Training Pre season. Next up a VFL practice game v Williamstown at Arden St 10.30am Sat 17th Mar.

[Gone north]

I am saying both things. That they are tagged and yet still perform tells me that they perform under pressure well. Another way of looking at it is as a time and space problem. If you can control the hind-brain (that thing that tells you it is fight or flight time) long enough to dispose of the ball to advantage then you are ahead of the game.

And yes players that can not handle the pressure of AFL get found out quickly. The jump required to go from the lower rungs to AFL is huge.

Let's look at the GF last year. If you looked at the respective teams, Adelaide for all intents and purposes should have won that game. Apart from Martin, Cotchin and Rance, Adelaide looked the stronger team across the park (on paper). To counter that Hardwick's game plan involved placing the opposition under levels of pressure that they were unable to cope with. Pretty soon their skills went to s**t and they were run ragged. Once the fatigue set in from chasing their tails it was game over.

It was a masterstroke. Richmond applied sustained pressure from the first bounce and Adelaide cracked.

Adelaide failed to do what Sydney failed to do the year before ..
Play with any kind of mongrel / thuggery
Coincidentally the two softest teams in their respective years of at least the past 10, won a GF

 

[B4Bear]

Adelaide failed to do what Sydney failed to do the year before ..
Play with any kind of mongrel / thuggery
Coincidentally the two softest teams in their respective years of at least the past 10, won a GF

Agree there. They were too busy worrying about what the other side were doing to execute their own game.

 

[Heaps of fun]

Adelaide failed to do what Sydney failed to do the year before ..
Play with any kind of mongrel / thuggery
Coincidentally the two softest teams in their respective years of at least the past 10, won a GF

Who are the soft teams?

 

[tazaa]

Atleast it a double tower and not triple
Unless Preuss or Goldi is resting down there

I dont even know if we can win enough ball to utilise our talls

 

[Horizons_00]

I am saying both things. That they are tagged and yet still perform tells me that they perform under pressure well. Another way of looking at it is as a time and space problem. If you can control the hind-brain (that thing that tells you it is fight or flight time) long enough to dispose of the ball to advantage then you are ahead of the game.

And yes players that can not handle the pressure of AFL get found out quickly. The jump required to go from the lower rungs to AFL is huge.

Let's look at the GF last year. If you looked at the respective teams, Adelaide for all intents and purposes should have won that game. Apart from Martin, Cotchin and Rance, Adelaide looked the stronger team across the park (on paper). To counter that Hardwick's game plan involved placing the opposition under levels of pressure that they were unable to cope with. Pretty soon their skills went to s**t and they were run ragged. Once the fatigue set in from chasing their tails it was game over.

It was a masterstroke. Richmond applied sustained pressure from the first bounce and Adelaide cracked.

Pressure wins games. I suppose you can have awful skills but if you’re causing multiple turnovers with manic pressure you will win games

Wonder what we are concentrating on this year

 

[muttley45]

Irregardless of whether he is a lock for Rd 1, (and i reckon he is), i see no real gain in playing Waite in this game, risks out weigh the benefits IMO.

 

[King Corey]

Irregardless of whether he is a lock for Rd 1, (and i reckon he is), i see no real gain in playing Waite in this game, risks out weigh the benefits IMO.

We played him in the ******** AFLX too, not really sure what the thinking is.

 

[B4Bear]

Pressure wins games. I suppose you can have awful skills but if you’re causing multiple turnovers with manic pressure you will win games

Wonder what we are concentrating on this year

Twin Towers it appears.

 

[North Viking]

I think we all are.
Throw Wood into that equasion as well.

I’m over seeing these guys off the park.

 

[North Viking]

Having a ludicrous "handicap" style fixturing system based on the previous year also helps. There's no doubt in my mind that two outside chance flags in two years is not a coincidence. Not saying they didn't play the cards they were dealt fairly BTW - just that I don't think the cards are dealt fairly.

Agreed.
Piss off the JLT pre-season whatever and add 4 games to the season.
Will bring the draw closer to parity.

 

[shintemaster]

Agreed.
Piss off the JLT pre-season whatever and add 4 games to the season.
Will bring the draw closer to parity.

Yep. Absolute no brainer IMO. Had someone on the main board explaining that "clubs will just want practice games if we do that". Well, who gives a sh*t. They can practice all they like against each other if they choose. It does make me laugh a bit that we have clubs holding "closed" sessions to keep their powder dry and systems secret - then they go out and do practice versions before the real thing. Well, that makes COMPLETE SENSE TO ME. We don't have to have AFL sanctioned versions practice games IMO. 2-3 extra games and the extra bye that the players want would be a great result. Extend the lists a touch if need be.

 

[North Viking]

Yep. Absolute no brainer IMO. Had someone on the main board explaining that "clubs will just want practice games if we do that". Well, who gives a sh*t. They can practice all they like against each other if they choose. It does make me laugh a bit that we have clubs holding "closed" sessions to keep their powder dry and systems secret - then they go out and do practice versions before the real thing. Well, that makes COMPLETE SENSE TO ME. We don't have to have AFL sanctioned versions practice games IMO. 2-3 extra games and the extra bye that the players want would be a great result. Extend the lists a touch if need be.

They will have to extend list by around 5 I would think.
Though I can’t see the AFLPA go for it as it would erode into there 3 months + of holidays they receive. If they had their way there would be a bye round every other week.....

 

[naturally north]

Remain undecided on their best ruck set up?

You've had a ******* eternity to figure it out.

Speechless......what is the appropriate round to fire up the sack Scotts thread? Don't want to go early, but sheesh the guys a nutter.

 

[shintemaster]

They will have to extend list by around 5 I would think.
Though I can’t see the AFLPA go for it as it would erode into there 3 months + of holidays they receive. If they had their way there would be a bye round every other week.....

Offset that against an extra bye and potentially an extra 100or so members of the union / player base...

 

[Bigeasy]

Speechless......what is the appropriate round to fire up the sack Scotts thread? Don't want to go early, but sheesh the guys a nutter.

I think they know but not letting on to protect player(s). Need to be careful how you message via Media. Could you imagine if Scott said we are leaning towards Preuss for round 1, the media headlines would be "Goldstein not part of future"- Scott

 

[naturally north]

I think they know but not letting on to protect player(s). Need to be careful how you message via Media. Could you imagine if Scott said we are leaning towards Preuss for round 1, the media headlines would be "Goldstein not part of future"- Scott

Mate he loves Goldy and he's in Scott's mind our no 1 ruck...... just say it.

 

[Bigeasy]

Mate he loves Goldy and he's in Scott's mind our no 1 ruck...... just say it.

Hopefully Preuss sways his mind tomorrow night then

 

[Groin guru]

Nielson gets a one year contract = "he's done!!!"

Lol. How about he tore his ACL in his first season and struggled to shake off the injuries. Big men take time and Nielson has shown some promising signs. Not many key position players can run down robbie gray and content with key talls. We need both he and EVW to stay fit. If they can do that they are locks for the future.

 

[Groin guru]

I don't rate Richmond. I only see a North loss on the cards if we take our foot off the pedal and focus on round 1. Ricmond will struggle to make the 8 this year.

 

[Jasemon]

Why?

Their skills are fine. In fact I would hazard a guess that there are very few, if any, AFL players who do not have amazing skills with a football.

What we need is pressure management training. The very best players are the ones who no matter how much pressure they are under execute the required skill as though it was just another training drill. In other words it is all about the individual training his mind to ignore external pressure, either real or perceived and execute accordingly.

A quick analogy:

When I am shooting on the range, I rarely if ever miss with a rifle from 25m out to about 300m. I can reliably hit the target 99/100. However, when I am placed under a time constraint of only 2 seconds per shot, I am not as accurate. Now the actions I need to perform when there is no time limit is exactly the same as when there is a time limit; yet I will miss many more shots because of the pressure I feel.

It is only after extended practice in dealing with the pressure, that I end up ignoring the pressure, and my natural shooting re-emerges.

We have two players that are perfect examples of how people react under pressure:

Ben Cunnington has some of the best hands I have seen since the days of Barry Cable. He just appears to have so much time to evaluate and execute a handball, regardless of how many people are around him.

Jack Ziebull when he receives the ball from a centre clearance hacks it forward almost every single time, regardless of the situation (or pressure he is actually under). Yet when he is under zero pressure, like a set shot for goal, he is a beautiful kick. In fact I would class him as one of the most reliable set-shots in the team.

Players' skills do not degrade when they get drafted, they just have not learnt how to maintain the skills that they have when the pressure is on. How do we fix that? No bloody idea; but I can assure you, getting them handballing and kicking to each other under pressure that is less than what they get on game-day will not solve the problem.

Great post. After the first few lines I was ready to jump down your throat and disagree strongly with you but by the end I was totally on board. My primary frustration with our playing group is their ability to turn the ball over. It’s a mental thing as well as a fundamental ability to execute the required skill. High draft picks have generally, I would guess learnt the art of both disciplines. Perhaps the one thing you can’t teach is vision.

 

[tales129]

Great post. After the first few lines I was ready to jump down your throat and disagree strongly with you but by the end I was totally on board. My primary frustration with our playing group is their ability to turn the ball over. It’s a mental thing as well as a fundamental ability to execute the required skill. High draft picks have generally, I would guess learnt the art of both disciplines. Perhaps the one thing you can’t teach is vision.

Vision is a huge element of it. There’s a massive perceived aspect to the way say Ziebell acts compared to Pendles or Cunners.


I wonder what the statistical correlation to something like reaction time is. We need to bring VR reaction time testing in for all our future draftees

 

[koshari]

Great post. After the first few lines I was ready to jump down your throat and disagree strongly with you but by the end I was totally on board. My primary frustration with our playing group is their ability to turn the ball over. It’s a mental thing as well as a fundamental ability to execute the required skill. High draft picks have generally, I would guess learnt the art of both disciplines. Perhaps the one thing you can’t teach is vision.

Agreed. Very good analogy.

 

[marklovesbeer]

Is it free to get into the footy tomorrow?

 

[Yoko and me]

I don't rate Richmond. I only see a North loss on the cards unless we take our foot off the pedal and focus on round 1. Riicmond will struggle to make the 8 this year.

Only if Martin's groin is mysteriously misplaced in an act of ruthless meditation

 

[Yoko and me]

Vision is a huge element of it. There’s a massive perceived aspect to the way say Ziebell acts compared to Pendles or Cunners.


I wonder what the statistical correlation to something like reaction time is. We need to bring VR reaction time testing in for all our future draftees

Like the driving license computer party of the test. They give you fifteen seconds and I could have gone straight away, but I was nervous, so I didn't and then the screen passed without me making a decision. Not sure whether I got that question right. Been driving for more than twenty years with not much incident, though try to avoid driving as much as possible.

Get driving teacher scouts for speculative draftees. Or get them to design and profligate gardens at the combine. Judgement is important but it should be solidified by learning real results of actions. Have to get games into whoever we think maybe the best to drive themselves