Coach Men's Senior Coach: Brad Scott

[Old Campaigner]

Heppell is/was much better then Weid and dropping him for Weid made no sense.

He deserved to get dropped when Ridley returned mostly because they played the same role. But he started the season well and is a much better player than Weid. Not to mention playing Weid + McKay pushes Lav into a 3rd tall role and just gives us no players capable of moving the ball. With Kelly back there as well.

Young players not getting opportunities and having to have an extended run of form is pretty normal for Scott

I’m convinced that Scott was coaching to not get fired and expose systemic problems rather than win games. Because if he was trying to win he’s an idiot

Comparing Heppell and Weid is daft, they're completely different players. We were struggling somewhat in defense because McKay isn't especially well suited to taking the big forwards, it made some sense to bring Weid in ahead of Hayes and his form certainly warranted it. Slow/poor ball movement is a consequence of poor list management over a long period of time, playing Heppell or Hayes ahead of Weid doesn't fix it.

We've already been over the myth about young players not getting any opportunity. Hayes was the only one who could have been considered unlucky but I believe he had specific tasks to work on in the VFL, and he signed a contract extension during the season so it's not like he's on the outer. It's not uncommon for talls to wait a long time to debut in order to build the required strength.

Requiring players to demonstrate an extended period of good form is the sort of standard setting we should be celebrating, not complaining about.

"Coaching to not get fired rather than win games" WTF are you on about? The best way to not get fired is to win games. Finals were still in play and he'd be mad to not play the best possible side.

I think that's a bit harsh - there wasn't a huge gap in their form, if any. I'd actually say Hayes had better long-term VFL form than Weideman did. McKay was still in the AFL side too, so Hayes really would have been a better fit than Weideman, who'd been playing FB in the VFL.

No it's not. Weid had shown good form and demonstrated an ability to compete phyically with the big key forwards that Hayes has yet to develop.

 

[jdstorm]

Comparing Heppell and Weid is daft, they're completely different players. We were struggling somewhat in defense because McKay isn't especially well suited to taking the big forwards, it made some sense to bring Weid in ahead of Hayes and his form certainly warranted it. Slow/poor ball movement is a consequence of poor list management over a long period of time, playing Heppell or Hayes ahead of Weid doesn't fix it.

We've already been over the myth about young players not getting any opportunity. Hayes was the only one who could have been considered unlucky but I believe he had specific tasks to work on in the VFL, and he signed a contract extension during the season so it's not like he's on the outer. It's not uncommon for talls to wait a long time to debut in order to build the required strength.

Requiring players to demonstrate an extended period of good form is the sort of standard setting we should be celebrating, not complaining about.

"Coaching to not get fired rather than win games" WTF are you on about? The best way to not get fired is to win games. Finals were still in play and he'd be mad to not play the best possible side.

No it's not. Weid had shown good form and demonstrated an ability to compete phyically with the big key forwards that Hayes has yet to develop.

At Essington papering over the cracks and winning games gets you expectations which gets you fired when players decide not to apply the level of effort and commitment needed to win.

Scott unquestionably chose to play underdone/injured players. Despite publicly saying health and effort were his primary selection criteria.

I’m not talking about playing young players but rather optimising the list for success and playing as many of the good players as possible.