Strategy Clarksons Game Plan

Remove this Banner Ad

We need to have a talk about this...

Kingy has been alluding to it for weeks. With his contacts at the club, I have no doubt that there is some truth to it...

Our game plan under Clarkson was not how the best sides play in 2023. It was slow ball movement, chip chip long down the line. The polar opposite of what Collingwood do.

The game now lends itself to transition. "Transition is king". Numbers to the ball, using the corridor, speed on the ball, penetrating opposition zones with foot skills and handball.

Brett Ratten is a ball movement coach. His criticism within the four walls of St Kilda was that he didn't focus enough on contested work. Transition footy is his bread and butter which is how he has gotten the most out of players like Jack Sinclair and now Bailey Scott. What we saw in his first 4-5 weeks in the Head Coach role was an emphasis on transition, moving away from the stale brand that we were previously playing. Surprise surprise, we started improving and should have won a couple of games.

I heard that the comments that "we are just implementing Al's plan". However, you'd have to be a football illiterate to think that this was the case, if you watch us every week. They 100% revised what they were doing to play a more direct, transition style & the output began to shift. Many of us finally saw "a light at the end of the tunnel".

In the last three weeks (Since Clarkson has returned to the club in some capacity), we do appear to have reverted back to the style we played prior to Ratten walking in. All of a sudden we were more focused on trying to control ball movement and rarely using the corridor. That light has disappeared.

Personally, I do not buy this coincidence. The fact that Kingy keeps alluding to it "Let Brett coach his style for the rest of the year" - This morning on SEN, only confirms it for me.




We talk about quick fixes and how they're impossible. Well guess what? They're not. Revise the f****** game plan to something that makes winning a possibility in 2023 and allows players to play to their strengths, and watch how quickly things do improve. The evidence is there for all to see in Rattens first 4-5 weeks.

psicosis_7384.jpg
There were multiple opportunities throughout the game to go inboard, the first kick out of the back half is meant to go inboard to change lanes, that was where our numbers were. When it was done in the 2nd quater by Corr the ball goes through the middle quickly and ends up as a goal to Paul Curtis. That's the game plan, the long down the line to Hawthorn out number is most likely not the game plan. Who knows why the players constantly did it
 
* and st kilda both went back to basics this year. They let players play a bit more freely and they won some games.
Carlton had to do the same a few rounds ago. Immediately played better.
Gold Coast the same.

Ditching the plan works for the short term but always fails long term and during finals. Because that's exactly what it is, no plan.

I'm not here to get back to the mediocrity of 8th-14th. If a player can't handle a finals type game plan then they can f off and clarko can find someone who can.
 

Log in to remove this ad.

* and st kilda both went back to basics this year. They let players play a bit more freely and they won some games.
Carlton had to do the same a few rounds ago. Immediately played better.
Gold Coast the same.

Ditching the plan works for the short term but always fails long term and during finals. Because that's exactly what it is, no plan.

I'm not here to get back to the mediocrity of 8th-14th. If a player can't handle a finals type game plan then they can f off and clarko can find someone who can.
I don't think anyone is advocating for not implementing a game plan.

My issue personally is that the game plan that we have introduced under Alastair is not a finals type game plan, given how the game is played in 2023.
 
I don't think anyone is advocating for not implementing a game plan.

My issue personally is that the game plan that we have introduced under Alastair is not a finals type game plan, given how the game is played in 2023.
This year we've had glimpses on how we can kick a decent score against top teams, but sadly came at the cost of conceding double the amount.

You may still be right but I think you're going too early. This isn't the final product, probably just step one, but still when executed correctly we've seen parts that look modern.
 
So Clarko is back for the last 4-5 games . Enough time to evaluate all players and see who goes and who stays plus there is no doubt he has been watching from afar. So if by chance some players sudden play better during this time, hopefull they will get called in to please explain their previous efforts in other games...
 
So Clarko is back for the last 4-5 games . Enough time to evaluate all players and see who goes and who stays plus there is no doubt he has been watching from afar. So if by chance some players sudden play better during this time, hopefull they will get called in to please explain their previous efforts in other games...
Yeah I reckon he’s seen enough to know who he wants and who he doesn’t. Think we all have.

seems like all his attention is now on recruitment so I wouldn’t expect to see him in the box anytime soon.
 
I think 75% of our problem is fitness & skill level. It is pretty clear our skill level is the worst in the comp. Fitness level is probably close to bottom too, but that is just a hunch.
Early in the first quarter some of our best users and fittest players had fluffed multiple easy kicks they are more than capable of making. Guys in the top five of the Syd I'd reckon. So their skill issue wasn't due to fitness at that point or even due to lack of skill cos they're skilled enough to do that. It was due to their mental state. Their lack of presence in the immediate situation they were in.

Shaw is the only coach we've had since Laidley who could change that and even then it only was only fleeting.
 
This really stood out particularly the difference in agility.

Not just outright speed and repeat running effort (although they were clearly weaknesses for us) but the ability to pivot, change direction and use movement to create or restrict space.
Huge issue. Our all round fitness as a whole is woeful. Worpel made our players look foolish that many times on Sunday i lost count. We overcommit so often. See ball get ball. We've done it for over a decade now. Anyone would think our players are killer tacklers that have a thirst for blood. It feeds into our poor fitness too. Overcommiting is like going for the killshot every time you throw a punch in boxing. Tires you out far too quickly. Then of course our skills drop off further. Our football IQ falls off a cliff and we turn into our default setting - hack it long without looking.


Soccer Team Football GIF by NowThis
 
The club have already said that most of the players they need for the next premiership are already on the list, so I guess they agree it's not the talent level which is the main issue.

I'm not even sure it's an effort level from the team, more a fear of failure and then play accordingly. Just look at McKay, he looks confused and I suspect this is because he is avoiding a potential mistake in his mind.

This fear of making mistakes is potentially a hangover from the Noble era of coaching.
It seems there are times they're too focused on the results and consequences but not on the actual process.

It'd be ****ed and ironic if Noble failed to teach his processes cos the players were too scared of the consequences of failing the processes to relax and just do them.

There's also just a general lack of being in the moment properly tho. Anyone can be in the moment, doing it effectively is what matters.
 
This year we've had glimpses on how we can kick a decent score against top teams, but sadly came at the cost of conceding double the amount.

You may still be right but I think you're going too early. This isn't the final product, probably just step one, but still when executed correctly we've seen parts that look modern.
Montagna spoke about it on First Crack - We have reverted to rolling another defender last few weeks (as we did under Clarkson).

In Rattens first few games we rolled another mid, meaning we didn’t get outnumbered at the contest.

It’s black and white.
 
It'd be ****ed and ironic if Noble failed to teach his processes cos the players were too scared of the consequences of failing the processes to relax and just do them.
I suspect you can take it to the bank that Noble told the players they can learn on the job, but in the 2nd year after some poor early performances that he changed his tune. Amarfio likely was the ratchet to force Noble to do as much.
 
I have no doubt that plans are being worked on all the time, and that ratts brough a few bits and bobs to it, but anyone assessing our 'game plan' in clarko's first year with a young and inexperienced team with a few poorly performing senior players has about as much chance at understanding what colour my hair is from this post.

Or team has injuries everywhere, the old guys are not leading the way, and we have a bunch of kids - that's why we are losing, not because some kind of terrible game plan.
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

Hawks members wrote to the club calling for Clarkos head for the first two years he coached them because they were unhappy with his game plan. Trust the campaigner for at least a couple of years before you start trying to s**t on it. Bloke is a legend and it's just a matter of the players catching up to what he wants from them or us bringing in players who can deliver on his vision.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Back
Top