McCartney: We need patience

[AndrewP6]

Gia, Cross, Boyd and Murph will soon all be gone which pretty much makes it a total rebuild. These things simply cannot happen overnight and I would love to know what the alternative is to the road we are going down.

Do people feel that a differenet coach would be getting better results? (genuine question, not rhetorical)

Not necessarily, the team was always going to battle. IMO though, McCartney doesn't have the match day nous or the right strings in his bow.

There, I said it.

[Bulldog Revolution]

Hopefully the club sticks behind McCartney and realises that it's going to take a while to get to where we want to be, considering the experience and talent we've lost from 09-11.

I think McCartney's philosophy on how to build a team is very sound. What I am uncertain of is whether he's a good match day coach, and this is the area that he'll need to personally show improvement in.

There is a lot of sense in that thinking TBB

I suspect BMac focused on all the other stuff he was trying to achieve at the club and perhaps gave less focus to match day coaching

I like that we've been turning over and improving the list.

But its a concern that we don't have any established key position forwards or defenders - which really tells us where the list is at.

I want to see us have a dead set crack this year, but continue to rebuild via the draft.

[Ghost Dog]

No coach is perfect. He's the right coach for this stage of our development.

[Greystache]

Not necessarily, the team was always going to battle. IMO though, McCartney doesn't have the match day nous or the right strings in his bow.

There, I said it.

McCartney is on record as saying he left players in position even if they were being beaten to gauge how hey responded, and that the coaching group didn't try to influence games as they thought the players needed to learn to play together even if they were under the pump. I think in a season focused on getting games into kids to see who had something to offer match day nous was low on the list of priorities.

He may or may not be a good match day coach, we don't have much evidence either way at this stage.

[AndrewP6]

McCartney is on record as saying he left players in position even if they were being beaten to gauge how hey responded, and that the coaching group didn't try to influence games as they thought the players needed to learn to play together even if they were under the pump. I think in a season focused on getting games into kids to see who had something to offer match day nous was low on the list of priorities.

Fair enough, I just don't think he has it.

[jeemak]

Fair enough, I just don't think he has it.

On just a hunch?

I suppose what you're saying is fair enough. How many coaches can you name over the last 15 years honestly as good match day coaches?

If your judgement was based on last year, I think 'stache has a point.

[Hotdog60]

Fair enough, I just don't think he has it.

I was a big Rocket fan and what he has brought to the club, but in saying that I have like what Macca has brought to the table.

I've jumped on board and I am willing to give the man a few seasons to see how he goes, the biggest thing I could possibly hope for is that he can convert you to his coaching. If he can do that I know we will be a force to be reckoned with and maybe some silver ware in the cupboard.

[The Underdog]

Fair enough, I just don't think he has it.

As long as we write him off on one year of experience as a senior coach and neglect the fact that maybe he too can learn and develop from his first season in the role. Who knows, maybe he might improve. You might be right but I'm willing to give it all a bit more time to play out.

[AndrewP6]

On just a hunch?

I suppose what you're saying is fair enough. How many coaches can you name over the last 15 years honestly as good match day coaches?

If your judgement was based on last year, I think 'stache has a point.

Combination of both, I think. Happy if I'm proven wrong, but I'm not going to hold my breath.
Given the phase we now are admitting to being in (rebuild), and the poor state of our membership tally, I think he will need to make some noticeable strides, to give supporters something to want to go to the footy for - an uphill battle for anyone.

[Cyberdoggie]

McCartney is on record as saying he left players in position even if they were being beaten to gauge how hey responded, and that the coaching group didn't try to influence games as they thought the players needed to learn to play together even if they were under the pump. I think in a season focused on getting games into kids to see who had something to offer match day nous was low on the list of priorities.

He may or may not be a good match day coach, we don't have much evidence either way at this stage.

I'd like to see that change somewhat this year.

While it's still a development year to some extent, i'd expect nothing less than us to be competitive in most matches, and hopefully causing a couple of upsets.

It's going to be a very tough year for us with what appears to be steady improvement from the other sides around us, so it will be tough to gauge real improvement in performance this year.

Theoretically most sides look to be on the up, ie Melbourne, GWS, GC, Carlton, StKilda, Essendon and even Port look better, so some sides should also be on the slide, not really sure who yet and where that leaves us.

[jeemak]

Cyberdoggie, I think it leaves us in a precarious position and fighting it out with the bottom four once again.

We'll be completely disorganised with our forward movement which will be frustrating, and our back six relying on Williams and Morris will have turns at being without those two if previous and more recent injury form is anything to go by.

We may make some gains in our midfield competitiveness with the addition of a fit Cooney (hopefully), Lower, Stevens and some improvement from Wallis, Liberatore and Smith. With some fitness improvements in the latter, I think Griffen, Boyd and Cross will have more around them to help the side remain competitive within that area.

You've mentioned the latter stages of this year to see a game plan of sorts being produced by the list, and I think that's pretty reasonable. Though I'd only expect to see it in glimpses. If we can replicate the competitiveness in attitude of the first half of 2012 throughout the whole year this year, and our fitness work over summer makes us more resilient in the latter rounds of this year then I think we'll have a good base to build on for 2014.

[Bulldog Joe]

I certainly had some problems with where we were at last year. I have spoken to Macca at a couple of functions and I am now more comfortable that we are heading in the right direction.

We have some terrific prospects on the list now and I think we will be showing something certainly in 2014.

[BornInDroopSt'54]

Present pain for future gain. Another year of losing, occasionally badly, will make next year's gains and beyond even sweeter. Pick the turning points and keep the faith.

[bornadog]

We had to learn to tolerate last year as we had such a young team, new coach new era. Similarly in 2011 once we had all the injuries to senior players, we accepted that we had to blood some new talent (10 new) and we weren't going to be playing finals anyway. That is two years of blooding new players ( something like 20, plus we turned over another 10), as well as one year learning under Macca with new game plans - they are big changes to the team.

What I won't tolerate this year is the blatant "I don't care if we win or lose attitude" of last year. Clearly on match days Macca sometimes didn't even watch the game, but was on the boundary line teaching his pupils, didn't make any moves, let players stay on an opponent even though they weren't matched up etc etc. That was fine for last year and we weren't going to win any more than we did anyway (although we should have won the Carlton game - that was a disgrace).

This year, Macca has to coach on match day, and at least try and win games. The players must show improvement and 100% commitment and effort during a game.

I am not expecting to win many games, but I do not want to see 60 point thrashings most weeks and either do the supporters. Macca must coach to stop those massive blow outs and show we are improving and we have a future and give our supporters hope. I just hope we have the right players. As for the coach, time will tell. We made a decision, lets stick with him and get behind him.

[Cyberdoggie]

I hear ya BAD,

I've been a bulldog for life so i learned how to deal with the pain of losing, and how to stick with the club regardless, but others are not as stern (or should i say stubborn) as we are.

I really feel like we are on a knife edge.

There's been a lot of effort by the club to build round 1 up.
Lot's of ticket give away's bulldog blitz etc, Brisbane while seemingly in form are a beatable team. I don't know about you guys but i'm extremely nervous about this game. A win would be a huge kickstart, a bad loss would be devastating.