Coach Voss

[Jaded No More 68,974]

On SEN today they said the rumor is Voss to Carlton, with Britain and Mcrae as his assistants.

As we have given ND the review paper I'd also slip one to Voss on the sly.

Voss is the one guy who i actually want, some i don't and others i wouldn't mind.

Not sure that Carlton can afford to pay out Dennis, especially when, considering how crap they are actually are, they haven't performed too badly this year.

[Gorgoroth 13,023]

Pratt could if he really wanted Voss.

[beelzebub 23,383]

Voss to carlton could certainly occur.

Ah !!!......me senses a bidding war !!

[Dreamin' Demon 10]

Would we want Pagan???

[Gorgoroth 13,023]

I'd take pagan for a lesser amount than he is use to.

[beelzebub 23,383]

Would we want Pagan???

maybe..... if carlton pay !!

[Gorgoroth 13,023]

like a woewodin deal, they pay half of his wage so he coaches us

[Tex 68]

After watching Footy Classified last night I am 100% convinced we should chase him as coach.

We would just have to ensure we surround him with adequate support in the football department.

We need to give him extra "experienced" assistant coaches to support him in areas he may lack initially.

Bring in a Robert Shaw / David Parkin / Neale Balme type mentor as an assistant coach / football department manager.

He was very impressive.

Very enthusiastic.

I reckon the players would really want to play for him.

He knows what it takes to win a flag and lead a team.

We better not miss out on him.

[deanox 9,989]

imo voss shouldnt be coaching yet. he played against most of the players on our list, meaning there will be a strange change in the relationship there. i think he is best served sitting out a year or two as an assistant coach before having a go.

but i get the feeling he would be a good coach. i think the old brisbane style of play would suit us, tough hard bodies in the centre, a few outside players and strong forward (neitz). it would be interesting.

[Jaded No More 68,974]

imo voss shouldnt be coaching yet. he played against most of the players on our list, meaning there will be a strange change in the relationship there. i think he is best served sitting out a year or two as an assistant coach before having a go.

but i get the feeling he would be a good coach. i think the old brisbane style of play would suit us, tough hard bodies in the centre, a few outside players and strong forward (neitz). it would be interesting.

But he won't be available in two years time. We need to take him now, or we'll miss the boat (yet again).

Look, there are definite negatives with Voss, as with any other candidate.

He lacks coaching experience, true, but he can learn on the job. I'm happy for him to make mistakes along the way if his path ultimately leads to success.

I don't think there is an issue with him playing alongside most of our players, if anything, he'll be very aware of their style, what they do and don't do on the field etc...

He won't have any sort of emotional attachment to them, or to the club. He'll coach purely with his head, not his heart.

He'll demand respect because, as you've said, he's fresh out of the game, and nearly everyone on our list has played against him and/or admired him while growing up.

He won't let anyone take a backwards step, he'll recognise who can and can't lead the team, and nobody would look him in the eye if we get smashed.

I don't want a nice, cuddly coach if the only thing they bring to the table is experience.

Experience hasn't helped Daniher, it hasn't helped Pagan either.

There is a lot to be said for innovation, for taking a risk, for doing things your own way.

Voss wants to coach and feels he's ready. He doesn't strike me as the sort of guy who would pump himself up for no reason.

Unlike the MFC, he walks the walk, not just talks the talk.

Take a chance, bring him on.

What's the worse thing that could happen? We finish 15th? Oh hang on...

[DEES 0]

yep, it would be awesome if vossy was our coach, he is a great person and i have great respect for what he has done over his career. There are a lot of positives with vossy and if anyone can take us to a flag, it's him, but if he doesn't make it we will still get draft picks to build our list.

[Guest baysidedave]

can we try before we buy...

I year for nix ?? :-))

I reckon he should do an apprenticeship

[drdrake 3,187]

My main issue with Voss is will the first club be his education so he is reaady to coach Brisbane when Matthews Retires. For me I would go after Guy McKenna, he is footy smart, well spoken, done time as an assistant, played in the most successful team of the 90's he is ready to coach. He has been by Malthouses side and like it our not Malthouse and Collingwood get the utmost out of their players, if Guy can do that at Melbourne getting all players to play their best footy it will be exciting times.

[Pepe Dee Pew 0]

Thomas would be ok provided he does not get into any business deals with the board. He is suppossed to be a very goodpeople manager. He did ok despite injuries with the Saints.

[Geddy Lee 582]

My biggest problem with getting Voss as senior coach is the fact that as he has no experience, he would get a fair bit of leeway from both our supporters, other team's supporters and the media. Thus if he is given 4-5 years forgiveness as he learns what to do (with corresponding forgiveable poor results), we will have no White, Neitz, Robbo, Bruce, Green (maybe) etc we will have to rebuild again, and that's another 6-8 down the drain. I fear that if Voss gives us mediocrity, we will accept it for far too long.

[beelzebub 23,383]

Not as an apology for Voss's lack of experience, but he doesnt strike me as a guy that will take a year to get some idea of what he's about.

I am warming to him without being convinced. what does impress me about the lad is he research and preparedness.. He is defintely a coach in the making,, looking for a team. Another plus I suppose is that as mentioned by others , we arent really going to set the world on fire next year any which way so in the same manner that it doesnt matter a lot what happens for the rest of this year then its not crucial to have instant results in 2008. Progress yes, premiership no.

I dont see that it will take 6-8 to rebuild.. We are rebuilding even now...from the grass roots up.. The new era is before you. Th e Bates, Batrams, Newtons, Mcleans, Sylvias are already here. They will need adding to and moulding...well some do. with a few key additions and a couple more kids coming along and up we could be fighting fit in 2-3.

yes the likes of Neitz and White ...Ooze and posibly a couple of other who may succomb to longer injuries wil lnot see the new dawn... such is life !!

Possibly another plus for someone of the ilk of Voss is the youngsters have something tangible in visual experience of the likes of this bloke. He is of their era, older...but same playing lifetime.

im still not completely convinced.... but am certainly coming around to the idea he ,may be worth the punt.

I do really like his can do demeanor, which out on the track is more than likley to morph from a .."not only can you do it boys...but you WILL do it !! "

[brentnall 0]

The good thing about St. Kilda taking Ross Lyon last year was that they left a fair range of good quality coaches out there. Apart from Voss, I'll throw a few other names up there.

Guy McKenna ?

Gary O'Donnell ?

Mark Harvey ?

Grant Thomas ? *

* I'm kidding !

l would love to see VOSS at melbourne next year with grant thomas as his assistant

grant did a good job with the saints with team bonding , leadership, win/loss as coach .

what ever Voss could not do 100% grant can teach him on the job

and also Mark Willams from sandy as his other assistant

l belive the three would work great as a team .

[deefuture06 0]

l would love to see VOSS at melbourne next year with grant thomas as his assistant

grant did a good job with the saints with team bonding , leadership, win/loss as coach .

what ever Voss could not do 100% grant can teach him on the job

and also Mark Willams from sandy as his other assistant

l belive the three would work great as a team .

I watched the footy confidential last night and I got the impression that gary was saying to Voss that the melbourne job is up for grabs. Voss stated that off field stability is important to him, facilities etc. which melbourne are improving in. Voss would be in a position where, he would be in a club with a new future just like he was when brisbane started up. I feel that this would appeal to him as he could have more say and put his stamp on the club. They had very little in the beginning and our situation parallels that. Voss also talking about having conversations with grant thomas. I may be making assumptions here but I'm betting that he is so sure of being able to do the job because thomas will be handling the man management and Voss the preparation and coaching. Any others see the program?

[demonsflag555657 3]

I watched the footy confidential last night and I got the impression that gary was saying to Voss that the melbourne job is up for grabs. Voss stated that off field stability is important to him, facilities etc. which melbourne are improving in. Voss would be in a position where, he would be in a club with a new future just like he was when brisbane started up. I feel that this would appeal to him as he could have more say and put his stamp on the club. They had very little in the beginning and our situation parallels that. Voss also talking about having conversations with grant thomas. I may be making assumptions here but I'm betting that he is so sure of being able to do the job because thomas will be handling the man management and Voss the preparation and coaching. Any others see the program?

Thankyou just what i am thinking

[Tassie Devil 28]

I watched the footy confidential last night and I got the impression that gary was saying to Voss that the melbourne job is up for grabs. Voss stated that off field stability is important to him, facilities etc. which melbourne are improving in. Voss would be in a position where, he would be in a club with a new future just like he was when brisbane started up. I feel that this would appeal to him as he could have more say and put his stamp on the club. They had very little in the beginning and our situation parallels that. Voss also talking about having conversations with grant thomas. I may be making assumptions here but I'm betting that he is so sure of being able to do the job because thomas will be handling the man management and Voss the preparation and coaching. Any others see the program?

I hope Vossy took the hint and is preparing for the interview now. I also hope the interview is very soon.

[tess 19]

I hope Vossy took the hint and is preparing for the interview now. I also hope the interview is very soon.

I kind of felt he was being interviewed on footy classified last night.

[Gorgoroth 13,023]

Yeah they did throw out some good questions. And he handled it evry very well.

[H.B.K 0]

As much as I would love to see Voss coaching us next year, it won't happen.

It's the Melbourne Football Club, when was the last big signing we had, because it sure has been a while.

I'll take anyone as coach (barring the obvious crap ones) just so long as we move on from Danners, yes he has been a servant, but he has also been a failure in terms of premierships, so IMO we need to move on and get someone new

[leucopogon 1,519]

Yeah there certainly are some good candidates out there. I don't think Harvey would suit, just a gut feeling, plus I reckon he'll take over the reigns at Freo next year if they miss the finals.

O'Donnell, doesn't strike me as the kind of coach that's going to instill toughness into the side, plus I reckon hes been too long as an assistant and maybe is a bit stale now. I dunno (how many years was R.Lyon an assistant, 10 or something), I'm not convinced about him either though, I reckon Worsfold and Roos are the shining lights of the modern day coach, do 1-3 years as an assistant and then hop right in the deep end.

So that leaves Bluey McKenna and Peter Sumich as a couple of other possibilities being touted around. Don't like the idea of either of them just because i hated West Coast and they both were very soft spoken "leaders" which is not what we need.

I, like many on this forum, am thinking that we need a coach that demands respect because of the success they've achieved as a coach (ie. winning premierships) or as a recent player in the AFL (ie. Voss, Ratten and to a lesser extent Buckley) if any of that success is going to rub off onto our up and coming talented core of youngsters. I reckon our senior core of players has let the team down big time (with the exception of Neita who is just an out and out shining light) over the past few years with their propensity to allow the team to get on massive losing streaks and form slumps and when they were required turn things around and lead by example when it mattered they couldn't do it. I reckon the general attitude amongst the senior players would preclude the possibility of them responding well to a coach like Voss or Ratten (ie. a recently retired player that many of them would have played against). They just strike me as that kind of group. The youngsters wouldn't have a drama with it, as many on here have said, these are the kind of guys that would have been their heroes growing up and I think they'd respond very well to their message.

So, I guess I'm saying if we want to challenge in the next 2 years for a flag we might have to go for a seasoned pro (someone like Sheedy, Malthouse, Pagan) to get a response from the older crew but that's just my gut feeling and is no guarentee that it will work. But if we look more long term then I reckon getting somebody in like Voss, Buckley, Hird, Ratten might be the ticket, to start moulding a young up and coming team that could really go places in perhaps 3-5 season's time.

My personal preference is that we avoid both an established successful senior coach (they come at a much dearer price that we probably cant afford) and a long time assistant (like O'Donnel, Longmire, Harvey, etc) and go for a bright up and comer like Voss Buckley or Ratten. I think our senior core is a flaky mess and its too late for any of those guys to change their habits and attitudes in regards to putting in consistent four quarter efforts. I say we cut our losses and invest in the future. I reckon we should get Voss or Ratten as my first or second choice to come in and rebuild us in their image. Like others have said, we can't get much worse than present.

As an aside, I reckon it would be fantastic to get Vossy this year when we are likely to have pick 1 or 2 in the draft plus a priority first rounder (more than likely). Not only do we have a big chance at getting Kruezer who is supposed to be the best tall bloke going around for a while (a likely successor to White or Neita) but I'm sure we could do some astute trading of some of those aforementioned flaky seniors to get a swag of low draft picks and/or players that the new coach can assess with an objective eye as being a better fit for our club under his guidance. Players like Yze (well, maybe not due to injury), Bruce, Green, TJ, Ward, Godfrey, Holland are literally playing for their careers for the rest of this year. All our players should shut their gobs to the media about lifting for Daniher and just go about concentrating on this fact that if they don't perform up to scratch and keep playing like they have been under ND, they'll be traded as soon as a new coach comes in.

Its certainly an exciting time to be a Dees fan. A good distraction from our woeful on-field antics.

P.S. Oh and for god's sake please lets not get Chris Connelly. I live in Perth and we get plenty of him on the tellie and I can tell you he is a woos with a capital W and is very much in the same mould as Daniher. Their characters are remarkably similar, but where Danners is a much more laconical, laid back and likable, Connelly is up tight, cagey and full of cliches. He wouldn't be the right choice for us, if we want to put an end to the kind of yo-yo form we've suffered from during ND's reign.

[Rod Grinter Riot Squad 5,654]

Every now and then a born leader comes along, when they do you should strike, even if it may be premature.

Voss is one such person. A three time premiership captain who would not let any of his players get away with shirking an issue. A captain who would have spent a lot of time learning from Matthews both on the training track and from the coaches box when injured.

Roos says:

"Roos said there was so much that an assistant coach had to learn before he could competently tackle the main role.

"There's people management, there's match day, there's staff, there's strategies, there's how to handle your fitness, your medical staff and your 38 players," he said.

Roos said the senior coach had a responsibility to sponsors and to market the club.

There is player management, he'll have CAC to help there. He has match day experience sitting behind Matthews. For fitness we have BB to assist. I reckon Voss knows a bit about the medical staff from experience. He's a deadset legend of the game, he'll have the players respect. He would have managed them to an extent in Brisbane, he'll just have to do it to a larger extent.

As for marketing the club, it's not like Michael doesn't handle himself well with the media so that issue doesn't concern me.

If we want Voss to coach at Melbourne we have to get him now. If we sign him as an assistant he'll more than likely get a senior job with others before ours became available again. We may have to put up with him learning on the job next year, but I'd wear that. Hell, all new coaches take a little bit of time to settle in, as Ross Lyon is discovering now.

We need a coach that will be a breath of fresh air to the club, that will not tolerate failure and that won't back down.

Voss is that man and we should sign him up for next year now (on a three year deal), before the competition come knocking on his door later this year. If need be we can bring in someone with senior coaching experience to act as a mentor, like the Hawks did with Clarkson and Parkin.

To go with a new coach we need a new captain.

Brock is the next captain of the MFC.

Injuries or not, he is a born leader, I know I don't have to sell him here so won't.

I will stress though, that like Voss he won't accept failure and he won't put up with players shirking the contest. He will have Neitz there next year too to provide help when needed, his own mentor.

Rono recently wrote on how we need a revolution. Many here complain about how conservative our club is. Well this will be revolutionary and would be a huge gamble.

I say stuff convention (needing an apprenticeship, captain being too young), get some balls and make the move.

Throw up names like Shaw and Schimma, they're not a scratch on Voss and coached at their old clubs.

I can then compare Beckham and Roy Keane.

Voss most likely won't set the world on fire straight away, but he's more likely to than anyone else going around.

I'm happy to put up with the learning process he'll inevitably go through (though I personally think he'll master the gig quickly) as it is the only realistic way we'll get him to come to Melbourne.