The Age this morning nominated Simon Goodwin as their (Jake Niall's) coach of the mid year AA team.

While worthy on many fronts did anyone notice on the Friday night coverage that pre-match just in their final huddle in the rooms it was Mark Williams in the middle giving it to them ? They broke up then ran out to the ground. Williams was there greeting the victors as they entered the rooms after the win.

I thought that is this a sign of just how complete the coaching team is as a unit that the senior coach had another of his team doing this prior to the most important game of the year. Sure he might have been indisposed but I suspect not at this time of the evening.

Goody showed great confidenec in this approach and alluded to it in the post match that he coached from the boundary for various reasons, but has great faith in those up in the box to see the whole game and advise - think Yze, Chaplin, Stafford.

Maturity I havent seen in the Dees before. (not saying it wasn't there before though).

Must be a seriously unified unit .

Think it's been just as important that the coaches identified and specified roles for themselves as it has been that the players have.

 

Remember when it was discussed that Goody didn't like others speaking in the box? Seems he's matured.

8 minutes ago, Grr-owl said:

Remember when it was discussed that Goody didn't like others speaking in the box? Seems he's matured.

Or maybe it’s a matter of trust - he now respects the opinions of those around him.

11 minutes ago, Grr-owl said:

Remember when it was discussed that Goody didn't like others speaking in the box? Seems he's matured.

 

2 minutes ago, chook fowler said:

Or maybe it’s a matter of trust - he now respects the opinions of those around him.

Richo spoke to him a few time about this including a very serious talk about it end of season.

Let's not forget that our first half was way below par...so Mark Williams wasn't all that inspiring...

How many under-pressure coaches dealing with active discontent from members of the board would graciously welcome

a) a still relatively young former premiership coach

and

b) an extremely promising 'next generation coming' coach

into their panel?

Everything I've seen lately is pointing to real humility and character. All the little stories add up to the feeling that Simon Goodwin thinks other people are important.

So simple, so valuable.

The worm commenced it's major turn on Saturday Sept 12th Rnd 17, 2020 vs the Giants IMV.

We have gone from strength to strength since then.

All credit to SG, the entire FD and the club itself.

Still a very tough half season to go though and plenty of good teams out there.  The old enemy is up and coming off a very nice win against the Crows on their home turf.

Nose to the grind stone fellow minions.  We can't take our eye off the ball for a second.

Edited June 6, 20214 yr by Rusty Nails

1 hour ago, Lord Nev said:

 

Richo spoke to him a few time about this including a very serious talk about it end of season.

Yeah, I'm not surprised. Good to hear.

I remember a shot of them together in the box. Richo in Goody's ear. Next week Richo wasn't at the game, and it was spoken about as if they were connected. Can't be sure about that, but it clicked for the conspirators....

 

Connecting with the forward line with the tall guys need some work if they can get that right they could be a real weapon, their running pattens are hit and miss.

Credit needs to go to all the MFC coaches at the moment.

However, we are only half way through the AFL season at the moment and still have a long, long way to go!

Loving the work done by Mark "Choco" Williams in particular. I am glad that the Demons players have responded well to him especially as he is known for his eccentricity.

 

Nevertheless, Mark "Choco" Williams is a quality football person and to have him at the Melbourne Football Club is brilliant.

Incidentally, I found this great interview that Mark "Choco" Williams did last year with Corey McKernan on his 'Fork In The Road' YouTube channel. Well worth watching if you have some spare time to do so.

Here is the link:

I am a bit biased but I hope we can keep Mark "Choco" Williams at the Demons for many, many years to come. He is an amazing coach and mentor and it is wonderful to have someone of his calibre assisting Simon Goodwin, Adem Yze, Troy Chaplin and the other coaching staff as well as all the Demons players.

Edited June 7, 20214 yr by Supreme_Demon

Admittedly I am not Goody’s biggest fan, nor will I think him to be the ‘right’ coach until he wins the thing, however, watching TMAC on the footy show yesterday, he said that for all the criticism he has faced over the last 2 years being head coach, he should also therefore equally be receiving the plaudits from the naysayers (including myself) for how the team is travelling this year.

I cannot disagree with this. Do I think he deserves a contract extension? Ask me again in 4 months time. If we achieve the ultimate, forget the contract, cos he’d deserve instant immortality. 

Long ways to go yet though.

Just as the players are becoming more mature in their approach to training and playing, the coaches are now more experienced and mature in the way they approach the season.

 

I like what I see and love the results 

3 hours ago, Supreme_Demon said:

Credit needs to go to all the MFC coaches at the moment.

However, we are only half way through the AFL season at the moment and still have a long, long way to go!

Loving the work done by Mark "Choco" Williams in particular. I am glad that the Demons players have responded well to him especially as he is known for his eccentricity.

 

Nevertheless, Mark "Choco" Williams is a quality football person and to have him at the Melbourne Football Club is brilliant.

Incidentally, I found this great interview that Mark "Choco" Williams did last year with Corey McKernan on his 'Fork In The Road' YouTube channel. Well worth watching if you have some spare time to do so.

Here is the link:

I am a bit biased but I hope we can keep Mark "Choco" Williams at the Demons for many, many years to come. He is an amazing coach and mentor and it is wonderful to have someone of his calibre assisting Simon Goodwin, Adem Yze, Troy Chaplin and the other coaching staff as well as all the Demons players.

The best bit is when Choko talks about how Collingwood lost players because they promised too much salary to everyone.

 

Watch the vision after the win vs Bris, just before the song is sung, you see the coaches (2h07m51s on the foxtel recording), all embracing with genuine warmth, Stafford walks over to make sure he is included, absolutely a team of coaches. 

This is our coaching team drilling this kind of stuff into our players.

 

It's reminding me very much of the way the elite football/soccer teams operate in Europe. To analyse it perhaps crudely, they have the head coach and then the manager. The manager is responsible for the way the team wants to play, personnel and tactics. The head coach is responsible for the fundamentals and getting the players to play to the system laid out by the manager.

I just wonder whether we've modelled our coaching set up on this sort of approach.

I would have loved to be a fly on the wall during the FD review last year and the plans they put in place that have (so far) reaped such incredible reward for the playing group and clearly the coaching team.