Cooney Rohde and membership

[lil elvis]

three questions

1. are we expecting too much from Cooney so soon. The guy doesn't look interested and didn't seem happy or committed. Do we expect too much. What are the chances he will stay around when his contract comes up?

2. having just bought an interstate membership (donation) not too sure what I am paying for. All I want is commitment and the guys don't seem to be providing that.

3. I remember Rohde used to reply on the club internet site each week to questions. Does he still do this?

ps - thank god chris grant is playing - still a champion

 

[stefoid]

I was sitting between half forward and wing, so I got to see a bit of cooney close up, and I really feel that the other players are not using him as much as they would a senior player. He made position numerous times and was not used, as in Rohans smiths dud kickout where he used crofty instead of cooney who was 20m further upfield and had made better space. Cooney punched his hand in frustration when croft dropped the mark and richmond pounced and goaled, and he was not alone there.

seriously the kid is already a better footy brain than 1/4 of our senior players such as? yes, I will name eagleton, harrison, croft, robbo and hahn.

It must frustrate the hell out of him, and why bother making position when you arent going to get the ball? he only has a chance of a possession when he arrives late to a contest already in progress.

 

[Abaddon]

Originally posted by lil elvis
three questions

1. are we expecting too much from Cooney so soon. The guy doesn't look interested and didn't seem happy or committed. Do we expect too much. What are the chances he will stay around when his contract comes up?

would you be interested if you got drafted to the bulldogs?
can't really blame him.

 

[W W Biscuit]

I don't perceive Cooney as having a lack of interest. He does, however, lack the match fitness required for AFL footy. He had a lot of trouble getting to contests in the second half v Richmond, and was quite obviously labouring - puffing his lungs out, bent over...When fresh in the first quarter, I thought that he was a reasonable contributor.

 

[sigscotty]

1. I agree with WWB.

2. You are paying for your clubs very existence. Membership buying isn't about weighing up what the team is giving, its about deciding if you want to have a club to barrack for. Once you have decided yes, nothing else matters re: buying a membership. BTW, i do not go along with the claim that we lack committment. We beat Richmond in every KPI except the scoreboard.

3. No, "Rohde Replies" no longer exists.

 

[HK_Bulldog]

Originally posted by stefoid
I was sitting between half forward and wing, so I got to see a bit of cooney close up, and I really feel that the other players are not using him as much as they would a senior player. He made position numerous times and was not used, as in Rohans smiths dud kickout where he used crofty instead of cooney who was 20m further upfield and had made better space. Cooney punched his hand in frustration when croft dropped the mark and richmond pounced and goaled, and he was not alone there.

seriously the kid is already a better footy brain than 1/4 of our senior players such as? yes, I will name eagleton, harrison, croft, robbo and hahn.

It must frustrate the hell out of him, and why bother making position when you arent going to get the ball? he only has a chance of a possession when he arrives late to a contest already in progress.

I couldn't agree with you more. And its not just Cooney. Numerous times, McMahon and Power in particular have made position yet get ignored. The biggest culprits are West and Johnson. If you watch the game closely, plenty of times, blokes like Darcy, Johnson get the ball, Power and McMahon would be in space calling for it. Instead of the quick give and a Power kick inside 50, you would see Johnson taking on his man, then bombing to a contest (assuming he gets past his opponent). It frustrates the hell out of me. By the time Johnson has gotten around his man and taken his kick, the opposition have got numbers back for the bomb. A give to McMahon, a dash and pinpoint pass to a lead is much better ball movement.

I haven't mentioned it because I was looking for reasons why Johnson or Smith do not use the link man. At first, I thought it was because Power was standing too close and the give would of been pointless. But thats wrong because I've seen Power 15m away in the clear ready to receive the long handball and take off. Then I thought its because the senior players want the kids to get their own football and not hand it to them on a platter. As much as I like Smith, he's one of the biggest receivers in the game, 75% of his possessions are running next to a teammate so that stance would be a bit hypocritical.

Anyway, I am starting to subscribe to BRH's theory of a hierarchical playing list. We need a coach with teeth to remind these guys that it's a team game. McMahon, Power and Cooney are being crucified at the moment.

 

[Walsh Bay]

Senior players playing among themselves, along with the kicking yips, are classic signs of a playing group that has no confidence in the team or its structure.
I've noticed over decades in the ammos so I can't see why it wouldn't apply in our case.

 

[stefoid]

I was thinking that it could be the team adjusting to the new playing style... look for a long direct target first, and kick long to it, look for a player in space but wider as a second resort...

I hope its that more than some kind of team heirarchy thing.

 

[Walsh Bay]

Of course all teams have cliques, hierarchies etc. In the case of the dogs it's accentuated by not having many mid-age players, for reasons discussed on other threads.
We have an old senior core and a swathe of kids.
Combine that with a confused and bewildered playing group and the rifts start to appear.
Strange how winning two in a row can suddenly make the whole thing appear like a mirage.

 

[footscray1973]

Originally posted by Walsh Bay
Of course all teams have cliques, hierarchies etc. In the case of the dogs it's accentuated by not having many mid-age players, for reasons discussed on other threads.
We have an old senior core and a swathe of kids.
Combine that with a confused and bewildered playing group and the rifts start to appear.
Strange how winning two in a row can suddenly make the whole thing appear like a mirage.

Hello, new to the site, so excuse me if I am not up with Big Footy etiquette, but I just had to jump on to this thread, as it is one of my biggest gripes with how the side plays.

Yes Walsh bay, I agree the disparity in the age groups within the playing list contributes, but I don't think this has appeared like a mirage. Smith, Johnson, West (and Brown, and Garlick at times when he was playing) almost play as a team within a team. One of Guuido's early games at Telstra Dome he repeatedly made position loose in the forward line, and was ignored by a variety of senior players, who proceeded to kick it to Brown, being double-teamed by his own and Guido's man.

Rohan Smith plays selfishly - that may be a result of how he was developed under Wallace, or just his playing style. He and Johnson invariably will look for each other (and West) in prefernce to younger players - this is not new. It has been happening for years.

I don't believe Grant is party to this clique, he seems to want to involve all players in playmaking. Perhaps the solution is to get Smith away from half-back where he is attacking but not accountable. Move him to the wing, where he can be used to receive from centre-clearances, run and bomb it long to the front of the square. Identify young players who can play accountable football, and develop them as defenders - Boyd, Birss, even Hahn swapping between half-back and on the ball.

Murphy even, as frustrating as it is seeing him in defence, is more accountable than a Rohan Smith. The coaching panel have shown faith in developing Brian Harris at full-back, they need to take the next step and build a defence around him from players who will play there together for years.

 

[stefoid]

Smithy has been tried in other positions before, but he is not able to handle them.

But he is very, very good at what he does, and lack of accountability at times is just part and parcel of that playing style. You cant run down the guts 30m and deliver a long kick AND be looking after your man at the same time. If it rebounds directly from his kick target, he will be out of position. You play the odds that he is going to be more dmaaging doing his thing than his opponent is going to be doing their thing. On the whole, we win that equation.

As for not kicking to youngsters and Cooney in particualr, Rhode just has to drag a player for 30 seconds, get him on the phone and say : look you ignored cooney in that passage of play...why? Even if the players answer is 'I didnt see him', it would be enough of an irritant to the player that they would look better next time, surely?

 

[stevebiscuit]

the problem with power is that he is permanently 15 metres from the ball standing still, he rarely gets into a damaging position.
the bulk of his possessions are from receives, he doesn't get any hard balls nor does he get any uncontested balls, just receives and that's it. If you actually watch him closely he runs around the ground like a chicken with its head cut off, he just doesn't know were to go to get the ball.

and he has been given a season and a half to adjust to AFL level unlike nearly all of our other young players who get the arse if they are down for a week. He has never had any influence on any game he has played in, unlike most of the other pups.

 

[Walsh Bay]

Actually footscray1973, all I meant by the mirage was that when a side wins a couple of games the obvious deficiencies get papered over for a while and are ignored.
Just have a look at the tiges at the moment, win three games and the fact that they've got a substandard list and coaching problems gets forgotten.
Same with us. When we're losing the lack of mid-career players stands out. Win a game and in some people's minds it goes away as a problem.

 

[stefoid]

We have a few first round draft picks who maybe just arent up to it in MacMahon and Power. They have potential, but they are still very light and arent showing enough to claim a spot.

I think Gilbee and Guido have more drive to success than these gusy maybe.

 

[footscray1973]

Originally posted by Walsh Bay
Actually footscray1973, all I meant by the mirage was that when a side wins a couple of games the obvious deficiencies get papered over for a while and are ignored.
Just have a look at the tiges at the moment, win three games and the fact that they've got a substandard list and coaching problems gets forgotten.
Same with us. When we're losing the lack of mid-career players stands out. Win a game and in some people's minds it goes away as a problem.

Sorry Walsh Bay, I realised what you meant just after I posted. I agree - and the only way we can "create" mid-year players is what we have done, i.e. recruit them from other clubs. Unfortunate, but a fact of life with the list we now have.

 

[Walsh Bay]

Maybe McMahon and Power were recruited to paly in a Wallace vision of the side and are gradually losing their way under a different philosophy.
Plough was insistent that greyhounds who could cover ground and had good passing skills were the go for sides that played mostly at Docklands.
Don't think Rohde and his team see it quite the same way.

 

[OldSchool]

Originally posted by Walsh Bay
Maybe McMahon and Power were recruited to paly in a Wallace vision of the side and are gradually losing their way under a different philosophy.
Plough was insistent that greyhounds who could cover ground and had good passing skills were the go for sides that played mostly at Docklands.
Don't think Rohde and his team see it quite the same way.

Good observation.
There's no doubt that the club thought they could tailor a team to the Docklands and gain an advantage but it has not worked out that way.
Power and McMahon are still young but they must start to lift. This year shapes as a very important one for both of them and I hope they can work their way back into the team soon. Both players have attributes that we are sadly lacking atm.