Interesting reading this thread. Not surprisingly opinions are dived on this. A couple of insights from me:
1. I have a good mate I studied with that has worked as a sports psychologist consultant for a variety of clubs and sports from the US college system, English FA and Premier league clubs and is very familiar with the AFL environment. In his role he has one-on-one consultations with managers/coaches.
He’s pretty unequivocal in his opinion that Aussie Rules as a sport is a long way behind the rest of the world tactics-wise, mainly due to isolation, but also due to an old-school mentality on who can coach (he sees the US system as the most advanced on this with many top-line coaches never having played but have superior tactical minds and teaching skills).
It’s one thing going and visiting other codes, seeing how it is done and getting their IP but another thing totally being able to adapt it to Aussie Rules and then teach it to players. Hawthorn, because of Clarkson, has all of the above and they are cleaning up because of it.
It’s not just him though, you can get a Clarkson disciple (Bevo and Hardwick both come from the Clarkson school) to deliver the goods.
2. Sports tactics are like a virus, they constantly mutate and evolve. In sports played around the world, you simply get more people trying to evolve gameplans etc. It’s globalization in a nutshell. In Aussie Rules? We have the main league, then some state leagues and that’s it! No wonder blokes like Clarkson that look to other sports are gaining a competitive advantage over their peers.
I’m a sports junkie and watch Soccer, Ice Hockey and NFL religiously. There are so many tactics from these global sports that you can take if you are willing to learn. When I see our players not be able to get through the most basic flood like Brad Scott’s on the weekend, it’s very alarming and, yes, that is a coaching issue. The players got flustered, lacked composure and creativity to work their way through the most basic of tactics, one we have seen since Rocket Eade started it all those years ago. That they can be tripped up by such a basic tactic says it all. Do you remember when we tried to flood the Hawks a few years back when we were re-building? Didn’t go to well did it, to the tune of 140 points.
When an inferior team tries to flood, we need to win that game every time and the coaches should teach the players exactly how to do it.
I find it interesting that there are a few posters that put our current predicament more at the feet of the players than the coaches. Well, if that’s true, then we are well and truly ******. We are in for many more years of pain, Melbourne style. I actually think we have the players but that they are losing faith with the coaching staff and their methods.
They have not being given the tools to take on and beat other teams. They are being taught to “work hard” for sure but they now know that it isn’t enough in a professional sports environment to “work hard.” Such old school tactics, especially when pitched at millennials, are dying out across sports pretty quickly. Pressure needs to be applied intelligently, not in a haphazard manner like it is being done for us now. Millennials will buy in, like Richmond did, if they see a method to the madness.
But with Richo it is all pressure and no structure (like Luke Dunstan pointed out).
If this list gets the right teacher and tactician for this group (and they are out there for sure) I have no doubt everything will turn quickly. If they stay as they are, welcome to our new reality: we will be the new Melbourne. It’s a critical time in our club’s history.