Clear mind and a bit of luck

[qldmagpie67]

Over the past few weeks/months there has been various threads in regards to our demise since the first bye.
Opinions vary from sack bucks to save bucks to the fitness staff to the boot studders a black cat with a ladder.
While we will never all agree and let's face it who would really want that I want to peel this back to the bare bones as I see it.
I don't want this to degenerate into another slinging match between different view points but more a good discussion on our season.
I am not going to get into whether bucks and his assistants can or can't coach but I will delve into what I see as being the 2 factors we need most
Structure and game plans.
Ok in a perfect world we would never suffer a injury or have a player out of form but we don't live in such as world and very club gets hit at various times but our toll has been higher than most clubs.
So pre season bucks and the coaches would have been working over time on her style and structure we wanted for the upcoming season.

While I'm no selector I would hazard a educated guess Brown, Maxwell, Frost, Langdon (remembering Williams wasn't available) Keefe, Toovey would have made the nucleus of our backline with Scharenberg, Lynch, Williams (when available) Fasalo and Reid as the back ups.
Up forward we would have played Cloke, Reid, White/Grundy/Witts (depending on which 2 rucks combos we went with) Blair, Elliott, Goldy with PK, Kennedy, Lynch, Swan as possible forwards as well.
In the centre we had what we thought was the best young ruckman in Grundy who had finished the previous season on fire with Witts and White to fight out as his back up.
Pendles, Beams, Swan, Ball, Sidebottom, Harry, Adams, Thomas, McCaffer, Freeman to fight out the mid field/ wing rolls.
So structurally we would have had a spine of Brown, Frost, Grundy, Cloke, Reid sounds ok to me right ?
Our mids on previous season returns where rightly rated the best 1,2,3 punch in the game.
Add to this the outside run of sidey and Harry we had a team that looked for all intents and purposes well balanced.
Fast forward to now and we are struggling big time. I would have thought bucks would have planned to bring in some young players for a few weeks at a time then spell them and give a fresh couple a go.
I'm not positive and I will happily admit I'm worng but are we the only club not to play there 10 draft picks in senior football this season ?
Ok now the main point structure.
With the loss of Brown, Maxy our backline for thr majority of the year and Toovey missin weeks th backine has been held together by rookies who considering have done a fantastic job for the most part all year.
Forward Line having no Reid has been a huge loss.
In the centre Grundy was getting pinged every other contest and seemed to loss all confidence. Add to this Swanny having little to no pre season and obviously playing hampered by injury for most part.
Ball form dropped off and his body started to show the signs of a aging warrior, and all of a sudden our much praised mid field looked vulnerable.
Ok to me structure and game plan go hand in hand. It's easy to say we have no game plan but when you loss Brown, Maxy, Reid to long term injuries added to the loss of form/injury of Swan, Ball, Grundy, Toovey, Harry the suspension of Sidey and all of a sudden any chance of cohesion and structure have taken a huge downturn.
Young inexperienced players can only plug so many gaps for so long until it starts to tell.
Now we can all say yeah but injuries don't count all clubs get them but next week against the hawks we will go into th game with 13 of our starting 22 missing !! Take 13 starters out of any side and see the results.
Sydney earlier in the year lost to GWS and us as a couple of keys to there structure weren't playing.
While every club suffers injuries during the course of a season I doubt any club has lost the calibre of players to long term injury as we have. Structurally we have been destroyed and there IMO lays our biggest problems.
I can't remember 2 consecutive weeks we have put the same 22 on the paddock. If that doesn't sound alarm bells well then I don't know what does.
Yes our disposal has been deplorable but most of this has occurred since the 1st bye.
Yes we have looked slow and outclassed but is that more to do with the young players having to handle way to much responsibility than there inexperienced bodies and knowledge can handle.
Until we figure out why we have been having a such horrible injury toll then I believe we can't offer an honest unbiased opinion on whether our coach can or can't make it.
Anyways that's my 2cents worth I hope we get some logically non coach bashing opinions to either concur or disagree.

[neil]

^ pretty much concur
The finds of the year have been Frost Langdon and now Broomhead
The mid depth improvement was to come from Adams and Freeman
Seedsman and Scharenberg would add depth to the back and may long term even become mids

Injuries have totally £$%$ed up the season

The fall off of Ball and Swan was quick and hopefully is injury rather than age

Not being able to get good players on the field has screwed any chance of a successful year

[AN_Inkling]

Your mind might be clear but the formatting of your post is not.

[The Boy Who Cried Wolf]

I know Bucks hand has been forced by injuries to play some of the guys out of position, but some of them just aren't suited to certain roles eg. Seedsman.

Again, and maybe this is just my own personal thoughts, I really think Sidebottom is a natural finisher/opportunist - we'd be well suited by having him much closer to goals, and throwing him through the midfield when guys rotate on field, in a perfect world.

[qldmagpie67]

[35forever]

Nope,
Don't buy it. Sure we had plenty of injuries, but I believe 100% that they were our own fault. However, whether they were or not we still could have and should have remained competitive.
Our season can be neatly sliced in two between rounds twelve & thirteen. Sometime between the 9th & 15th of June something happened to Collingwood. Before that time we'd won 8 of our last 10 and were sitting in 4th, just a game out of top spot. After that week we lost 8 of our next 10, and look like missing out on finals for the first time since 2005.

So what the **** happened?!

In the month leading up to that date we were knocking sides over with just one or two decent quarters. In at least 4 of our quarters we prevented the opposition scoring. We were able to keep the ball in our forward half until we scored, and were scoring some of the most spectacular link-up, coast-to-coast goals anyone had seen in years. And we had injuries! Brown, Dwyer, Fasolo, Young, Maxy, Frost, Swan, White & Grundy had all joined Freeman & Sharenberg on the injured list before the Footscray game, so we were managing to win fairly easily despite injuries. One of the biggest things to happen before that week was the loss of a well-loved captain. Maxy had not only been playing great footy, but was very much looked up to by young & old players alike, and was almost the symbol of the successful years before the succession. Gary Pert has claimed the loss of Maxy as one of the catalysts of our second half fall, and I'm inclined to agree that it took a toll on our mental strength. Now I had been thinking in the weeks before the disastrous Footscray game that despite the wins we had been looking a bit... I don't know... flat? We kept the Dees to a measly 3 goals but only managed 8 ourselves when a big percentage boost would've been incredibly handy. We really only played 4 flat-out quarters the once, against West Coast, and generally weren't kicking big scores, but at least we were winning, even from behind. We had that 'habit' of finding a way to win which had been a feature of our games for several years.

Then it just stopped. Despite injuries it was pretty much the same group, so why? One thing we could count on was that we'd win the close ones. Until the end of last season we'd lost 1 close game in around 4 years, (that 2011 umpiring cluster*&k against Geelong), suddenly we were losing ALL the close ones, until last Saturday that is. That HAS to be mental. missing endless set shots and making embarrassing cock-ups is the sign of a mentally weak side. That’s my own theory, the mental strength has left us. We still provide passages of scintillating footy, but we can't sustain it. I don't believe for a second that we're lacking fitness, despite some of our horrific 3rd & 4th quarters, and I certainly don't believe our list isn't good enough. Neither do I buy the idea that we're too slow or too short. Swanny isn't tall or terribly fast but he's been one of the best 3 or 4 players in the game for 5 years. Pendles IS tall, but his brilliance isn't about height, he's not a particularly strong mark, he is just one of those rare players who just seems to have more time than everyone else. No, our problems emanate from above the cervical vertebra. We lose confidence, focus and mental toughness and when we do we get rolled. How do we fix this?
Obviously my own opinion is that a change of coach is required, but as we've been asked to put such considerations aside for the purpose of this thread, I suggest we firstly need to make the mental game a priority. We have the resources to get the best sports psychologists in the world, and other sports are spending vast quantities on finding ways to instill confidence, particularly in young players. The other aspect of the mental game is one we had in spades last decade, the 'mateship' factor. We need to do the 'bonding' things we used to do. The mood around the club last decade was incredible, we had a group of guys who would crawl over broken glass for their teammates, and genuinely enjoyed each other's company. If you need confirmation go to our website and look at episodes of the 'Black & White' show from 2007 to 2011. There was an incredible air of mateship and fun. We enjoyed playing and we enjoyed winning and celebrating those wins, the sense of unity around the club was quite incredible & unlike anything I've seen at a sporting club. Unfortunately the people around who this mood revolved the most are gone Maxy was a much loved captain, and Daisy & Heater kept things light & fun. With them all gone our only hope is to come up with new ways to engender confidence & belief. It won't be achieved with Leading Teams, I guarantee it. It'll be achieved by going back to the basics of being a team. Get the overseas training camps going again, bring back the message of ENJOYING the game. Teams which are having fun are usually winning. If we have to give Buckley another year, going all out on the mental training of the playing group is vital, or we'll continue our current trajectory and wind up 14th in 2015.

[35forever]

Nope,
Don't buy it. Sure we had plenty of injuries, but I believe 100% that they were our own fault. However, whether they were or not we still could have and should have remained competitive.
Our season can be neatly sliced in two between rounds twelve & thirteen. Sometime between the 9th & 15th of June something happened to Collingwood. Before that time we'd won 8 of our last 10 and were sitting in 4th, just a game out of top spot. After that week we lost 8 of our next 10, and look like missing out on finals for the first time since 2005.

So what the **** happened?!

In the month leading up to that date we were knocking sides over with just one or two decent quarters. In at least 4 of our quarters we prevented the opposition scoring. We were able to keep the ball in our forward half until we scored, and were scoring some of the most spectacular link-up, coast-to-coast goals anyone had seen in years. And we had injuries! Brown, Dwyer, Fasolo, Young, Maxy, Frost, Swan, White & Grundy had all joined Freeman & Sharenberg on the injured list before the Footscray game, so we were managing to win fairly easily despite injuries. One of the biggest things to happen before that week was the loss of a well-loved captain. Maxy had not only been playing great footy, but was very much looked up to by young & old players alike, and was almost the symbol of the successful years before the succession. Gary Pert has claimed the loss of Maxy as one of the catalysts of our second half fall, and I'm inclined to agree that it took a toll on our mental strength. Now I had been thinking in the weeks before the disastrous Footscray game that despite the wins we had been looking a bit... I don't know... flat? We kept the Dees to a measly 3 goals but only managed 8 ourselves when a big percentage boost would've been incredibly handy. We really only played 4 flat-out quarters the once, against West Coast, and generally weren't kicking big scores, but at least we were winning, even from behind. We had that 'habit' of finding a way to win which had been a feature of our games for several years.

Then it just stopped. Despite injuries it was pretty much the same group, so why? One thing we could count on was that we'd win the close ones. Until the end of last season we'd lost 1 close game in around 4 years, (that 2011 umpiring cluster*&k against Geelong), suddenly we were losing ALL the close ones, until last Saturday that is. That HAS to be mental. missing endless set shots and making embarrassing cock-ups is the sign of a mentally weak side. That’s my own theory, the mental strength has left us. We still provide passages of scintillating footy, but we can't sustain it. I don't believe for a second that we're lacking fitness, despite some of our horrific 3rd & 4th quarters, and I certainly don't believe our list isn't good enough. Neither do I buy the idea that we're too slow or too short. Swanny isn't tall or terribly fast but he's been one of the best 3 or 4 players in the game for 5 years. Pendles IS tall, but his brilliance isn't about height, he's not a particularly strong mark, he is just one of those rare players who just seems to have more time than everyone else. No, our problems emanate from above the cervical vertebra. We lose confidence, focus and mental toughness and when we do we get rolled. How do we fix this?
Obviously my own opinion is that a change of coach is required, but as we've been asked to put such considerations aside for the purpose of this thread, I suggest we firstly need to make the mental game a priority. We have the resources to get the best sports psychologists in the world, and other sports are spending vast quantities on finding ways to instill confidence, particularly in young players. The other aspect of the mental game is one we had in spades last decade, the 'mateship' factor. We need to do the 'bonding' things we used to do. The mood around the club last decade was incredible, we had a group of guys who would crawl over broken glass for their teammates, and genuinely enjoyed each other's company. If you need confirmation go to our website and look at episodes of the 'Black & White' show from 2007 to 2011. There was an incredible air of mateship and fun. We enjoyed playing and we enjoyed winning and celebrating those wins, the sense of unity around the club was quite incredible & unlike anything I've seen at a sporting club. Unfortunately the people around who this mood revolved the most are gone Maxy was a much loved captain, and Daisy & Heater kept things light & fun. With them all gone our only hope is to come up with new ways to engender confidence & belief. It won't be achieved with Leading Teams, I guarantee it. It'll be achieved by going back to the basics of being a team. Get the overseas training camps going again, bring back the message of ENJOYING the game. Teams which are having fun are usually winning. If we have to give Buckley another year, going all out on the mental training of the playing group is vital, or we'll continue our current trajectory and wind up 14th in 2015.