Woosha

[Matera LeNui]

BANG!!!! That's the sound of Matera LeNui hitting the nail on the head with a 50 kg hammer.

Has a nice ring to it. I should have been a tradie.

 

[Eagle87]

You're all fair weather, honestly, if we climb the ladder again, im not saying we will, but if we do and Shuey has a good year you'll all cream your pants and have Shuey avatars and argue with opposition supporters about how good he is.

Remember when he was suspended last year for the elbow on Thomas' tiny ballsack?

That hearing was the busiest thread of the year.

Silver platter supporters. Whinging bunch of sillys.

The club isn't in a great state and yes it's ******* obvious there needs to be changes but its a football club, football clubs go through different phases.

We must have the weakest supporters in the comp.

Seriously?

I'm one of the strongest critics of our recent coaching; game plan; personnel and recent drafting/development. I do so because we have been poor in all those areas given our resources and our plethora of top 30 picks.

I'm also a foundation member who has been there since round 1 1987...

Genuine supporters can be in there no matter what while still pointing out flaws. In fact genuine supporters with a long history with the club are well placed to do so because they can see the difference between when we are doing things really well v when we aren't.

Grown ups can separate commitment and passion from genuine debate about weaknesses.

Juvenile fanbois on the other hand see all negative comment as "haters" and "fair weather"

That's why they get described as fanbois and juvenile

 

[flamingEMBERS]

Under Worsfold we have seen plenty of innovation.

- the handball and keep the ball alive at all costs strategy (when we had the best midfield in the competition) netted us a flag and we were robbed of a second only after Hall was granted MRP immunity and Sampi wasn't free kicked despite having his head ripped off in the final play of the day. In hindsight remarkable because the loss of Cousins and Judd have proven that was not actaully a very good team. Incidently Geelong play that style of footy and used it last week end to kill us. WCE circa 13 dont have the cattle, skills or pace to implement it.
- the play two ruckmen strategy when everyone else said it couldn't work
- the forward press which took the competition by storm after we won a spoon took us to a prelim despite us still having a shocking midfield (other than Kerr)

Our current situation is the result of poor recruiting since 2006, and devastating injuries to key personnel. Last year we were robbed of a top four spot after losing our forward line, this year we have basically lost our midfield, ruck advantage and halfbackline. We have also got players out of form or exposed as poor players who dont stand up when the chips are down.

These aren't game day tactics. These are season structures.

 

[Matera LeNui]

Under Worsfold we have seen plenty of innovation.

- the handball and keep the ball alive at all costs strategy (when we had the best midfield in the competition) netted us a flag and we were robbed of a second only after Hall was granted MRP immunity and Sampi wasn't free kicked despite having his head ripped off in the final play of the day. In hindsight remarkable because the loss of Cousins and Judd have proven that was not actaully a very good team. Incidently Geelong play that style of footy and used it last week end to kill us. WCE circa 13 dont have the cattle, skills or pace to implement it.
- the play two ruckmen strategy when everyone else said it couldn't work
- the forward press which took the competition by storm after we won a spoon took us to a prelim despite us still having a shocking midfield (other than Kerr)

Our current situation is the result of poor recruiting since 2006, and devastating injuries to key personnel. Last year we were robbed of a top four spot after losing our forward line, this year we have basically lost our midfield, ruck advantage and halfbackline. We have also got players out of form or exposed as poor players who dont stand up when the chips are down.

Well didnt we just take Hawthorn and Collingwoods blueprints for the press, the handball, running game had been used by a few teams we just made it look sexy and a few teams play the 2 ruckman just most have the 2nd Ruckman more versatile.

So is that still innovation? Woosha needs to come out of the woodwork with something sensational. First there was Pagan's Paddock then there was Clarko's Cluster now there is WOOSHAS...................................................

 

[Jimmy_the_Gent]

Under Worsfold we have seen plenty of innovation.

- the handball and keep the ball alive at all costs strategy (when we had the best midfield in the competition) netted us a flag and we were robbed of a second only after Hall was granted MRP immunity and Sampi wasn't free kicked despite having his head ripped off in the final play of the day. In hindsight remarkable because the loss of Cousins and Judd have proven that was not actaully a very good team. Incidently Geelong play that style of footy and used it last week end to kill us. WCE circa 13 dont have the cattle, skills or pace to implement it.
- the play two ruckmen strategy when everyone else said it couldn't work
- the forward press which took the competition by storm after we won a spoon took us to a prelim despite us still having a shocking midfield (other than Kerr)

Our current situation is the result of poor recruiting since 2006, and devastating injuries to key personnel. Last year we were robbed of a top four spot after losing our forward line, this year we have basically lost our midfield, ruck advantage and halfbackline. We have also got players out of form or exposed as poor players who dont stand up when the chips are down.

I'm going to do this in point form to make sure I don't miss anything:

1. No doubt we were awesome in that Cousins, Judd, Kerr era. Did you know we've won 44% of our games since 2008? The glory years were a long time ago.

Also, you might recall, even back in 2005 and 2006, Worsfold and his gang were criticised for playing man on man too much. Teams would keep dropping players back and crowding our forward line. So often our midfield would dominate games and we'd win by a couple of goals.

2. I agree but I'm talking big picture rather than something like play 2 rucks. No team ever made the top 4 just because they selected an extra tall, small or ruck.

3. The forward press came from Hawthron. We mastered it a lot quicker than other follower teams but it can now be picked apart. Even as a follwer team, why aren't we ahead of the curve again?

4. I don't think it's fair to blame our recruiting for all of our issues. I think the recruiters and the coaches who develop players, need to share faults 50/50.

Having said that, rewind 6 months and our list was considered one of the best in the AFL. To be honest it probably wasn't that good but I also don't think it's as bad as it seems now.

5. We have had a lot of injuries but allowing that to be an excuse for too long is inviting failure. We've had a long injury list every year since 2007 (except 2011) - what gives? At the end of the day, this falls at Worsfold's feet too! Why haven't we looked into this and fixed it!

 

[flamingEMBERS]

he's gotta go.

 

[Spooky17]

Well didnt we just take Hawthorn and Collingwoods blueprints for the press, the handball, running game had been used by a few teams we just made it look sexy and a few teams play the 2 ruckman just most have the 2nd Ruckman more versatile.

So is that still innovation? Woosha needs to come out of the woodwork with something sensational. First there was Pagan's Paddock then there was Clarko's Cluster now there is WOOSHAS...................................................

Wooshas Walruses

So damn slow

 

[bunsen burner]

Great news that Woosha's staying - prolly the best coach in the league

Time for a reality check:

1. Poor recruiting. The buck stops at Woosha.
2. Throughout his tenure Woosha has showed inability to change and adapt. He's as slow as Priddis.
3. Forward line structure is ridiculous. Worked for 2011 and part of 2012 with our "bang it in long to our tall timber" policy. That strategy has been worked out yet he is yet to change tactics. he either needs to change the fwd structure or speed up the midfield. He has done neither.
4. Our midfield is slow and has poor skills. If you watched the Geelong game on the weekend we kept fumbling the ball. We should have got possession so we spread. Then out players fumble, turn it over, and our players have already spread meaning Geelong's players were free. If we had a Jobe Watson, Trent Cotchin, or Ryan Griffin leading our attack I guarantee this would change everything.
5. Our midfield structure doesn't work. We have more or less the two best ruckmen in the comp yet they are tapping it down to a congested situation. The opposition just waits to wrap Priddis up and when he does get it they know where he is going to kick it and they just sit there and intercept. Again, Woosha's lack of speed in adapting.
6. Adam Selwood was played for 3 years too may. He was incredibly bad this year yet Woosha kept playing him. Again, slow to react. This was nothing else but sheer incompetence.
7. Shuey and to a lesser degree S Selwood have stopped playing for free kicks. But Dean Cox does it every time the ball comes to him. Why hasn't Woosha demanded Cox stop doing this? It hurts the team.
8. Reluctance to turn over players. We could have got a pick 10-15 for Priddis 5 seasons ago. In recent seasons maybe a 20-25. Now maybe a 3rd rounder. A lot of people knew he was overs a few years back but Woosha couldn't see it. Why wasn't A Selwood delisted 4 seasons ago?
9. Reluctance to trade. Generally I'm an advocate of developing through the draft, when you hit the flag window you trade for those last few pieces of the jigsaw. Now is different. NicNat, Kennedy, Darling, Le Cras, Gaff, Shuey, Masten, McKenzie, Brown. I'm open to trading our first pick (and some) for a Griffen, Watson, Gibbs, or Yarran. The key is to approach these players and get them to agree and request a trade from their club. Woosha wants to go with the status quo. I'm only comfortable with that if Priddis goes.

 

[Xsess]

We have a gun forward line is functioning fine. We need a crumbing player and thats about it. Our midfield needs work

 

[JEagle]

The real problem we have had this year is that Shuey, Gaff, Kerr and S. Selwood have not been as consistent with their performances as last year. In the case of Shuey and Selwood alot of that can be put down to injury. Gaff was always going to get a very hard tag this year. In virtually every game we won last year him having > 19 possessions or so was the significant factor. Opposition coaches and media commentators figured this out half way to three quartes through the season. He picks the best option and has the best delivery. Even this year he would be in our top 5 for effective deliveries into the forward 50 despite reduced output. The rest of the players mentioned have made it hard on Gaff by not stepping up in the games he has been down, or simply not getting it to him on the outside in an attacking position. Priddis isn't an elite mid ala Pendles, Ablett etc, he is one rung below, but he has done his job this year. He has shown up to play, gotten his 25 possessions every game and extracted the ball in tight. Some of the criticisims of him on BF are fair, but have always been know. Kerr's body is close to finished. He may have one more year left next year, but expect him to play a max of 14-15 games. We really needed Shuey and Selwood to have big years, especially with NN out.

The rest is down to the coaching panel this year and the game plan. They have been slow to react and teams have beaten us over the back time and time again. I cannot fathom how many times the ball has sling shotted from opposition defence to their goal side with them having a 3 on 1 or 3 on 2 advantage. There was one very clear instance of this again in the Geelong game and it infuriated me. We have been running a game plan that requires a fit NN, Cox, Waters and particularly Hurn. It then also requires 3 players out of Gaff, Shuey, Selwood and Masten to play consistently every game. Priddis will do what he does, but this yr Masten has played a lone hand and Gaff has been good only when breaking the tag. We cannot run our game plan with the cattle we have had this year, and the form of some of them.

We lack a few things:

- A true crumbing forward
- A good small defender
- A true elite midfielder in the class of Kerr (or what he used to be) to complement Masten, Shuey, Selwood, Gaff, Wellingham.

The first two can be concealed by a better than middle of the road midfield. We need to draft a mid with our top 10 pick and hope we get the right one. We should also draft mids with our other picks and see what they can develop into. We need more options in there.

For mine i think we will bounce back and finish between 5th and 8th next year, provided we have a good injury run. I think the 80 rotations will suit our team better than alot of others.

Ideally we also need:

- Gaff
- Masten
- Shuey

one of these guys to take another step forward. Selwood i don't think can. His kicking and cleanliness of hand has regressed this year. Imo shuey is the most likely, and it would be of most benefit to us if he was the one as he is a very offensive mid.

 

[masai]

Fair enough. I was responding to a post asking if he was an assistant coach and questioning his credentials for that job.

I'm still questioning his credentials.

Having watched footy for 40+ years and at present I'm sitting on my grassy knoll and am amazed at Eagles supporters who can't see their team slowly sinking behind the other teams. It's like the boy running around putting his finger in the holes in the dyke, re-engineer and re-build the bleeping dyke !!!.

Oh well here's to "Nero" Nesbitt.

 

[Seadog]

Time for a reality check:

1. Poor recruiting. The buck stops at Woosha.
2. Throughout his tenure Woosha has showed inability to change and adapt. He's as slow as Priddis.
3. Forward line structure is ridiculous. Worked for 2011 and part of 2012 with our "bang it in long to our tall timber" policy. That strategy has been worked out yet he is yet to change tactics. he either needs to change the fwd structure or speed up the midfield. He has done neither.
4. Our midfield is slow and has poor skills. If you watched the Geelong game on the weekend we kept fumbling the ball. We should have got possession so we spread. Then out players fumble, turn it over, and our players have already spread meaning Geelong's players were free. If we had a Jobe Watson, Trent Cotchin, or Ryan Griffin leading our attack I guarantee this would change everything.
5. Our midfield structure doesn't work. We have more or less the two best ruckmen in the comp yet they are tapping it down to a congested situation. The opposition just waits to wrap Priddis up and when he does get it they know where he is going to kick it and they just sit there and intercept. Again, Woosha's lack of speed in adapting.
6. Adam Selwood was played for 3 years too may. He was incredibly bad this year yet Woosha kept playing him. Again, slow to react. This was nothing else but sheer incompetence.
7. Shuey and to a lesser degree S Selwood have stopped playing for free kicks. But Dean Cox does it every time the ball comes to him. Why hasn't Woosha demanded Cox stop doing this? It hurts the team.
8. Reluctance to turn over players. We could have got a pick 10-15 for Priddis 5 seasons ago. In recent seasons maybe a 20-25. Now maybe a 3rd rounder. A lot of people knew he was overs a few years back but Woosha couldn't see it. Why wasn't A Selwood delisted 4 seasons ago?
9. Reluctance to trade. Generally I'm an advocate of developing through the draft, when you hit the flag window you trade for those last few pieces of the jigsaw. Now is different. NicNat, Kennedy, Darling, Le Cras, Gaff, Shuey, Masten, McKenzie, Brown. I'm open to trading our first pick (and some) for a Griffen, Watson, Gibbs, or Yarran. The key is to approach these players and get them to agree and request a trade from their club. Woosha wants to go with the status quo. I'm only comfortable with that if Priddis goes.

A Selwood was played for 3 yrs too many but should have been delisted 4 yrs ago? His last 2 yrs have been ordinary before that he was ok.
I assume having a contract kept him on the list for this year, doesn't explain why he got a few games though.
But play on.

 

[Matera LeNui]

Also, you might recall, even back in 2005 and 2006, Worsfold and his gang were criticised for playing man on man too much. Teams would keep dropping players back and crowding our forward line. So often our midfield would dominate games and we'd win by a couple of goals.

Glad you mentioned this, there was a lot of games were we just scraped through. I feel a lot of fans forget about the man on man philosophy of the little glory period.

 

[flamingEMBERS]

Honestly, the main problem is we are training the wrong type of fitness into our players. We are so slight compared to the top 4 teams. It's ridiculous. We need to hit the stack, **** off any time trial that has a k in front of the m and just do repeat sprints. We got pushed off the ball so easily on saturday and it has been evident all year that players can break our tackles. This buck stops with Woosha. Not to mention his coaching flaws and the recruiting problems. I am bemused that the majority of players get picked from Victoria yet we have more scouts in WA.

 

[Chris_6678]

Honestly, the main problem is we are training the wrong type of fitness into our players. We are so slight compared to the top 4 teams. It's ridiculous. We need to hit the stack, **** off any time trial that has a k in front of the m and just do repeat sprints. We got pushed off the ball so easily on saturday and it has been evident all year that players can break our tackles. This buck stops with Woosha. Not to mention his coaching flaws and the recruiting problems. I am bemused that the majority of players get picked from Victoria yet we have more scouts in WA.

I still have a feeling we trained in the off season to prepare for the new rotation rules next year and it has really backfired as so many of our mids have slimmed down massively.

 

[Matera LeNui]

Someone mentioned the Rotation caps above, cant see it now but we do seem modelled on an endurance game. If the rotations and an extra sub comes into play it could really benefit our squad. We need more power and sprinters

 

[MIKE85]

I still have a feeling we trained in the off season to prepare for the new rotation rules next year and it has really backfired as so many of our mids have slimmed down massively.

This. Guys like Priddis look a fair bit smaller this year, even Darling looks to have lost a bit. Do you reckon Woosh would gamble on a rule coming in in a years time when we started the pre-season? In a way I kinda do, he did say in 2010 he was implimenting a game plan that would take some getting used to, then the next year we dominated with the best press going around. Now I'm by no means the biggest Woosha fan but I do think he generally looks towards the future, maybe a year in advance????

 

[Carbine Chaos]

Slimming down, even if rotations are capped, is pretty stupid. Finals aren't won by soft outside running teams.

 

[MIKE85]

Slimming down, even if rotations are capped, is pretty stupid. Finals aren't won by soft outside running teams.

True, I just wonder why there was so much work done on bloody time trials and not enough time spent in the gym.

 

[flamingEMBERS]

I still have a feeling we trained in the off season to prepare for the new rotation rules next year and it has really backfired as so many of our mids have slimmed down massively.

We should have bulked up to compete for this years flag! Worry about the rotations when/if they ever come in. Worst case we bulked up to and gave our players proper AFL bodies, then next season we trimmed it down.

 

[Hap Hapablap]

Cransberg has said Woosh has the gig all along and Woosh confirmed he wanted it last night. God I hope so. The last thing our club needs after such a shitty year is to lose the best coach going around.

Best coach going around?

In the bottom ten likely. In the league not a chance

 

[CursoryMercenary]

Two more years?

The nerve

 

[Piss Poor]

Just watched on the coach and it had a clip of Whoosh interviewed post game going on about how he enjoy watching Geelong against us, seriously does he give a shit, how could he say that, sounds like he doesn't care and excepts poor performances, Whoosh can get F*****,

no wonder why the players look so disinterested this year, why would you, the coach loves watching the opposition destroy us.

 

[Karim Abdul Yeo]

it hrts so much more when you look at the stats, two players in top ten tackles, Scooter and priddis, two players in top 10 of tackles inside 50, JK and JD( JK number one) and JK top of the goal kicking. we still dont make the eight. it hurts and hurts a lot. plz dont resign woosh. new coach new approach fresh start. im over this guy. just. I think every club should change coaches once every 12 years. that's a lot of time.

 

[Byron_Clanger]

Cransberg has said Woosh has the gig all along and Woosh confirmed he wanted it last night. God I hope so. The last thing our club needs after such a shitty year is to lose the best coach going around.

Best coach going around? Stop taking hits off the Cousins ice pipe and come back to reality please