Yorkeys wrote: ↑Fri 30 Nov 2018 9:34am
I don't see the Club as a laughing stock. Some of the performances in 2018 were laughable in a derisive way. While this is undoubtedly due to several factors a team having no pattern, panicking under even moderate pressure and having no resilience to respond to quick goals from an opposition is primarily down to the head coach. The club has recognised this by boosting the coaching ranks. It has also tried to make a virtue of head coaching stability when it really is executive embarrassment and cost that has anchored AR for another year. Expecting recruiters to deliver finals certainty picking from the draft and the other player market places in a salary cap framework is naïve at best. They use their experience, whatever metrics and intel that are available and try to match as best as possible a good playing group profile. If the coach cannot get the recruits to perform as a cohesive unit it is the coaches fault. In 2018 AR was terrible at getting the players to work together as a team and to persist with a style that suited their strengths. All the men on our list are highly skilled AFL athletes, the recruiters have delivered that. It is up to AR to get them to perform well. That doesn't mean winning everything but it does mean performances like those dished up against North and Sydney are dark black marks against AR's professional coaching CV. 2018 proved AR is a poor coach left to his own devices but the hope is (Stockholm Syndrome?) that he can learn and improve in the new environment the club has given him an opportunity to work with.
(I keep posting against the popular opinion and repeating myself, but I promise this will be my last post on this topic, and my final repeat and recap - I can hear a collective sigh of relief. I just want to see some more balanced and rounded discussions).
Anyway ...
How do you explain the form of Steele, Austin, etc ? Austin last 2 seasons at Port adelaide averaged only 7 possessions per game - he has tripled his output.
We may have been simply outgunned by more skilful teams who have improved their lists relative to us - and have you taken injuries into account?
I think we turned over more players than any other team due to our wholesale injuries this year - something like 34 players? - is that even possible? ... but someone may need to check that to verify.
The coach is hard to read - and there were a couple of seasons where AR's W/L was 50% or better - but the list and how (badly, in my opinion) we've recruited is obvious (to me, anyway).
We may be too focussed on blaming the coach for everything and missing the big picture. There may be other areas that we need to improve in that we're happy to gloss over - and (if this is the case at club level) we may be doomed to repeat what we refuse to see.
Are you sure there are no other areas we may need to
really improve in - apart from coaching - and that injuries did not play a part?
In a close competition you probably only need to be 1 or 2 % off, for whatever reason (
not just coaching) - and that's all it may take to slide down the ladder.
I've pointed out (on numerous occasions) some flaws that I saw in AR - that he was slow to give some players a go (as was Lyon, etc), which makes me now think that I may not have repeated myself enough, but to blame him for everything is misleading and wrong.
The "new environment" for AR to improve and get back to 50% plus per season, may simply be a lot less injuries - but he could sure use some help from our recruiters - they don't only need to draft, they can also poach elite-skilled midfielders - but they can at least start by focussing on drafting them.
I mean people make shopping lists that they stick to - for things they need at home, F#S!
Only played when injuries absolutely forced Richos hand.