Coach Horse: Retain, Retire, Reinvent?

[Kapers]

Also different goal posts for coaches and players.

For example, if Mills was out of contract this year and we resigned him for 2 years, would we be moaning about that decision? Mills was equally woeful during the grand final, but we trust that it'll be different next time?

 

[mtooler]

Great stuff. Horse is a brilliant coach and gets the most out of the boys. The only interesting part is why only 2yrs?

Did you buy Blood Bowl 3, is it functional yet?

 

[mtooler]

I'm very pleased we re-signed Horse.

It's really weird that people complain about him not being successful enough when most other clubs have been diabolical messes at one stage or another during Horse's tenure. Once you're in that place, there's no guarantee you'll get out. Look how long it took Melbourne and Brisbane, how long it's taken Carlton and Gold Coast.

So it's definitely preferable that we have a coach who will keep us out of there in the first place.

The players seem to love him, he's done an awesome job with the current list, and the last thing we want to do is pull the rug out from under so many of our players who are well on track under the reins of Horse (thank you) and have only ever known AFL with him as their coach.

That said, please solve the GF issues Horse!

Your post is my personal position to a tee.

Question I wrestle with is, am I willing to risk sustained success at making finals and grand finals by sacking Longmire and hope the new coach (unknown unidentified and unemployed at present) will have a better shot at winning the grand final if he can get us there?

No, I'm not. Only coach I'd take is Clarkson over Longmire.

 

[Bloods86]

Clarkson over Longmire.

 

[BloodySwan]

Did you buy Blood Bowl 3, is it functional yet?

I don't have a gaming rig so I haven't bought it. In saying that I've been disappointed with so many GW games that I tend to avoid them.

Only place I play these days is on my switch - or super old releases which don't require a strong computer

 

[caesar88]

Your post is my personal position to a tee.

Question I wrestle with is, am I willing to risk sustained success at making finals and grand finals by sacking Longmire and hope the new coach (unknown unidentified and unemployed at present) will have a better shot at winning the grand final if he can get us there?

No, I'm not. Only coach I'd take is Clarkson over Longmire.

Well given my post quite specifically stated I wouldn't want to risk sustained success, obviously it wasn't your personal position to a tee

If Geelong - who have been worse at choking than us - proved anything it's that something can change.

I've found the constant messaging from the players and staff about what went wrong "during the week" rather than "during the game" to be encouraging. It suggests they're aware the preparation for the game wasn't correct, not that they're doubting the ability of the team or the game plan of the coaches. Obviously lots went wrong in the game too, but I think it's smart of the club to remove themselves from that day and narrow their focus onto everything leading up to it. I reckon it will make it easier to move on from the GF.

 

[Millky95]

Horse to coach through to the prelims & then hand over to Pyke for GFs.

Problem solved.

My invoice will forthcoming via email.

Didn't Pyke power stance his way into losing to the Tigers?

 

[Kiama Chris]

Well given my post quite specifically stated I wouldn't want to risk sustained success, obviously it wasn't your personal position to a tee

If Geelong - who have been worse at choking than us - proved anything it's that something can change.

I've found the constant messaging from the players and staff about what went wrong "during the week" rather than "during the game" to be encouraging. It suggests they're aware the preparation for the game wasn't correct, not that they're doubting the ability of the team or the game plan of the coaches. Obviously lots went wrong in the game too, but I think it's smart of the club to remove themselves from that day and narrow their focus onto everything leading up to it. I reckon it will make it easier to move on from the GF.

Reckon the players started to lose focus around half time in the PF. Couldn't get it back, except for a few. Their GF was the first half of the PF.
The club is 100% right to focus on the leadup but should not exclude the PF.
The Reid kerfuffle might have had some effect but IMO not a lot. More if we had played better.

 

[caesar88]

Reckon the players started to lose focus around half time in the PF. Couldn't get it back, except for a few. Their GF was the first half of the PF.
The club is 100% right to focus on the leadup but should not exclude the PF.
The Reid kerfuffle might have had some effect but IMO not a lot. More if we had played better.

I think the warning signs were there that we were lacking the maturity to beat a side like Geelong and take out the flag.

There were three key events leading up to the GF that easily could've gone a different way and we wouldn't have made the GF at all.

1. Last quarter of the St Kilda game in round 23. Talk about a near-disaster. Everything to play for - our spot in the top 4, a chance at top 2 - and so many players disappointed. A side that ultimately finished outside the eight very nearly stole this win and crippled our flag tilt in the dying minutes.

2. Qualifying final vs Melbourne. An outstanding performance where I reckon we played our best footy all year. But a large portion of the team failed to fire and were well below their best in a game that had a home preliminary final riding on it. Not many teams could say they won a big final with so many players down on form. (Which is not to say they didn't still contribute in ways.)

3. Last quarter of the preliminary final. Collingwood were coming hard at us, but we had a solid lead and, again, had everything to play for (a ******* grand final spot). Yet we seemingly had no answers, no response to their challenge, just a few individual heroics to pull us over the line.

All of the above is not a criticism btw. I think the team had an amazing year, but we had several chances to put ourselves in the box seat for the GF, and whilst we took them, we found each occasion harder than perhaps they should've and could've been. So I think we did overperform, we were sorta limping towards the finish line after that amazing win over Collingwood in round 22, and it's a credit to all involved that we were still able to achieve all that we did.

And it's why I absolutely reject Tedeski's sentiment that the players lacked ticker. We got to the grand final in the first place on ticker more so than anything else. So I like Tedeski's posts, but he can cram that theory.

 

[Kiama Chris]

I think the warning signs were there that we were lacking the maturity to beat a side like Geelong and take out the flag.

There were three key events leading up to the GF that easily could've gone a different way and we wouldn't have made the GF at all.

1. Last quarter of the St Kilda game in round 23. Talk about a near-disaster. Everything to play for - our spot in the top 4, a chance at top 2 - and so many players disappointed. A side that ultimately finished outside the eight very nearly stole this win and crippled our flag tilt in the dying minutes.

2. Qualifying final vs Melbourne. An outstanding performance where I reckon we played our best footy all year. But a large portion of the team failed to fire and were well below their best in a game that had a home preliminary final riding on it. Not many teams could say they won a big final with so many players down on form. (Which is not to say they didn't still contribute in ways.)

3. Last quarter of the preliminary final. Collingwood were coming hard at us, but we had a solid lead and, again, had everything to play for (a ******* grand final spot). Yet we seemingly had no answers, no response to their challenge, just a few individual heroics to pull us over the line.

All of the above is not a criticism btw. I think the team had an amazing year, but we had several chances to put ourselves in the box seat for the GF, and whilst we took them, we found each occasion harder than perhaps they should've and could've been. So I think we did overperform, we were sorta limping towards the finish line after that amazing win over Collingwood in round 22, and it's a credit to all involved that we were still able to achieve all that we did.

And it's why I absolutely reject Tedeski's sentiment that the players lacked ticker. We got to the grand final in the first place on ticker more so than anything else. So I like Tedeski's posts, but he can cram that theory.

I think that what Ted describes as "ticker" is the ability to drag that last bit out of yourself. My favourite example is Marty Mattner's gut run in 2012. Dragged it from nowhere. Fox's GF was like that. As much mental as physical. Maturity is probably the right word.