Two games in...Thoughts on McCartney?

[dog town]

Just after a few opinions on the way the new coach is tracking? Personally I am stoked with our new coach. I have enjoyed the way we have gone about things and the way Macca conducts himself. The players like him and he seems to have a really good relationship with the players. I have seen plenty of things to like in his 2 games in charge so far.

He has them playing a definitive style and it was obvious from the first pre season game that the playing group had adapted to it and embraced it. Regardless of whether it is the right style to play for our group (I think it is) it is really impressive that he has already got them playing such a specific brand of football. It shows buy in from the players and shows that he certainly knows how to convey a message. Yes it is a professional environment and they have a long time to work on these things but lots of other clubs have had trouble getting teams to change a style of play especially changing it so dramatically.

I love that I see progression in lots of players individually. I see them make a mistake one week and the next week they play it differently. We are doing the basics at a far higher level. Our positioning around packs and ability to extricate the ball from congestion cleanly is much better. This is not a criticism of Eade. Eade was a fantastic coach and I hope McCartney can be as successful as he was but like players different coaches have different strengths.

Under Eade I was often frustrated by the positioning of some players at contests and even basic things like getting up front and square to a marking contest. Can you remember our side ever having as many front and square gathers in a game? On Saturday night we murdered Adelaide in patches just by creating a contest and having players getting to the right spot at the front of the pack. In the past our players had a tendency to run down the side of the pack or forward of the play.

These little things will not win us a premiership or even guarantee us a finals birth but they are incredibly important and something I always felt we were missing. We have some huge holes that need filling but getting these things right as a foundation is absolutely the right way to go IMO.

Something that stands out to me that we are bringing into our game is the ability to stand up in traffic and turn dead balls into wins for us. We are getting really good at winning balls that are about to called for a ball up or going out of bounds. Just with the way we are protecting the space around the ball and standing up to release players with little handballs. I watch replays of Geelong games regularly and it is a Geelong trait. They just win more of the little contests within contests than other sides.

We have played 2 good football sides and are still in a transition phase but in both games we completely dominated patches. We had Adelaide completely pinned in its own half for almost 75% of the 3rd quarter on Saturday night. Against West Coast we recovered from a horrific start to really take control for patches of the match. If we had of got a bit more reward I am sure we would not have dropped away. Not many sides will compete that strongly with West Coast for 3 quarters this year I assure you.

We have some glaring deficiencies that need fixing. None of these were of McCartneys making. He obviously needs to do some work on how we can make better use of our forward entries. I like the way we are able to create congestion and then burst away from that with guys like Dahlhouse and Griff. It is the next kick we are having trouble with. I liked the way we addressed it in the 3rd quarter on Saturday. We seemed to hold onto the footy a bit more when we had nothing on. It will take time and obviously we need to improve the personnel at our disposal.

We need some players that have a bit more skill with ball in hand and some pace to break the lines but the best way to counter that at this stage is keeping the ball either in our hands or in congestion for as long as possible. We are going a long way towards doing that already.

I am enjoying the combative and organised way we are playing. It is obvious we are playing to a specific game plan based around having numbers around the ball, contested footy and short passing. I like it, I like the way it plays to our strengths and I like the way the players are embracing it.

We are 0-2 so we obviously have some work to do. I am certainly not saying we will win the premiership and I would be surprised if we make the finals but I think we are on the right path. Watching us play at the moment is like watching a light bulb switch on in the players heads. To me I can just see them starting to see the merits in the way we are playing. They need only refine it and apply it for longer to get some results. I might be wrong but I am certainly a fan of the way McCartney is going about things so far.

[ledge]

His priority this pre season is obvious and working, next project should be the forward line and how to score, whether this year fully focusses on the pre season all in attitude I dont know, is it one year one priority?
I am happy at thye moment with what I see, i see some delistings happening too at the end of year if you arent hard.
He has to get to know each players personality , strengths etc its a learning players attitudes and skills year for him.

[AndrewP6]

DT, no offence, but your last name isn't McCartney, is it? :) What a glowing endorsement of a guy who's been in the job for about five minutes. :eek:

I can see improvement in their contested ball work, but I also see a lot that is exactly the same from 2011. Long kicks to no-one, players throwing the ball onto the boot without looking, reactive play (waiting until something happens before they move), and shocking defensive lapses. Yes, I know it's early days, that's why I can't concur with all of your comments. If I had the job (heaven help the side if that was the case :) ), I'd have done more work to address the terrible skill errors - getting the ball is great, not so much if you then cough it up.

Players adapting to the plan should be an expectation not a compliment - as you noted they are professionals, who are doing this for a living. Which goes back to my displeasure at their skills.

McCartney has said all the right things so far, but I'll wait a while before deciding whether he's the right man. Don't have anything against him, it's just a wait and see, as far as I'm concerned.

[Rocco Jones]

Totally agree. We have a clear style and the players really seem to be into it.

You mention taking our chances vs Eagles and Griff's burst. I think if we had Griff in Rd 1, along with the chances, we would have got a lot closer.

On burst players, our style requires less of them but the ones we have need to be high quality. Griff, Dahl and Cooney part time give us that.

[dog town]

DT, no offence, but your last name isn't McCartney, is it? :) What a glowing endorsement of a guy who's been in the job for about five minutes. :eek:

.

I agree with most of what you say. I guess I just like making calls before evidence is around to back it up. I have seen things that I really like about what we are doing. Easier thing to do would be to wait and see how it eventuates then post an opinion. It is only my view from the way I see football. I may be wrong but to me he is going about it the right way. I have not said we are going to dominate the league. I just think he is doing most things as well as he possibly could with what he has been given.





Players adapting to the plan should be an expectation not a compliment - as you noted they are professionals, who are doing this for a living. Which goes back to my displeasure at their skills.

. So many teams fall down with this though. Have a look at Melbourne at the moment. Plenty of teams around that dont even seem to be able to settle on an actual style. It is really hard to teach a new game plan in one pre season. I only coach at local level but I dont think people should under estimate how hard it is to get guys to buy in to something that quickly.




I can see improvement in their contested ball work, but I also see a lot that is exactly the same from 2011. Long kicks to no-one, players throwing the ball onto the boot without looking, reactive play (waiting until something happens before they move), and shocking defensive lapses. Yes, I know it's early days, that's why I can't concur with all of your comments. If I had the job (heaven help the side if that was the case :) ), I'd have done more work to address the terrible skill errors - getting the ball is great, not so much if you then cough it up.

. Dont have the exact numbers but I am pretty sure our ball retention has been ok. Obviously we are minimising risky kicks with our short kicking but we have devised a way to hold onto the ball. It is the kick in the front third of the ground that needs some work I guess.

[dog town]

Totally agree. We have a clear style and the players really seem to be into it.

You mention taking our chances vs Eagles and Griff's burst. I think if we had Griff in Rd 1, along with the chances, we would have got a lot closer.

On burst players, our style requires less of them but the ones we have need to be high quality. Griff, Dahl and Cooney part time give us that. We seem to be drawing traffic up the ground leaving space behind for those guys to be released into. The players seeem aware of it. Quite a few times Libba, Boyd etc have held off on handballs to draw a player and then release the 3 guys you mentioned out the back of the contest.

I am not as shocked that we chased Matty Bate now. Was obvious on Saturday night that we needed another moving option across half forward on the weekend.

[AndrewP6]

I agree with most of what you say. I guess I just like making calls before evidence is around to back it up. I have seen things that I really like about what we are doing. Easier thing to do would be to wait and see how it eventuates then post an opinion. It is only my view from the way I see football. I may be wrong but to me he is going about it the right way. I have not said we are going to dominate the league. I just think he is doing most things as well as he possibly could with what he has been given.

Fair enough, I prefer to wait and see. I've posted my thoughts on the club changing coach, I'm happy to give Paul his dues if he can come up with the goods.




So many teams fall down with this though. Have a look at Melbourne at the moment. Plenty of teams around that dont even seem to be able to settle on an actual style. It is really hard to teach a new game plan in one pre season. I only coach at local level but I dont think people should under estimate how hard it is to get guys to buy in to something that quickly.

I think Melbourne's biggest issue isn't buying into the coach's plan, I think it's that they're poo :). They simply don't have the talent, IMO. Neeld's plan will need to be very simple with that lot.

Dont have the exact numbers but I am pretty sure our ball retention has been ok. Obviously we are minimising risky kicks with our short kicking but we have devised a way to hold onto the ball. It is the kick in the front third of the ground that needs some work I guess.

Agree, and in the early going, I've seen this sort of ordinary kicking elsewhere too.

[Ghost Dog]

Fair enough, I prefer to wait and see. I've posted my thoughts on the club changing coach, I'm happy to give Paul his dues if he can come up with the goods.




I think Melbourne's biggest issue isn't buying into the coach's plan, I think it's that they're poo :). They simply don't have the talent, IMO. Neeld's plan will need to be very simple with that lot.


Agree, and in the early going, I've seen this sort of ordinary kicking elsewhere too.

Paul? Ringo Starr as Assistant coach? :D

It's a bit early to tell with Mac, but he has a good communication style and don't forget, a bunch of good assistants. Says the right things but we badly need wins to underscore it. What you can say is that players are responding to him. They seem to love working with him and that's great to hear. His philosophy of coaching is easy enough for the layman to understand.

[AndrewP6]

Paul? Ringo Starr as Assistant coach? :D

It's more creative than "Macca", but hasn't really caught on! :)

[The Bulldogs Bite]

I agree with much of what you said DT. An astute post.

We need to have patience -- will the board have it? It might depend on where they see our list at. Do they truly believe we just needed a 'refresh', or are they aware we are in a rebuilding phase?

If the club puts faith behind McCartney to rebuild this list from the ground up, I have every confidence we'll be a good side in a few years time.

[Bulldog4life]

I think Melbourne's biggest issue isn't buying into the coach's plan, I think it's that they're poo :). They simply don't have the talent, IMO. Neeld's plan will need to be very simple with that lot.

Not disagreeing with you but you have to ask why seeing as they had years of early draft picks.

[Mofra]

Not disagreeing with you but you have to ask why seeing as they had years of early draft picks.
Article in the Age is bang on the money IMO - they recruited for 2008 football, not 2012 football.

[Nuggety Back Pocket]

Just after a few opinions on the way the new coach is tracking? Personally I am stoked with our new coach. I have enjoyed the way we have gone about things and the way Macca conducts himself. The players like him and he seems to have a really good relationship with the players. I have seen plenty of things to like in his 2 games in charge so far.

He has them playing a definitive style and it was obvious from the first pre season game that the playing group had adapted to it and embraced it. Regardless of whether it is the right style to play for our group (I think it is) it is really impressive that he has already got them playing such a specific brand of football. It shows buy in from the players and shows that he certainly knows how to convey a message. Yes it is a professional environment and they have a long time to work on these things but lots of other clubs have had trouble getting teams to change a style of play especially changing it so dramatically.

I love that I see progression in lots of players individually. I see them make a mistake one week and the next week they play it differently. We are doing the basics at a far higher level. Our positioning around packs and ability to extricate the ball from congestion cleanly is much better. This is not a criticism of Eade. Eade was a fantastic coach and I hope McCartney can be as successful as he was but like players different coaches have different strengths. Under Eade I was often frustrated by the positioning of some players at contests and even basic things like getting up front and square to a marking contest. Can you remember our side ever having as many front and square gathers in a game? On Saturday night we murdered Adelaide in patches just by creating a contest and having players getting to the right spot at the front of the pack. In the past our players had a tendency to run down the side of the pack or forward of the play.

These little things will not win us a premiership or even guarantee us a finals birth but they are incredibly important and something I always felt we were missing. We have some huge holes that need filling but getting these things right as a foundation is absolutely the right way to go IMO.

Something that stands out to me that we are bringing into our game is the ability to stand up in traffic and turn dead balls into wins for us. We are getting really good at winning balls that are about to called for a ball up or going out of bounds. Just with the way we are protecting the space around the ball and standing up to release players with little handballs. I watch replays of Geelong games regularly and it is a Geelong trait. They just win more of the little contests within contests than other sides.

We have played 2 good football sides and are still in a transition phase but in both games we completely dominated patches. We had Adelaide completely pinned in its own half for almost 75% of the 3rd quarter on Saturday night. Against West Coast we recovered from a horrific start to really take control for patches of the match. If we had of got a bit more reward I am sure we would not have dropped away. Not many sides will compete that strongly with West Coast for 3 quarters this year I assure you.

We have some glaring deficiencies that need fixing. None of these were of McCartneys making. He obviously needs to do some work on how we can make better use of our forward entries. I like the way we are able to create congestion and then burst away from that with guys like Dahlhouse and Griff. It is the next kick we are having trouble with. I liked the way we addressed it in the 3rd quarter on Saturday. We seemed to hold onto the footy a bit more when we had nothing on. It will take time and obviously we need to improve the personnel at our disposal.

We need some players that have a bit more skill with ball in hand and some pace to break the lines but the best way to counter that at this stage is keeping the ball either in our hands or in congestion for as long as possible. We are going a long way towards doing that already.

I am enjoying the combative and organised way we are playing. It is obvious we are playing to a specific game plan based around having numbers around the ball, contested footy and short passing. I like it, I like the way it plays to our strengths and I like the way the players are embracing it.

We are 0-2 so we obviously have some work to do. I am certainly not saying we will win the premiership and I would be surprised if we make the finals but I think we are on the right path. Watching us play at the moment is like watching a light bulb switch on in the players heads. To me I can just see them starting to see the merits in the way we are playing. They need only refine it and apply it for longer to get some results. I might be wrong but I am certainly a fan of the way McCartney is going about things so far.

This is a good summary and you should be congratulated. Keep in mind that we still have 9 players who have played less than 30 games so BMcC has been given a mountain to climb but is equal to the task. We need a lot more from the likes of Higgins, Grant, Minson and Wood who should be better players at this stage of their careers. To be perfectly honest we probably have 6-7 players currently in Griffen, Boyd, Dalhaus,Murphy, Lake, Cooney and Morris when available who would cut it in one of the better teams. We are on a steep learning curve and the senior coach who was highly regarded at both Geelong and Essendon is the best person to eventually turn our fortunes around.

[azabob]

Article in the Age is bang on the money IMO - they recruited for 2008 football, not 2012 football.

Football changes very quickly, have we drafted for 2012 football rather than 2016 football?

[jeemak]

This is a good summary and you should be congratulated. Keep in mind that we still have 9 players who have played less than 30 games so BMcC has been given a mountain to climb but is equal to the task. We need a lot more from the likes of Higgins, Grant, Minson and Wood who should be better players at this stage of their careers. To be perfectly honest we probably have 6-7 players currently in Griffen, Boyd, Dalhaus,Murphy, Lake, Cooney and Morris when available who would cut it in one of the better teams. We are on a steep learning curve and the senior coach who was highly regarded at both Geelong and Essendon is the best person to eventually turn our fortunes around.

Off topic, though I think you're discounting the potential for top notch sides to carry players that might happen to look average in average sides like the ones we're fielding on a weekly basis.

For instance, guys like Picken, Higgins, Hargrave and Giansiracusa could all play a role in a successful team if given the chance. I suspect Liberatore would be able to produce the goods as well. I guess it shows how much more important the whole is rather than the parts etc.......

[jeemak]

Truth be known I was a little disappointed with some of the commentary from McCartney when he first took over the club. For mine, some of it was a condescending towards the previous coaching staff (some still remain at the club) and the leadership group. I like people being bold or bullish with goals however, I think there is always room for humility and respect.

That aside, the jury is still well and truly out with reference to coaching performances and development. Two weeks of competitive football is not enough to determine the success of a new regeime.

I though he made a terrible mistake playing Grant as the sub in round one. And I'd be disappointed if he didn't make some structural changes to our team this week to account for the molestation of Jones up forward by either modifying the way we move the ball forward, or adding personnel to assist.

I was impressed with the effort against Adelaide, though I'm not convinced they're a top eight contender at this point. We've demonstrated a willingness to comptete that was inconsistent over the last eighteen months, and I really hope this will continue.

The game plan is still new to me, and it's hard to comment having only seen a NAB Cup game and our first home game live. I'll defer further comment until the halfway mark of the season.

[Ghost Dog]

Truth be known I was a little disappointed with some of the commentary from McCartney when he first took over the club. For mine, some of it was a condescending towards the previous coaching staff (some still remain at the club) and the leadership group. I like people being bold or bullish with goals however, I think there is always room for humility and respect.

That aside, the jury is still well and truly out with reference to coaching performances and development. Two weeks of competitive football is not enough to determine the success of a new regeime.

I though he made a terrible mistake playing Grant as the sub in round one. And I'd be disappointed if he didn't make some structural changes to our team this week to account for the molestation of Jones up forward by either modifying the way we move the ball forward, or adding personnel to assist.

I was impressed with the effort against Adelaide, though I'm not convinced they're a top eight contender at this point. We've demonstrated a willingness to comptete that was inconsistent over the last eighteen months, and I really hope this will continue.

The game plan is still new to me, and it's hard to comment having only seen a NAB Cup game and our first home game live. I'll defer further comment until the halfway mark of the season.

which comments?

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Truth be known I was a little disappointed with some of the commentary from McCartney when he first took over the club. For mine, some of it was a condescending towards the previous coaching staff (some still remain at the club) and the leadership group. I like people being bold or bullish with goals however, I think there is always room for humility and respect.

That aside, the jury is still well and truly out with reference to coaching performances and development. Two weeks of competitive football is not enough to determine the success of a new regeime.

I though he made a terrible mistake playing Grant as the sub in round one. And I'd be disappointed if he didn't make some structural changes to our team this week to account for the molestation of Jones up forward by either modifying the way we move the ball forward, or adding personnel to assist.

I was impressed with the effort against Adelaide, though I'm not convinced they're a top eight contender at this point. We've demonstrated a willingness to comptete that was inconsistent over the last eighteen months, and I really hope this will continue.

The game plan is still new to me, and it's hard to comment having only seen a NAB Cup game and our first home game live. I'll defer further comment until the halfway mark of the season.

Nice post, but I strongly disagree with the first part.

McCartney has made a point of acknowledging the efforts of the previous coaching panel, continually noting that the club had "done a lot right". If I had a dollar for every time he mentioned this, I'd be filthy rich ;)

[chef]

Pleasantly surprised by how well he got us to play in the second half against the crows. If he can get us to consistently play like that we will play finals this year.

[stefoid]

Football changes very quickly, have we drafted for 2012 football rather than 2016 football?

oooh, insightful.

I think regardless of footy style, ability to execute under pressure is a constant. If you only draft blokes who can execute under pressure, you wont be too far off the mark I reckon.

Thoughts on macca is he has done what he said he was going to do, but he hasnt yet done anything that he didnt say he was going to do, if that makes sense.

[Ghost Dog]

oooh, insightful.

I think regardless of footy style, ability to execute under pressure is a constant. If you only draft blokes who can execute under pressure, you wont be too far off the mark I reckon.

Thoughts on macca is he has done what he said he was going to do, but he hasnt yet done anything that he didnt say he was going to do, if that makes sense.

Two games in is pretty green. I'll come back to this thread half way through the season I think.

[LostDoggy]

I'll weigh up his strengths mid-way through next season.

[jeemak]

Nice post, but I strongly disagree with the first part.

McCartney has made a point of acknowledging the efforts of the previous coaching panel, continually noting that the club had "done a lot right". If I had a dollar for every time he mentioned this, I'd be filthy rich ;)

He has said this a lot, I will concede that. For mine some of the comments surrounding education of the playing group might have better been kept to himself (mainly prior to Christmas, I'm not going to dig out examples). Perhaps nobody else picked up on them, or they weren't there in the first place :o

[w3design]

He has said this a lot, I will concede that. For mine some of the comments surrounding education of the playing group might have better been kept to himself (mainly prior to Christmas, I'm not going to dig out examples). Perhaps nobody else picked up on them, or they weren't there in the first place :o

I could see how you thought that was slightly disrespectful but I think it was more in the context of his passion for coaching rather than any lack in the playing group or previous coach.

I think education and community are two of Brendan's big focuses, playing for your mates, and making sacrifices for your team. I hope the education part extends to skill execution under pressure, there was quite a focus on it during pre-season by the sound of it but it might take a little longer to learn. We might have to hold off judgement until the end of the season.

[DragzLS1]

loving Macca think he has the good to turn this team into a top 4 side over the next 3 years!

[LostDoggy]

Was at training today and Macca gave the boys a serve during a ruetine drill. All I heard was How F-----g long does it take to ..... and that's when he calmed down and explained things.
The boys changed straight away and reverted to playing the drill the way Macca wanted.
I was very impressed.

[Eastdog]

I think Macca will be a very good coach. Our first two games have been against quality opposition so it was never going to be easy. We probably won't make the 8 this year but the next couple of years will be back there I'm hoping. I got Macca's autograph at the East meets West Training Day and he spoke very well to the crowd on that day about the pre season and season ahead.

[Raw Toast]

Fantastic post DT - I'd been wondering about the positioning changes that McCartney was implementing and was interested in your views on them given your criticisms of Eade in this area over the last few years.

My sense was that Geelong borrowed from the new vision of footy that Eade brought to the Dogs, but added a very sound structural basis to it. And while I loved much of what Eade did, we never seemed to have the same kind of foundation as teams like Geelong, the Saints and Pies (all of whom did it differently, but all of whom had a strong structure to fall back on when they were struggling).

A couple of further questions and observations:

* Have you noticed if the backline is structuring up differently - I'm interested in this given the connection with the Cats. It was really noticeable in the early years of Cats dominance that they had very clear avenues coming out of defence with a player always stationed to receive the ball on a half-back flank. The game's moved past this a bit, but I suspect McCartney and his team will be re-shaping both the defensive and attacking aspects of the backline.

* Given your comments about Bate, can Grant perform this role or has the time come to shift Murphy forward again on a semi-permanent basis. I reckon McCartney would love to have a young Ryan O'Keefe, but those players don't grow on trees. Is this kind of player our most important need in the forward line at the moment?

* It's my sense that Hudson would be loving the change in contested-ball philosophy (which Eade always rated highly, but didn't seek so much to create contest after contest). It's a pity in my opinion that he'd decided to move up North before he found out who the new coach was.

[SonofScray]

One of the things that I have been considering is whether or not he is a bit slow to make changes on the fly where things aren't quite working.

I haven't got a heap of examples, but things like pushing Grant up the ground in the 3rd qtr v Crows seemed an obvious thing to do earlier on. I'm not even sure if I stand by that though myself, but it was something that came across my mind last weekend.

[azabob]

One of the things that I have been considering is whether or not he is a bit slow to make changes on the fly where things aren't quite working.

.

It is in an interesting question. From memory Eade was also criticised of this.

Is it that the coach realises their is a problem (a long time before you or I) but because they believe in "their" structures they wait and wait hoping it will come good?

[Maddog37]

He will make mistakes. He is still a rookie AFL coach.

[AndrewP6]

He has said this a lot, I will concede that. For mine some of the comments surrounding education of the playing group might have better been kept to himself (mainly prior to Christmas, I'm not going to dig out examples). Perhaps nobody else picked up on them, or they weren't there in the first place :o

FWIW, I noticed this too. He made several mentions of having to re-educate the players, having to go back to basic etc. To me, this came across as a shot at Eade and Co.

[GVGjr]

FWIW, I noticed this too. He made several mentions of having to re-educate the players, having to go back to basic etc. To me, this came across as a shot at Eade and Co.

I took it the other way in that he had to educate the team to play the way he wanted then to.

Eade had his style and philosophy on how footy should be played while McCartney has a different one.

[AndrewP6]

Was at training today and Macca gave the boys a serve during a ruetine drill. All I heard was How F-----g long does it take to ..... and that's when he calmed down and explained things.
The boys changed straight away and reverted to playing the drill the way Macca wanted.
I was very impressed.

So they should, being well-paid professionals.

[jeemak]

FWIW, I noticed this too. He made several mentions of having to re-educate the players, having to go back to basic etc. To me, this came across as a shot at Eade and Co.

Knowing that I make up 50% of a paranoid sub-section of the fan base is much better than knowing I make up 100% of a paranoid sub-section of the fan base :).

[MrMahatma]

I felt he talked a bit like he was footy Yoda in the offseason.

But we're in season now and he's 0-2. Still a lot of water to go under the bridge.

[bornadog]

A couple of further questions and observations:

* Have you noticed if the backline is structuring up differently -

BMC started off at Geelong as the back line coach and really moulded them together before moving on to be the midfield coach and we know how good they have turned out to be. I guess its going to take him a few years to get the right players to play the way he wants them to play.

I am not convinced we have the right players at the moment, but we will eventually get there.

[LostDoggy]

* It's my sense that Hudson would be loving the change in contested-ball philosophy (which Eade always rated highly, but didn't seek so much to create contest after contest). It's a pity in my opinion that he'd decided to move up North before he found out who the new coach was.

This was always the easy win bit with this team though. I said last year when we were getting carved up that we should have been playing like Sydney circa 2006-8, as we had a bunch of slow, hard ball winners but very few super talented superstars who were going to hurt teams from open play (and conversely, was a bit too slow and short to stop teams hurting us from open play).

Roos built a hard-as-nails team of parts to just keep the ball stuck inside as much as possible and isolated his two or three superstars (Barry, Goodes) to do damage one-on-one. It was a no-brainer that we had the personnel to at least do that okay in 2011 but Eade had invested too much in the style he had built since 2006 to change it too drastically, and when he started moving to it his older messages were too entrenched with the troops to get much buy-in, so you would get inconsistent commitment to the changes in game plan.

I am glad that Macca at least has had the brains to see that (you wouldn't last long in this caper without some nous), but the main thing the boys are getting from him is simply a fresh voice, saying a lot of the same things, but without even any imperative to actually win a game of football. No question Macca has had an easier job so far than Eade did last year: Eade actually had pressure on him not only to prove that the side was 'hard', but to make a GF and win the thing. It's a lot easier to just get the team to buy into the hard, ball-winning side of things if there is no imperative to actually score goals and beat teams and all that -- and since that's all we're looking for this year, and winning the hard ball has never been this team's problem, it's 'easier' at this point to look good as a coach.

Macca's real test will come over the next couple of years to prove that he can actually convert this hardness into wins, which is where you have to supplement the crazy attack on the ball with actual thinking, quality, structure and skill -- otherwise you may as well recruit a whole team of Addissons. They'll look committed every day, but you won't win a lot of games of football.

[Ghost Dog]

Just after a few opinions on the way the new coach is tracking? Personally I am stoked with our new coach. I have enjoyed the way we have gone about things and the way Macca conducts himself. The players like him and he seems to have a really good relationship with the players. I have seen plenty of things to like in his 2 games in charge so far.

He has them playing a definitive style and it was obvious from the first pre season game that the playing group had adapted to it and embraced it. Regardless of whether it is the right style to play for our group (I think it is) it is really impressive that he has already got them playing such a specific brand of football. It shows buy in from the players and shows that he certainly knows how to convey a message. Yes it is a professional environment and they have a long time to work on these things but lots of other clubs have had trouble getting teams to change a style of play especially changing it so dramatically.

I love that I see progression in lots of players individually. I see them make a mistake one week and the next week they play it differently. We are doing the basics at a far higher level. Our positioning around packs and ability to extricate the ball from congestion cleanly is much better. This is not a criticism of Eade. Eade was a fantastic coach and I hope McCartney can be as successful as he was but like players different coaches have different strengths.

Under Eade I was often frustrated by the positioning of some players at contests and even basic things like getting up front and square to a marking contest. Can you remember our side ever having as many front and square gathers in a game? On Saturday night we murdered Adelaide in patches just by creating a contest and having players getting to the right spot at the front of the pack. In the past our players had a tendency to run down the side of the pack or forward of the play.

These little things will not win us a premiership or even guarantee us a finals birth but they are incredibly important and something I always felt we were missing. We have some huge holes that need filling but getting these things right as a foundation is absolutely the right way to go IMO.

Something that stands out to me that we are bringing into our game is the ability to stand up in traffic and turn dead balls into wins for us. We are getting really good at winning balls that are about to called for a ball up or going out of bounds. Just with the way we are protecting the space around the ball and standing up to release players with little handballs. I watch replays of Geelong games regularly and it is a Geelong trait. They just win more of the little contests within contests than other sides.

We have played 2 good football sides and are still in a transition phase but in both games we completely dominated patches. We had Adelaide completely pinned in its own half for almost 75% of the 3rd quarter on Saturday night. Against West Coast we recovered from a horrific start to really take control for patches of the match. If we had of got a bit more reward I am sure we would not have dropped away. Not many sides will compete that strongly with West Coast for 3 quarters this year I assure you.

We have some glaring deficiencies that need fixing. None of these were of McCartneys making. He obviously needs to do some work on how we can make better use of our forward entries. I like the way we are able to create congestion and then burst away from that with guys like Dahlhouse and Griff. It is the next kick we are having trouble with. I liked the way we addressed it in the 3rd quarter on Saturday. We seemed to hold onto the footy a bit more when we had nothing on. It will take time and obviously we need to improve the personnel at our disposal.

We need some players that have a bit more skill with ball in hand and some pace to break the lines but the best way to counter that at this stage is keeping the ball either in our hands or in congestion for as long as possible. We are going a long way towards doing that already.

I am enjoying the combative and organised way we are playing. It is obvious we are playing to a specific game plan based around having numbers around the ball, contested footy and short passing. I like it, I like the way it plays to our strengths and I like the way the players are embracing it.

We are 0-2 so we obviously have some work to do. I am certainly not saying we will win the premiership and I would be surprised if we make the finals but I think we are on the right path. Watching us play at the moment is like watching a light bulb switch on in the players heads. To me I can just see them starting to see the merits in the way we are playing. They need only refine it and apply it for longer to get some results. I might be wrong but I am certainly a fan of the way McCartney is going about things so far.

DT having seen the St Kilda game, what are your thoughts now? Just wondered if you wanted to add anything to your thoughts above, which are good reading.

[LostDoggy]

We are just three games in , our backline is not structured the way Macca would have wanted with Morris out, Williams out ,Lake just back to full fitness , Hargrave not in form , Wood and Addison used to fill in and at least Addison is grinding out the results , Markovic under fire but coping , at the moment we just don,t have the stable back 6 a good side is based on and thats not Macca,s fault
Our forward line just hasn,t clicked , Jones is only young and is in danger of burning out without some structure around him , Minson and Roughead have been rotating through but just hav,nt made an impact , Dickson has had two games to show him the standard required he is a proven goalkicker but needs some time to get up to speed , Gia is supposed to be showing some leadership and he would all too aware that his output is down , Dahlhaus is playing higher up the ground and we are missing his energy closer to goal , we do have other options but its going to be a week to week problem based on match ups and tactics , I,d say thats a 50/50 split between the players and Macca
Our midfield has been given the responsibility to score the bulk of our goals given our offensive weaknesses , Macca has a game plan to make sure we fight for control of the ball the players have tried to follow the game plan but just have just not had the disposal efficiency and decision making to make sure the game plan is carried out correctly , this has meant that we havn,t scored quickly or easily and not consistently over 4 quarters , this lack of control and flawed decision making has starved the forward line and on turnovers allowed the opposition to rebound and spread , I,d say that 70% the players 30% Macca
So overall there is more upside to come , Macca just has to keep on keeping on , the players just have to sharpen up and focus , and the fans just have to be patient


.

[DragzLS1]

We are just three games in , our backline is not structured the way Macca would have wanted with Morris out, Williams out ,Lake just back to full fitness , Hargrave not in form , Wood and Addison used to fill in and at least Addison is grinding out the results , Markovic under fire but coping , at the moment we just don,t have the stable back 6 a good side is based on and thats not Macca,s fault
Our forward line just hasn,t clicked , Jones is only young and is in danger of burning out without some structure around him , Minson and Roughead have been rotating through but just hav,nt made an impact , Dickson has had two games to show him the standard required he is a proven goalkicker but needs some time to get up to speed , Gia is supposed to be showing some leadership and he would all too aware that his output is down , Dahlhaus is playing higher up the ground and we are missing his energy closer to goal , we do have other options but its going to be a week to week problem based on match ups and tactics , I,d say thats a 50/50 split between the players and Macca
Our midfield has been given the responsibility to score the bulk of our goals given our offensive weaknesses , Macca has a game plan to make sure we fight for control of the ball the players have tried to follow the game plan but just have just not had the disposal efficiency and decision making to make sure the game plan is carried out correctly , this has meant that we havn,t scored quickly or easily and not consistently over 4 quarters , this lack of control and flawed decision making has starved the forward line and on turnovers allowed the opposition to rebound and spread , I,d say that 70% the players 30% Macca
So overall there is more upside to come , Macca just has to keep on keeping on , the players just have to sharpen up and focus , and the fans just have to be patient


.


Spot on! I could not have added anything further to that so I will just agree. Good post