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

[Burzum]

You would think Sheedy would support Truck BECAUSE he went through that. And I mean about neither been an "old boy".
If Sheedy doesn't back him because he doesn't think he is right, well ok that's his opinion. But if it's to do with Rutten not been "Essendon" , that old grub needs to look in the mirror.

Sheedy is a nutter now so take everything he says with a grain of salt. He wants Hird to be coach.

 

[Call Me Cake]

oh that’s right, what Sheedy was when he landed at Essendon in 1980.

Essendon wins:

1976: 9 wins, 10th, 88.2%
1977: 7 wins, 9th, 82.8%
1978: 8 wins, 10th, 94.3%
1979: 12 wins, 5th, 105.1%
1980: 10 wins, 7th, 105.4%

[a wild sheedy appears]

1981: 16 wins, 4th, 127.6%
1982: 16 wins, 4th, 125.4%
1983: 15 wins, 4th, 123.0% + Grand Final
1984: 18 wins, 1st, 128.2% + Premiership
1985: 19 wins, 1st, 138.4% + Premiership

Winning 16 games in your first 2 seasons, making a Granny in your 3rd, and winning two back to back flags kinda helps.

Sheedy could've been from Mars or a Flinders Ln alleyway and it wouldn't have mattered after seeing that turnaround.

I'm not saying coaches should never be from any other club, but I'm also saying using Sheedy as an example is a bit out of touch. I wasn't even alive at the time and even I can see the clear distinction he's in when it comes to the topic of gaining trust at a club in relation to origin.

Think it's more people just trying to look for ways to excuse bad habits and to find reasoning in backing someone in on sentiments rather than a sheer grasp on the job at hand. But it's gotta be both. More the latter, even if it hurts to admit. I think whoever coaches us - they must show signs. Signs are what gets you trust. Signs are what buys you patience. Signs are what keeps you for the long haul. Otherwise you better do a Sheedy - not just in not being from Essendon - but having a pretty quick and linear impact as well. The former seems more attainable/realistic, yet the most difficult to prove.

 

[Doss]

Sure cake but my point was really quite simple.

Sheedy was a Richmond thug. If the extremist ‘must be an Essendon person’ ideology had won the day, he would have been nowhere near the entrance to the club in the first place.

At some point any semblance of “oh well this person has x club connection, that’s gotta count for something” needs to be cast aside and burnt with fire.

We’ve never truly done that since the days of looking for Sheedy’s replacement.

 

[Call Me Cake]

Out of the 4 coaches we've signed post-Sheedy, only 1 has been an Essendon person.

So I think it's out of touch because Sheedy himself is in a different category (as outlined earlier), it doesn't fit the overall narrative - and is a result of a pretty low sample size in the grand scheme of things club history-wise due to Sheeds taking up the 26 years prior.

If we had the Essendon-person lust that is described, then we never would have signed Knights, never would have signed Worsfold and never would have signed Rutten. It's as simple as that. And even in the Hird era we were sober enough to know when it was right to part ways - and didn't just replace him with another Essendon person in the wake of it.

And our most recent pursuit, was less from where he was from, and more from what he could bring in terms of stability and trust (even though in hindsight we could clearly see he was a flog of the highest order for the empty and unjustified lead-on that he could have ended at any point after declining GWS).

In regards to Hird, I think it's less about Hird being an Essendon person that makes Sheedy (reportedly) an advocate - but more-so because Sheedy knows that Hird knows everything that he knows. He taught him. He mentored him. It's more about Hird being the student of what was a linearly improving, straight shooting, premiership winning turn-around king in Sheedy than anything else. And I can understand that. Doesn't exactly mean Hird is a great coach, but I can understand where he'd be coming from.

But like I said, it's either you pull a Sheedy, which quickly helps absolve you of any Essendon link (hard to do, because he wasn't just any person) - or you show consistent signs of improvement, even in a loss, to indicate a reason for continued patience that is based more on logic and reasoning and less on faith. Hard to do, but easier than emulating Sheedy if you're worth your caper, and hence, if you take the Essendon job, you better be up for it.

 

[Lord Nicholson]

But I think that's kinda the problem - if the Essendon job is inherently more difficult than any other AFL coaching job because of the club's makeup, that's more the reason why we can't do anything more than the person in post being unfit for the role.

Maybe we should toy with making the job as difficult as any of the other 17 gigs first, which is already a herculean task in its own right, rather than putting people in a position where they not only have to coach a football side, they have also navigate AND manage disparate factions, including ones that inherently don't think the person should have the job because of where he played or whatever, or because there's a club legend out there who needs to have round 2 at the gig even though the incumbent is contracted.

I dont necessarily think Rutten is the answer but I'm starting to think we don't know anything about anybody who has coached the club under these (grossly unprofessional) circumstances.

 

[Eleven 38]

The whole Rutten issue is harder for me to take at the moment because Worsfold resigned, everyone knew he was leaving, we didn't have to sack a coach to go through a proper process to select a new one, now 2 years later we are deciding on whether we need a new coac, tp sack the coach and go through a proper process..

 

[Red Black and Blue]

Rutten is in cloud cuckoo land
Asking too much of the players
Give me a ******* spell

They actually had a crack tonight that’s all you can ask….. but anyone just had to be there live tonight to know why we are where we are. There is ZERO game plan that stands up at all. Our plan for scoring is hoping shiel/ merrett win the ball out of the middle and go forward. ZERO system behind the ball and inability to defend the ground.

Of course the players are being asked too much. We've got zero hard ball winners in the middle of the ground. We are routinely asking them to compete out sized and out skilled. We have zero small forwards with pace, meaning mids have to press and push back. We have one really good runner in the midfield in Durham who is being asked to mark three players at once.

We are asking Durham, Perkins, D'Ambrossio, Reid, Bryan, Hobbs, Martin to immediately hit the ground running and be AFL standard without confident leaders guiding them.

Dodoro has built a list so unbalanced that everyone has to everything all the time, rather than be like other sides and just have defined roles in a team.

 

[Kong]

I encourage you to watch that game again and watch how much harder Richmond run in comparison to us and how much pretty well every other club runs harder than us. How much better their follow up, spread and their second efforts were, they have some genuine hacks out there but **** me can they run, and that more than makes up for it.

That’s what he meant by asking too much of players. They are the most unfit side in the league by the length of the Flemington straight, they are never in a fair fight.

With the exception of a passing moment under Hird, it’s been that way for about 15 years. Inexplicably.

 

[Bjchan13]

I hope he gets his final year. If the players love him so much and want the stability they will not be having another soft, lazy pre season. They will show up round 1 the fittest they've ever been breathing fire and playing for their coach.

 

[Schnitzengruben]

I hope he gets his final year. If the players love him so much and want the stability they will not be having another soft, lazy pre season. They will show up round 1 the fittest they've ever been breathing fire and playing for their coach.

The players love Truck the same way students love substitute teachers, often when the PE Teacher fills in for English Studies.

Great bloke to talk to, loves a laugh, never goes hard on you and will let you get away with blue murder because you both like footy.

We need that one prick who pushes you to be the best you can be, makes you prepare multiple drafts before submission, makes (or strongly encourages) students to come in out of hours or on holidays to better themselves etc. We need my ****ing Year 12 Accounting Teacher, but I'm afraid he's busy atm.

Point is - Truck isn't that guy. For as much as "da bois love him", they sure don't play like it bar a couple. I'm not necessarily a huge fan of the idea, but this is where Ross Lyon could actually be great for a team who desperately needs real leadership.

 

[Bjchan13]

The players love Truck the same way students love substitute teachers, often when the PE Teacher fills in for English Studies.

Great bloke to talk to, loves a laugh, never goes hard on you and will let you get away with blue murder because you both like footy. Neither really care as long as you both head home at 3pm.

We need that one prick who pushes you to be the best you can be, makes you prepare multiple drafts before submission, makes (or strongly encourages) students to come in out of hours or on holidays to better themselves etc. We need my ******* Year 12 Accounting Teacher, but I'm afraid he's busy atm.

Point is - Truck isn't that guy. For as much as "da bois love him", they sure don't play like it bar a couple. I'm not necessarily a huge fan of the idea, but this is where Ross Lyon could actually be great for a team who desperately needs real leadership.

I agree with you on what the group needs, however the reason i wanted him to get his last year was that it would have exposed the players completely. If they'd dished up the same in the first half next year it essentially would've been the players throwing Truck under the bus through poor performance. After this week of board/management incompetence, the players have now rallied behind Truck and are using off field instability as an excuse. I dont want them to have any excuses anymore.

 

[Jack Richards]

I feel for Rutten and have been one of the few that feel he has been the scapegoat for 22 years if mediocrity. No other coach has won us a final in those years..

 

[BrunoV]

The emotion has gotten the better of many of you.

We have not improved our defence or any aspect of our game in the 4 years he has been here.

Not every coach appointed is up to it.

I am sure that every coach appointed when giving an emotional job application sounds like the person you want at the club.

Always remember. Multiple things wrong at the same time and one of them is very clearly the coach.

 

[Duckworth]

The emotion has gotten the better of many of you.

We have not improved our defence or any aspect of our game in the 4 years he has been here.

Not every coach appointed is up to it.

I am sure that every coach appointed when giving an emotional job application sounds like the person you want at the club.

Always remember. Multiple things wrong at the same time and one of them is very clearly the coach.

With multiple things wrong, and the list going through a rebuild, how can you be certain it's the coach?

The rebuild was always going to take time. I'm sick of the sacking the coach mid-way through a rebuild only to achieve the lofty heights of an elimination final thumping mentality. If the club wasn't run by impatient fans, maybe we might actually see something through and get some real success.

Hurley who would know better than most has called for 'stability' above all else.

 

[VelvetSledge]

As a word of warning to opposition posters.

We are well, WELL aware of the horrible way Truck has been treated by those in charge at our club. The way he’s been hung out to dry is unfathomable, and I’d argue 99% of our supporters here are utterly miserable with how things are for our club right now.

Coming on here and gloating, telling us how *ed our club is, and trying to throw barbs will have you kicked out of here quick smart. We are supporters and fans, and we have no say at all with how our club is run. If we did, we wouldn’t be in this mess.

Consider this the first and last warning.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

The players love Truck the same way students love substitute teachers, often when the PE Teacher fills in for English Studies.

Great bloke to talk to, loves a laugh, never goes hard on you and will let you get away with blue murder because you both like footy.

We need that one prick who pushes you to be the best you can be, makes you prepare multiple drafts before submission, makes (or strongly encourages) students to come in out of hours or on holidays to better themselves etc. We need my ******* Year 12 Accounting Teacher, but I'm afraid he's busy atm.

Point is - Truck isn't that guy. For as much as "da bois love him", they sure don't play like it bar a couple. I'm not necessarily a huge fan of the idea, but this is where Ross Lyon could actually be great for a team who desperately needs real leadership.

The “we need a hard as nails, prick coach!” thing is almost always misguided.

Supporters angry and want somebody who’ll take out that anger on the players.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

The emotion has gotten the better of many of you.

We have not improved our defence or any aspect of our game in the 4 years he has been here.

Not every coach appointed is up to it.

I am sure that every coach appointed when giving an emotional job application sounds like the person you want at the club.

Always remember. Multiple things wrong at the same time and one of them is very clearly the coach.

How do you know it is the coach that’s the problem?

 

[Schnitzengruben]

The “we need a hard as nails, prick coach!” thing is almost always misguided.

Supporters angry and want somebody who’ll take out that anger on the players.

Yeah, no.

It's clear we have longstanding issues with leadership, egos, standards and accountability. A stern coach would be a step in the right direction to fix that. Prick is a bit of hyperbole but in black and white; we need to be closer to that end of the spectrum than the great bloke end.

 

[Jordanio]

The emotion has gotten the better of many of you.

We have not improved our defence or any aspect of our game in the 4 years he has been here.

Not every coach appointed is up to it.

I am sure that every coach appointed when giving an emotional job application sounds like the person you want at the club.

Always remember. Multiple things wrong at the same time and one of them is very clearly the coach.

Totally agree! Truck's coaching needs to be examined more closely.
Using last nights defeat as an example. what levers could have been pulled but weren't.
We were getting beaten defensively early and Lynch was giving it to us. We had two backs that were playing fwd, Hearly and Read. I'm not saying they would have been the answer but it would have shown he was trying something. Rids was really struggling early and we were four goals down before we knew it.
There seems a lack of flexibility or/and a lack of desire to be flexible. Surely this is one key element to coaching.
Some of our less experienced player have struggled recently, combined with Heps decline and McGrath having a poor run of form

 

[Snake Charmer]

The players love Truck the same way students love substitute teachers, often when the PE Teacher fills in for English Studies.

Great bloke to talk to, loves a laugh, never goes hard on you and will let you get away with blue murder because you both like footy.

We need that one prick who pushes you to be the best you can be, makes you prepare multiple drafts before submission, makes (or strongly encourages) students to come in out of hours or on holidays to better themselves etc. We need my ******* Year 12 Accounting Teacher, but I'm afraid he's busy atm.

Point is - Truck isn't that guy. For as much as "da bois love him", they sure don't play like it bar a couple. I'm not necessarily a huge fan of the idea, but this is where Ross Lyon could actually be great for a team who desperately needs real leadership.

Been In the rooms abit with the boys?

 

[Lore]

Even Knights got 3 full seasons.

 

[Jordanio]

Even Knights got 3 full seasons.

Three years wasted

 

[Lore]

Three years wasted

Next year will be a waste anyway, we’ve already guaranteed that

 

[Nuts4Bolts]

Ross Lyon for 3 to 4 years to beat the crap culture out of the playing group and then do a full interview process for a new coach to finish the job. Gotta go backwards to go forwards. Sorry Truck but you were never a chance with this group (both with the players and off field clowns).

 

[Jordanio]

Next year will be a waste anyway, we’ve already guaranteed that

Next year will only be wasted if we dont take clear steps to correct what has taken place before.
If it comes out "this is what we're doing and this is how we are going to achieve it" people will get on board.
We need to clearly see improvement and to see the plan working. If element show signs of failing, what we're doing to address it.
If anything this is one of Trucks failing with the supporter base. It gives the impression of floundering