Coach Men's Senior Coach: Brad Scott

[andleanback]

There was a bit of mumbo jumbo in the presser but he was on the money when he said where are not where we want to be because we simply do not execute well enough under pressure.

Yep some many unforced errors with ball in hand just giving up easy goals to the opposition. The backline was atrocious tonight in all aspects of the game. It really felt like those games against eagles and north last year where we won and didn’t deserve to, yet it painted over the cracks of how bad we were going. Yes it would’ve been good to get the 4 points last night in the context of this season, but really what does it achieve, playing footy like that will get us nowhere. I’m also content that last night blew up in the players faces and they didn’t get the satisfaction of the win. Now the pressure really intensifies on the group and some tough calls can be made. 3 blokes in the midfield are trying their guts out, outside that no one is really playing with the intensity required to compete in the latter stages of the season.

 

[andleanback]

Good coach.

Durham and caldwell as 3rd and 4th best mids has been a good move. More responsibility.

Jones and cox on the wings has been good apart from the wet. I think playing 1 more fwd and then only 1 ruckman in the side is the longer term solution though.

Martin at half back worked in the end. Apart from 1 or 2 games has made good in game adjustments.

Created some flexibility in roles with Martin, Jones, Cox, guelfi.

Mcgrath out of the mid. Although at times I think we still should use this when mids getting smashed.

Areas for improvement.

Loyalty to old players/favourites
Goldy, perkins, heppel and laverde all played too many games when out of form.

- understandable as ladder position warranted it but needs to change now our season is cooked.

Use of sub poor.

Prone to a shocker once or twice a year. Melbourne and Geelong games.

Love of 2 rucks.

Not defending players who are reported. Afl puppet but might be a club thing.

Finally playing Caldwell as an inside mid (for what he was drafted as) cannot be classified as a good move. It’s just a common sense one, and yet he didn’t even start the season on ball or move into the middle for Preseason, again it took injury.
I’ll give scott durham, one of the great coaching moves you’ll see. I ain’t giving him Caldwell.

 

[ghostdog]

“Good improvement, good signs”

He’s delirious

Haven't there been?
Last year we would have lost that game by 10 goals or more. It would have been all over by half time.

People are salty because we didn't win but there have been improvements. I agree there have been some questionable selection decisions, but a lot of the comments here are forest <> trees stuff.

Better off asking ourselves;
To what extent is Dodoro groupthink embedded at the club, to the point that we have kept so many low ceiling players on the list for such an extensive amount of time?

 

[nipst@r]

Haven't there been?
Last year we would have lost that game by 10 goals or more. It would have been all over by half time.

People are salty because we didn't win but there have been improvements. I agree there have been some questionable selection decisions, but a lot of the comments here are forest <> trees stuff.

Better off asking ourselves;
To what extent is Dodoro groupthink embedded at the club, to the point that we have kept so many low ceiling players on the list for such an extensive amount of time?

Rusted on. No real change until completely gone.

 

[ant555]

“Good improvement, good signs”

He’s delirious

Bit of context maybe. The next words after that where but we are still short of where we need to be and we continue to fail to execute under pressure . We have made some improvements. There has been some good signs . He was not saying it like with a smile and happy face and he still basically said we are a long way off. Easy to pull out part of the conversation to suite your own narrative.
He may not be the guy to take us a long way but he was not delirious .

 

[ghostdog]

Yep some many unforced errors with ball in hand just giving up easy goals to the opposition. The backline was atrocious tonight in all aspects of the game. It really felt like those games against eagles and north last year where we won and didn’t deserve to, yet it painted over the cracks of how bad we were going. Yes it would’ve been good to get the 4 points last night in the context of this season, but really what does it achieve, playing footy like that will get us nowhere. I’m also content that last night blew up in the players face and they didn’t get the satisfaction of the win. Now the pressure really intensifies on the group and some tough calls can be made. 3 blokes in the midfield are trying their guts out, outside that no one is really playing with the intensity required to compete in the latter stages of the season.

Agree so much. I'm more than happy for players like Hayes, Hobbs and Roberts to get games until year's end.

I suspect Brad will go with as much experience as he can at least until we're a mathematical impossibility of playing finals though. So, we'll probably see many more melty posts yet.

 

[Petrify]

Finally playing Caldwell as an inside mid (for what he was drafted as) cannot be classified as a good move. It’s just a common sense one, and yet he didn’t even start the season on ball or move into the middle for Preseason, again it took injury.
I’ll give scott durham, one of the great coaching moves you’ll see. I ain’t giving him Caldwell.

You have to give him Jones on the wing too. That came outta nowhere really and he's been awesome.

 

[bommer16]

Can have best coach there is. Can only work with what you have been given. Brad has inherited a pile of steaming DS.

 

[andleanback]

You have to give him Jones on the wing too. That came outta nowhere really and he's been awesome.

Need more than a few games to give that the tick

 

[ant555]

Need more than a few games to give that the tick

At least it is thinking outside the box to try and solve an issue . The easy thing to do would have been keep playing him as a forward until he had to be dropped to the VFL again . Like Martin it may not be viable long term but the tick is for trying to make something happen .

 

[andleanback]

At least it is thinking outside the box to try and solve an issue . The easy thing to do would have been keep playing him as a forward until he had to be dropped to the VFL again . Like Martin it may not be viable long term but the tick is for trying to make something happen .

Yeh agree though at the same time, having cox and jones on the wings together while duursma is at half back is a dumb move.

 

[ant555]

Yeh agree though at the same time, having cox and jones on the wings together while duursma is at half back is a dumb move.

It is not ideal but when you are building / inventing a side you make moves that you end up throwing in the bin along the way . These moves may well cost us a spot in the finals but for a coach who is putting a new stamp on the list he has to make them in my view. You can already see that he would love to have some good half back flanks so he can deploy Martin back up the ground . Last night Nick played a lot more wing and half forward. There will be more perplexing things to come for sure. Bit like the ruck situation where his comment was we will keep trying a few different mixes to try and get it right.

 

[boncer34]

The lack of plan B is obvious and concerning, as faible has said once the Crows went man on it fell apart. Backing the systems in is great, but if they aren't working you need to at least be able to try something different.

Very similar to Port except Adelaide aren't good enough to keep the foot on the throat.

 

[FlyingV]

Brad playing 2 rucks.. when one of them is Goldstein and we have Wright, Cox and Jones who can support in ruck… is honestly one of the most brain dead calls he constantly makes.

You play Goldstein, you lose 1 whole running player. That impacts transition, bench rotations, speed on ground level. Everything…

The biggest issue is that to me, it shows that Brad doesn’t appreciate the importance of applying pressure on the ball carrier all around the ground. You add a cumbersome second ruck, you inhibit your ability to cover ground, defend transition and score off rebound.

So frustrating, stop playing your mates Brad! So many other things have been a win this season, but this is just ridiculous

 

[silk]

I know looking at a comment in isolation isn't ideal, but this line here is the true beginning of Brad losing me as a supporter and fan.

"We’re an infinitely better side than we were this time last year — that I’m confident in — but the competition keeps getting better, too."

Your definition of performance in a competition is where you sit in comparison to your competitors.. the idea that the whole competition is better this year than last year is ****en laughable. If the competition you are against is improving faster than you, then you are going backwards and therefore a worse team! This smacks of 2006 bullshit statement "might be the team ever to be on the bottom of the ladder"

 

[ant555]

I know looking at a comment in isolation isn't ideal, but this line here is the true beginning of Brad losing me as a supporter and fan.

"We’re an infinitely better side than we were this time last year — that I’m confident in — but the competition keeps getting better, too."

Your definition of performance in a competition is where you sit in comparison to your competitors.. the idea that the whole competition is better this year than last year is ****en laughable. If the competition you are against is improving faster than you, then you are going backwards and therefore a worse team! This smacks of 2006 bullshit statement "might be the team ever to be on the bottom of the ladder"

To be honest if you are really putting any weight into what comes out in a press conference after the game then you need to revaluate as it is always a mixture of towing the club line , trying to spin in some positives in amongst a few veiled messages and straight bat answers to a majority of questions from reporters who have a limited ability to read a game beyond the stats sheets.

 

[ant555]

The lack of plan B is obvious and concerning, as faible has said once the Crows went man on it fell apart. Backing the systems in is great, but if they aren't working you need to at least be able to try something different.

Very similar to Port except Adelaide aren't good enough to keep the foot on the throat.

In general it is hard to have a plan B if the players can not consistently get plan A bedded down. Generally only really good sides have a plan B that works.

 

[silk]

To be honest if you are really putting any weight into what comes out in a press conference after the game then you need to revaluate as it is always a mixture of towing the club line , trying to spin in some positives in amongst a few veiled messages and straight bat answers to a majority of questions from reporters who have a limited ability to read a game beyond the stats sheets.

I agree with you, but certain statements just shit me. I'm not saying he needs to trash the team or anything, but we are a club with a strong reputation for being soft and this reinforces it for me.

I still support Brad and want him to succeed, but the AFL works the way it does and constant mid-table finishes are the worst thing any team can do, and it's what we excel at, so my frustration at this season is high.

Ultimately you are right, I don't know what happens behind doors, but I almost have more time for Hardwicks approach these days; which is probably more a sign I'm becoming an equally grumpy old man as he is.

 

[Mercurial89]

In general it is hard to have a plan B if the players can not consistently get plan A bedded down. Generally only really good sides have a plan B that works.

I think you can also call into question the intelligence of playing Plan A when you don't have the cattle when plan A ain't going to get it done in finals anyway.

I could stomach sticking with plan A of it was a tough uncompromising contested gameplan, and if we just didn't have the cattle at least we were playing the right way.
Trying to uncontested kick your way through a game and sticking at it is just stupidity as it's not going to hold up AND you don't have the players to do it.

 

[naraku]

The seemingly inability to compete and beat teams that have star players out this season has been frustrating and an eye opener.

Examples: Richmond must be losing most games by around 5-7 goals and are missing a stack of there best players.
Essendon struggle to a 6 point win.

Geelong,missing Hawkins who torments us for more than a decade is out. Danger 1st game back. They have lost 5 out of 6(similar).
Essendon smashed by 45pts.

Melbourne missing Petracca and Gawn. They have not played well for about a month.
Essendon smashed. Remember we're about 40pt down in the last before we kick the last few to make the scoreboard respectable.

For every glorious win over the fifth, comes putrid shit like above and last night.

I guess what I am saying is Brad URGENTLY needs to find ways to make sure we at least compete in games like I've exampled.
more shit like this next year and I think the spotlight will start shining on Brad a lot more.

 

[BrunoV]

But was also unimpressed with the level they played at and trained at after one season. Maybe he was pleasantly surprised because he thought we where a total shit box but we where only a sit box.

There was never any reason to say it.

 

[Zach Package]

There is no imprint because they can not get the basics right. I have seen what they work on at training and I know they have kept the game plan reigned in to avoid a complete turnoverathon . We are stuck at stage one because as a group we just can not defend as a team . What they work on the training track falls apart on game day.
At some stage you have to realize this is a player issue . You can not keep churning through coaches and beefing up the development team and say it is not. They have been sold the same message in various forms going back to Hird and Bomber but it is always the same.
It is way too early to know exactly where Scott will go with this as he has had one trade / draft / FA period .
I have said a few times that I am not sold on him being the coach to finish the product but someone has to start it. So far he has improved the training standards. They are fitter than previously . This is the second year but the club gave him a mulligan last year so he and Vozzo could do a bit of an audit on what they wanted to set out.
You seem to be really premature . After 20 years of average with poor leadership on and off the field what did you expect ?
If he is actually the man for the job it will take more than a season and a half of footy. It took Hardwicke 7 years and Goodwin 9 years. As ****ed as this sounds we pretty much have to ride this one for 4 or 5 years . We are still crawling . Running is a fair way off.

I read that and the main takeaway for me is that the onus is on him to break the information down and present it in a different way.

I put my L+D hat on and the fact that some have really taken to him and some have stagnated and/or gone backwards tells me that some probably don’t mesh with the presentation of information. Just like any other job. From there it’s up to Scott to use his experience to troubleshoot or lean on his assistants, it’s also up to the player to put their hand up as well btw, so the playing group is by no means blameless either.

They are certainly fitter and a little bit more resilient so I’ll give him that.

 

[ant555]

I think you can also call into question the intelligence of playing Plan A when you don't have the cattle when plan A ain't going to get it done in finals anyway.

I could stomach sticking with plan A of it was a tough uncompromising contested gameplan, and if we just didn't have the cattle at least we were playing the right way.
Trying to uncontested kick your way through a game and sticking at it is just stupidity as it's not going to hold up AND you don't have the players to do it.

You can but you also have to take into account that it is early days and secondly we turn the footy over a lot anyway so the handbrake has to be put on fast play .

At training they work a lot on a medium type basic where they set up with the player having the ball and then the coach counting down 3 2 1 and the ball has to be moved and the players in position. They do it over and over in the match sim.

It is all in the basic stage right now. We get fast right in decent periods of games but we also fail to execute and **** up the opportunities. We generally create just as many inside fifties and general scoring opportunities. We just fail to finish them off for various reasons. How often did we actually get in a position to break away only to **** up the handball and nullify the attack last night ? In the end it is hard to bed down any style of play if you can not get the basic skill component right.

Even our very poor games have had quarters or halves where we have played some decent attacking footy and had momentum.

We simply do not have the tools . Well we have plenty of tools but not the sharpest ones.

 

[ant555]

There was never any reason to say it.

You are obsessed with a throw away line in the media from when he was under 3 months in the job. Does it matter if he said it or not ? really ?

 

[BrunoV]

You are obsessed with a throw away line in the media from when he was under 3 months in the job. Does it matter if he said it or not ? really ?

I am obsessed with a coach that continually contradicts himself, who has tried to rebuild a team allowing it to continue cheating and who hasn't delivered anything other than the slightest bit of additional bite in 2 seasons.

I should say that he also appears to be dumb enough to believe in what Essendon has done this season despite the form not withstanding scrutiny, hence the drivel is his post match press conference last night.

2 seasons in and we have almost no idea what we will be like when we are supposedly good.

Why am I trusting him for 4 or 5 more years? Because of his time at North? I remember the state in which he left North.