Why does Ratten escape criticism?

[Bluebear]

By half time today it was quite apparent to me.......a relative novice........that we had to glaring issues with our setup that needed to be addressed or we were going to get killed.

Firstly, our setup coming out of defence.
Much like the Hawks game last year, the Roos played a defensive zone for kick ins or any possession we got deep in defence.

Just like the Hawks game, we continued to play slowly......kicking short to marks......going back, weighing up the options........allowing the zone to slide across......before kicking to an outmanned player who had no hope unless he takes a screamer - result.....at best out of bounds.....at worst a turnover with many loose players now.

To beat the zone you must attack the space.....not the man.

Run into space, draw a player then give the ball across to the next runner and so on.

So where were our runners?

Up field waiting for the outmanned guy to mark it. No numbers behind the ball at all.



The second major issue we had was the centre square set up. At times Harvey, Wells and others started at CHB, blocked for each other and then sprinted to the sides of the C sq..........leaving their defenders in their wake.........and adding 2-3 mids to each contest in the middle.......much like the Hawks did last year.

We didn't adjust. No change in tactics......just a change in personell.


Don't get me wrong, I love Ratts.......but he was out coached today.

For as much as any one player let us down.......Ratts didn't change our structure to suit the match conditions, and that made it hard for us.

Am I being to harsh?

 

[HBF]

Not only did I think that Ratts got outcoached today, I also thought he got his matchups wrong. Harvey was always going to be hard to tag, but we needed a more experienced guy on him other than Armfield, who I thought did as good as he could.

And, we HAVE to stop looking for Fevola when he is covered. I'm getting so sick and tired of hearing players and coaches saying that try not to look for Fev every time, yet we fall into the same old habits.

North we always going to flood back onto Fevola, and if we wanted to go to him, we needed to run and carry and get the ball in there quickly, and not play the stop-start game we did today.

 

[Jock]

He doesn't from me, he is very much a junior burger coach who has cost us a few games this year. I still very much support him and want him to grow with this young team into finals unit. He will learn a lot from this year and be much better next year.

 

[Bluebear]

And, we HAVE to stop looking for Fevola when he is covered. I'm getting so sick and tired of hearing players and coaches saying that try not to look for Fev every time, yet we fall into the same old habits.

Not sure the "looking for Fev" thing was the plan though.

I think the midfielders have to have a look at themselves and their decisions a bit too.

As for the matchups, we didn't really have an A-grade tagger quick enough or experienced enough to go with Harvey, but our inability to work for each other was glarring.

Worst loss for 6 years given the expectation and what was on the line.

Very few positives to come out of today.

Wouldn't mind seeing us use the "Judd running in off CHB" tactic ala Harvey and Wells.........he will get some yards on his tagger, generate some run......might need to bring in AB though to help at the clearances.

 

[BlueBelle]

Spot on.

 

[Kaladin Stormblessed]

He doesn't from me either.

Not a fan at all. With our list yes we have improved but that was always going to happen by adding Judd, Stevens, Kreuzer over the pre-season and the domino effect and development of our younger players in Gibbs, Murphy, Grigg etc.

We can't even get the basics right. Can't bring the ball out of the defensive 50 cleanly if our life depended on it and can't hit a target up forward other than Fevola. It's shameful. Stop Fev - stop Carlton is the motto for every other team.

Add to that he isn't great tactically and with his match ups either and it's not too rosy a picture.

Am prepared to give him until middle of next year but serious questions need be asked if we aren't top 6.

 

[blues4flag]

Had him as WOG behind Saddington today. One thing that particularly pissed me off: Watching the second quarter blitz, you'd have been excused for thinking you were sitting at the Bird's Nest watching the 100m at centre bounces. No less than 8 players lined up on the edge of the centre square at our HF, running through the centre as soon as the ball was bounced - 1 handball and the Roos were away.

 

[Artie Bucco]

Not harsh, pretty spot on.

North is the most well drilled side I've seen live, some of their clearances today were amazing.

I think pretty obviously Ratten may has been using this year to get the fundamentals right, which have been missing for some time. Now that it has been mostly corrected, we need to be able to add another couple of plans and gears to our game that can see us compete with those teams that gameplans frustrate us, ie Saints, Adelaide, north and to a lesser extent Brisbane.

I expect us next year to beat at least 3 of North, Adelaide, Saints and Brisbane...it will happen

 

[SirKnights]

agree here to an extent, not impressed by Ratts. I think you have some sensational young players in Grigg, Murphy, Gibbs, Kreuzer, etc (in fact other than Russell all your kids are showing promise).

But your improvement this year is not down to ratts at all. It is down to the improvement in your kids (both in terms of playing ability but also getting a year older, stronger, fitter etc), and also acquiring Judd. You still have basic issues with moving the ball and disposal, and I think a lot of that is due to how the gaem plan works. Ratts has had a year to get the ball moving well and I really do not think (given you have judd stevens murphy gibbs) in a midfield, he has done that well. If you look at the 16 minute mark of the third quarter today, there is a classic example of what I am talking about.

IF you do not make finals next year (when you blatantly have the talent to do so), questions should be asked of Ratts. I personally think he is NOT the man to coach you. If you make finals next year I am obviously wrong. If you do not, then I think you really need to start asking questions about him.

 

[Stig O'Hara]

agree here to an extent, not impressed by Ratts. I think you have some sensational young players in Grigg, Murphy, Gibbs, Kreuzer, etc (in fact other than Russell all your kids are showing promise).

All that passive/aggresive shit don't cut it with me.
go away.

 

[SirKnights]

All that passive/aggresive shit don't cut it with me.
go away.

Jordan Russell is a fantastic player, who this year has shown he truly deserves his spot in the Carlton lineup. Better?

 

[Stig O'Hara]

Jordan Russell is a fantastic player, who this year has shown he truly deserves his spot in the Carlton lineup. Better?

Go look in your own backyard champ.

Couldn't care less for your opinion.

We eat our own here.

No need for your patronising.

 

[djudd]

By half time today it was quite apparent to me.......a relative novice........that we had to glaring issues with our setup that needed to be addressed or we were going to get killed.

Firstly, our setup coming out of defence.
Much like the Hawks game last year, the Roos played a defensive zone for kick ins or any possession we got deep in defence.

Just like the Hawks game, we continued to play slowly......kicking short to marks......going back, weighing up the options........allowing the zone to slide across......before kicking to an outmanned player who had no hope unless he takes a screamer - result.....at best out of bounds.....at worst a turnover with many loose players now.

To beat the zone you must attack the space.....not the man.

Run into space, draw a player then give the ball across to the next runner and so on.

So where were our runners?

Up field waiting for the outmanned guy to mark it. No numbers behind the ball at all.



The second major issue we had was the centre square set up. At times Harvey, Wells and others started at CHB, blocked for each other and then sprinted to the sides of the C sq..........leaving their defenders in their wake.........and adding 2-3 mids to each contest in the middle.......much like the Hawks did last year.

We didn't adjust. No change in tactics......just a change in personell.


Don't get me wrong, I love Ratts.......but he was out coached today.

For as much as any one player let us down.......Ratts didn't change our structure to suit the match conditions, and that made it hard for us.

Am I being to harsh?

On the money i think mate.
You would think the whole coaches box would be disappointed in their
performance today.

 

[diesel1]

Ohh get a life mate, fair dinkum.

 

[Beloved]

What I really want to know is why didn't Ratten move Saddinton from Hale?

He was clearly being beaten numerous times and nothing was done about it!

 

[XXX KINGS]

I've been pretty happy with Ratten's effort for the year and he is going to get better with experience.

However, today in the second quarter we were playing Waite as a loose man in defence whilst we let a North player line up unmanned on the wing and as a result North constantly had an extra player in the centre of the ground. IMO Waite should have been moved up onto the wing or something because the loose guy down back wasn't really helping us considering we couldn't get it near our forward 50.

Today was just frustrating as **** and it became more clear to me then ever that we are carrying a substantial amount of dead weight which is going to keep holding us back as we try to move forward when we come up against quality sides which is what North is.

 

[btdg]

Ratts did move Saddington from Hale - he put Waite on him, shut him down. Saddo went back after Waite went forward at 3Qt.

I also thought Ratts was outcoached today, but to be fair, we haven't seen anything like that zone before, and its pretty tough to adjust to that on the fly. His match-ups weren't bad, and really just highlighted our obvious deficiencies - we desperately need a full-sized ruckman, another consistent forward target, and a midfield stopper. We really missed Bentick today, just struggled to lay a tackle in the midfield.

But Ratts has done a decent job for a first-year coach. He struggled horribly late last year, has improved a lot on match-days, and looks to be a good skills/training coach and motivator. Still gets outfoxed on game day, but that just takes time and experience.

 

[Bluebear]

But your improvement this year is not down to ratts at all. It is down to the improvement in your kids (both in terms of playing ability but also getting a year older, stronger, fitter etc), and also acquiring Judd. You still have basic issues with moving the ball and disposal, and I think a lot of that is due to how the gaem plan works. Ratts has had a year to get the ball moving well and I really do not think (given you have judd stevens murphy gibbs) in a midfield, he has done that well.

Disagree.

Funny, you throw Gibbs name in there, yet give Ratts no credit for the way he has come on.

After we lost to the Dons in round 3 (with all those guys in the team) there were decisive changes in the game plan and style, and the effect was obvious.

Ratten has clearly out-coached a number of guys this year, most notably, Malthouse, Eade and Wallace when we lined up without Judd.

He has done very well considering we have no dominant ruck, hence the reason why the Dons beat us the second time.

Overall I think Ratts come out on top as the best first year coach, but TODAY.........he failed.

Without being privy to the communications to players it is impossioble to say whose fault some of the structural issues were, but TODAY, Ratts was clearly out coached.

 

[thylacine60]

All that passive/aggresive shit don't cut it with me.
go away.

Go look in your own backyard champ.

Couldn't care less for your opinion.

We eat our own here.

No need for your patronising.

Hopefully there will be a few other posts tonight that I agree with as much as these little beauties.

 

[sherb]

This week he has escaped criticism because the loss was all Jason Saddington`s fault.

 

[phil8579]

It seemed as if we played with one goal in mind today - get Fev to 100. I know it seems crazy but at times i understand why Fev goes off his rocker. He does the right thing leading hard and dragging three players away to an aerial contest yet the ball still comes to him. did it ever occur to anyone to hit up the free player? What happened to Walker and Kreuzer/Cloke spending time in the forward 50? We got over 40 scores last week! Thats a good thing Ratts!

What really put the nail in the coffin was when it comes back. Every time we gave up the ball trying to kick to Fev it seemed like a relay race on the way back, the baton was taken at full back and run the full length of the ground at serious pace.

All in all a frustrating game but kudo's to north. Much more switched on than us and they deserved the pie

 

[Dima]

IMO the worst thing that Ratts did today was completely **** up our rucking division. It was clear that Hampson was getting absolutely smashed hands down, if he wasn't jumping ten years early he was tapping the ball to an opposition player.

He had 3 ruckmen at his disposal, why not rest Hampson in the forward line and get Cloke in there, at the very least he would have made body contact with the North rucks.....

Not happy.........

Agree with others that Saddo was terrible today also, along with the umpiring *sigh* nothing went right....

 

[blues4flag]

It seemed as if we played with one goal in mind today - get Fev to 100. I know it seems crazy but at times i understand why Fev goes off his rocker. He does the right thing leading hard and dragging three players away to an aerial contest yet the ball still comes to him. did it ever occur to anyone to hit up the free player? What happened to Walker and Kreuzer/Cloke spending time in the forward 50? We got over 40 scores last week! Thats a good thing Ratts!

I assure you, it wasn't Ratten's instructions to look to Fev at every opportunity. Same with Lyon at Saints, when the Saints lapse back into their crappy start/stop, stagnant style, it is done against the coach's wishes.

Hopefully during the preseason, a heap of match simulation and forward line drills will drill into the players' heads that we have more than one option up forward.


Ratten in his post game interview:

"I don't think it's Brendan's fault. I think each bloke is virtually the captain of the team when they've got the ball in their hands and they just need to use it a little bit differently at times,” he said.

"Until other players start kicking three and four goals no-one's going to worry about playing on them and they'll just keep falling back into the hole [in front of Brendan]. If someone's got three goals behind their name the opposition start looking a little bit closer.

"If you go down that path [of having one primary target] you probably won't make the top eight. Sometimes we went out of our way to kick the ball to him. I thought he played fairly well, he started off well and competed hard, but if we can't get other players in that front 50 [we'll struggle]."

 

[Stig O'Hara]

Hopefully there will be a few other posts tonight that I agree with as much as these little beauties.

Talk is cheap my friend,

 

[phil8579]

I assure you, it wasn't Ratten's instructions to look to Fev at every opportunity. Same with Lyon at Saints, when the Saints lapse back into their crappy start/stop, stagnant style, it is done against the coach's wishes.

Hopefully during the preseason, a heap of match simulation and forward line drills will drill into the players' heads that we have more than one option up forward.


Ratten in his post game interview:

"I don't think it's Brendan's fault. I think each bloke is virtually the captain of the team when they've got the ball in their hands and they just need to use it a little bit differently at times,” he said.

"Until other players start kicking three and four goals no-one's going to worry about playing on them and they'll just keep falling back into the hole [in front of Brendan]. If someone's got three goals behind their name the opposition start looking a little bit closer.

"If you go down that path [of having one primary target] you probably won't make the top eight. Sometimes we went out of our way to kick the ball to him. I thought he played fairly well, he started off well and competed hard, but if we can't get other players in that front 50 [we'll struggle]."

To me it seemed like for a large portion of the game we were trying to get fev one out. I saw last week Ratten was committed to having someone tall play in the forward line at all times - Kruezer/Cloke. Couldnt see it this week though. To me Kreuzer in the front half just seems like common sense. Hes 200 centimeters and has a tank capable of doing a 15 or something beep test. How many defenders can match that? Depending on whats required you could play him deep in the forward 50 taking marks one out in the square or have him push up as the hit up to the wing.

"Until other players start kicking three and four goals no-one's going to worry about playing on them and they'll just keep falling back into the hole [in front of Brendan]. If someone's got three goals behind their name the opposition start looking a little bit closer.

At least Ratten has an idea about the cure.