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Coaching Staff Former Coach Ben "Truck" Rutten - Sacked for real this time - 21/8

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People going on about game plans as if they're some elaborately intricate code that John Nash could put up on a blackboard and spend all season contemplating the complexities. The failings we see, highlighted by the media, failure to hold place in a zone? It's the kind of thing u16 kids have little trouble understanding.

3 Essendon players sucked to the same position on the wing with no opponent threatening to enter that space, when the opposition have possession, isn't a symptom of any strategy. It's just plain arse dumbduckery.
Players can come from Ireland learn how to kick an oval shaped ball (and handball and tackle) and all the rules in this sort of time frame. But we can't understand the zone yet. OK.
 
People going on about game plans as if they're some elaborately intricate code that John Nash could put up on a blackboard and spend all season contemplating the complexities. The failings we see, highlighted by the media, failure to hold place in a zone? It's the kind of thing u16 kids have little trouble understanding.

3 Essendon players sucked to the same position on the wing with no opponent threatening to enter that space, when the opposition have possession, isn't a symptom of any strategy. It's just plain arse dumbduckery.

Incredibly simplistic analysis.

If complex game plans were so simple to execute under the time, fatigue and pressure at AFL level, then all clubs would have great ones.

That they don't, should probably tell you you're missing something in your analysis.

Yes, players make dumb decisions, no, they're probably not as dumb as they appear to be to you.
 

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Incredibly simplistic analysis.

If complex game plans were so simple to execute under the time, fatigue and pressure at AFL level, then all clubs would have great ones.

That they don't, should probably tell you you're missing something in your analysis.

Yes, players make dumb decisions, no, they're probably not as dumb as they appear to be to you.
They aren't complex, it's football.
 
I have no issues with letting trucks runs plan run out, whats another 1-2 years of dogshit when we have already had 20. but the fact of the matter is we are going backwards. Quickly.

We are completely uncompetitive in most games we have played this year, which is a stark difference to last year, whats changed between this year and last? We have he same cattle on the park and I assume the same game plan.
 
Not really, we're missing quite a lot of players right now. A fit Stringer, Langford & Snelling makes a huge difference to our team.

i very much doubt the introduction of those 3 changes anything where we are at right now.
 
i very much doubt the introduction of those 3 changes anything where we are at right now.

They're pretty important structurally.

Snelling and Langford both provide important pieces in the system, knowing where and when to run. Snelling is a great hard-working pressure player at ground level to help defend the transition, Langford provides a reliable marking target that we lack, along with a conduit from defence to forward-line.

Stringer totally changes the dynamic of the midfield and forward-line. At a centre bounce he's the one they need to watch, which releases guys like Parish or Merrett. In the forward-line he's smart so moves a defender away from Wright, as well as offering a strong marketing target in his own right, and providing a dynamism at ground-level we're lacking right now.
 

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Overall probably not but you can't deny those 3 inclusions immediately make us more competitive. Langford going down in the first 5 minutes of round 1 not to be seen again has been a pretty big loss. Bigger than a lot of people realise perhaps.

i don't deny they will improve us. i just think it will be miniscule

but i don't believe those 3 will all of a sudden make us competitive to an acceptable level.

Our issues are deeper than personnel
 
Of course these three will improve us. They are good players, but to me the biggest problem is that Stringer and Langford are always injured in one way or another. Medical/conditioning have let us down again. Same old same old.
 
Langfordbench.gif

That is actually an illustration of what happens when players get lost in all the noise of what and where they're meant to be doing.

"I need to run to x position when y happens, but when z is happening do I do x or w?"

It takes time to learn it all, players won't get it 100% right 100% of the time, but the more practice they get, the closer they'll get.
 
That is actually an illustration of what happens when players get lost in all the noise of what and where they're meant to be doing.

"I need to run to x position when y happens, but when z is happening do I do x or w?"

It takes time to learn it all, players won't get it 100% right 100% of the time, but the more practice they get, the closer they'll get.
its about making it come natural. So they aren't thinking it, but it's instinct for them
Hence Truck and his team need time. a false start on phase 2 isn't the end of the world. Just needs a plan B for developing it when A goes out the window or key personnel are missing

no need to throw it out if it's still viable, but park it until it can be re-tried.
With the season lost, there is little to lose by tweaking options and seeing what comes of it
 
That is actually an illustration of what happens when players get lost in all the noise of what and where they're meant to be doing.

"I need to run to x position when y happens, but when z is happening do I do x or w?"

It takes time to learn it all, players won't get it 100% right 100% of the time, but the more practice they get, the closer they'll get.
Yeah, that's why you see it happen so much across the entire competition. Players just jogging away from the footy toward the bench. Not dum****ery, Langford simply miscalculated his algebra.
 

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Yeah, that's why you see it happen so much across the entire competition. Players just jogging away from the footy toward the bench. Not dumduckery, Langford simply miscalculated his algebra.

Players do stupid shit all the time.

The cameras don't always catch it, or it's not as obvious, that doesn't mean they're not doing something stupid.
 
i don't deny they will improve us. i just think it will be miniscule

but i don't believe those 3 will all of a sudden make us competitive to an acceptable level.

Our issues are deeper than personnel
Harrison Jones and Tippa would've made the forwardline more palatable too. Plus at this stage last year Hooker had booted 27 goals.

It's a little disingenuous to say it's the same cattle when we're probably missing a quarter of the team we put out to this point last year.
 
Harrison Jones and Tippa would've made the forwardline more palatable too. Plus at this stage last year Hooker had booted 27 goals.

It's a little disingenuous to say it's the same cattle when we're probably missing a quarter of the team we put out to this point last year.
By comparison to the period up to round 10 last year, between Hooker (27), Tippa (24) and Jones (10) we are missing 61 goals to round 10 this year.

Accounting for Wrights uptick and maybe Martin, we are still 40-odd goals short of where we were last year. That's 4 odd goals a game (we would have at least a couple of extra wins with 4 more goals per game).

We are severely down on cattle this year forward of centre.
 
People going on about game plans as if they're some elaborately intricate code that John Nash could put up on a blackboard and spend all season contemplating the complexities. The failings we see, highlighted by the media, failure to hold place in a zone? It's the kind of thing u16 kids have little trouble understanding.

3 Essendon players sucked to the same position on the wing with no opponent threatening to enter that space, when the opposition have possession, isn't a symptom of any strategy. It's just plain arse dumbduckery.
Yep.
 
That is actually an illustration of what happens when players get lost in all the noise of what and where they're meant to be doing.

"I need to run to x position when y happens, but when z is happening do I do x or w?"

It takes time to learn it all, players won't get it 100% right 100% of the time, but the more practice they get, the closer they'll get.
It's not the 'complexity' of the plan. The problem is buyin from the players. This is a 2 part problem - part coaching and part player personnel.

Arguing that the complexities of the plan take years to understand at this level is nonsense.
 
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It's not the 'complexity' of the plan. The problem is buyin from the players. This is a 2 part problem - part coaching and part player personnel.

Arguing that the complexities of the plan take years to understand at this level is nonsense.
I think the buy in issue is the coach wants them to play hard blue collar footy and it is not in the nature of a lot of our blokes to play that style.
 

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Coaching Staff Former Coach Ben "Truck" Rutten - Sacked for real this time - 21/8


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