Two games in...Thoughts on McCartney?

[jeemak]

Re: Two games in...Thoughts on McCartney?

Truth be known I was a little disappointed with some of the commentary from McCartney when he first took over the club. For mine, some of it was a condescending towards the previous coaching staff (some still remain at the club) and the leadership group. I like people being bold or bullish with goals however, I think there is always room for humility and respect.

That aside, the jury is still well and truly out with reference to coaching performances and development. Two weeks of competitive football is not enough to determine the success of a new regeime.

I though he made a terrible mistake playing Grant as the sub in round one. And I'd be disappointed if he didn't make some structural changes to our team this week to account for the molestation of Jones up forward by either modifying the way we move the ball forward, or adding personnel to assist.

I was impressed with the effort against Adelaide, though I'm not convinced they're a top eight contender at this point. We've demonstrated a willingness to comptete that was inconsistent over the last eighteen months, and I really hope this will continue.

The game plan is still new to me, and it's hard to comment having only seen a NAB Cup game and our first home game live. I'll defer further comment until the halfway mark of the season.

[Ghost Dog]

Re: Two games in...Thoughts on McCartney?

Truth be known I was a little disappointed with some of the commentary from McCartney when he first took over the club. For mine, some of it was a condescending towards the previous coaching staff (some still remain at the club) and the leadership group. I like people being bold or bullish with goals however, I think there is always room for humility and respect.

That aside, the jury is still well and truly out with reference to coaching performances and development. Two weeks of competitive football is not enough to determine the success of a new regeime.

I though he made a terrible mistake playing Grant as the sub in round one. And I'd be disappointed if he didn't make some structural changes to our team this week to account for the molestation of Jones up forward by either modifying the way we move the ball forward, or adding personnel to assist.

I was impressed with the effort against Adelaide, though I'm not convinced they're a top eight contender at this point. We've demonstrated a willingness to comptete that was inconsistent over the last eighteen months, and I really hope this will continue.

The game plan is still new to me, and it's hard to comment having only seen a NAB Cup game and our first home game live. I'll defer further comment until the halfway mark of the season.

which comments?

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: Two games in...Thoughts on McCartney?

Truth be known I was a little disappointed with some of the commentary from McCartney when he first took over the club. For mine, some of it was a condescending towards the previous coaching staff (some still remain at the club) and the leadership group. I like people being bold or bullish with goals however, I think there is always room for humility and respect.

That aside, the jury is still well and truly out with reference to coaching performances and development. Two weeks of competitive football is not enough to determine the success of a new regeime.

I though he made a terrible mistake playing Grant as the sub in round one. And I'd be disappointed if he didn't make some structural changes to our team this week to account for the molestation of Jones up forward by either modifying the way we move the ball forward, or adding personnel to assist.

I was impressed with the effort against Adelaide, though I'm not convinced they're a top eight contender at this point. We've demonstrated a willingness to comptete that was inconsistent over the last eighteen months, and I really hope this will continue.

The game plan is still new to me, and it's hard to comment having only seen a NAB Cup game and our first home game live. I'll defer further comment until the halfway mark of the season.

Nice post, but I strongly disagree with the first part.

McCartney has made a point of acknowledging the efforts of the previous coaching panel, continually noting that the club had "done a lot right". If I had a dollar for every time he mentioned this, I'd be filthy rich

[chef]

Re: Two games in...Thoughts on McCartney?

Pleasantly surprised by how well he got us to play in the second half against the crows. If he can get us to consistently play like that we will play finals this year.

[stefoid]

Re: Two games in...Thoughts on McCartney?

Football changes very quickly, have we drafted for 2012 football rather than 2016 football?

oooh, insightful.

I think regardless of footy style, ability to execute under pressure is a constant. If you only draft blokes who can execute under pressure, you wont be too far off the mark I reckon.

Thoughts on macca is he has done what he said he was going to do, but he hasnt yet done anything that he didnt say he was going to do, if that makes sense.

[Ghost Dog]

Re: Two games in...Thoughts on McCartney?

oooh, insightful.

I think regardless of footy style, ability to execute under pressure is a constant. If you only draft blokes who can execute under pressure, you wont be too far off the mark I reckon.

Thoughts on macca is he has done what he said he was going to do, but he hasnt yet done anything that he didnt say he was going to do, if that makes sense.

Two games in is pretty green. I'll come back to this thread half way through the season I think.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Two games in...Thoughts on McCartney?

I'll weigh up his strengths mid-way through next season.

[jeemak]

Re: Two games in...Thoughts on McCartney?

Nice post, but I strongly disagree with the first part.

McCartney has made a point of acknowledging the efforts of the previous coaching panel, continually noting that the club had "done a lot right". If I had a dollar for every time he mentioned this, I'd be filthy rich

He has said this a lot, I will concede that. For mine some of the comments surrounding education of the playing group might have better been kept to himself (mainly prior to Christmas, I'm not going to dig out examples). Perhaps nobody else picked up on them, or they weren't there in the first place

[GVGjr]

Re: Two games in...Thoughts on McCartney?

He has said this a lot, I will concede that. For mine some of the comments surrounding education of the playing group might have better been kept to himself (mainly prior to Christmas, I'm not going to dig out examples). Perhaps nobody else picked up on them, or they weren't there in the first place

I could see how you thought that was slightly disrespectful but I think it was more in the context of his passion for coaching rather than any lack in the playing group or previous coach.

I think education and community are two of Brendan's big focuses, playing for your mates, and making sacrifices for your team. I hope the education part extends to skill execution under pressure, there was quite a focus on it during pre-season by the sound of it but it might take a little longer to learn. We might have to hold off judgement until the end of the season.

[Missing-Dog]

Re: Two games in...Thoughts on McCartney?

loving Macca think he has the good to turn this team into a top 4 side over the next 3 years!

[LostDoggy]

Re: Two games in...Thoughts on McCartney?

Was at training today and Macca gave the boys a serve during a ruetine drill. All I heard was How F-----g long does it take to ..... and that's when he calmed down and explained things.
The boys changed straight away and reverted to playing the drill the way Macca wanted.
I was very impressed.

[Eastdog]

Re: Two games in...Thoughts on McCartney?

I think Macca will be a very good coach. Our first two games have been against quality opposition so it was never going to be easy. We probably won't make the 8 this year but the next couple of years will be back there I'm hoping. I got Macca's autograph at the East meets West Training Day and he spoke very well to the crowd on that day about the pre season and season ahead.

[Raw Toast]

Re: Two games in...Thoughts on McCartney?

Fantastic post DT - I'd been wondering about the positioning changes that McCartney was implementing and was interested in your views on them given your criticisms of Eade in this area over the last few years.

My sense was that Geelong borrowed from the new vision of footy that Eade brought to the Dogs, but added a very sound structural basis to it. And while I loved much of what Eade did, we never seemed to have the same kind of foundation as teams like Geelong, the Saints and Pies (all of whom did it differently, but all of whom had a strong structure to fall back on when they were struggling).

A couple of further questions and observations:

* Have you noticed if the backline is structuring up differently - I'm interested in this given the connection with the Cats. It was really noticeable in the early years of Cats dominance that they had very clear avenues coming out of defence with a player always stationed to receive the ball on a half-back flank. The game's moved past this a bit, but I suspect McCartney and his team will be re-shaping both the defensive and attacking aspects of the backline.

* Given your comments about Bate, can Grant perform this role or has the time come to shift Murphy forward again on a semi-permanent basis. I reckon McCartney would love to have a young Ryan O'Keefe, but those players don't grow on trees. Is this kind of player our most important need in the forward line at the moment?

* It's my sense that Hudson would be loving the change in contested-ball philosophy (which Eade always rated highly, but didn't seek so much to create contest after contest). It's a pity in my opinion that he'd decided to move up North before he found out who the new coach was.

[SonofScray]

Re: Two games in...Thoughts on McCartney?

One of the things that I have been considering is whether or not he is a bit slow to make changes on the fly where things aren't quite working.

I haven't got a heap of examples, but things like pushing Grant up the ground in the 3rd qtr v Crows seemed an obvious thing to do earlier on. I'm not even sure if I stand by that though myself, but it was something that came across my mind last weekend.

[azabob]

Re: Two games in...Thoughts on McCartney?

One of the things that I have been considering is whether or not he is a bit slow to make changes on the fly where things aren't quite working.

.

It is in an interesting question. From memory Eade was also criticised of this.

Is it that the coach realises their is a problem (a long time before you or I) but because they believe in "their" structures they wait and wait hoping it will come good?