Does Dave Misson deserve a pass or fail?

[Soidee 1,496]

Injuries are not the fault of Misson, however fitness and the ability to overcome and or sustain a heavy season is. As usual the MFC has a long injury list and the same players have recurring problems.

The jury is still out with me on wether Misson is getting the best out of this list, keeping in mind we have a ingrained soft group

Misson was successful at both Sydney and the Saints..maybe we just have a bunch who can't take the hard stuff.

[Apocalypse XXXI 243]

It's not just the injuries but the inability to run out games or to run and chase during games.

A fail to me.

[Little Richard 6,265]

He outlined a three year plan and we should wait for the end of that before judging him I think (does this sound familiar?).

I'm hoping it's a case of working on the endurance first and getting the miles into the legs, then maybe stripping it back focussing on burst fitness and explosive running this preseason.

[jackaub 1,402]

Absolute failure IMO . Dont look fit dont look strong easily bumped of the ball Look weak

[DemonFrog 1,354]

IDK let PJ and the new coach decide.

[beelzebub 23,380]

IDK let PJ and the new coach decide.

Pretty much agree.I dont know how much better or worse this lot would be for him or without him. Im not overly enamored with our overall fitness but it might just be the players. So much wrong , how do you single out anything ?

[Pipefitter 2,163]

Let him see out his 3rd year. Unlike Neeld, he actually has runs on the board at other clubs.

[dazzledavey36 55,004]

How come Pot Adelaides new fitness guy Darren Burgess or whatever his name can get Port up to AFL fitness standard in one pre season? They were just as worse last year. Blokes there were breaking their skin folds and turning up in poor condition. Mission has made us look very slow. Needs to go.

[Geddy Lee 582]

He outlined a three year plan and we should wait for the end of that before judging him I think (does this sound familiar?).

I'm hoping it's a case of working on the endurance first and getting the miles into the legs, then maybe stripping it back focussing on burst fitness and explosive running this preseason.

Coaching 101: Outline a 3/5/7 year plan so you can keep your job for that long under watchful hopeful eyes.

[beelzebub 23,380]

How come Pot Adelaides new fitness guy Darren Burgess or whatever his name can get Port up to AFL fitness standard in one pre season? They were just as worse last year. Blokes there were breaking their skin folds and turning up in poor condition. Mission has made us look very slow. Needs to go.

thats an interesting observation

[deanox 9,945]

We look heavy in the legs all day long but I reckon apart from a couple of players we don't usually look like we've run out of push in the last; it normally looks mental not physical.

This to me is a slight change from previous years, and if the observation is correct it would seem that we have improved overall base fitness BUT we also now need to improve speed and explosiveness to go with it.

My biggest concern has been reoccurring soft tissue injuries to a couple of players: Frawley and Dawes, in particular. One of the kudos that cane with Misson was his ability to reduce soft tissue injuries at Saint Kilda and Sydney. I haven't seen that yet, but maybe the are other factors at work: his program is based on gaining fitness not maintaining and avoiding injuries, we are getting belted so senior players are pushing harder, or there is more pressure to have senior players on the park etc

[beelzebub 23,380]

Let him see out his 3rd year. Unlike Neeld, he actually has runs on the board at other clubs.

Id probably be of the same mind... make or break though.. Either they DO show the improvements that have been promised...or...

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

He outlined a three year plan and we should wait for the end of that before judging him I think (does this sound familiar?).

I'm hoping it's a case of working on the endurance first and getting the miles into the legs, then maybe stripping it back focussing on burst fitness and explosive running this preseason.

Firstly, I am not sure what criteria you would use and what information the average supporters would have access to make anything more than hunch or a punt.

Secondly, we are lucky he did not lay down a 10 year plan. If you have the right criteria and information then like any FD official he can monitored ongoing.

I seem to recall that Misson made some comments about the players not being fit enough by a substantial %. From the grandstand, I can't discern that the players are any fitter than they were in the past 2 years.

And part of any review of Misson will include the assessment of those under his responsibility. Did Dr Bate report to Misson?

[Nasher 33,616]

I'm not going to pretend I have any idea of the actual fitness levels of our players. They clearly don't work hard enough during matches, but anyone attributing that to Misson's fitness program is just guessing.

[pm24 451]

How come Pot Adelaides new fitness guy Darren Burgess or whatever his name can get Port up to AFL fitness standard in one pre season? They were just as worse last year. Blokes there were breaking their skin folds and turning up in poor condition. Mission has made us look very slow. Needs to go.

I reckon they were starting from a better base level of fitness then us. Misson always said it would take three preseasons for the team to get to an AFL fitness level.

I mean, we may still be getting pushed off the ball a little, but we've played a tougher more demanding brand of football the last few years then we did in those years where we were openly panned for playing "bruise free" football.

[La Dee-vina Comedia 16,816]

Is Misson also responsible for size and strength? Our players, with a few exceptions, look comparatively smaller than their opposition which means they have more difficulty sticking tackles and similarly breaking them. Interestingly, most of the players who appear to have better size have come from other clubs (Sellar, MacDonald, Rodan) although that doesn't necessarily make them better footballers.

[Little Richard 6,265]

Firstly, I am not sure what criteria you would use and what information the average supporters would have access to make anything more than hunch or a punt.

Secondly, we are lucky he did not lay down a 10 year plan. If you have the right criteria and information then like any FD official he can monitored ongoing.

I seem to recall that Misson made some comments about the players not being fit enough by a substantial %. From the grandstand, I can't discern that the players are any fitter than they were in the past 2 years.

And part of any review of Misson will include the assessment of those under his responsibility. Did Dr Bate report to Misson?

I believe that he came out and said that it would take 3 years to get the players fitness levels up to where they need to be to compete with other teams.

The rest is my own opinion, as I stated.

Misson is supposed to be an elite fitness guru/trainer or what have you so if he can't get them up to speed, I'm not sure if there are many others who could.

[rpfc 28,543]

A poster was talkling about 'objective facts' in another thread a few days ago.

Well, Misson was the guy in charge of fitness as the Swans won a flag in 2005 and St Kilda dominated the League in the late noughties.

He doen't need to prove anything by getting this group up and going - he is obviously a stellar fitness co-ordinator.

Misson, the Darwin trip, Craig's second half of the season...

I think we are looking for excuses.

[Little Richard 6,265]

A poster was talkling about 'objective facts' in another thread a few days ago.

Well, Misson was the guy in charge of fitness as the Swans won a flag in 2005 and St Kilda dominated the League in the late noughties.

He doen't need to prove anything by getting this group up and going - he is obviously a stellar fitness co-ordinator.

Misson, the Darwin trip, Craig's second half of the season...

I think we are looking for excuses.

We've been looking for excuses for a long, long time.

[Ted Lasso 19,521]

Dave mission is one of the best fitness workers in the AFL industry, and i know for a fact alot of what he has done so far with MFC is what Mark Neeld asked him to do,

he deserves more time imo, a decent coach will fix this side of things up.

[DEE fence 5,029]

Its the players/coach, and excuse me but if the army can [censored] blokes into shape that are part of elite units in 20 weeks (admittedly most of them do 6-12 months of pretty intensive training before they try out) then our blokes can bloody well be humming after 24 months.

[jnrmac 20,109]

I say fail but.......

his track record at other clubs is very good.

Is it his fault that players like Watts won't chase?? No. Is it his fault Trengove runs like Brock Mclean? Probably.

Overall though it has to be a fail - our fitness is appalling

[Ted Lasso 19,521]

I say fail but.......

his track record at other clubs is very good.

Is it his fault that players like Watts won't chase?? No. Is it his fault Trengove runs like Brock Mclean? Probably.

Overall though it has to be a fail - our fitness is appalling

Trengove is a perfect example of the point i have taken with regards to Mission, i work in the fitness industry and when you try and load up too quickly it can cause things like OP and so on, for mine Trengove has bulked up but has very little muscle definition, i'm nowhere near as qualified as Mission but i know how to stop that happening so he clearly isn't making all of the decisions with regards to this program himself.

this pre season and next year will be a very good indication.

[Maldonboy38 6,405]

I don't see any failings in condition or fitness. Our players are mentally stuffed; low on confidence within a game plan that was boring, complicated and devoid of freedom and initiative. Even medicos will tell you that 90% of a person's recovery from illness, injury or surgery lies within their attitude. It is the same in life, sport, everything. Get them confident and watch how fit and fast they look.

[Chook 15,013]

Let him see out his 3rd year. Unlike Neeld, he actually has runs on the board at other clubs.

Neeld had had a faultless career before he hit Melbourne.