Coach Sam Mitchell's direction for the club and 2024 news

[Strapping Young Lad]

If anyone wants to have a listen about what the data is saying in regards to whether we have actually gotten worse this year have a listen to this from the 9:15 mark.

I know a few people have already touched on it, but the data is also showing that our results this year have been slightly better despite actually putting out a younger team and dealing with some injuries.




And here.

 

[Simon Crawshay]

It really isn't a surprise where we are at.

Sam had the guts to cull the list and all commentators at the time asked the question: Will Sam survive his own rebuild?

Turning over nearly a full list to re-build doesn't take 3 years. Especially when you are bottoming out. It will take 8-9 years.

Whether Sam sees it through - who knows... I hope he does. But whatever the case I am grateful that he is bold enough to want a dynasty rather than bottom 8 finishes.

We will find out which youngsters make it when they are thrown in the deep end. We will keep trying to find great youth. Maybe the talent isn't there as first thought and we need another year or two of draft picks - so be it.

8 - 9 years just isn't a timeframe that anyone can work with or accept I'm afraid. Does anyone on this forum find it acceptable that we could suck this bad for the almost a decade? The board most certainly won't.

And I am not sure a process of cutting a list right back and throwing youngsters to the wolves is good either.

The best run clubs like Geelong, Collingwood and Sydney gradually blood their young players over time after they have learnt their systems thoroughly at VFL level so when they come into the seniors it's a seamless transition and they are surrounded by hardened veterans.

Its how we used to do it in our Dynasty years in the 1980s. Like a collegiate system of running a club where knowledge gets passed down continuously.

If you go down the bottoming out path and hitting the draft hard rout you may, if you are lucky, strike it rich with some generational talent like Melbourne did but that's a risky path to take and harder to do by the year with how compromised the draft is these days (especially with Tassie entering the comp soon).

 

[Flukey!]

I’d say it’s got more to do with the level of talent on your list

Knights failed at the Bears

Judge failed at the Eagles

Joyce failed at the Bulldogs

Even the great Allan Jeans failed at the Tigers

Buckley failed at Collingwood too but their list proved to be OK.

 

[humid hawk]

We're really lucky to have Worpel. He's the only mid who's shown consistency this year (aside from last week, although he was the best of a bad bunch).

It's no coincidence that he's our most senior mid with 100 games experience.

I wouldn't be adverse to finding another decent 150 game mid who can help structure the middle and show the developing players what is necessary to succeed at this level.

 

[bindas12]

Buckley failed at Collingwood too but their list proved to be OK.

Hird at bombers
Voss at Brisbane

 

[Roddy]

I’d say it’s got more to do with the level of talent on your list

Knights failed at the Bears

Judge failed at the Eagles

Joyce failed at the Bulldogs

Even the great Allan Jeans failed at the Tigers

Yep, an old coach (may have been Tony Jewell, but I'm not sure) said: 'you've gotta have the cattle', so yeah, that's a massive factor too.

 

[cryptor]

Haha as the media is starting to talk about how we need to be given one that’s how it starts.

It will be pick 19 anyway going by history not a pick before our pick like a lot of people want.

If we had any say in the matter, I'd much prefer temporary additional cap space and list spots than I would pick 19.

Extra cap space to help get some free agency deals over the line. Mature and established AFL players who can help us achieve some consistency and move the needle on performance now rather than in 3-4 years if they even develop into an AFL standard player.

Extra list spots to allow us a bit more flexibility to roll the dice on some speculative, high potential draftees we can develop for a few years without the pressure to delist. Players like Dear who for various reasons haven't had a clear run at it in U16/18's but could be good AFL players with some time in an AFL program.

 

[CaptainWorpedo]

The two weeks of light training have been on the back of 6 day breaks and recovery. We have a young team. It takes longer for them to recover then a seasoned team. That is just fact.

The problem is the way there practicing is the way there playing!

 

[CaptainWorpedo]

Buckley failed at Collingwood too but their list proved to be OK.

The difference being I believe is Sam Mitchell has done the coaching training, which become compulsory for the role due to the others failing badly!

 

[TheFourPillars]

The problem is the way there practicing is the way there playing!

So Dylan has come out and said there were players taking liberties at training. Generally speaking most players in the past have been "directed" by the conditioning team to have a light week. We were non touch because i am sure quite a few have been sore. That was not on the players. Perhaps they were not ready to play this week. In any case its more a thing that we need to work out internally and so called standards need to be lifted at training should be led by the leaders of our club with direction from the conditioning team and coaches

 

[CaptainWorpedo]

So Dylan has come out and said there were players taking liberties at training. Generally speaking most players in the past have been "directed" by the conditioning team to have a light week. We were non touch because i am sure quite a few have been sore. That was not on the players. Perhaps they were not ready to play this week. In any case its more a thing that we need to work out internally and so called standards need to be lifted at training should be led by the leaders of our club with direction from the conditioning team and coaches

Maybe there is a mix of both? Some not doing the work as they’re sore and others not doing the work as there lazy?

I do not have the answers, simply asking the question in hope of finding some answers!

 

[TheFourPillars]

Maybe there is a mix of both? Some not doing the work as they’re sore and others not doing the work as there lazy?

I do not have the answers, simply asking the question in hope of finding some answers!

Its obviously a mixture of both for Dylan to come out and speak about it

 

[Gut Runner]

8 - 9 years just isn't a timeframe that anyone can work with or accept I'm afraid. Does anyone on this forum find it acceptable that we could suck this bad for the almost a decade? The board most certainly won't.

And I am not sure a process of cutting a list right back and throwing youngsters to the wolves is good either.

The best run clubs like Geelong, Collingwood and Sydney gradually blood their young players over time after they have learnt their systems thoroughly at VFL level so when they come into the seniors it's a seamless transition and they are surrounded by hardened veterans.

Its how we used to do it in our Dynasty years in the 1980s. Like a collegiate system of running a club where knowledge gets passed down continuously.

If you go down the bottoming out path and hitting the draft hard rout you may, if you are lucky, strike it rich with some generational talent like Melbourne did but that's a risky path to take and harder to do by the year with how compromised the draft is these days (especially with Tassie entering the comp soon).

We have already gone down this path. Maybe why we chose to get Gunston back.

I also agree with what you are saying. Hopefully Sam finds a blueprint that others will try and copy.

 

[HedgeFund]

Sorry, but that’s absurd. If people can’t see how good a coach Sam is, then we’re having a laugh.

Good teams develop through continuity.

Really?

You probably forgot that Collingwood changed their coach from Buckley - Harvey - McRae and went from 6 wins in 2021 to 16 in 2022 and then 18 in 2023….because they changed their coach.

Leaving aside Adem Yze who just started and has a winning % of 17% in his first 6 games, the coach with the worst record in the competition is - you guessed it - Sam with 15 in 50 @ 30%.

No club is trying to poach him are they?

There’s no reason to extend unless / until he gets his win percentage up towards 40-50% and he proves he has the ability to get results.

 

[SSSSSS]

It all started with Clarko giving our leaders away for scraps.

Geelong, Sydney, Collingwood rebuild on the fly by keeping their senior core to teach the younger kids. The biggest problem with North is who are their kids learning off? Shiels aside they are learning from the likes of Corr and Macdonald who wouldn't be best 22 at any other list in the comp.

Luckily we have Breust/Gunston but I wouldn't put them in the same category of leadership that a Hodge/Lewis brought. We are at a stage where we either need our young kids to step up into the leadership positions or we need to import some from elsewhere.

 

[Holy Rioli]

Do you think we spoke about training “in the conditions” the day before the game, and then about the instructions to “play to those conditions” when the conditions didn’t actually exist?

You think we just made it all up both pre and post game?

Sorry mate, weather was perfect, it was dry, very little wind, no dew to speak of.

All the marks that Chol fumbled (outside of a couple of obvious but non paid infringements by Collins) were skill/mental errors.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Sorry mate, weather was perfect, it was dry, very little wind, no dew to speak of.

All the marks that Chol fumbled (outside of a couple of obvious but non paid infringements by Collins) were skill/mental errors.

So players and coach fabricated “playing to the conditions”, and trained “to prepare for them”.

Makes zero sense.

 

[Holy Rioli]

To bring this back to sam’s direction…

The team played a man on man defence all night. I did notice on several occasions that players would not be next to their regular opponents and and looking around for someone to match up on but with now one nearby they sort of trott to a place they might expect the ball to go.

This left space of the opposition players to work into space and open us up. It wasnt every play but it was clear we lacked awareness of when players around us were free and getting dangerous. The ‘i’ve got an opponent’ mindset of man on man defence makes it easy for players to think they are doing their job without still considering the needs of the team. We will need to improve on that greatly. The defensive strategy is vastly different to how we played under clarko.

I did see them zone plenty of times but only one kick ahead of the ball not a full zone.

 

[Holy Rioli]

So players and coach fabricated “playing to the conditions”, and trained “to prepare for them”.

Makes zero sense.

I can only tell you what I experienced, it was a perfect coolish dry non windy night which is rare for the GC.

 

[peetoo]

It all started with Clarko giving our leaders away for scraps.

Geelong, Sydney, Collingwood rebuild on the fly by keeping their senior core to teach the younger kids. The biggest problem with North is who are their kids learning off? Shiels aside they are learning from the likes of Corr and Macdonald who wouldn't be best 22 at any other list in the comp.

Luckily we have Breust/Gunston but I wouldn't put them in the same category of leadership that a Hodge/Lewis brought. We are at a stage where we either need our young kids to step up into the leadership positions or we need to import some from elsewhere.

So Chapman, s Johnson going elsewhere didn’t happen?

 

[Bedi]

I’d say it’s got more to do with the level of talent on your list

Knights failed at the Bears

Judge failed at the Eagles

Joyce failed at the Bulldogs

Even the great Allan Jeans failed at the Tigers

he was coaching Richmond the day Dunstall kicked 17

 

[Mitchell Madness]

It all started with Clarko giving our leaders away for scraps.

Geelong, Sydney, Collingwood rebuild on the fly by keeping their senior core to teach the younger kids. The biggest problem with North is who are their kids learning off? Shiels aside they are learning from the likes of Corr and Macdonald who wouldn't be best 22 at any other list in the comp.

Luckily we have Breust/Gunston but I wouldn't put them in the same category of leadership that a Hodge/Lewis brought. We are at a stage where we either need our young kids to step up into the leadership positions or we need to import some from elsewhere.

It all started when we simply rolled over and gave gc and port overs for players they were pushing out

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

This isn't a rebuild/Clarko rehash thread.

Those posts will be getting deleted.

 

[Briar Gold]

I find the switching around of line coaches really amateur hour stuff. I know we move our back coaches to the mids, forward coaches to backs etc; just to build up assistant coaches CV's. Why not get the best mid coach and keep them there for example?? Same across the board.

Does my head in. Amateur approach to a professional game.

Yep I'd like an explanation around this. Kane or kingy if you're reading, please ask Sam on Friday

 

[cryptor]

I find the switching around of line coaches really amateur hour stuff. I know we move our back coaches to the mids, forward coaches to backs etc; just to build up assistant coaches CV's. Why not get the best mid coach and keep them there for example?? Same across the board.

Does my head in. Amateur approach to a professional game.

I think just about every line coach would have aspirations of being a senior coach one day. If they don’t then do they have the drive and hunger to be in a high performance environment?

The point being that if the assistants don’t feel like they’re getting exposure to a wide range of responsibilities and experiences then it’s just as likely they leave for another club to get that growth anyway.

There’s also benefits for the players in hearing from and working with different line coaches. Helps build interpersonal skills and challenge thinking.

What I’d be interested to know is how much of the established IP survives when coaches change lines. I would hope that if we’re onto something really good one year with a particular line coach that if we then swapped line coaches the following year that the strategy would remain the same to begin with. That the new line coach would then incrementally improve things in their own way rather than coming in and changing it all up from day one.

 

[Sixpence]

I can only tell you what I experienced, it was a perfect coolish dry non windy night which is rare for the GC.

The question is, how do you explain all our players sweating like crazy by quarter time?