Toast Thanks Buddha

[PAFC_1870]

Hope he stays, never liked him as a player (really hated him) till his last game (the Silvagni game...) when he showed his class.

Now I hold him in the upmost regard.

 

[Northalives]

It's great to read all the positive posts about G.Hocking and how he "straightened us up" to play quick, long football.

The thing that's getting me down is that for all the positive things that Buddha has instilled into our blokes, a new coach will be appointed and he will try and impose another "brand" of football on our players.

If Eade gets the job, he certainly will so the question is, with the majority of us really enjoying the style that Buddha promotes, how will we respond to something different ?

 

[Phhht]

As long as that something different is something that doesnt bore the living crap outa the kids I drag along to the game, I'll be happy. Especially if it leads to us winning more games.

 

[TheFVK]

I'd be happy to see any gameplan which isn't based on the premise that we can successfully execute a triple switch on HB followed by a succession of contested marks along the wing finished off with a set shot goal from 45m out on the boundary line.

 

[Northalives]

As long as that something different is something that doesnt bore the living crap outa the kids I drag along to the game, I'll be happy. Especially if it leads to us winning more games.

That's exactly right but from memory, Eade's game plan was all about being so negative that you force the opposition into being negative and so you can maybe squeeze a win. It certainly wasn't long, direct football.

 

[Doctor Feel]

Anyone else feel that an indication that Primus couldn't coach was Cassisi's terrible form? He would have been taking Primus' instructions more seriously than anyone else in an attempt to "lead by example." You need only look at a captain to see what the coach is really saying.

I'm not surprised he is now playing considerably better with new instructions.

 

[Hellgood]

That's exactly right but from memory, Eade's game plan was all about being so negative that you force the opposition into being negative and so you can maybe squeeze a win. It certainly wasn't long, direct football.

You might be talking about his time at Sydney which I can't recall, but at the Bulldogs they were considered a fast, exciting, excellent skills ball carrying side who if anything looked to attack before defending.

 

[itisnt2hard]

You might be talking about his time at Sydney which I can't recall, but at the Bulldogs they were considered a fast, exciting, excellent skills ball carrying side who if anything looked to attack before defending.

Although he isnt my first choice, you are right Hellgood. .Rocket had them firing. Fast and quick and toppled quite a few top sides along the way. At that time the doggies were known in Vic as everyones second favourite team. With the risk of being spanked, my choice is Ratten/Pagan. There i said it.

 

[Doctor Feel]

Although he isnt my first choice, you are right Hellgood. .Rocket had them firing. Fast and quick and toppled quite a few top sides along the way. At that time the doggies were known in Vic as everyones second favourite team. With the risk of being spanked, my choice is Ratten/Pagan. There i said it.

What is your poison? Cat-o-nine-tails, Scourge?

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

You might be talking about his time at Sydney which I can't recall, but at the Bulldogs they were considered a fast, exciting, excellent skills ball carrying side who if anything looked to attack before defending.

Yep Eade at Sydney was the one that started the zone defence. With the smaller SCG ground he would regularly have trainers taking up space inside the oppositions 50m forward arc when someone took a mark 50-55m out, and clog up space. It took the AFL 2 or 3 years to work it out after a few clubs complained. He developed a very strong defensive game plan for the SCG and the fact that Sydney didn't have many great superstars in the midfield when he started there. He was the one who pushed for the Sydney mids to become big bodied and started working with Sydney Roosters rugby league club to improve their tackling.

At the dogs he promoted a more attacking running style of play because he had a lot more highly skilled kickers at the dogs compared to Sydney, eg Hargrave, Gilbee, Cross, Boyd, Murphy, Cooney etc. But Rocket didn't stop the defensive side of their play.

Here are a couple of stats from champion data re the Bulldogs in 2010. The Bulldogs let the opposition get 50.5 inside 50's per game the highest of the top4 sides and second highest of the top 8 sides in 2010.

In 2010 the bulldogs only conceeded an average of 78.8pts/game. That was the lowest the bulldogs had conceeded in the home and away season since 1965! They only allowed the opposition to score goals from 22.6% of the inside 50's they conceeded the equal lowest with Geelong. Brian Lake had a great year in 2010. Rocket loves him. I wonder if Rocket would try to bring him to Port? Maybe to play one year and then be his defensive coach. Maybe to be his defensive coach.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Some of you may have read on the main board MrTripleC's -225 Days of Season 2012, where he made comments on the game every day from the first NAB cup game, except for a couple weeks when his wife delivered their new born son. He also had a Rate 198 comp where he rated every game of the season. He finally finished on the weekend. Now we were involved in many that were down the bottom but we made 3 of the top 25 games according to him.

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/the-225-days-of-season-2012.911520/page-33#post-25494212

No surprise that the North game was the highest ranked but it says something about how we played under Buddha that a neutral supporter rated our last 2 games between the 20th and 25th best games to watch all year.

18. Port Adelaide 95 d North Melbourne 93 (Round Eight)
21. Richmond106 drew with Port Adelaide 106 (Round 23)
25. Brisbane 104 d Port Adelaide 93 (Round 22

The first showdown was ranked 35 and the St Kilda game 37.

 

[sog35]

Yep Eade at Sydney was the one that started the zone defence. With the smaller SCG ground he would regularly have trainers taking up space inside the oppositions 50m forward arc when someone took a mark 50-55m out, and clog up space. It took the AFL 2 or 3 years to work it out after a few clubs complained. He developed a very strong defensive game plan for the SCG and the fact that Sydney didn't have many great superstars in the midfield when he started there. He was the one who pushed for the Sydney mids to become big bodied and started working with Sydney Roosters rugby league club to improve their tackling.

At the dogs he promoted a more attacking running style of play because he had a lot more highly skilled kickers at the dogs compared to Sydney, eg Hargrave, Gilbee, Cross, Boyd, Murphy, Cooney etc. But Rocket didn't stop the defensive side of their play.

Here are a couple of stats from champion data re the Bulldogs in 2010. The Bulldogs let the opposition get 50.5 inside 50's per game the highest of the top4 sides and second highest of the top 8 sides in 2010.

In 2010 the bulldogs only conceeded an average of 78.8pts/game. That was the lowest the bulldogs had conceeded in the home and away season since 1965! They only allowed the opposition to score goals from 22.6% of the inside 50's they conceeded the equal lowest with Geelong. Brian Lake had a great year in 2010. Rocket loves him. I wonder if Rocket would try to bring him to Port? Maybe to play one year and then be his defensive coach. Maybe to be his defensive coach.

I think this post tells me why I want Eade. Two different lists, two different playing styles, both successful. He will assess the strengths of our list and play to them accordingly.

 

[Enviable Tradition]

I think this post tells me why I want Eade. Two different lists, two different playing styles, both successful. He will assess the strengths of our list and play to them accordingly.

But do you want a coach who devises a playing style based on the list or one who decides what playing style is going to win a flag and then develops a list to play it?

 

[chiwigi]

But do you want a coach who devises a playing style based on the list or one who decides what playing style is going to win a flag and then develops a list to play it?

He will do both, play to our current strengths and tweak as other strengths emerge.

 

[sog35]

But do you want a coach who devises a playing style based on the list or one who decides what playing style is going to win a flag and then develops a list to play it?

Left myself open for that one... I think in very general terms, selecting a playing style based on the strengths of the players is the way to a flag. There are some non-negotiables within that (i.e. you need a core group of midfielders who can win contests, you need a couple of forward targets and a couple of key backs) but the approach around that can be varied depending on the list. I don't think there is a magic formula but putting your players in positions that they can succeed in is vital. I feel this is something we have failed in.

Eade has proven he can get a couple of different groups to play differing styles to a high level. Once you hit the prelim final / top 6 stage it's all about performance on the day and a healthy dose of luck.

My view on Choco's development of the list & playing style is that he missed or did not enforce the non-negotiables so that when the approach failed it fell down like a deck of cards.

 

[Enviable Tradition]

Eade has proven he can get a couple of different groups to play differing styles to a high level. Once you hit the prelim final / top 6 stage it's all about performance on the day and a healthy dose of luck.

Except big bodies teams with strong key forwards who play a direct attacking game style just seem to have more 'luck', especially when it comes to the heat of finals.

Look at Brisbane, Geelong, the Port Adelaide teams of old vs. the 2000 Port Adelaide, Western Bulldogs of the world.

 

[TheFVK]

Some of you may have read on the main board MrTripleC's -225 Days of Season 2012, where he made comments on the game every day from the first NAB cup game, except for a couple weeks when his wife delivered their new born son. He also had a Rate 198 comp where he rated every game of the season. He finally finished on the weekend. Now we were involved in many that were down the bottom but we made 3 of the top 25 games according to him.

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/the-225-days-of-season-2012.911520/page-33#post-25494212

No surprise that the North game was the highest ranked but it says something about how we played under Buddha that a neutral supporter rated our last 2 games between the 20th and 25th best games to watch all year.

18. Port Adelaide 95 d North Melbourne 93 (Round Eight)
21. Richmond106 drew with Port Adelaide 106 (Round 23)
25. Brisbane 104 d Port Adelaide 93 (Round 22

The first showdown was ranked 35 and the St Kilda game 37.

I too was reading the Rate198 yesterday and was very surprised we don't feature in the bottom 20 "worst games", considering how horrible we have been to watch this year. I guess we avoided the absolute beltings which would typically be a prerequisite for being ranked here, wouldn't be pretty if the rankings were done last year though.

Unsurprisingly MrTripleC rates our two games against Freo as the worst spectacles that we have played in this year. I actually called this too:

heck Round 7, Freo vs. Port: "This is the worst game I have seen this year"
heck Round 18, Port vs. Freo: "We have a new clubhouse leader"

177. Fremantle 87 d Port 47 (Round Seven)
178. Fremantle 75 d Port Adelaide 48 (Round 18)

I probably would have placed the Port vs. North game up a little higher solely on the virtue of the most amazing comeback in the dying moments of a match that I can recall. If Port and Richmond were sitting in the 8 last Sunday's game no doubt would have been placed a little higher too.

 

[Schulzenfest]

I blame Ross Lyin'.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

.......Unsurprisingly MrTripleC rates our two games against Freo as the worst spectacles that we have played in this year. I actually called this too:

heck Round 7, Freo vs. Port: "This is the worst game I have seen this year"
heck Round 18, Port vs. Freo: "We have a new clubhouse leader"
....

After noticing we had 3 in the top 25 I went to the bottom of the list and picked up on the 2 Freo games. For me the Freo game at Footy Park sealed Primus' fate that he wasn't going to get the gig in 2013. It was only a 27pt lose but it was the way we played for the first 3 quarters, never looked liked we would win and Freo put the cue in the rack in the last quater and practiced their zone/flood tactics.

Once again good to see a neutral picks up on the things tht "biased" Port fans pick up.

Our biggest loss was against the Hawks - 72 pts but we were only 17pts down early in the last quarter. It actually was a decent game to watch until we got smashed in the last quarter.

 

[S.Patrol.G]

But do you want a coach who devises a playing style based on the list or one who decides what playing style is going to win a flag and then develops a list to play it?

That's an argument based on the difference between game style and game plan. I believe a coach should base the style of play around one they believe will win a flag and this should never change.

Game plan, on the other hand, has to change depending on the list of players you have available.

Eade coached Sydney and the Bulldogs with some success. I'd bet the style of play from each was very similar, but the plan quite different.

 

[PJ Power]

More and more, I've come to realise that Primus spent the entire year trying to minimise losing margins and it probably cost us more serious opportunities to win.

On the surface of it, it seemed admirable that our worst losing margin was 72 points (against the Hawks when Hocking took over) after last year's repeated maulings. But then you realise we also had no losses under 3 goals while Primus was in charge, and very few (?1), if any matches in which we score >100 points. This tells me that we were not as close as we thought we were to winning all those "winnable" games and that often it was just a case of us minimising the damage until the opposition got their inevitable run-on late in the match.

I'm undecided about whether we were that much more competitive under Primus than in 2011. One thing's for sure, under Hocking we played 8 very watchable quarters of football (out of 16) - two against Hawthorn and Brisbane each and four against Richmond.

 

[TheFVK]

After noticing we had 3 in the top 25 I went to the bottom of the list and picked up on the 2 Freo games. For me the Freo game at Footy Park sealed Primus' fate that he wasn't going to get the gig in 2013. It was only a 27pt lose but it was the way we played for the first 3 quarters, never looked liked we would win and Freo put the cue in the rack in the last quater and practiced their zone/flood tactics.

Once again good to see a neutral picks up on the things that "biased" Port fans pick up.

Our biggest loss was against the Hawks - 72 pts but we were only 17pts down early in the last quarter. It actually was a decent game to watch until we got smashed in the last quarter.

That was a terrible loss, there was a feeling of hopelessness even on this board, that we were simply not improving. Funnily enough those who hadn't watched the game thought otherwise as they only saw the final score and thought we'd done well to be that close. I lost a lot of faith in the direction we were travelling under Primus that day.

It's a shame that the most positive signs we have had in the past few years have either been at the end of the season when the games mean nothing, or in the preseason (when games mean nothing!)

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Buddha has decided not to apply for the coaching job and will remain at Port Adelaide to build his skill set. A class act again Buddha.

Buddha keen to coach but not yet

“It was an honour to serve in the job, I’ve got some really valuable experience and I’m grateful to the club, president Brett Duncanson, CEO Keith Thomas and football GM Peter Rohde for the opportunity.

“The past four weeks have confirmed my passion for coaching at this level, but I believe I will further develop under a new senior coach who will bring fresh ideas and leadership from outside the club.”

Buddha keen to coach but not yet

 

[PJ Power]

Good stuff. Sensible and unselfish, and it should work out well for his longterm benefit and for the club's betterment also.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

We talk a lot about The Creed but Garry Hocking comes across as a guy who really lives it and puts the club ahead of personal ambition.