Jump to content

Rawlings: No Runners Cost Dees


Lord Nev

Recommended Posts

Think a lot of us thought it might have been a factor, but geez when a former assistant coach says you're lacking leadership it's a bit of a (correct IMO) whack on the directional abilities of the leaders we had out there this year.

Rawlings, who this week accepted a new job at North Melbourne, said a lack of on-field leadership left the Dees exposed when coaches couldn't get a message out.

"The runner thing absolutely killed us, as a young group," Rawlings said on RSN radio.

"The AFL, I'm sure, didn't do it to discriminate against younger lists but we were quite immature across the ground at Melbourne, (there were) some leaders at certain parts but overall quite inexperienced, so the runner thing really kills you."

AFL Daily: Runner crackdown cost Demons

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I thought I would see Nat Jones handing in his captaincy by now. That would be leadership.

  • Like 11
  • Angry 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can't argue with this. Jones and Viney played 22 and 21 games respectively, and it's said that we lacked leadership. Proof is in the results. Without a doubt one of the many changes we need to make for 2020.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, Kelpien said:

This is an indictment on our leaders and or coaching staff to use the players rotating through to pass on messages. 

Agreed to a point - depending on where the game is (ie opposite wing) it can take an age to get a rotation on the pitch and to communicate it more broadly. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Good riddance, eight years of failure and that’s all he can come with, lack of runners, lucky he’s got a bro in the business.

  • Thanks 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I see it as an indictment of the coaching panel that they had not prepared adequately for the "no runner" situation by developing alternative methods or by developing players to fill the on field role. Its too easy to blame the "system". How many messages does a team need? We performed poorly in other years when there were two runners so that is a feeble excuse. And how many times can we remember a message or a move making a major difference in a game?

Surely there must be many situations that, even if not predicted, can be trialed with the senior players before the season and directions agreed to and implemented. For example, at the end of GC game, after we took the one point lead, it was TMac who responded and told the players to flood back. May apparently has the nous to fill the role down back (when he plays) and Tracca could surely be primed for the mid field even if he does not play there all the time. Clarrie is also seen to give directions and have game awareness.

Get to work coaching panel.

 

 

  • Like 3
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Leadership is natural to some, the likes of Johnno Brown, selwood and co. Other learn it through being taught. Does anyone know if our leaders do accredited leadership training.

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, Lord Nev said:

"The runner thing absolutely killed us, as a young group," Rawlings said on RSN radio.

 

"The AFL, I'm sure, didn't do it to discriminate against younger lists but we were quite immature across the ground at Melbourne, (there were) some leaders at certain parts but overall quite inexperienced, so the runner thing really kills you."

What anyone with a brain could've told you.

  • Like 2
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Sorry kids said:

Leadership is natural to some, the likes of Johnno Brown, selwood and co. Other learn it through being taught. Does anyone know if our leaders do accredited leadership training.

Corporate/HR onanism.

Edited by Dr. Gonzo
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Goodwin started the year in the box before moving to the bench didn't he? And the McCarney problems. So there's coaching issues not just playing issues.

Backline: No Lewis, no Jetta, no May, missing Lever for more than half the year.
Midfield: We should've been better organised with Viney and Gawn here but the wings are the structural players and they were a disaster
Forwards: No Melksham, Tom McDonald unable to get a kick for half the season. Coach subbed half way through the year

The lack of continuity in players might have made it close to impossible for even Hodge, Hurn and Selwood to steer this years playing group around the park. 

  • Like 9
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Everyone suggests that Gawn is our only logical leader, however how will the new responsibility impinge on the performance of our ONLY quality player?

Getting rid of Jones and Viney as leaders to be replaced by Max may cause more problems if this year’s leaders get their noses out of joint and Max can’t handle the extra burdens of leadership 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites


Our players should be able to think for themselves and act accordingly.

What are all the meetings for? 

Surely they can play footy without the need for a runner telling them what to do.  It's not the under 12's.

They don't do anything else apart from.prepare for the games and play the games. 

Footy IQ - not in abundance at the Demons. 

This year reminded me of the Neeld era where back then we just continually kicked the ball down the line of the boundary.  The replacement model this season was to kick the ball without any purpose into a dysfunctional forward line.

Rawlings comments are extraodinary but they make sense.  I'm just shocked that such occurances can actually happen in a sport which is supposedly professional.  

Playing group & Coaching panel - Fail.

  • Like 10
Link to comment
Share on other sites

28 minutes ago, joeboy said:

Everyone suggests that Gawn is our only logical leader, however how will the new responsibility impinge on the performance of our ONLY quality player?

Getting rid of Jones and Viney as leaders to be replaced by Max may cause more problems if this year’s leaders get their noses out of joint and Max can’t handle the extra burdens of leadership 

I agree Max would be better to concentrate on his more important job of ruck and should be in the leadership group. Max will talk lots in the media anyway and offer his opinion at every chance, like he did this year. I think someone a bit blue collar with a good work ethic like Harmes would be a better choice for captain. Don't want to see May, Leaver or Jetta  in the leadership group because they struggle to get on the park and do not lead by example. Leadership group should be guys like Salem, Frost, Petracca, Brayshaw and anyone who stepped up in a poor year on the field.

We have had strong leaders and that did not work and they did not rise to the challenges this year. Jones will have a year like Lewis had this year and Viney is no longer a first string midfielder and needs to show more versatility if he is going to be a help and hold his place.

    

Edited by Mental Demons
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Two captains who played most of our games this year in the midfield plus Gawn, then add Lewis down back and up forward and cameos from Lever and May and surely TMac qualifies as a mature leader up forward. But this wasn’t enough leadership to overcome the reduced number of instructions from the coaches via the runners? It may have been a negative compared to last year but really what are our leaders doing?

Would runners have helped our set shot inaccuracies in front of goal? Or reduced our missed 25m passes to leading forwards? Handballs to players feet and all the other basic skill errors we witnessed all year. Not convinced about this excuse. 

  • Like 3
  • Angry 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well,I know nuffing anymore. of all the issues raised here this year on demonland and all the issues the review would have looked at I would never have thought of talking about runners.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Macca said:

Our players should be able to think for themselves and act accordingly.

What are all the meetings for? 

Surely they can play footy without the need for a runner telling them what to do.  It's not the under 12's.

They don't do anything else apart from.prepare for the games and play the games. 

Footy IQ - not in abundance at the Demons. 

This year reminded me of the Neeld era where back then we just continually kicked the ball down the line of the boundary.  The replacement model this season was to kick the ball without any purpose into a dysfunctional forward line.

Rawlings comments are extraodinary but they make sense.  I'm just shocked that such occurances can actually happen in a sport which is supposedly professional.  

Playing group & Coaching panel - Fail.

I think so too 'Macca', my guess is that the game plan may have been too complex for the players.

A lot of young coaches over complicate things, funny that the fill in coaches let the players play and results followed.

Dimma let go a bit and let the Tiges play and finally got the results.

We had a bunch of headless chooks running around and no runner would have fixed that.

#lettheplayersplay

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Demonland Forums  

  • Match Previews, Reports & Articles  

    BOILED LOLLIES by The Oracle

    In the space of a month Melbourne has gone from chocolates to boiled lollies in terms of its standing as a candidate for the AFL premiership.  The club faces its moment of truth against a badly bruised up Collingwood at the MCG. A win will give it some respite but even then, it won’t be regarded particularly well being against an opponent carrying the burden of an injured playing list. A loss would be a disaster. The Demons have gone from a six/two win/loss ratio and a strong percentag

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Match Previews 3

    CLEAN HANDS by KC from Casey

    The Casey Demons headed into town and up Sydney Road to take on the lowly Coburg Lions who have been perennial VFL easy beats and sitting on one win for the season. Last year, Casey beat them in a practice match when resting their AFL listed players. That’s how bad they were. Nobody respected them on Saturday and clearly not the Demons who came to the game with 22 players (ten MFC), but whether they came out to play is another matter because for the most part, their intensity was lacking an

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Casey Articles

    ALAS SPRINGS by Whispering Jack

    I got the word on Saturday from someone who knows someone inside the Fremantle camp that the Dockers were pumped and supremely confident about getting the W the next day against Melbourne at TIO Traeger Park in the red heart of the country. I was informed that the Dockers were extremely confident for a number of reasons. They had beaten the Demons on their home territory at the MCG at their last two meetings so they didn’t see beating them at Alice Springs as a problem. They belie

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Match Reports

    PREGAME: Rd 13 vs Collingwood

    The Demons head back to Melbourne after an embarrassing loss to the Dockers to take on the Magpies at the MCG on Kings Birthday. With a calf injury to Lachie Hunter and Jacob van Rooyen possibly returning from injury who comes in and who goes out?  

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Melbourne Demons 351

    PODCAST: Rd 12 vs Fremantle

    The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Monday, 3rd June @ 8:30pm. Join George, Binman & I as we dissect the Demons embarrasing loss to Fremantle in Alice Springs. You questions and comments are a huge part of our podcast so please post anything you want to ask or say below and we'll give you a shout out on the show. If you would like to leave us a voicemail please call 03 9016 3666 and don't worry no body answers so you don't have to talk to a human. Listen & Chat LIVE: ht

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Melbourne Demons 58

    VOTES: Rd 12 vs Fremantle

    Captain Max Gawn has a considerable lead over reigning champion Christian Petracca in the Demonland Player of the Year Award. Steven May, Alex Neal-Bullen & Jack Viney make up the Top 5. Your votes for the embarrassing loss against the Dockers. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Melbourne Demons 33

    POSTGAME: Rd 12 vs Fremantle

    The Demons were blown out of the water and were absolutely embarrassing against the Fremantle Dockers in Alice Springs ultimately going down by 92 points and getting bundled out of the Top 8 for the first time since 2020.

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Melbourne Demons 589

    GAMEDAY: Rd 12 vs Fremantle

    It's Game Day and the Demons and the Dockers meet on halfway on neutral territory in the heart of the country in Alice Springs and the Dees need to win to hold onto a place in the Top 4.

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Melbourne Demons 772

    TROUBLE by The Oracle

    Situated roughly in Australia's geographic centre, Alice Springs has for many years been a troubled town suffering from intermittent crime waves, particularly among its younger residents. There was a time a little while ago when things were so bad that some even doubted the annual AFL game in the town would proceed.  Now, the hope is that this Sunday’s Melbourne vs Fremantle encounter will bring joy to the residents of the town and that through the sport and the example of the participants,

    Demonland
    Demonland |
    Match Previews
  • Tell a friend

    Love Demonland? Tell a friend!

×
×
  • Create New...