Dear all Chris Connolly knockers...

[raffrox]

Awesome win today.

Whether we make the 8 and make an impact on the finals this year remains to be seen but...

How about people backing their team in and not being so unconstructively negative. I've heard a lot of negative stuff on this board over the year and its been reactive and knee jerk. This year has been far from a consistent year for any team (bar the eagles) and we now find ourselves in the eight and hopefully some vital lessons learnt from the start of the years highs and lows.

Today Connolly shoved it up the media, the supporters of other teams and about half the Freo supporters on this board. So suffer in ya dacks!!

 

[auste1234]

I think today showed more than ever he should be sacked.
The team is good enough the coach isn't.

We are a good team when we are the hunter, and shocking when the hunted. That falls onto CC....... he still isnt the man. Just my ipinion

 

[tico]

you have every right to say that but i still stand by what i said CC is not the coach to take Freo to a flag . not by a long shot

 

[raffrox]

I think today showed more than ever he should be sacked.
The team is good enough the coach isn't.

We are a good team when we are the hunter, and shocking when the hunted. That falls onto CC....... he still isnt the man. Just my ipinion

The classic line...

Team loses... its the coach.
Team wins... its the players.

Connollys decisions directly caused the win today.

CC still needs to develop as a coach but he has shown that he will do this. He hasn't picked players on rep this year (Des, Macca and Schammer dropped), he's asked players to tone down celebrations, Pav to CHF, McPharlin to FF.

you have every right to say that but i still stand by what i said CC is not the coach to take Freo to a flag . not by a long shot

Lets face it. You could say that coach x isn't the coach to lead us to a premiership and all teams being equal (which of course they are not) you would have a 15/16 chance pf being right while if I respond to your comment and say "yes he will" I have a 1/16 chance. Its an easy game to slag CC off and not recognise anything positive.

 

[Brickie]

Yeah im still not convinced about Connelly, if he can get the team to maintain a high level consistency then he'll keep his job but he deserves until the end of this year still to see where he's at.

 

[tico]

The classic line...

Team loses... its the coach.
Team wins... its the players.

Connollys decisions directly caused the win today.

CC still needs to develop as a coach but he has shown that he will do this. He hasn't picked players on rep this year (Des, Macca and Schammer dropped), he's asked players to tone down celebrations, Pav to CHF, McPharlin to FF.

Lets face it. You could say that coach x isn't the coach to lead us to a premiership and all teams being equal (which of course they are not) you would have a 15/16 chance pf being right while if I respond to your comment and say "yes he will" I have a 1/16 chance. Its an easy game to slag CC off and not recognise anything positive.

i am not "slagging" him off based on one game , not even one season , i think its well documented how good a team we have. expecting more from your team never lost you anything, but making excuses hmm.

 

[raffrox]

i am not "slagging" him off based on one game , not even one season , i think its well documented how good a team we have. expecting more from your team never lost you anything, but making excuses hmm.

Having an "lets eat our young" kind of mentality that builds momentum and can derail seasons (see 5 of Richmonds last 10 years) just doesn't achieve too much either.

A lot of the criticism has been irrational emotive crap and thats what I have issue with. Peple have a right to say it and I have a right to respond.

 

[Hawk Dork]

It proves you have the players but maybe not the coach

The trick is consitancy

 

[Borry]

Connolly is by no means any hero by a long shot, just because Freo pull off a miraculous upset.

If Freo gets some consistency then berate me.

 

[Dutchey]

This win proved what a good list we have !

Lets assess Cuddly at the end of the season, like the board 'S-H-O-U-L-D' have done !!

 

[pinkus maximus]

I dont think anyone bagged Connolly for the sake of it.

Last weeks loss was unnacceptable but I sincerely hopes he proves alot of us wrong by years end

 

[wehavethepassion]

Awesome win today.

Whether we make the 8 and make an impact on the finals this year remains to be seen but...

How about people backing their team in and not being so unconstructively negative. I've heard a lot of negative stuff on this board over the year and its been reactive and knee jerk. This year has been far from a consistent year for any team (bar the eagles) and we now find ourselves in the eight and hopefully some vital lessons learnt from the start of the years highs and lows.

Today Connolly shoved it up the media, the supporters of other teams and about half the Freo supporters on this board. So suffer in ya dacks!!

Be very careful here. A week is always along time in football!! You are leaving yourself wide open>

Also if it takes media and "half of the dockers supporters" to get stuck into them in order to get this effort out of them at skilled stadium, then one must ask has the player group got the hunger to play consistently well??

Or has a comfort zone been created by the coach which he apparently is not prepared to have anymore. Yes Coach get stuck into them its your backside on the line!!

 

[jarman]

Still convinced that CC is not the man to take Freo, where they should be.

Great win. And good on you Crowley and and the other young blokes.

There are a few more twists and turns to come before this season is over. Tipping is shot.

 

[Ripper]

There is no way you can say CC is soft. If he was he would would be swayed by outside influences which he clearly is not.

Being under the pump there were some very brave decisions made at the selection table e.g. bringing in Crowly and playing a 5th gamer on Ottens and showing faith in them to do the job.

 

[dugrene]

Here is my first post after last week's game.

Venting my Frustrations.....

I've seen under 10's put on better displays.

Fumbles, shanks, no talking, no backing up, easy marks dropped, midfield that cant read a ruck tap. Basic bloody footy.

We look too slow ! wtf is going on ?

Mind you after the 3 umpires got the chop this week because of what happened last week youd have to be living outside of reality if you thought we would get a fair go today. Maggots union.

I'm not going to lay the blame on CC as I cant lay the blame on the maggots.


Hawks played excellent footy. Congratulations. Bateman bog for me.

I saw about 20 mins today while at work.

Clean hands, nice kicking, tackling, marking, all the skills needed to win a footy game.

CC wasnt responsible for the clean skills. Same as he isnt responsible when the team plays a clanger.

I'm ambivalent about CC. He has done the impossible both ends of the spectrum.

So i'll keep being optimistic about his organisational abilties. The thing he has to work on is identfying and reacting to the tempo when Freo look like imploding.

We (the supporters) can see it. Can he ?
Does he have moves pre-planned to swing momentum when it changes. He does get out coached sometimes.

Parkin said last night he still believes CC is the right bloke. He (parkin) said that before our win today.

Nice work today CC.

 

[Ripper]

Parkin said last night he still believes CC is the right bloke. He (parkin) said that before our win today.

Nice work today CC.

Heard that too. Parkin said we have been kidding ourselves for years about how good we are and CC knows what is required to bring us up to speed.

You can look at the negatives all day but the positive is that our best is now good enough to beat anyone, anyhere which has NEVER been the case before.

 

[purp_bling]

Nice work today CC. But I reckon you're dead wrong Ripper. He is as soft as they come. Today confirms for me what I've thought all along - he can not consistently get the players to perform at a high level. We are great when there is no expectation.

 

[raffrox]

Heard that too. Parkin said we have been kidding ourselves for years about how good we are and CC knows what is required to bring us up to speed.

You can look at the negatives all day but the positive is that our best is now good enough to beat anyone, anyhere which has NEVER been the case before.

Agreed.

I'm not even a Connolly fan. I'm not convinced that Connolly is "the man". Alan Scott wasn't convinced until last year with Williams and I think Williams is a good coach. Even then he still wants him gone this year. Like I said Connolly is too much of an easy target and he clearly out coached Thompson today so how about some of his critics admitting he did good today?. If one of our players had performed like that we would be cheering from the rooftops but if its CC...

Chris Connolly is the greatest coach in the history of the Fremantle Dockers (Sad but true).

 

[raffrox]

Nice work today CC. But I reckon you're dead wrong Ripper. He is as soft as they come. Today confirms for me what I've thought all along - he can not consistently get the players to perform at a high level. We are great when there is no expectation.

No expectation?

To quote Bomber Thompson, "I'm not sure whether we were really ready for the Fremantle Dockers today, I'm not sure we realised how much pressure they've been under over there."

I think there has been intense pressure and ridicule of our team. I think there has been a lot expected every (including this) week.

 

[wehavethepassion]

I think that the coach and Schwabb have created a cocoon (in the past)around the players (and probably the whole club) against criticism.

However, i have notice that connolly circa 2002-4 would not have been so scathing in his critcism after the Tigers & hawks games as he has been in 2005. He is using the media to ram home the message that inconsistency is not going to be tolerated in 2005. The core group of this side has now been together going into the 4th year.

He is raising the bar and so he should for himself, his staff and the players.

Conolly outcoached bomber today. His players outplayed the Cats.

The huge task for Connolly is that next week the expectation for the players to play with the same intensity will be very high against the lions.

 

[tico]

Agreed.

I'm not even a Connolly fan. I'm not convinced that Connolly is "the man". Alan Scott wasn't convinced until last year with Williams and I think Williams is a good coach. Even then he still wants him gone this year. Like I said Connolly is too much of an easy target and he clearly out coached Thompson today so how about some of his critics admitting he did good today?. If one of our players had performed like that we would be cheering from the rooftops but if its CC...

Chris Connolly is the greatest coach in the history of the Fremantle Dockers (Sad but true).

Mark Williams also had them in top 3 finishes about 3 years in a row before they won a GF.

 

[Freo Shark]

i am not "slagging" him off based on one game , not even one season , i think its well documented how good a team we have. expecting more from your team never lost you anything, but making excuses hmm.

Problem is you never have anything positive to say whether we win or not. You and a few others never have a single positive comment to make - being passionate is one thing but you never let up on the bloke.

I dont know whether CC is the coach to take us to the premiership, is there a coach out there - I dont know, we have 1/16th chance every season, not great odds so just enjoy the wins and chill.

End of the day, its the players who play each week and who each week their performance varies greatly from switched to pathetic. Thats what needs to be fixed - even application. CC shouldnt have to motivate the players. CC plays a certain part in the teams performance but the majority is the players who actually do the performing.

 

[tico]

Problem is you never have anything positive to say whether we win or not. You and a few others never have a single positive comment to make - being passionate is one thing but you never let up on the bloke.

I dont know whether CC is the coach to take us to the premiership, is there a coach out there - I dont know, we have 1/16th chance every season, not great odds so just enjoy the wins and chill.

End of the day, its the players who play each week and who each week their performance varies greatly from switched to pathetic. Thats what needs to be fixed - even application. CC shouldnt have to motivate the players. CC plays a certain part in the teams performance but the majority is the players who actually do the performing.

Fine we have a great list , let the players play they want to everyweek and lets get donald duck in to coach ...... do you think it makes a difference?

 

[Ripper]

Fine we have a great list , let the players play they want to everyweek and lets get donald duck in to coach ...... do you think it makes a difference?

Yep. Bomber Thomson all but conceeded he was out coached.
He did not expect the tactics we dished up to them.

That is why I have faith that long term we are far better off with CC as he is able to pull something out of his arse when it is least expected (even by us supporters).

The fact of the matter is that the players are just starting to realise how hardnosed you have to be to win consistantly and some lessons have to be learnt the hard way.

Anyone who says the 2005 dockers are not the best team we have had is kidding themselves and not giving credit where it is due.

We have now beaten 2 top 4 sides at their home grounds which would have been unheard of in times past let alone with half a dozen of our name players injured or out of form.
Wake up and smell the roses.

 

[tico]

Yep. Bomber Thomson all but conceeded he was out coached.
He did not expect the tactics we dished up to them.

That is why I have faith that long term we are far better off with CC as he is able to pull something out of his arse when it is least expected (even by us supporters).

The fact of the matter is that the players are just starting to realise how hardnosed you have to be to win consistantly and some lessons have to be learnt the hard way.

Anyone who says the 2005 dockers are not the best team we have had is kidding themselves and not giving credit where it is due.

We have now beaten 2 top 4 sides at their home grounds which would have been unheard of in times past let alone with half a dozen of our name players injured or out of form.
Wake up and smell the roses.

therefore what happened when we played essendon and hawthorn just to name two completely nullifies what they have done and if you say how can that be so well i have 1 word for you .....Ladder