List Mgmt. Ross Lyon - Sacked

Is Ross still the man for the job?


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When I think of skill improvement I'm referring to individuals. BHills non existent left foot, Tabs and his brick hands, defenders practicing stab passes, anyone practising set shots. Not so much the whole team practicing a skill, because others might be quite profficient when others are poor in a certain area. Though, 'trick' shots should also be practiced (your kicking a ball into a barrel for 15 mins for example)Not for the explicit reason that you'll use them in a game, but just to feel how the ball reacts in different situations.
Phil Mickelson can hit a golf ball backwards over his head. He's never used the shot in a tournament but he is the best short game player in the world. There's a relationship there.

I cant wait to read the response/s to this post.
 

theGav56

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Funny thing about this whole debate is that there was a very specific article last season about things we were doing to improve our skills -




Key takeaways -
  1. we have a skills program
  2. we review our programs and look for ways to improve
  3. we focus on specialisations and fundamentals

So for anyone arguing that we don't do skills training - here you go
it has been upgraded to Scham approved skills training, which excludes the skill of tapping the ball to a roving player, because he doesn't like that. But it includes hitting a golf ball backwards.. ..
 

wayToGo_

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Phil Mickelson can hit a golf ball backwards over his head. He's never used the shot in a tournament but he is the best short game player in the world. There's a relationship there.
And does/did Mickelson pay a coach to stand beside him and watch every time whilst he practices those skills over and over and over again? Or does/did he utilise a combination of coaches, biomechanists, sports scientists etc to refine his technique and then takes that knowledge away and practice his technique over and over and over again (in his own time)?

If I had a dollar for every time a golfer complained that their coach not valuing skills was the reason they had never won a golden jacket ;)
 

Bicco

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And does/did Mickelson pay a coach to stand beside him and watch every time whilst he practices those skills over and over and over again? Or does/did he utilise a combination of coaches, biomechanists, sports scientists etc to refine his technique and then takes that knowledge away and practice his technique over and over and over again (in his own time)?

If I had a dollar for every time a golfer complained that their coach not valuing skills was the reason they had never won a golden jacket ;)
Im pretty sure he just goes and practices.
 

tonygeeks

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Funny thing about this whole debate is that there was a very specific article last season about things we were doing to improve our skills -




Key takeaways -
  1. we have a skills program
  2. we review our programs and look for ways to improve
  3. we focus on specialisations and fundamentals

So for anyone arguing that we don't do skills training - here you go

Wow a whole 12 mths of it and the only reason it happened is someone else got some oxygen because we started Owen 11 and Rosco's bullshit SuperCoach balloon burst and suddenly his cred took a hit and we've started doing some things that other clubs have been doing for years

What a glowing endorsement


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wayToGo_

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Im pretty sure he just goes and practices.
Exactly. Just like a professional in any sport (or in any industry)... they should take primary responsibility for their own individual development, and skills.

Personally I'd rather the limited 3 training sessions per week during pre-season were focussed almost solely on team performance/dynamic and training (eg match simulations) and leave the individual skills training to the line coaches and the individual players outside of those main sessions.

I really don't get the West Coast comparative focus on skills thing? Their whole game plan is based on everyone knowing exactly what everyone else is doing - hence why they look organised in defence, and are confident with ball in hand that they will be able to make a short easy kick to someone who has found space through coordinated movement of everyone else. If all they did was individual skills training I have no idea how they managed to implement (and execute effectively) such a whole of team game plan?
 

Scham

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Exactly. Just like a professional in any sport (or in any industry)... they should take primary responsibility for their own individual development, and skills.

Personally I'd rather the limited 3 training sessions per week during pre-season were focussed almost solely on team performance/dynamic and training (eg match simulations) and leave the individual skills training to the line coaches and the individual players outside of those main sessions.

I really don't get the West Coast comparative focus on skills thing? Their whole game plan is based on everyone knowing exactly what everyone else is doing - hence why they look organised in defence, and are confident with ball in hand that they will be able to make a short easy kick to someone who has found space through coordinated movement of everyone else. If all they did was individual skills training I have no idea how they managed to implement (and execute effectively) such a whole of team game plan?

Is anyone suggesting that ALL we do is individual skills training?
 

Dirty_banchez

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Eagles just won a flag with a major focus on skills. Hawks won 3 flags in a row and Clarko consistently slaughters Ross every time we play the Hawks - Nah mate practicing skills is not necessary.

Curry and Durant always practice their 3-point shooting at practice -

Our skills have been s**t for a long time, but hey I look forward to everyone wetting their knickers over Jesse Hogan kicking 1.3 and laying 5 tackles as we get pounded by a well oiled Hawks outfit.
 
Wow a whole 12 mths of it and the only reason it happened is someone else got some oxygen because we started Owen 11 and Rosco's bullshit SuperCoach balloon burst and suddenly his cred took a hit and we've started doing some things that other clubs have been doing for years

What a glowing endorsement


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You're speculating. At least what I posted was fact. There may have been a program before it, there might not have been. Odds would suggest it's been something we've done from the start, and if you recall back to the Harvey days, there were specific changes made to training to reflect more focus on skills when Ross joined us. But hey - you have your agenda, so knock yourself out.
 

theGav56

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Doing match simulations IS skills practice. Practicing 3 point shots without the pressure of an opponent(s) coming at you is way less beneficial than practicing 3 pointers in a simulation, but they are both skills practice. Those players already have high end skills and they would pot 3 pointers on their own time heaps. Taking "the shot" is an important but incomplete part of the skillset required to take "the shot" in an actual game, where you require instincts, evasive moves, dummy moves, physical adjustments due to opposition pressure.
 

tonygeeks

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You're speculating. At least what I posted was fact. There may have been a program before it, there might not have been. Odds would suggest it's been something we've done from the start, and if you recall back to the Harvey days, there were specific changes made to training to reflect more focus on skills when Ross joined us. But hey - you have your agenda, so knock yourself out.

Well something must have changed from " I don't coach skills "

As bad as politicians in here holding up reforms as proof of how well everything's going


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Well something must have changed from " I don't coach skills "

As bad as politicians in here holding up reforms as proof of how well everything's going


On iPad using BigFooty.com mobile app

Touche. I was thinking that same thing reading your post earlier. As bad as politicians pushing their own agenda regardless of evidence to the contrary.
 
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At band practice, do musicians sit around playing scales? Nope, they work on the songs at hand. You practice your individual skills individually in sport as in life, you practice your team specific things when you have the team together.

In the comparison of the skills of our team vs other teams, a big part of why our skills were shizen, is because we lacked in skilled players. e.g. All the missing first round draft picks. Sure we had the skill in Pav and a few others, did we expect Pav or Luke or Fyfe to outperform their opponents - yep, and they did. Did the chain of possession break down repeatedly because we had a few extra depth players in permanent positions? Yep.

We have assembled more skill and it's pretty balanced across the different parts of the field, we should start looking less fumblier and more proficient. But it will take a while to polish up as there are a lot of new faces that have to learn to work as 1 team and the proportion of players in their peak playing years is low (18/19 year old midfielders don't get as many possessions/disposals as their 25 year old selves for example).
 

theGav56

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At band practice, do musicians sit around playing scales? Nope, they work on the songs at hand. You practice your individual skills individually in sport as in life, you practice your team specific things when you have the team together.

In the comparison of the skills of our team vs other teams, a big part of why our skills were shizen, is because we lacked in skilled players. e.g. All the missing first round draft picks. Sure we had the skill in Pav and a few others, did we expect Pav or Luke or Fyfe to outperform their opponents - yep, and they did. Did the chain of possession break down repeatedly because we had a few extra depth players in permanent positions? Yep.

We have assembled more skill and it's pretty balanced across the different parts of the field, we should start looking less fumblier and more proficient. But it will take a while to polish up as there are a lot of new faces that have to learn to work as 1 team and the proportion of players in their peak playing years is low (18/19 year old midfielders don't get as many possessions/disposals as their 25 year old selves for example).
I like that analogy. You may train some new moves and uses for the skills, and you may highlight some skills that need to be improved, and even put some time into them. I wouldn't expect the Senior Coach to be doing a lot of that though, it would be handed on to line coaches and to the players themselves.
 
The eagles destroyed teams by running to field position when the ball was being kicked into their defensive fifty and it worked because their half back line was so dominant at winning the ball back, suddenly the likes of Hurn can kick 50m up the ground to a guy in clear space because they set up before they won the ball.

You don't see that on TV or the stats page though.

Richmond did it too, offensively.
 
FOllowing on from my last post on skills - this came out a few days ago

As a part of Thursday’s program at the club, the playing group undertook a ball skills session, which Cerra said was to help improve hand-eye coordination.

“It’s a small session that isn’t too stressful on the body between our main training sessions,” Cerra said.

“We incorporate other sports, like basketball and use the tennis balls to mix it up, make it a bit more enjoyable and get something new out of it.

“Alex Pearce is surprisingly very good at it. He holds multiple records for a lot of the tests and games that we have so I’ll say he’s the best one at the club.”

http://www.fremantlefc.com.au/news/2018-12-06/cerra-laying-the-groundwork

Further evidence of skills and fundamental things like hand-eye-coordination being worked on ...
 

yakka man

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FOllowing on from my last post on skills - this came out a few days ago



http://www.fremantlefc.com.au/news/2018-12-06/cerra-laying-the-groundwork

Further evidence of skills and fundamental things like hand-eye-coordination being worked on ...

I haven't been to a pre-season session this year so I admit I don't know what they're doing, but that video shows absolutely nothing. Low intensity, no movement, and using tennis balls and basketballs, and the players were having great fun while doing it (even taking scores). Skills training has to included in a main session while under fatigue. Regardless, I'm sure they'll improve a bit this year if the team becomes more competitive.
 
I haven't been to a pre-season session this year so I admit I don't know what they're doing, but that video shows absolutely nothing. Low intensity, no movement, and using tennis balls and basketballs, and the players were having great fun while doing it (even taking scores). Skills training has to included in a main session while under fatigue. Regardless, I'm sure they'll improve a bit this year if the team becomes more competitive.

I agree - and I think there's both aspects covered. Development of specific skills in between the main sessions, and then the game-play simulation training that develops skills under fatigue and pressure (along with embedding the patterns).

The only reason why i'm flagging things here is because of specific comments that we do nothing, which isn't true. Whether we do enough, or focus on the right things is a different conversation :p
 

wayToGo_

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Skills training has to included in a main session while under fatigue.
Like in full ground match sims at the end of each session?

I still don't get what those complaining are complaining about? What constitutes skills training in your opinion? What are you expecting to see/hear about?

Practicing kicking goals? Practicing hand balling? Practicing ground ball gets? Practicing long kicking? Practicing short kicking? Practicing marking? Practicing leading? Practicing body positioning in a contest? Practicing stoppages? Practicing ball handling? Practicing tackling? Practicing bouncing the ball?

Every single session I have been to has a whole raft of activities where all of those skills are being practised. You are obviously not going to see the same basic skill drills and exercises they do in Auskick because they are all professional athletes but I assure you the drills they do at training all involve skill development in some shape or form. Otherwise why would they do them? The only activity they do at training that doesn't involve skill development imo is the running (or gym work inside if they aren't training). At all times players are either running or doing skills drills. Am I missing something here?
 

yakka man

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Like in full ground match sims at the end of each session?

I still don't get what those complaining are complaining about? What constitutes skills training in your opinion? What are you expecting to see/hear about?

Practicing kicking goals? Practicing hand balling? Practicing ground ball gets? Practicing long kicking? Practicing short kicking? Practicing marking? Practicing leading? Practicing body positioning in a contest? Practicing stoppages? Practicing ball handling? Practicing tackling? Practicing bouncing the ball?

Every single session I have been to has a whole raft of activities where all of those skills are being practised. You are obviously not going to see the same basic skill drills and exercises they do in Auskick because they are all professional athletes but I assure you the drills they do at training all involve skill development in some shape or form. Otherwise why would they do them? The only activity they do at training that doesn't involve skill development imo is the running (or gym work inside if they aren't training). At all times players are either running or doing skills drills. Am I missing something here?

No, you're not "missing anything". I think Lyon does the type of skills training that is appropriate for his game plan. It's the game plan, and how we train, not what we train, that that I dislike. An open, high scoring game style like Hawhtorn's would train more fast and exciting skills. These aren't needed in Lyon's style of play. That's what I dislike, but I will give him this year to change my mind.
 
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