Re: 2014 Leadership Group
Reply #21 –

Disregarding the previous banter I think perhaps you might have gotten stuck on the idea from a business perspective where endless meetings are the manner in which productivity is decreased.
In football, the meetings actually serve for playing the game smarter which is something that our group of princesses seem to get wrong and have done for quite a few years now. It is required to fine tune the game and get the team functioning more as a unit. This is to keep in mind that the meeting is usually discussed in context reflecting on the game played previously, and what went right or wrong. The idea of having more people in there is so we can look at one incident (e.g. a coast to coast goal) and look at how the actions of people in the structure resulted in the ball travelling the distance quickly resulting in that goal and what can be done to prevent it. Usually it highlights a situation where a player gambles and helps them to think about the alternate course of action and how that can affect the team or took the easy option rather than the difficult option of running into position vs attacking the ball etc.
We have moaned in another thread where our team tends to gamble and lose vs when the Cats and Hawthorn do it they win. Meetings like this are usually the difference rather than actual talent level.
Its all worth it if the next time that same situation unfolds (common in team sports) that the player rather than taking the offensive gamble, takes the defensive gamble with a higher success rate. It doesnt mean you will prevent the goal all the time as either way there would be an element of risk involved, but it does serve to help make the decision that results in a goal less frequently. This same methodology can be applied later in terms of ball use, positioning etc, and hopefully result in more wins.
It all serves a purpose. I agree that meetings can sometimes by un productive but thats usually in a business environment and not a sporting environment. If anything sports teams probably dont meet and discuss things enough rather than too much. They are well tuned machines and most of the fitness, skill and work is done in pre season that will hold the team in good stead for the year. You will find that teams that fare better during the season proper will be the teams that have the least interupted preparation to the season and stay healthiest during the year, rather than the teams that work hardest during the season proper. There is no substitute for matches when it comes to fitness.