Is Buckley coaching better than we think...?

[Mugwump]

Way too slow to double-team Franklin tonight when he was their only avenue to goal. Needed to do to them what people did to us when Cloke was our only avenue.

Had a bad night, like a few others.

[Johnno75]

Also when he had to move Checkers back and then had Alir loose back in the 3rd and we kept kicking it there. We have done well this year to stop that but it killed us tonight.

[piedys]

[E]

[K]

AFL freeze on footy department cap

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/afl-freeze-on-footy-department-cap-20180830-p500ut.html

J. Niall:

"The soft cap is $9.5 million in 2018, not including the separately capped player payments of $13.6 million (including club marketing deals). The AFL view, as put to the clubs, is that the soft cap – which requires clubs to pay a 100 per cent tax if they exceed the limit – has created a more equal competition than in the days before its introduction in 2015.

The footy cap – introduced to stop the footy ‘‘arms race’’ between clubs – has remained at virtually the same level since it came in for the 2015 season, while the tax on clubs that overspend was jacked up from 37 cents in the dollar to 70 cents and has reached a dollar-for-dollar penalty.

Today, Fairfax Media believes that no club is exceeding the cap in 2018.
...

The cap on footy spending took effect for 2015 and stopped the explosive growth in football spending that had taken place in the previous decade. Arguably, it stopped the growth in both numbers of coaches and of the salaries of both senior coaches and their senior assistants, along with some of the more expensive camps overseas, such as those at high altitude."

[K]

Can master coach find a master plan?

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/4-points-can-master-coach-find-a-master-plan-20180902-p5019d.html

M. Gleeson:

'Clarkson is the pre-eminent coach of the modern era, yet he is not a coach that has relied on tactical in-match trickery in finals.

He has changed game plans mid-season, he has rebuilt a team mid-season - but come finals he has tended to back in his game plan, or plans, against the opposition.

The choice when playing Richmond is either to play them at their game or play them at yours.

“Collingwood plays Richmond at their game and has had some success with it until players were injured in both games, but their game style is like Richmond: they play helter skelter, keep it fast and go contest to contest,” a senior coach said.

But the Pies still lost.

Hawthorn doesn’t play that way. In simple terms they like to win the ball then control it and deny the opposition use of it. Yes, so do most teams, but Hawthorn’s is a foot skill-based possession game.
...

Richmond commit numbers to the contest to win it, and defensively set up outside the contest to give the appearance of nowhere to go for the opposition when or if they win the ball. It helps them channel the opposition to the parts of the ground they want them to be.

When Richmond win the ball they surge towards it, and turn up to the next contest in numbers and win that. ...

“If you can win that ball and forward handball from the congestion you will find you have players out the other side of it because they (Richmond) invest heavily where the ball is, so if you can get it clear you can open them up,” a coach said.

If you don’t take Richmond on at their frenetic game you have to be able to take a mark behind the ball to allow some time to get composed, and to make the decision on where to go next. You have to have runners on the outside with pace prepared to work to space to open the ground up, and allow the next kick to go to the open space or bravely at a 45-degree angle into the corridor.

Richmond sets up well defensively to corral teams into playing down the line, so the mark in the backline can open up the option to widen the ground and stretch the Richmond defenders and midfielders.

“That is why Hawthorn's [James] Sicily is critical, because he is that intercept marking player,” a coach said.

“You need to hold your structure against Richmond and not let your defenders get drawn up at the ball. Richmond hold their defenders back behind the ball and don’t get drawn up.

“So when you go forward you have to run it or kick 35-metre kicks to possession. If you go long you have to go long to a pocket and force a stoppage. Normally if you go long you are feeding [Alex] Rance and [Nick] Vlastuin, you just give them too much time to get over in numbers, and they block forwards [getting to marking contests] as well as anyone.

“Rance’s player has to stay relevant to the play, you don’t necessarily play through him, but he has to be relevant or Rance looks at him and says ‘you aren’t getting it’ and rolls over and gets it himself.”

Richmond’s small forwards like to push up the ground to the contest and beat their opponent in a foot race back into space when they win the ball.

“You have to keep your structure behind the ball and be prepared not to follow them up to the contest. There is a risk in that if they get it and run it in, but there is a bigger risk giving them grass to goal,” a coach said.'

[matrightyeh]

he def getting better thats for sure

[K]

Forward thinking delivers Lynch to Richmond

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/forward-thinking-delivers-lynch-to-richmond-20180906-p5028k.html

J. Niall:

"Long before Richmond won the 2017 premiership, the Tigers’ coaches held the view that they were unlikely to win a flag without another quality tall forward to support Jack Riewoldt.
...

Their grand design of landing Tom Lynch was certainly on the agenda in 2017...

The ‘‘Jack and five (smalls)’’ set up was unlikely to be sustainable for much longer. Even this season, when they’ve been well ahead of their rivals, Richmond have suffered bouts of inefficiency (such as against the Eagles), when they’ve struggled to convert their territorial advantage into a winning score. Their attack – effective in keeping the ball locked in – is not a patch on their outstanding defence.

Provided he stands up to injury, Lynch should repair that weakness. He also will allow Damien Hardwick to modify their game style somewhat to one that involves a little less ‘‘chaos’’ and improvisation in their scoring method."

[K]

Alastair Clarkson:

"We're a system-based coaching side and that's why Richmond are so strong at the moment; they're system based. Every side that has won premierships, they're system-based, none of it is tactics.

You'll occasionally win a game of footy with something spectacular, but not usually in finals. And all of the successful coaches over the journey have all had a really, really strong system.

Everyone knows what it is, (but it's) bloody hard to break it down and that's Richmond right now. And we were unable to break it down."


https://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-09-07/clarko-slams-sheep-who-expected-too-much

[Piethagoras' Theorem]

^ how about his preface to those comments?

"I don't mean to be too unflattering, but you guys were like a bunch of sheep. Someone (who) brings up the fact that Clarkson is going to tactically have an impact on this game hasn't watched the way I coach for 14 years.."

ouch

[K]

Collingwood need to make it Ground-ball day

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/collingwood-need-to-make-it-ground-ball-day-20180907-p502if.html

"West Coast are an excellent aerial side at both ends, but they rank last in the competition for winning ground balls both in the back half (-8.5 v the opposition) and all over the field (-11.1); thus, if the Pies bring get the ball on the deck in their front half, they’ll be well-placed to complete an on-the-road upset.
...

Danny Frawley ... predicted that West Coast would win if Kennedy and Darling managed an aggregate of seven goals. ‘‘If they hold Kennedy and Darling to five goals, Collingwood will probably win.’’

Frawley recommended that Buckley and Longmuir deployed Howe as an interceptor – assisting Goldsack and Langdon v Kennedy and Darling, and matching up on Vardy/Lycett when they’re stationed forward. ‘‘Howe’s got to help Langdon and Goldsack. That’s how I’d use Howe if I was Nathan Buckley and Justin Longmuir.’’
...

The outcome will be shaped by which team gets the match played on their terms – Collingwood’s chaos or West Coast’s control."

[K]

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/great-scott-learns-that-less-is-really-more-20180907-p502c7.html

'Pendlebury had leaders around him to lean on – Steele Sidebottom, Jeremy Howe, Lynden Dunn and Adams – than he had in the past, Maxwell said. And this leadership group has supported and challenged not only Pendlebury but Nathan Buckley.

“About a third into the season, Bucks understood you have to give them more say and give them more decision-making,” Maxwell said.

“He has given back a lot of responsibility to the players. The roles guys play, a lot of that has been decided by the players. The ownership of the players for the game has never been higher than this year.

“It was brave from Bucks, but he embraced it and he saw the results.”

Pendlebury and Sidebottom take ownership of the game in an on-field coaching sense because both of them also have Rain Man-like recall of games, knowing each play minute to minute. When they debrief with coaches immediately after the game they are in perfect accord.'

[qldmagpie67]

Buckley was on the fox footy show "On the mark" this week
As usual he spoke so well he's certainly a deep thinker about the game
A couple interesting comments he made
He said he had to learn to smile more as his demeanour was often a a guide too how the playing group felt. He said he didn't realise at the time but if the players saw him moody tense and appearing unsatisfied that's the persona they took on as well
He said he's learned to trust a lot better and that delegating decision making wasn't a sign of weakness
He said when he goes home now he leaves the coaches hat at the door and becomes Dad. He said coaching his sons team had given him a fresh perspective on why they all started playing the game. Said the only down side was his son and the other boys often wanted to give him selection advice
Said he was now I to yoga. He laughed as Neroli Meadows said her spies had told her he had become quite the yoga master and he was asking players to come into the club on there days off to d yoga with him. He laughed said he took it up at the insistence of his wife

He said he believed our best footy stacked up against any side in the comp.
He said he believed there was no ceiling for the team and they had spent many hours this season in reviews handing the process over to the players and the coaches taking we back seat.
He said Budda Hocking had become a vital part of the coaching team. He has a weekly slot in meetings were Bubba basically uses that time to take the piss out of anyone and everyone including the head coach
He said the players loved the fact no one was safe

Finally he said the review made him believe that he couldn't control everything that happened inside the club. He now understands that sometimes no matter how diligent you work and how hard you work there's things outside your control and that you just can't sweat them

[RudeBoy]

Bucks is the epitome of class.

[Albert Parker]

Thanks for the colour QM. Seems like an interesting perspective shared