mikeh wrote: BH what is your opinion of Pickering as a coach? I know Swans problems started well before he was appointed but I was watching him yesterday a bit ( mainly because I couldn't bear watching what was on the ground). He was on the boundary line for at least the 2nd half with a headset but the times I was watching he didn't seem to be giving any directions or talking to players as they came on and off. His addresses at Quarter and 3 quarter time seem to lack animation, pretty much the opposite to Harding.
Certainly the issues run a lot deeper than the head coach but I couldnt help comparing our situation to that of East Perth. Barnard took over last year when they pulled out of the alignment with the Eagles and everyone expected them to be wooden spooners for a while. He has managed to turn them into a very competitive unit and even though they also have some issues with skills they are now quite a way superior in that area to what Swans are
I'm wondering if Pickering is too passive and the players are not really listening to him
Did you hear him at qtr time yesterday Mike?
Certainly was not passive quite the opposite, but I think the frustrations of coaching at SD has got the better of him.
For whatever reason whether it is poor coaching, talent identification, talent development, skills, fitness, strength.....we seem to be a long way off the pace compared to the better sides.
The WAFL in standard is not even a patch on what it was 10 years ago let alone 40 years ago so you would think it shouldnt be that hard to improve just your basic skills etc but I continually see them getting worse every year and we SD havent improved one iota (other than the additions of Fisher & Anderson who have both been good, Fisher was outstanding yesterday) in my opinion even in this shortened season where everyone you would think with the same disruptions should be on a fairly even keel.
In EP's case it is a bit of a furphy they had to rebuild as they had a decent squad there it was just hindered by WCE involvement/takeover now that has gone their players are getting the opportunities at League level they probably should have then not too mention they have recruited well getting Ramsay back from Collingwood/knee, Robertson from Brisbane/WP, Jones back from Freo/Peel plus selective productive recruiting from other areas- Scott, Lynch, Simpson, Freeman, Schumacher, Watts, Hooper, Kerr etc whilst Barnard has also put his stamp on them with the constant references of them playing the "EP-Royals football way".
I am not sure what our football mantra or values are anymore mate???
I know we are all about community in our off field values which is great but what are our on field values these days? We never hear of them.
I quite often harp on about our SD football sides of the 1980s who would play the game with a ruthless, take no prisoners, winner takes all attitude and were also highly skilled and not surprisingly had great success but sadly that aura is now long lost and gone and too may "outsiders" not from a SDFC background have taken over the off field side of things and they do not either know or care for such SDFC D.N.A type things!
I often see a few boys from the 80s club (players, coach, admin, staff) at the games and they must honestly shake their heads in disbelief at how we have fallen away and virtually dismissed as easybeats by all of the other WAFL clubs now.
That is just my take from the outer!