2014 Game Plan vs. GC

[TigerLand]

I've never been one to really hang it on our club coach. I've grown up in an era where our club/supporter base have blamed everything on our coach and sacked him. So I've tried to always seen the glass half full with our coach. Even with Wallet. I'm a huge fan of Hardwick for what he is done, the AFL circles can gloat about how good a Ross Lyon is but the reality of a Ross Lyon legacy is that he inherited 2 teams who had a wide open premiership window and hasn't delivered a premiership yet. Dimma inherited a basketcase and got us to a top 8 finish yet recieves very little credit. Dimma hasn't achieved anything yet, but either has Ross Lyon. The reputation between the 2 is large, that aside.

Can anyone explain the diabolical team selections and Russian roulette player positions? I get the fact that we need to improve and to try new things but I feel like we find something that works for a season and next season we need to change it to get better. Few examples:

- Hate Jack Riewoldt all you want, he's a 2 time Coleman medalist and would be snapped up by any club in the competetion in seconds. Why is he playing 2nd fiddle to Vickery? Why is he playing up the ground? The treatment of him pre season has been embarrassing.
- Chris Newman half forward? Please. I've had a number 1 on my jersey for 7 years and have loved watching Newman play. He isn't a forward, he's played backline his whole career if he doesn't have a spot on the backline then he should have been moved on and we should have recruited a small forward. Surely Knights when fit takes Newman's spot in the forwardline.
- Dustin off half back. Isn't going to work. The man is a contested football bull. Why play him as a loose man in defence. His skills aren't that good and his decision making is only OK. Not to mention taking away the weapon of 60m goals on the run. Idiotic decision to do this by the club. I get trying new things but this is stupid. If its because of his tank, surely playing him forward would be a better option?
- Houli? Where was the run off half back? Non existent cause Houli was playing up the ground. Again, stupid.
- 3 Key forwards picked for a humid, sweaty Queensland night in March. Basic primary school stuff. Shamble of a selection. Griff been fantastic but having no genuine small forward was embarrassing. Not to mention the lack of forward pressure. Would love to know the amount of inside 50s to shots on goal. GC rebounded out of our half far to easily. Jake King, Sam Lloyd would have been handy.
- Foley the sub, doesn't look right,
- Red Vesting anyone but Vickery. Enough said really. Was awful, Griff looked OK. Why wasn't Vickery pushed up the ground to get into the game a bit more?

The players were off last night, which shows we aren't really top 4 yet. Can't begin a season and not be up for it, In front of 20k as well. Not exactly deer in the headlight excuse we've used before for the Carlton games. As much as the players were poor the decisions the coaching staff have made pre season look ridiculous in my opinion.

Where has the rolling zone gone? The run off half back with Houli, Newman, Ellis? Jack as the main focus of the forward line?

[julzqld]

Agree

[Judge Roughneck]

Should have got roos or hickey.

[taztiger4]

Should have got roos or hickey.

Reg Hickey ?

[Judge Roughneck]

Whatever his name is.

The geezer that won the flag in the Geelong league.

I don't dislike hard wick , yet he seems to get out coached on game day a hell of a lot

[bojangles17]

Wasn't the game plan so much as our forwards flopped, we had 21 i50s in last q to less than 10, what's that Tellya, the forward lines stuffed 

[Judge Roughneck]

Wasn't the game plan so much as our forwards flopped, we had 21 i50s in last q to less than 10, what's that Tellya, the forward lines stuffed 

When gc scored the two goals from two inside fifties

We were moving the ball very slowly forward. Got terrible service and three or so opposition to best which is tough.

By contrast, gc would break and have very fast ball movement with a very open forward line. Tough on our back line to stop that.

Not dissimilar to the north defeat of last year

[Diocletian]

I think Hardwick's a good attacking coach and has shown the abilty to adjust and make astute moves,(WC game, changing the point of attack last year) it only falls down because we have two many unskilled, dumb, panicky, lazy players who can't execute or make the right decisions. One example was last night when started to slow the game down, maintain possesion in an effort to wear down GC who were two rotations down - it came undone because of the players.  Don't think Hardwick instructs the forward line to get in each others way, poo themselves with the football, take poor options and let the opposition bring it out with consummate ease. Don't think it's his idea to keep putting the ball out-of-bounds in the forward packet and forcing throw-ins.

The main problem with his coaching is he tends to undermine himself with selections and positions. He clearly has favourites who seem immune from being dropped and it compromises our structure as well as the abilty to play our best 22 appropriate to each situation.

Defensive gameplan has barely changed in 5 years - lacks a plan B, is easy to pick apart, vulnerable on the rebound particularly when it relies on discipline speed & hard running and we have so many lazy, one-paced, one-way players who can't tackle.(do we focus at all on tackling at training? - fitness is also clearly still an issue.) If it's not ingrained now it never will be. It is widely believed that Hardwick was the real architect of Clarko's Cluster, yet even Clarkson learnt his lesson in 2009 and doesn't still soley rely on it. We never even fall back to one-on-one - which as I've said before should be the built-in/default defensive setting of every side.


Also needs to change his thinking that the only way to teach a player defensive skills is to play them in the backline - it's already wasted two years of Griffith's development  and now it's wasting Dustin Martin. Defence is defence all over the park. It's not rocket surgery.

...and still doesn't appear to have his head around the concept of the sub and how to use it properly.

[Smokey]

Wasn't the game plan so much as our forwards flopped, we had 21 i50s in last q to less than 10, what's that Tellya, the forward lines stuffed 

Don't single the forwards out for blame BJ, the delivery was atrocious.  The mids were just as culpable as the forward line.

[YellowandBlackBlood]

Should have got roos or hickey.

Reg Hickey ?

[TigerLand]

Wasn't the game plan so much as our forwards flopped, we had 21 i50s in last q to less than 10, what's that Tellya, the forward lines stuffed 

Agree, the delivery was poor but the night wasn't a night for silky skills, its not like our opposition had perfect skills lace out to forwards. It was humid and the ball was always going to be slippery. Not many players had clean hands. Which makes the team selection of not having a genuine crumbing forward diabolical.

[TigerLand]

I think Hardwick's a good attacking coach and has shown the abilty to adjust and make astute moves,(WC game, changing the point of attack last year) it only falls down because we have two many unskilled, dumb, panicky, lazy players who can't execute or make the right decisions. One example was last night when started to slow the game down, maintain possesion in an effort to wear down GC who were two rotations down - it came undone because of the players.  Don't think Hardwick instructs the forward line to get in each others way, poo themselves with the football, take poor options and let the opposition bring it out with consummate ease. Don't think it's his idea to keep putting the ball out-of-bounds in the forward packet and forcing throw-ins.

The main problem with his coaching is he tends to undermine himself with selections and positions. He clearly has favourites who seem immune from being dropped and it compromises our structure as well as the abilty to play our best 22 appropriate to each situation.

Defensive gameplan has barely changed in 5 years - lacks a plan B, is easy to pick apart, vulnerable on the rebound particularly when it relies on discipline speed & hard running and we have so many lazy, one-paced, one-way players who can't tackle.(do we focus at all on tackling at training? - fitness is also clearly still an issue.) If it's not ingrained now it never will be. It is widely believed that Hardwick was the real architect of Clarko's Cluster, yet even Clarkson learnt his lesson in 2009 and doesn't still soley rely on it. We never even fall back to one-on-one - which as I've said before should be the built-in/default defensive setting of every side.


Also needs to change his thinking that the only way to teach a player defensive skills is to play them in the backline - it's already wasted two years of Griffith's development  and now it's wasting Dustin Martin. Defence is defence all over the park. It's not rocket surgery.

...and still doesn't appear to have his head around the concept of the sub and how to use it properly.

Agree 100% on learning the defensive style of game. I'm not sure that is why Dusty is playing down there, I heard its cause he doesn't have the engine to play 4 qtrs in the midfield. Playing him down back on an opponent is such a waste of talent. Don't see any other club doing this with one of their blue chip players. Wouldn't see a GC do it to Jaeger OMeara. Crazy. I liked Deledio off half back, we still need his skills coming out of the backline, especially if Newman is not there anymore and Houli is having rotations in the midfield.