coach's report card 2010

[Ghost Dog]

Before it fades from memory, anyone interested in helping to write a report card for Rocket? The man himself.

I'm least qualified prob to make this up but here are some areas for scrutiny

1. On field strategies. What he got right or wrong ( generally speaking )
2. Media savvy( Aker thing and post game conferences - what you like / don't )
3. Areas of improvement
4. your favourite rocket moment for 2010


For mine:

Great use of Brian to swing him into the forward line. Like his ' take the game on ' encouragement to the players, staying positive when it seemed we were on the back foot earlier in the season. Persisted with some old warhorses maybe because he is one himself. :D hurt us ( At various times, Hahn, Eagle, Brad etc perhaps but was worth a shot )
Generally, outstanding performance from what I could see.
He came under the media spotlight with the Aker thing and did his duty in that regard. Very much enjoy his post match press conferences more than other coaches; wry comments and down to earth. Not aloof. Cliche king though. Needs to work on that !Glowing reports from work he does in the community. ( Some friends of mine work in mental health and he visited clinics himself this year so I was told )
Not sure if he had any say or not but was frustrated with Shaun Higgins all year and if he was not right, should never have been played. WOuld have liked him to give Everitt a bit more of a run at the expense of an older player.
Fav Rocket moment, Him and Hally feeling the love with a big hug after Barry kicks a bag.
Noice!

8.5/10 - Did the best he could with the 'cattle' on hand IMO. Hope he can be open to trying new things in the future. Too old or lacking creativity? time will tell

[anfo27]

I like Rocket and his tenure at the club has been a successful one but this year for mine was a complete failure. Rockets performance was poor and your rating of 8.5 is very generous IMO. Tactically he is not in the top echelon of coaches and his tactic in that first final of having an extra midfielder to allow the pies an extra player to run it out of defence was a classic example. Team selection is another area that Rocket has not done well.

I think media wise Rocket has always been good and I'm happy with him in this department.

If he can't improve next season I'm hoping he does not get his contract renewed. He has finally got some pace to work with so he should have the cattle to finally take us that extra step.

I probably being a bit harsh as i was shattered with our finish but i would give rocket a 5.

[Dazza]

Some selection decisions this year frustrated the hell out of me. Bringing in underdone players who weren't performing and then persisting with them.

It was obvious all year that we lacked pace in the forward line yet we went with the same setup for the majority of the year.

[DOG GOD]

Some selection decisions this year frustrated the hell out of me. Bringing in underdone players who weren't performing and then persisting with them.

It was obvious all year that we lacked pace in the forward line yet we went with the same setup for the majority of the year.

Totally agree Dazb. This really peeved me off most of the year. It was obvious certain players were played under done when those games shouldve been given to the younger guys for development. Hahn, Johnno, Aker and eagle's selections gave us no momentum imo and made us look lack lustre on most occassions.