Coach Michael Voss - Stats, history, articles, videos

[WalshistheGOAT]

Elaborate?

We looked fit and focussed yesterday, even under some extreme pressure from Geelong.

It shouldn’t be surprising though, this is what we should expect at our level experience.

Accountability for individual skill errors goes a long way to making the coach look good. We've been far cleaner under pressure and in open space the last 3 weeks.

 

[Michael Jezz]

So many factors to determine what is an acceptable season, mostly hinging on health of list.

I believe this group should be pushing 13-16 wins this year

13 is non negotiable, but we could still miss finals, so the pressure will come

So, I'm looking for sustainable improvement, in consistency and style, getting the 4 points in most of our close matches against strong opposition

We also need to elimate blow out losses, we need to be in every game

It is a 6 to 8 list, so tbat's about right

 

[Coona Blues]

There will be changes at years end. I said a month ago I think Voss will stay but support around him and within football dept will change a lot. Last 3 weeks have been good but long way to go.

There is a massive element of player driven changes in last month

We are very close to the right recipe. The question remains for me on our ball use. We have been better the last couple of weeks, particularly offensively.

The main concern for me remains our structures. The ease that the Cats moved the ball on occasion is the largest red flag. Magpies are similar. They revert to rehearsed structure and spread to facilitate ball movement and creation of space. We remain haphazard and rely on individual talents and initiative to create our chains.

We have the personnel to be a juggernaut, but struggle to maintain the level due to the taxing nature of our game. A few tweaks required.

I feel that we started the season leaving a little room for improvement with the last couple of years of fade outs in mind, but have relatively quickly found our feet. My concern still is maintaining the rage through September. We need to incorporate more soldiers rather than Vossy’s fall back of relying on our “stars” to carry us there.

The advent of White, Carroll and Lord has added some real exhuberance to the group. It is contagious. The return of Durds has been a catalyst. We have different smalls stepping up weekly. Hopefully Williams will be back soon. I know not all will agree, but Evans has been good in the twos, and the fabled Orazio may be back soon to share the load. We need a squad mentality to run out the season.

 

[DangerousD]

Even as far back as the game against the Hawks it seemed we were trying to move the ball faster off half back, it just fell apart late, I’ve noticed a shift in how we are playing, which if true is a good indication of the coaching staff.

One win doesnt change much, its how we play as a team across big chunks of the season, if we keep it up, its a huge tick for the coach but as many have pointed out, we have played really god footy in patches under Voss, we then fall apart.

I noticed on Sunday a change in the players anytime the bench held up the power off sign, each time we were in total control and as soon as the sign was held up, we crapped the bed because we went away from what was working. Im not sure if this was just coincidental or if it was down to overcomplicating things, hopefully its something that improves.

Still so many times yesterday our players taking really bad decisions going inside 50 which i guess can be seen as a positive, lots of improvement left.

A big scalp and a bit of confidence going forward hopefully.

 

[Sector 7G]

Accountability for individual skill errors goes a long way to making the coach look good. We've been far cleaner under pressure and in open space the last 3 weeks.

If only Voss had have told Haynes not to drop marks in Round 1. We would be in the 8

 

[WalshistheGOAT]

If only Voss had have told Haynes not to drop marks in Round 1. We would be in the 8

Having our 2 best goal kickers fit and playing makes a bit of a difference too.

 

[Beyond Blue]

Coona Blues I enjoy your analysis but we are apart on Voss’ coaching methods being a huge inhibitor to success. He is not the problem as much as the list depth and the players executing the game plan.

We are very close to the right recipe. The question remains for me on our ball use. We have been better the last couple of weeks, particularly offensively.

The main concern for me remains our structures. The ease that the Cats moved the ball on occasion is the largest red flag. Magpies are similar. They revert to rehearsed structure and spread to facilitate ball movement and creation of space. We remain haphazard and rely on individual talents and initiative to create our chains.

We have the personnel to be a juggernaut, but struggle to maintain the level due to the taxing nature of our game. A few tweaks required.

When we hit targets and don’t make stupid decisions the game plan is not taxing and the structures look fine. What is taxing is having to fight games out to the end like yesterday because we make so many stupid errors. The last 2 minutes of the first quarter is a great example…a stupid decision by Charlie not taking the mark from Cripps’ pass and then Carroll giving away a dumb free to Danger inside 50…a two goal turnaround in a minute resulting in a 1 point quarter time lead instead of a 2 goal lead all driven by player errors that no coach can plan for or against. If we are 6-7 goals up at 3 quarter time as we should have been it’s game over. Even if White kicks a simple goal in the last we are home with 7-8 minutes to go. Instead we have to fight to the very end. That is what is taxing.

The structures are generally fine as evidence by the fact we have the third lowest scores against this season. We are hard to score against unless there is a catastrophic turnover up the ground or we give away a dumb free kick inside d50. These are not new problems and have been symptomatic of this group for a long period of time. Voss has been the most successful of 3 coaches to put in structure that make us hard to be scored on.

I feel that we started the season leaving a little room for improvement with the last couple of years of fade outs in mind, but have relatively quickly found our feet. My concern still is maintaining the rage through September. We need to incorporate more soldiers rather than Vossy’s fall back of relying on our “stars” to carry us there.

Voss’ mantra has literally been next soldier up. Aside from his moronic selections for the Brisbane final last year he has has been pretty consistent on that during his time. The players have to take responsibility to make the most of the opportunities they are given to establish themselves in the side. Sadly there are a few who aren’t up to it.

The advent of White, Carroll and Lord has added some real exhuberance to the group. It is contagious. The return of Durds has been a catalyst. We have different smalls stepping up weekly. Hopefully Williams will be back soon. I know not all will agree, but Evans has been good in the twos, and the fabled Orazio may be back soon to share the load. We need a squad mentality to run out the season.

I agree White and Carroll debuting and Durdin returning (and even Young playing well in Harry’s absence) have given us a real lift taking their opportunities but Lord looks miles off it especially yesterday and even in earlier games this year. He cannot impact games for long enough because he doesn’t have the fitness to do so. I think he needs some time playing full games in the midfield in the reserves. The ability of new players to step up is improving but the squad is still too thin for me with a host of blokes like Moir, Lemney, Binns, The Irish boys, HOK and HOF virtually unplayable at league level this year limiting the choices Voss has if he needs replacements to cover for injuries.

 

[WalshistheGOAT]

Coona Blues I enjoy your analysis but we are apart on Voss’ coaching methods being a huge inhibitor to success. He is not the problem as much as the list depth and the players executing the game plan.


When we hit targets and don’t make stupid decisions the game plan is not taxing and the structures look fine. What is taxing is having to fight games out to the end like yesterday because we make so many stupid errors. The last 2 minutes of the first quarter is a great example…a stupid decision by Charlie not taking the mark from Cripps’ pass and then Carroll giving away a dumb free to Danger inside 50…a two goal turnaround in a minute resulting in a 1 point quarter time lead instead of a 2 goal lead all driven by player errors that no coach can plan for or against. If we are 6-7 goals up at 3 quarter time as we should have been it’s game over. Even if White kicks a simple goal in the last we are home with 7-8 minutes to go. Instead we have to fight to the very end. That is what is taxing.

The structures are generally fine as evidence by the fact we have the third lowest scores against this season. We are hard to score against unless there is a catastrophic turnover up the ground or we give away a dumb free kick inside d50. These are not new problems and have been symptomatic of this group for a long period of time. Voss has been the most successful of 3 coaches to put in structure that make us hard to be scored on.


Voss’ mantra has literally been next soldier up. Aside from his moronic selections for the Brisbane final last year he has has been pretty consistent on that during his time. The players have to take responsibility to make the most of the opportunities they are given to establish themselves in the side. Sadly there are a few who aren’t up to it.


I agree White and Carroll debuting and Durdin returning (and even Young playing well in Harry’s absence) have given us a real lift taking their opportunities but Lord looks miles off it especially yesterday and even in earlier games this year. He cannot impact games for long enough because he doesn’t have the fitness to do so. I think he needs some time playing full games in the midfield in the reserves. The ability of new players to step up is improving but the squad is still too thin for me with a host of blokes like Moir, Lemney, Binns, The Irish boys, HOK and HOF virtually unplayable at league level this year limiting the choices Voss has if he needs replacements to cover for injuries.

I've said many times. Voss may not be a master coach, but when players are executing our game plan is still perfectly effective. A touch ugly compared to the Cats or Hawks but still effective.

Ultimately I feel too many still think we have the skill and running power on our list to play how some other teams are playing at the moment. Look at the difference a player like Elijah Hollands has on the list purely on the back of being able to use the ball effectively and run hard on the outside to get to space.

I'd love to see how Voss would go with a few more players of that ilk. Teams like Geelong, GWS and the Pies have probably 10 players each with the foot skills of our very best handful.

 

[bluemahogany]

**** it, he didn't deserve the reprieve of the last 3 weeks. Zero imagination, zero ability to adapt, disgusting team selection week after week.

 

[NavySteel]

Once again showing that when teams target our weakness there’s no plan B. Again. And again. And again. And again. And again….

You can say players aren’t playing the gameplan… it’s irrelevant when the gameplan is not conducive to nullifying opposition. No tactical nous, no game day agility.

 

[CarmenSandiego]

Seriously? The players couldn’t give a **** today.

Getting absolutely slaughtered in the middle. 33 clearances to 21 atm.

Wtf is Voss supposed to do about that? His game plan was good enough to beat Geelong last week.

 

[GT619]

players gave up again

 

[BluesFanatic2025]

Two players jumping for the same mark spoiling each other. This isn’t Voss today. Players have just had a shocker. On to next week

 

[Blue By Blood]

It's the Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde performances that are the most concerning. He's been preaching for years that we need to be more consistent and we haven't improved that side of things.

Either he's got as much out of the list as he can or the list isn't good enough. But we see what the list is capable on their day so I lean towards the former. Consistency is key.. he hasn't been able to get that out of them for whatever reason and this isn't his 1st or 2nd season as coach.. no free hall passes anymore.

 

[Beyond Blue]

Seriously? The players couldn’t give a **** today.

Getting absolutely slaughtered in the middle. 33 clearances to 21 atm.

Wtf is Voss supposed to do about that? His game plan was good enough to beat Geelong last week.

I am very much pro Voss, don’t want him sacked and think the game plan is fine. I largely agree with you that it’s so disappointing the players did not bring the required effort today...you’d think they’ve been around long enough to understand what is required. That said part of his job as coach is to get the players to be consistent so on that front he definitely has a case to answer to. I think tolerating half arsed efforts from blokes like Gov and Doc without consequences for so long is part of the problem. He needs to grow some balls and put a line through some of these blokes once and for all.

 

[SkyhorseTamer]

Under 10s game plan today. Anchor a line way to deep and another line way too forward and then hit your head with a rolling maul into the middle and force everyone to run 100000 miles forward and back to make up for the structure.

Spectacular reversion to what doesn't work and hasn't worked in any era beyond under 10s

 

[The Flying Doormat]

Aphrodite can we unlock the other thread for the inevitable pile on?

 

[BlueTongue]

Seriously? The players couldn’t give a **** today.

Getting absolutely slaughtered in the middle. 33 clearances to 21 atm.

Wtf is Voss supposed to do about that? His game plan was good enough to beat Geelong last week.

200%. We need top clean out a lot of players that are not fair dinkum. And there are a few.
Acres has been very good but this year he has been a hack who simply laughs at his own poor form.
McGovern back to his very predictable inconsistent form. Haynes already more consistent. I dont care how good his one or two good games are, keeping him on our list is not helping our cause.
Motlop is just not AFL standard.
I get sick of repeating the same names, but they keep getting games and burning us big time.
Bite the bullet and **** them off.

 

[Beyond Blue]

Under 10s game plan today. Anchor a line way to deep and another line way too forward and then hit your head with a rolling maul into the middle and force everyone to run 100000 miles forward and back to make up for the structure.

Spectacular reversion to what doesn't work and hasn't worked in any era beyond under 10s

Not sure what any of that has to do with Voss. The player shat themselves today. Didn’t want to take the difficult kick into the corridor that worked so well last week. Didn’t really want to put their bodies on the line to stop goals like they dis last week. IMO this performance shows more than ever shows it’s the players not the coach.

 

[BeijingBlue]

Not sure what any of that has to do with Voss. The player shat themselves today. Didn’t want to take the difficult kick into the corridor that worked so well last week. Didn’t really want to put their bodies on the line to stop goals like they dis last week. IMO this performance shows more than ever shows it’s the players not the coach.

It is like coaching Under 16's. You know the moment you see them before the game they are off. Despite your best efforts, game plans go out the window and you all live to play another day.

 

[WyntersGame_]

The only questionable decision today was not subbing off Doc.

Aside from that, I wouldn’t base a case for removing him as head coach on this game.

Today’s performance reflects more on the playing group as a whole, with the exception of one or two players. The effort simply wasn’t there from the first bounce.

If we hadn’t beaten Geelong, I’d be questioning whether the coach had lost the playing group — but winning three in a row suggests that’s probably not the case

I tend to think unless things change for the team by years end, he is gone

 

[jj1978]

Once again showing that when teams target our weakness there’s no plan B. Again. And again. And again. And again. And again….

You can say players aren’t playing the gameplan… it’s irrelevant when the gameplan is not conducive to nullifying opposition. No tactical nous, no game day agility.

Didn’t see the second half which seems a good thing. But awaiting.. “we’re going to play our way” and “get to work”. Both which he’s had almost 4 years to figure out.

 

[WalshistheGOAT]

Team started the match with no energy and ended it with more. Simply didn't show up. Again.

 

[The Old Dark Navy's]

If our pressure rating was high, and we still got shellacked, then I'd look at Voss and Austin.

But here, I am looking at the players predominantly, and partially Austin. I was hopeful that the injected pace of Durdin and White might have helped us against this mob compared to usual, but it clearly isn't enough. It's such a neglected area that kills us every time.

I don't blame Voss at all for this one.

 

[CarmenSandiego]

If our pressure rating was high, and we still got shellacked, then I'd look at Voss and Austin.

But here, I am looking at the players predominantly, and partially Austin. I was hopeful that the injected pace of Durdin and White might have helped us against this mob compared to usual, but it clearly isn't enough. It's such a neglected area that kills us every time.

I don't blame Voss at all for this one.

Today was speed of the ball rather than speed of personnel.

We were back to slow movement and losing clearances.