I've stayed away from posting this season here, but have continued to read all the threads and i think most people are spot on with everything that they are saying, and some people are miles off as well. I'll put my 2c into this but it's not for a particular thread just an overall observation that I have had so far.
1. Basics
I was watching AFL 360 the other night when Petracca and Lewis were talking about certain things. There was a bit of footage shown were one of the Melbourne players were celebrating their first win, and someone poured milk on them and after the song Petracca was seen getting water and washing it off the young kid. Robbo asked him about the vision and Petracca said along the lines off it was not on and after the song we spoke about it as a team etc. Lewis then came in and said that at the Hawks everything was looked at from the smallest of things as it all added up to the big picture. That wanted to be as perfect as possible and have everyone buying into the culture. To build a cake every little layer needs to be perfect as otherwise it will crumble. Bringing this back to our club without going into selections/structures/performance etc the little things are not being ticked from top to bottom. For example when we release our team sheet it reads as follows: B: Frawley(BP) Wilkie(FB) Howard(BP) as the last line then HB: Webster(HBF) Hill(CHB) Sinclair(HBF) then you go and have a look at what the forward line reads F: McKernan (FP) Membrey(FF) King(FP) the HF: Butler (HFF) Byrnes (CHF) Higgins(HFF). Now to some people this may be laughable and say what has this got to do with anything, but when you haven't won anything for 50+ years and the way we are going every little bit is needed to make it work. Perfection is required across all levels and this is just one example were it really shouldnt be hard to fix.
2. Selection/Integrity
Over the past 4/5 year i feel as though we have not had any selection integrity particularly when it comes to senior players and performance. I have seen other clubs drop so called big name players at selection while we have not dropped a single big name plyer. The last time this was done was back in Ross Lyon's days. Our performances the last 4/5 years have been average to say the least (bar last year due to diff season) but the players that do get dropped or a statement have always been the fringe players or youngsters. Case in point this year, Butler/Hill should have copped a few weeks at Sandy for being out of form. Yet we have rewarded some mediocre efforts from them and continued with the same players rotating in and out of the team. Joyce for all his faults played in our 2 wins and as soon as Frawley gets back from injury he loses his spot. These are just examples this year, but i can go on and on.
3. Positions
Every since Ratts has come in, he has come in with an idea that every player should play various different positions. I agreed with him to a point that players should have a bit of flexibility, but he has literally lost the plot and is playing checkers with every single player. A few examples here that i do not agree with him. Battle is not a swingman/winger. When he first started out he looked to be gun CHF or a leading forward in the Jack Darling mould imo. We then needed to use him down back due to our shortage of KPD and he actually surprised me how he went. I've always said that you can cover defenders a bit easier than good forwards (i would play him forward personally), but would have been happy to see him play at either end of the ground. The last 2 years he has been thrown around everywhere mostly wing and has had little no impact and he the swagger/confidence he had as a youngster is all but gone. The other example is Hill/Sinclair who have been used as half back flankers. Sinclair was elite according to championship data as a winger, but has now been placed across the half back line to cover injuries (has played well) Again watching him when he does get moved into the midfield and near the ball he is much more suited that that role than he is at half back. He would have much more of an impact as a winger than what we are seeing with Josh Battle. Hill is another who is a natural winger and not a HBF. If he is out of form you give him a bit of time throughout the game at half to to get his confidence up. If after multiple games as a winger he isn't performing, you simply drop him due to point no.2 and that's selection integrity. This sets the standard and unfortunately when it comes to senior/experienced players and performance, we don't have standards. Another player is Billings. He was drafted as an elite half forward who would be getting 2/3 shots off every game on goal. Started he career as a great goal kicker but dropped away in terms of accuracy. He has been moved onto the wing the last 2/3 years and imo he is not having the same impact as he would if he remained a half forward. He has improved his performance and is getting much more of the ball, however he is not damaging enough in that position in terms of hitting the scoreboard. Play him back on that half forward line even with his kicking yips and let him have 15-20 disposals a game and 4 shots compared to 25 on a wing.
4. Coaching/Assistants
The jury is out on Ratts and we will find out a lot more about him in the next 12 weeks. I'm not calling for his head, but the buck stops with him and he needs to turn this around as our list is not as bad as we are performing and that stops at the coach. What my biggest issue here is the assistant coaches that we have had for the last 5/7 years in Hamil/Sexton/Skrobala etc. These guys have been here in the Richo era and now have survived to be in the Ratten era. I seriously don't see these guys as quality coaches because if they were, they would have been poached ie Kingsley/Bevo Teague as your defensive coach in 14 etc and they way we have poached Rath etc. With these guys being in charge of points 1,2,3,4 no wonder nothing is really working. I believe there should be a new assistant coming in every 2 or 3 years from another club to freshen up place/get new ideas. All we have done is throw these guys from the forward line to the backline to the midfield to development. I mean it's not a coincidence that structurally we are a shambles in defence When Hamil has taken over. The bloke played as a forward his whole career, structures and knowledge intricacy would he bring in when it comes to the art of defence???? Get someone in who has actually played as a defender and is looking at being a future coach/assistant. There are some great footy minds out there that need to be looked at. Get some club legends in roles back at the club who bleed RWB. Look no further than Montagna and Roo for specific specialised roles. Montagna listening to him on various football show has a fantastic footy brain imo better than most in our ranks at the moment. Get him in a role in terms of analysis or something. Roo spoke on the coach that he is a phone call away to help out King when he had those yips. What happens is Roughy goes on 360 and says he will be alright everyone gets the yips. In terms of Roughy he wants to get into list management, yet we have him as some sort of coach. It's clear as daylight that he wants to be involved in list management and the way he comes across on 360 that he is lacking in the coaching side of things (again imo).
5. Pre Season/Conditioning
Looking at us this year it's clear to every half switched on football person that we are physically well underdone in terms of fitness. There was an interview with Ratten at the start of pre season were he mentioned we were not doing the gruelling pre season running but they have left it to players to look after themselves and when they returned they focused on ball work. Now this is all well and good, but let's face it you cant rely on all the players to be a Robert Harvey and actually hammer out running/conditioning in their own time. Most will do the bare minimum with the exception of a few as that is just simple human nature. Considering it was a shorter pre season than usual, the proof is in the pudding when it comes to continually being out tackled and losing the uncontested possession count because you simple cant get to the contest as good as the other team and close down. Over the years it has been pretty obvious that for some reason our players seem to be boys playing against men. I actually think our strength and condition team have not been up to scratch in terms of getting harden body players.
There are many more things i can go into greater details such as recruiting and development, but that's for another time.
1. Basics
I was watching AFL 360 the other night when Petracca and Lewis were talking about certain things. There was a bit of footage shown were one of the Melbourne players were celebrating their first win, and someone poured milk on them and after the song Petracca was seen getting water and washing it off the young kid. Robbo asked him about the vision and Petracca said along the lines off it was not on and after the song we spoke about it as a team etc. Lewis then came in and said that at the Hawks everything was looked at from the smallest of things as it all added up to the big picture. That wanted to be as perfect as possible and have everyone buying into the culture. To build a cake every little layer needs to be perfect as otherwise it will crumble. Bringing this back to our club without going into selections/structures/performance etc the little things are not being ticked from top to bottom. For example when we release our team sheet it reads as follows: B: Frawley(BP) Wilkie(FB) Howard(BP) as the last line then HB: Webster(HBF) Hill(CHB) Sinclair(HBF) then you go and have a look at what the forward line reads F: McKernan (FP) Membrey(FF) King(FP) the HF: Butler (HFF) Byrnes (CHF) Higgins(HFF). Now to some people this may be laughable and say what has this got to do with anything, but when you haven't won anything for 50+ years and the way we are going every little bit is needed to make it work. Perfection is required across all levels and this is just one example were it really shouldnt be hard to fix.
2. Selection/Integrity
Over the past 4/5 year i feel as though we have not had any selection integrity particularly when it comes to senior players and performance. I have seen other clubs drop so called big name players at selection while we have not dropped a single big name plyer. The last time this was done was back in Ross Lyon's days. Our performances the last 4/5 years have been average to say the least (bar last year due to diff season) but the players that do get dropped or a statement have always been the fringe players or youngsters. Case in point this year, Butler/Hill should have copped a few weeks at Sandy for being out of form. Yet we have rewarded some mediocre efforts from them and continued with the same players rotating in and out of the team. Joyce for all his faults played in our 2 wins and as soon as Frawley gets back from injury he loses his spot. These are just examples this year, but i can go on and on.
3. Positions
Every since Ratts has come in, he has come in with an idea that every player should play various different positions. I agreed with him to a point that players should have a bit of flexibility, but he has literally lost the plot and is playing checkers with every single player. A few examples here that i do not agree with him. Battle is not a swingman/winger. When he first started out he looked to be gun CHF or a leading forward in the Jack Darling mould imo. We then needed to use him down back due to our shortage of KPD and he actually surprised me how he went. I've always said that you can cover defenders a bit easier than good forwards (i would play him forward personally), but would have been happy to see him play at either end of the ground. The last 2 years he has been thrown around everywhere mostly wing and has had little no impact and he the swagger/confidence he had as a youngster is all but gone. The other example is Hill/Sinclair who have been used as half back flankers. Sinclair was elite according to championship data as a winger, but has now been placed across the half back line to cover injuries (has played well) Again watching him when he does get moved into the midfield and near the ball he is much more suited that that role than he is at half back. He would have much more of an impact as a winger than what we are seeing with Josh Battle. Hill is another who is a natural winger and not a HBF. If he is out of form you give him a bit of time throughout the game at half to to get his confidence up. If after multiple games as a winger he isn't performing, you simply drop him due to point no.2 and that's selection integrity. This sets the standard and unfortunately when it comes to senior/experienced players and performance, we don't have standards. Another player is Billings. He was drafted as an elite half forward who would be getting 2/3 shots off every game on goal. Started he career as a great goal kicker but dropped away in terms of accuracy. He has been moved onto the wing the last 2/3 years and imo he is not having the same impact as he would if he remained a half forward. He has improved his performance and is getting much more of the ball, however he is not damaging enough in that position in terms of hitting the scoreboard. Play him back on that half forward line even with his kicking yips and let him have 15-20 disposals a game and 4 shots compared to 25 on a wing.
4. Coaching/Assistants
The jury is out on Ratts and we will find out a lot more about him in the next 12 weeks. I'm not calling for his head, but the buck stops with him and he needs to turn this around as our list is not as bad as we are performing and that stops at the coach. What my biggest issue here is the assistant coaches that we have had for the last 5/7 years in Hamil/Sexton/Skrobala etc. These guys have been here in the Richo era and now have survived to be in the Ratten era. I seriously don't see these guys as quality coaches because if they were, they would have been poached ie Kingsley/Bevo Teague as your defensive coach in 14 etc and they way we have poached Rath etc. With these guys being in charge of points 1,2,3,4 no wonder nothing is really working. I believe there should be a new assistant coming in every 2 or 3 years from another club to freshen up place/get new ideas. All we have done is throw these guys from the forward line to the backline to the midfield to development. I mean it's not a coincidence that structurally we are a shambles in defence When Hamil has taken over. The bloke played as a forward his whole career, structures and knowledge intricacy would he bring in when it comes to the art of defence???? Get someone in who has actually played as a defender and is looking at being a future coach/assistant. There are some great footy minds out there that need to be looked at. Get some club legends in roles back at the club who bleed RWB. Look no further than Montagna and Roo for specific specialised roles. Montagna listening to him on various football show has a fantastic footy brain imo better than most in our ranks at the moment. Get him in a role in terms of analysis or something. Roo spoke on the coach that he is a phone call away to help out King when he had those yips. What happens is Roughy goes on 360 and says he will be alright everyone gets the yips. In terms of Roughy he wants to get into list management, yet we have him as some sort of coach. It's clear as daylight that he wants to be involved in list management and the way he comes across on 360 that he is lacking in the coaching side of things (again imo).
5. Pre Season/Conditioning
Looking at us this year it's clear to every half switched on football person that we are physically well underdone in terms of fitness. There was an interview with Ratten at the start of pre season were he mentioned we were not doing the gruelling pre season running but they have left it to players to look after themselves and when they returned they focused on ball work. Now this is all well and good, but let's face it you cant rely on all the players to be a Robert Harvey and actually hammer out running/conditioning in their own time. Most will do the bare minimum with the exception of a few as that is just simple human nature. Considering it was a shorter pre season than usual, the proof is in the pudding when it comes to continually being out tackled and losing the uncontested possession count because you simple cant get to the contest as good as the other team and close down. Over the years it has been pretty obvious that for some reason our players seem to be boys playing against men. I actually think our strength and condition team have not been up to scratch in terms of getting harden body players.
There are many more things i can go into greater details such as recruiting and development, but that's for another time.
