Game plan or character of players?

[esaint66]

I know our game plan is useless and i like many dont like it its not suited to us and it is outdated IMO.

But is it all the gameplan or our players just not hard enough at the ball and they just dont work in certain positions in certain ways.

Are there any players that are obviously suffering from this gameplan?

[The_Dud]

the gameplan is obviously so unnatural to the players, that they struggle to play to there full ability

[LENNY LEADS THE WAY]

Our soft players don't enjoy the game plan so lets change the game plan

[Behind Play]

Our soft players don't enjoy the game plan so lets change the game plan

IMO its not the only thing they are not enjoying. The change in the players is far too obvious.

[esaint66]

the gameplan is obviously so unnatural to the players, that they struggle to play to there full ability

Yes, exactly.

Its like they have been asked to do something they are incapible of doing.

BTW i like your new avatar.

[matrix]

so if we have soft players......why the hell are they in the friggin side?.
toughen the hell up princesses

[chook23]

I think it is the players overall ability

not gameplan or character

our ability of total side lacks in

foot skills
decision making
leg speed etc
agility/mobility
sustain of effort

we are 3-3

and above skills/ability are often lacking in middle of the road sides
compared to top sides

simple as that

[esaint66]

so if we have soft players......why the hell are they in the friggin side?.
toughen the hell up princesses

It's either we pick our soft players or pick young kids who have body's so frail that even if they were hard at it they would come off softer than our soft players.

Does anyone follow me?

[bobmurray]

I hope Ross is putting the red ink through the names of the players who just cant cut it,no point hanging on to those who cant follow a game plan,
players who do things that the coach IS NOT ASKING FOR..........

It's not all Ross's fault,the playing mix is wrong but i don't know if it's an easy fix or a long one that spills over into drafts even more compromised
than any others in drafting history..........

The other clubs know our players and their weaknesses so well it's all too easy for them to play a game that's better than ours....

[esaint66]

I think maybe we are an unsettled side due to us making unforced changed every week.

We change players because the ground or game may suit them and we change 2 or 3 younger players because they dont suit the game style of one of our senior players games.

Seriously when was the last time, you or anyone saw on a thursday night the NO CHANGE written on our team sheet ????

[nicola69]

I hope Ross is putting the red ink through the names of the players who just cant cut it,no point hanging on to those who cant follow a game plan,
players who do things that the coach IS NOT ASKING FOR..........

It's not all Ross's fault,the playing mix is wrong but i don't know if it's an easy fix or a long one that spills over into drafts even more compromised
than any others in drafting history..........

The other clubs know our players and their weaknesses so well it's all too easy for them to play a game that's better than ours....

1. It is the RL game plan that is the second biggest problem.

2. RL is the biggest problem.

3. Any other game plan, including no game plan, is better than RL's.

3a. Don't let him put red ink through our players names - he'll be selling the good ones to Sydney (refer: AFL love child conspiracy theory) via this ploy.

4. Isn't our side now loaded with his choices?

I agree with comments that our players look unhappy playing the style their playing. They look like they are being forced into performing unnatural acts in public. Or like a pet cat having his temperature taken.

RL is reeming our side. Make him stop it. And go away.

[bigcarl]

I think it is the players overall ability

not gameplan or character

our ability of total side lacks in

foot skills
decision making
leg speed etc
agility/mobility
sustain of effort

we are 3-3

and above skills/ability are often lacking in middle of the road sides
compared to top sides

simple as that

without attempting a swipe at the incumbent, it makes one marvel at what GT did with a lesser list than this

[chook23]

I think it is the players overall ability

not gameplan or character

our ability of total side lacks in

foot skills
decision making
leg speed etc
agility/mobility
sustain of effort

we are 3-3

and above skills/ability are often lacking in middle of the road sides
compared to top sides

simple as that

it makes one marvel at what GT did with a lesser list than this

was it a lesser list??

[LENNY LEADS THE WAY]

I think it is the players overall ability

not gameplan or character

our ability of total side lacks in

foot skills
decision making
leg speed etc
agility/mobility
sustain of effort

we are 3-3

and above skills/ability are often lacking in middle of the road sides
compared to top sides

simple as that

it makes one marvel at what GT did with a lesser list than this

was it a lesser list??

OFCOURSE IT BLOODY WASN'T FFS!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dan Warna]

I think it is the players overall ability

not gameplan or character

our ability of total side lacks in

foot skills
decision making
leg speed etc
agility/mobility
sustain of effort

we are 3-3

and above skills/ability are often lacking in middle of the road sides
compared to top sides

simple as that

seemed ok when we drilled geelong and footscray fora 1/4 and a bit, before they adapted adn we didn't

seemed ok when we drilled hawthorn last year.

nothing wrong with the players ability, its the ability for them to display it, or the coaches ability to extract it.

[bobmurray]

I'm trying to decide whether our players have peaked and the game has continued to evolve and they are getting left behind,maybe the coach is on the same bus......


Where to from here......

[kalsaint]

I think it is the players overall ability

not gameplan or character

our ability of total side lacks in

foot skills
decision making
leg speed etc
agility/mobility
sustain of effort

we are 3-3

and above skills/ability are often lacking in middle of the road sides
compared to top sides

simple as that

seemed ok when we drilled geelong and footscray fora 1/4 and a bit, before they adapted adn we didn't

seemed ok when we drilled hawthorn last year.

nothing wrong with the players ability, its the ability for them to display it, or the coaches ability to extract it.

Dan Warna
I think you have hit the nail on the head here.

The team is essentially the same bunch but execution of skills has been poor.

Why?
1 The games rules have changed, ruck conditions, hand in back rules, scragging etc.
2 The Saints (and Freo) have not adapted as well as others and more influence on game speed has resulted from rule changes.
3 The team aspect is not as strong as in past years. The tea do not protect the ball cariier as well as in previous years and the team is not fast so they get caught or pressured into quicker disposals that are not as clean as they should be.

Is this third point the fault of players or coach, I am starting to believe it is a balance. I was faulting only the players previously but the selfless acts have declined making me wonder what else is wrong in the background?


Injuries are less than last year but performance in the second half of 2007 is better than where we are now.

Last year there were sides glad not to see StKilda in the finals. I am not so sure this still applies as they seem to worked us out.

What needs to change is the protection of ball carriers, willingness to help others, run , run and run. Unfortunately we run out of puff before other sides (07 ans 08). Is this fitness, team spirit or ability? I suspect all three.

[mischa]

Depends on who the coach is......

[BringBackMadDog]

I don't understand a game plan that dictates that when we have the ball we stand like statues and wait until someone is on their own, even if it means going sideways, backwards or three rows into the crowd and when we don't have it we just fall back into defensive 50 and wait for the opposition to turn up. Basketball anyone!!!!

[matrix]

It's either we pick our soft players or pick young kids who have body's so frail that even if they were hard at it they would come off softer than our soft players.

Does anyone follow me?

or the soft plays can toughen the f**k up and start winning some hard ball.

morale is down i reckon with the players.
who else thinks that most of them would not agree with the game plan they are being given to execute?

[BAM! (shhhh)]

I'm trying to decide whether our players have peaked and the game has continued to evolve and they are getting left behind,maybe the coach is on the same bus......

Male athletes will generally peak in their late 20s, depending on injury. Some late bloomers will peak in their early 30s, and some will have their statistical best seasons in their early/mid 20s as a result of less attention.

To try and take those wide generalities to AFL, players generally start to settle between seasons 3-5 as their bodies adjust to the rigour and reap the benefit of the full time training programs, we see this is the number of good rookie seasons, backward second seasons followed by further breakout 3rd seasons. They then develop the smarts part of the game, change position etc. so by the time they're 25-27 we generally know what to expect, and the only question is how long they can play.

If we apply that to the Saints, we shouldn't have many players who have been "passed by". I can't think of anyone who has a set of physical attribute that while once useful arenow redundant.