Last nights interview

[dockers_bengals]

You cant whine about draft picks and trading years after,thats just weak.You have to do it when it happens because no one knows whats going to happen in the future with the players.Every team has picks and trades that have fail badly so dont waste your time.

 

[dominguez]

I think some coaches are good at rebuilding and getting you to mid-table, and some coaches are able to carry a side deep into September, but struggle to rebuilt when that group of players is on the way down.

Clarkson seems to be doing a good job of rebuilding the hawks, whether they can go on with it and win finals only time will tell. Grant Thomas has built a superb list at the saints, but an experienced coach would probably have won a flag with that group.Connolly's positive apprach worked well to get us off the mat, but middle of the road seems to be as far as he can get us.

Malthouse has been able to lift the pies to a couple of grand finals and won a couple of premierships, but seems to struggle to rebuild. Pagan is having the same problem at Carlton. I think the nature of his personality works better with senior players, and would be the perfect fit for our club IMHO. It will be interesting to see how the young lions develop under Matthews.

If you can find a coach that can do both, then you have done really well.

 

[Ripper]

Your constant support for Connolly is becoming tiresome Ripper. Ofcourse I'm going to use hindsight to pull that to bits, that's how you review things. Look what you started with, and compare where you are at.

I did and the team you posted showed up pretty thinly in 2002.
It is all well and good to put the names on paper in 2006 but it actally contradicts your arguement as most players including the zero gamers have come on fantastacally under Connolly.

I wouldn't be able to criticise the development of the swans, bulldogs, egos or crows under their current coaches, because they have got the majority of their players to their optimum level and are playing good football consistently.

All those teams were good enough to have played finals consistantly just before the those coachs were appointed.
Crows 2001 , 2002 , 2003 , one down year Craig , 2005
Swans 1999 , 2001, Roos , 2003 ,2004 , 2005
Hawks 2001 , 2002 (11 wins) , 2003 (12 wins) ,
Bull Dogs 1998, 1999 , 2000 , (10 wins).

It is well documented that we have made the finals once in our history so we have lacked and still lack that nucleus of players experienced at the pointy end of the season.

Hell until 2003 we had never won three games in a row.

Both of the last two have spent a couple of drafts getting topping up with PP's and are back up to speed (for now at least).

It is the quality of the bottom six players in your 22 that make the difference and it takes time to build depth.

It is no co-incidence that when we have starting 22 players out in 2004 and 2005 are the times when we have struggled.

And none of those coaches have been there longer than Connolly. Connolly has already been badly beaten by both Clarkson and Craig this year, who would have coached less games betwen them than Connolly has.

And none of them inherited as big a basket case as CC.
Craig was assistant at the Crows for ever and to compare him taking over the Crows who have had just one bad year in the last five is drawing a long , long bow.

To say that trading Croad for someone who won't play 50 games was the correct call is ridiculous. Croad was played out of position, and didn't get along with Connolly since it was CC who pushed for him to be traded from his beloved hawks. None of which is Trents fault.

Where did I say that? I said he was chased away by the bad press and supporters ringing up whinging just about every night saying He wasn't kicking enough goals for the money he was on and I can't say I blame him.

Played out of positon? He is now starring at CHF for the hawks.
Big Call to write off a dual AA at this stage. You say Longmuir was always going to be a star but he was in the system for five years before he came good.

To say that McPhee would be handy is a massive understatement. When fit he would be in our 5 best players.

Maybe, but he is still injury prone and overall would he better than Headland and Crowley at Fremantle taking into account he grew up a bombers supporter?

Leigh Brown would be the answer to our problem with big strong forwards.

Well, He hasn't been the answer for the Kangaroos with big forwards.

Adam Hunter touched him up last week FFS.

How does that show what a good job he has done bringing them on? He started with a very good best 22, and we've been middle of the road for a couple of years now and still haven't won a final.

He started with a very inexperienced best 22 that you have listed.
Hayden (rookie), Thornton (pick 66) , Polack , Medhurst(pick 56) , zero games , zip , nada .
Hadrill (rookie) 8 games
Macpharlan 12 games
Grover (rookie) 17 games
Troy Longmuir GOP.

Medhurst used to be criticised for being to goal hungry. He now passes too often, and has been dropped for missing the target a couple of times. Was on fire at the start of the game last week, and dropping him now sends the wrong message to him.

Can't win can he? Still a good time to be dropped while he is in reasonable form as when He come back and plays the same the wise sages will nod their heads and say that it was being dropped back to the tigers did him good and will get off his back for a while.

Haddrill looked all class in the handful of games he played in 2001, similar to Mundy last year.

Agreed, he showed a bit, but who would have thought he would hold down Fullback?

Matthew Carr's form in the 1st 4 games this season has been atrocious, and both the Carr brothers clearly dislike Connolly.

So you think the Carr brothers should run the show?
Why did Matthew want Josh to come to Freo if this is the case?

Longmuir, McPharlin, Pavlich and Hasleby were always going to be very good players a couple of years down the track. We knew that that about the boys that were here in 2001, and the fact that the hawks refused to trade with us in 2002 (because they were unhappy with picks 20 +36) shows that they knew McPharlin would be a quality player.

Of course , it is just that Justin (pick 2 1998) has taken a while to show it.

Bell plays at the same level as he has for 7 or 8 years, but he is now played out of position. In his rush to recruit midfielders CC has got the mix wrong, we lack pace and lack ball winners. It's fine to have midfielders that lack pace, aslong as they dominate at the stoppages (West, Mitchell, S. Black etc).

Agree with that a bit, I reckon that Ryley Dunn will be a big addition when he finally gets on the track.
Crowley and Dodd are stepping up every week as well.
And we still have Peake if he gets back to his 2005 form.
In the meantime Pav will probably spend more time in there.

Everbody is kneejerking way to much. Anyone would think we have no one in the middle and no one comeing though.

Despite all this we have actually improved our clearances statswise at least from 2005.

Still a lot of improvement to go of course.

The midfield is the easiest area to fix though, it takes a while to get KPP's up to speed

How many of these players that you say are clearly better consistently dominate their position? How many players will we have in the mix for AA?

The only players Connolly deserves credit for are Grover and Thornton, and Scottie has an illness which will limit his career.

Crowley/
Dodd?
Sandi?

 

[dominguez]

You cant whine about draft picks and trading years after,thats just weak.You have to do it when it happens because no one knows whats going to happen in the future with the players.Every team has picks and trades that have fail badly so dont waste your time.

There are a large team of staff at each club whose job it is to get trading and drafting right, and no one can get it right 100% of the time. But the good teams get it right more often than not. Sure each trade and draft pick have an element of risk, but these people are paid large amounts of money to get it right.

At the end of the day the buck stops with the coach, he has the final say on trades and draft picks. You can draft as many potential superstars as you like, but it's the coaches job to turn them into consistent "A grade players". How many young players over 11 seasons have we had, and you've thought gee, .......... is gonna be a superstar. There's 4 or 5 each year, and they always go on to become average players or very good players for another club. Currently it's Crowley, Mundy, Johnson and Peake. Will they go on to be superstars? Probably not, since Pavlich is the only one we have produced in 11 years.

When you trade for a player you expect them to play at the level they were at their old club, or better. Would Croad and McPhee be All Australians if they had stayed at Fremantle? Probably not, because they are both playing for far better coaches now. Are Josh Carr and Des Headland playing to the same level as they did at their previous clubs?

In 11 years we haven't had a good coach, chairman or CEO, and it bothers me that some of you are so happy to accept mediocrity.

 

[dominguez]

I did and the team you posted showed up pretty thinly in 2002.
It is all well and good to put the names on paper in 2006 but it actally contradicts your arguement as most players including the zero gamers have come on fantastacally under Connolly.

All those teams were good enough to have played finals consistantly just before the those coachs were appointed.
Crows 2001 , 2002 , 2003 , one down year Craig , 2005
Swans 1999 , 2001, Roos , 2003 ,2004 , 2005
Hawks 2001 , 2002 (11 wins) , 2003 (12 wins) ,
Bull Dogs 1998, 1999 , 2000 , (10 wins).

It is well documented that we have made the finals once in our history so we have lacked and still lack that nucleus of players experienced at the pointy end of the season.

Hell until 2003 we had never won three games in a row.

It is the quality of the bottom six players in your 22 that make the difference and it takes time to build depth.

It is no co-incidence that when we have starting 22 players out in 2004 and 2005 are the times when we have struggled.

And none of them inherited as big a basket case as CC.
Craig was assistant at the Crows for ever and to compare him taking over the Crows who have had just one bad year in the last five is drawing a long , long bow.

Played out of positon? He is now starring at CHF for the hawks.
Big Call to write off a dual AA at this stage. You say Longmuir was always going to be a star but he was in the system for five years before he came good.

Maybe, but he is still injury prone and overall would he better than Headland and Crowley at Fremantle taking into account he grew up a bombers supporter?

Well, He hasn't been the answer for the Kangaroos with big forwards.

Adam Hunter touched him up last week FFS.


He started with a very inexperienced best 22 that you have listed.
Hayden (rookie), Thornton (pick 66) , Polack , Medhurst(pick 56) , zero games , zip , nada .
Hadrill (rookie) 8 games
Macpharlan 12 games
Grover (rookie) 17 games
Troy Longmuir GOP.

Can't win can he? Still a good time to be dropped while he is in reasonable form as when He come back and plays the same the wise sages will nod their heads and say that it was being dropped back to the tigers did him good and will get off his back for a while.

So you think the Carr brothers should run the show?
Why did Matthew want Josh to come to Freo if this is the case?

Of course , it is just that Justin (pick 2 1998) has taken a while to show it.

Agree with that a bit, I reckon that Ryley Dunn will be a big addition when he finally gets on the track.
Crowley and Dodd are stepping up every week as well.
And we still have Peake if he gets back to his 2005 form.
In the meantime Pav will probably spend more time in there.

Everbody is kneejerking way to much. Anyone would think we have no one in the middle and no one comeing though.

Despite all this we have actually improved our clearances statswise at least from 2005.

Still a lot of improvement to go of course.

The midfield is the easiest area to fix though, it takes a while to get KPP's up to speed



Crowley/
Dodd?
Sandi?

The team that I posted was good enough to win 9 games in 2002. Now after 4 drafts, 4 trade weeks, and another 60-80 games to most of the players we win 11 games. Not much improvement. Polak and Medhurst have barely improved since they arrived at the club. Like most quality kids that have arrived at Freo over the years. How many players in the current hawthorn side (a team that has spanked us the last 2 times we've played) have less than 20 games experience?

As a coach you would probably prefer to take over a side with years of early draft picks, than an ageing list after 1 bad season. The crows, Swans and Bulldogs have all turned nobodies into quality players, and guys who looked past it have been revitalised. The likes of Griffin, Gilbee, Murphy, Cross and Skipper were unknowns at the bulldogs. As were Bock, Rutten, Hentschel and Mattner at the crows, and Kirk, Schneider, O'Keefe and Buchanan at the swans. All are now very good players, with some earning AA selection.

The fact tha we never won 3 in a row shows how many early picks we have had.

Our bottom 6 are all very good, and on their day can turn a game. Browne, Campbell, Cook, Copping, Haines, Ibbotson, McManus, Parker, Slowfield and Webster are probably the only players on our list of 40 that wouldn't be picked up by another club if de-listed at the end of 2006. But from player 1 on our list through to 30 they are all inconsistent, and surely that's a coaching issue?

Apparently there is a bit of tension between the Carr brothers, because Josh is so unhappy at Freo. Matt is angry with Connolly for pushing him so hard to attract his brother to the club, and then coaching Josh to be a receiver.

At the end of 2001, the Freo job was seen to be the most appealing by the "experts" because our list was laden with so many up and comers. We had an interim coach so were in the market first, so should have had the pick of the bunch. But Schwab kept putting it off so that he could appoint his buddy.

McPhee would be miles ahead of Crowley, even though Crowley would still be in my 22 if McPhee was at the club. Headland is behind Cook, Walker, Murphy and Peake IMHO.

Medhursts performance last week didn't warrant being dropped, but he struggles away from home. Often plays well in derbies, so if he is going to play next week I don't see the point in dropping him for 1 game.

Croad has played well the last fortnight at CHF, but he was allowed to build his confidence in his best position, CHB, where he earnt AA selection. Croad, like Polak, seems to struggle to shake off a bad performance and begins to question his ability. It made a lot of sense for the hawks to let him settle there on his return. If Dunn plays 50 games for Fremantle I'll PM you my seat number and you can walk round and I'll give you $20. Won't make it at AFL level.

Our clearances have gone from what, 16th to 13th? Not exactly a vast improvement, especially after 4 games when I imagine there would be a lot of teams with similar figures. If the midfield is so easy to fix why have we traded for so many midfielders, with very little result?

 

[ImperialPurple]

I'm not going to attempt to wade into this discussion / debate - you are both doing a very good job of putting up your POV; and I, for one, am finding it a very entertaining and educational exchange.



But I am interested to know where you heard this (below) - and whether it is just more rumour that has been circulated to destabilise, or whether there is actually some truth in it...

Apparently there is a bit of tension between the Carr brothers, because Josh is so unhappy at Freo. Matt is angry with Connolly for pushing him so hard to attract his brother to the club, and then coaching Josh to be a receiver.

 

[Ripper]

But I am interested to know where you heard this (below) - and whether it is just more rumour that has been circulated to destabilise, or whether there is actually some truth in it...

Beat me to it IP. If there is any truth in it , I would also like to know why it is CC's fault.

Most people were over the moon at the time.

 

[dominguez]

Obviously Matt wanted to play along side his brother, but he was happy to let Josh make his own decision. CC was regularly encouraging Matt to ring Josh and try to persuade him to switch teams.

 

[Ripper]

Obviously Matt wanted to play along side his brother, but he was happy to let Josh make his own decision. CC was regularly encouraging Matt to ring Josh and try to persuade him to switch teams.

So CC was trying to bolster the midfield.

Had it occured to you that if he is unhappy it may be because of all the sledging he gets from Freo supporters?

That maybe why he plays better away like Macca.

Something that seems to happen to anyone recruited from other clubs recently.

Croad
Headland
J.Carr
Farmer
Schofield

How Macpharlap has missed out is beyond Me.

Some of us expect any recruit to suddenly become the Messiah.

It would have been a real culture shock for Josh after being loved so much at Port.

 

[dominguez]

But has Josh bolstered our midfield? The players are all good, but the mix is wrong. Hasleby, Bell, Josh Carr and McManus are all short, slow, and haven't been winning the clearances.

Do people actually sledge loud enough for the players to hear? There's often a noticable moan from the crowd when someone misses a target, and there's often people yelling Kick It, Kick It, after a string of handballs, but I've never noticed anyone hanging over the fence abusing our own players. I often hear people making smart arse comments (eg. someone said that he hoped for Matt Carr to get a fortnight for hitting the umpire because he can't get a kick) but I don't think they are loud enough for the players to hear them.

Farmer cops plenty at derbies but I've never met a Freo supporter who doesn't like the Wiz. I've also never met one who LIKES Dessie.

 

[Ripper]

Geez, I love you blokes.

If I have heard it once I have heard it a thousand times.

"I don't care whether we win or not , as long as they have a go"

Last week most agree we had a real go and never gave up , even if we did make lots of errors.

Now it is clearances, midfield , wrong mix etc.

We lost the centre clearances early but ended up with three less for the game. That means we actually won the around the ground clearances with a very lame Hase.

Adelaide are a pretty good team they are currently leading the Bulldogs 57 to 16 approching 1/2 time without Perrie , Richicto and Thompson.

We may be better than we think.

Josh certainly bolstered the midfield last week against Port.

 

[FreoFury]

We may be better than we think.

We are. 2/2 and playing the worst football I believe we will all year. We only lost to the Crows by 2 kicks (2nd best team in the country IMHO) missing as many targets as we did. We will improve in decision making and delivery and if we can just get a few of the the young midfield types with a bit of pace to raise their game a level we will be a force to be reckoned with. The back line and forward line will improve further through the season, and they are already solid. Its the likes of Schammer, Peake, Dodd, Crowley, Duffield, Gilmore and Dunn we need to take that step forward and start winning significant ball at clearances and around the ground. We will play finals football this year (even if we are 2/4 after round 6), the question is can we win one? And will it be enough to save CC's job ?

 

[TP3_Freo]

We will improve in decision making and delivery and if we can just get a few of the the young midfield types with a bit of pace to raise their game a level we will be a force to be reckoned with.

But it's been said so many times. Action speaks louder than words. The football world has been saying it for years. In 2003, we got to the finals showing glimpses of brilliance in decision making and delivery with the likes of Schammer, Hasleby and Bell conducting the midfield well. Since then we have bolstered the squad with quality players like Josh Carr. You would think he would make the side much more tougher and help out in the centre, but this isn't the case. Although he is an awesome player, and not our worst, he just hasn't hit his straps and he has played for the club for over a year now. So why is it we continue to play innacurate and inconsistent football each year?
Until we start to play quality footy week in week out I will still see us as the inconsistent team in the AFL, who on paper have plenty of potential, yet can't deliver on a consistent basis.