17th Premiership wrote:
A big problem with our list is limited footy IQ.
It does my head in when 3 players chase the ball carrier leaving loose opposition everywhere.
Or when one of our guys on the half back flank leave their man to pressure an opposition player who already has the ball, leaving his man free for an over-the-top pass, which then inexplicably daisy-chains all the way down the field with several Carlton players leaving their opponents free.
Given we have limited footy IQ, our coach is supposed to bridge that gap with clear, simple guidance.
This is what happened in the back half of 2023. Unfortunately, once teams cottoned on to our forward handball game, they simply blocked our exits (as we should have done against Sydney), we got sucked into the Champion data narrative and decided to focus too much on defence, and overall the message became too complicated for our boys, and we came back to the pack.
I am a fan of much of what Voss brings and I’m not as critical as some. However, I believe that if McRae had walked into our club instead of Voss, we would have been much better off. When he started at the Pies, their list was rated towards the bottom of the list-ladder. But suddenly, they rose up.
Re Docherty, his comments were no revelation - everyone noted exactly the same things.
It’s just that when a former captain and recent player says it in that way, it implies that Charlie, SOJ, TDK were right to want out b/c the club is going nowhere under Voss. He may be correct but, again, the club is obviously aware and it doesn’t help the club now for him to be airing that. And I don’t believe for a second that Gorringe did that behind Doc’s back. I don’t think the club should have banned him (if that’s what they’ve done). And I don’t think it’s untenable for him to appear if he genuinely wants to improve the club, unless he is just bitter.
If we don’t win tomorrow, it’s over for Voss. And club for this season. We never recovered from our loss to Richmond last season.
I’m sure he knows this. Whatever team he picks, it is his neck on the line so I’m fine with that.
FWIW, I think he will make minimal changes - and will only drop players who are injured or who clearly went against his non-negotiable: chasing, tackling etc… I guess they might also make a structural change if they prefer to go a bit smaller (which they should have done last week imo).
On that front, Moir’s lack of intensity could see him dropped, maybe Reidy or Young makes way for another runner, and Saad and possibly Fogarty out injured.
Otherwise, Voss will - rightly - not throw out his preferred first picked team on the back of one bad loss to one of the premiership favourites.
Option 1) Largely back in the same team: Out Saad, Fogarty; In Carroll, Cowan
Option 2) Structural change: Out Saad, Fogarty, Young; In Carroll, Cowan, Byrne/L Camporeale.
PS. I’m super excited to see Jack Ison but happy to give him plenty of time to develop in the VFL, Geelong-style…
Good post, but I'm confused by the highlighted part for the following reasons:
I don't recall anyone saying their list was that bad.
McRae was a coach at the Pies from 2011-2016 so he already had relationships with a fair group of the players, especially the important ones.
They had 8 AA players in their team, 3 were premiership players and 5 were also B&F players.
They brought in 2 ex senior AFL coaches to help him.
They were hardly a struggling team and they had the right players to lead on field, couple that with some astute top up of senior players at the end of 22 and they jagged themselves a premiership.
They missed finals in 2024 and then last year were smashed by the Lions in the Prelims.
He's a good coach, not exactly a messiah though.
So I'm not sure why we have to put opposition coaches on a pedestal while we always somehow have to degrade our own.
IMO if we had McRae, it would not be much different as the game has changed and our list has only just made a move in the right direction to accommodate it.
And while Voss has had some control over that, he is also not in 100% control of it.
Another one is Simmo, a lot of our supporters think he is the GOAT even though he couldn't lead the Eagles out of their slump.
And IIRC I think I seen him in the coaches box for the game (if not it was the week before), surely if there was something that wrong with our culture and game plan he'd have said something.
I think Whateley summed our situation up perfectly, we all need to stop hyperventilation after a loss in a game no one thought we would win and see how we sit after the next 3 games.
2-2 is a pass for me and 3-1 is we are building in the right direction, anything else is we still have bigger issues than the coach and a relatively new coaching department.
And for some perspective on our list, Lyons made a good point, the good teams have 6-7 gun midfielders in their side, able to rotate and cause maximum damage.
We have Cripps (who is well out of form and seems slower), Walsh who is good but not damaging and Smith who is a kid and has played 1 game.
Hewett is a good servant but not a game changer and Cerra is injured and too slow anyway, our list is still not up there.
So for me, I am looking for growth in the game plan and 4 quarters of effort from all players.
Carroll, Boyd and Cowan all need to get back in the team or at least 2 of them plus Byrne.
And I would like to see Ison also in the near future, I think if he could get his tank up he could be that damaging tall wing that can win his own ball, out mark the opposition and go forward and kick goals.
Or at least, rotate between midfield and HFF, either way a lot to like there.
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