Toast Horse Longmire

[bungee]

The reality is Horse has probably been our best coach, he's been very good at evolving the side, gives young players a go if they perform and transitions the older players out as needed (sometimes somewhat ruthlessly, but it's what's needed) which has probably extended our window a little and helped us through a trade ban, when maybe a few other clubs clung onto their elder players longer than they should have (in Hawthorns case they were winning flags so understandable for them, not for a couple others though).

The game-plan is sound/strong but probably the main criticism is when we lose, we seem to lose because of the same mistakes over and over. Who do you put that on though, coaches or players?
The defence almost always does was needed (largely because of our team defence rather than individuals), the forward line can be spasmodic we've seen what it can do at times (sometimes against good sides too), the centre clearance setup can be an issue when Kennedy doesn't get involved, there can be too many centre clearances given away.
The side lives and dies by our midfield though and it's our link between it and the forward line which is usually what burns us...and probably why we usually look better when the mids do a majority of the scoring and we're not relying on the link between the two so much. When the mids are up and going we score heavily, quite often through sheer quantity of entries, we move the ball quickly and lock the ball where we want it because of strong defence. When someone breaks even with the mids the forwards go too high up and we rely heavily on the defence and the scoring becomes excruciatingly stagnant because we (generally) rely on quantity not quality.

It's obvious Horse is fully aware of our decencies, he wants to add more quality - you can see that through selection this year, but he has built a game plan to suit our current senior group accordingly and done very well, considering moat clubs with our efficiency %'s finish down the other end of the ladder. I thought the coaching last year was very good, much improved on 2015 (and we still finished 5th that year, despite being 'poor'). Horse is a very good coach, one of the best currently going around, but unfortunately, like the side/club in general, a 2nd flag is needed to vindicate what really should (and really still has been) our best ever era/window in (Sydney) club history. Otherwise, fairly or unfairly, history probably ends with the side being seen in a negative light as massive underachievers (ala Port 2001-2004).

Buddy doing his foot at the outset of the GF didn't help plus a bunch of injuries hitting our defenders in the finals.

To be honest I doubt that many of us would have expected we'd be playing a GF with a bloody good chance of winning it after losing so much talent at the end of 2015. Huge kudos for Horse turning the team around on the spot and going for gold again so soon.

 

[scaryness]

Amazing how much has changed since quite a few people (myself foolishly included) were calling him to be sacked after those back-to-back smashings against WCE and Hawthorn in 2015.

Looks ridiculous now.

 

[GoTheSwannies]

Amazing how much has changed since quite a few people (myself foolishly included) were calling him to be sacked after those back-to-back smashings against WCE and Hawthorn in 2015.

Looks ridiculous now.

I think there were a couple of periods were fans were calling for his head. Even though there were reasons for our on field performances.

Although, losing 2 gf isn't the greatest advertisement, I think he'll recover from here and go on to develop a strong legacy.

 

[Kolah]

I think there were a couple of periods were fans were calling for his head. Even though there were reasons for our on field performances.

Although, losing 2 gf isn't the greatest advertisement, I think he'll recover from here and go on to develop a strong legacy.

An excellent senior coach is a necessary but not sufficient condition for team success. The whole coaching team is critical. It's impossible for us to gauge the individual impact of Dew, Blakey, Kirk, Shaw etc but they are obviously a formidable group and responsible for that success rate attributed to Horse.
Nevertheless, our defence has performed above itself, our midfield is powerful at winning the ball but far less effective at delivering it and our forwards have underperformed, though injury has been a significant factor. It's never been clear whether the apparent poor system going into attack has been a reflection of the limitation of our mids or an intentional game plan, or both.
We are improving the quality of both our mids and forwards, which is very exciting. Unfortunately, our major opponents are getting better too. Makes for a potentially brilliant 2017 season. How many sleeps to go?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[GotTheGoodes]

An excellent senior coach is a necessary but not sufficient condition for team success. The whole coaching team is critical. It's impossible for us to gauge the individual impact of Dew, Blakey, Kirk, Shaw etc but they are obviously a formidable group and responsible for that success rate attributed to Horse.
Nevertheless, our defence has performed above itself, our midfield is powerful at winning the ball but far less effective at delivering it and our forwards have underperformed, though injury has been a significant factor. It's never been clear whether the apparent poor system going into attack has been a reflection of the limitation of our mids or an intentional game plan, or both.
We are improving the quality of both our mids and forwards, which is very exciting. Unfortunately, our major opponents are getting better too. Makes for a potentially brilliant 2017 season. How many sleeps to go?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Great post.

Shaw in particular I feel has been something very special for us. All the boys speak very highly of him. When you've got a good solid development team the seniors almost can take care of themselves once they get in.

Just look at our recent crop. Lloyd, Naisy, Mills, Heens, Hewy, Paps, Marsh, Jones, AA. We still have guys like Foote & Newman who I'm expecting are close too.

So valuable having that strong senior level experience in the NEAFL side too. Cunners, Sinkers etc. Like when we put ROK, LRT & Shaw in there. The players themselves may crave playing seniors but their value to the club as a whole & the legacy they leave can be just as profound in how they manage those times working with the younger blokes & sucking it up & making the best of their time in the 2s.

 

[scaryness]

Great post.

Shaw in particular I feel has been something very special for us. All the boys speak very highly of him. When you've got a good solid development team the seniors almost can take care of themselves once they get in.

Just look at our recent crop. Lloyd, Naisy, Mills, Heens, Hewy, Paps, Marsh, Jones, AA. We still have guys like Foote & Newman who I'm expecting are close too.

So valuable having that strong senior level experience in the NEAFL side too. Cunners, Sinkers etc. Like when we put ROK, LRT & Shaw in there. The players themselves may crave playing seniors but their value to the club as a whole & the legacy they leave can be just as profound in how they manage those times working with the younger blokes & sucking it up & making the best of their time in the 2s.

It's a good sign of the importance of Rhyce Shaw as a mentor when AJ took over his number.

Not to mention all the best clubman awards he won.

Could possibly go down as one of our best ever recruits.

 

[BloodySwan]

Amazing how much has changed since quite a few people (myself foolishly included) were calling him to be sacked after those back-to-back smashings against WCE and Hawthorn in 2015.

Looks ridiculous now.

We just looked so pedestrian for large stretches of that year. I think we all felt dismayed that the Grand Finalists of the year prior were playing so poorly (and rightfully so!)

 

[GotTheGoodes]

We just looked so pedestrian for large stretches of that year. I think we all felt dismayed that the Grand Finalists of the year prior were playing so poorly (and rightfully so!)

Yeah, I can't speak for anybody else but myself & I know I set myself up prior to the start of 2015 in the mindset that we'd come out breathing fire, playing hard/aggressive footy and belting sides physically. I didn't think the amazing year we had in 2014 was over, the GF was a blip and we'd power through the comp again to a victorious GF. When we didn't come out hungry and tough, when we started looking a little lame or lacking that polish, I guess I started to think (even subconsciously) maybe the 14 GF wasn't such a blip after all. Maybe we'd been found out and we missed our opportunity. The window was shutting, we'd gambled on Tippo & Bud and lost.

I then went into 16 with very low expectations. We'd done our dough and we had to rebuild and would be out of the 8 (or maybe just in) but not a reasonable chance at making a GF. It turns out pretty much all lines of thinking were wrong. We instead did a mini rebuild and made the 16GF & got cheated out of it by some horrendous umpiring (I'd still call that a success for this group none-the-less).

I'm confident we can win a premiership with this group but unlike 15 or 16, I'm not going into this year with the same kind of expectations. We could make it all the way to a GF or we could miss finals completely. Anything can happen. The "rub of the green" could go your way one day and not the next. Injuries happen. Scandals happen. "Administrative correction" happens (e.g. trade bans). The comp has really evened out and with the extra break leading into finals too helping to open the field up more than ever before IMO.

What I do know is I'm going to enjoy watching our boys again this year. Win lose or draw.

C'mon you bloods!!

 

[bungee]

I think the games won/lost over a period of quite a few years is probably the best indicator of a coach's overall performance. Horse took over a team in transition, with the old guards of 05/06 fading out and he very quickly turned it into a 3 GF in 5 years team, consistently in the top 4 and brim full of talent. This was despite the loss of COLA, the trading ban and, IMO, a bunch of drunk, cheating umpires, plus an AFL admin hell-bent on creating fairy tales costing us 2016. I mean FFS, since when was ANZ a home final ?

No, don't get me started. A s**t load of things can go wrong in a GF but, mostly, on that last day in November*, it comes down to the players. The fact that we 'only' won one of the three GFs takes nothing away from Horse. What's more, Horse has us still in the hunt for yet more glory.

*Who can predict what the AFL will do next ?

 

[The King!]

An excellent senior coach is a necessary but not sufficient condition for team success. The whole coaching team is critical. It's impossible for us to gauge the individual impact of Dew, Blakey, Kirk, Shaw etc but they are obviously a formidable group and responsible for that success rate attributed to Horse.
Nevertheless, our defence has performed above itself, our midfield is powerful at winning the ball but far less effective at delivering it and our forwards have underperformed, though injury has been a significant factor. It's never been clear whether the apparent poor system going into attack has been a reflection of the limitation of our mids or an intentional game plan, or both.
We are improving the quality of both our mids and forwards, which is very exciting. Unfortunately, our major opponents are getting better too. Makes for a potentially brilliant 2017 season. How many sleeps to go?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Great points, but to me the impact they all can have comes down to the senior coach, if his team of coaches are not having the right impact the buck should still stop with the senior coach

As long as a club lets him do his job then he lives and dies by the results

 

[The Swans Blog]

Amazing how much has changed since quite a few people (myself foolishly included) were calling him to be sacked after those back-to-back smashings against WCE and Hawthorn in 2015.

Looks ridiculous now.

And now you're a mod, god help us all because he sure as s**t cant shave the queen

 

[The Swans Blog]

Every year I expect the Swans to win the premiership, every year. I also expect them to win every match, because they're bloody well good enough to do it.

That way I'm immensely disappointed and ragey when we lose any game, and immensely chuffed when we win a game.

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

Yeah, I can't speak for anybody else but myself & I know I set myself up prior to the start of 2015 in the mindset that we'd come out breathing fire, playing hard/aggressive footy and belting sides physically. I didn't think the amazing year we had in 2014 was over, the GF was a blip and we'd power through the comp again to a victorious GF. When we didn't come out hungry and tough, when we started looking a little lame or lacking that polish, I guess I started to think (even subconsciously) maybe the 14 GF wasn't such a blip after all. Maybe we'd been found out and we missed our opportunity. The window was shutting, we'd gambled on Tippo & Bud and lost.

I then went into 16 with very low expectations. We'd done our dough and we had to rebuild and would be out of the 8 (or maybe just in) but not a reasonable chance at making a GF. It turns out pretty much all lines of thinking were wrong. We instead did a mini rebuild and made the 16GF & got cheated out of it by some horrendous umpiring (I'd still call that a success for this group none-the-less).

I'm confident we can win a premiership with this group but unlike 15 or 16, I'm not going into this year with the same kind of expectations. We could make it all the way to a GF or we could miss finals completely. Anything can happen. The "rub of the green" could go your way one day and not the next. Injuries happen. Scandals happen. "Administrative correction" happens (e.g. trade bans). The comp has really evened out and with the extra break leading into finals too helping to open the field up more than ever before IMO.

What I do know is I'm going to enjoy watching our boys again this year. Win lose or draw.

C'mon you bloods!!

Great post, well said, thanks mate.

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

The legacy of sustained success is inter-generational club support in Sydney. Horse didn't light the flame behind the bloods but he (and others) have built on that until the flames roar. In Sydney (as in the old days of South Melbourne) the Swans are our team. Fans know that any game they go to is more than likely going to make for a happy day out, for Mum, Dad, Granny and the kids.

Very good point.

 

[skipper kelly]

He's no Black Caviar or Winx but he sure is a handy Group 1 performer.

 

[miggs]

He's no Black Caviar or Winx but he sure is a handy Group 1 performer.

Black Heart Bart?

A few G1 wins but ultimately upstaged by winx in the big show

 

[mtooler]

I think there were a couple of periods were fans were calling for his head. Even though there were reasons for our on field performances.

Although, losing 2 gf isn't the greatest advertisement, I think he'll recover from here and go on to develop a strong legacy.

I dont rate Longmire, he's a genius because he played a small forward or two after year upon year of overly tall forward lines. Comprehensively outcoached by the top teams. I'll gladly put my name to him not being a great coach that others make him out to be. Playing Mitchell in reserves and playing muppets in front of him. Hardly the greatest coach since sliced bread.

 

[CD__]

I dont rate Longmire, he's a genius because he played a small forward or two after year upon year of overly tall forward lines. Comprehensively outcoached by the top teams. I'll gladly put my name to him not being a great coach that others make him out to be. Playing Mitchell in reserves and playing muppets in front of him. Hardly the greatest coach since sliced bread.

He's been outcoached by Clarkson on occasion, but 'comprehensively outcoached by the top teams' is a gross exaggeration.

 

[miggs]

Every year I expect the Swans to win the premiership, every year. I also expect them to win every match, because they're bloody well good enough to do it.

That way I'm immensely disappointed and ragey when we lose any game, and immensely chuffed when we win a game.

Ever thought of putting your thoughts down in a blog? I can see it being a raging success