Development of Players - Questions

[AshMac]

While the position you are played can impact your development I see this as minor in terms of actual player development. Most of our development should be coming from the way we review performances with each player and teach them different aspects of the game during the week.

I certainly don't agree with all of our positional moves but you need to view them more broadly IMO. To be honest at times our supporters seem as though they will not be satisfied with any position a player plays in. Most of the positional complaints I read relate to players being played out of position but there is no justification for who moves out of those positions.

Everyone knows that Dunkley and McLean play their best football in the midfield but you can only fit so many players in that rotation. Unless you have coached you don't realise that these are decisions you make on a weekly basis when weighing up where to play people. Take the case of McLean, Bevo is on record as saying we need more leg speed in the forward half. We have a plethora of mids but McLean was probably the most likely to be able to help that scenario. Do you drop Libba, Wallis or McLean or try to make one of them into something you don't already have? It hasn't worked but that's the scenario coaches are often faced with. It is the same with many of the examples often raised.

We have probably got the balance of our list wrong to start with if we want to really pick something out. The Schache situation is interesting, I would actually say that is fantastic coaching by us to be able to get that performance out of him on the weekend. I hear people complain about our team defence starting to decline but in the same breath call for Schache to be played regardless of his performance. This guy was an absolute spectator without the ball for the two weeks before he was dropped. He went down to VFL level and didn't do any better but his performances slowly improved and he was able to show on the weekend that he can do the things we need. As for him rucking unfortunately if we play two tall forwards then one of them has to spend time in the ruck.

FWIW on the weekend just after half time I called for Naughton to go back, Trengove into the ruck and English to be used as the target when required. You could feel the game turning and if we wanted to arrest it that was the best option. Naughton wasn't getting it anyway so we were not losing anything. I dare say Bevo is weighing up the value of persisting with English over getting the win.

The coaches make mistakes and we are making plenty but we are a developing team and have guys that are still learning their positions or are simply not up to it. They are not above criticism I just feel our supporters do it blindly too often without examining the reasons for certain changes. Certainly not singling you out BT just replying as you have taken the time to write about it.

Lots of good points here, but i disagree the position you play on game day is less important than how you train and learn during the week in terms of developing confidence and ability to perform a role on the field.

[Danjul]

......I dare say Bevo is weighing up the value of persisting with English over getting the win.

Isn’t this the whole point of games?

[FrediKanoute]

Isn’t this the whole point of games?

Yes and no. Yes a win should nearly always be a priority, especially if you are finals bound, but we aren't, so sometimes taking a longer view and getting games and experience into players is a better strategy. Of course this all falls apart if English decides to go home to WA......

[Danjul]

Yes and no. Yes a win should nearly always be a priority, especially if you are finals bound, but we aren't, so sometimes taking a longer view and getting games and experience into players is a better strategy. Of course this all falls apart if English decides to go home to WA......

My understanding of the team’s performances is if 4 of our narrow losses (say - GC, Freo, North and one of the Collingwood games) had better game day strategy they would have been wins. Then we would be finals bound. Nothing to do with the list of players. English and the others would have still played the same number of games but in a slightly different way.

Maybe now we can afford to have other priorities than winning.

[bornadog]

My understanding of the team’s performances is if 4 of our narrow losses (say - GC, Freo, North and one of the Collingwood games) had better game day strategy they would have been wins. Then we would be finals bound. Nothing to do with the list of players. English and the others would have still played the same number of games but in a slightly different way.

Maybe now we can afford to have other priorities than winning.

GC Freo and Collingwood, we missed easy goals, nothing to do with coaching. North, well they were on top of us all day, new coach, yes we hit the front, but they smashed our midfield.

[Twodogs]

GC Freo and Collingwood, we missed easy goals, nothing to do with coaching. North, well they were on top of us all day, new coach, yes we hit the front, but they smashed our midfield.

But the fact we can't kick straight (and haven't for some years now) is a coaching issue isn't it?

[dog town]

Isn’t this the whole point of games?

Of course but there is no other way to get games in. Our team defence would improve significantly if we didn’t play young, developing tall forwards but then everyone would be complaining that we can’t develop our own key forwards.

I did say it’s not what I would have done with English but that’s the call Bevo had to make.

[dog town]

Lots of good points here, but i disagree the position you play on game day is less important than how you train and learn during the week in terms of developing confidence and ability to perform a role on the field.

The true development of our players dropped away since Chris Maple changed roles. There is a reason clubs put so much time and money into this area. The picking up of skills within skills for lack of a better term can only be done by review and practice.

Game day is critical for putting it into practice but most of them can be done from any position. Given there is only 22 spots players need to be professional enough to do this.

[Bumper Bulldogs]

Is it development or behaviour? We keep hearing player X wants to leave, player X has off field issues, player X has the sooks about his posistion/role. This all since the GF. We had a tight group and a positive coach.

Now we’ve traded guns, slid down the chain, negative coach, unhappy players and became totally irrelevant

Outside looking in I would say we have a huge leadership issue outside the football department

Sydney, Geelong and Hawthorn would not be in this position

[AshMac]

The true development of our players dropped away since Chris Maple changed roles. There is a reason clubs put so much time and money into this area. The picking up of skills within skills for lack of a better term can only be done by review and practice.

Game day is critical for putting it into practice but most of them can be done from any position. Given there is only 22 spots players need to be professional enough to do this.

the impact a player has on a game due to how effective they are in their position has so much more to do with the skill efficiency - how easily it’s picked up off the ground, handball accuracy, split second decision making etc. I’m not sure you can train for in match situations and the increased intensity and pressure on everything.

Both important of course, I just can’t see how one is more important than the other.

[bornadog]

Now we’ve traded guns, slid down the chain, negative coach, unhappy players and became totally irrelevant

I haven't seen a negative coach, and not sure how you can say unhappy players?

[ledge]

Nice article on a Lipinski playing VFL in the midfield to learn, it’s done him the world of good.
If anyone can find it , I saw it on FB but can’t find it now.
Went something along the lines of Bevo and him having a chat about not being an outside mid and if he wants to play AFL he needs to be an inside one, so he went back to VFL and played inside mid, now he has really come of age.
To be honest I’ve always seen him as being an exceptional player.

[MrMahatma]

I looooove the current “develop English as a ruck by playing ruck, and Naugton as a forward by playing forward, and Shache by playing forward” idea.

Not sure why people think we should develop English as a forward and Trengrove as a ruck....

No issues with moving smalls around a bit, but the talls need to learn their role in the right spot (in my opinion)

[whythelongface]

Now we’ve traded guns, slid down the chain, negative coach, unhappy players and became totally irrelevant

Outside looking in I would say we have a huge leadership issue outside the football department

Sydney, Geelong and Hawthorn would not be in this position

Where does this information come from? Negative coach in what way? Unhappy players- we have players that have recently signed long term contracts. I would suggest the majority of the team is happy. Of course there are some outliers, in regards to players who aren't satisfied with the amount of time spent in firsts, but one could say that about all teams. There will always be players who believe that opportunities lie elsewhere.

Not sure what you mean by 'Sydney, Geelong and Hawthorn would not be in that position'. In terms of leadership, ladder position, player dissatisfaction?? All clubs have issues and i don't believe that there is anything different with our club than for example Sydney and Hawthorn (at present).

[bornadog]

Where does this information come from? Negative coach in what way? Unhappy players- we have players that have recently signed long term contracts. I would suggest the majority of the team is happy. Of course there are some outliers, in regards to players who aren't satisfied with the amount of time spent in firsts, but one could say that about all teams. There will always be players who believe that opportunities lie elsewhere.

Not sure what you mean by 'Sydney, Geelong and Hawthorn would not be in that position'. In terms of leadership, ladder position, player dissatisfaction?? All clubs have issues and i don't believe that there is anything different with our club than for example Sydney and Hawthorn (at present).

Spot on.