Jump to content

Greg Stafford - Forward Coach?

Cranky Franky
Cranky Franky
in Melbourne Demons

Featured Replies

Posted

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.

 

  • Quote
    • Like 1
    • Vomit 1
     

    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.

     

  • Quote
    • Like 9
     
    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

  • Quote
    • Like 1

    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

  • Quote
    • Like 7
    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. 

  • Quote
    • Like 1

    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.

  • Quote
    • Like 5
    • Haha 1
     
    • Author
    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.

     

  • Quote
    • Like 2

    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. 

  • Quote
    • Like 7

    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. 

     

  • Quote
    • Like 12
    • Love 1
    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.

  • Quote
    • Like 1
    • Author
    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.

  • Quote
    • Like 2
    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.

  • Quote
    • Like 1

    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.

  • Quote
    • Like 2

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

  • Quote
    • Like 4
    • Love 1

    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.

  • Quote
    • Like 9
    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.

  • Quote
    • Like 2
    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?

  • Quote
    • Like 3
    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

  • Quote
    • Like 1

    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.

  • Quote
    • Like 1
    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?

  • Quote
    • Haha 3
    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.

  • Quote
    • Like 3
     
    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. 

  • Quote
    • Like 1
    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

  • Quote
    • Like 3

    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...
    Go to topic listing

    Featured Content

    • CASEY: Geelong

      There was a time in the second quarter of the game at the Cattery on Friday afternoon when the Casey Demons threatened to take the game apart against the Cats. The Demons had been well on top early but were struggling to convert their ascendancy over the ground until Tom Fullarton’s burst of three goals in the space of eight minutes on the way to a five goal haul and his best game for the club since arriving from Brisbane at the end of 2023. He was leading, marking and otherwise giving his opponents a merry dance as Casey grabbed a three goal lead in the blink of an eye. Fullarton has now kicked ten goals in Casey’s three matches and, with Melbourne’s forward conversion woes, he is definitely in with a chance to get his first game with the club in next week’s Gather Round in Adelaide. Despite the tall forward’s efforts - he finished with 19 disposals and eight marks and had four hit outs as back up to Will Verrall in the second half - it wasn’t enough as Geelong reigned in the lead through persistent attacks and eventually clawed their way to the lead early in the last and held it till they achieved the end aim of victory.

      • 0 replies
      Demonland
      Demonland

    • REPORT: Geelong

      I was disappointed to hear Goody say at his post match presser after the team’s 39 point defeat against Geelong that "we're getting high quality entry, just poor execution" because Melbourne’s problems extend far beyond that after its 0 - 4 start to the 2025 football season. There are clearly problems with poor execution, some of which were evident well before the current season and were in play when the Demons met the Cats in early May last year and beat them in a near top-of-the-table clash that saw both sides sitting comfortably in the top four after round eight. Since that game, the Demons’ performances have been positively Third World with only five wins in 19 games with a no longer majestic midfield and a dysfunctional forward line that has become too easy for opposing coaches to counter. This is an area of their game that is currently being played out as if they were all completely panic-stricken.

        • Thanks
        • Like
      • 0 replies
      Demonland
      Demonland

    • PREGAME: Essendon

      Facing the very real and daunting prospect of starting the season with five straight losses, the Demons head to South Australia for the annual Gather Round, where they’ll take on the Bombers in search of their first win of the year. Who comes in, and who comes out?

        • Thanks
      • 148 replies
      Demonland
      Demonland

    • NON-MFC: Round 04

      Round 4 kicks off with a blockbuster on Thursday night as traditional rivals Collingwood and Carlton clash at the MCG, with the Magpies looking to assert themselves as early-season contenders and the Blues seeking their first win of the season. Saturday opens with Gold Coast hosting Adelaide, a key test for the Suns as they aim to back up their big win last week, while the Crows will be looking to keep their perfect record intact. Reigning wooden spooners Richmond have the daunting task of facing reigning premiers Brisbane at the ‘G and the Lions will be eager to reaffirm their premiership credentials after a patchy start. Saturday night sees North Melbourne take on Sydney at Marvel Stadium, with the Swans looking to build on their first win of the season last week against a rebuilding Roos outfit. Sunday’s action begins with GWS hosting West Coast at ENGIE Stadium, a game that could get ugly very early for the visitors. Port Adelaide vs St Kilda at Adelaide Oval looms as a interesting clash, with both clubs form being very hard to read. The round wraps up with Fremantle taking on the Western Bulldogs at Optus Stadium in what could be a fierce contest between two sides with top-eight ambitions. Who are you tipping this week and what are the best results for the Demons besides us winning?

        • Thanks
      • 272 replies
      Demonland
      Demonland

    • PODCAST: Geelong

      The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Monday, 7th April @ the all new time of 8:00pm. Join Binman, George & I as we dissect another Demons loss at Kardinia Park to the Cats in the Round 04. Your 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.

        • Thanks
      • 38 replies
      Demonland
      Demonland

    • VOTES: Geelong

      Captain Max Gawn leads the Demonland Player of the Year in his quest to take out his 3rd trophy. He leads Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver who are in equal 2nd place followed by Kade Chandler and Jake Bowey. You votes please. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 & 1.

        • Thanks
      • 28 replies
      Demonland
      Demonland
    View All