Siegfried wrote:
One of my fears with Ratten is that he will swing too far back towards possession football, IMHO we need to find a middle ground. Hopefully that kind of spread of assistants will be a positive influence on Ratten's game plan.
Finally, I would like to at least have a look at getting a recently retired ruckman in as a ruck coach...Luke Darcy springs to mind (although he may go down media street). Sean Rhen also, even though he retired a while ago...he's been an assistant since then, and has a great record. It is vitally important that our young ruck stocks get the BEST possible tuition.
I'm totally with you on your fears that Ratten will resort to a keepings-off style, Siegfried.
Our drive in recruiting has been towards tall and athletic players. To revert to a style built around seeking out loose players, particularly to the side and behind would not make the best use of our younger players. I want to see JK busting packs inside F50. I want to see Simmo, Murphy and Gibbs take the ball and burst forward in search of Fish, Fev (?), and JK. I want to see Waite and particularly Santy marking and running straight up the corridor a la Scarlett.
It seems that there is a trend now towards fast movement of the ball - play on at all costs rather than painstakingly slow progress. It's working for Geelong and Port who both try to own the corridor, with Port using footspeed and Geelong moving the ball fast by foot. And that shift in thinking is likely to be fostered by rule and interpretation changes in the next few years.
But although it is a legitimate fear, Ratts is a smart operator, so those fears will likely be unfounded. As you say, though, it can't hurt to bring together assistants who've seen the benefits of aggressive footy.
On the Rehn issue, IIRC he has retired from coaching at Brisbane in favour of farming.