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Greg Stafford - Forward Coach?

Cranky Franky
Cranky Franky
in Melbourne Demons

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Greg was a run of the mill ruckman & I was very surprised he got the fwd coach job. 

Seems like a nice guy but I'd have thought that u need to have played a lot of footy in a good forward line to get the gig.

Maybe a Sav Rocca or Stevie J or P Sumich.

I think our fwd line has been mostly dysfunctional since he took over.

 

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    Spoiling for a fight @Cranky Franky? I'll land a couple of jabs as a response. 🥊

    1) This is a forward line that won a premiership 17 games ago

    2) Optics are one thing, and the stats are, we are scoring more per game than last year.

     

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    10 minutes ago, Cranky Franky said:

    Greg was a run of the mill ruckman & I was very surprised he got the fwd coach job. 

    Seems like a nice guy but I'd have thought that u need to have played a lot of footy in a good forward line to get the gig.

    Maybe a Sav Rocca or Stevie J or P Sumich.

    I think our fwd line has been mostly dysfunctional since he took over.

     

    Well yes maybe but it's been a really long time( seasons) since regularly functional was an adjective that could be applied to MFC's forward line

    Even recently bang bang bang bang was mostly bipassing the forwards ( the first bang aside maybe)

    They will lining up to smack you with the last half of last year's last game

    Edited by IRW

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    Dysfunctional enough to win a premiership it seems. The forward line was a lot worse before he took over. The problem with our current forward line is not having stability with key forwards. Tmac in and out of form now injured. BBB in interrupted average form. Weid can’t step up. Relying on Fritsch to be the leading goal kicker when he should be icing on cake. I believe he’s doing a good job. 

    Edited by John Crow Batty

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    6 minutes ago, Cranky Franky said:

    Greg was a run of the mill ruckman & I was very surprised he got the fwd coach job. 

    Seems like a nice guy but I'd have thought that u need to have played a lot of footy in a good forward line to get the gig.

    Maybe a Sav Rocca or Stevie J or P Sumich.

    I think our fwd line has been mostly dysfunctional since he took over.

     

    You fail to mention that it blossomed BIG TIME in 2021 Finals snd delivered an historic flag!

    It still is a quirk that I have thought since  Staf took over that a ruckman can coach forward line and take goal kicking practice without any apparent skills from his playing days.

    I think a new forward  line coach is imperative  unless we win the flag again!

    Having said all this he seems to get on with the players well. 

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    I think the idea that you have to have done X as a player to be able to teach players to do X is outdated.

    Surely it's more about their knowledge, analysis, ability to problem solve and communicate?  I don't know if Stafford is a good forward coach or not but I have heard players talk about how his approach has been really helpful with their goal kicking.

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    33 minutes ago, Engorged Onion said:

    Spoiling for a fight @Cranky Franky? I'll land a couple of jabs as a response. 🥊

    1) This is a forward line that won a premiership 17 games ago

    2) Optics are one thing, and the stats are, we are scoring more per game than last year.

     

    Its also a fwd line that struggled for half of 2021.

    In the last 6 weeks it has mainly struggled in the second half of games.

    Often BBB, Max & Fritter all lead to the same spot & last week Geelong defenders had very little pressure applied to them.

     

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    The AFL imposed soft cap has meant line coaches are doing much more than they were originally hired for.

    Greg was hired as a ruck coach and he still does that, as well as forwards.  Yze does game day tactics and mid-field. 

    No club can hire multiple coaches to perform coaching in individual areas, like they were able before COVID. 

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    25 minutes ago, Cranky Franky said:

    Its also a fwd line that struggled for half of 2021.

    In the last 6 weeks it has mainly struggled in the second half of games.

    Often BBB, Max & Fritter all lead to the same spot & last week Geelong defenders had very little pressure applied to them.

     

    Lol..

    Which half? The first half of the year where we won 9 in a row or the 2nd half of the year where we won 7 in a row to charge into the finals series where we completely obliterated teams.

    Under Greg Stafford last year

    - Bayley Fritsch kicked 59 goals including 6 in a grand final. The most in any grand final since Darren Jarman in 1997. An unbelievable stat that's been laying dormant for 15 years.

    - Kozzie Pickett kicked 40 goals in just his 2nd year of AFL as an 19 year old. Compared to the past great small forwards in the game such as Cyril Rioli, Stephen Milne and Eddie Betts at similar age he completely blows all 3 out of the park.

    - Our grand final score of 21.14.140 was the highest grand final score since 2007 when Geelong thumped Port Adelaide.

    I can keep going if you want..?

    Look, people can bag Stafford all they want, but when it came to the pressure cooker of last year's finals, our scoreline and dominance in forward half territory was the most dominant displays we've see from an AFL club for years. It was elite by a fair margin. 

     

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    2 hours ago, Lord Nev said:

    the-final-score-can-be-seen-during-the-2

    Yep that was last year hate to tell you it's a new season, as I say history is to be remembered not lived, but it's only really a small adjustment in the bigger picture but it needs to be done.

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    2 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

    Lol..

    Which half? The first half of the year where we won 9 in a row or the 2nd half of the year where we won 7 in a row to charge into the finals series where we completely obliterated teams.

    Under Greg Stafford last year

    - Bayley Fritsch kicked 59 goals including 6 in a grand final. The most in any grand final since Darren Jarman in 1997. An unbelievable stat that's been laying dormant for 15 years.

    - Kozzie Pickett kicked 40 goals in just his 2nd year of AFL as an 19 year old. Compared to the past great small forwards in the game such as Cyril Rioli, Stephen Milne and Eddie Betts at similar age he completely blows all 3 out of the park.

    - Our grand final score of 21.14.140 was the highest grand final score since 2007 when Geelong thumped Port Adelaide.

    I can keep going if you want..?

    Look, people can bag Stafford all they want, but when it came to the pressure cooker of last year's finals, our scoreline and dominance in forward half territory was the most dominant displays we've see from an AFL club for years. It was elite by a fair margin. 

     

    I'm not bagging him just thinking that u probably need to have been a fwd to coach the fwd line.

    Would u appoint Nev Jetta or Nat Jones as ruck coach ?

    The fact that individual players have done well is good but as a group it still aint working.

    The fwds lead to the same place & get in each others way. Spargo pressures well but his crumbing is poor. If nobody marks it then the opposition sweeps it away easily.

    When we do well & win as in the GF its because of ruck & midfield dominance & our defence being on top, its rarely due to our fwd line.

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    1 hour ago, demon3165 said:

    Yep that was last year hate to tell you it's a new season, as I say history is to be remembered not lived, but it's only really a small adjustment in the bigger picture but it needs to be done.

    Can you pinpoint for me then exactly what Stafford has changed about his coaching in that time then? Must have been drastic to go from something so amazing to apparently such a fail within 12 months.

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    It would probably help if two of his forwards didn't have a combined season goal tally of 10 goals/22 behinds between the both of them, despite one of them playing every game and the other missing just the Hawks game with COVID.

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    This is like the Demonlanders potting Troy Chaplin as a poor defensive coach 

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    The flip side is that Stafford is doing a great job with a depleted fwd group that for 12 games of 16, kicked winning scores to help get us a % of 130+ which may be the difference between top 2 and 3rd or top 4 and 5th.

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    2 hours ago, Lord Nev said:

    Can you pinpoint for me then exactly what Stafford has changed about his coaching in that time then? Must have been drastic to go from something so amazing to apparently such a fail within 12 months.

    Because teams have worked us out, same as kick outs, out to the left out to the left, but as I said it is not a huge fix but it need changing.

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    3 minutes ago, demon3165 said:

    Because teams have worked us out, same as kick outs, out to the left out to the left, but as I said it is not a huge fix but it need changing.

    'Worked us out' is such a cop out comment. It means nothing. Do you reckon all the oppo/strategy analysts and coaches spent the last few seasons sitting on their thumbs?

    As for the kick outs, do you think maybe being predictable is part of the plan, ro do you reckon the coaches are just too lazy and/or don't know footy well enough to change it?

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    8 minutes ago, Lord Nev said:

    'Worked us out' is such a cop out comment. It means nothing. Do you reckon all the oppo/strategy analysts and coaches spent the last few seasons sitting on their thumbs?

    As for the kick outs, do you think maybe being predictable is part of the plan, ro do you reckon the coaches are just too lazy and/or don't know footy well enough to change it?

    Kick outs are obviously part of the plan, but the point is whether or not the plan is working

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    4 minutes ago, loges said:

    Kick outs are obviously part of the plan, but the point is whether or not the plan is working

    You'd have to sign up to Champion Data and try to find the ladder of scores from kick outs I guess.

    But, we're second on the ladder despite a bit of bad luck with injury and the like so I'm not sure we need to be assuming we've noticed cracks in the plan that the coaches haven't.

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    53 minutes ago, demon3165 said:

    Because teams have worked us out, same as kick outs, out to the left out to the left, but as I said it is not a huge fix but it need changing.

    Jeepers you post some nonsense. Can we trade you out of East Bentleigh?

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    35 minutes ago, Lord Nev said:

    You'd have to sign up to Champion Data and try to find the ladder of scores from kick outs I guess.

    But, we're second on the ladder despite a bit of bad luck with injury and the like so I'm not sure we need to be assuming we've noticed cracks in the plan that the coaches haven't.

    It's just a bit puzzling why we don't try the occasional kick to the right, we never do it so you'd think the opposition wouldn't be expecting it.

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    4 hours ago, Cranky Franky said:

    I'm not bagging him just thinking that u probably need to have been a fwd to coach the fwd line.

    Would u appoint Nev Jetta or Nat Jones as ruck coach ?

    The fact that individual players have done well is good but as a group it still aint working.

    The fwds lead to the same place & get in each others way. Spargo pressures well but his crumbing is poor. If nobody marks it then the opposition sweeps it away easily.

    When we do well & win as in the GF its because of ruck & midfield dominance & our defence being on top, its rarely due to our fwd line.

    Might need to do a bit more research there cranky. 141 goals, from 204 games. Pretty sure he didn’t score all of them from the ruck! Was an extremely accurate set shot as well. 

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    3 hours ago, Pennant St Dee said:

    This is like the Demonlanders potting Troy Chaplin as a poor defensive coach 

    Always got to someone to blame doesn’t there. 

    Watch these same whingers turn over the top positive when we hit form

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