News Andrew Russell to step away at season’s end

[Aphrodite]

Russell to step away at season’s end

Andrew Russell will step away from football at the conclusion of the 2024 AFL season.

www.carltonfc.com.au

THE Carlton Football Club can confirm that after 26 years within the AFL industry, Director of High Performance Andrew Russell will step away from football at the conclusion of the 2024 AFL season.

Following six seasons at the Blues, in which time he led high performance, Russell will conclude his time at the Club, with his current contract set to expire at season’s end.

 

[DangerousD]

They say there is no reason for it. We did say last year that we were going to address durability issues, but we didn't lose any of the always injured guys, and we didn't do much to replace them.

I know they say there’s no reason for it but I doubt that’s what they’ve found, repeated issues don’t by happen by luck, I just do t think there’s anything they can tell us.

They can’t come out and throw Austin under the bus by saying he’s left the list exposed.

They can’t come out and say Voss overruled Austin when he wanted to cut said players

And

They can’t come out and say Russel stuffed up

I think they will have the data and would have done an investigation and will be trying to work through it

 

[The Old Dark Navy's]

We cut Philp.
We drafted Moir, who is presumably a Martin replacement. Lij as a high half forward/mid to fill Cunner’s spot, although without the pace.

Anybody we drafted can be considered a replacement for someone, but draftees aren't going to step up for 2-3 years minimum.

Hollands ... yes, but not so much for Cunners as for his price, brother connection and endurance. We weren't looking to add pace there.

Philp was low hanging fruit. We didn't miss him from our senior side as he hardly played.

 

[agro]

I think this will all settle down in a week or so, our High Performance Team are doing the best they can.

Don’t forget this season has another 13 rounds to go, it’s a marathon not a sprint, come September I think we’ll have a full list to choose from and we’ll be cherry ripe for another finals challenge.

We just need a little faith.

 

[BolshyAust]

I think this will all settle down in a week or so, our High Performance Team are doing the best they can.

Don’t forget this season has another 13 rounds to go, it’s a marathon not a sprint, come September I think we’ll have a full list to choose from and we’ll be cherry ripe for another finals challenge.

We just need a little faith.

Glass half full there. What then went wrong for the first half? Who decided on the apparent huge early loads?

 

[slashin_velvet]

How so?

From the horses mouth:
With a highly successful career in football, Russell believes psychology is the most important factor in the life of an AFL player.

Bringing his wealth of football experience to the Blues, he said the mindset of both the group and the individuals within a club were key to its success.

“I think psychology is probably 80 to 90 percent of it all. You’re working on an individual level but you’re working on the psychology of the group the whole time,” he said.

“You’ve got key people - the coach, the footy manager, the doctors and the physios, so there’s the collective mind of the group and the individual minds within the group.

"There’s a lot of different voices within footy clubs these days. It’s hard to know who the players should listen to half the time.

“A lot of the high performance roles are that you’re a middle man between the players, the coaches, the medical people and the physios. You’re trying to pull the whole thing together.”

Russell: Work ethic 'really strong'

Carlton's Director of High Performance said he is impressed by the Blues' beginning to preseason.

www.carltonfc.com.au

 

[Arr0w]

From the horses mouth:
With a highly successful career in football, Russell believes psychology is the most important factor in the life of an AFL player.

Bringing his wealth of football experience to the Blues, he said the mindset of both the group and the individuals within a club were key to its success.

“I think psychology is probably 80 to 90 percent of it all. You’re working on an individual level but you’re working on the psychology of the group the whole time,” he said.

“You’ve got key people - the coach, the footy manager, the doctors and the physios, so there’s the collective mind of the group and the individual minds within the group.

"There’s a lot of different voices within footy clubs these days. It’s hard to know who the players should listen to half the time.

“A lot of the high performance roles are that you’re a middle man between the players, the coaches, the medical people and the physios. You’re trying to pull the whole thing together.”

Russell: Work ethic 'really strong'

Carlton's Director of High Performance said he is impressed by the Blues' beginning to preseason.

www.carltonfc.com.au

Is this what makes you believe he is responsible for a players mentality and intent on match day?

The article seems to suggest its based on fitness

“They need to take a huge responsibility for [their own fitness]. You have to be prepared for them to fail to succeed,” Russell told On Time on SEN.

“They have to make mistakes. They have to challenge themselves. They have to play around with different ways of doing it until they work out what’s the best way for them

 

[SkyhorseTamer]

This is part of the list of the number of games players have missed since the start of 2022. Remove ACLs and inherited injured players. Not many soft tissue injuries

Zac Williams - 28 ACL majority
Caleb Marchbank - 21 Injury prone
Jack Martin - 20^ Injury prone
David Cuningham - 16^ Injury prone
Jack Silvagni - 16^ ACL majority
Sam Walsh - 15 Back majority
Sam Docherty - 14^ ACL majority
Corey Durdin - 13 Shoulder/hammy
Sam Durdin - 13^ Who knows
Alex Mirkov - 12 Heart
Jesse Motlop - 11^ Hammy
Mitch McGovern - 10 Injury prone

Injury prone isn't an excuse. The success rate for injury prone is lower but not near 0. We can include Philp and others they failed to get right too.

Heart according to a dr at a different AFL club is generally an indicator of over training or bad luck. So are acls. SO ARE ACLs. I was told... It's not always bad luck at some stage it's something else...

He's signing off on these players being given a contract. Passing the physical is legit a pass fail element to getting an AFL contract. The medical history is part of that physical the difficulty of ongoing management and projected improvement is also part of it. That is all Russell and his team.

If we offload ALL these players and shrug and say injury prone and then have 10 soft tissue injuries again. Austin is gonna flip if this oh it's recruiters recruiting injury prone players line is what's stuck to. There's blame on both sides. But there is definitely a large portion underneath the direct control of Russell and his team and I bet that's what Cook is saying and seeing behind closed doors.

Our end of season review and our review of some draft picks all point to high performance issues. Fitness management, player cohesion, players trying too hard or playing selfish. This whole attitude and state of mind thing is a joint effort between high performance and coaches. We've had panic merchants, fumblers and brain snaps all season.

I've been told - don't give up on this season yet, Carlton's list is deep enough to recover but what's happening does have fixable faults this season even...


It all just screams every layer of the club is still trying too hard. Pushing too hard. Playing too close to the edge all the time. Need a bit of Bolton and some calm and trust between players to take hold. There's no way a player as good as Walsh isn't seeing the short options he's burning every week in favour of bombs to 45m out from Oppo goals. It's just not breath no calm no trust

 

[SkyhorseTamer]

Is this what makes you believe he is responsible for a players mentality and intent on match day?

The article seems to suggest its based on fitness

“They need to take a huge responsibility for [their own fitness]. You have to be prepared for them to fail to succeed,” Russell told On Time on SEN.

“They have to make mistakes. They have to challenge themselves. They have to play around with different ways of doing it until they work out what’s the best way for them

Not a single player at Carlton knows the atmosphere of a successful club nor the habits and schedules etc. Sure the players need to self motivate which is all he's saying but they need the guidance. Players are tools. Tools don't use themselves.

 

[Arr0w]

Injury prone isn't an excuse. The success rate for injury prone is lower but not near 0. We can include Philp and others they failed to get right too.

Never said it was an excuse, nor that it is zero, but all clubs have injury prone players that struggle with continuity to stay on the park.

Philp was cut and not redrafted by any other club, so is it lack of skill or lack of continuity

Heart according to a dr at a different AFL club is generally an indicator of over training or bad luck. So are acls. SO ARE ACLs. I was told... It's not always bad luck at some stage it's something else...

So that takes me back to a previous statement, are the ACLs the Lions are experiencing bad luck or high performance

He's signing off on these players being given a contract. Passing the physical is legit a pass fail element to getting an AFL contract. The medical history is part of that physical the difficulty of ongoing management and projected improvement is also part of it. That is all Russell and his team.

Signed off or made a recommendation?

If we offload ALL these players and shrug and say injury prone and then have 10 soft tissue injuries again.

If we have an overly high number of injuries after exiting injury prone players, then more scrutiny would be directed at high performance

Austin is gonna flip if this oh it's recruiters recruiting injury prone players line is what's stuck to.

You can do medicals for existing AFL players, but as stated above, Russell would make recommendations, Austin has the final say.

As for draftees, my understanding is that clubs are not permitted to conducted medicals, unless it's approved and in a controlled setting

There's blame on both sides. But there is definitely a large portion underneath the direct control of Russell and his team and I bet that's what Cook is saying and seeing behind closed doors.

What Cook has stated publically, was that Russell had inherited injury prone players, behind closed doors is unknown.

There would be no doubt that all areas are being reviewed ongoing,cfrom high performance to recruitment

Our end of season review and our review of some draft picks all point to high performance issues.

That's merely speculation and or individual opinion

Fitness management, player cohesion, players trying too hard or playing selfish. This whole attitude and state of mind thing is a joint effort between high performance and coaches. We've had panic merchants, fumblers and brain snaps all season.

Agreed, joint involvement and responsibility, right through to list management

I've been told - don't give up on this season yet, Carlton's list is deep enough to recover but what's happening does have fixable faults this season even...

Of course it's fixable, plenty of time to create stronger cohesion to improve output

It all just screams every layer of the club is still trying too hard. Pushing too hard. Playing too close to the edge all the time.

I agree, but you have to push boundaries to understand limits

Need a bit of Bolton and some calm and trust between players to take hold. There's no way a player as good as Walsh isn't seeing the short options he's burning every week in favour of bombs to 45m out from Oppo goals. It's just not breath no calm no trust

It's not an all encompassing situation, some players are able to show more composure when receiving the ball, others take an easier option of just banging it on the boot to gain territory

Not a single player at Carlton knows the atmosphere of a successful club nor the habits and schedules etc.

You'd think the likes of Newman coming from a well run club, do. We have other players that have also spent time elsewhere.

Sure the players need to self motivate which is all he's saying but they need the guidance. Players are tools. Tools don't use themselves.

True on all counts, so to point the find at one person as the fault mechanism is somewhat strange

 

[slashin_velvet]

Is this what makes you believe he is responsible for a players mentality and intent on match day?

The article seems to suggest its based on fitness

“They need to take a huge responsibility for [their own fitness]. You have to be prepared for them to fail to succeed,” Russell told On Time on SEN.

“They have to make mistakes. They have to challenge themselves. They have to play around with different ways of doing it until they work out what’s the best way for them

Mentality and intent on match day is psychological - which according to Russell makes up 80-90% "of it all".

As high performance manager, he is responsible for the players maximising their performance, which is driven by psychology to get that extra 1-2% out of themselves. He's also responsible for their fitness and health to ensure the psychology aligns with the physical capability.

The league is incredibly even - we've seen Hawthorn give Port a decent run, the Suns smash the Cats who were undefeated until a couple weeks ago, and West Coast do a number over Melbourne - the intangibles of psychology combined with maintaining a fit 22 will be they keys to success.

We have to face into the fact that our window is now - if we don't get success in this window, we will likely be waiting another lengthy period because of the introduction of Tasmania impacting the draft period. The club realises this is an area of concern, and whilst they havent publicly identified any of the areas, they would know what is/isn't working and will need to make changes accordingly.

 

[Arr0w]

Mentality and intent on match day is psychological - which according to Russell makes up 80-90% "of it all".

I have already addressed this from the article you posted, which was more about training regimes

As high performance manager, he is responsible for the players maximising their performance, which is driven by psychology to get that extra 1-2% out of themselves. He's also responsible for their fitness and health to ensure the psychology aligns with the physical capability.

He is responsible for tailoring a program to have each player in the best condition to compete at their best level. Hopefully each of those players adhere to their programs

He is also not a magician, where he can fix every single injury prone player, nor guarantee they don't suffer an impact or ACL injury

The league is incredibly even - we've seen Hawthorn give Port a decent run,

That 1 or 2% difference in mental edge?

the Suns smash the Cats who were undefeated until a couple weeks ago,

Yes, the Cats that lost to the Demons, who when then defeated

and West Coast do a number over Melbourne - the intangibles of psychology combined with maintaining a fit 22 will be they keys to success.

So why did the Demons lose when they had a relatively fit team, like they did when we beat them

We have to face into the fact that our window is now -

Our window doesn't close come the end of the year and it's still in play now

if we don't get success in this window, we will likely be waiting another lengthy period because of the introduction of Tasmania impacting the draft period.

Like most sides I guess

The club realises this is an area of concern, and whilst they havent publicly identified any of the areas, they would know what is/isn't working and will need to make changes accordingly.

I'm sure they do, again, like every side in the competition

 

[slashin_velvet]

Arr0w - i'm not going to go back against every bit of that post separately as its clear we don't agree. I'd appreciate if you took my points at face value though, and didn't keep raising some strawman of me pointing the finger at Russell for contact injuries/ACL's etc.

The thrust of my position is - Russell is responsible for effort through his psychological responsibilities as leader of high performance. He is also responsible for training and injury management. Its a tall order, and why he's highly remunerated. The club isn't satisfied with our performances in this area and has investigated the root causes. It has not publicly revealed what it believes to be the key driver of this - but it will be interesting if they tolerate it as we get closer to finals, or fall further down the ladder.

 

[Arr0w]

Arr0w - i'm not going to go back against every bit of that post separately as its clear we don't agree. I'd appreciate if you took my points at face value though, and didn't keep raising some strawman of me pointing the finger at Russell for contact injuries/ACL's etc.

The thrust of my position is - Russell is responsible for effort through his psychological responsibilities as leader of high performance. He is also responsible for training and injury management. Its a tall order, and why he's highly remunerated. The club isn't satisfied with our performances in this area and has investigated the root causes. It has not publicly revealed what it believes to be the key driver of this - but it will be interesting if they tolerate it as we get closer to finals, or fall further down the ladder.

The thrust of your original point was Russell was the only person responsible for a player's mentality and intent on gameday, which I questioned

I didn't extend the brief, I merely responded to it

 

[Accidental genius]

Arr0w - i'm not going to go back against every bit of that post separately as its clear we don't agree. I'd appreciate if you took my points at face value though, and didn't keep raising some strawman of me pointing the finger at Russell for contact injuries/ACL's etc.

The thrust of my position is - Russell is responsible for effort through his psychological responsibilities as leader of high performance. He is also responsible for training and injury management. Its a tall order, and why he's highly remunerated. The club isn't satisfied with our performances in this area and has investigated the root causes. It has not publicly revealed what it believes to be the key driver of this - but it will be interesting if they tolerate it as we get closer to finals, or fall further down the ladder.

Rules of engagement …once you enter the arena one of you has to be ended

 

[marcmurphy3]

Just a thought.

I wonder what Russell's management skills are like? I imagine the role has changed a lot over the years. He would have started out doing most stuff himself. Now I imagine he leads a large team (a team that on face value is underperforming). Requires quite a different set of skills.

I wonder how his role had changed at Port vs Hawthorn vs now and whether it plays any part in the disparity regarding his performance?

 

[slashin_velvet]

The thrust of your original point was Russell was the only person responsible for a player's mentality and intent on gameday, which I questioned

I didn't extend the brief, I merely responded to it

Unfortunately you are mistaken - I've never said that he is the "only" person responsible - that's your inference.

 

[Arr0w]

Mentality and intent still falls squarely under high performance.

This is what started the exchange

Unfortunately you are mistaken - I've never said that he is the "only" person responsible - that's your inference.

We aren't mind readers, nor did you mention any other department or person that would contribute to the area

Like most aspects of an organisation, many people contribute to different facets

 

[slashin_velvet]

This is what started the exchange



We aren't mind readers, nor did you mention any other department or person that would contribute to the area

Like most aspects of an organisation, may people contribute to different facets

He has responsibility - that doesn't make him solely responsible - again, that's an inference you have made (and I'd suggest that comes from you incorrectly assuming I am approaching this with ill-intent)

 

[TENACIOUS]

The media and bigfooty supporters are looking for a scapegoat..

For mine it’s likely a culmination of Russell, Austin and the MC…

Russell - for not being able to get on top of the problem.
Austin - Recruiting and keeping on the list perennially injured players.
MC - Bringing back players too early and the players getting re-injured

Can’t see this being solely Russell’s fault, if you’re going to get rid of one, you need to get rid of all..

 

[Accidental genius]

The media and bigfooty supporters are looking for a scapegoat..

For mine it’s likely a culmination of Russell, Austin and the MC…

Russell - for not being able to get on top of the problem.
Austin - Recruiting and keeping on the list perennially injured players.
MC - Bringing back players too early and the players getting re-injured

Can’t see this being solely Russell’s fault, if you’re going to get rid of one, you need to get rid of all..

The common factor there is Lloyd …who you haven’t listed.

It’s his job to oversee the function of the footy department isn’t it?

 

[JJBagger]

The media and bigfooty supporters are looking for a scapegoat..

For mine it’s likely a culmination of Russell, Austin and the MC…

Russell - for not being able to get on top of the problem.
Austin - Recruiting and keeping on the list perennially injured players.
MC - Bringing back players too early and the players getting re-injured

Can’t see this being solely Russell’s fault, if you’re going to get rid of one, you need to get rid of all..

I’ll defend Austin on this one. A lot of the perpetually injured players were there before he came to the club. And if the murmurs were true, at the halfway point of the season last year, we were more than prepared to cut them at the end of 2023. However, they all got through the second half of the year uninjured, and played big parts in getting us to a prelim. So I understand wanting to keep them on for one more year, just to see what happened

 

[SkyhorseTamer]

The media and bigfooty supporters are looking for a scapegoat..

For mine it’s likely a culmination of Russell, Austin and the MC…

Russell - for not being able to get on top of the problem.
Austin - Recruiting and keeping on the list perennially injured players.
MC - Bringing back players too early and the players getting re-injured

Can’t see this being solely Russell’s fault, if you’re going to get rid of one, you need to get rid of all..

Layer of goal setting and overall plans. We decided to try and go harder than ever. We play a style that's high stress on fitness too. All comes in to it

 

[BlueJet]

He has responsibility - that doesn't make him solely responsible - again, that's an inference you have made (and I'd suggest that comes from you incorrectly assuming I am approaching this with ill-intent)

Communicating your thoughts clearly would have avoided any confusion.

 

[BlueJet]

The media and bigfooty supporters are looking for a scapegoat..

For mine it’s likely a culmination of Russell, Austin and the MC…

Russell - for not being able to get on top of the problem.
Austin - Recruiting and keeping on the list perennially injured players.
MC - Bringing back players too early and the players getting re-injured

Can’t see this being solely Russell’s fault, if you’re going to get rid of one, you need to get rid of all..

Agree.
Ultimately, I just want a review of how we're handling things.
There's usually opportunity for improvement even if the decisionmakers remain the same - if someone is found to be not up to the task, then move them on.
The cries of sakc Russell seemed to based on looking at our injury list & a David King tweet.
Understandably, people are frustrated but I'd hope that Cook & co are less emotive and work through any review of our footy ops in a more analytical manner.

 

[BlueJet]

SkyhorseTamer so, you think a lack of clarity is the responsibility to the recipient rather than the one making the statement?