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I'm totally with Steve et al re the fitness issue. Most clubs nowadays are far more intelligent with the way they train players in any case - they understand that a 17yo rookie needs a different programme to a 24yo and a 30 yo again a different programme. Also a Barry Hall and a Nic Fosdike, say, need different programmes.
On the skills thing, I suspect that for most players you can't change their core ability to execute basic skills by the time they're in the AFL system. You might be able to tweak some aspects of technique in, for example, tackling, or kicking for goal, but you probably have what you recruited. And they should be able to do all the basics to at least a minimum standard.
What we see out on the ground is as much about decision making, concentration and speed of thought as it is about execution of core skills. If Roos is hauling players like Fosdike and Bolton up because they are making errors, that could be seen as a good thing. They are making mistakes and being called to account for them, being made to realise why they are making them, and learning how not to make them when it counts.
I went to a handful of training sessions last season and the enduring impression I got was that they were just that - training rather than coaching. Most times they would spend a third or so of the session playing under match conditions (though with less tackling and full on body contact). I don't think I ever saw the match stopped, a player pulled up because of a mistake he made, and given a chance to re-execute. Now maybe the coaching aspect went on behind the scenes - I understand most sessions are taped. But I couldn't understand why the teaching and correction didn't happen straight away. It was almost as if the coaching staff expected skill errors to happen and didn't think they could do anything about it.
Maybe what Shearer has seen is Roos actually coaching the team, rather than just letting them run around going through the motions. If so, that's got to be a good thing surely?
On the skills thing, I suspect that for most players you can't change their core ability to execute basic skills by the time they're in the AFL system. You might be able to tweak some aspects of technique in, for example, tackling, or kicking for goal, but you probably have what you recruited. And they should be able to do all the basics to at least a minimum standard.
What we see out on the ground is as much about decision making, concentration and speed of thought as it is about execution of core skills. If Roos is hauling players like Fosdike and Bolton up because they are making errors, that could be seen as a good thing. They are making mistakes and being called to account for them, being made to realise why they are making them, and learning how not to make them when it counts.
I went to a handful of training sessions last season and the enduring impression I got was that they were just that - training rather than coaching. Most times they would spend a third or so of the session playing under match conditions (though with less tackling and full on body contact). I don't think I ever saw the match stopped, a player pulled up because of a mistake he made, and given a chance to re-execute. Now maybe the coaching aspect went on behind the scenes - I understand most sessions are taped. But I couldn't understand why the teaching and correction didn't happen straight away. It was almost as if the coaching staff expected skill errors to happen and didn't think they could do anything about it.
Maybe what Shearer has seen is Roos actually coaching the team, rather than just letting them run around going through the motions. If so, that's got to be a good thing surely?
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