Buckleys coaching in the Grand Final

[Brad Goodman]

For a very superficial analysis, not too bad.

 

[Jcpdragonx]

Coaching had little to do with it. Collingwoods defense was no match for JJK and co. If they kicked straight in the 4th it was a 5 goal win.

 

[caloschwaby]

That's great, thanks for sharing.

Like wise

 

[Tiger2709]

Theres a good reason nobody talks about it, because coach who gets within a goal on GF day did alot more good than they did bad.

A thread entirely on how poor Buckley was on grand final day has a bad taste about it.

Had the result gone the other way, im sure Simpson had equally as many poor decisions on the day.

Buckley gave Collingwood every chance possible to win the game, how much can a coach actually do in the final 3 minutes of a football game? Paul Roos himself basically said he was powerless late in those Sydney/West Coast games.

Roos is a flog though, even if he's right this time.
The Maggies were fast starters and ran out of legs late, throughout the season, that and the failure to go defensive in the last two minutes is stuff taught and trained in the preseason when Bucks was still hanging on to his job by the skin of his teeth.

 

[Tiger2709]

The Eagles and Melbourne were licking their chops as they knew Cox and Collingwood couldn,t play like that again. There was no way the Eags were going to let Cox stroll up the middle of the ground with nobody blocking him.

Cox was never going to be the difference, he had the game of his life against Richmond, still only kicked 3 and 1 assist, Richmond didnt give him enough respect and it cost us dearly but he wasnt the real match winner.

Had we made the GF we would have had the same issues as Collingwood in trying to match the two tall forwards and we have a much better defense than Collingwood.

 

[McOrist]

Roos is a flog though, even if he's right this time.
The Maggies were fast starters and ran out of legs late, throughout the season, that and the failure to go defensive in the last two minutes is stuff taught and trained in the preseason when Bucks was still hanging on to his job by the skin of his teeth.

This happened "throughout the season"??? When??

 

[doppleganger]

Cox was never going to be the difference, he had the game of his life against Richmond, still only kicked 3 and 1 assist, Richmond didnt give him enough respect and it cost us dearly but he wasnt the real match winner.

It wasn’t even his best game for the year.

Richmond don’t have anyone who can play on Cox, he has kicked multiple goals in every game he has played against Richmond....easily his favourite opponent.

Had we made the GF we would have had the same issues as Collingwood in trying to match the two tall forwards and we have a much better defense than Collingwood.

Our problem was that our three preferred tall options weren’t available for selection - Dunn, Moore and Schranberg - so we had to go with our 3rd tall types on the big Eagle forwards.

WC was the one team we were always potentially going to be exposed by, they also have two good rucks who challenged Grundy.

 

[HurleyHepsHird]

I think in the spectacle that was the closeness of the Grand Final and the many epic moments it had, a key point that was missed was just how poorly Bucks coached during the day itself. Now I have watched the game many many many times and it was probably only the 2nd time I watched it I realised just how many poor decisions Buckley made. Considering he was named coach of the year I think the performance he had on the day deserves more scrutiny then it got. A few key errors were

1. De Goeys time as a deep forward - Fact of the matter is DeGoey spent way too much time as a deep forward. The 3 goals he kicked. 2 came from him being in the midfield and getting onto a receive 60m out from goal and the other one came from him leading running back inside 50 and shrugging a few tackles in open play. Fact is by half time, De Goey had not won a single aerial contest one on one and in all reality he wasnt going too. Schofields strength is his aerial ability. Schofields weakness is tracking his man when he runs up the ground. De Goey needed to spend alot more time up the ground. By half time this was clear as day yet nothing changed during the game. Even in the final throngs of the game with 5 minutes left, De Goey was the deepest forward losing the aerial battles still.

2. Sidebottoms use - Even Adam Simpson admitted. Eagles were worried about when Sidebottom was coming off a half back flank. So much so we put Rioli or Ryan to follow him into the square when he came off the back and only moved Hutchings onto Sidebottom during the next stoppage in play. Question is why the hell did Bucks not put him at half back flank? If he took Hutchings down into our forward line it would have been a net loss for us at the time. Sidebottom was clearly struggling. Buckley mentioned after the game he lamented his teams lack of dare and drive of half back. Surely Sidebottom would have helped this? I think the acceptance of this matchup despite the fact it was going against them was odd

3. Tagging Elliot Yeo - It didnt make much sense to me. Buckley was the first person all year to tag him and while it was working in stopping his influence, the reason people dont tag Yeo was all too apparent by half time. Shuey is the more damaging player. Shuey had struggled with the tag two weeks in a row too. The decision to make the change at half time seemed weird to me also. Given the flow of the game it would have made more sense to get Adams to play tighter on Shuey rather then just change all your matchups

4. Use of Jaimes Aish - Guy was on our weakest link in the forward line. The guy you would want to run off. Aish didnt do this. Worst part of all is Bucks just let it continue. It was a missed opportunity here. We got a nil all draw from our worst player for the day in Venables because of this

5. Mason Coxs use - At half time he decided to move Cox up the ground more. While he took more marks, it played into our hands as it meant the next kick was easier to pick off as a mark. Cox got 1 possession but he was bringing the ball to the ground in the first half. Once he moved up the ground McGovern, Schofield and co were alot more happy and comfortable with things. They should have cleared space for Cox in the forward 50, not move Cox to more space

I can think of more myself still. Whether it be Siers weirdly low TOG, Pendlebury not heading down back a bit more to help set up play. Overall though it was a poor performance from Buckley. He made reactionary decisions to quell our influence (swapping tags) rather then to improve his own teams influence (moving De Goey to the midfield). I think he coached a team as if it was losing the game all too often. It was not befitting of a so called coach of the year and it is probably a game Bucks will look back on with a ton of regret

Now this is a troll.

I doubt strongly you are actually a WC supporter.

 

[Tiger2709]

It wasn’t even his best game for the year.

Richmond don’t have anyone who can play on Cox, he has kicked multiple goals in every game he has played against Richmond....easily his favourite opponent.

Our problem was that our three preferred tall options weren’t available for selection - Dunn, Moore and Schranberg - so we had to go with our 3rd tall types on the big Eagle forwards.

WC was the one team we were always potentially going to be exposed by, they also have two good rucks who challenged Grundy.

Cox has kicked a total of 7 goals and 3 assists in the 3 games he has played against us for 1 win and 2 losses, lol, if we dont have anyone that can play on him, he must struggle all on his own

 

[didaksrightfoot]

Surely no-one actually believes this.
Our forward and backlines were severely outmanned and outsized (bar Cox). It was always going to come down to whether our undersized defenders could take enough marks (or just make enough 50:50 contests) in the backline and whether at the other we could prevent Gov, Hurn and Barrass having a free run at intercept marking.

From memory, JK, Gov and Barrass (or Hurn?) Had 30 marks between them. Very hard to stop them with our lineup, and very hard to win if thats happening.

In the end the weight of numbers was too much, just as it was in the QF.
Not dominating in the ruck/midfield which should have been our area of strength could possibly be pointed at the coach (but its also why we got our early lead) - but not the loss of the game.

 

[Tiger2709]

This happened "throughout the season"??? When??

GF - 29 points up lost

Prelim - 53 points up won by 39 and we got within 21 points in the last.
Semi - 28 points up won by 10points
Rnd 20 - 17 points up lost by 2
Rnd 17 - 20 points up lost by 35

Trend towards the seasons end of starting well then slipping off the pace.

 

[doppleganger]

Cox has kicked a total of 7 goals and 3 assists in the 3 games he has played against us for 1 win and 2 losses, lol, if we dont have anyone that can play on him, he must struggle all on his own

Cox has played 4 games against Richmond, avg 2.3 goals per game. He has kicked 2+ every game.

His career avg is barely 1 goal a game, he does struggle to have any scoreboard impact against all teams except Richmond!!

 

[BIRDBRAIN]

What is the most daming to me is that nearly every single Vic media expert tipped Collingwood and didn't rate West Coast a chance at the MCG and that Collingwood were firm favourites. All week I was hearing it, I just couldn't believe it. Garry Lyon the biggest culprit, campaigner is still dumbfounded.

 

[jonbe54]

So it was Injuries that cost you ANOTHER flag - this time in 1970?

It's in the records - it's FACTUAL - if you can't deal with it move on.

 

[doppleganger]

What is the most daming to me is that nearly every single Vic media expert tipped Collingwood and didn't rate West Coast a chance at the MCG and that Collingwood were firm favourites. All week I was hearing it, I just couldn't believe it. Garry Lyon the biggest culprit, campaigner is still dumbfounded.

Yeah the ‘experts’ all fell for the myth of the home ground advantage in the GF...it doesn’t exist.

 

[Lockyer24]

I think we lost the inside 50 count by 10, to win we needed to get more supply to our forwards as the WCE defensive structure and potent forward line was going to worry us.

I think we got a lot right, we just didn't perform well enough in the midfield. Very disappointing but hopefully Beams helps next time.

 

[greatwhiteshark]

Yeah the ‘experts’ all fell for the myth of the home ground advantage in the GF...it doesn’t exist.

Yep it only exists in other finals and home and away games. Magically disappears on GF day.

 

[McOrist]

GF - 29 points up lost -Yep West Coast too good.

Prelim - 53 points up won by 39 and we got within 21 points in the last. -LOL! We outscored Richmond in the last quarter and were pulling further away! Slipping off the pace???
Semi - 28 points up won by 10 points -LOL again! We kicked 3.3 to GWS 2.2 in last quarter. Slipping off the pace???
Rnd 20 - 17 points up lost by 2 -first game player playing on Buddy after half time -still only a 15 pt turnaround at the end. Close game all night.
Rnd 17 - 20 points up lost by 35 Yep -Kennedy, Darling and McGovern got us again

Trend towards the seasons end of starting well then slipping off the pace.
The only trend is that we just couldn't get over West Coast.

 

[Tiger2709]

Cox has played 4 games against Richmond, avg 2.3 goals per game. He has kicked 2+ every game.

His career avg is barely 1 goal a game, he does struggle to have any scoreboard impact against all teams except Richmond!!

I was talking 2018, but yes its 2.25 goals over 4 games which is not really an impact, it would be interesting to know how many we scored running off him, as we won 3 of the 4 games.
His best average is against Melbourne with 3 per game, he does very little other than kick a couple of goals here and there so I doubt many teams would put much work into him.

 

[Tiger2709]

Yep it only exists in other finals and home and away games. Magically disappears on GF day.

WA did the obvious and built a ground with somilar dimensions to the G cant understand why all grounds arent the same size it woukd help clubs when it comes to the big day.

 

[McOrist]

I was talking 2018, but yes its 2.25 goals over 4 games which is not really an impact, it would be interesting to know how many we scored running off him, as we won 3 of the 4 games.
His best average is against Melbourne with 3 per game, he does very little other than kick a couple of goals here and there so I doubt many teams would put much work into him.

....you must have been in the Tiger's Coaches Box on Prelim Final Night -thanks for the help!

 

[noodle]

WC was the one team we were always potentially going to be exposed by, they also have two good rucks who challenged Grundy.

If I had to criticise Buckley (and the match committee) on anything it would have to be the lack a ruck plan. After Vardy & Lycett came at Gawn the week before you just knew they were going to come a Grundy with the same plan. Seems the pies just backed their man to work through the tag.

 

[_Mike_]

Regardless of who was coaching Collingwood, it wouldn't have changed the fact that Grundy was cooked and no where near the level of impact he'd put in for the 3 other finals games.

 

[McOrist]

Regardless of who was coaching Collingwood, it wouldn't have changed the fact that Grundy was cooked and no where near the level of impact he'd put in for the 3 other finals games.

I reckon that's underselling the efforts of Lycett and Vardy. Grundy took Richmond to the cleaners the week before, so there was no reason for him to be "cooked". Lycett and Vardy played great negating games against Gawn and then Grudy -kudos to them.

 

[_Mike_]

I reckon that's underselling the efforts of Lycett and Vardy. Grundy took Richmond to the cleaners the week before, so there was no reason for him to be "cooked". Lycett and Vardy played great negating games against Gawn and then Grudy -kudos to them.

Cooked, meaning tired and lethargic, the amount of times that he got his hands/feet to the ball was well below his averages. Lycett and Vardy took the opportunity before them to nullify his impact during crucial moments of the game.