Con Gorozidis wrote:dragit wrote:
It probably also reflects our woeful recruiting during his tenure with us & that Clarkson isn't some kind of pied piper of young footballers.
If you get good enough kids they'll force their way into the side, but Ross clearly has had a preference for mature athletes to implement his high pressure game. Port have taken hard running to a new level, with superstar finishers on top, it's exciting for football... I've always hated port, but I love watching them play at the moment.
Sorry I had to review and re-count (I made a mistake on that first count by reading the wrong column)
Hawks 2 RS in last 3 years
Freo 1
Hawks 8 in last 8 years
And
Lyon 4
So Clarkson is a pied piper and has 2 flags to show for it.
Lyon is a just a bloke who sticks by one team and one plan and squeezes the life out of it.
His 05 Swans suffocate plan is no longer up to standard.
So Con,
They say "love is blind". But is your hatred of Lyon "blind" too?
1/ Rising Star Nominees
The Hawks have had one of the most effective recruiting departments in that period in the AFL.
The last years of GT's tenure and all of RL's tenure the Saints had, with possible exception of Melbourne, the least effective recruiters in the AFL. The Blues were pretty pore too.
But yes it is Lyon's fault that he did not develop Howard into a Rising Star.....
I am still waiting for someone to produce a list of all this stellar young talent that Lyon wasted. I mean I am sure that if the talent was that good that some must have pooped up elsewhere? Can you trot out your list of the Lyon wasted young superstars?
Sure Lyon has not gone all the way. But IMO at both the Saints and Freo he inherited a good, but not great list, and in both instances has made them a better team.
2/ Gameplan.
Yes I agree that Lyon has not evolved as much as he probably should. However his gameplan now is clearly more attacking than it used to be.
Congrats to Hinkley
Let us not however in discussing Lyon miss out on giving Hinkley is deserved praise. The man deserves an out-perform rating.
But congrats too to their recruiting department. Wines at 7. Wingard at 6.
One of the key hallmarks of successful teams is good recruiting. Both kids and trades. As a good list is normally produced by an amalgam of both.
Hawks:
Clarko is a great coach. No doubt. But also their is a great recruitin department.
Cats:
I guess Bomber must have done something right. But their recruiting head honcho has been stellar.
Swans:
Longmire. Right place right time. Inherited a champion team, who remain at the top through stellar trades, but also an amazing string of great young talent. So good is their list now that Roan plays back pocket!
Yes they ave had a large salary cap advantage to get Buddy and others. But equally they have picked up players like Kennedy, LRT etc for not tat much.
Now Longmire cannot be a bad coach. But he did inherit a gameplan, culture, very good list and an exceptional recruiting department
PS:
I do not rate Lyon as a genius.
Good coach yes.
Abrasive coach yes
Always had good lists
Has never had a great list. Great players yes. Great list no.
A good coach is a key part of the success puzzle. But is not the only part. At the Saints Lyon had a dismal Board, dismal recruiting department.
Flying the World in comfort thanks to FF Points....