Time to review the football dept?

[Dry Rot]

This is not meant to be hysterical like the crap on BF, but is it time to review the guys under Eade?

I'm not blaming them for our poor performances, tackling, clearances etc, but merely wondering if some fresh thinking would help?

[southerncross]

This is not meant to be hysterical like the crap on BF, but is it time to review the guys under Eade?

I'm not blaming them for our poor performances, tackling, clearances etc, but merely wondering if some fresh thinking would help?

There has been a significant increase in footy department spending but on face value alone it obviously hasn't worked. There might be some intangibles that have caused this but injuries alone are not the reason for such a decline.

I think all that can be done is to cast a critical eye over what other teams like the Hawks and Power have been able to do to achieve such great results and see if there is anything that we can take out of that.

With Bond likely to stay there could still be some other changes made.

[Bulldog Revolution]

This is not meant to be hysterical like the crap on BF, but is it time to review the guys under Eade?

I'm not blaming them for our poor performances, tackling, clearances etc, but merely wondering if some fresh thinking would help?

It has to be done, if we dont get to the bottom of why we are not performing then it will be very hard to plan improvements.

Clearly our game plan has been continually exposed all year and Eade will majorly have to adjust his coaching based on that.

[DOG GOD]

we need a weights coach
we need a tackling coach

[GVGjr]

we need a weights coach
we need a tackling coach

We have a weights coach and we used a tackling coach. The coach needs to make these a higher priority on the KPI measurements

[Go_Dogs]

Will our pre-season and season be audited internally, or do we hire someone else to come in and look at what we did and help identify the areas that we need to improve on? Certainly from my viewing perspective, our running ability has been not as good this year. We really need to work hard to combine a good power and bulk building pre-season with one that improves our aerobic capacity too. The mix has to be right, but certainly we need to improve in both areas.

[Templeton31]

alright I am going to have a little rant here. Bur not a BF-like rant, a WOOF-rant. :)

I think a review of the way we train and are coached is necessary. It seems to me that how well a footballer plays is broadly based on ability when they enter the system (what the recruiters are paid to judege & select) PLUS the skills they learn and improve on from training, games and hard work.

Broadly speaking, ability + training = performance

I dont know how the club works internally etc however it seems to me that our performance has not improved over the years as quickly or to as high a level as say Hawthorn has. BF has a LOT of debates retrospectively about who should've been picked when in a draft based on performance. But I would argue that is not fair on recruiters. The recruiters 'give' coaching staff the ability/talent and the club has to improve it and get the most out of it. Its all very well to say, for example, that Patrick Wiggins and Patrick Bowden from the 99 draft were bad picks and that Clayton cant pick talls but what about the other side of the equation? Is our training & coaching getting the most out of our talls? or in general? I would say Hawthorn since Clarkson arrived have been very very good at improving their players and not only getting the best out of them but improving what their best is. Its easy to say oh well they had very good draft picks but I think thats skimming over the fact that their young players are improving all the time and getting better at the game. Would Franklin have become as good as he has (so far) if he'd come to the Bulldogs?

Based on performance, which using my equation is ability + training I think we should be concerned about the way we are doing things. players that have been in our system a long time dont seem to have put on enough strength, we dont seem to have any good fwds coming through, our defenders seem good at rebounding but less so at defending, we dont seem to be developing in-and-under midfielders. It is an area that Rocket and the club needs to look at.

[hargs37]

Actually they offered the guy who's doing the kangas fitness stuff a 2 year contract near the end of last year. He knocked it back because he had already started preparing the roo's for this season. Find it a bit strange when people call for changes to the coaching department. In my time I've never seen a ruckcoach, of fitness man ever get a kick or drop a mark. There will be some changes to ther footy department, because that always happens. This year i think the biggest changes will come with the playing group. Alredy 3 gone (Darc Monty and Robbo) and maybe one more (turtle), but the time has come for the hard decisions on some of those other middle of the road players. I'd sugest there would be about 10 untouchables , then the rest are fair game!

[Dry Rot]

Welcome to Woof, hargs37.

[Templeton31]

Actually they offered the guy who's doing the kangas fitness stuff a 2 year contract near the end of last year. He knocked it back because he had already started preparing the roo's for this season. Find it a bit strange when people call for changes to the coaching department. In my time I've never seen a ruckcoach, of fitness man ever get a kick or drop a mark. There will be some changes to ther footy department, because that always happens. This year i think the biggest changes will come with the playing group. Alredy 3 gone (Darc Monty and Robbo) and maybe one more (turtle), but the time has come for the hard decisions on some of those other middle of the road players. I'd sugest there would be about 10 untouchables , then the rest are fair game!

welcome aboard the woof-train Hargs37.

I hear what your saying about ruck coaches, fitness guys etc. not actually getting kicks but thats not their job is it? without the fitness coach presumably players would just turn up at training and play kick-to-kick all night. might be good for marking but they wouldnt be very fit and would get flogged on game day. part of a coaches job for mine is to set the club up so that fitness, mental strength, tactics, team cohesion, skills and technique are all at their max. that maximises the chances of players getting a kick, kicking it to the best spot, having other players at that spot etc. and for me we are falling down in those areas.

[Go_Dogs]

Coaching and training staff are very important in ensuring these young men get the most out of themselves.

[Twodogs]

We need a full time sports psychologist.

[Go_Dogs]

Who does the weight training/conditioning down at the club?
In my time rowing, the most important person for our group was our weights trainer/conditioner. The guy was aged in his late 50's, yet he still did the work that we did with us - not the same times or things like that - but he was someone who was so inspirational and motivational with both his actions and words. Seeing a guy in his late 50's do back to back 6km ergo's with the senior and then more junior members of the squad, then come after we'd done the weights session return for 3 x 2.5km race simulation ergo's as well, (ergo = rowing machine), was incredible. The guy had completed a degree science, knew a lot about conditioning, supplements, structuring our training so we were peaking at the right time of the year, and was just excellent at everything. He was also a school teacher who worked well with a few of our guys who struggled with a few other problems etc. His ability to pull our group together, make us work hard and give us the belief was so important. Out of all the coaches and specialists who worked with us, his impact was easily the most profound. I'm rambling and struggling to explain the influence he had in words - so excuse me. But I feel the club is lacking something similar. Someone to bring the group together, to set high standard and high levels that need to be met (everyone in the group has to have done the same work, the same program, so if someone gets injured or something happens, a replacement is there), to inspire and motivate, to keep a level head, to offer honest advice and be someone to confide in.

Obviously with a large coaching staff I'd imagine that there are people there to fill that role, but perhaps not the right people to get the messages through. We have to remember that although these guys are highly paid athletes, they are also just young men who go through ups and downs physically and mentally like everyone else.

I think some sort of sports psychologist could be a worthwhile option for the club to go down, but I'd honestly be surprised if they haven't already.

[Twodogs]

Our weights and conditioning have been a disastor for several years. One of the first things Eade commented about when he arrived was that there was no paperwork or records at all about the programs the players had done in the previous two years. He put a very well regarded bloke in the position but he only lasted a month or so before he was poached by the Australian Cricket Board when Erroll Alcott went to South Sydney.



At the moment Justin Cordy is going into his second preseason with the players, hopefully he can see out the whole program and we start to see the benefits next year.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Our weights and conditioning have been a disastor for several years. One of the first things Eade commented about when he arrived was that there was no paperwork or records at all about the programs the players had done in the previous two years. He put a very well regarded bloke in the position but he only lasted a month or so before he was poached by the Australian Cricket Board when Erroll Alcott went to South Sydney.



At the moment Justin Cordy is going into his second preseason with the players, hopefully he can see out the whole program and we start to see the benefits next year.

Justin Cordy was the bloke CA stole off us.

We've got the idiot that Geelong sacked who then tried to sell confidential player information.

[LostDoggy]

Justin Cordy was the bloke CA stole off us.

We've got the idiot that Geelong sacked who then tried to sell confidential player information.
That will be Loris Bertoluci?
I also thought we had one in between them two.

[Go_Dogs]

The club really needs to do something about it then, urgently. You don't need the best facilities (it helps) but having the staff to get the most out of the players and implement a strong plan going forward that we'll see results from is so important.

Any idea how long a contract we gave that Loris guy? The head of physical performance in the information I have is listed as Cameron Falloon - whom I know very little about.

[Sockeye Salmon]

The club really needs to do something about it then, urgently. You don't need the best facilities (it helps) but having the staff to get the most out of the players and implement a strong plan going forward that we'll see results from is so important.

Any idea how long a contract we gave that Loris guy? The head of physical performance in the information I have is listed as Cameron Falloon - whom I know very little about.

Your right. Cameron Falloon is Physical Performance Manager.

Loris Bertoluci must have got the flick.

[Templeton31]

Your right. Cameron Falloon is Physical Performance Manager.

Loris Bertoluci must have got the flick.

My memory says Loris was a "consultant" for a time. dont know if he still is.

[The Underdog]

Would love to see them try and get a Hird or Buckley, if he retires, on the coaching staff. Someone with top level talent but a real steel. I think to have someone like Hird would command an amazing amount of respect from the players. Might be dreaming a bit but
we certainly need to make some changes around the place.

[LostDoggy]

Would love to see them try and get a Hird or Buckley,
Buckley to teach them how to be full of themselves.

[The Underdog]

Buckley to teach them how to be full of themselves.

Certainly beats them being too scared to kick the footy. Confidence and fitness/strength seem to be big problems atm

[Twodogs]

My memory says Loris was a "consultant" for a time. dont know if he still is.



T31 is right. Loris came in midseason and did a report about why we had so many kinee injuries last year IIRC.


Falloon is the guy I meant. Is he from a rugby union background




From all reports Cordy was a huge loss and did some amazing work with the Australian cricketers in the lead up to this years World Cup. I saw a picture of Symonds, Hayden and the all rounder guy who crys all the time in the Carribean-they looked ripped and didnt have an ounce of anything but muscle. I swore loudly and turned the page.

[Go_Dogs]

What worries me is that amount of people that have filled the position of late and the fact that it was such a struggle to even work out who it was, haha.

This is what I could dig up on the guy:


THE Western Bulldogs have lured Cameron Falloon from Geelong to head their physical performance department.

Falloon has a background in soccer programs, including at Derby County in Britain. He replaced Cats fitness coach Loris Bertolacci when he was sacked this year.

October 06. http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,20514704%255E19766,00.html

[LostDoggy]

Certainly beats them being too scared to kick the footy. Confidence and fitness/strength seem to be big problems atm
Bucks priorities are himself and then the pies. He won't go to us as an assistant coach as he is a pies man and we don't suit the image. Apart from being an idiot.