Coach Fages and the coaching group

[Squizz89]

Seen plenty of people talking about it the last few weeks in particular so why not a discussion?

This isn’t a Fages bashing thread but I wanted to see what other people thought about the coaching group and our apparent lack of a Plan B during games.

We seem to be totally set on playing our way, which is fine, but as we’ve seen from the past month in particular, when we can’t get the game on our terms we really are an average football team.

We also do not appear to be a team who likes to throw the magnets around, which again can be a good thing but can also limit what we can do during games.

Also, I know it’s easy in hindsight but I wonder if they have any regrets about not blooding any of the depth on our list the last few years. With the injuries we’ve suffered this year it’s really exposed the little of this we have on the list.

We all love Fages and what he’s done for us especially from where we came from, but I do wonder if sometimes we could do things differently.

 

[briztoon]

Seen plenty of people talking about it the last few weeks in particular so why not a discussion?

This isn’t a Fages bashing thread but I wanted to see what other people thought about the coaching group and our apparent lack of a Plan B during games.

We seem to be totally set on playing our way, which is fine, but as we’ve seen from the past month in particular, when we can’t get the game on our terms we really are an average football team.

We also do not appear to be a team who likes to throw the magnets around, which again can be a good thing but can also limit what we can do during games.

Also, I know it’s easy in hindsight but I wonder if they have any regrets about not blooding any of the depth on our list the last few years. With the injuries we’ve suffered this year it’s really exposed the little of this we have on the list.

We all love Fages and what he’s done for us from where we came from, but I do wonder if sometimes we could do things differently.

Our style is very much a function of our personal.

We’ve now pretty much blooded all our capable depth. Turns out we’re not that deep beyond our top 30.

Maybe 3 or 4 more kids who just aren’t ready yet (H. Smith, Lane, B. Coleman & Michael).

 

[M Malice]

Out- Chris Fagan.

In- Alistair Clarkson.

 

[fugitive]

How much influence has David Noble’s departure had on our footy brains trust? Clearly we can turn it on to beat anyone on the day as witnessed in the Geelong game but don’t seem to be able to do it consistently, may be it’s just a mental issue I am not sure.

I heard on fox footy yesterday that Clarkson felt has felt a similar pinch at Hawthorn with Fagan coming up North.

 

[irel]

You need steel gonads to name a thread "WE need to talk about Fagan." You took the soft option. Need to grow some.

 

[Back2Back2Back]

I think we are feeling the ripple from Noble leaving more than we were expecting, but this is the first season where we have also experienced a proper injury list. We have been incredibly fortunate in the past few seasons when we have been competitive. I feel like it's really messing with our game plan because we aren't adapting away from having those players on the field. Neale surprisingly less, but we do have a bunch of players that can pitch in like him. Hipwood though? No, that's quite a big loss, for example.

 

[Berry Picker]

Don't get me wrong he seems like a great bloke, but I can't stand playing them playing favorites there seems to be blokes that just are immune from getting dropped.

At times our game plan is reliant on a pack mark in the forward fifty. We have an absolute weapon in Charlie getting wasted as we aren't quick enough getting it into him.

I don't think it's the coaching departments fault what's happened over the last month, injuries have killed us. But it has exposed we have a serious lack of depth. We really need another high quality mid, really lacking speed in there. Not sure why hugh has been sent back to the wing after killing it in Neale's absence

 

[cotter101]

Neale is clearly struggling with the injuries he’s had this year. I’m sorry but he’s too good of a player to suddenly drop off like that.

Really do agree that Hugh should be playing more in the guts. Couple of 3 vote games headed his way in a couple of the games he did this year.

 

[lioninthesand]

Really happy with Fagan in general. 5 weeks ago there would have been 12 teams in the comp that were envious of him as our coach.

He has steered us to be respected and given us lot's of joy - he has plenty of tickets in the bank and ant talk of him being under pressure etc is just crazy.

I think his current contract will be his last and even though I am strongly opposed to them, I wouldn't be shocked if there was some sort of succsession plan put in place - he has the temperament to pull it off well.

Things I dont like/want to see

-spin in pressers. I don't want him to publicly harpoon individuals or pull a Chris Scott

Chris Scott

Age

48

Ht

182cm

Wt

89kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.6

4star

K

11.2

4star

HB

5.4

4star

M

5.1

5star

T

1.6

4star

G

0.4

3star

No current season stats available

D

13.2

4star

K

10.2

4star

HB

3.0

3star

M

2.2

3star

T

2.8

5star

G

0.4

3star

ea h week, but we are at a stage where we need some robust feed back on what's going on, not just 'we showed character', stats pointing out we were actually good and credit to the oppo.

-playing favourites/selection - he has favourites, there's no doubt. Selection at the club has been compromised his entire tenure. This has led to a malaise as some blokes know they are untouchable.

-Try some things. Put Clugger in the middle more, go down the middle, ask our mids to defend

-Accountability. How do Joe, Bailey and others get away with not defending? There seems to be kit gloves? defend or heck off.

 

[Mighty Lions]

Neale is clearly struggling with the injuries he’s had this year. I’m sorry but he’s too good of a player to suddenly drop off like that.

Really do agree that Hugh should be playing more in the guts. Couple of 3 vote games headed his way in a couple of the games he did this year.

Neale hurt himself in the warm up yesterday and had top get a jab to play. Season 2021 has been a nightmare for him. Hopefully 2022 will allow him to play his own game which will dominate opposition mids and help us compete more where we obviously are struggling somewhat.

 

[Mighty Lions]

Really happy with Fagan in general. 5 weeks ago there would have been 12 teams in the comp that were envious of him as our coach.

He has steered us to be respected and given us lot's of joy - he has plenty of tickets in the bank and ant talk of him being under pressure etc is just crazy.

I think his current contract will be his last and even though I am strongly opposed to them, I wouldn't be shocked if there was some sort of succsession plan put in place - he has the temperament to pull it off well.

Things I dont like/want to see

-spin in pressers. I don't want him to publicly harpoon individuals or pull a Chris Scott ea h week, but we are at a stage where we need some robust feed back on what's going on, not just 'we showed character', stats pointing out we were actually good and credit to the oppo.

-playing favourites/selection - he has favourites, there's no doubt. Selection at the club has been compromised his entire tenure. This has led to a malaise as some blokes know they are untouchable.

-Try some things. Put Clugger in the middle more, go down the middle, ask our mids to defend

-Accountability. How do Joe, Bailey and others get away with not defending? There seems to be kit gloves? defend or fu** off.

Fagan has been enormous for us since coming to the club and the knockers here and other social media just dont understand nor appreciate the challenges needed to stay on top week after week. He definitely has unfinished business and will attack this business with the same professional approach he has as always.
All clubs have succession plans just like any other business that are progressive & forward thinkers. To NOT have a succession plan is bad business.
We have fallen down of recent weeks simply because we have had too many passengers in our 22. Our bottom 6's effort has been disgraceful and, in my opinion, the main reason we are not performing the way we should.

 

[Squizz89]

Neale hurt himself in the warm up yesterday and had top get a jab to play. Season 2021 has been a nightmare for him. Hopefully 2022 will allow him to play his own game which will dominate opposition mids and help us compete more where we obviously are struggling somewhat.

Saw him grab his lower back during the game yesterday. Didn’t re-injure that did he after having that issue earlier this year?

 

[jjami15]

Neale hurt himself in the warm up yesterday and had top get a jab to play. Season 2021 has been a nightmare for him. Hopefully 2022 will allow him to play his own game which will dominate opposition mids and help us compete more where we obviously are struggling somewhat.

The sooner Neale can be rested and hopefully dodge surgery at the end of the year the better. Let him have a full pre-season because we know what he can do.

Fagan has been enormous for us since coming to the club and the knockers here and other social media just dont understand nor appreciate the challenges needed to stay on top week after week. He definitely has unfinished business and will attack this business with the same professional approach he has as always.
All clubs have succession plans just like any other business that are progressive & forward thinkers. To NOT have a succession plan is bad business.
We have fallen down of recent weeks simply because we have had too many passengers in our 22. Our bottom 6's effort has been disgraceful and, in my opinion, the main reason we are not performing the way we should.

Agree with this post, when we play ‘team’ football we are one of the better teams. Carrying way too many passengers when we have games like yesterday.

Really do agree that Hugh should be playing more in the guts. Couple of 3 vote games headed his way in a couple of the games he did this year.

This is a must IMO. The lack of it occurring could possibly be that we don’t have someone to fill his spot on the wing. His delivery into the forward fixity is elite and we need him to get his hands more on the ball.


I reckon the toll of the last few years drive up the ladder is starting to hit. The loss of Noble is huge IMO and think that he just seems like that bloke who kept everyone accountable.

 

[Scubaveg]

Out- Chris Fagan.

In- Alistair Clarkson.

2023 Jason?


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[dlanod]

You need steel gonads to name a thread "WE need to talk about Fagan." You took the soft option. Need to grow some.

Operation: talk about Fagan?

 

[Bucking Beads]

It doesn’t matter what game plan you have if your effort and work rate are so low. Our energy levels have also taken a beating over the last month. I do believe some selections have not helped our plight though.

 

[martinson]

Neale hurt himself in the warm up yesterday and had top get a jab to play. Season 2021 has been a nightmare for him. Hopefully 2022 will allow him to play his own game which will dominate opposition mids and help us compete more where we obviously are struggling somewhat.

He had 3 BOG's with less games last year and this year has had one issue after another and would be lucky if he had one. That's a big hole in your M/F output. Although ironically we won the games he didn't play in.

 

[martinson]

He had 3 BOG's with less games last year and this year has had one issue after another and would be lucky if he had one. That's a big hole in your M/F output. Although ironically we won the games he didn't play in.

That's 10 BOG's.

 

[Mighty Lions]

He had 3 BOG's with less games last year and this year has had one issue after another and would be lucky if he had one. That's a big hole in your M/F output. Although ironically we won the games he didn't play in.

Our midfield has been our achillies heel all year in my opinion. Our defensive running has been appalling by all but Lyons and unfortunately he is probably the slowest of our midfield group. I know Bailey is still learning the game but he is terrible at defense and has given away more free kicks in our team than anyone else. (3rd best in the comp for it & Zorko 9th.)

 

[Macca225]

Would of been interesting what this thread would of been like after the Geelong and Crows games...

Hippy and Adams go down round 17 and we have had to change our forward and defensive setup and combined with the lack of defensive effort and teams bringing the hunt against us has seen the wheels fall off a bit.

Don't see how its the coaching group when a few weeks ago we were premiership favourites and the talk of footy a few key injuries has changed our year unfortunately.

 

[martinson]

Would of been interesting what this thread would of been like after the Geelong and Crows games...

Hippy and Adams go down round 17 and we have had to change our forward and defensive setup and combined with the lack of defensive effort and teams bringing the hunt against us has seen the wheels fall off a bit.

Don't see how its the coaching group when a few weeks ago we were premiership favourites and the talk of footy a few key injuries has changed our year unfortunately.

My criticism of the coaching group is that we're too slow or don't make any changes during games when we're clearly getting towelled up the way we're going.

But whether that would make any difference or not I'm unsure. But sometimes you gotta try.

 

[Macca225]

My criticism of the coaching group is that we're too slow or don't make any changes during games when we're clearly getting towelled up the way we're going.

But whether that would make any difference or not I'm unsure. But sometimes you gotta try.

I reckon he was trying to change a few attitudes at 1/4 time here... and 1/2 time during the suns game

 

[cotter101]

Neale hurt himself in the warm up yesterday and had top get a jab to play. Season 2021 has been a nightmare for him. Hopefully 2022 will allow him to play his own game which will dominate opposition mids and help us compete more where we obviously are struggling somewhat.

Could tell something was up yesterday. Avoided contact a couple of times and was setting up more outside around stoppages. Just can’t wait for him to return to form. He done it against Essendon and looked back to his best but the guy just hasn’t been able to catch a break.

This is a must IMO. The lack of it occurring could possibly be that we don’t have someone to fill his spot on the wing. His delivery into the forward fixity is elite and we need him to get his hands more on the ball.

Yeah, watching yesterday Hugh was one of the only midfielders running hard defensively and covering ground. That’s why he is still on the wing with Robbo.

Suspect we’re hoping Sharp can fill the wing position with his running capabilities.

 

[Quigley]

Our entire game style is built around the strengths (contest ball winning) and weaknesses (pace, defensive running) of Neale and Lyons. We play a long kicking contested game down a wing. We have no width and generally pretty slowly relying on our defense to stand up when things are turned over.

It has been a pretty successful plan for the last couple of years but when it is not working there is no plan B. It also fails to take account of the change in personnel over the last couple of years. Everytime you hear from the recruiters it is about getting more run in our squad. The problem is that we have added running ability to our team but the coaching staff refuses to actually use it. Our wingers are on a hiding to nothing.

 

[M Malice]

Suspect we’re hoping Sharp can fill the wing position with his running capabilities.

If Harry can develop faster than you'd normally expect and be that elite form Brad Hill, Isaac Smith type that would be massive for us.