Sando on 5AA from 5pm

[MRB37]

I was questioning why they (5AA) weren't questioning the role of Assistants a bit more, especially guys like Bickley. By Sando's own admission their forward line wasn't functioning correctly, so there has to be someone held responsible for that. It seems every time they just decide to all stream to the same spot inside the forward 50 and hope Pods or Jenkins (or even Betts ffs) can take a contest mark. Looks like there's no movement whatsoever once they look to bring it forwards.

Also it appears this inside 20's/30's rule often leaves a few players playing too "unselfishly" (or they just make bad decisions) and instead of going for goal, they'll try and square it up. Mackay was a perfect example of that against Melbourne, he's shown that when he gets on his bicycle he can boot 'em from 50 out, but instead decides to centre it to a 2-1 contest to Betts in the goalsquare. There's a few like Danger and Smith who seem to back themselves in to boot them, others not so much.

 

[King Elvis]

I'd be curious to see the stats about midfield goals kicked - we'd have to be at the bottom of the barrel?

 

[Wright Away]

respect for Dean Bailey. not replacing him when hes still alive. i dont know the details, if his condition was known to be terminal at the start of the offseason maybe replacing him wouldve given him some peace.

They knew it was terminal when it was publically announced.

 

[jenny61_99]

You are of course right Jen but just concerned with the season going to have , being between average to awful and very thinly stretched quality wise if we could cut Noble clear before maybe with a fill in assistant coach and Bickley into Deans former role till season ends or something similar.
As just think we have a lot to sort out by season end in which players and coaches we keep and obviously homework etc on replacements.

Of course it's not ideal. And I would expect that there are steps being taken to fill the role as soon as someone appropriate becomes available.

 

[Mismatched]

Sending half our team to man up their loose players is still playing the game on Melbourne's terms. Not kicking directly to that loose opposition player would have been a preferable option.

You know the funny thing about loose men, is that if one side has them, mathematics dictates that... Wait for it... The other team must have them too!

What the fk were our loose men doing? Kicking it straight to the oppositions loose men! There are advantage of having your opposition play so many behind the ball, is that it should relieve the pressure on the ball carrier.

Watch when teams flood against Hawthorn, they don't just blaze away for "inside 30's", they become patient, they hold the ball up, whilst their forwards etc all continue to lead and work to create space and eventually they find a player who can take an uncontested mark inside 50.

Most of our forwards can kick 55+ metres and are probably surer bets from 40-50 than they are 30-40. Our focus should be on marks inside 50, uncontested ones, not this magical inside 30. All that does it relieves the midfielders of the responsibility to actually try to hit a F50 target. All it is is bomb it long and jobs done! Coaches are happy...

 

[MRB37]

You know the funny thing about loose men, is that if one side has them, mathematics dictates that... Wait for it... The other team must have them too!

What the fk were our loose men doing? Kicking it straight to the oppositions loose men! There are advantage of having your opposition play so many behind the ball, is that it should relieve the pressure on the ball carrier.

Watch when teams flood against Hawthorn, they don't just blaze away for "inside 30's", they become patient, they hold the ball up, whilst their forwards etc all continue to lead and work to create space and eventually they find a player who can take an uncontested mark inside 50.

Most of our forwards can kick 55+ metres and are probably surer bets from 40-50 than they are 30-40. Our focus should be on marks inside 50, uncontested ones, not this magical inside 30. All that does it relieves the midfielders of the responsibility to actually try to hit a F50 target. All it is is bomb it long and jobs done! Coaches are happy...

This is probably one of those times when he talks about where they have to slow things down to retain possession. Instead they just play fast, bomb it in to where the loose man is and it sling shots out for a goal scored off a turnover.

 

[Schulzycrow]

I hope its not a repeat of the "basketball crap" game of us v Richmond of 05 or 06.

Wrote this in the Faceoff Thread on the Friday before the game....we are that dumb. Sando should, no, would have known that was how they would set up and yet put Betts at FF and bomb it on his head. Nothing said at quarter time? The Assistants didn't throw around a few ideas to maybe change it up a bit? To say it was the player's fault is just BS as well. The coaching staff have to take a big portion of the blame and yet we kick 2 goals in a half of footy in good conditions against nearly the bottom side. heck Sando we ain't stupid and neither was the crowd that walked out early.

Going to the Collingwood game expecting to see a response like the 10 game against Geelong. Nowhere to hide with a captive Thursday night timeslot. Careers are on the line in the next fortnight. If we don't turn up again in the first quarter and Collingwood are 5 goals up I will lose it.

 

[cmndstab]

There should be nothing stopping us looking for a Bailey replacement now!

This was the one thing Sando said that really concerned me. Why are we not looking now?

Perhaps we are looking now and Sando was just indicating that it was unlikely we'd find a quality person not already locked away until the end of the season, but the impression I got from him was that searching for a replacement would be part of our off-season activity. Why?? We know we need a replacement, we should be in the ear of every good footy person for the next six months and the minute we can get one to agree in principle to leave, we should enact it.

 

[Schulzycrow]

This was the one thing Sando said that really concerned me. Why are we not looking now?

Perhaps we are looking now and Sando was just indicating that it was unlikely we'd find a quality person not already locked away until the end of the season, but the impression I got from him was that searching for a replacement would be part of our off-season activity. Why?? We know we need a replacement, we should be in the ear of every good footy person for the next six months and the minute we can get one to agree in principle to leave, we should enact it.

I really hope this is the case. If we are waiting until the end of the year we are run by morons.

 

[Schulzycrow]

BTW Commander looking forward to a new Tex vid after he kicks 8 against the Pies.

 

[GROTTO]

Going to the Collingwood game expecting to see a response like the 10 game against Geelong. Nowhere to hide with a captive Thursday night timeslot. Careers are on the line in the next fortnight. If we don't turn up again in the first quarter and Collingwood are 5 goals up I will lose it.

If the Pies are up by 5 at QT, the supporters should start leaving. Would send a loud message to West Lakes and its sponsors that we no longer support this BS.

 

[cmndstab]

I really hope this is the case. If we are waiting until the end of the year we are run by morons.

The only argument I can think of is that by signing/committing to someone now we're now allowing ourselves full access to potentially better options that might become available at the end of they ear. But that doesn't stop us from talking, in advance, to people who's contracts are set to run out at the end of the season.

BTW Commander looking forward to a new Tex vid after he kicks 8 against the Pies.

Oh man, I hope so

 

[feenix67]

This is correct. And it's infuriating to hear them criticised for making a human choice, rather than a business one. Life is short and FFS sometimes there's things more important than footy. Dean will be replaced at the end of this season, when there will be a far greater chance of finding someone appropriate for the job given that all candidates suitable, currently have roles for this season.

Rubbish. Ask yourself this: what would dean have preferred we do?

 

[cmndstab]

I have no issue whatsoever with us keeping Dean's spot open while he was still with us. It would have been disrespectful to fill it, and I think the players would have resented it.

Now that he has sadly passed on, and some time has passed it is time to fill his spot.

 

[Sanders]

Nothing disrespectful about making an interim appointment for the year, holding Bail's position open to allow him to concentrate his energies on what mattered

 

[jenny61_99]

Nothing disrespectful about making an interim appointment for the year, holding Bail's position open to allow him to concentrate his energies on what mattered

It was all about timing. By the time we found out about Bails' illness, positions at all clubs were locked away. So, we rearranged the furniture, with everyone having to do a little more.

 

[hey shorty]

Depends who we are looking for, are we targeting someone at another club or will we get a fresh face. If we are poaching then I see why we would leave it til the end.

However if we arent even looking.......

 

[Crow_Magnon]

This is probably one of those times when he talks about where they have to slow things down to retain possession. Instead they just play fast, bomb it in to where the loose man is and it sling shots out for a goal scored off a turnover.

Actually this is a fair point. The three games I've seen live this year...Saints, Bullies and GWS (all wins...so maybe I should attend every game from now on!)...I felt we looked better when we did slow it down and not blaze away. This was evident mainly in transitioning out of defence, where players actually waited for their teammates to make position before blindly kicking it forward. The downside to this is that opposition can get numbers back, but if the forwards are doing the 'team' things...running to create space for others and not just to receive, it can work quite well (and of course some of our kicking skills are pretty poor, so it doesn't work every time).

 

[DangerSloane]

I'd be curious to see the stats about midfield goals kicked - we'd have to be at the bottom of the barrel?

The BIGGEST reason for this is we refuse to lower our eyes and hit a short target inside 50.
Its either a long kick to a lead in the pocket, or a long bomb to the top of the goal square. I think theyre taking the 'deep entries' thing a bit too literally. When we have the ball 60 out we should be able to find a short target 40-45 out most times, but we never look for that kick.

 

[jenny61_99]

The BIGGEST reason for this is we refuse to lower our eyes and hit a short target inside 50.
Its either a long kick to a lead in the pocket, or a long bomb to the top of the goal square. I think theyre taking the 'deep entries' thing a bit too literally. When we have the ball 60 out we should be able to find a short target 40-45 out most times, but we never look for that kick.

To be fair, nobody appears to be leading.

 

[jenny61_99]

This was the one thing Sando said that really concerned me. Why are we not looking now?

Perhaps we are looking now and Sando was just indicating that it was unlikely we'd find a quality person not already locked away until the end of the season, but the impression I got from him was that searching for a replacement would be part of our off-season activity. Why?? We know we need a replacement, we should be in the ear of every good footy person for the next six months and the minute we can get one to agree in principle to leave, we should enact it.

You answered your own statement.

 

[King Elvis]

I have no issue whatsoever with us keeping Dean's spot open while he was still with us. It would have been disrespectful to fill it, and I think the players would have resented it.

Now that he has sadly passed on, and some time has passed it is time to fill his spot.

I cannot understand how anybody could possibly think this is the case.

 

[Mismatched]

This is probably one of those times when he talks about where they have to slow things down to retain possession. Instead they just play fast, bomb it in to where the loose man is and it sling shots out for a goal scored off a turnover.

Yes Sando keeps mentioning all these things in the press-conferences. Why are they not happening on the field, it is his job to prepare, to drill and get the players to play to his gameplan. Its not as if he's a new coach either, he's now into his 3rd year with this group, they should have a fair understanding of what he expects. So either the players are ignoring him or simply don't understand the gameplan and how to implement it in certain situations, or these are situations he quite simply hasn't, yet should have, thought about and is now trying to cover this fact over by claiming its the players who aren't listening.

My feeling is that it is becoming more and more obvious that sacking Craig and bringing in Sando is looking like a bigger mistake by the minute.
I'm not saying we should have retained Craig. I'm saying we shouldn't have made the spontaneous decision to fire him without some sort of plan in place and eventually with the ultimate knowledge of a more senior coach being available.
We are in no better position now than we were with Craig and in fact I'd argue its worse.
A Senior coach should not need a Senior mentor in behind him to get the job done. A senior coach should be there due to his superior ability to coach above everyone else.
Sando does not inspire me at all.

We didn't sack Craig, as far as Trigg was concerned, he would be there "as far as the eye could see". Craig stepped down and there were more senior coaches available, it wasn't as if Sando was the only one available. Rodney Eade for one was available and presented very well from what I understand, however we chose to go with Sando ahead of a whole field of candidates.

I don't necessarily agree that a senior coach shouldn't need a senior mentor, especially in his first 2 years as coach. Senior coaching is an extremely high stress, high pressured job where your every move will be critique, every thing you say run through with a fine tooth comb. I think it would be invaluable to have someone there who has been through it all before and can help guide you through some of the foot falls etc to watch out for.

The issue is now that as a 3rd year coach, Sando is soon to become one of the more experienced senior coaches in the business and it seems that now, more than ever he needs help. His press-conferences are becoming more and more contradictory, the players are seemingly ignoring or incapable of implementing his gameplan. More and more its becoming clear that signing Sando so early was a big, unnecessary mistake, something many of us here brought up at the time and now it seems we're committed to Sando for the next year at least.

I agree that Sando now shouldn't really be requiring a "senior" mentor, however we are now committed to him, so we need to now ensure that we surround him with the right personnel, which to all appearances is not the case. If you've got the right coaching/support staff, clubs will be looking to poach them, I think there'd be very few of our personnel, barring players, that would be fending off offers from other clubs.

 

[Mismatched]

I cannot understand how anybody could possibly think this is the case.

What I think is disrespectful, is the fact that our club has felt that it can fill Bailey's position with a part-timer who should be busy focusing on list management.

 

[jenny61_99]

What I think is disrespectful, is the fact that our club has felt that it can fill Bailey's position with a part-timer who should be busy focusing on list management.

This "part-timer" has been given support to help fullfil his other duties, who has reps on the ground in the other footballing states to help him identify talent. It's not like he's ever had to do it all by himself before anyway. He, and others, are having to extend themselves for ten months.

It's just an unfortunate situation all round, but one I believe the Club has handled as well as they could under the circumstances they were faced with.