Opinion Brendon Bolton

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Blue and Blue said:
Except that a week before the kids were great......see its only based on the result of the week therefore yes its kneejerk.
Its been stated many times by experts and non experts alike that we would improve but still get smashed at times in this season. Isn't that exactly whats happening? And therefore .............
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It's not just based on the latest game.

We were utterly humiliated by North Melbourne a few weeks back.

We've managed to win one game with a relatively kind draw thus far.

We've lost 3 games to teams in the bottom 5.

I'm not blaming Bolton directly as I think it's more coming from who we've drafted and how we have developing them is the issue right now.

His inability to find different ways to change a situation worries me however.

Andy Maher was calling things during the game yesterday that made sense yet it took Bolton 20-30 minutes after Maher said it for a couple of those suggestions to actually happen during the game.

Worrying.
 
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Blue and Blue said:
If people really want to discuss the coach in a serious and sensible way then one question has to be asked. Probably the most important one of all but which rarely comes into the conversation.
How would Bolton be traveling with for example Buckleys list or Simpsons or Cameron's? ..................Pretty darn good I will bet.
And conversely how would those three travel with our list?............................................. Sakc them all. No good.
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That's simply pointing out he'd be a front runner coach.

It's how coaches perform with below average lists is a sign of their abilities and strengths.
 
Bostonian said:
It's not just based on the latest game.

We were utterly humiliated by North Melbourne a few weeks back.

We've managed to win one game with a relatively kind draw thus far.

We've lost 3 games to teams in the bottom 5.

I'm not blaming Bolton directly as I think it's more coming from who we've drafted and who we have developing them is the issue right now.

His inability to find different ways to change a situation worries me however.

Andy Maher was calling things during the game yesterday that made sense yet it took Bolton 20-30 minutes after Maher said it for a couple of those suggestions to actually happen during the game.

Worrying.
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I dont disagree.
I do think Andy Maher just reads this stuff here and has the luxury to repeat it on air.
 

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The problem for Bolton is that the club unofficially set performance expectations for him when they traded for the Stocker pick. When they did that, Lloyd was in the room, Judd was in the room, and SOS was in the room. They didn’t think they were handing over the number one pick.

Now, I think he will be given until the end of the year. But at some stage the club is left with a choice as to what is going wrong - recruitment, development, or injury management. I think it’s far more likely they’ll point the finger at development than the other two options.
 
Eiffel 65 said:
Too early for this thread and I don't think we're entitled to have a crack at the coach.

We need to accept that our list is young and it needs time to develop. Simple as that.
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I think we should be able to discuss coaching method - but baseless character assassinations are different to citing specific shortcomings.

I'd argue that the thread title should be charged to "Coaching method and strategy" and discussion should be had about the whole coaching group, although some heat has to be applied to Bolton as the leader of the group.

I'd love to know:
- why don't we give Gibbons, Ed, or Jsos more midfield minutes when it's bleedingly obvious that guys like Fisher, Dow and SPS are struggling
- how are we keeping our players defensively accountable and setting non-negotiables within the group - i don't care weather it's our youngest mid in walsh or oldest in murphy - but the modern game requires that our mid's have to be 2 way runners (except for maybe outliers like danger, fyfe etc)
- how are we approaching skill development - handballing, tackling, kicking etc - are we hiding behind the 'young' tag when there might be a problem?

In a Carlton sense, Big Footy should just be rebranded to Big Catharsis. Let people have their say, state their concerns, challenge other people's views ... but keep it respectful, be prepared to admit you're wrong, and don't get personal.
 
Sack Bolton if you like but don’t forget to give him all the credit when it turns around. Has done all the hard work, anyone taking on this list chock full of talent has a much easier job than he did.

I’ll stick by Bolts even after the club makes the inevitable decision. Look at the way he’s pumped games into our youth, especially through the middle. It has never been about the now and it was never a 3 year thing.

Improvement is nice but so is perspective. Essendon lost to that side by 12 goals. They smashed Richmond and beat Geelong at home, and 9 days ago we should have beaten Collingwood. There’s gonna be ups and downs, did anyone expect any less with such a young squad?
 
Mr_Plow said:
One issue I do have with the current coaching fraternity is our rigidity.

It's great that we have systems that we trust and indoctrinate into the players. But when you have such a young struggling team, there needs to be a better plan B than throwing McGovern behind the ball at the first sign of adversity.

Why does it take until the 3rd or 4th quarter to push Silvagni into the middle when our young midfielders have been getting annihilated for 2-3 quarters? Sure, you want to instil some belief and hardness into your future midfielders, but ****, we're down by 40 points at quarter time, lol. Give Stocker a run in the middle before the middle of the 4th quarter. If it's clear that SPS is not interested in hunting the football today, give someone else a turn who will.

And why do we insist on not paying any respect to the opposition's best midfielder(s)? It's a terribly dangerous strategy when we lose the midfield battle essentially every week. Bolton wasn't doing that in his 1st or 2nd year, it's okay to push some of the young midfielders to the periphery somewhat and help us be more competitive in the interim.

Make the tough calls, implement changes sooner, enough with the rigid dogmatism, some tactical nous in the box pls, throwing McGovern behind the ball is not sustainable, lol.
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This is the exact same criticism I have of our coaching.

SOS going into midfield worked, but I don't think he went back after his one stint in the 3rd qtr, did he? Goes in, gets 3 clearances, then sent back forward for the rest of the game. Bit harsh. Also would've been good to see Charlie up the field or on the ball. Just didn't try enough, and they rarely do.
 
Coops93 said:
Just to hammer home this point:

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I wish my boss gave me points for nearly winning proposals all the time. What a meaningless statistic. So we win a few quarters when games are over or when teams are at half pace.

The win loss is a mess as is the percentage.

CLUBS WITH ALOT LESS DELIVERING ALOT MORE.
 

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I will start by saying I have always been a Bolton supporter/apologist. I believe he needs time to prove himself with a young list.

However, if there many more performances like that this season, there will be a good argument to remove him at the end of the season. While I definitely don’t judge us by the wins and losses, the performances against north and gws are hugely concerning and do reflect poorly on him.

To me, the players are coming along and are ready to take the step. Those sort of performances are a step backwards and I don’t think we can afford to waste next season if there are question marks of Bolton. Could be a situation akin to the Doggies with McCartney/Beveridge
 
Big Red is back said:
I wish my boss gave me points for nearly winning proposals all the time. What a meaningless statistic. So we win a few quarters when games are over or when teams are at half pace.

The win loss is a mess as is the percentage.

CLUBS WITH ALOT LESS DELIVERING ALOT MORE.
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Which club has a lesser list than ours and is doing more?
 
Big Red is back said:
I wish my boss gave me points for nearly winning proposals all the time. What a meaningless statistic. So we win a few quarters when games are over or when teams are at half pace.

The win loss is a mess as is the percentage.

CLUBS WITH ALOT LESS DELIVERING ALOT MORE.
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Does your board sack your manager if a young group of talented employees are inconsistent, or do they back the collective decision as they know once the group matures they can compete with the competition consistently?

Why are our winning quarters seen as other sides not competing or being switched on, but our poor quarters are seen as incompetency by the coach?

If this is based purely around results, rather than expectations of performance/finishing position, how would Brad Scott, Longmire, Worsfold and Goodwin be assessed given their current standings versus previous indications that they are AFL standard coaches?
 
Surprisingly, David King hit that proverbial nail on the head.
- If the CFC do indeed see Bolton as being the coach to take us to where we want to go, then back him and if not.....pull the bandaid -

I don't think we'll pull that bandaid until years end, but this is clearly the decision that will...and should...confront the board and Bolton should know.
 
Arr0w said:
Does your board sack your manager if a young group of talented employees are inconsistent, or do they back the collective decision as they know once the group matures they can compete with the competition consistently?

Why are our winning quarters seen as other sides not competing or being switched on, but our poor quarters are seen as incompetency by the coach?

If this is based purely around results, rather than expectations of performance/finishing position, how would Brad Scott, Longmire, Worsfold and Goodwin be assessed given their current standings versus previous indications that they are AFL standard coaches?
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I think this argument ignores the possibility that the two standout horrible performances might actually be a reflection on the coach. The North and Giants games stank of a team not turning up to play. We can of course have a debate about the extent to which that is the coaches fault v us having a young inexperienced team but it's not a binary question. You can accept that the age profile of our team is a cause while also believing that the environment and structure (which the coach is ultiatmely responsible for ) is also problematic.

That's not to say that he should be sacked now because the positives to date FAR outweigh the negatives. It would also be a knee jerk reaction of the kind that tends to set teams backwards.

However, the end of the season may be a different situation if we have more of these performances. The difficulty for us is timing. The end of this year might be too soon to properly judge Bolton and the playing group but equally I'm not sure we can wait another season if there are question marks. Probably stating the obvious but the second half of this year will be huge for Bolton.
 
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