Coaching Staff Senior Coach: John Worsfold - Thank you John

[Mercurial89]

Take Parish kick inboard in the last minute of the first quarter, what makes a player think that is the right thing to do?

He actually chose the ok option but executed poorly.

He didn't want to just bomb it long down the line because we had been told NOT to do that, and as we saw most of the team weren't following this instruction.

Whilst Parish's error was bad he did it trying to to the right thing. You don't hang the player for that.

 

[afairgo]

Will this guy take us to our next premiership? No. Therefore bring in the new leadership now. Otherwise 2020 at best will be finals and maybe a one win at best. No premiership. And probably a number of players not advancing much because many haven’t so far under this leadership. 2021 will then be learnings under new leadership. But hooker and Hurley may not be there for all games at best and one may have retired. So I am not sure who will hold up the backline. We don’t have a decent pick to shore up the defence this year. Take a punt. Change leadership now and maybe we have a chance in 2021. Not getting games into zerk-thatcher this year will prove an issue. Mediocre leadership in past 3 years.

 

[Kong]

When has anyone ever in the history of the game ever liked anything a coach says after a loss?

If he's lost you entirely based off of a presser, well that's on you for trying to take any sort of meaning out of nothing presser. They have never been worth listening too, ever.

Ironically, I remember some people loving Knights' press conferences in his first year.

You could say they were "bullish", in fact.

 

[Seagrave_Holmes]

Hopefully the club is just in final stages of negotiating the final clauses in his severance package.

 

[Old Campaigner]

The board said he's safe so I reckon they'll announce he's gone in the next week or so.

 

[Old Campaigner]

Didn't realise the Betoota Advocate were doing serious reporting now

 

[quotemokc]

Do you think Bucks would have played Brown and McKernan tonight cos structure???

 

[Old Campaigner]

Do you think Bucks would have played Brown and McKernan tonight cos structure???

If Mihocek was injured, probably.

 

[Vander18]

I think they wanted to try and control the game when they could not get the run up and going but the pressure of turning the footy over ended up seeing them fold. Lots of people talk about plan B but in general the good clubs plan B is kick long to a marking target. We have one marking target in McKernan and he had a shocker. Richmond got Lynch because they need a good KPF forward to help Jack. In 2018 sides found them out a bit by forcing them to dump the ball long and even in 2017 they tried various tall forwards who proved to be not up to it. Because they had their pressure game sorted it was not as much of an issue.
It was the same with the Hawks. In their prime they had Roughy and Hale to kick long to. When those guys dropped of / retired they struggled to find marking targets forward so sides would cut of their short game and make them kick down the line. That is the issue we have. Any plan B or C is limited by the fact we seriously lack marking players forward of the ball.

All makes sense but I’m more worried about plan a than plan b. More so in terms of taking something away from them....good teams shut down our run and take away the corridor. We rarely seem to be able to take away a strength of the opposition.

In terms of our marking power - Some of that comes down to selection. He could play Hooker forward but chooses not to. He also continues to pick a midfield comprised almost solely of short people....it was worse than ever last night with the biggish Clarke out and Ham and Snelling in. The only midfielders who can catch it overhead are Heppell and Langford....the rest are literally non-competitive in this part of the game.

 

[Vander18]

We have been better at stopping the Opposition this year. There have been games we won where the defensive structure has been under massive pressure due to our turnovers but we have managed to keep sides under 80 points. There have been periods of games where we have battled out an arm wrestle for 15 minutes and not let teams score despite us not having the outside run. It is a work in progress but it has changed from previous years.

People under estimate the skill level issue. Take a look at last nights game. Both sides defender really well but what won the game for the Pies was their skills in close where superior and they took better opportunity in front of goal where as Geelong where very sloppy with their handball in close under pressure and missed two very easy goals when they had the momentum in the first quarter.
We generally kill any momentum we build by bursting clear and kicking it straight to our opposition or not to the advantage of our forwards. How many inside 50's per game do we butcher ?

As for marking none of it comes down to selection IMO. We simply have one player who plays in front of the ball who can take marks in McKernan and he can be hit and miss. Hooker is a good mark but does not actually take a lot of contested marks leading at the ball. He takes one on one marks or reads it coming into defence but up the ground and leading at the ball he is less effective. As far as the midfield goes we only have short people and there are none in the seconds who are bigger and can mark anyway. Dylan Clarke is not a great mark and his form has fallen away recently. Has not been stopping his opponent as well as he had been and had no impact offensively.

Re Hooker....I’d disagree. He doesn’t run and jump at it like Smack but he can definitely present to the ball carrier well enough and always gives a good contest. We usually look better balanced forward of the ball when he is there. When he’s fit anyway...which he isn’t right now.

Clarke has been off but feel like he almost had to play. Has size, can do a job and can stick tackles....makes him pretty unique at Essendon. Think the lack of midfield size was pretty evident in the game. Ham in particular wasn’t ready for a final....could see that against Collingwood after 1/4 time the other week. Clarke is at least 190cm....he’s not a great aerialist but he’ll compete better in the air than blokes under 180.

You are 100% right re the skill issue. We couldn’t defend the ground at all against WCE but I guess it’s hard to set up when you are turning it over so badly.

 

[DERO]

what? you know of a hat that is even funnier than a feminist hat?

Cn confirm- I have video footage.

 

[DERO]

Ironically, I remember some people loving Knights' press conferences in his first year.

You could say they were "bullish", in fact.

"We are under no illusions..."

 

[MarkG]

There are so many similarities between Worsfold and Knights. Run and gun small bodied players that get brushed aside by bigger bodied, more physical ,more defensive , more prepared to do gut running teams.

Essendon comes across as a group of really nice guys. Are nice guys capable of winning a final.

Worsfold coached against Swans in 2017 elimination final. 10 Essendon players played in both 2017 and 2019 final. They performed equally as poorly in both. Where is the improvement?

Some players that played OK against Sydney like Begley have become second rate. Why?

What motivation did Worsfold give the team to perform at their best? Whatever it was, it didn’t work.

McKernan 1 possession to half time, Hooker 2,Stringer 3 and Walla 4. McKernan must have got a biff in the ear early because he continually ducked his head when attempting to mark.

 

[Fin ice Smuggler]

Is Dean Solomon coming back?

Is there a reason we can't make John our director of coaching with Rutten and Caracella dual head coaches 1 defensive the other offensive? Brain storming for something more radical, new age.

 

[vast]

Is Dean Solomon coming back?

Is there a reason we can't make John our director of coaching with Rutten and Caracella dual head coaches 1 defensive the other offensive? Brain storming for something more radical, new age.

Didnt work for pies with malthouse cant see it being different here.

 

[TheBrightSide]

Is there a reason we can't make John our director of coaching with Rutten and Caracella dual head coaches 1 defensive the other offensive? Brain storming for something more radical, new age.

I think some sort of succession plan is the way to go.
Sacking a coach who took the team into finals isn’t cool.
It sounds like something Carlton would do.

 

[David C]

Don't know if there is anything in this but I'll post it. Source Zerohanger.

"Essendon coach John Worsfold could join Fremantle next season, according to reports from AFL Nation."
"Perth journalist Tim Gossage believes the Dockers could look to add Worsfold in a mentoring role for their next coach."
"Former Docker Paul Hasleby said Worsfold’s experience would be of great value to his old club."

 

[Maxabillions]

Is Dean Solomon coming back?

Is there a reason we can't make John our director of coaching with Rutten and Caracella dual head coaches 1 defensive the other offensive? Brain storming for something more radical, new age.

Sounds like that's basically what next year would be with Woosha still head coach in name

 

[vast]

Don't know if there is anything in this but I'll post it. Source Zerohanger.

"Essendon coach John Worsfold could join Fremantle next season, according to reports from AFL Nation."
"Perth journalist Tim Gossage believes the Dockers could look to add Worsfold in a mentoring role for their next coach."
"Former Docker Paul Hasleby said Worsfold’s experience would be of great value to his old club."

Thanks Sandra

 

[Gabe251]

There is definitely a problem about getting players up and going for game day, being able to mentally sustain themselves for the entire game. Being hard at it for long periods of time. Woosha ain't making his players accountable for really weak football.

I was happy we made finals with our injuries, but that final sucked out a lot of hope I had. If you can't get the boys playing pressure football for a game like that, that's a worry. It's a worry but it's not something we can't change.

I know we are all hurting. I've said it before, Woosh does deserve another year. He led our club through literally the worst time, and we did not bottom out because of him. Another 8-10 finish and I am on board, he's done. But if we can play some consistent better footy, and make it into the top 6 and win a final, I'll back him.

 

[Fin ice Smuggler]

Didnt work for pies with malthouse cant see it being different here.

That's because Malthouse was an alpha dog that couldn't re-invent himself for the future though which was to his detriment.

I just don't think whoosh should be coach nor should we sack him and lose his footy IQ.

Let him take a step back from the spotlight but manage the coaches to be better coaches.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

The highlight on Thursday night was Eddie continually feigning shock and bemusement that anybody questions Worsfold.

The best probably being “this is a premiership coach, he obviously knows what he’s doing, any club would be rapt to have him”.

Yes folks... this from the bloke who in 2011 sacked the reigning premiership coach.

 

[Maxabillions]

it's been said before, but I don't think Woosha's "let the players lead" approach works with our players. But perhaps it would be a good approach with assistant coaches to empower them and transition one to senior coach.

 

[The Donners]

Take Parish kick inboard in the last minute of the first quarter, what makes a player think that is the right thing to do?

That was a shocker. One must know their limitations.

 

[The Donners]

it's been said before, but I don't think Woosha's "let the players lead" approach works with our players. But perhaps it would be a good approach with assistant coaches to empower them and transition one to senior coach.

We are bereft of infield leaders.