the assistant coach thread

[Kickett Punches Read]

Ok, so there are a number of people who are unhappy with the coaching staff, particularly with the hole that chris scott left, many of our other threads lead back to the same topic. i want to dedicate this thread to our assistant coaches, those that we want to chase and those that may move on. I personally believe that our coaching staff needs if anything nothing more than a slight tweak, here are some candidates i think we could/should chase

i have said it onece before, but i really think we should chase scott watters. He is a freo boy, he had great success with subiaco, and has been under a master coach. he should be priority 1, that is if he doesnt get a top job at the end of this year. I would have him at the club tomorrow if i could

secondly, tony michale, the guy has loads of experience, he has been involved in an afl premiership and was lauded for his ability to read the game at the slime, particularly on the defensive side of the game.

some other names we could chase, adrian fletcher, robert harvey and brenton sanderson. these may be harder to get, but many assistants these days need/want a broad range of coaching experienc.

fletcher has coached under malthouse, bomber thompson and voss, he was great player on the field and is much respected at the FFC.

harvey, in my opinion, is one of the greatest ever footballers, i have spoken to him before, and while quietly spoken, he is very intelligent, and has that aura that when he speaks, you listen. had massive wraps on him at carlton, and is not that long retired so is still in touch with the game'

Brenton sanderson, was named as the person who bomber thompson thought should coach geelong when he left. tactically is meant to be brilliant, played as a half back flanker/midfielder so knows the defensive side of the game, only problem is that he has spent all his time at geelong. I think he could be a nice fit.

people are also critical of our medical staff. in large i see our injuries as pretty much bad luck. there is nothing we could have done to prevent suban breaking his leg for example. im not sure of any medical staff in the afl, does anyone know of someone in the afl system or out who would do a better job than webber etc

people may think i might be being a little hypocritical in raising this thread, as i have been largely supportive of our coaches, but maybe there IS something that im not seeing that we could bring to the club

 

[Lach72]

Mark Neeld.

 

[Kickett Punches Read]

Mark Neeld.

thought about him actually, what is his footy pedigree? not sure whether or not he'd move over, he has been at the pies for ages hasnt he?

 

[Lach72]

He's 38.
Played for Geelong and Richmond.
Coached TAC. Been there since 2007. Coached the backline, was midfield coach last year.

 

[Kickett Punches Read]

He's 38.
Played for Geelong and Richmond.
Coached TAC. Been there since 2007. Coached the backline, was midfield coach last year.

fits the bill then. as a club we should be more ruthless i reckon. the pies wont want to lose watters... so we should out bid them. if we decide we want someone... go all out

 

[Chris25]

Nathan Bassett. End of discussion.

Will be a head coach before long, and is one of the best at developing not only young players but also getting the most of his older players (Duigan, Lower). Both SA clubs will be chasing him hard, we should go harder and hopefully he will want to make a career for himself elsewhere.

 

[Kickett Punches Read]

Nathan Bassett. End of discussion.

Will be a head coach before long, and is one of the best at developing not only young players but also getting the most of his older players (Duigan, Lower). Both SA clubs will be chasing him hard, we should go harder and hopefully he will want to make a career for himself elsewhere.

great call, havent heard anything of him for a while being here in WA... we should be chasing guys like that

 

[Nickos66]

Scotty Watters.
Any chance of any other decent assistants currently at another club?

 

[Kickett Punches Read]

Scotty Watters.
Any chance of any other decent assistants currently at another club?

another i would have liked to get is steve silvagni... but he is at GWS so no chance of that.....

what players would retire this year or soon and look to coaching?

 

[IAMJUNGLEMUFFIN]

All the "Chris Scott left, and is now winning loads of games at Geelong, and we are now losing more than last year, therefore Chris Scott is the brains of the operation etc" comments are plain and simply uninformed garbage.

At the end of the day, I strongly doubr if a single one of our posters has even the slightest idea of what goes on in the inner sanctum of our club. The people we have chosen to fill certain roles, are there because they are the best person available to fill that position.

I really do respect and appreciate the fact that some people care enough to post about issues such as these, esecially a guy like KPR who I rate on this board, but at the end of the day, making judgements based on vague connections and uninformed observations is not my cup of tea.

This thread isn't the ideal place for me to say that, as this post is more about other threads this season moreso than this one, but it's probably the only thread purely dedicated to the topic.

My apologies in advance KPR.

 

[Kickett Punches Read]

All the "Chris Scott left, and is now winning loads of games at Geelong, and we are now losing more than last year, therefore Chris Scott is the brains of the operation etc" comments are plain and simply uninformed garbage.

At the end of the day, I strongly doubr if a single one of our posters has even the slightest idea of what goes on in the inner sanctum of our club. The people we have chosen to fill certain roles, are there because they are the best person available to fill that position.

I really do respect and appreciate the fact that some people care enough to post about issues such as these, esecially a guy like KPR who I rate on this board, but at the end of the day, making judgements based on vague connections and uninformed observations is not my cup of tea.

This thread isn't the ideal place for me to say that, as this post is more about other threads this season moreso than this one, but it's probably the only thread purely dedicated to the topic.

My apologies in advance KPR.

no wukkas mate, look as i said i believe that there is a bit of overreaction. i have strongly defended our coaching staff, but maybe there is something i have missed. and if the chance to get a scott watters, that is porbably a good thing. i agree, chris scott inherited a brillliant team, who were unhappy in there last year under bomber. we agree there

 

[dockshark]

I concur with post above regarding Basset....would be a brilliant pick-up if he could be coaxed to WA.


If looking at non-afl coaches I reckon Dimmer would be wrth looking at. He has a really good reputation for his interaction with players, he is doing a brilliant job this year considering the injury problems he has...which are comparative to Freos from a relative WAFL perspective..... might be to old though, I don't know.

 

[Mockcockpit]

another i would have liked to get is steve silvagni... but he is at GWS so no chance of that.....

what players would retire this year or soon and look to coaching?

Simon Black as an on-field assistant coach. He may 38 but he got about 400 kicks the other night. Could play until he's 43 at least.

 

[Sman-21]

Chris Scott shows faith in youngsters an gives them positive encouragement that they deserve their spots an are the future of the club.
They then step in an play well full of confidence.

I heard this kind of stuff towards our young guys last year an normally when given opportunities they performed well.
All ive been hearing this year is no such encouragement an its basically young player x will get an opportunity as we have no other replacements due to injuries.
Im hearing the positive encouragement messages coming from geelong.
Everything from us this year has been fairly negative.

Noticing a huge difference in this area without Scott.

Bassett would be best target an 1 I would think easier to get.
Waters would be next best but since hes with collingwood he will hang around till bigger offers come up or will stay in Melb where he will be noticed more by media and all the other clubs in Melb.

Would also like to get M Lloyd as goal kicking/forward coach.

Not sure who our midfield coach is but whoever it is i want moved.
Midfield mix has been dumb all year.

 

[imperial_oz]

I've posted before on this subject and I'm by no means suggesting that Harvey isn't up to the job. I think he measures up pretty well but I also have some doubts about how strong he is in a couple of areas.

1. How well he communicates / inspires / motivates the players.
2. Gameday coaching

I don't really think he is a natural communicator or an inspirational speaker and I wonder sometimes how ell he has the player's ear. I might be wrong here but thats my view

Also, Scott was well known as a very good gameday coach and provided Harvey with a lot of support. This year, we don't seem to be as reactive to certain situations.

I'll repeat, I don't consider Harvey to be poor but I also don't think he has the support he needs in these areas. I like the idea of Sanderson or similar, not to replace Harvey but to lend him support and I think the club has let him down this year when it didn't replace Scott. We've Lloyd away from developing the kids, where he excelled and tried to fit him into Scott's old position and that hasn't been a raging success.

You also can't blame Harvey for the injury toll this year but if I was running the club, I'd be looking very hard and somewhat sceptically at the conditioning staff, especially after the rash of 'overtraining' injuries that turned up in the pre-season.

Don't shoot at Harvey but give him the support he needs. Support that head coaches at other sides seem to enjoy.

Anyway thats my 2c.

 

[apuchar]

Chris Scott shows faith in youngsters an gives them positive encouragement that they deserve their spots an are the future of the club.
They then step in an play well full of confidence.

I heard this kind of stuff towards our young guys last year an normally when given opportunities they performed well.
All ive been hearing this year is no such encouragement an its basically young player x will get an opportunity as we have no other replacements due to injuries.
Im hearing the positive encouragement messages coming from geelong.
Everything from us this year has been fairly negative.

Noticing a huge difference in this area without Scott.

Bassett would be best target an 1 I would think easier to get.
Waters would be next best but since hes with collingwood he will hang around till bigger offers come up or will stay in Melb where he will be noticed more by media and all the other clubs in Melb.

Would also like to get M Lloyd as goal kicking/forward coach.

Not sure who our midfield coach is but whoever it is i want moved.
Midfield mix has been dumb all year.

Not sure I agree with that. We have played a lot of kids this year, probably unnecessarily in my opinion. Jesse has been give plenty of encouragement (by being given plenty of game time), Pitt was selected for no apparent reason. Michie would have been given a go if he had not been injured early in the year. Mzungu has somehow miraculously turned into a definite started every week. Bucovaz got a go after 2 reasonably good games in for EF. Mellington got a game last weekend. I'm pretty sure bolly got a game even though he hadn't even gotten a kick while playing for Perth. Roberton keeps getting brought back into the side after one or two good games for EP. van Berlo has been given heaps of opportunity. In the mean time guys like Palmer, Walters, Anthony, Lower (early), Hinkley and Schammer have been sitting in the wafl. The truth is our young guys are not quite up to it at the moment or they are not coming into as good a team or structure that you find at Geelong.

And if we can improve our coaching staff then we should do it. If we are to take our team that next step, we need all the quality in the club we can manage to get. Do it nicely, but forget the sentiment

 

[Freo Blood]

The coaching wrt Zac Clarke is doing my head in. After Saturday's giraffe like display around the ground can the coaches (all of them) please dump this ridiculous experiment. He is a developing/second string ruckman ffs; I think he did not take a centre square knock until Sandi got injured - that is BS.

He was not given the opportunity to play midfielder at East Perth to try it out - and note that being a mobile ruckman and sometimes appearing like a midfielder does not count - could be easy to do matched up against another ruckman. A proper mid needs to play defence and be properly matched to beat other midfielders.

The way the coaches f around with the team you would think we are 2 games clear on top of the ladder.

And hopefully Harvey is just having a waking dream by tipping McPharlin to go forward. Been there, done that, can't kick for goals, best CHB/FB in the league. wtf r u saying Harvey??????

 

[E Shed]

The coaching wrt Zac Clarke is doing my head in. After Saturday's giraffe like display around the ground can the coaches (all of them) please dump this ridiculous experiment. He is a developing/second string ruckman ffs; I think he did not take a centre square knock until Sandi got injured - that is BS.

And hopefully Harvey is just having a waking dream by tipping McPharlin to go forward. Been there, done that, can't kick for goals, best CHB/FB in the league. wtf r u saying Harvey??????

Agree with all this. Clarke looks like becoming a good Ruckman but he's not ever going to be a midfielder.
As for McPharlin going forward, I think I'll stop watching if this happens again. Madness to even joke about it.

 

[apuchar]

Don't want to see the McPharlin forward thing again either. Silvagni and Grover can play on a variety of players so they will most likely find a match up. It frees up Broughton to the midfield and allows guys like Duffield and Ibbotson to run off half back a bit more. We have the chance to have one of the most potent backlines in the competition and with Pav and Balla back up forward with Johnson and /or Bradley we may finally have a decent forward line for the first time in 2 years.

 

[Clay Davis]

Agree with all this. Clarke looks like becoming a good Ruckman but he's not ever going to be a midfielder.
As for McPharlin going forward, I think I'll stop watching if this happens again. Madness to even joke about it.

Same. If McPharlin goes forward I think I'll jump off the Harvey bandwagon. He will have officially lost it.

 

[Nickos66]

Que Elvis kicking 4 goals in his 1st game forward this year. Those sure hands... Oh man.

 

[Alfonz]

Clarke in the midfield really boggles the mind. I can not fathom why they would even consider it. Quite ridiculous.

 

[Centurions]

I've posted before on this subject and I'm by no means suggesting that Harvey isn't up to the job. I think he measures up pretty well but I also have some doubts about how strong he is in a couple of areas.

1. How well he communicates / inspires / motivates the players.
2. Gameday coaching

I don't really think he is a natural communicator or an inspirational speaker and I wonder sometimes how ell he has the player's ear. I might be wrong here but thats my view

Also, Scott was well known as a very good gameday coach and provided Harvey with a lot of support. This year, we don't seem to be as reactive to certain situations.

I'll repeat, I don't consider Harvey to be poor but I also don't think he has the support he needs in these areas. I like the idea of Sanderson or similar, not to replace Harvey but to lend him support and I think the club has let him down this year when it didn't replace Scott. We've Lloyd away from developing the kids, where he excelled and tried to fit him into Scott's old position and that hasn't been a raging success.

You also can't blame Harvey for the injury toll this year but if I was running the club, I'd be looking very hard and somewhat sceptically at the conditioning staff, especially after the rash of 'overtraining' injuries that turned up in the pre-season.

Don't shoot at Harvey but give him the support he needs. Support that head coaches at other sides seem to enjoy.

Anyway thats my 2c.

I think it would be worth waiting to see what happens when we have our full squad available, or something close it, before we can judge if anything is different. The ability to have the same players out there each week can't be understated and if you look at the sides that are doing well this year, they have continiuity across the park. The Hawks are doing well without it but they still have the majority of their engine room in there which helps a lot, we have none of the players who were our starting mids last year in Sandi, Mundy, Barlow and Morabito and it showed when we got smacked in the clearances last week.

As for Clarke, he does add something different around the ground but agree he would be better used up forward but if he can add something to his game there would make it a nightmare matchup for other sides and his ability to come in 3rd man up does make us less predictable.

I think most people would think that even if we could make the finals we will be making up the numbers this year and we can see which players are going to take us forward on our list and which ones we will delist. Some have their marching orders already such as Schammer while the club gets to see players such as Hinkley, Pearce etc. who would be playing for their careers....

 

[apuchar]

Same. If McPharlin goes forward I think I'll jump off the Harvey bandwagon. He will have officially lost it.

Some of the stuff I've seen from our coaches this year has made me look forward to the cricket season. If we go back to the McPharlin forward thing I am out of here.

 

[BananaOnTheRun]

the only redeeming thing i can see about it is that elvis can take a mark and other than fyfe, our marking has been mediocre this year. still, i agree with sentiments that it's crazy talk. i don't know why we'd put our best backman forward. sure, snos is looking the goods, but i'd prefer we lock down defence, make the back 50 an impenetrable zone and maybe, i don't know, PLAY PAV IN THE FORWARD 5O if we're missing a target.