GVGjr
15-02-2008, 08:08 AM
Rodney Eade and Western Bulldogs pumped for 2008 (http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,23214274-19742,00.html)
Rodney Eade and the Western Bulldogs endured a horror end to last season after starting it as a premiership chance. But after a turbulent off-season, an optimistic Eade says the Doggies have found the formula for success.
MS: Nervous?
RE: What about? Darwin? Sitting down with you?
The 2008 season, smarty pants.
Not nervous as in what-ifs and maybes. More a nervous excitement about our recruits, the way we've prepared over the break, the players' attitude, our resolve.
Last year finished up embarrassing, would you agree?
At the end, it was really disappointing, but it was six games, not the whole season (the Bulldogs were 9-6 after Round 15).
Those six games were bad. Bad. One of them -- West Coast -- you could probably find an excuse for that one. We had five midfielders out and were always going to struggle. The way we trailed off at the end, though, was very disappointing. Poor. There's no doubt about that.
Even at 9-6, you hadn't been convincing.
Probably up to Round 10 we weren't, then we won four out of five. Beat Brisbane, Fremantle, Essendon and Port Adelaide, who were all around where we were. We didn't see it coming, to be honest. We just knew late in the year there were some things we needed to rectify.
Who takes the blame, accepts the responsibility?
You (the coach) have got to take most of it, there's no doubt about that. You are in charge. You can always look back and say perhaps we didn't do this, we didn't do that as a group, but perhaps we should have corrected those things early on.
Conditioning?
A bit of that. We had six or seven players who didn't run before Christmas (2006) and that always catches up with you. Then there were injuries.
We've changed our pre-season program to get more volume into it this time. We also needed to modify the game plan.
Over the break, we set down our aims and one of them was the game plan. Last year, we lost a lot of our height and were forced to play a certain way.
Chris Grant was going to be part of a taller forward line and only played a few games (five), Will Minson hurt his back, and so on.
What was the overriding emotion: disappointment, anger, frustration, confusion?
I was disappointed, but I wasn't angry at the players. Probably the Hawthorn game was the one where I may have given them a bit of a . . . I was really angry that day, but, over that seven-week period, it was all about staying positive.
In the Kangaroos game, even the Hawthorn game, there were guys who I rate as good workers who just got run away from. Mental fatigue as much as anything, and we've got to get better in that aspect, but certainly physical fatigue, too.
I thought the (Round 21) Hawthorn game was really disappointing. We were four goals up early (and six points up at halftime) and got beaten by 84. That was a capitulation.
What about all the rumours about the club in recent times? You sound as dysfunctional as the Liberal Party?
Yeah, but they are all false. Everybody, you included, has said, 'I've got an impeccable source', but they're not right.
David (Smorgon) was supposed to be leaving; I was leaving; Cam (Rose) was leaving, and Cam and I had punched on, all that sort of stuff.
Have you bothered to try to trace the source?
I think a few people in the club are trying to track it, yeah, but the fact I know they are false means it doesn't worry me too much. I reckon it's scuttlebutt, that someone's actually been trying to drive a wedge. Don't know who.
So, tell me about your relationship with the chief executive (Rose).
I think we've got a very good working relationship. Cam's a creative genius. The redevelopment (of Whitten Oval), this thing at Edgewater, the profit last year. Look, we've had some disagreements, but that's largely because of the role I had last year and the direct dealings I had with him on non-footy matters.
I didn't have the skill set for things like budgets and protocols and long reports; I put my hand up for that. Not that there were any blues or blow-ups. I was quite surprised that there were suggestions all the time that there was a rift.
Then, since James (Fantasia) came on board (as general manager of football operations and head of the football department), since my role's changed, the relationship has been terrific.
So there's no tension when you and he cross paths?
No. Not at all. It's like me and a friend, you are going to have disagreements. It's not all going to be luvvy-duvvy and pat-on-the-back stuff, and we probably don't mix socially, but that's OK, there's a very respectful working relationship. Cam's very good at what he does and hopefully he thinks the same about me.
James (Fantasia)?
Terrific. He's been good and it's good to get a good footy person. Not that Matthew (Drain) wasn't, but it wasn't the same role, either. Matthew had a lot of other stuff on his plate. James has got a fair bit on his plate, too, but I think he understands what we require as a coaching staff and a football department, and that's good.
You mentioned Drain, you've got none of Drain, (Sean) Wellman or (Chris) Bond from last year, and (Brett) Montgomery went elsewhere (Carlton). Only Leon Cameron stayed.
The dots are all separate, but people like to link them up. In Wellman's case, he is a good friend of Dean Bailey (Melbourne's new coach) and he will get to look after the backline there.
Whoever leaves, they all get replaced and the new ones bring new skills (Wayne Campbell has become full-time, Peter Dean and Brad Gotch have joined the club, and John Barnes and David Schwarz are specialist assistants).
What about the president's disparaging comments about you after the season?
To be honest, I've moved on from that.
OK, but have you addressed it with him?
We had a chat. I liken it to Mark Blake being dropped (by Geelong) for the Grand Final. There's a lot of emotion going through the young lad's head, but him saying things publicly is not going to do anyone any good. Not going to do him any good, not going to do the club any good. From my point of view, you take stock, you talk to a few people, and you move on.
I was fortunate, growing up in a club like Hawthorn, where team comes first, second and third, so you think, 'It's a good group of players. I'm excited about the future. I think we can achieve a fair bit'.
We are all on the same page, Cam, David and myself. There's no sense walking backwards into the future. I think there's a new frontier for us.
What about Libba's diatribe?
What about it? It's just a cheap shot, isn't it?
Did Granty want to play on?
He to'd and fro'd. The delicate thing for a coach and a club is the retirement of a great player, an icon of the club.
I asked him where his head was at late in the season and he said he didn't really know but that he probably was more likely to retire.
Then, just before the Hawthorn game, he said, 'I want to have a chat with you after the game'. He came and spoke to me and said, 'I've changed my mind. I think I've got something to offer. I'd like to keep going'.
We'd just been belted; I told him it wasn't the right time. I said, 'Come and have a chat with the match committee on Monday morning. Put the cards on the table'. He came and spoke to us, and spoke very well, as he does. It went something like, 'I think I can play 10-12 games. It would be more an educational thing. I could teach (Will) Minson and (Stephen) Tiller and these players as a forward, plus leadership, but I don't think I can play in defence, I don't think I can play loose man and roll backwards', as he had done.
I told him we needed to think about it as a match committee. In the end, the consensus was it was better for him to retire. At 34 and a key-position player, they generally don't get better, and he had missed a lot of footy.
The match committee generally thought he still might be good enough, but would he be holding up someone younger getting game time? Is he going to help us win a flag? Probably not. Let's plan for the future.
He was fine when we told him. 'Yeah, understand,' he said.
I'd love to have coached him when he was the great player he was. Just super impressed with him as a person and as a player.
Aker (Jason Akermanis)?
Everyone's a victim of their own standards. The biggest strength in his game, his kicking, probably let him down last year (he kicked 20.17, with several other shots falling short). If he had used the ball like he normally does, I reckon he would have had a very good season. You look at him now. His thighs are a lot bigger. He's got that power back. He's had a smarter pre-season.
Apart from (Ryan) Griffen's return, why do you improve?
(Mitch) Hahn, Minson back, the inclusion of (Ben) Hudson and (Scott) Welsh, the bigger bodies.
We are not as bad as we performed last year. The improvement is going to come from our better preparation to start with. Most guys have put some size on (roughly 3-4kg). We are going to change the structure of the side (more height) and the work we've been doing is going to make us a more aggressive side, if that's the right phrase. We need to do that to compete with the bigger teams.
Hudson has fitted in really well and Welsh is a good inclusion. He kicked 49.19 last year.
What does that mean for (Brad) Johnson?
Brad is good enough to play higher and still be able to get back (close to goal), and we can play him in the midfield as well. We are hoping he can still kick 45-50.
Scott West?
He'll rotate a lot more this year. We've got to prepare for when he's not here after another year or two. We'll give more time to (Shaun) Higgins and Griffen and these players through the midfield.
Will you make the eight?
Yep, I think we will. Some people are tipping us bottom four; we're better than that. We should have made the eight last year. There's no escaping that.
Rodney Eade and the Western Bulldogs endured a horror end to last season after starting it as a premiership chance. But after a turbulent off-season, an optimistic Eade says the Doggies have found the formula for success.
MS: Nervous?
RE: What about? Darwin? Sitting down with you?
The 2008 season, smarty pants.
Not nervous as in what-ifs and maybes. More a nervous excitement about our recruits, the way we've prepared over the break, the players' attitude, our resolve.
Last year finished up embarrassing, would you agree?
At the end, it was really disappointing, but it was six games, not the whole season (the Bulldogs were 9-6 after Round 15).
Those six games were bad. Bad. One of them -- West Coast -- you could probably find an excuse for that one. We had five midfielders out and were always going to struggle. The way we trailed off at the end, though, was very disappointing. Poor. There's no doubt about that.
Even at 9-6, you hadn't been convincing.
Probably up to Round 10 we weren't, then we won four out of five. Beat Brisbane, Fremantle, Essendon and Port Adelaide, who were all around where we were. We didn't see it coming, to be honest. We just knew late in the year there were some things we needed to rectify.
Who takes the blame, accepts the responsibility?
You (the coach) have got to take most of it, there's no doubt about that. You are in charge. You can always look back and say perhaps we didn't do this, we didn't do that as a group, but perhaps we should have corrected those things early on.
Conditioning?
A bit of that. We had six or seven players who didn't run before Christmas (2006) and that always catches up with you. Then there were injuries.
We've changed our pre-season program to get more volume into it this time. We also needed to modify the game plan.
Over the break, we set down our aims and one of them was the game plan. Last year, we lost a lot of our height and were forced to play a certain way.
Chris Grant was going to be part of a taller forward line and only played a few games (five), Will Minson hurt his back, and so on.
What was the overriding emotion: disappointment, anger, frustration, confusion?
I was disappointed, but I wasn't angry at the players. Probably the Hawthorn game was the one where I may have given them a bit of a . . . I was really angry that day, but, over that seven-week period, it was all about staying positive.
In the Kangaroos game, even the Hawthorn game, there were guys who I rate as good workers who just got run away from. Mental fatigue as much as anything, and we've got to get better in that aspect, but certainly physical fatigue, too.
I thought the (Round 21) Hawthorn game was really disappointing. We were four goals up early (and six points up at halftime) and got beaten by 84. That was a capitulation.
What about all the rumours about the club in recent times? You sound as dysfunctional as the Liberal Party?
Yeah, but they are all false. Everybody, you included, has said, 'I've got an impeccable source', but they're not right.
David (Smorgon) was supposed to be leaving; I was leaving; Cam (Rose) was leaving, and Cam and I had punched on, all that sort of stuff.
Have you bothered to try to trace the source?
I think a few people in the club are trying to track it, yeah, but the fact I know they are false means it doesn't worry me too much. I reckon it's scuttlebutt, that someone's actually been trying to drive a wedge. Don't know who.
So, tell me about your relationship with the chief executive (Rose).
I think we've got a very good working relationship. Cam's a creative genius. The redevelopment (of Whitten Oval), this thing at Edgewater, the profit last year. Look, we've had some disagreements, but that's largely because of the role I had last year and the direct dealings I had with him on non-footy matters.
I didn't have the skill set for things like budgets and protocols and long reports; I put my hand up for that. Not that there were any blues or blow-ups. I was quite surprised that there were suggestions all the time that there was a rift.
Then, since James (Fantasia) came on board (as general manager of football operations and head of the football department), since my role's changed, the relationship has been terrific.
So there's no tension when you and he cross paths?
No. Not at all. It's like me and a friend, you are going to have disagreements. It's not all going to be luvvy-duvvy and pat-on-the-back stuff, and we probably don't mix socially, but that's OK, there's a very respectful working relationship. Cam's very good at what he does and hopefully he thinks the same about me.
James (Fantasia)?
Terrific. He's been good and it's good to get a good footy person. Not that Matthew (Drain) wasn't, but it wasn't the same role, either. Matthew had a lot of other stuff on his plate. James has got a fair bit on his plate, too, but I think he understands what we require as a coaching staff and a football department, and that's good.
You mentioned Drain, you've got none of Drain, (Sean) Wellman or (Chris) Bond from last year, and (Brett) Montgomery went elsewhere (Carlton). Only Leon Cameron stayed.
The dots are all separate, but people like to link them up. In Wellman's case, he is a good friend of Dean Bailey (Melbourne's new coach) and he will get to look after the backline there.
Whoever leaves, they all get replaced and the new ones bring new skills (Wayne Campbell has become full-time, Peter Dean and Brad Gotch have joined the club, and John Barnes and David Schwarz are specialist assistants).
What about the president's disparaging comments about you after the season?
To be honest, I've moved on from that.
OK, but have you addressed it with him?
We had a chat. I liken it to Mark Blake being dropped (by Geelong) for the Grand Final. There's a lot of emotion going through the young lad's head, but him saying things publicly is not going to do anyone any good. Not going to do him any good, not going to do the club any good. From my point of view, you take stock, you talk to a few people, and you move on.
I was fortunate, growing up in a club like Hawthorn, where team comes first, second and third, so you think, 'It's a good group of players. I'm excited about the future. I think we can achieve a fair bit'.
We are all on the same page, Cam, David and myself. There's no sense walking backwards into the future. I think there's a new frontier for us.
What about Libba's diatribe?
What about it? It's just a cheap shot, isn't it?
Did Granty want to play on?
He to'd and fro'd. The delicate thing for a coach and a club is the retirement of a great player, an icon of the club.
I asked him where his head was at late in the season and he said he didn't really know but that he probably was more likely to retire.
Then, just before the Hawthorn game, he said, 'I want to have a chat with you after the game'. He came and spoke to me and said, 'I've changed my mind. I think I've got something to offer. I'd like to keep going'.
We'd just been belted; I told him it wasn't the right time. I said, 'Come and have a chat with the match committee on Monday morning. Put the cards on the table'. He came and spoke to us, and spoke very well, as he does. It went something like, 'I think I can play 10-12 games. It would be more an educational thing. I could teach (Will) Minson and (Stephen) Tiller and these players as a forward, plus leadership, but I don't think I can play in defence, I don't think I can play loose man and roll backwards', as he had done.
I told him we needed to think about it as a match committee. In the end, the consensus was it was better for him to retire. At 34 and a key-position player, they generally don't get better, and he had missed a lot of footy.
The match committee generally thought he still might be good enough, but would he be holding up someone younger getting game time? Is he going to help us win a flag? Probably not. Let's plan for the future.
He was fine when we told him. 'Yeah, understand,' he said.
I'd love to have coached him when he was the great player he was. Just super impressed with him as a person and as a player.
Aker (Jason Akermanis)?
Everyone's a victim of their own standards. The biggest strength in his game, his kicking, probably let him down last year (he kicked 20.17, with several other shots falling short). If he had used the ball like he normally does, I reckon he would have had a very good season. You look at him now. His thighs are a lot bigger. He's got that power back. He's had a smarter pre-season.
Apart from (Ryan) Griffen's return, why do you improve?
(Mitch) Hahn, Minson back, the inclusion of (Ben) Hudson and (Scott) Welsh, the bigger bodies.
We are not as bad as we performed last year. The improvement is going to come from our better preparation to start with. Most guys have put some size on (roughly 3-4kg). We are going to change the structure of the side (more height) and the work we've been doing is going to make us a more aggressive side, if that's the right phrase. We need to do that to compete with the bigger teams.
Hudson has fitted in really well and Welsh is a good inclusion. He kicked 49.19 last year.
What does that mean for (Brad) Johnson?
Brad is good enough to play higher and still be able to get back (close to goal), and we can play him in the midfield as well. We are hoping he can still kick 45-50.
Scott West?
He'll rotate a lot more this year. We've got to prepare for when he's not here after another year or two. We'll give more time to (Shaun) Higgins and Griffen and these players through the midfield.
Will you make the eight?
Yep, I think we will. Some people are tipping us bottom four; we're better than that. We should have made the eight last year. There's no escaping that.