Coach Justin Longmuir

[Tyler from Fremantle]

Probably only WC supporters posing as Freo supporter will forget that we have Sumich as a assistant coach for 4-5 years.
We’ve had enough opportunity to form an informed opinion about his coaching ability, thanks you very much.

Sumich quit as AC for us over a disagreement of game plan with Ross, coincidentally during our peak and right before Lyon proceeded to dish up pish football for 4ish years. The fact that the club is still interested in him suggests he's not a total mug like many of our oh so knowledgable posters argue.

WC supporters indeed.

 

[Dirty_banchez]

"Jarrad Schofield has also been mentioned as an outside chance in club land."

He won't come and he needs more AFL experience.

 

[Taylor]

Winning is publicly palatable.

I disagree, winning provides the simple dismissal of the criticism that is there regardless. It's a subtle difference but fundamental to the seesaw. Ross Lyon didn't make friends with the media, he was there to win football games.

Remember how 'The way Freo was winning' was the problem back then? But no comments at all in games with half our score from other sides?

Ross Lyon loathed the obligation to entertain the football media's black and white simplicity and fingernail deep analysis. He didn't respect their self appointed status as guardians of the game and they went after him for it whenever they could like the self validating in-group of nine year old girls.

Now the board has recognised the problem they want someone who will take the pressure off the club by installing a personality who gets on with them better.

If winning games of football was what mattered then they would have fired the fitness staff, not the coach, after we ran out of players again.

But guess who still has a job..

 

[Tyler from Fremantle]

I disagree, winning provides the simple dismissal of the criticism that is there regardless. It's a subtle difference but fundamental to the seesaw. Ross Lyon didn't make friends with the media, he was there to win football games.

Remember how 'The way Freo was winning' was the problem back then? But no comments at all in games with half our score from other sides?

Ross Lyon loathed the obligation to entertain the football media's black and white simplicity and fingernail deep analysis. He didn't respect their self appointed status as guardians of the game and they went after him for it whenever they could like the self validating in-group of nine year old girls.

Now the board has recognised the problem they want someone who will take the pressure off the club by installing a personality who gets on with them better.

If winning games of football was what mattered then they would have fired the fitness staff, not the coach, after we ran out of players again.

But guess who still has a job..

Lyon wasn't sacked because the media didn't like him, he was sacked because of the terrible game plan, terrible skills and terrible selection policies. The sooner you can accept that, the sooner you can move on from creating fantastic theories about media axe grinding, or tanking.

 

[Taylor]

Lyon wasn't sacked because the media didn't like him, he was sacked because of the terrible game plan, terrible skills and terrible selection policies. The sooner you can accept that, the sooner you can move on from creating fantastic theories about media axe grinding, or tanking.

And we will go around another year with the real issue not being dealt with. Player availability. But hey, as long as the media have their buddy in the seat then we won't get as much negative media comment or knives sharpening from them because they need to fill their columns with something - our supporters won't be waking up to another article about turmoil at the club, real or fabricated, and they won't get put out by it.

Ross Lyon took a lot of personal responsibility for Harley Bennell, using phrases like "we built him up" when what he should have said was "our strength and conditioning team stuffed up, again, and now the elite skilled player isn't available". Lyon didn't insist he get stronger than anyone else in the team.

There's your problem. We are playing this weekend if our players were available.

I know it doesn't suit the narrative but I don't expect people commenting on the game plan to be able to detail what it actually is but when we are missing our key talls it destroys our ball movement.

We fired the driver because our car with three wheels only just fell short of the podium finish, somehow.

 

[Fat Nyfe]

And we will go around another year with the real issue not being dealt with. Player availability. But hey, as long as the media have their buddy in the seat then we won't get as much negative media comment or knives sharpening from them because they need to fill their columns with something - our supporters won't be waking up to another article about turmoil at the club, real or fabricated, and they won't get put out by it.

Ross Lyon took a lot of personal responsibility for Harley Bennell, using phrases like "we built him up" when what he should have said was "our strength and conditioning team stuffed up, again, and now the elite skilled player isn't available". Lyon didn't insist he get stronger than anyone else in the team.

There's your problem. We are playing this weekend if our players were available.

I know it doesn't suit the narrative but I don't expect people commenting on the game plan to be able to detail what it actually is but when we are missing our key talls it destroys our ball movement.

We fired the driver because our car with three wheels only just fell short of the podium finish, somehow.

You could have said the same for Harvey in 2011 when we also finished with 9 wins and worse availability. You're glossing over the myriad of other problems created and enforced by Ross. The board knew we had deeper problems than availability back then and they do now.

You can believe and argue what you want, I'm just glad they made the call and the club can move on whether some supporters do or not.

 

[Taylor]

You could have said the same for Harvey in 2011 when we also finished with 9 wins and worse availability. You're glossing over the myriad of other problems created and enforced by Ross. The board knew we had deeper problems than availability back then and they do now.

You can believe and argue what you want, I'm just glad they made the call and the club can move on whether some supporters do or not.

This is an opportunity to fix all the problems at once.

Let's all revisit this when we bomb out of finals contention with all our guns injured next year too.

 

[theGav56]

You could have said the same for Harvey in 2011 when we also finished with 9 wins and worse availability. You're glossing over the myriad of other problems created and enforced by Ross. The board knew we had deeper problems than availability back then and they do now.

You can believe and argue what you want, I'm just glad they made the call and the club can move on whether some supporters do or not.

Too many things in flux at the moment for my liking and not a lot of glimmer on the horizon. Clubs change, no one is irreplaceable. But there is nothing convincing about what has happened so far unless you are convinced by change for changes sake. Even then I much prefer to see some tactical prowess at work in the decision making, but so far it seems devoid of strategy. Sumich is being seriously discussed. Key players who have requested trades. Key personnel including List Manager, Coach and CEO are voids, and the entire S&C department seems in limbo. Our Chairman is making strange statements and platitudes about becoming a juggernaut. A lot of talk.

 

[Tyler from Fremantle]

And we will go around another year with the real issue not being dealt with. Player availability. But hey, as long as the media have their buddy in the seat then we won't get as much negative media comment or knives sharpening from them because they need to fill their columns with something - our supporters won't be waking up to another article about turmoil at the club, real or fabricated, and they won't get put out by it.

Ross Lyon took a lot of personal responsibility for Harley Bennell, using phrases like "we built him up" when what he should have said was "our strength and conditioning team stuffed up, again, and now the elite skilled player isn't available". Lyon didn't insist he get stronger than anyone else in the team.

There's your problem. We are playing this weekend if our players were available.

I know it doesn't suit the narrative but I don't expect people commenting on the game plan to be able to detail what it actually is but when we are missing our key talls it destroys our ball movement.

We fired the driver because our car with three wheels only just fell short of the podium finish, somehow.

Player availability wasn't the real issue, the real issue was our terrible game plan, terrible skills and terrible selections. Lyon was failing in multiple aspects as head coach.

Fans weren't foaming at the mouth for the last few seasons because of injuries, they were doing so because they weren't buying the shit they were seeing on field, or what dribbled out of Lyon's mouth in every press conference.

Lacking a tall to blindly bomb it to for the last month isn't why we aren't playing finals, and it's not why our ball movement was slow. Our entire ****ing gameplan was built around slowing the game down by NEVER playing on, choking it up, and then bombing to a contest to draw a stoppage, rinse, repeat.

Slow, stagnant ball movement isn't a pothole we've unfortunately managed to hit along the way, Ross has stubbornly and uncompromisingly been heading directly at it from the beginning.

The same issues were there since pre season: a high i50 count, followed by an inability to mark it i50, or create clean scoring opportunities.

Jesus, our offensive work has been sub standard the entire god damn time Lyon was here. 8 years and we have made literally no progress offensively.

To use your driver/car analogy: We didn't sack the driver because a wheel fell off in the final straight, the car he built and drove, (which came as a package deal with the driver) only had 3 ****ing wheels to begin with.

Injuries can be blamed for a year or two of poor scoring and ball movement, but not 8 years of poor offense, and 4.5 years of bad everything.

Seriously, how much longer can you live in denial?

 

[theGav56]

Caracella was my number 1, has a resume to drool over as far as I’m concerned, but that’s no chance.

Burns is my next choice, I am really surprised he hasn’t been mentioned at all as Danny82 said above. He has to be in the top couple of choices, especially now he has the Clarkson grooming.

JL not far behind those two but I’m equally interested in the assistants we bring in. Need a top quality 2nd in charge for once and I was keen on Glass until he Weagles pinched him . I’d love for Sumich to be an assistant again personally, just not head coach since he doesn’t seem to have the skills needed for the position

Ideally we bring in Woosha as head of coaching or something like that, JL/Burns as head coach and the lead assistant but that’s probably a pipe dream

A rookie coach in Longmuir with both Worsfold and Sumich hovering? Terrible idea I reckon.

Why aren't we signing Barlow as an assistant?

 

[Tyler from Fremantle]

The fetish on here for former Freo players to become coaches is borderline incestuous.

 

[theGav56]

The fetish on here for former Freo players to become coaches is borderline incestuous.

I have no problem about supporting the development of players who have been associated with the club. He's a coach in the VFL and doing well and had an on-field mentoring role at GCSs. Attracting decent assistants has never been our strong point, and he seems well worth consideration.

The anti every former Freo player is a novel stance though. I mean for a Fremantle supporter of course.

 

[Taylor]

It will make life so much easier for everyone if we just appoint a former West Coast player or coach to coach Fremantle. Someone the Eagles fans still like so they will come to Freo games on the off weeks and speak from an extra high point when discussing football with the unwashed purple supporters. It's what they needed all along. Can't be Cousins, Kerr, Judd, Chick or anyone else who has either left or gone off the rails entirely of their own volition.

We can change the Ross Glendinning medal name back then.

 

[dont bowl there]

Or we could just try and get the best regardless of where they played their football. Personally I would be trying to get away from old Fremantle players unless they are clearly the best fit.

 

[theGav56]

Or we could just try and get the best regardless of where they played their football. Personally I would be trying to get away from old Fremantle players unless they are clearly the best fit.

Are you saying old Fremantle players need to be best fit, but other players don't? No matter who the club gets they need to be best fit, but that is a subjective assessment at best. I think part of what makes Bell such a great fit for us is his history as a former player, love of the club and commitment to achieving success for the club.

 

[Tyler from Fremantle]

I have no problem about supporting the development of players who have been associated with the club. He's a coach in the VFL and doing well and had an on-field mentoring role at GCSs. Attracting decent assistants has never been our strong point, and he seems well worth consideration.

I don't think players get the depth and diversity of experience and ideas when they spend such a significant proportion of their professional career in one environmemt, and let's be honest, Freo are hardly top of the tree as far as clubs with a culture of success, innovation, developmemt etc

 

[Taylor]

I don't think players get the depth and diversity of experience and ideas when they spend such a significant proportion of their professional career in one environmemt, and let's be honest, Freo are hardly top of the tree as far as clubs with a culture of success, innovation, developmemt etc

Melbourne would be considered an innovative club by those who know what sort of things they've tried in the background to get an edge.

 

[theGav56]

I don't think players get the depth and diversity of experience and ideas when they spend such a significant proportion of their professional career in one environmemt, and let's be honest, Freo are hardly top of the tree as far as clubs with a culture of success, innovation, developmemt etc

So a two club player like Barlow, with VFL coaching experience is a fit for you, right?

 

[salim malik]

Player availability wasn't the real issue, the real issue was our terrible game plan, terrible skills and terrible selections. Lyon was failing in multiple aspects as head coach.

Fans weren't foaming at the mouth for the last few seasons because of injuries, they were doing so because they weren't buying the s**t they were seeing on field, or what dribbled out of Lyon's mouth in every press conference.

Lacking a tall to blindly bomb it to for the last month isn't why we aren't playing finals, and it's not why our ball movement was slow. Our entire ******* gameplan was built around slowing the game down by NEVER playing on, choking it up, and then bombing to a contest to draw a stoppage, rinse, repeat.

Slow, stagnant ball movement isn't a pothole we've unfortunately managed to hit along the way, Ross has stubbornly and uncompromisingly been heading directly at it from the beginning.

The same issues were there since pre season: a high i50 count, followed by an inability to mark it i50, or create clean scoring opportunities.

Jesus, our offensive work has been sub standard the entire god damn time Lyon was here. 8 years and we have made literally no progress offensively.

To use your driver/car analogy: We didn't sack the driver because a wheel fell off in the final straight, the car he built and drove, (which came as a package deal with the driver) only had 3 ******* wheels to begin with.

Injuries can be blamed for a year or two of poor scoring and ball movement, but not 8 years of poor offense, and 4.5 years of bad everything.

Seriously, how much longer can you live in denial?

The game plan worked ok when we had a full squad. Go back and have a look at the GWS game.


And Sumich isn't a head coaches arseh*le.

 

[Cesoir]

The fetish on here for former Freo players to become coaches is borderline incestuous.

Lol, welcome back. Let's see how long you last this time.

 

[dont bowl there]

Are you saying old Fremantle players need to be best fit, but other players don't? No matter who the club gets they need to be best fit, but that is a subjective assessment at best. I think part of what makes Bell such a great fit for us is his history as a former player, love of the club and commitment to achieving success for the club.

I'm saying they have an extra hurdle to overcome simply due to the baggage they bring from their past experiences at the club both good and bad. Not sure using Bell as best fit backs up your argument given he had no relevant experience except playing football here. That would be like hiring Pavlich as head coach in 2020 because football.

 

[theGav56]

I'm saying they have an extra hurdle to overcome simply due to the baggage they bring from their past experiences at the club both good and bad. Not sure using Bell as best fit backs up your argument given he had no relevant experience except playing football here. That would be like hiring Pavlich as head coach in 2020 because football.

He may easily have been our best available fit though. Also his footballing credentials at both Fremantle and North, Players Association work, post career experience, plus his Board experience are all significant pluses.

Pavlich has far less experience than that, and coaching has a more defined skill set.

 

[dont bowl there]

He may easily have been our best available fit though. Also his footballing credentials at both Fremantle and North, Players Association work, post career experience, plus his Board experience are all significant pluses.

Pavlich has far less experience than that.

He got the job because of his playing career at Fremantle not because of his credentials, playing football or working on the PA is not managerial experience. Nor is breakfast radio.

 

[Clems Knee]

I am for the best credentialed young coach.
Otherwise we might have just kept Lyon.

As far as game plan goes. I’m happy with assistant coaches with experience at the clubs that have success and have an exciting, replicable game plan.
These clubs would currently include the Bulldogs, Richmond, Brisbane and Collingwood. Essendon are exciting when they are on, but leak and are flaky. WC rely on a solid defensive structure and highly talented forward line. We don’t have that on the park.

I hope the boring uncontested chip and mark style is not one we will try and copy, unless we are two goals up with one minute to go, and have possession.

There are very few assistants with the right experience out there, which is why Longmuir stands out.
I would also like to hear from Burns.

 

[Taylor]

I won't be scrolling past attacks on those who have taken their time to give the board an insight into the goings on at training.

That sort of behavior has had a material detriment to the board. You've made this a lesser place for it.

Congratulations, not anymore.