Synbad wrote:
do i believe ratts has the most out of our list? no
do i believe our players are individuially playing to the best of their ability?... mostly not..
do i believe we have worked into a sustainable gameplan?.. no..
do i believe ratten is the best man we can have for the job? no..
do i believe we have a good mix of coaches ? no
just call me a negative...
but i truly think we have the wrong formula...right throughout...
Some reasonable questions here that would be part of any decent review. How they are answered will greatly differ of course. If people answer these questions, that will give an interesting straw poll. My take:
do i believe ratts has the most out of our list? No, not the
absolute most, but he has done a pretty fair job. Carrazzo is enjoying his role. He's getting a lot out of Joseph, and Bower has come on in leaps and bounds. Russell (waiting for the boos) & Browne are coming along. Armfield is being encouraged to run and break lines which is good, but then is also having to dispose under pressure which is not so good (which might be gameplan issues or other players not doing their part). I don't think he has Malthouse like abilities to extract everything from the players yet, but he's not exactly Tim Watson either.
do i believe our players are individuially playing to the best of their ability?Some yes and some no. (see above). Fev, Stevens and Cloke would be no. Setanta is a case for both camps - out of favour and out of the team, thrown around a lot, but Ratts has him in there now, working well and integrating him into the forward setup.
do i believe we have worked into a sustainable gameplan? This is where I'm struggling to say yes. I'm sure we are but I couldn't point to our game plan and say 'that' is what we are doing. (Except of course when we hold that damn ball up).
do i believe ratten is the best man we can have for the job? Not yet, but I think he will get there. I do think we have to surround him with the right team... as with EVERY OTHER coach in the AFL.
do i believe we have a good mix of coaches ? I must be honest and say I don't know. I couldn't point to each coach and name their strengths or weaknesses. So, my very un-sagelike answer is that I don't really know. Though if I can hazard a guess, adding a tactically astute coach to the team would seem to be a good idea (be it Laidley, Williams, Longmire or the Stig). I think some extra tactical nous would help the game prep and matchday coaching.