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Re: Lloydy on Footy Classifieds last night
Bmac has started with the answer in mind and is working backwards with regards to his methodologies around how we are being coached. He knows, (as most of us do) that premierships are won by strong, hard teams who can maintain physical superiority when (as happens regularly in finals) space diminishes, outside runners dry up and each match up and contest must be fought out.
(Dermie on SEN the other night remarked that in AFL football, if two evenly skilled sides squared off, the team that is most ferocious and brutal will win out every time, and I tend to agree).
In our Halcyon days under Rocket, our hardness and mental strength was lacking and ultimately, that is why Geelong, St Kilda and Collingwood had our measure over those years 2008-10. They knew that in the games that counted, they would have the dogs covered because they were bigger and more ferocious around the ball.
BMac was integral at Geelong throughout this period and so knew that when he took on the Dogs job, he'd have to break the embedded patterns/behavbiours in our play (at the time) and make the cornerstone of our football playing philosophy dependant upon characteristic(s) that would deliver the highest probability of winning a flag.
Unfortunately, there is a trade-off from taking this approach and that is what we are seeing unfold now. I'm sure BMac could have made alterations to our playing style and put a premium on elements that that would see us winning more games in the near term, but this in my opinion would be repeating the sins of the past. If it means we go an extra year or two of development, then so be it... I would rather we enter our next finals series described as a team of "big bodies, hard at the ball and an appetite for mentally/physically challenging games" as opposed to descriptions such as "run and carry, outside flair, x factor, great on the spread".
Just my opinion, but those kids on our list that are learning to play this way will not only become fearsome players as they approach their mid to late twenties, but they will set a benchmark of 'how we play' and a better pattern of behaviour to the generations of players that come through below them.
Bmac has started with the answer in mind and is working backwards with regards to his methodologies around how we are being coached. He knows, (as most of us do) that premierships are won by strong, hard teams who can maintain physical superiority when (as happens regularly in finals) space diminishes, outside runners dry up and each match up and contest must be fought out.
(Dermie on SEN the other night remarked that in AFL football, if two evenly skilled sides squared off, the team that is most ferocious and brutal will win out every time, and I tend to agree).
In our Halcyon days under Rocket, our hardness and mental strength was lacking and ultimately, that is why Geelong, St Kilda and Collingwood had our measure over those years 2008-10. They knew that in the games that counted, they would have the dogs covered because they were bigger and more ferocious around the ball.
BMac was integral at Geelong throughout this period and so knew that when he took on the Dogs job, he'd have to break the embedded patterns/behavbiours in our play (at the time) and make the cornerstone of our football playing philosophy dependant upon characteristic(s) that would deliver the highest probability of winning a flag.
Unfortunately, there is a trade-off from taking this approach and that is what we are seeing unfold now. I'm sure BMac could have made alterations to our playing style and put a premium on elements that that would see us winning more games in the near term, but this in my opinion would be repeating the sins of the past. If it means we go an extra year or two of development, then so be it... I would rather we enter our next finals series described as a team of "big bodies, hard at the ball and an appetite for mentally/physically challenging games" as opposed to descriptions such as "run and carry, outside flair, x factor, great on the spread".
Just my opinion, but those kids on our list that are learning to play this way will not only become fearsome players as they approach their mid to late twenties, but they will set a benchmark of 'how we play' and a better pattern of behaviour to the generations of players that come through below them.
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