How can we improve game day coaching for 2008?

[stellation]

To be clear, I am talking about game day coaching here, so including head and assistants. I am not looking just at the head coach.

A few people have said through the year that our game day coaching is quite poor, preperation for games is (generally) good but the coaching staff is too slow to react/make changes if things aren't going to plan. The loss on Saturday night seemed to have been partly contributed to (I'm not going to speculate on how much it contributed), in my view at least, extremely poor game day coaching. Collingwood's coaching staff made quick, dynamic moves and we kept trying to run with plan A. It was interesting to hear nearly all of the commentators lamenting our lack of changes, I think it was Luke Darcy (was he commentating on Saturday night? May have been Voss) who started off the game saying that he was really impressed with Sydney's match ups and thought that they'd done a great job (and I think they had too) but as the game played out he was joining the other commentators to say (paraphrasing) "the Swans did the match ups well, Collingwood have reacted and made some changes which are working- when are Sydney going to make some to counter Collingwood's changes?"... it seemed that the only dynamic/thinking out of the square move we had to pull was deciding "bugger it, I know we planned for Goodesy to rest for 4 minutes in this interchange, but call the bench and see if he is ready to go back on after 3!"... so...
Do you think our game day coaching is poor?
What can we do to make our game day coaching better for 2008?

[hammo]

Getting a decent midfield coach is a priority.

Voss, Buckley & Ricciutto should all be sounded out.

Let's break the bank to get a good football brain working on our midfield set up and strategies, and teaching them how to kick to advantage.

[stellation]

To pass comment on my own questions

Do you think our game day coaching is poor?

I've already given away my view on this (yes I do!), the only thing I'm stuck with is I don't know who the blame should rest with (I personally think Assistants, Head AND Football Operations manager assuming that they have previously identified this as an issue and it has not been resolved).

What can we do to make our game day coaching better for 2008?

I don't really think a turnover of coaching staff is what is required, short of a new person responsible for the midfield. This might seem like a stupid question- but what level of mapping out potential scenarios do our coaching staff do before a game? They're obviously not going to be able to cover all potential scenarios, but do they have a playbook of any? Would this fall to the responsibility of the assistant coaches to put together? It's entirely possible that they do have a plan B, but they haven't worked out how to get to the point of initiating plan B!

[Sanecow]

Part of the problem is a determination to stick with what worked in 2005 and almost worked in 2006 despite the fact that what worked in 2005 involved Jason Ball and Nick Davis playing the best clutch game in Swans history and Leo Barry taking a mark he could just as easily have dropped. It's not like the game plan was so good in 2005 that it couldn't be improved.

As examples, wouldn't almost every team in the AFL play Kennelly and Malceski in the midfield? Skilled, fast, can kick goals. You can talk about needing gun midfielders but maybe we just need to drop some dud midfielders.

[NMWBloods]

Part of the problem is a determination to stick with what worked in 2005 and almost worked in 2006 despite the fact that what worked in 2005 involved Jason Ball and Nick Davis playing the best clutch game in Swans history and Leo Barry taking a mark he could just as easily have dropped. It's not like the game plan was so good in 2005 that it couldn't be improved.

Yep, this is my big point. We have not had an amzing game plan that is infallible. We were amazingly lucky in 2005. I thought we played better in 2006, but I think that apart from 2003, 2006 was the most open game plan we saw. The performances in 2004, 2005 and 2007 were similar in that they focussed too heavily on defence and not enough on kicking goals.

The game plan needs to add more of the running and playing on that we see other sides do and less on the attempted perfect 15m passes in a static, stoppage-ridden game.

Game day needs to find the balance between running and slowing the game down. It also needs more flexibility when the game plan isn't working.

[barry]

Voss as midfield coach would be a good move for both parties.

[DeadlyAkkuret]

I say we recruit Jimmy Hird and Malcolm Blight into our coaching team. Hird because every Sydney play will respect him, as a champion of the modern era, not 50 years ago. He played with flair and has a great football brain, that can only help us! Blight because he's been so vocal of his critisism of Sydney, when we're not playing well, so surely he has a few ideas up his sleeve? Last but not least, it wouldn't hurt to put some of our great players into the middle. We have an awesome midfield, they're just too busy playing in other positions.

[swantastic]

I say we recruit Jimmy Hird and Malcolm Blight into our coaching team. Hird because every Sydney play will respect him, as a champion of the modern era, not 50 years ago. He played with flair and has a great football brain, that can only help us! Blight because he's been so vocal of his critisism of Sydney, when we're not playing well, so surely he has a few ideas up his sleeve? Last but not least, it wouldn't hurt to put some of our great players into the middle. We have an awesome midfield, they're just too busy playing in other positions.

Yep i will say it till i'm blue in the face,Melcho in the midfield is a must and Tiger

[liz]

I've just written some comments in the Roos thread that are maybe relevant here - that game day coaching isn't the problem but game night coaching certainly appears to be an issue.

(An observation that's been made by several throughout the season and should be evident to everyone at the club too).

[DST]

I had this exact same conversation on Sunday with an ex senior AFL coach.

He said that game day coaching is so far over rated it's not funny.

99% of where the game is won is suitable players, fitness, skills and pre game tatics none of which can be influenced on match day by the coach.

The lasting impression I got from the chat was that winning and losing comes down to which playing group can execute their game plan on the day with the most minimal amount of input from the coach.

DST

[Layby]

More pilates and ferret urine pre-match

Less stupid ball & skills work, so old school

[NMWBloods]

I had this exact same conversation on Sunday with an ex senior AFL coach.

He said that game day coaching is so far over rated it's not funny.

99% of where the game is won is suitable players, fitness, skills and pre game tatics none of which can be influenced on match day by the coach.

The lasting impression I got from the chat was that winning and losing comes down to which playing group can execute their game plan on the day with the most minimal amount of input from the coach.

I get a different impression from hearing other coaches speak. I guess it depends on the coach and the playing group. A coach needs to be able to recognise when things aren't going right and change them, such as in matchups or structure, or make alterations in them to take advantage of mismatches.

[stellation]

I get a different impression from hearing other coaches speak.

So do I. If you look at it from a simplistic component level there are 23 (22 players and 1 coaching staff, so simplistic here) poor performance by 1 player has a relational impact on the other 21 players, whilst poor performance by the coaching staff has a direct impact on (perhaps all of?) the 22 players.

[dendol]

I had this exact same conversation on Sunday with an ex senior AFL coach.

He said that game day coaching is so far over rated it's not funny.

99% of where the game is won is suitable players, fitness, skills and pre game tatics none of which can be influenced on match day by the coach.

The lasting impression I got from the chat was that winning and losing comes down to which playing group can execute their game plan on the day with the most minimal amount of input from the coach.

DST

I think this might only apply when there is only 5 minutes left in the match and perhaps 1 or 2 goals in it. By that stage, the coaches are pretty much useless, its up to the players to get the result. Game-day coaching can have a major influence for the other 95% of game time.

[hammo]

I had this exact same conversation on Sunday with an ex senior AFL coach.

He said that game day coaching is so far over rated it's not funny.

Hence why he is now an ex AFL coach