Coaching Staff Former Coach Ben "Truck" Rutten - Sacked for real this time - 21/8

[DapperDon]

Maybe drafting hasn't been our issue, maybe development has.

Development has been a huge issue, things looked to have improved thankfully.

 

[rumply]

Maybe drafting hasn't been our issue, maybe development has.

Some truth to this I reckon but it certainly doesnt hurt when you pick up the likes of Jones, Cox & Perkins, helps make the coaches jobs a fraction easier.

 

[the PILL]

He's given us the perfect ingredient we were lacking (mongrel when required) and we still have some beautiful flare when the opportunity presents, instead of its "its not working" fade... Actually feels a bit like prime Sheedy stuff where the team was fanatically invested.

I'll tell you one thing i loved about the West Coast game too was the strategy shift on the run.

For a lil while now I've thought our press is too aggressive (need a keeper back like Kingy suggested etc) and was a bit under the radar against weaker sides. We've been leaking a lot goals from out the back scenarios. To have it sort of fixed up mid game was impressive.

Yikes about the media bandwagon all of a sudden.

 

[ant555]

They have some work to do but the plan looks solid and we are getting the effort we are looking for 80% of the time. Players look to be on board.

 

[Seagrave_Holmes]

I stand by Truck !!!!

Makes you wonder what the hell Woosha was doing in his last three* years

FTFY

 

[Seagrave_Holmes]

But seriously, I was never expecting Truck to make such big in-roads in only half a season.

Hoping Truck can continue delivering on this trajectory.

 

[RearNaked]

Definitely know what to expect week to week now

 

[Beerfish]

He's still got me covered but at least now I can start a list of things I don't like about him as out head coach because yes it does make me feel old.

Wow. I was certain you were in your 50's.

 

[Mercurial89]

Seems to have set standards which is big for this group.

One thing that is standing out is the fitness. I don't know the stats (Lore ?) But we seem to be running out games very well.

It's interesting because the running power to execute the pressure must have to be huge but it's always seemed we would blow up or systems would fall down and it was due to fitness through previous years.
How much of our consistency is due to having a group that just seem to be able to keep running?

Is that Truck? Is it the new fitness boss Murphy having a full season and pre season with the group?

Its a weird feeling because we look professional. Like you know what your gonna get. I'm trying to be objective and look back at previous 7-10 years did we ever look consistent like this? I kind of have this belief we won with big second halves or we would get a lead and then go to water and just cling to the lead for dear life. That might not have been the reality but just what I'm thinking at the moment.

There is something about the way we are playing where the game doesn't look too long or too short.
If that's the feeling when we are developing I'm keen for the finished more well rounded product.

 

[Mr Mojo Risin]

My favourite thing about Ben is that he does that coaching stuff. You know that stuff Woosha thought was best left to players?

It’s left field from Truck, but it’s quite amazing what happens when the coach coaches.

 

[jdBombers3598]

How refreshing is it to see him continue to play the kids and back them in and the game style is so watchable...Even opposition supporters are starting to respect our game style and have commented how attractive we are to watch ! Hats off to Truck !!

Matthew Lloyd said last year that we had no respect in the competition anymore which was 100% correct, earning that respect back from rival supporters and clubs is huge. Thats what we need to be feared again.

 

[Mr Mojo Risin]

Seems to have set standards which is big for this group.

One thing that is standing out is the fitness. I don't know the stats (Lore ?) But we seem to be running out games very well.

It's interesting because the running power to execute the pressure must have to be huge but it's always seemed we would blow up or systems would fall down and it was due to fitness through previous years.
How much of our consistency is due to having a group that just seem to be able to keep running?

Is that Truck? Is it the new fitness boss Murphy having a full season and pre season with the group?

Its a weird feeling because we look professional. Like you know what your gonna get. I'm trying to be objective and look back at previous 7-10 years did we ever look consistent like this? I kind of have this belief we won with big second halves or we would get a lead and then go to water and just cling to the lead for dear life. That might not have been the reality but just what I'm thinking at the moment.

There is something about the way we are playing where the game doesn't look too long or too short.
If that's the feeling when we are developing I'm keen for the finished more well rounded product.

It’s fitness in part but also a system that’s well taught in which the effort given is as efficient as possible at all times. Clear understanding of where to be with and without the ball and when to transition between defence and attack and vice-versa.

 

[Bombermania]

But seriously, I was never expecting Truck to make such big in-roads in only half a season.

Hoping Truck can continue delivering on this trajectory.

This is where last year worked because Truck had that year to get to know the group.

 

[Old Campaigner]

But seriously, I was never expecting Truck to make such big in-roads in only half a season.

Hoping Truck can continue delivering on this trajectory.

I think it says a lot about how we were coached pre-Truck.

There hasn't been a huge number of changes to the best 22 yet we look like a completely different side.

 

[Call Me Cake]

 

[maskmcgee]

Won't be satisfied until he drops Zaharakis

everything else fine

 

[Inspecta Gadget]

Had a real Vince McMahon strut on last night.

Keep on "trucking" son....

I'll be here all week.

 

[The Devils Advocate]

Development has been a huge issue, things looked to have improved thankfully.

 

[justlookingaround]

I stand by Truck !!!!

Makes you wonder what the hell Woosha was doing last year

Cashing a cheque

 

[justlookingaround]

Feel like our list still has some pretty big issues, but coaching clearly isn’t one of them. I don’t have a very high footy-IQ, but I feel like we’re pretty well rounded in playing our system while also having a plan to counter what our oppo wants to do. Reckon Gia will be a senior coach in the next year or two.

 

[The Donners]

This never gets old!

 

[Lore]

Seems to have set standards which is big for this group.

One thing that is standing out is the fitness. I don't know the stats (Lore ?) But we seem to be running out games very well.

It's interesting because the running power to execute the pressure must have to be huge but it's always seemed we would blow up or systems would fall down and it was due to fitness through previous years.
How much of our consistency is due to having a group that just seem to be able to keep running?

Is that Truck? Is it the new fitness boss Murphy having a full season and pre season with the group?

Its a weird feeling because we look professional. Like you know what your gonna get. I'm trying to be objective and look back at previous 7-10 years did we ever look consistent like this? I kind of have this belief we won with big second halves or we would get a lead and then go to water and just cling to the lead for dear life. That might not have been the reality but just what I'm thinking at the moment.

There is something about the way we are playing where the game doesn't look too long or too short.
If that's the feeling when we are developing I'm keen for the finished more well rounded product.

As far as GPS data, with overall distance covered for each game by each team and in each quarter, we often run similar but slightly shorter distance than our opponent (at least we did in the past), win or loss doesn't seem to be a lot different. The total number of kilometres varies wildly and there's nothing much there to demonstrate that we run less in fourth quarters or are less fit in general, or that we have recently become more fit in general (you could make a case for 'lazy' or 'reactive', as far as doing just enough to keep up with the opponent though).

Last night their bench was pretty stuffed, they had NN and Yeo on reduced minutes plus two injuries that they couldn't play through, so they had players on the ground longer than they might've liked. Under those circumstances I'd be concerned if we weren't running rings around them in the last quarter.

It could also be that rather than improving the fitness of the group, the less fit players are on the sidelines or were retired or traded last year, while the kids we brought in had nothing to do except run with no U18s being played last year. That would probably account for some improvement. On the other hand we know that Parish has done a mountain of work improving his tank last preseason, he's said as much and others have said it about him, but the way it was said sounded like it was something he did personally for his own improvement, rather than being driven by the coaches across the entire playing group. Stringer was the fittest he'd ever been at the end of pre-season too, dunno about now, and I think there's been a noticeable improvement with Aaron Francis, for whom the tank has always been an issue. So not that it's an overall improvement but that we're getting a more even output across the group? (No stats for that sorry, GPS data is a pretty patchy dataset.)

As far as consistency, it does bear out that we're getting a bit more consistent over four quarters. This is our scoring shots per quarter as a percentage of our total scoring shots for each game. If you stare at it for a while you start to notice some quarters being ridiculously tiny compared to others, and then a more even spread across four quarters starting in R1 2021 (with some blips... "outliers"). Idea is adapted from MoS Team Dashboards, though their version is based on quarterly scores and is cumulative over the season, rather than scoring shots game by game.



From there, you can look at the difference between the largest and smallest quarters. That's where it gets really interesting, imo, because there is much less variation in 2021 than we have had in recent years:



Cyan: 2019, Orange: 2020, Purple: 2021

There's obviously a difference between being consistent and actually being a good team, though. Beating your opponent is better than being not quite good enough consistently over four quarters. As far as that goes, we've just had three wins in a row, and two of them against worthy opponents.

Trying to keep this brief since there's a lot of anti-stat people that don't care for it, but that gives a rough idea.

 

[jmoo wan]

he seems the perfect white collar coach for us - highly educated in football, very well trained, and can get the players to do the hard work

 

[katana]

Seems to have set standards which is big for this group.

One thing that is standing out is the fitness. I don't know the stats (Lore ?) But we seem to be running out games very well.

It's interesting because the running power to execute the pressure must have to be huge but it's always seemed we would blow up or systems would fall down and it was due to fitness through previous years.
How much of our consistency is due to having a group that just seem to be able to keep running?

Is that Truck? Is it the new fitness boss Murphy having a full season and pre season with the group?

Its a weird feeling because we look professional. Like you know what your gonna get. I'm trying to be objective and look back at previous 7-10 years did we ever look consistent like this? I kind of have this belief we won with big second halves or we would get a lead and then go to water and just cling to the lead for dear life. That might not have been the reality but just what I'm thinking at the moment.

There is something about the way we are playing where the game doesn't look too long or too short.
If that's the feeling when we are developing I'm keen for the finished more well rounded product.

i dare say its a lot less fatiguing playing from our forward half than sitting back, inviting pressure, and trying to rebound.

 

[Mr Bultitude]

Can truckstrut.gif please be the new thread photo?