pity that

 

[jackcass]

It is hard to recognise the coach effectiveness precisely however

- Harvey has been overlooked for senior roles several times. By contrast, Longmuir was quickly picked up

- Longmuir then selected Boyd from those he worked with. May have been about proximity and availability, but no-one has grabbed Harvey (nor Sanderson) best we can tell

- Sanderson did have a go as senior coach. He was dumped with 2 years to go on his contract given senior player feedback but had a 56% Win ratio, the second best of any Crows coach and the club rose to 3rd (goal away from a GF) in his first season from 14th (with a 72% win ratio). When the line coach is the best mate of the senior coach though, you wonder whether the same sort of feedback emerges.

Pre the 2017 review, you may also recall that Buckley was criticised for not allowing his line coaches to do their job and micro-managing, making it more challenging again to assess an individual coach's performance.

Ever been blown away when you've heard Robert Harvey interviewed though?
I think our midfield has been underwhelming given the reputation of the players and the money we've been paying them.

There are more than a few highly regarded assistant coaches who have been given a senior job but found wanting at that sort of level. Richo, Bolton and Shaw of recent memory. I'd have thought they all beat Harvey for the role at interview. It's likely a fine line whether you end up with a Longmire or a Bolton and not something that can be definitively answered via the interview process.

 

[jackcass]

Didn't Buddha Hocking have stoppage responsibility (before he departed)?
That would incorporate the mix of Rucks and Mids working together at ball ups and ball ins and sat outside the remit of mids and Ruck coaching.
I would think a lot of the effectiveness of the mids comes down to stoppages. Beyond that it's get back into defence to help out.

Buddha had just been given the VFL coaching gig which is why he departed once the VFL was cancelled.

 

[Pie eyed]

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.

Was there hate for Pebbles?
Never saw it on our board, though I do tend to ignore mindless bellybutton gazing threads.
Rocca is one of my top ten team players at the club

 

[Black_White]

Anthony who?
Dead to me....... for now.

 

[jackcass]

Was there hate for Pebbles?
Never saw it on our board, though I do tend to ignore mindless bellybutton gazing threads.
Rocca is one of my top ten team players at the club

Just a lot of negativity about his coaching capacity, some of which was over the top. I guess that's what people are referring to as "hate".

 

[gouki88]

Let's just hope Wright is trying to snag Monkey then!

 

[jackcass]

Let's just hope Wright is trying to snag Monkey then!

Is Monkey a good ruck coach or is it just the romance of bringing him home?