Opinion Chris Scott's coaching - PART III

[Partridge]

Right to an opinion is universal. As is others right to criticise yours (or anyone else’s) including on the basis that you have less information than those making the decisions.

Others can say what they like. But if only those who have more information - like those at the club - can make pronouncements I guess the amount of traffic here might slow down slightly.

 

[Partridge]

Subjective judgement calls where there is no right or wrong.

Of course they are. No different to anything else on here.

VD asked what Scott could do. I offered suggestions.

 

[catempire]

That is sometimes a too convenient fall-back position though.......it can be argued to eternity that the club is always right simply because it’ll always have more info than anyone else.

The premise is true, but if it’s used to deflect scrutiny then it’s not healthy.

And you are free to make that argument.

 

[catempire]

Others can say what they like. But if only those who have more information - like those at the club - can make pronouncements I guess the amount of traffic here might slow down slightly.

Lucky that’s the exact opposite of what I’ve said.

 

[catempire]

Of course they are. No different to anything else on here.

VD asked what Scott could do. I offered suggestions.

That you did. In fairness to you, you don’t make the mistake others do of suggesting some of these things are black and white.

 

[cynical]

I think this is something that needs more scrutiny. Depth across the competition has been eroded since the addition of GWS and GC. There’s 80 or so players not available to the 16 clubs that preceded them.

I think you’d find that Geelong’s depth compares favourably to most other sides.

We would be in the bottom half of the ladder for depth thats for sure.

We have more list cloggers, injury prone players and late draft picks than most teams.

16 players who havent played 10 games (many late round picks)
list cloggers in GHS, Murdoch, Crameri, Black
perennially injured McCarthy, Scooter, Cocky and Gregson

look at the ins and outs last year

Ins: Old injury prone Ablett, mature age Kelly, + kids
Outs: Lonners, Mackie, Motlop, Lang, Cowan, Ruggles

 

[ATSAM]

Way to misrepresent things.

Stanley was unavailable for the Melbourne game. The point was he trained better over preseason than Smith.

Now that is a mystery to me. How can one player train better over the pre-season than another. No injuries that I know of, and if there were there round one probably wasn't an option anyway- so surely everyone who is fit has much the same program. The alternative is that one sneaks in and does extra weights or running or whatever and they get brownie points for that??

 

[catempire]

We would be in the bottom half of the ladder for depth thats for sure.

We have more list cloggers, injury prone players and late draft picks than most teams.

16 players who havent played 10 games (many late round picks)
list cloggers in GHS, Murdoch, Crameri, Black
perennially injured McCarthy, Scooter, Cocky and Gregson

look at the ins and outs last year

Ins: Old injury prone Ablett, mature age Kelly, + kids
Outs: Lonners, Mackie, Motlop, Lang, Cowan, Ruggles

Do a comparison with other teams. Bald assertion is unconvincing.

 

[Two Planks]

Way to misrepresent things.

Stanley was unavailable for the Melbourne game. The point was he trained better over preseason than Smith.

So who was the Stanley that kicked 4 goals against the bulldogs in the VFL practice match that weekend then ???

 

[catempire]

Now that is a mystery to me. How can one player train better over the pre-season than another. No injuries that I know of, and if there were there round one probably wasn't an option anyway- so surely everyone who is fit has much the same program. The alternative is that one sneaks in and does extra weights or running or whatever and they get brownie points for that??

Seriously? You don’t think with all of the match simulation they do over preseason they could have a view that one player is preferred over another? Smith and Stanley probably went head-to-head all summer. For all we know Stanley won the contest.

 

[catempire]

So who was the Stanley that kicked 4 goals against the bulldogs in the VFL practice match that weekend then ???

Unavailable was a poor choice of word. He did his calf against Essendon in JLT so was returning from that through the VFL.

 

[Partridge]

That you did. In fairness to you, you don’t make the mistake others do of suggesting some of these things are black and white.

They could all easily be wrong. Although I'm leaning towards Smith being a bit more important than I previously thought.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

So who was the Stanley that kicked 4 goals against the bulldogs in the VFL practice match that weekend then ???

The Dogs were undermanned in the afl side for key defenders.
Without knowing who he was playing on it’s hard to know whether it was meritorious or not.

I saw Peter Street kick 10 last season in the BFL. It was the reserves and his opponent was 5’6

 

[Two Planks]

Unavailable was a poor choice of word. He did his calf against Essendon in JLT so was returning from that through the VFL.

He was named in the AFL team on the Thursday and dropped on the Friday for Ratugolea

 

[catempire]

He was named in the AFL team on the Thursday and dropped on the Friday for Ratugolea

Well, he was in the 26-man squad.

 

[Ratcat]

Seriously? You don’t think with all of the match simulation they do over preseason they could have a view that one player is preferred over another? Smith and Stanley probably went head-to-head all summer. For all we know Stanley won the contest.

Seriously!....who played rd1?
Think!..Smith or Stanley?

 

[catempire]

Seriously!....who played rd1?
Think!..Smith or Stanley?

See above. Stanley did his calf against Essendon in the JLT match.

 

[ATSAM]

Seriously? You don’t think with all of the match simulation they do over preseason they could have a view that one player is preferred over another? Smith and Stanley probably went head-to-head all summer. For all we know Stanley won the contest.

Performed was the original word. Preferred is quite another matter and seems to be what we are dealing with at the moment. Preferred leads to favourites rather than the best available.

 

[Ratcat]

See above. Stanley did his calf against Essendon in the JLT match.

Now you're comparing Stanley as Smith's equal...you've got to be joking.
The club needs to get behind Smithy and back him instead of trying to pull him down.
If he doesn't play we're stuffed we'll be plugging holes with keys all year and getting nowhere.
All it will do is give Scott something to talk about at pressers why we lost.

 

[Farmer2Goggin]

Not sure if it has been mentioned but the Ablett move as a loose man across half back in the 3rd quarter was a pearler
His ability to find it and use it to advantage was a huge part of our turnaround.

 

[Ratcat]

Not sure if it has been mentioned but the Ablett move as a loose man across half back in the 3rd quarter was a pearler
His ability to find it and use it to advantage was a huge part of our turnaround.

Maybe an idea for Joel this week!

 

[Footy Smarts]

Of course they are. No different to anything else on here.

VD asked what Scott could do. I offered suggestions.

But you don't write it like they're just suggestions. You write it like they're self-evident truths that only a moron could possibly disagree with. You said that "a lot of frustrations will be removed instantly" just by following your advice. There's no doubt in that claim. No suggestion that you admit that your advice could be flawed or that you don't have complete information about all the players.

Then there are the opinions themselves, some of which don't stand up to the most basic scrutiny. Thankfully you admitted that picking Thurlow would have nothing to do with picking players who have earned it through VFL form. But then there's the gem of demanding he "play actual defenders in defence" as though he isn't doing that already. Seriously who of Thuoy, Stewart, Kolo, Guthrie x2, Bews and Henry aren't defenders? 5 of those 7 have played almost exclusively in defence, Cam Guthrie has played a lot of his career in defence and Henry has played defence at VFL level and looks well suited to the role. Of course he's picking defenders in defence because he's not a complete and utter moron.

Basically when you present your advice like it is a magic pill that would solve our problems, and much of the advice is inconsistent or already being followed, it's not surprising people will call you out on that.

 

[caitsith01]

We have more list cloggers, injury prone players and late draft picks than most teams.

"List cloggers" implies that these guys are preventing us from getting other players on the list. Who are these other players, and how are we getting them (taking into account our draft picks since 2007)?

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Well that puts paid to the notion he was overused in the middle.
His game time probably wasn’t helped by the lack of rotations.

 

[Partridge]

But you don't write it like they're just suggestions. You write it like they're self-evident truths that only a moron could possibly disagree with. You said that "a lot of frustrations will be removed instantly" just by following your advice. There's no doubt in that claim. No suggestion that you admit that your advice could be flawed or that you don't have complete information about all the players.

Then there are the opinions themselves, some of which don't stand up to the most basic scrutiny. Thankfully you admitted that picking Thurlow would have nothing to do with picking players who have earned it through VFL form. But then there's the gem of demanding he "play actual defenders in defence" as though he isn't doing that already. Seriously who of Thuoy, Stewart, Kolo, Guthrie x2, Bews and Henry aren't defenders? 5 of those 7 have played almost exclusively in defence, Cam Guthrie has played a lot of his career in defence and Henry has played defence at VFL level and looks well suited to the role. Of course he's picking defenders in defence because he's not a complete and utter moron.

Basically when you present your advice like it is a magic pill that would solve our problems, and much of the advice is inconsistent or already being followed, it's not surprising people will call you out on that.

He's played Murdoch an awful lot in defence. I don't think he's a defender.

I don't think anything I present is any kind of magic pill. It is the opinion of one person and nothing more. You can take it up with VD if you wish, as I was directly responding to him. If people don't like that, or are going to call me out as you put it - fine. I can't control that and I don't see why I should care. Opinions of me by others would be formed already and they aren't going to change based on what I pretend to think.