Coach Coach for 2025

[Ochre]

I keep telling you, he’s 88 years old and he’s dead.

Geelong will still use a fourth round pick on him.

 

[Chris_6678]

Sumich has said all year he doesn’t get how Shuey could instantly appear in the coaches box with no coaching credentials at all


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Didnt woosha at Carlton? Lol

 

[Godfather32]

In the sense that there wasn't room for the two of them in there and Mitchell pushed him out of the guts into a half forward role. Then he got the tap on the shoulder from Simmo and told he's no good, so he retired midseason despite having met a trigger clause to go on for another year and planning to. Don't want to reignite a debate on whether he should or shouldn't of retired but just remember it being very poorly handled and the players being filthy over it, to the point some said so publicly.

Wtf are you on about? Unless you call a semi-final mid season.....

 

[sharps24]

Wtf are you on about? Unless you call a semi-final mid season.....

He announced his retirement in July and played out the season. From his wikipedia,

"On 28 July 2017, he announced his retirement from the AFL at the end of the 2017 season.[15] Matt Priddis played the final game of his career in the semi-final, where he collected 30 disposals and 7 tackles in a 67-point loss to the GWS Giants."

I remember McGovern being salty about it the week of, as Priddis was completely blindsided by the conversation he'd had with Simmo, and had finished top 10 in the Brownlow the year before and thought he was going pretty alright.

This is from the Port game which I guess was the second last game from Priddis,

McGovern was particularly emotional when asked about Priddis, who had just produced arguably his best and most influential game of the season.

The Brownlow Medallist was colossal around the footy — and his numbers reflected that: 33 disposals, 17 contested possessions (equal game-high), 10 clearances (game-high), even inside 50s, 10 tackles and 479m gained (individual season-high).

Oh, and there was a telling Priddis fourth-quarter goal — West Coast’s first major since early in the second term — that brought his team back into the game.

For McGovern, there have been few greater role models and inspirations for him at the Eagles than Priddis.

“’Pridda’ just speaks for himself. He’s one of the best blokes I’ve ever met — I’d jump in front of a train for him,” McGovern said.

“I’m a little bit sad that he’s going to be finishing up, but we’ve got another week to go.

McGovern described Priddis as the “heart and soul” of the Eagles.

“He’s never once put himself in front of anyone or the footy club. He’s always thinking about everyone else first and the footy club first,” McGovern said.

“He’s been an absolute champion for us. He works so hard and I’m really grateful I got to play with him.”

Jeremy McGovern pays tribute to retiring Eagles greats that still have plenty to give

‘I’d jump in front of a train for him’

www.foxsports.com.au

I don't care what anyone says- and I was of the opinion he needed to retire- I firmly believe that the manner in which Priddis was told he was no longer needed shocked the players and upset them greatly. Seems McGovern and Simmo were all sweet by the time he left the club but I'd imagine there were some conversations had between senior players and management that who knows, maybe had some bearing on how reluctant Simmo became after that to slight the senior players in any way.

 

[Miguel Sanchez]

The playing group was so shocked and appalled by how Priddis was treated they were barely able to get it together enough to win the flag the following season.

 

[sharps24]

Not to derail the thread with more ancient history but it must of been the same year that Priddis "retired" where Le Cras had been playing pretty average and was uncontracted and still hadn't been offered an extension before the club wrapped things up for the season. Can remember Simmo being quizzed about it in maybe his last presser for the year, maybe from Barra "Will Mark le Cras being playing next year Simmo?" and Simmo just squirming in his seat doing everything he could not to give a straight answer. That may have been the origin of the "we can't go too far the other way" catchphrase. I was pretty sure based on that that Le Cras wasn't going to get another contract. I mean why wouldn't Simmo have just said "I hope so, we're trying to convince him to go again" but he seemed weirdly determined not to give the impression he wanted him to play on. Josh Kennedy had pretty much said earlier in the week though that if Le Cras doesn't get an extension he'd be filthy. Club put out a presser a few weeks later saying Lecca had signed another deal. I got the impression that some of the senior players had chucked the toys out of the cot and the tail was now fully wagging the dog. Just my own memory of the situation, found it all very strange. In hindsight I guess good on Josh Kennedy because you campaigners know what happened next.

To bring it back on topic I do wonder if this isn't some of the reason that Gov and maybe Kennedy too never got the nod for captain despite being obvious heart and soul players and likely candidates. Both had given the club a clip for not backing their mates and didn't seem too concerned about telling the club how it is when they were unhappy about a situation. Captain needs to be a bit of a square and teachers pet so far as the coaches/administration and not just have the locker room behind him I guess.

 

[Miguel Sanchez]

Is there no end to the historical revisionism.

LeCras and MacKenzie both signed one-year deals mere days after the semi-final loss to the Giants: https://amp.theage.com.au/sport/afl...ecras-and-eric-mackenzie-20170920-gylemd.html

And “can’t go too far the other way” was from a Steve Bandy/Ben Roberts game review video.

I haven’t seen this sort of egregious “this is how I interpret events to fit my narrative” posting since deplorable trumpster stopped hanging around here.

 

[Grahame]

Captain needs to be a bit of a square and teachers pet so far as the coaches/administration and not just have the locker room behind him I guess.

Luke Hodge was hardly that. And replaced Mitchell because he was closer to the description above.

Respect takes you further than fear.

PS: couldn’t we do with a Luke Hodge as captain? Or even JSelwood. At a pinch, Michael Voss. All legendary skippers.

 

[sharps24]

Luke Hodge was hardly that. And replaced Mitchell because he was closer to the description above.

Respect takes you further than fear.

PS: couldn’t we do with a Luke Hodge as captain? Or even JSelwood. At a pinch, Michael Voss. All legendary skippers.

Hodge is one of the all time great captains, much like Voss, much like Worsfold. Clarkson, Matthews, Malthouse... kind of interesting how you have figures like that just coincidentally manifesting into existence all time great captains. Not sure Simmo was ever in the same league as these guys or any of our players of that era in the league of Hodge, Voss, Whoosh.

Mitchell is an interesting one, got a feeling he's more just a very very polished high achiever but is missing that element to his character where blokes walk taller when you're out there or would run through walls for you that the greats have. I'm assuming the Hawks will come unstuck because of it at some point but it's working pretty well for now.

Edit: In their own way I think you could say Hodge, Voss, Worsfold kind of were teachers pets, but that the teacher's were basically psychopaths who's definition of a ''good boy" was just the ultimate warrior campaigner. Club post 2006 era shenanigans definitely tried to swing the culture toward something very wholesome, "family, friends, flags" and seem to be looking for more vanilla operators as captain and steering away from the hard men. That could just as easily be generational as well, presumably the players could vote someone like Yeo in if they wanted but word seems to be he's too driven and intense for mosts liking.

 

[RookiePick]

I can’t go through all of that point for point or we’d be here all day, but a couple of things stick out.

Gaff’s handling this year has been damn near perfect. That is to say he was invisible in R1, subbed out at half time, then didn’t return for months until we basically had no more options and he had many 30+ WAFL games under his belt. This “then the credits crew returned” angle is a fallacy.

Schofield has to take some blame for how bad our midfield has been when he’s been the midfield coach. And if he gets credit for changes post Simmo, he also has to eat the multiple games where we turned up and our midfield didn’t get a touch. He cant be coaching with his hands tied behind his back as both assistant and head coach.



The bar hasn’t become magically unfairly high when Schofield took the chair, but that stat up there isn’t exactly an unfair stick with which to beat someone. Eighth team in history to be down by 100 at the half. In history. Absolutely diabolical, and absolutely one of our worst losses ever. “Harsh to frame this as unacceptable” is generous beyond generous.

Nobody is asking for click the fingers everything is fixed - the list is miles away in many positions and incredibly thin at the very least. But he’s meant to be the rah rah, uncompromising hard nut motivator, and three of our four worst losses of the year imo were under him (Hawks at home the other, under Simpson, and definitely the worst to me).

If he was meant to be this genius at unlocking possession football, I’d expect our possession football to improve. But he’s not, he’s the rah rah hard nut, and our team has sleepwalked into 3.5 buzzsaws in his seven games at the helm.

The Freo and Melbourne wins were our best, then GC (Schoey, tick), then raffle the other two. But go and read the North thread at half time and tell me it was just an accuracy issue. We were diabolical, they had seven guys with more possessions than our leading disposal getter at halftime. Game runs thirty seconds longer or shorter and we lose, but we didn’t, we won it which is great. And he gets a tick for that. Just like a huge tick for unlocking HBF Ginbey, and some of the magnet throwing has been a very good platform to build on. Happy to praise him when it’s called for.



Selection apparently isn’t up to him according to you, but now he gets ticks for playing Hall/Dewar/Trew etc? So which is it?

Midfield coach doesn’t bear the responsibility for our midfield performances, but we only had success in 2015/2018 because of our assistant coaches? So which is it?

If he gets the job I’m all in and hope he smashes it. I am throughly unconvinced.

PS. Zane Trew still can’t kick.

All I'm seeing in that data is to get on the Cats for the flag.

 

[TY24]

 

[Woutizmoo]

Geelong put the cue in the rack in the second half is what really happened.
They were all trying to avoid injury, if they had been fighting for a spot in the
eight they would have beaten us by 200 points.

I agree they put the cue in the rack but they still had to carrot of bosting their percentage by even more - would love to know what the message was at half time

If Port had've lost and Geelong gone on with it they could've got top 2.

 

[flamingEMBERS]

Hodge is one of the all time great captains, much like Voss, much like Worsfold. Clarkson, Matthews, Malthouse... kind of interesting how you have figures like that just coincidentally manifesting into existence all time great captains. Not sure Simmo was ever in the same league as these guys or any of our players of that era in the league of Hodge, Voss, Whoosh.

Mitchell is an interesting one, got a feeling he's more just a very very polished high achiever but is missing that element to his character where blokes walk taller when you're out there or would run through walls for you that the greats have. I'm assuming the Hawks will come unstuck because of it at some point but it's working pretty well for now.

Edit: In their own way I think you could say Hodge, Voss, Worsfold kind of were teachers pets, but that the teacher's were basically psychopaths who's definition of a ''good boy" was just the ultimate warrior campaigner. Club post 2006 era shenanigans definitely tried to swing the culture toward something very wholesome, "family, friends, flags" and seem to be looking for more vanilla operators as captain and steering away from the hard men. That could just as easily be generational as well, presumably the players could vote someone like Yeo in if they wanted but word seems to be he's too driven and intense for mosts liking.

Feel like Mitchell’s personality was/is more suited to being a coach. Elite talent but also extremely smart and demanding so you can see how he was a captain, but can also see how he stood down as skipper.

 

[RookiePick]

Just spitballing about our insipid cross-town rivals.

If the consensus turns against Schofield for us...could he end up displacing Longmuir? I reckon that would actually be a terrible outcome for us because I think Schofield could actually fire some shots with that list and could reset their culture of squibbing.

Fremantle hierarchy are jumpy at the nest of times and happily backflip on things as a course of business. Restless nights for JLo I would think, as he must hear the sound of sharpening axes while walking the Cockburn halls.

 

[ziad]

Just spitballing about our insipid cross-town rivals.

If the consensus turns against Schofield for us...could he end up displacing Longmuir? I reckon that would actually be a terrible outcome for us because I think Schofield could actually fire some shots with that list and could reset their culture of squibbing.

Fremantle hierarchy are jumpy at the nest of times and happily backflip on things as a course of business. Restless nights for JLo I would think, as he must hear the sound of sharpening axes while walking the Cockburn halls.

hard to dismiss this

 

[timeforanother22]

Just spitballing about our insipid cross-town rivals.

If the consensus turns against Schofield for us...could he end up displacing Longmuir? I reckon that would actually be a terrible outcome for us because I think Schofield could actually fire some shots with that list and could reset their culture of squibbing.

Fremantle hierarchy are jumpy at the nest of times and happily backflip on things as a course of business. Restless nights for JLo I would think, as he must hear the sound of sharpening axes while walking the Cockburn halls.

lol, a Freo supporter I was talking to this morning asked me “Can we have Schofield?”

 

[Goroyals22]

Caro on classified has put the line through Schofield for no other reasons than his tattoos…


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[Miguel Sanchez]

Caro on classified has put the line through Schofield for no other reasons than his tattoos…


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It’s that sort of insightful and nuanced commentary that’s kept her at the top of the industry for so long.

 

[Cuzz09]

never understood the Priddis hate.

Idiots

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[Boohemian]

never understood the Priddis hate.

Idiots

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It was the ineffectual flower bag bombs and opposition mids running off him like crazy for most detractors.

 

[bzparkes]

never understood the Priddis hate.

Idiots

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Wouldn't say hate exactly but I remember one time when he was 'streaming' down the middle of the ground looking to hand off and the oppo players just all ran off him and spread, whilst our blokes ran in a near flying-V like The Mighty Ducks.

Predictably, he tried to kick into F50, which probably went higher than the 30m it traveled and was marked by the oppo, who then(due to running off him because they knew he couldn't kick for shit) just slingshot back down the other way for an easy goal.

It was so obvious it was going to happen I don't understand how the other players kept giving him the ball out in space.

Having said that, I thought the year after he won the Brownlow was easily his best. Didn't try anything fancy, just get the ball and handball to an outside runner. Was a very good year from him but the over-reliance from the team on him wasn't getting us anywhere, as he was just too slow and was terrible by foot.

Counter that with Mitchell, who was also slow but had a laser boot and a penetrating kick and could also create time & space so easily.

Priddis was a great bloke with a huge heart but ultimately lacked pace and penetration on his kicking and we were essentially a man down on a rebound because he couldn't get back to cover his man fast enough.

 

[RookiePick]

Yep. Good thing our mids don't kick useless turnover kicks while winning half as much of the football these days.

Golly.

 

[RookiePick]

And our midfield pressure is elite since we got rid of Pridda. We don't watch the oppo go coast to coast multiple times a game anymore.

No siree!

 

[bzparkes]

Yep. Good thing our mids don't kick useless turnover kicks while winning half as much of the football these days.

Golly.

You turnover the ball a hell of a lot less when you can't get your hands on it #checkmate

 

[bzparkes]

And our midfield pressure is elite since we got rid of Pridda. We don't watch the oppo go coast to coast multiple times a game anymore.

No siree!

Would you rather have had Priddis in the side in '18, or win the flag?

Because it would never have been both.