Opinion So What Is Player Development?

[Wickzki]

http://www.nbl.com.au/article/id/dt62bpxso5t91umy4uuc6clwc

Absolutely fantastic article by Chris Anstey on player development - from a coaching and training perspective.

 

[thylacine60]

See what you mean by thread having a limited life-span, Harks.

 

[Sin City]

Great thread Thy, a hell of a lot of areas need to be covered well to get these 18-22 year olds to become the best they can as footballers and young men. Everything from analysing biomechanics to assess weaknesses in their skills or physiological areas that need to be built up to avoid injuries all the way to riding them about their sleeping patterns and hydration levels and then educating them with both football and life skills.

Not only do you need the right people to teach these young men this stuff, you need enough people on board to do cover all these areas not just adequately but to exceed what any other club is doing.

 

[therubbernub]

Well i think we are all pretty much on the same page as to some of the main elements constituting player development. We all pretty much agree that we have lacked in this area for a long time. This then begs the question why?

Carlton has been a waste land for leadership for a very long time, but i am not alluding to sticks here. I am specifically referring to the neutered state of culture and seniority that played out in the late 90's and early 2000's

Firstly the senior players that were lost over that early period prior to the penalties was enormous. A little like the australian test team playing under kim hughes. Our so called leaders at the time were just not the right kind. I include ratten as captain in this. Also bradley. Great players onfield leaders but severely lacking in the ability to motivate others.
Here is a sequence of carlton captains to compare
Barassi
Nicholls
Jesaulenko
Walls
Fitzpatrick
Johnston
Maclure
Kernahan

It seemed we went from great captain to great captain.

Compare to

Bradley
Ratten
Mckay
Kouta
Whitnall
Judd
Murphy

The latter group just dont have it, there are no natural leaders there. Great players to be sure, but no real mongrel, demanding team mates follow them aggression. No inspiration.
That paucity of senior leadership trickles down. It trickles down to the new emerging leaders, that just dont get shown how it is done.

Superimposed on this lack of seniority and leadership was the massive damage done to the club by the afl/ carlton administration. We were kicked into submission by a reactive AFL who were incensed by the arrogance of the elliot administration, and were determined to deliver a body blow to our beloved club that would never be forgotten. Unfortunately our answer was to give collins the reigns, and a greater afl puppet we have not seen. His willingness to destroy elliots vision in favour of his and the afl's was sickening.
I believe that the club lost all respect for itself during those years, rolling over like a puppy only to have its head kicked in. THAT was the moment that our culture really changed. The loss of senior players could eventually have been rectified, but with an administration that was hopelessly conflicted , we were a rudderless ship. Pagan sensed it and even he with his great record, could not resist the urge to try to save his coaching career by coaching and developing for short term gains. That was continued with Ratten who was always going to be a yes man to the senior admin who wanted short term first results.
It never works. Short term results lead to keeping senior players too long, way beyond the time where they are tradeable currency. We developed a culture of putting our koutas, whitnalls , fevolas on a pedastal. We believed our own press, thinking we were just a few players away, and stopped recruiting and turning over players. We became stale.
The young players were given games rather than earning them, just because they were on the list. Our depth , competition for spots existed, but only in narrow areas.
In the mean time the game changed, and our short comings became even more evident, where a lack of running fit players with matching aggression became mandatory.
Our players could run, but only ahead of the ball not in a defensive direction, and they were too weak physically, so even if they did try to tackle they were often shrugged off by the dominant teams.

Fast forward to malthouse, who definitely understands our key weaknesses. Lack of depth , lack of run.
He is trying to fix this with teaching the players how to be flexible and multipositional. He is recruiting similar types.

I believe that giant steps were made last year, it just didnt really show as well as it should. Our dgfensive running, tackling, rotations all were getting better . I think of last year as a training run, before the real test that will be this year and next.

 

[MrsEddieBetts]

I'm sorry, therubbernub, you lost me when you said Juddy wasn't a good captain. His ability to drag the team over the line again and again cannot be minimised, nor can his natural leadership abilities. He's an AA captain, a duel Brownlow medallist, and I'm pretty sure he's won the B&F 6 time over his career. He pulled us up from the bottom of the ladder pretty much singlehandedly.

He was a damned good captain.

 

[Robbo's my hero]

I see a cauldron bubbling. While you can throw in as much planning as possible the magical ingredient is totally random. If it isn't then where is the depth and mystery of something as wonderful as a premiership team.

 

[thylacine60]

It lives!

 

[The Toad]

IMO, Player development is probably the hardest thing to get right in football. To try to harness a players talent at a very young age and keep them focused and constantly improving enough to maintain a spot on an AFL list is mind boggling. With the amount of $$ they earn nowdays keeping them soley focused on footy is getting harder all the time, just look at Dustin Martin.

 

[SBYM]

I see a cauldron bubbling. While you can throw in as much planning as possible the magical ingredient is totally random.

So could Hirdy…and we all know what he thought the magical ingredient was…

 

[SBYM]

With the amount of $$ they earn nowdays keeping them soley focused on footy is getting harder all the time, just look at Dustin Martin.

A good point, but I'll play devil's advocate here and argue that it's all about the individual. I can tell you without a doubt in my mind that Swan is as bad as Martin in an extra-curricular sense, but the bloke has a Medal and a Brownlow…winners are grinners...

I'm not a Swan fan by any stretch, I reckon he is very overrated in terms of effectiveness, however, he is still very very good, elite in fact, and he just has 'it' upstairs when it comes to putting on his jumper and doing his job.

I reckon we could really come along if we can perfect identifying this 'it' at the drafting stage…not that our last effort was poor by any stretch, Menz and Mini-Stevo are guns imo, and the reports on Temay are promising.

Find the Swans as juniors, the blokes that will do whatever it is that is in front of them at that time, no matter what, and you watch our player development record come along in leaps and bounds…

 

[Tony Lynn 15]

It lives!

Have to say Thy I also thought this thread had a lot going for it....back now to help kick it back to life...stand back everybody.....stat.....

 

[thylacine60]

Love you guys... sniff......

 

[Tony Lynn 15]

Love you guys... sniff......

I also have these on standby....

 

[thylacine60]

Keep em for the Saints...

 

[Tony Lynn 15]

Keep em for the Saints...

...they served me so well during the early to mid 2000's!!

 

[Robbo's my hero]

I also have these on standby....

View attachment 35009

These things bloody work. Believe me

 

[Stig O'Hara]

Yep,

Boring.

 

[Stig O'Hara]

Don't go back to Rockville..............

Never go back to your old town kids.............................

I Really mean it.

 

[mediumsizered]

Don't go back to Rockville..............

Never go back to your old town kids.............................

I Really mean it.

I'll drink to this.

 

[thylacine60]

Flame trees will blind a weary driver.

 

[Aphrodite]

And there's nothing else could set fire to this town.​

 

[Tony Lynn 15]

Come on guys we need something....

 

[thylacine60]

Ok. How do people think things have changed for an 18 year old kid coming into the system from 10/20 years ago? Easier or harder? Why?

 

[BlueTongue]

Personally, I think we need to adopt a much more holistic view to just about everything we do at the club. It has all seems a bit piecemeal and ad hoc, particularly with the coaching staff and the Northern Blues.

It as if different parts of the club were all on different pages, had different agendas and goals, and this obviously filters through and manifests as mediocrity.

Things need to be simplified; why do Carlton exist? To win premierships. It's that simple. EVERY aspect of the club should be focused, and unified to achieving this goal. Every employee, from the cleaner to the Captain to the President should be focused on this single thing. They should ALL be on the same page.

We need to get rid of the Northern Blues and have a stand alone reserves team that serves to groom new recruits into senior stars.

We also need a cultural overhaul - FROM THE TOP DOWN. I love sticks, but he's just coasting. He's not pro-active or innovative. We need a strong President with a singular vision, and who can sell that vision to the club, the players and the supporters and have everyone buy into it.

It saddens me to say, that from the halcyon days of the '80's, when we were clearly the dominant force, we have really slipped back to be a middle of the road club. We seem to lack drive and energy at the top, and we certainly don't innovate.

Whilst the above rant certainly isn't specifically about development, I feel that it is all linked. We're just plodding along as a club as a whole, and ergo, our development is at about the same pace.

Vision

Innovation

Culture

Leadership

Premierships

Unsure how you can say this when he has put his personal friendship with Ratten aside, sacked him with time left on his contract and gone out and got the best available Coach who will not only coach the team, but put in a structure for the rest of the Footy Department to follow for years to come. Pretty sure he has done what needed to be done.

 

[BlueTongue]

Well i think we are all pretty much on the same page as to some of the main elements constituting player development. We all pretty much agree that we have lacked in this area for a long time. This then begs the question why?

Carlton has been a waste land for leadership for a very long time, but i am not alluding to sticks here. I am specifically referring to the neutered state of culture and seniority that played out in the late 90's and early 2000's

Firstly the senior players that were lost over that early period prior to the penalties was enormous. A little like the australian test team playing under kim hughes. Our so called leaders at the time were just not the right kind. I include ratten as captain in this. Also bradley. Great players onfield leaders but severely lacking in the ability to motivate others.
Here is a sequence of carlton captains to compare
Barassi
Nicholls
Jesaulenko
Walls
Fitzpatrick
Johnston
Maclure
Kernahan

It seemed we went from great captain to great captain.

Compare to

Bradley
Ratten
Mckay
Kouta
Whitnall
Judd
Murphy

The latter group just dont have it, there are no natural leaders there. Great players to be sure, but no real mongrel, demanding team mates follow them aggression. No inspiration.
That paucity of senior leadership trickles down. It trickles down to the new emerging leaders, that just dont get shown how it is done.

Superimposed on this lack of seniority and leadership was the massive damage done to the club by the afl/ carlton administration. We were kicked into submission by a reactive AFL who were incensed by the arrogance of the elliot administration, and were determined to deliver a body blow to our beloved club that would never be forgotten. Unfortunately our answer was to give collins the reigns, and a greater afl puppet we have not seen. His willingness to destroy elliots vision in favour of his and the afl's was sickening.
I believe that the club lost all respect for itself during those years, rolling over like a puppy only to have its head kicked in. THAT was the moment that our culture really changed. The loss of senior players could eventually have been rectified, but with an administration that was hopelessly conflicted , we were a rudderless ship. Pagan sensed it and even he with his great record, could not resist the urge to try to save his coaching career by coaching and developing for short term gains. That was continued with Ratten who was always going to be a yes man to the senior admin who wanted short term first results.
It never works. Short term results lead to keeping senior players too long, way beyond the time where they are tradeable currency. We developed a culture of putting our koutas, whitnalls , fevolas on a pedastal. We believed our own press, thinking we were just a few players away, and stopped recruiting and turning over players. We became stale.
The young players were given games rather than earning them, just because they were on the list. Our depth , competition for spots existed, but only in narrow areas.
In the mean time the game changed, and our short comings became even more evident, where a lack of running fit players with matching aggression became mandatory.
Our players could run, but only ahead of the ball not in a defensive direction, and they were too weak physically, so even if they did try to tackle they were often shrugged off by the dominant teams.

Fast forward to malthouse, who definitely understands our key weaknesses. Lack of depth , lack of run.
He is trying to fix this with teaching the players how to be flexible and multipositional. He is recruiting similar types.

I believe that giant steps were made last year, it just didnt really show as well as it should. Our dgfensive running, tackling, rotations all were getting better . I think of last year as a training run, before the real test that will be this year and next.

POTY