The styles of the final 4 coaches ...

[H2F]

I am always fascinated in the coaches of footy teams so would be interested in anyones thoughts on what the remaining coaches have to give in the hunt for a flag. Some observations of mine below.

Thompson - No idea. Can't figure this guy out at all other than the fact his team is awesome.

Clarkson - Will have by far the most meticulous and detailed plan. Is it the one that can get Hawthorn to a Grand Final and beat a juggernaut.

Lyon - Seems to have come in and hammered the players relentlessly, even to the point of calling them soft. Clearly thinks he can beat them into their best. Clearly having some success so far, so hats off. How far till it take them is the question I think?

Eade - Although very strategic like Clarkson, he seems to be his polar opposite as well in terms of how he coaches. He is very similar to Neil Craig IMO in that he is one of the best at tactics and strategic stuff. He seems to have all the right tools except for one thing. The above three coaches are fighting because they think they have the cattle, in which you can forgive them for thinking that. Surely Eade can't actually believe he does, which makes you wonder how can he coach the team all the way then??? One of the more fascinating things to me in footy is coaches who do not build a team with the cattle to do it as there starting point. You don't have to have the best players as Sydney showed us but they had the players to execute a good enough game to win. It's why I really rate Knights even though I bagged him when hired. He has come in and focused only on building a structure and team.

 

[Bulldog Joe]

I am always fascinated in the coaches of footy teams so would be interested in anyones thoughts on what the remaining coaches have to give in the hunt for a flag. Some observations of mine below.

Thompson - No idea. Can't figure this guy out at all other than the fact his team is awesome.

Clarkson - Will have by far the most meticulous and detailed plan. Is it the one that can get Hawthorn to a Grand Final and beat a juggernaut.

Lyon - Seems to have come in and hammered the players relentlessly, even to the point of calling them soft. Clearly thinks he can beat them into their best. Clearly having some success so far, so hats off. How far till it take them is the question I think?

Eade - Although very strategic like Clarkson, he seems to be his polar opposite as well in terms of how he coaches. He is very similar to Neil Craig IMO in that he is one of the best at tactics and strategic stuff. He seems to have all the right tools except for one thing. The above three coaches are fighting because they think they have the cattle, in which you can forgive them for thinking that. Surely Eade can't actually believe he does, which makes you wonder how can he coach the team all the way then??? One of the more fascinating things to me in footy is coaches who do not build a team with the cattle to do it as there starting point. You don't have to have the best players as Sydney showed us but they had the players to execute a good enough game to win. It's why I really rate Knights even though I bagged him when hired. He has come in and focused only on building a structure and team.

You are obviously enamoured with Alistair as you have every right to be, but I fail to see how he will have the most meticulous and detailed plan.

Clarkson's plan is very simple and relies on 2 aspects. The so-called cluster or midfield flood to cover the defensive shortcomings and the reliance on the explosive forward performance of Buddy and the Roughead. He is greatly helped by having Hodge and Mitchell at his disposal.

Ross Lyon and Rodney Eade require more meticulous plans because they lack the individual brilliance available to Hawthorn and Geelong.

Geelong under Thompson have developed a brilliant system that seems to cope with everything thrown at them. This is probably due to the fact that they have better depth in their side, highlighted by the fact that both St Kilda and Western Bulldogs include players from Geelong's 2007 list that would not make the current Geelong side.

 

[themuddy#3]

clarkson's midfield flood is hardly genius, he relies on the brilliance of his gun draft picks rather than great coaching. coaching is in the developement of players moreso than gameday tactics in my opinion.

 

[bluey49]

Bomber Thompson's hard work as a coach was done from 2002 - 2006 I believe where he got his team to the point they are at today, that is the Cat side virtually coaches themselves. The coaching panel obviously sort out the match ups and tweak the match day game plan where needed but Thompson's early work as a coach hardened his side up to be a disciplined , team orientated group of individuals who do the right thing by the side contest after contest. The majority of power sides throughout the past were coached to this same point I believe.

 

[And_ROOS]

Thompson drafted players to suit a gameplan built on pressure, and getting the football into the attack as quick as possible via the most direct route.

Maybe thats other coaches problems, they over think gameplans too much. Geelong have 3 attacking midfielders and 1 defensive midfielder. 1 defensive forward and 5 attacking forwards. And the defence is one unit that covers each other, and knows when to push the line up to help the attack and drop back to prevent opposition scores.

Football tactics arent the most difficult thing in the world. Finding the players is the issue. Geelong recruited smartly and had a plan that became tweaked based on the players they developed.

 

[Corpuscles]

Bomber Thompson's hard work as a coach was done from 2002 - 2006 I believe where he got his team to the point they are at today, that is the Cat side virtually coaches themselves. ...

I agree with that

The Geelong gameplan is super predictable (watch a replay of any game in the last 2 years and their style is consistent).

The Geelon cat-tle now raised to a high and sometimes brilliant standard to be well drilled to allow consistent execution of a known plan . That is why they are so difficult to beat.

Bomber T does not get enough credit for a simple, basic plan that works!

All the others are regularly experimenting and change things weekly to address that particular weeks opposition. Geelong just stick to what works and do it well and can relax and taunt the others to change something in their style ....to try and beat theirs!!

 

[SJ]

Thompson drafted players to suit a gameplan built on pressure, and getting the football into the attack as quick as possible via the most direct route.

Maybe thats other coaches problems, they over think gameplans too much. Geelong have 3 attacking midfielders and 1 defensive midfielder. 1 defensive forward and 5 attacking forwards. And the defence is one unit that covers each other, and knows when to push the line up to help the attack and drop back to prevent opposition scores.

Football tactics arent the most difficult thing in the world. Finding the players is the issue. Geelong recruited smartly and had a plan that became tweaked based on the players they developed.

Good post, very thoughtful insight.

 

[Stereophonic]

. You don't have to have the best players as Sydney showed us but they had the players to execute a good enough game to win. It's why I really rate Knights even though I bagged him when hired. He has come in and focused only on building a structure and team.

This is true however, but Sydney did have a pretty good midfield in Kirk, Goodes etc and this was offset by their awesome forward line at the time of O Keefe, Hall, O Louglin, Davis, Buchanan to name a few.

The bulldogs will struggle because the only class they have up forward is Johnson and Murphy and they are not KPP's at best. You need a KPP to win a premiership. Even WCE had Hansen and Lynch. That is where they will fall down next week, notwithstanding they will get their fair share of I50 with the class they have in the middle.

 

[Superman_23]

Seems like the fad of coaching techniques this season is all about pressure, inturn forcing turnovers and kicking goals on the rebound as the forwards get a chance one out.
The two best teams of the year have a great ability to put pressure on, but also don't turn the ball over nearly as much as other teams and the hawks in particular are very skillful by foot. The cats tend to carry the ball a little further with more handballs but are also very skilful by hand and foot, which they have to be because they don't have a great forward line.

On a side note i would imagine Lyon would have been pretty dissapointed with Schneiders game last night, of the 21 who played the majority of the game he was the only one who seemed selfish and lazy. If he plays the same way again in the coming week the hawks will punish him.