2007 Scorecard - Paul Roos

[BeeEmmAre]

Paul Roos scorecard

6, 6, 4, 4, 10*, 6, 6, 5, 6.5, 5, 6, 7, 7.5, 7, 6, 6, 8, 6, 5.5, 7, 6, 4, 5, 6, 4, 7, 3

Total score = 159.5/270

Average = 5.91/10

Roos passes.

[Emerald Hill]

Al i dont care what people say about Roosy in my books he is "GOD" he brought us the premiership we were all after.He has been the most successful coach in my life time and i will never forget the Eade/Roos era.

There is one point i agree on with a lot of people tho,he does have to learn to evolve with the new bread of game.

On say that tho you can only do certain things with the cows you have on the paddock.

Couldn't agree more, Swantastic. I started watching the Swans in 1961 and had to wait 35 years to see them win a final and 44 years to win a flag. The Bloods' performances under Roosy - 5 finals campaigns in 5 seasons, including a PREMIERSHIP, a narrow loss in a Grand Final and a preliminary final loss to the eventual premiers - have been like heaven to Swans supporters of my vintage!!

[Big Al]

Couldn't agree more, Swantastic. I started watching the Swans in 1961 and had to wait 35 years to see them win a final and 44 years to win a flag. The Bloods' performances under Roosy - 5 finals campaigns in 5 seasons, including a PREMIERSHIP, a narrow loss in a Grand Final and a preliminary final loss to the eventual premiers - have been like heaven to Swans supporters of my vintage!!

The ratings were based on performances this year. Someone giving a low rating for this year does not mean they don't appreciate what occurred in the past.

[2005]

Couldn't agree more, Swantastic. I started watching the Swans in 1961 and had to wait 35 years to see them win a final and 44 years to win a flag. The Bloods' performances under Roosy - 5 finals campaigns in 5 seasons, including a PREMIERSHIP, a narrow loss in a Grand Final and a preliminary final loss to the eventual premiers - have been like heaven to Swans supporters of my vintage!!

Spot on mate !!
Rekon too many jump the ship . Last 10 years has been pretty good for us Bloods.We went through so many bad days, last year wasnt as bad as what we all thought.

[Wardy]

Spot on mate !!
Rekon too many jump the ship . Last 10 years has been pretty good for us Bloods.We went through so many bad days, last year wasnt as bad as what we all thought.

Its not a matter of jumping ship and we have all waited an eternity for a flag. Of course none of us are coaches at an elite level - however having said that, you dont have to be blind Freddy to see that our game plan has not changed in the last 3-4 years - and now that we have been found out, other teams know how to shut us down. It is officially stale!!!! For fear of sounding like a scratched record, look at how Geelong played in 2007, like em or hate em - they played free flowing high scoring footy - the way it should be played and I loved watching them, they got the mix right. The Swans are capable of that, and, on occassion, we have seen it but no where near enough. The stop/start style that Roos advocates is old and just doesnt work as effectively as it used too. Brett Kirk throwing himself into a contest wont last forever.
Sure Roos got us the premiership no one can ever take that away from him, nor would anyone, however that doesn't mean that his methods/coaching style shouldnt be questioned.

The times they are a changin.................and Roos & Co have to move with them.

[goswannie14]

Couldn't agree more, Swantastic. I started watching the Swans in 1961 and had to wait 35 years to see them win a final and 44 years to win a flag. The Bloods' performances under Roosy - 5 finals campaigns in 5 seasons, including a PREMIERSHIP, a narrow loss in a Grand Final and a preliminary final loss to the eventual premiers - have been like heaven to Swans supporters of my vintage!!

Spot on mate !!
Rekon too many jump the ship . Last 10 years has been pretty good for us Bloods.We went through so many bad days, last year wasnt as bad as what we all thought.

You have both missed the point that Al has made. This rating was for season 2007 only. It has nothing to do with winning the flag in 2005. Yes that was good, but has nothing to do with our performances last season.

It always pays to read the whole thread so that you know the context that you are talking about.

[CureTheSane]

Yeah, I think the context has been lost here.

In the big picture, Roos is a hero to all of us.
He brought us something many of us thought we'd never see.

But we don't all sit and watch a game and get really frustrated and angry but then sit and logically think..... "hang on, Roos brought us a flag, it's ok for him to be doing an average job now"

When he's gone, we'll all remember only his marvellous achievement, but in the meantime, he's the current coach, and has to be criticised when the job he's doing isn't percieved to be up to scratch.

And the point is that there are a LOT of people who say that he hasn't adapted his game plan when it wasn't working.
The result was what we expected, with an overally average season.

[2005]

You have both missed the point that Al has made. This rating was for season 2007 only. It has nothing to do with winning the flag in 2005. Yes that was good, but has nothing to do with our performances last season.

It always pays to read the whole thread so that you know [B]the context that you are talking about.

Read what I stated earlier on in the thread, Go Swannie!![/B]

All that Im saying here I agree with a couple of others re there
comments.

[liz]

And the point is that there are a LOT of people who say that he hasn't adapted his game plan when it wasn't working.
The result was what we expected, with an overally average season.

Yes and no. I agree with you on the issue of trying to rate 2007 independently of what has gone before. But I don't think it is as straightforward as saying the game plan is out of date, or that more success would be achieved with a different approach. It is no good saying (as someone suggested above) that we should just play like Geelong did last year. The results would probably have been significantly worse than what we saw.

The great coaches find a way to win with what they've got available to them. Roos' managed to craft a style that has worked reasonably well - nay, more than reasonably well if you take a multi-year view - without a Judd, Cousins, Kerr, Bartel, Voss, Ablett in the midfield. It made the best use of the positive attributes that his worker bees had, while providing protection to an undersized defensive unit, in turn enabling that defensive group to play to its strength (namely its speed and mobility). It was able to win games because up forward there was a very well knit, talented and diverse forward line able to make very efficient use of limited forward entries.

There were a multitude of reasons why it was somewhat less effective in 2007 than before. Some of it was down to injury to a couple of key players. But more crucially, there were too many who didn't play to their maximum. When you don't have the most naturally talented group, you need them all playing close to their best to be successful.

Certainly the coach needs to be partly accountable for players not playing to their best. He needs to be accountable for recognising when to lose faith in the old stalwarts and bring in new. He needs to be accountable for developing new talent to replace the old, and for selecting the raw talent with the right attributes to enable a game style to gradually evolve and improve.

I don't suggest Roos is above criticism, or that some of these aspects need to be improved upon in upcoming seasons. But I don't think it is as easy as just flicking a switch and suddenly changing the way a team goes about things.

[Wardy]

Yes and no. I agree with you on the issue of trying to rate 2007 independently of what has gone before. But I don't think it is as straightforward as saying the game plan is out of date, or that more success would be achieved with a different approach. It is no good saying (as someone suggested above) that we should just play like Geelong did last year. The results would probably have been significantly worse than what we saw.

Certainly the coach needs to be partly accountable for players not playing to their best. He needs to be accountable for recognising when to lose faith in the old stalwarts and bring in new. He needs to be accountable for developing new talent to replace the old, and for selecting the raw talent with the right attributes to enable a game style to gradually evolve and improve.

I don't suggest Roos is above criticism, or that some of these aspects need to be improved upon in upcoming seasons. But I don't think it is as easy as just flicking a switch and suddenly changing the way a team goes about things.

Seeing as that "someone" who suggested that they preferred the way Geelong played was me, I would much rather see free flowing footy than that of the stop/start play that has become "the norm" for the Swans in 2006-7. As a spectacle, for me, its not that interesting to watch.
Basically, would it hurt to have had a "plan b" in the Roos coaching ideas? because last year he didnt have the plan B that was required. He continued to use out of form players (even though there were some pretty good youngs kids in reserves who should have been given a chance) and to be honest we were damned lucky to make the 8. But that is only my opinion.

[CureTheSane]

But I don't think it is as easy as just flicking a switch and suddenly changing the way a team goes about things.

I don't see why not.
They are drilled in various aspect of the game.
Skills - kicking, handball etc.
Set plays - kicking out of defense etc
Game plan - flooding, manning up etc
Fitness
Social behavior
What to eat
etc
etc

I don't know why Roos isn't able to say...

"OK, it's 3/4 time and we're looking like this game is totally gone. The opposition have our number and have researched the way we play and they have us on toast today. Their team also matches up better against us in the one on one side of the game. So guys, instead of playing the way we have all game and all year in our risk free 'wait for a player to be free to take the ball' manner, let's try something different. for this last 1/4 lets take some risks, run with the ball, kick to a competition if we have numbers and get more physical with the opposition."

How are the players not going to be able to do this?
Sure, they aren't going to be experts at playing this way, but jeez, I'd walk away from the game feeling as if we had a red hot go, even if we still lost.

Also, why the hell wouldn't the player be trained in various different game plans.
Surely different opposition teams demand different styles of play?

The biggest problem is that last year we lived through a season that was like many others before.
Seasons where the commentators say "I'd hate to be a Swans fan watching this game" and "It must be frustrating to watch this game as a supporter"
That sort of frustration leads me (and others apparently) to look at the coach.
And I'm not one to go for the coach as a general rule, I think they get a pretty rough trot with all the sackings etc all the time.
It rests on the players to win the game in the big scheme of things, but the coach (or coaching staff) are the ones responsible for defining how the players play the game, and last year I think they played to an outdated game plan that the opposition teams were well and truly aware of.

[swantastic]

I don't think it is as easy as just flicking a switch and suddenly changing the way a team goes about things.

I think your spot on Liz,when a certain style of play is drilled into you its very hard to change.For instance when i played soccer i played in the left back/wing back and left midfield and all those positions have a certain style of play attached to them incorporated into the coaching.This made it very difficult to change positions because it meant a different style of play.

For half a season i was played in the right back position and it was a giant head @@@@,because i was so used to having players on my right suddenly they were all on my left it used to confuse the @@@@ out of me.

I now they are professionals but they still have a brain like ours no different.

[Claret]

"For this last 1/4 lets take some risks, run with the ball, kick to a competition if we have numbers and get more physical with the opposition."

I imagine that he has said that many times over the last year. The hard bit, as Coach, is getting the players to back themselves and do it.

[Industrial Fan]

That did actually happen a few times through the year too. There were a few games we let get away and then nearly ran down in the 4th.

[Big Al]

Spot on mate !!
Rekon too many jump the ship . Last 10 years has been pretty good for us Bloods.We went through so many bad days, last year wasnt as bad as what we all thought.

Last year was a poor year when you measure it against the expectations of the club and a majority of the fans. Also
having realistic expectations of the year ahead does not constitute jumping ship. I think we will struggle this year but my support will continue to be unwavering. A "boat" most of us will be in this year.