Is footy all above the shoulders?

[mightytiges]

Browny was on MMM commenting that footy is all mental. That the best players and the best sides are able to maintain a high and consistent level of mental toughness throughout the season. When then asked about Richmond and his teammates he basically said we obviously hadn't showed we were mentally tough enough and hence were inconsistent. That the Collingwood, Brisbane and Sydney games this year showed we're pretty good when we're mentally on our game.

I wouldn't say it's all mental but mostly. It might be for Browny who is highly skilled, however for guys like Duncan and Fleming who give their all in each and every game, mental toughness will only get a player and the team so far if their disposal constantly lets them down. 

Thoughts?

[JohnF]

I agree that the mental side of footy is huge. The problem is that there isn't a way of getting everyone mentally focused to the same degree. Just like you can't get everyone to be rocket scientists. Sure, you can improve your mental toughness to an extent, but I think having mental toughness is a skill, like everything else. And some are more skilled than others.

[JohnF]

To have good footy skills you have to have good co-ordination, which I suppose is a mind-body thing, as the impulses travel from your brain to your hands and feet. The brain signals must be getting short circuited when they come to Hall, Richo, Dunc and Fleming.

[WilliamPowell]

Sure, you can improve your mental toughness to an extent, but I think having mental toughness is a skill, like everything else. And some are more skilled than others.

I agree JohnF about mental toughness being a skill - you'd think it would have to be because it can be developed.

I reckon the hard part is getting the balance right. Duncan Kellaway was, I think extremely mentally tough and it was one of his strong skills. His disposal on the other hand was a weak skill - the balance was never right. Joel Bowden's history is the opposite fabulous "skills" as in kicking and handballing but mentally he has appeared weak and lazy. Again the balance hasn't been right.

You look at the best players in the AFL: Voss, Hird and Buckley (I hate saying that) they are not only skillful footballers but mentally strong as well. Voss and Hird have one thing in common strong successful teams. I don't consider the Pies a successful team so with Buckley it would appear to be his own fierce desire and/or pride that drives him.

I sometimes wonder how much mentally stronger some of our blokes would be if we were a successful Club  ???

[mightytiges]

I sometimes wonder how much mentally stronger some of our blokes would be if we were a successful Club  ???

So do I WP. IMHO this comes back to the lack of on-field leadership from many of our senior players. If strong/weak mental toughness is shown from the leaders then that flows through to the rest of the team including the young blokes coing through.

[Tiger Spirit]

The good teams don’t have the mental edge by accident.  And it’s not that their players are mentally tougher than those at other Clubs.  It’s just that their motivation and resolve is greater, so it seems like it is.

Good Clubs and a good coaching panel, know how to motivate, inspire and get the best out of their players.

People who willingly take on a task and believe in what they are doing are more likely to attack it with greater enthusiasm than those who are half-hearted because they lack the motivation to do what they are doing, which can be for a million reasons.

David Parkin asked Barry Hall, on Talking Footy the other night, what was different about Paul Roos to his previous coaches.  He said the main difference was that Roos didn’t treat the players like robots.

I reckon the Clubs that treat their players as individuals are the ones able to get the most out of them.

A Coach’s ability to allow players to bring their personality and character (i.e. themselves) to the team are more likely to play team oriented football than those who treat their players as a group.

It doesn’t answer everything, but I believe it explains a lot about some teams.

[Rodgerramjet]

In the end yes.

[mightytiges]

David Parkin asked Barry Hall, on Talking Footy the other night, what was different about Paul Roos to his previous coaches.  He said the main difference was that Roos didn’t treat the players like robots.

That's interesting. Not a good endorsement for Eade to be our new coach given Parkin is on of our coaching selection committee although I might be reading too much into that comment as I'm definitely not an Eade fan..

[Tiger Spirit]

David Parkin asked Barry Hall, on Talking Footy the other night, what was different about Paul Roos to his previous coaches.  He said the main difference was that Roos didn’t treat the players like robots.

That's interesting. Not a good endorsement for Eade to be our new coach given Parkin is on of our coaching selection committee although I might be reading too much into that comment as I'm definitely not an Eade fan..

I was never really an Eade fan either MT, but we may not have a choice, so we may just have to do the best with who takes on the role.

On Talking Footy the other week, Kevin Sheedy made some interesting points.  There’s no doubt that he’s ahead of the rest, because few have survived as long as he has.  His view is that Coaching is heading down the American track where a coach’s time and energy is split between coaching and off-field areas promoting the Club.

With the changing face of coaching, he stressed the importance of the coaching group and that the head coach decides the direction taken, but the coaching group is the key to winning and losing games.

He believes that the success of any coach is dependant on him being prepared to update, change and keep vibrant, which is no doubt how and why he has survived so long.   He strongly believes that getting people in to assist a coach is vital and the secret of future coaching is the coaching group.

It seems vital that coaches now, more than ever, recognise their own strengths and weaknesses and have people around them who complement the skills they have, if they want to keep pace with the rest of the competition.

[mightytiges]

I agree entirely with you TS about the importance of a good strong coaching staff around the good senior coach. If you look at your example of Sheedy, he's had Denis Pagan, Mark Williams and I think also Mark Thomson as assistants before they moved on into senior coaching roles. We can't blame Danny fully for the lack of gameplan and inability to come up with countering moves. Some of the blame must be directed towards Brittain, Crocker, Hutchison and Spargo who've been by Danny's side for a significant part of the past 5 years. From memory Sheeds turns over his assistants every 3 years to freshen up the Essendon coaching box with new ideas. The only exception to that would be Mark Harvey.