Not to make light of yesterday's, well, to be honest, I'm not sure what you'd call it besides just not wanting to be out there, but it did remind me of the tennis breakdown scene from The Royal Tenenbaums...
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AFLW 2024 - Round 10 - Chat, game threads, injury lists, team lineups and more.
Nailed it!... it did remind me of the tennis breakdown scene from The Royal Tenenbaums...
We all want Butch to come good but at the moment there's a whiff of Ian Baker-Finch about his game.
Ian Baker-Finch from Wikipedia
Ian Baker-Finch from Wikipedia
I'm sure IBF saw a sports psychologist, I'm sure he practised like a madman. Hopefully Butch can beat that inner demon.
we postulate that players are carrying injuries all the time and its no big deal. i'm not saying this is butch's problem, i have no idea, but making mental health an unmentionable contributes to isolating people with mental health issues
postulating depression is no different to suggesting fitness is the issue. we have as little info to support either hypothesis
With Hitchy hanging up the boots next year and possibly Heath??(Rumour), that's butch's two housemates not playing. I wonder if this will have any implications on what happens in the future
That attitude is fine if his spot of the list isnt counted against 'slots allocated to kpf depth' which it would be.Once again unless he wants to leave there is no point trading.
I find the stigma over depression very strange. People are happy to assume someone is a lazy arseh*le/morally corrupt etc. but if they drop the words "I have depression as stated by my doctor" then out come the get well soon parade.we postulate that players are carrying injuries all the time and its no big deal. i'm not saying this is butch's problem, i have no idea, but making mental health an unmentionable contributes to isolating people with mental health issues postulating depression is no different to suggesting fitness is the issue. we have as little info to support either hypothesis
That's fair, but there are plenty of off field issues that aren't as serious as clinical depression. Also your comparison to OP or plantar fasciitis is reasonable, but my understanding (and I could well be talking shit here, as I am not an expert so please forgive me if I'm wrong) is that while mental health issues are complicated, they know a lot these days and a treatment can be identified rather swiftly, but can take years of therapy to acheive strong results.This is an open forum you can postulate about what you like. As I am someone who is very familiar with mental illness I personally just don't think it's very fair. There's a part of me that wishes things like depression and the like were as simple as OP or plantar fasciitis.
Just adding my perspective. Play on!
I have largely distanced myself from the "Butcher debate" because it can be so emotive and subjective, and ultimately I trust our coaches to do the best for him. I have noted with interest from the sidelines though, the various opposing views ... but this statement, to me, defies all belief and logic! Yep, lets all just blame it on Ken!! Are you kidding???Barring a turnaround that is looking increasingly more unlikely each week, i'll be telling people years from now that the moment Butcher was done was selection night, round 4 2014.
In a similar manner to the decisions to play Nick Salter and Steven Salopek in defence, that one decision not to play him (and I guess subsequent decisions to leave him out of the side when it would have been very easy to pick him) was the nudge over the edge. It's a sliding doors type thing. He plays the next week against Brisbane and let's be honest, probably bags 3 or 4 just by being on the field in that game, and he's probably booked his spot in the side for the next several games at least, and probably averages 10 touches, 4 marks and a goal for the rest of the season.
Instead, Sam Gray comes in and in the easiest of scenarios plays a good game and locks himself into selection discussion for the rest of the season.
Butcher starts well in the SANFL but gets progressively worse as the season goes on until a performance like today's game.
It was a strategic **** up IMO, but only Butcher can pull himself out of it now. He'll have the final season of his contract to break into the team.
Continuing our line of wanton unfounded speculation, I would suggest that simple self-sabotage is more likely than a PTSD-like `goal anxiety'.Depression is not the only form of mental health issue. He really does appear to have clinical anxiety when it comes to taking a set shot for goal. Like people have what others consider an irrational fear of heights, open spaces, spiders, whatever. It's terrible watching his mental disintegration.
Maybe a move down back to allow the ball to come to him and keep him away from the front end of goals would at least divert him away from the source of his anxiety and help his overall game.
Continuing our line of wanton unfounded speculation, I would suggest that simple self-sabotage is more likely than a PTSD-like `goal anxiety'.
Self esteem is a tricky thing for people with a lauded talent, who are told that they are talented (which is something they feel they can't control), but not necessarily valued for what they can control;
This area at elite level in any sport or business needs constant revisiting. If the heads not working properly neither is anything else below the neck. I have dragged quality fighters out of dressing rooms pre fight because of last minute self doubt. I have helped young kids carve out a successful AFL career and i have been there for the ones that either didnt make it or got cut.
My future young son in law is currently in Scotland getting ready for his first international showing in the Javelin. I know how AA approach and monitor our athletes head space. I have alifetime in this area and Butchs kicking and current on field performance is NOT the issue. Butch knows how to kick a ball, mark, find his own footy. This is bigger than his abilities. He needs to be put on ice now and spend time with HEAD people not footy people. With his past hip problems and current form he is untradeable so all parties have nothing to loose and all to gain.
I'm saying that hypothetically its not the goals causing the issue; they are not driving him to catatonia or a total fear response like the similes you mention.But then what is goal anxiety other than simple self-sabotage? Either way it's your brain not working the way it does for 'neurotypical' people in a given situation. You're basically giving a reason why he has goal anxiety not offering an alternative.
I'm saying that hypothetically its not the goals causing the issue; they are not driving him to catatonia or a total fear response like the similes you mention.
He'll hypothetically have the exact same insecurities in the backline.
Tell me how that would change when he's marked the ball in the back pocket looking for an option to kick to in Kingsley/Pittard fashion?I don't agree because I think the issue is focused on the goal kicking yips. I've seen him play up the ground and he's fine. Flies for marks, takes them, runs and carries. But he's a bundle of anxiety once he has to take a kick for goal. It's a unique pressure because it's all on you.
Tell me how that would change when he's marked the ball in the back pocket looking for an option to kick to in Kingsley/Pittard fashion?
Ford, we're going to have to agree to disagree, because from my position it seems you're basing your view on the superficial without looking for whats underneath.Because even if you miss a target they can recover the ball. You miss a goal that's it, the play is over. And so his field kicking is actually pretty good because his mind can relax that little bit he needs.