Re: AFL Rd 3: Pre Game Prognostications: Carlton vs Geelong in Geelong
Reply #123 –
Another very average game of boring modern footy. Just can't out my finger on what's wrong with GWS. They have so many awesome individual players, but they just don't seem to be a connected unit. They played very dumb footy tonight, movement was so slow and unfocused I thought it was us for a while.
GWS is overloaded with athletes, but very few footballers. When the few footballers GWS have on hand go missing the opposition footballers put the GWS athletes to the torch and the athletes fold. You just cannot teach players to naturally become uncompromising at the football, you've either got it or you haven't.
It's why I think teams built of athletes will rarely succeed on the big day, because footballers will treat them with brutality on that day! It's my big reservation about our list, we've built a list that is a safe workplace, and guys spend the week planning for a long and happy retirement.
I think too many modern coaches are enamoured with athletes, as a result they do not get the balance right they just invoke more athletes. The coaches drool at the thought of the athlete winning the football on the 5th or 6th repeat effort, the victory at the last gasp of breath, running an opponent into the ground Craig Bradley or Robert Harvey style, which is a certain type of hardness. While hard edged footballers on that ultimate day, the likes of Hodge or Selwood, will inevitably end that contest on the 1st or 2nd attempt!
Coaches can't escape this reality, and the GWS list is ironic given that Sheedy built it and no bigger finals football sniper you will find! Sheedy is exactly the type of footballer that causes GWS players to fold, but he helped build the list that he admires, full of players that have exactly what he didn't, athleticism, skill, endurance and agility! But almost zero of his brutality!