Poor decision making

[Embers]

Im gonna bring up Mr Tom Swift here. Ive heard about his so called bad disposal. Heard it talked about on radio, by people I know and on here. Is it just me or has the whole world gone insane.

Do people actually realise the difference between poor disposal and poor decision making. Anyone whose seen him in the WAFL, at training would know his disposal is fine. What isnt is his decision making. ATM he gets rid of the ball too quickly. He needs to compose himself and run with the ball. He needs to look for more than one option cos atm he kicks it to the first Eagles jumper he sees.

Its a massive difference really. Poor disposal is very hard to fix. Poor decision making is quite easy to fix with more experience. IMO players with poor decision making in our team are..

Brent Staker
Matt Rosa
Mark Nicoski

Players with poor disposal are

Chad Fletcher
Andrew Embley
Dean Cox

In Cox and Embleys case in particular the fact they can make good decisions all the time with the ball make there disposal effectiveness stats look alot better than they otherwise would be. I know we go on and on about our poor skills but for me thats a bandaid soluttion and its ignoring the fact we also make a HELL of alot of poor decisions when we have the ball in our hands.

Theres a reason Daniel Kerr is seen as such an attacking weapon. Its not because of his curling 50m bombs with both feet. He is probably THE best decision maker in the AFL. His disposal aint great but his ability to create through the decisions he makes is what sets him apart from others

While its fair to say we need a new skills coach we also need someone to do alot of training in the area of pressure footy. Id like to see the coaching staff really work on this in the pre season cos its alot easier to fix than poor disposal. Get scientist, video footage etcs and show the youngsters like Swift ways in which Daniel Kerr makes good decisions. Kick to space not to the man is a good start

Watching Brad Millers goal in the third quarter last night got me wondering. When is the last time Eagles did that. If ever. A planned move with 2-3 people making correct decisions ie. leading to create space for others. Never. Our youngsters and even older players need to learn even when you dont have the ball you gotta make correct decisions. Our forwards too. Running to the boundary line may seem inconsequential but in the end that can create the space that can lead to a goal

 

[Glasslove]

Good level and balanced post Embers.

I am sure our decision making will improve (particularly on the young kids) over time with experience.. people need to cut them some slack.

 

[Embers]

Good level and balanced post Embers.

I am sure our decision making will improve (particularly on the young kids) over time with experience.. people need to cut them some slack.

Still, the coaches need to atleast address the issue rather then just putting it down to poor skills all the time. Makes me think we are a bit short sighted with this issue

From now until the end of the season cant we just atleast work on some set plays with our forwards. While they may only work once it will give the youngsters and others a bit of guidance into what needs to be done to make a correct decision with the ball

 

[Eastern Rangers]

Tom Swift only really had one game where he was really uneffective. I agree decision making is the main issue, i blame our game plan/ structure, maturity of some players and our lack of run through the middle for this, aka a lack of space.

Rosa and Priddis have improved their decision making allot this year.

 

[Tyberious Funk]

IMHO, strength and fitness are also a factor. The strength to shrug off tackles, or to create space for other players. A few extra fractions of a second for making decisions really helps.

I reckon as some of the younger players bulk up, their disposal will magically seem to improve.

 

[sydney eagle]

Yes the decision making of many players is poor, but so is the execution especially with kicks coming out of defence. The team also seems to suffer with lack of options up forward when bringing the ball forward, no movement by players off the ball , little or no blocking to create options for other players etc. We need to drill the players in skills so that they will feel confident in hitting targets when they have the ball in their hands before the decision making will improve.

 

[Chops_a_must]

That's right. Good decisions will hide bad disposal to a certain extent, and vice versa.

Look at Rioli, I don't rate his skills all that highly - the stats prove it, but because he makes the right choice the majority of the time, it's not so big an issue.

 

[Marlin01]

I think the problem that Swift is facing is unrealistic expectations from fans. At the beginning of the year, I reckon everyone would have been happy if he had played an average season of WAFL without re-injuring his legs.

As it's happened though, he played very well at WAFL level and finds himself playing AFL. A kid, who prior to this season, had not played any form of senior footy and more or less no footy, of any kind, for two seasons. He's gone from playing with 15 year-olds, to the best professional footballers in the country, in a couple of months. No wonder he's struggling with the speed of the game.

I reckon it's remarkable he's playing AFL and to be fair, if we were a decent team, he'd be playing WAFL building his confidence in readiness for a debut sometime next season.