Bigfooty Coach: Solve the Eagles problems.

[Hodgepodge]

Their first two draft picks should be quick midfielders. They can use the rookie draft to bring in a goalsneak.

Trade Brad Ebert to Essendon or the Bulldogs for an outside player.

Trade Kerr to Carlton. They would feel they're the best chance of getting something out of him.

They also have a quality list and could easily give up something pretty good that the Eagles would want. I'm thinking Shaun Grigg, who has pace and decent kicking skills.

 

[KaLL]

OK you win. The extra .2 of a tackle he is laying every match in no way resembles his 07 results. His 28% of contested stats are a clear sign his game is on the up.



Yep, and three years ago he looked like he could have been more. Hasn't really developed much though has he?



Well and good. But this is a thread on a public board asking for comment on the current plight of the WCE. I see you've given up on jumping to the defense on Masten, its pretty clear that my thoughts on Rosa are factual, and we agree on McKinley. Where have you corrected me exactly? Remind me again why you are here?

And if I think you are being a smarmy ****, I will call you a smarmy ****. Nothing personal.

Fair call on Masten, but to be fair Rosa has improved undoubtedly on his 07 form. Maybe he's not as good as you expected him to be, but trust me - he's a much more valuable player this season. Mostly in the quality of his disposal, the last 3 weeks or so Rosa has been the one shining light out of all our inside 50's.

Thanks for some decent responses people, good to see some non-floggish posters replying. Keep it up.

 

[DivideandMultiply]

OK you win. The extra .2 of a tackle he is laying every match in no way resembles his 07 results. His 28% of contested stats are a clear sign his game is on the up.



Yep, and three years ago he looked like he could have been more. Hasn't really developed much though has he?



Well and good. But this is a thread on a public board asking for comment on the current plight of the WCE. I see you've given up on jumping to the defense on Masten, its pretty clear that my thoughts on Rosa are factual, and we agree on McKinley. Where have you corrected me exactly? Remind me again why you are here?

And if I think you are being a smarmy ****, I will call you a smarmy ****. Nothing personal.

Mate it is still something.

You might also say he works harder defensively, since this side of his game was almost completely lacking.

Not to mention you glossed over his improvements in disposal by foot and decision making.

The fact you over rated him is more evidence of your poor judgement than anything else.

I havn't given up on jumping to the defence of Masten. Like I said, when he has played a few games in a row, he has looked like he was developing very well. Injury and the fact he is only a 3rd year player mean he is no superstar.

Fact is I have corrected you first on the sweeping generalisation you have made, then on specifics.

TBH the major problem is our senior players. Both in performance and lack thereof.

We have not yet had adequate time for some of our pacy younger guys to develop.

We have drafted a few to many similar type players though (Ebert, Priddis, Rosa, Dalziell), added to under performing seniors footskills and pace have become an issue.

I think there is a lot of potential midfield talent (and pace), in Naitanui, Shuey, Swift, Masten, Sheppard, Stevens and perhaps Stevenson. It is just going to take longer than a lot suspect. Much like Carltons 3 years at the bottom of the ladder.

 

[Quixote]

Some good points made.

Quick, creative playmakers are a must.

For an intangible - the Eagles seem to be lacking inspiration. Or interest. In a word - leadership. I think it's a big problem and it stems back to both the players and the coaching team.

 

[Quixote]

Rumour that Laidley is going over there to coach in some capacity next season, too.

 

[DivideandMultiply]

Some good points made.

Quick, creative playmakers are a must.

For an intangible - the Eagles seem to be lacking inspiration. Or interest. In a word - leadership. I think it's a big problem and it stems back to both the players and the coaching team.

To a certain extent I agree with this.

We have some older leaders at the club (Glass, Cox), but we really seem to be lacking players in the mid 20's range that are heading towards being A-grade, or leaders of the club.

We have young leaders in Kennedy, Ebert and Waters but the playing group just does not seem to have jelled yet, though they do work hard.

Perhaps this is also down to the general immaturity of the side and the constant tinkering.

 

[WCE_phil]

You have a real point there quixote. Although we do seem to be trying hard in a lot of games we just seem to lack that heart. The leadership from 1-2 guys that just binds the team together.

We havent had it since cousins left and i really dont think worsfold is helping the situation much either. As far as that department go's Waters has enough heart for half the team, pity some of the players are so lacking in that department.

 

[AtomicCounty]

the non mid 20 age players seems to be a problem with alot of prem/gf/top4 teams after their window closes.

mainly coz early to mid picks are used on fat arsed / strongish players who can come into a tilting team and play a role in hard do or die finals. while mid tier teams go for the skinny kid with class who will come good in 4-5 years.

also packaging picks in the 12-16 range for ready made players. i guess playing off in the 2 grannies and winning a flag is the trade off for bad mid-age depth atm.

dont be worried about your young squad wce fans. in a few seasons they will all develope into very good players. i think ebert & sheppard will be the best of the lot.

 

[Ysaye]

IMO Eagles problems are:

(1) Midfield footskills - Only Hurn has top notch footskills and he is playing mainly in defence. When Naitanui seems the most accurate of kicks of any of the players in the middle that should be telling you something.
(2) Midfield pace - Not as big a problem as the skills but it is all a bit one track and reminds me of the days where we had M.Carr, J.Carr, Bell, Hasleby, Cook and McManus. Kerr will help coming back but not sure where the rest of the afterburning comes from. They should have gone with L. Jetta last year.
(3) Forward crumbing - When you look at the players there at the moment, LeCraw and McKinley should have enough skills to play these roles, but they just don't get in the right positions.

(1) and (2) is a question of recruitment (How they would love to have a shot at H. Bennell this year). They have a number of reasonable "rover" players that maybe they need to trade off. There are a number of players in other clubs that might suit, but I am not sure this is the right way to go.

(3) I reckon this is just coaching - who is their forward coach? Whoever it is needs a kick in the rear.

 

[bide32]

Firstly, I'm not convinced that West Coast should be getting rid of Worsfold yet. We were never going to go from 15th in 2008 to Premiership contenders in 2010. Don't get me wrong - I am absolutely frustrated with the way this season has turned out for the Eagles. I thought we would have been a couple games ahead of 14th at this stage, but then again I never thought Freo would be sitting pretty in the Top 2 or that Adelaide would be struggling like they are. I've since accepted that we just aren't close to finals at the moment but I see the hope & potential in the group and I really believe that the match committee, including Worsfold, are doing the best for the club and that we are heading into the right direction but it's going to take time, a lot of time. To be in finals contention this year we or next we would have had to rely on some teams to fall, and they just haven't. It's not just the injuries and the change of personnel that are making it difficult, we're playing a risky gameplan, one that will bring premierships in the future, and against experienced teams it's not always going to pay off. I don't understand why there is more pressure on Worsfold this week or last than previous rounds, I mean realistically, did anyone honestly and absolutely believe West Coast would be St. Kilda or Carlton? I was shocked & stoked that we beat Melbourne, in Melbourne.

Anyway:

• 'Cement' the forward structure. Need a designated crumber, too many times Kennedy, LeCras and McKinley go up for the same mark.

• Lynch or Hansen (if they play) need to play out of the goal square, they are too slow to play up the ground.

• Put more emphasis on tackling.

• Put A LOT of effort into finding some (or developing) pace in the midfield.

• Overhaul the fitness department

• Find a new skills coach

• Metropolis (I think, it's him?) isn't the best back line coach we can find, get a better one.

• Get the team inspired & hungry - this can be done through a change or overhaul in leadership.

• Don't drown the team with so many educational seminars - get them excited about footy again. Glass & Senior players need to get creative and inspirational.

• Don't hire Laidley as Head Coach.. our list isn't much better than what he inherited at North Melbourne and how did that work out for them? It would be like starting from scratch - again.

Lastly, be patient West Coast fans. Success isn't going to happen overnight. I'm not saying buy into everything that the club says but I'd rather the team struggle for a little while and taste success in the years to come than be like the Western Bulldogs or Collingwood (no offense to them intended) and never have that success.

 

[wce4premiership]

I'd say you're senior players are one problem. I would suggest some of the younger guys like Rosa, McKinley and Masten not taking the next step is anoter problem.

I realise Spangher is not getting a game. Largely to do with the fact that he is possibly the worst listed player in the comp.

Thanks for the info on Hurn...I just asked the question so you can save the mock outrage

You're off the mark here. Imo schofield and mchenzie look good for our key backs. Rosa is also plying one of his better seasons, gone are his up and under kicks its great to watch now.

Masten is injured ... that's really not that much of a concern as much as some other players.

 

[scomac]

Pace is clearly a problem, Worsfold just dosnt seem to take a game on enough, the club is clearly struggling to adjust to a game plan.

Need to offload Hansen,Spangher,Butler,Nicoski,Brett jones ,P Sumich.
A Embly

They then have to consider a big name to Trade eg Cox or Kerr then work on picking up a Speedy forward.

They have got to pick the eyes out of Mature Wafl players eg Blackwell.

The seasons gone play the kids

Get Waters and Hurn into the Midfield Try Lynch at full Back.

 

[clivewaterhousen]

push hurn up the ground a little, with q stick and hurn you are only 2 and a half kicks away form a goal

hurn unleashes monster to q-stick who slots it home accordingly from 60 out on an impossible angle

dont want hurn too far up the ground cos then quientin will be too close to goals and miss

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

I actually think we've somewhat addressed our needs in the most recent two drafts. Another crumber would be good, but last year we took Weedon, Broome, Neates, and Hams. All four could be potential foward pockets for us over a period of time. The list is fairly well-balanced, but the best-22 rarely is.

Leg-speed is less of an issue than is being made out. On paper we've drafted some of the fastest players tested at draft camp recently. That's meaningless to the current side though. Naitanui, Swift, Shuey and Smith were all top 10 in testing, but for various reasons they haven't been able to show that yet (ranging from a lack of endurance, role in the side, and AFL readiness).

So to summarise those two paragraphs; a lot of the problems we've got at the moment may be solved internally following the development of recent draftees.

And to use that as a neat little segue, the other problem we've got at the moment is the speed at which these guys are developing and why that is the case. Ebert has unfairly become a scapegoat in the last 12 months. If opposition respect (derived from matchups) count for anything, Ebert is one of our best midfielders. He's been tagged a few times this year and hasn't let it hurt his game. Given we're so critical of Kerr for this, I think Ebert deserves a bit more acknowlegment there.

Most of the other guys haven't come along quite as fast as we would've wanted. I put that down to a lack of good senior support. A majority of them are dominant at WAFL level, but can't make the transition to AFL. Playing alongside a core of good senior players is the best way to develop, and unfortunately we just don't have that. On their day they're ok, but I think it's pretty clear with what's going on around the league how important it is.

Fremantle and Melbourne have improved this year due to new additions complementing some good experienced players. Carlton spent two years longer down the bottom than you'd expect due to a lack of experienced players, the same way Richmond are at the moment. Throwing the kids in the deep end isn't a good way to develop them. We aren't in a terrible situation there, but it's hardly a good one either.

TL;DR? Most holes in our 22 have already been plugged in the draft. Most of these players aren't ready yet. Having a good core of senior players helps with the development of kids. Most of our senior players are clanger kings and generally won't be around for the next flag tilt. This is slowing things down.

 

[bodazoka]

Trade Kerr
Find a way to get Matera from GC
Draft best available midfielder with your first round pick
Play the kids...

 

[Ochre]

Need to offload Hansen,Spangher,Butler,Nicoski,Brett jones ,P Sumich.
A Embly

Get Waters and Hurn into the Midfield Try Lynch at full Back.

lulwat

 

[Clay Davis]

I'd trade everyone for Clive Waterhouse and a packet of Smiths crisps if I was West Coast coach.

 

[placebo]

Pace is clearly a problem, Worsfold just dosnt seem to take a game on enough, the club is clearly struggling to adjust to a game plan.

Need to offload Hansen,Spangher,Butler,Nicoski,Brett jones ,P Sumich.
A Embly

They then have to consider a big name to Trade eg Cox or Kerr then work on picking up a Speedy forward.

They have got to pick the eyes out of Mature Wafl players eg Blackwell.

The seasons gone play the kids

Get Waters and Hurn into the Midfield Try Lynch at full Back.

Offload Butler? You don't watch much of us do you pal?
And Lynch at fullback?....What?..

 

[scomac]

Wht not try Ebert as a Link up Half Back Flanker in a Gibbs type role he is a similiar player.

 

[Clay Davis]

I reckon Ebert would make an elite waterboy.

 

[Athomas]

Get Stevenson in ASAP. That should solve it.

 

[scomac]

Offload Butler? You don't watch much of us do you pal?
And Lynch at fullback?....What?..

He played alot back last year and had a fair year. Butler Injury prone best is gone.

 

[scomac]

lulwat

Dont take it badly champ read the OP Tarrant ring a bell.

 

[mattah]

Wht not try Ebert as a Link up Half Back Flanker in a Gibbs type role he is a similiar player.

Except that you usually have to be able to hit targets to play that role..

 

[Ochre]

He played alot back last year and had a fair year.

no

no he didnt at all last year