Reshuffle in the Ranks

[wolftone57]

Coach John Longmire has announced a coaching reshuffle for 2015. Josh Francou will move from development Manager to Stoppages coach. Marty Mattner will take the role of development coach and Jarod Crouch moves into the position vacated by francou. Josh Francou comes to the stoppages position with a wealth of experience in the midfield for both Port Power and North Adelaide football clubs. He also has coaching experience and took the North Adelaide Roosters (Red & White) to the Grand Final in 2013, only to be pipped by Norwood. He left a very good legacy at North and now is improving our depth. Francou will bring all this coaching and playing experience to the Stoppages position and should improve our output in this area which has been poor over recent seasons.

While John Longmire would have been pivotal in this move, as General Manager of Football, Tom Harley, would have also had much input. The Swans have been very prudent and clever in snaring the duel premiership captain to head football at the club. Harley has long been a fan of the way the Swans go about their football and with him onboard the football department can only get better. The advantage of Tom Harley is that he may be able to stem the flow of players south as the COLA disappears. Harley was at the Cats when they had just won two premierships and knows the strategies instituted by the club for player retention. This will have huge implications on how Sydney retains players and coaching staff over the next five to ten years.

Crouch was always going to end up as Development Manager at some time or other. His success with the development group is astounding and his rapport with the players is wonderful. Marty Mattner has proved his value in developing young players as a player and then again soon after he retired and started helping his good mate Crouchy.

The Swans Coaching and Development team looks much stronger this way and expect big things in 2015.

[ugg]

I still can't figure out whether this means that Crouch or Mattner will be the Reserves coach next year. Or maybe coach by committee.

[Auntie.Gerald]

im happy also wolf

Francou in - the stoppages was an area that continually concerned me in 2014 and we were exposed by the Hawks in melb both games this year.........not only did they make us look ordinary at winning the ball they also had the class down field to capitalise on their possession

mummy was a big loss in 2014 season and we carried ourselves thru some games via our superior depth and rebounding from our defensive arc but lets be honest buddy indv won us a fair few games...........unfortunately Alastair strategically picked apart with his hbf pushing early off their counterpart and pushed into the midfield running thru in droves - yes i agree with pagans paddock down field for buddy but the hawks know how to beat this and they a good enough to execute and not get caught out on the rebound

Crouch no brainer

Harley too is a class above

[wolftone57]

I still can't figure out whether this means that Crouch or Mattner will be the Reserves coach next year. Or maybe coach by committee.

Mattner will be coach and Crouch moves to Development Manager same as Josh was.

[wolftone57]

im happy also wolf

Francou in - the stoppages was an area that continually concerned me in 2014 and we were exposed by the Hawks in melb both games this year.........not only did they make us look ordinary at winning the ball they also had the class down field to capitalise on their possession

mummy was a big loss in 2014 season and we carried ourselves thru some games via our superior depth and rebounding from our defensive arc but lets be honest buddy indv won us a fair few games...........unfortunately Alastair strategically picked apart with his hbf pushing early off their counterpart and pushed into the midfield running thru in droves - yes i agree with pagans paddock down field for buddy but the hawks know how to beat this and they a good enough to execute and not get caught out on the rebound

Crouch no brainer

Harley too is a class above

Agree AG this changes to ballgame somewhat. Harley is a super manager. He micromanages and everyone who has worked with him praises the way he goes about it. He is also a huge fan of the Swans, lives in Sydney and loves it here. Tom believes we have to best young list in the AFL and he will go out of his way to keep them here. What Geelong did to retain players ,hawks are doing the same thing, was to get individual sponsors through their management so the money coming from outside sources didn't effect the salary cap. I think this sort of deal will probably replace COLA.

Josh is a master tactician. He could have won a premiership with Roosters had he stayed. But he chose to join Sydney. Another who has such a high respect for our club. We are only now developing the team on and off field, after the loss of major players (Colless, Stone etc) to take us to the next premiership.

[JPK12]

Does that mean no more Harley on 7? You could tell he was a swans fan everytime he commentated our games. He had to hide his loyalty to the cats though by pointing out obvious flaws when they were playing just to be seen as impartial.

Who was our stoppage coach this year? Our set ups were woeful and makes sense after the embarrassment of the GF in which we lost it in the middle no surprises that he was moved on.

Was it Dew?

[wolftone57]

Does that mean no more Harley on 7? You could tell he was a swans fan everytime he commentated our games. He had to hide his loyalty to the cats though by pointing out obvious flaws when they were playing just to be seen as impartial.

Who was our stoppage coach this year? Our set ups were woeful and makes sense after the embarrassment of the GF in which we lost it in the middle no surprises that he was moved on.

Was it Dew?

Yes it was Dew I think. Mattner might have had a hand in it as well. The rotations, set ups and strategies were woeful as you say. But the thing I was astounded about was going back to strategies that had failed in 2011 & early 2012. The whole set up was wrong and the position the players found themselves in was always going to leave them behind their opponents. Plus the amount of times I saw a set up with at least one opposition player free was astounding. Robbie Grey, Trent Cotchin, Hodge, Abblett & so many others got huge numbers against us. So strange and baffling. But they didn't change them for the whole season or not greatly. I think that was Longmire's fault, after all he is the boss.

Can't wait to see Francou's new rotations, set ups and strategies.

[JPK12]

I think we relied on JPK way too much to extract the ball and coaches found out that you stop him put a loose player around the stoppage to grab the spillage and then hand ball it to a running player was the way to beat us and well it worked. Only the good teams were able to beat us using this method.

A lot of times this year when we played lowly teams that i thought if they had a Grey or a hodge we wouldnt be so far high up the ladder.

But lets be glad they have addressed it, gives me a lot more confidence for next year and when we play the hawks.

[wolftone57]

I think we relied on JPK way too much to extract the ball and coaches found out that you stop him put a loose player around the stoppage to grab the spillage and then hand ball it to a running player was the way to beat us and well it worked. Only the good teams were able to beat us using this method.

A lot of times this year when we played lowly teams that i thought if they had a Grey or a hodge we wouldnt be so far high up the ladder.

But lets be glad they have addressed it, gives me a lot more confidence for next year and when we play the hawks.

I have been watching a lot of games and Luke Parker extracts almost as much as Joey. Certainly they cut off Joey's quick handball out but that is mainly at centre bounces. the stoppages around the ground were a different problem. We were leaving one to two opposition players free on the opposite side of the set up free every time. A recipe for disaster if you don't win the ball your way. The difference between our set up and the Hawks for instance is they relished their free players but sent two players extra to cover our free players. That still allows them two free and shuts down our free players. I am amazed Longmire let it go on all through the GF. It was obvious not only then but during the year. Most of the competition did take advantage of it but our mids defensive running and our great defence saved us time and again. We didn't do well at stoppages, clearances and centre clearances but were in the top four for rebounds. Very hard to win games putting your defence under huge pressure when the opposition is very good. Eventually every team will set up the same way as Hawks and then we would be cactus. But with Francou in charge of these situations maybe we can get better first ball use while shutting down the other mob.

[mcs]

I think we relied on JPK way too much to extract the ball and coaches found out that you stop him put a loose player around the stoppage to grab the spillage and then hand ball it to a running player was the way to beat us and well it worked. Only the good teams were able to beat us using this method.

A lot of times this year when we played lowly teams that i thought if they had a Grey or a hodge we wouldnt be so far high up the ladder.

But lets be glad they have addressed it, gives me a lot more confidence for next year and when we play the hawks.

I don't have confidence they have addressed it, but obviously they have recognised its a problem to be fixed, and hopefully this will see a marked improvement in this area next year.

[Mountain Man]

"We were leaving one to two opposition players free on the opposite side of the set up free every time. A recipe for disaster if you don't win the ball your way. The difference between our set up and the Hawks for instance is they relished their free players but sent two players extra to cover our free players".

Wolfie,
if they had 1 or 2 free players, and 2 on our one 'free' player, we must have had 4 or 5 'uninvolved' players. I never saw that.

[baskin]

I don't have confidence they have addressed it, but obviously they have recognised its a problem to be fixed, and hopefully this will see a marked improvement in this area next year.

I hope this interview with Tom Harley will make you feel better. He covers the change in coaching and addressing the problems of the GF.

Swan Tom settling in to new role - sydneyswans.com.au

[wolftone57]

"We were leaving one to two opposition players free on the opposite side of the set up free every time. A recipe for disaster if you don't win the ball your way. The difference between our set up and the Hawks for instance is they relished their free players but sent two players extra to cover our free players".

Wolfie,
if they had 1 or 2 free players, and 2 on our one 'free' player, we must have had 4 or 5 'uninvolved' players. I never saw that.

I don't think you get my meaning. What happens at a stoppage. Players go to an opposition player. What we were doing was allowing one to two opposition players free on one side of the stoppage and setting up more players on the opposite side. What Hawks did was move more players up closer to the stoppage so they could block us from a clearance. We on the other hand just allowed the opposition to have the extra numbers on the other side and if they got the ball it was out. Our defenders tend to stay back and mind the centre, half back area and not necessarily move up to cover their opponent. This is part of our defensive set up and has been for three years.

[wolftone57]

I hope this interview with Tom Harley will make you feel better. He covers the change in coaching and addressing the problems of the GF.

Swan Tom settling in to new role - sydneyswans.com.au

Yes I listened to that. very good. Far too many gaps in stoppages & clearances. Marty was a backman first and foremost not s mid. He originally started as a half forward at Adelaide but rarely played mid. We had the same problem in 2011 when Blakey was mids coach. It was a disaster in reality. Defenders make great defensive coaches but very rarely make great or even passable mids coaches. Very happy to see Tom handling a question about this.

[Auntie.Gerald]

There are certain people you meet that you know are headed one way...........and that is up for Tom Harley

A natural leader, confident and clear in his communication and I would suspect he will go on to to great things for the Swans !