10 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

I currently play under an ex AFL player who was coached by Kevind Sheedy during their peak in the early 2000's.

He is in his 3rd year now but at the start he was absolutely fire and brimstone and would tear strip's off player at quarter time and end of the game.. definitely old school approach. We have lost players because of it.

It doesnt bother because I was coming through senior footy ranks where it was like that every week so im use to it and could take it.

But I also understand that yes, its not really the right way to go about it. I definitely feel it still has a place in the game its just how yoo deliver that.

Generation of today just cant cop it.

I must admit when I saw the Kingsley spray I personally loved it... challenge the leaders more then anything and they responded with a win.

Agree that today's players might cop an occasional spray, but it doesn't work if that is the only way that the person coaches.

I recall listening to Premiership Coach Tony Jewell, who was coaching Caulfield, give his 3/4 time address on the ground, at Princes Park Caulfield many years ago. The players were in the huddle and the fans male and female surrounded them.

Jewell was screaming profanities, F and C bombs and nothing else. Every word was a swear word. Spit was flying from his mouth. He was completely red faced and looking like a heart attack was about to hit.There was absolutely nothing said about football.

I struggled not to laugh, it was hilarious.

I remember Norm had an arrangement with Hassa whereby he would yell at him to get the message across to other players. Norm knew he couldnt yell at them directly as it wouldnt work.

29 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

I currently play under an ex AFL player who was coached by Kevind Sheedy during their peak in the early 2000's.

He is in his 3rd year now but at the start he was absolutely fire and brimstone and would tear strip's off player at quarter time and end of the game.. definitely old school approach. We have lost players because of it.

It doesnt bother because I was coming through senior footy ranks where it was like that every week so im use to it and could take it.

But I also understand that yes, its not really the right way to go about it. I definitely feel it still has a place in the game its just how yoo deliver that.

Generation of today just cant cop it.

I must admit when I saw the Kingsley spray I personally loved it... challenge the leaders more then anything and they responded with a win.

Mate of mine was a coach who I was playing under when I was in my 30s. We were playing horrible footy, I told him at half time to give me a spray, cause I personally needed it to get going, it definitely had an impact on our younger players who were none the wiser. Definitely need to know who you can and can’t talk to like that, not as effective anymore as a lot of kids aren’t built that way. Coaching methods have changed and evolved all the way to grass roots level, even in the 10 years since I last played.

33 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

I must admit when I saw the Kingsley spray I personally loved it... challenge the leaders more then anything and they responded with a win.

Who knows if it was the spray or just their own competitive nature that brought the positive result.

You know if you need to lift, the coach doesn't need to tell you. I wonder if the spray really did help.

Probably better to discuss how to change things up to get the lift than to carry on like a pork chop.

It's certainly not something he would want to be using on a regular basis and maybe not again with this group.

26 minutes ago, Redleg said:

Agree that today's players might cop an occasional spray, but it doesn't work if that is the only way that the person coaches.

I recall listening to Premiership Coach Tony Jewell, who was coaching Caulfield, give his 3/4 time address on the ground, at Princes Park Caulfield many years ago. The players were in the huddle and the fans male and female surrounded them.

Jewell was screaming profanities, F and C bombs and nothing else. Every word was a swear word. Spit was flying from his mouth. He was completely red faced and looking like a heart attack was about to hit.There was absolutely nothing said about football.

I struggled not to laugh, it was hilarious.

No joke, that sounds exactly like my current coach in his first year.

He has calmed right down but that was due to complaints from families.

7 minutes ago, WildDogDee said:

Mate of mine was a coach who I was playing under when I was in my 30s. We were playing horrible footy, I told him at half time to give me a spray, cause I personally needed it to get going, it definitely had an impact on our younger players who were none the wiser. Definitely need to know who you can and can’t talk to like that, not as effective anymore as a lot of kids aren’t built that way. Coaching methods have changed and evolved all the way to grass roots level, even in the 10 years since I last played.

Definitely pick your targets for sure and you find that older players like myself can cop it on the chin but even anyone under 30 years of age can really struggle with it.

Its funny byt we look back on it and laugh about it.. not so funny in the heat of the moment 🤣

6 minutes ago, rjay said:

Who knows if it was the spray or just their own competitive nature that brought the positive result.

You know if you need to lift, the coach doesn't need to tell you. I wonder if the spray really did help.

Probably better to discuss how to change things up to get the lift than to carry on like a pork chop.

It's certainly not something he would want to be using on a regular basis and maybe not again with this group.

Kingsley said in a recent interview that spray was his biggest one he has ever given and wasn't exactly proud of it so at least he owned it.

37 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

That was tame.

3 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

I currently play under an ex AFL player who was coached by Kevind Sheedy during their peak in the early 2000's.

He is in his 3rd year now but at the start he was absolutely fire and brimstone and would tear strip's off player at quarter time and end of the game.. definitely old school approach. We have lost players because of it.

It doesnt bother because I was coming through senior footy ranks where it was like that every week so im use to it and could take it.

But I also understand that yes, its not really the right way to go about it. I definitely feel it still has a place in the game its just how yoo deliver that.

Generation of today just cant cop it.

I must admit when I saw the Kingsley spray I personally loved it... challenge the leaders more then anything and they responded with a win.

Fear is not a good motivator and never has been. It might have been used in the past, I used it in my first few years of coaching, but just because it was used, doesn't mean it worked.

On 02/03/2026 at 17:37, Lord Travis said:

Leon Cameron was the GWS coach tearing strips off the players. That clip was enough to know he was a terrible coach and would waste an extremely talented list with no success. Coniglio was already having form and confidence issues at the time, so Cameron ripping him apart publicly was basically the end of his senior coaching career. It showed man with no empathy, no emotional control, no awareness and no vision. Pathetic.

On Kingy, he seems very positive so far. Be interesting to see how he handles the group when the pressure comes and the whips are cracking. Seems a good choice on limited exposure thus far though. Pretty happy with how he seems to have got the group enjoying footy and playing with freedom again!

I really find the more expletives they use, the more cringe it is to watch.

By all means swear if it makes what you're saying more meaningful but otherwise it just shows a lack of imagination or creativity.

4 hours ago, rjay said:

It's an old school approach that's never been particularly good.

I spent some time coaching back in the day and when I think back, it's actually embarrassing some of the things I would say to players and I think I was mild compared to some. It was kind of expected, the committee & supporters would think you were too soft if you didn't give the players a bake. Playing to the crowd, theatre or whatever you want to call it.

As I say, really dumb and embarrassing to look back on. As an AFL coach, I can't see any value at all.

King is right on the money...

Such an interesting insight.

I've often found myself thinking "I hope Goodwin/Roos/Daniher is screaming at them" after a particularly bad half. But this is a total abstraction. I'm not thinking about precisely what will be happening and how people might be feeling in the dressing room - I'm thinking only of the need to channel my disappointment. As you say, I'm looking for some kind of performance to alleviate my fury.

But when you're confronted with what that actually looks like and the way it actually effects people, it's an entirely different story. I don't like Toby Greene at all, but even I think that Kingsley spray was too much, in great part because it was in front of his peers. It was ritual humiliation.

Fascinating you say you see no value in it at all. I tend to think you might be right, but a lot of people will say - I think maybe Paul Roos might even have said this, and a few have said it on this thread - "Some players respond well to it and others don't." Maybe. I wonder if some players seem to respond well to it but deep down everyone who gets called "soft" or "pathetic" in front of the people whose opinions they value most highly, is worse off in the long run. The thing a couple of people have mentioned about being OK to cop it as long as there is an element of collusion rings true to me.

The other thing is, aren't these players hearing very difficult, potentially embarrassing, things simply delivered with more anodyne language and without the public humiliation, every week in video reviews?

Edited Wednesday at 04:543 days by The Taciturn Demon

1 hour ago, Adam The God said:

Fear is not a good motivator and never has been. It might have been used in the past, I used it in my first few years of coaching, but just because it was used, doesn't mean it worked.

Depends who you ask.

I have current teammates that prefer the fear of god knocked into em with a spray and some dont.

If I was to go down the coaching path, its not a method I would use personally.