Should Roos go now?

[Q...]

I think you'll find that the content of the thread has little to do with the title which was pretty stupid.
The vas majority of us are happy with Roos.
who wouldn't be after 2 consecutive GF's and one of them a win?

It's just frustrating to see us going down, and nothing being done about it during the game.

Reminds me of the dude in the X wing fighter with the other dude next to him complaining that he is going to die.
The more senior dude says "Stay on target! Stay on target!" so the good soldier does and gets blown to @@@@.
Then the commander dude also gets destroyed, and the rebels are no closer to destroying the Death Star.

Until Luke comes in and says "stuff protocol, I'm going with my gut" and raises the automatic aiming system.
He takes a chance and destroys the baddies.

Sometimes you have to take a chance to win.
We won't do that.
To their credit, the players are good little soldiers.

Your analogy made me smile on the outside and feel realy sad on the inside.

They are good little soldiers. But they are also talented and hardened little soldiers. They can do better and I'm sure they will.

Unfortunatley, the Swans were still a rabble when Roos took over; some talent, some toughness, some desire. He managed to take what there was and turn it into a formiddable machine. The machine required discipline in sticking to the game plan. That worked and the players are well honed for that purpose. Maybe the rest of the competition has caught up and our discipline that made us successful is now our biggest flaw?

I don't know, but as I said in the post you quoted, those that have the ability to influence the players in what they do and how they do it will hopefully learn from these experiences and address the flaws. Whatever they might be.

I too look forward to cheering a massive Swans win...

[anniswan]

To be honest, I can't really afford another GF year, it's cost me a fortune over the last 2 yrs so I thank Roos for being considerate of my circumstances.

[Nico]

I dont know if we can blame Roos for the appalling effort, however, I dont think we kicked the ball at all direct up the centre from the midfield. We went sideways everytime. There were some shocking examples of kicking wide to the 50 metre line and the ball going OOB. Yes, why have a ruckman in the square if you refuse to kick to the square.

Now if that is happeneing time and again then you are entitled to ask " is that the game plan", because it sure looked like it.

In the end that sort of garbage football must fit fairly and squarely on the shoulders of the coach, full stop.

If the players go against what the coach demands then you would think he might be losing them.

I think the real answer lies in the fact that we have a group of players who lack genuine intelligence and that probably now at least 25% of the team is over the hill.

[Mr_Juicy]

It shouldn't be here, I'm sure. But then I'm sure someone will move it if need be...

I'm not picking on you annew, your post is just the most recent that I have a seen a claim resembling this, so it gets used...

Often, it is implied on this board that the ACTAFL (or its new moniker) has such an inferior level of competition to the SA, WA and Victorian state leagues that it hinders the Swans developing players in their capacity to play in the AFL at the level that is required.

Is this actually true?

What does a reserves league need to prepare you with?

Skills?
You don't make them. You practice them.

Hardness?
Ask Aaron Hamill about whether or not there was anyone, in his time in the ACT, that was willing to take him on. He was a man mountain in U19s but I didn't see any shyness around him.

Work ethic?
How much time does a Swans listed player have to spend on football compared to trainee in the Australian Public Service that also plays football have? It's like comparing a daddy-paid-for-me-uni student (sorry full fee paying) living in Vaucluse to a generational welfare dependant HECS (or is that HELP nowadays) student living in Bankstown.

I'm sure I haven't covered them all. Please give me some suggestions of what I've missed or where it is that I'm wrong in my assessment.

I'm not convinced that the Swans reserves participation in the ACT competition has any substantial negative impact on the Swans developing players from playing effectively at the highest level.

I think that any such belief is mainly borne of bigatory or bias, not fact or analysis of fact.

Lovely post. All eloquent and the like. But I'd have to add speed of the game.

[sWAns63]

If he's going to leave in 2 or 3 years anyway, isnt it better to build our future around a coach (and game plan) that doesnt have a used-by date ?

contrast West coasts approach with all involved assuming Worsfold will be there for another 20 years (ala Sheedy), so long term stability and long term stategies can be put in place.

How do you know Worsfold will still be coach in 20 years ACL's to Judd & Kerr and their so called dynasty is over and who would you replace Roo's with Wallace if we went with him we would have no premierships and no prospects
We should make a couple of changes and see how the next few weeks go if we win our next 3 in NSW things will look a whole lot better if we don't then tougher decisions are needed

[Q...]

I'm not sure getting rid of Roos is the answer, as I have never had a particularly high opinion of him anyway.

? (apparently a reply message has to be at least two characters...)

[Q...]

Lovely post. All eloquent and the like. But I'd have to add speed of the game.

Good point.

Are the Swans reserves deprived of the readiness they require to play AFL in terms of "the speed of the game" by playing in the ACT/NSW competition?

I don't know.

Can any one on this forum tell us, categorically, the answer to that question?

( I'm hoping Mr_Juicy might have some substance... )

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

Didn't you start the '3rd' thread a few weeks ago? Geez you're fickle.

Several of us were musing about why we post so little on RWO any more.

Threads like this one are the reason why, to be honest.

JF

[Bazman]

Guys it's time to put this thread to bed. I?m totally numb and embarrassed after last night effort but bagging Roo?s is not going to solve anything.

[Gary]

I'd feel better about Roos if just once...once...maybe twice...showed ANY emotional involvement in the game...made an outrageous move to try & stimulate something...stopped defending the indefensible...stopped looking (in the box) like he hasn't got the faintest idea what is going on or what to do about it...stopped adding a "Y" (Hally, Kirky or whatever) ad nauseum in a vain attempt to show how much they love each other. Is that enough?

[ROK Lobster]

Several of us were musing about why we post so little on RWO any more.

Threads like this one are the reason why, to be honest.

JF

I was musing as to why your contributions have not really been missed.

Posts like the above are the reason why, to be honest.

[NMWBloods]

If Roos is to be given credit for our great performances (and we see some sign of it in this thread) then he has to take responsibility for our poor performances.

Yes, the players didn't turn up. However, everyone says Roos was responsible for motivating them in the past, so he has failed to do so on this occasion (and much of this year). This is a shared responsibility, but more on the players' heads.

The players slow the game down, kick sideways, from the centre square kick to the boundary (they seem to have radar-guidance to the point where the 50m arc intersects the boundary) and kick to Hall despite being outnumbered. Roos has to take responsibility for this as it seems to be his game plan as it is done so frequently. This is a shared responsibility, but more on Roos' head.

As I've said a number of times before, we are a highly drilled and disciplined team, not a highly talented or clever team. Eventually that comes undone unless new ideas are added to the mix. Roos seems bereft of new ideas, both match day and in pre-planning.

Hard to say which needs to happen more, but both the players and Roos need to do something.

[barry]

Several of us were musing about why we post so little on RWO any more.

Threads like this one are the reason why, to be honest.

JF

You just concentrate on waving flags and calling "ball" at the right times.

[hammo]

I think this is the what's wrong. We should be playing man on man in the forward line if Hall is double teamed.

That was the obvious move and proved to me last night how Roos is a dud matchday coach.

Not only was Baz double teamed all night (and our genius midfielders kept kicking it to him) when the ball hit the ground we had no crumbers. St Kilda were able to easily run it our of defence because they always had an extra man down there. At 4 goals down we had to play man on man football, but we persisted with an extra man in defence. Clueless.

And based on the season so far where our midfield has been smashed in just about every game, how is that looking on Longmire's resume??

[TheMase]

The ball was flying into the Saints open forward line. Our midfielders need to be putting pressure on the ball as it is coming down.

Bingo! We have a winner.

We have always had an undersized defense. During our best we are able to stop the teams moving the ball freely by pressure in our forward 50 and our midfield. They have prevented an exposed undersized defense in recent years. This is our MAIN issue at the moment, and really comes down to either players being injured (should be rested), or not working hard enough.

We have never been great at the hard ball, but been very good at forcing a turnover.

We fix this, we will have more time for disposal, our skills will improve with less pressure and we will move the ball faster and look much better than we currently are.