Coaches report

It will be interesting to read the coaches report this week, if in fact Hartlett actually writes it.

Norwood always has the coaches report emailed to its members either on Monday or Tuesday.

From the coach's report:

"I thought we had been building really nicely the previous 3 weeks & will treat last weekend as an anomaly in the scheme of things."

So three consecutive losses (by an average margin of 4 goals) is 'building nicely', and our 17th consecutive loss is an anomaly after the previous 16. Is anyone buying this? It reads like he thinks we're pretty much on track.

Aldo

I thought the coaches report was pathetic, he even stated were in the game in the first half, I must have been watching the wrong game.

aldo russian wrote:From the coach's report:

"I thought we had been building really nicely the previous 3 weeks & will treat last weekend as an anomaly in the scheme of things."

So three consecutive losses (by an average margin of 4 goals) is 'building nicely', and our 17th consecutive loss is an anomaly after the previous 16. Is anyone buying this? It reads like he thinks we're pretty much on track.

No, I'm not. He actually stated that we are on track. ... so hopefully my calm & positive demeanor will get them back on track this week against North! An anomaly is a deviation from standard practice or expected results. If he thinks we are on track then we are in deep, deep trouble. We are lacking in pace, skills and decision making. A full time coach (+ support coaches) should be working on these deficits and after 2 pre seasons and 22 games, the team should be making some headway.

Lachlan wrote:Aldo

I thought the coaches report was pathetic, he even stated were in the game in the first half, I must have been watching the wrong game.

Today, I re-watched most of the game. (sad, I know) We may only have been 19 points behind at half time, but I fully expected that we would be run over in the second half. We may not have been run over against the Eagles, but at no stage did we look like winning. In both these games we were lucky to still be in touch at half time due to the opposition wasting so many scoring opportunities. We simply cannot put our opponents under enough pressure. There's something very wrong.

Building Nicely!
Centrals kicked 11 goals to 2 after half time in Round 2!
Central will finish bottom 3!!!
On Sunday we were in the game for 15 minutes in the first quarter. Norwood had 16 shots at goal to our 7 in the first half. They were all over us!!
I’m not buying it LOL!!!
It’s really becoming a bit of a joke to be honest….

read reserves report

The problem with Westies over so much of its history is that we accept mediocrity.  Things will always be better next week or next year and if the facts say otherwise, we're expected to ignore them.  Otherwise we're 'negative' or 'disloyal'.

Coaching Westies right now is difficult and I support Brad in his efforts to make us better, but we all know where we stand and we'd just like the truth.

I know Brad would think we have to be positive, but let's not pretend that 'we're on track'.  Let's not praise players in a report knowing they'll be omitted this week.

An alternative report would be roughly as follows (Abbreviated):

'After our game against the Eagles, I was hopeful of a strong showing against Norwood, but our effort showed we were nowhere near competitive enough.  The half-time scoreboard flattered us and that was borne out by our second half capitulation.  The stats told the story, only 43% possession, smashed in Inside 50s and we even had fewer tackles, despite Norwood having most of the possessions.

That all pointed to an unacceptable performance.  I thought Carmichael stood out for us and Brand stood tall against the onslaught and a few others contributed well, but our team effort was poor.

It is a tough time for us and we have to change what we're doing and look beyond some who haven't been able to play at the required standard yet.  We'll regain some good players next game and will look at bringing one or two promising young players into the team to offer something different.  We apologise to our supporters for the difficult times we're all going through and we share your frustrations, but we ask for your continued support as we're all hurting and are working hard to turn things around.'

Maybe Lee, that degree of honesty requires an admission of failure that some aren't willing to make. There's a place for positivity but not at the expense of facing reality, otherwise nothing changes. But someone, at some level within the club, is going to have to say something to the members very soon about our lack of improvement or progress this season; hopefully without talking up our Reserves' ladder position or issuing pleas for more patience.