New Football Manager

[Bulldog Revolution]

That is factually wrong. We could not.

We could have taken Pavlich instead of Penny, but none of the others.

Each team was only allowed one 17 yo and Penny was ours.

At the time Pavlich was fat and slow with a dodgy work ethic and a big nose.

Sure, I forgot about the one 17 year old rule

Seriously Pavlich was fat, slow and lazy? Is this really true?

Shame we didn't take him instead of the weak hearted Penny though

[LostDoggy]

"I am very confident I can bring something to the group, and that might be something missing now."

I wonder what that might be?

We all know exactly what he means. The fact that no one here ever actually disputes what Smorgon and now Fantasia are saying means that it has essentially been accepted that Eade lost the support of the coaches and the players in the 2nd half of the season.

[Sockeye Salmon]

We all know exactly what he means. The fact that no one here ever actually disputes what Smorgon and now Fantasia are saying means that it has essentially been accepted that Eade lost the support of the coaches and the players in the 2nd half of the season.

I don't know that at all.

I believe Eade took on/was given a role too big for one person but I have heard nothing to say that he lost the support of his assistant coaches or the players.

[Mofra]

Shame we didn't take him instead of the weak hearted Penny though

Unfair on Penny, I though he was solid before he was ruined by injury

[LostDoggy]

I don't know that at all.

I believe Eade took on/was given a role too big for one person but I have heard nothing to say that he lost the support of his assistant coaches or the players.

Did you miss the various interviews with Smorgon and the part that they (he Rose and the board) had considered stepping in during the season because it was apparent that things weren't right. Smorgon went on to say that whilst we had a chance to make the finals that they decided to wait it out.
He also mentioned that when you talk to people face to face you get honest answers. These were the answers he wasn't getting off the head of the football department.

This is one of the more compelling responses by Smorgon
"Frankly, over the course of the year there were things going on in the football department that we (the board) were not comfortable with," Smorgon said. "I'm not making excuses, but things were out of control."

The way I read this is a direct question about competency.

I suppose you can blame this on the role being too big for him but he actually re-sign to this "dual" position at the end of the 2006 season and obviously didn't see that it was too big for him then. When the pressure was on though and he couldn't delegate the jobs around, instead of going to Smorgon and Rose and saying we have a problem what can we do about it he just stopped doing certain duties and the floggings we received resulted.

He got paid for two jobs and did one of them and the results would indicate that he didn't do that well either. Good luck to him for getting the extra money and probably still getting this extra money for the next two seasons but he has gotten off lightly.

[LostDoggy]

We all know exactly what he means. The fact that no one here ever actually disputes what Smorgon and now Fantasia are saying means that it has essentially been accepted that Eade lost the support of the coaches and the players in the 2nd half of the season.

That is very close to the truth, a status quo has now been reached between players and coach and life is becoming rosier.

[LostDoggy]

Unfair on Penny, I though he was solid before he was ruined by injury

I might be wrong but I think the weak hearted reference should be more directed at the manner he jumped ship by changing his mind at the last minute and forcing us to make the trade with the Saints.

[FrediKanoute]

Fantasia a quiet achiever

NEW Western Bulldogs football manager James Fantasia says he will work with coach Rodney Eade next season, not rule the club with an iron fist.

Fantasia was last week appointed by Bulldogs chief executive Campbell Rose, and is responsible for all football administration.

But while there was speculation Rose created the position to curb Eade's power, Fantasia said he would not be a forceful personality.

A respected football figure with 12 years in the industry, Fantasia was Adelaide's long-term recruiter before a year as the SANFL's game development manager.

"I don't see myself coming in and stamping the table and ordering people about. I don't think it's about that," Fantasia said yesterday.

"It's about trying to impart my own football experiences.

"I want to try to bring some additional levels of professionalism.

"Just from my brief discussions with "Rocket" (Eade) he has a vision with the group and where it can go, and that is exciting.

"I need to sit down with him and find out what he has planned, and then look at some additional strategic planning and find ways we can implement it."

Fantasia knows Eade and Dogs recruiter Scott Clayton from their dealings at trade time and respects the pair.

He said he was an outsider when the position was advertised, but in three interviews had sold the club on his vision for its future.

"I am looking more about working with this group as opposed to telling them what they have to do," Fantasia said.

"There are too many good people there already to think you need to do that.

"I am very confident I can bring something to the group, and that might be something missing now."

What struck me about this article was the similarity between what Fantasia said on his appointmeent and what Eade said on his appointment about the vision for where the group is heading. It may just be media bluff but to me it suggests that the club have chosen a person who is competant in what he can do, but is not antagonistic or likely to ride roughshod over the coach. Hopefully it will prove to be an enlightenened selection.

[Go_Dogs]

What struck me about this article was the similarity between what Fantasia said on his appointmeent and what Eade said on his appointment about the vision for where the group is heading. It may just be media bluff but to me it suggests that the club have chosen a person who is competant in what he can do, but is not antagonistic or likely to ride roughshod over the coach. Hopefully it will prove to be an enlightenened selection.

The direction and vision has long been talked about, I remember Akermanis also talking about it when he was signed. If only they could pitch it to us!

[Bulldog Revolution]

The direction and vision has long been talked about, I remember Akermanis also talking about it when he was signed. If only they could pitch it to us!

Direction and Vision are easy - whats harder is having a plan to achieve it, and thats where we've fallen down: Eade, the players, the Assistant Coaches, the whole club.

I hope Fantasia is part of the solution to what were clearly a multitude of problems in 2007.

Any idea when he starts?

[FrediKanoute]

Starting point would be to tale the overall objective = Premiership

From there he would break it all down into smaller bits, like:

1) Player conditioning
2) player development
3) Player skills
4) match day strategy etc

and assign each member of the coaching team a task, which would involve them planning how they are going to take the team forward and what processes they are going to put in place.

He would also put in place defineable measureable KPI's. Obviously winning a flag is a major one, but it may be deliverables like:

1) ave tackles per game
2) ave turnovers per game
3) goals from set plays etc

Whatever collectively the team and coachs believe are the appropriate strategy to win a flag should be micro-measured and analysed. The more measureable and relevant the KPI the more informational value that can be taken form the result. Performance should be assessed on this basis and these should be the primary means of assessing whether or not a player/coach has performed.

Anything less from Fantasia is a cop out. he's not there to be friends with Eade, he's there primarily to ensure Eade,the assistants and the players achieve their objectives and putting in place processes to assess/monitor progress are vital to achieving this. Yes he is there to impart advice/negotiate player contracts/administer the football side of things, but to be an effective manager he must have proper controls in place and performance measure ment is one of these controls.

[Topdog]

I like the appointment and the amount of respect this guy has in Adelaide who have a particularly nasty media is a very good sign IMO.

His professionalism and attention to detail should be of real benefit to this club.