Bickley

[woopedazz]

Just wondering what Mark actually does. What is his role? I see him trailing Craig everywhere he goes, repeating what he says, sitting next to him and listening to the same stuff in the headphones. But not once have I ever seen Craig turn to him and ask him what he thinks/vice versa. Is his role simply to repeat what Craig says or does he have a role that I haven't worked out yet? I'm sure he is doing something important, but I can't for the life of me figure out what it is...

 

[NTRabbit]

On gameday, Bickley acts as the intermediary between Craig down on the bench and the rest of the coaches up in the box.

His job, I expect, is to manage the flow of information between the bench and the box so that the senior coach can keep his focus on the game, and on his players, while still getting the important updates from assistant coaches with a birds eye view - where the zones are failing, where the ball is going most often, which players are down on their GPS numbers or not working hard enough.

He might offer up suggestions, but when he is performing that role it's not his job to muddy the waters.

During the week, I can't actually recall what his specific assistant coach portfolio is, but he would work with that group.

 

[cmndstab]

Pretty sure he's with the midfield group during the week.

 

[KUNG FU]

This year it was Hart for defence, Bickley & Viney for the midfield, Noble for the forwards and Clarke as part time ruck coach.

At the moment all we know is next year it will be Hart in defence, Clarke in the midfield and Bickley in a "senior assistant role", presumably expanding on his game day role as Craig's side kick. During the week I imagine he would continue to work with the midfield group predominantly, but also working on the big-picture stuff with Craig. I don't know where this leaves our forward coaching role, whether the new coach will take this role or not. Bickley's changing role probably reflects a changing emphasis in the game on distinct roles and positions and the emerging 18-player midfield type of game we are now seeing.

 

[woopedazz]

I ask because I went down to be near the bench halfway through this year at AAMI to check out if he does act as a middle man between Craig and the box and he just didn't say anything for the 5 minutes I was there. He sat there hunched over listening, Craig was talking to players and nothing else really happened.

I found it incredibly unusual.

 

[Jetwa5h]

probably at dominos.com ordering dinner and coffee

 

[woopedazz]

probably at dominos.com ordering dinner and coffee

I just looked behind me because I was ordering from dominoes at that very second... Scared the shit out of me lol.