News Brendan McCartney

[Partridge]

definitely the only tragedy of Thompson leaving was losing McCartney as well.

Personally, the impact of assistant coaches I think is incredibly overrated. Go through these boards, there was similar doom and gloom about when Daryn Cresswell left. Apparently our midfield would lose all of its hardness. That prediction didn't turn out entirely accurate.

Coaches are important at the formative stages, but ultimately it's the players that matter. The best coach in the world is not going to make any difference at all unless the player has the dedication, desire and skill necessary to compete and excel.

We've slipped so badly since losing Thompson and McCartney that we're 5-0. Could be a lot worse.

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

Surely you jest? Johnson is a pig of a human being!

Do you know him?

I don't think you will find too many people, if anybody, that would agree with that sentiment.

 

[AM]

Do you know him?

I don't think you will find too many people, if anybody, that would agree with that sentiment.

Spot on!

 

[loz14]

Do you know him?

I don't think you will find too many people, if anybody, that would agree with that sentiment.

Nope & don't want to.

I did see him proposition & grope my cousin years ago in the most vulgar way....only to be seen on that brilliant rolleyes ch 7 show less than 1 week later 'Live & Kicking' with his lovely fiance.

Yeah he's a real stand up guy

 

[NitroFan]

and now Bomber is doing ads for a membership drive, sounding like death warmed up.

lol. He's never been the most charismatic bloke but I don't think I've ever heard a human being sound as uninterested as he does in those.

 

[LifeSpan-Void]

Go through these boards, there was similar doom and gloom about when Daryn Cresswell left. Apparently our midfield would lose all of its hardness. That prediction didn't turn out entirely accurate.

um, actually our midfield sucked in the first two years after Cresswell left, coinciding with the reign of terror that was Andy Lovell. It wasn't until the coaching rejig of 2007 that everything fell into place again. If anything, the assistant coaches have MORE direct influence on the players these days than the senior coach - he does the overseeing, the assistants do the one-on-one work and the execution of forward/mid/defensive gameplans. Crap assistants = you're sunk. The lament of losing McCartney was that he was an engaging mentor, and excellent as a tactician. Thompson knew where a lot of the success of his game plan came from.

Edit: just for general info, with:
Cresswell in 2004: 15-7, 4th at end of H/A season

Lovell in 2005: 12-10, 6th (and quite frankly we were lucky Melbourne were also a weak finalist to even get to that Sydney SF)

Lovell in 2006: 10-11-1, 10th (Richmond 9th!)

McCartney in 2007: 18-4, 1st

The Prosecution Rests.

 

[Partridge]

um, actually our midfield sucked in the first two years after Cresswell left, coinciding with the reign of terror that was Andy Lovell. It wasn't until the coaching rejig of 2007 that everything fell into place again. If anything, the assistant coaches have MORE direct influence on the players these days than the senior coach - he does the overseeing, the assistants do the one-on-one work and the execution of forward/mid/defensive gameplans. Crap assistants = you're sunk. The lament of losing McCartney was that he was an engaging mentor, and excellent as a tactician. Thompson knew where a lot of the success of his game plan came from.

We'll have to agree to disagree. There were a couple of monumental factors at play for us in 2007 to turn around the previous year:

1. Brad Ottens playing full-time (finally) as a ruckman, and not as a key forward.

2. Kent Kingsley, Charlie Gardiner and Henry Playfair NOT playing in the senior team, and Cameron Mooney and Nathan Ablett replacing them. Add Steve Johnson and that trio contributed 150 goals in 2007. Just a slight improvement from the previous year.

3. Gary Ablett becoming a superstar.

In 2005 we were inconsistent, but when they did play well they were pretty good. Good enough to slaughter the eventual runners-up Eagles at Geelong in Round 21. Good enough to wallop Melbourne in the first final. And if you think it was the midfield that cost us the semi against Sydney and not either a) lack of a forward line or b) Josh Hunt's defensive skills, well we have slightly different opinions.

Don't underestimate the maturing of the playing list at just the right time too.

Conclusion: It wasn't all due to McCartney. If it was I guess we needn't bother turning up.

 

[LifeSpan-Void]

1. Ottens played 22 games mostly as a ruckman in 2006 (319 hitouts) in comparison to King (16/214) and Blake (8/97)

2. I agree that the first 3 players you named were millstones, but their exclusions were a coaching panel decision, not voluntary. Mooney's move to the forward line = coaching decision. Nathan Ablett was probably the only surprising factor of 2007, given how inconsistent he'd been in 2005/06.

3. Again, Gary had to be told by others to pull his finger out - it's been said that was a playing group initiative, but it coincided with his fulltime move to the midfield. Coaching initiative.

in 2005 we went noticeably backwards from the promising 2004 we'd shown, and then in 2006 it was even worse as the effect of the poor preseason was realised. I'm not placing the entirety of the turnaround at McCartney's feet, but he was the driving behind Geelong beginning to dominate the stoppages in 2007 - since he was made the "stoppages" coach (Geelong's equivalent of midfield coaching that year). Now that we've played in that manner for 4 seasons, I don't think the players need to be told how to play that way anymore. On the other hand, that game plan has been worked out by all and sundry, and it would have been good to see another tactic implemented. Sadly Essendon now are showing a dramatic early improvement, time will tell if they too are the real thing.

As for losing that Sydney SF - that was a game won and lost in the stoppages. We had kicked a big enough score up to the final quarter, but due to lack of midfield nous (and King off the ground AGAIN) we were beaten by a kick from a stoppage to Nick Davis. For a parallel, we were in the same position in 2007 in the PF, but this time the midfield (Bartel, Corey, Enright) had a plan to keep forcing the stoppages, and Collingwood ran out of time.

(Swans at Skilled were our bunnies in 2006 when we missed the finals and they came runner-up, too. Ability was never in question, consistency was always it.)