Technical Coach
Bencher
The players in need of the biggest improvements over last season is the halves. Foran and DCE have stagnated and in some instances gone backwards developing bad habits dating way back into the 2011 season even though we won the GF.
The science to our attack was deeply lacking resulting in poor decision making, rushed decision making, predictable autopilot option taking, too much finesse instead of being more direct and a general lack of planning a set of six leading up to an attacking play to create conditions conducive to a good result.
By all accounts Andrew Johns goes beyond your normal boring attacking coach methods and develops systems in place during a set of six to stretch or draw in a defensive line so you have at least a half chance on one play and another chance off the back of the next play. By directing forwards into key areas and knowing when to use a player with good leg drive to win the tackle and work a flat play off the back of a quick play the ball or a forward with good footwork to drag in defenders and setting up an outside play etc etc.
It's not enough for an attacking coach to just say “hold the ball back like this and you will create openings†or “play more straight your running too sideways cramping your outside backs†some gifted players in the past actually don't understand the science, art or reasoning why their methods actually worked and are useless in the coaching dept.
Understanding why a certain body position at point of delivery works better than others or why stepping early in some instances will help draw the outside defensive slide back in before release or making sure you have effective options on your inside hip not just lazy runners etc etc the list goes on and on.
One of our main problems last year and previous seasons was playing at high intensity winning the early exchanges but not turning this into points leading to frustration and a forward pack that felt their hard efforts in these periods were not being rewarded on the score board. If your attack is lacking that clinical edge eventually you start taking more risks leading to more mistakes and losing field position which then leads into lower possession rates and higher defensive loads---it has been a pattern to our play for a few seasons.
Tooves has shown enough in his first year that he understands the issues we have with our attack addressing a few simple areas around being more sharp and direct around dummy half with our go forward. You can also see he is wanting more mobility and more explosive straight running forwards and is trying to inject some youth in our forward line to maintain the intensity for longer periods(we tend to drop intensity real fast when things are not going our way)---overall he is trying to sharpen us up all over the park.
My main concern with Tooves is not his League knowledge but his mere presence does not appear to command respect from an outsider looking in based on the actions and media talk from some players during last season and this off season. Some coaches have all the knowledge but lack that aura about them which is able to make their ideas sink in to the players belief systems.
Time will tell in the end and I really do hope my initial gut feelings are wrong because I see a lot to like in his knowledge of the game.
The science to our attack was deeply lacking resulting in poor decision making, rushed decision making, predictable autopilot option taking, too much finesse instead of being more direct and a general lack of planning a set of six leading up to an attacking play to create conditions conducive to a good result.
By all accounts Andrew Johns goes beyond your normal boring attacking coach methods and develops systems in place during a set of six to stretch or draw in a defensive line so you have at least a half chance on one play and another chance off the back of the next play. By directing forwards into key areas and knowing when to use a player with good leg drive to win the tackle and work a flat play off the back of a quick play the ball or a forward with good footwork to drag in defenders and setting up an outside play etc etc.
It's not enough for an attacking coach to just say “hold the ball back like this and you will create openings†or “play more straight your running too sideways cramping your outside backs†some gifted players in the past actually don't understand the science, art or reasoning why their methods actually worked and are useless in the coaching dept.
Understanding why a certain body position at point of delivery works better than others or why stepping early in some instances will help draw the outside defensive slide back in before release or making sure you have effective options on your inside hip not just lazy runners etc etc the list goes on and on.
One of our main problems last year and previous seasons was playing at high intensity winning the early exchanges but not turning this into points leading to frustration and a forward pack that felt their hard efforts in these periods were not being rewarded on the score board. If your attack is lacking that clinical edge eventually you start taking more risks leading to more mistakes and losing field position which then leads into lower possession rates and higher defensive loads---it has been a pattern to our play for a few seasons.
Tooves has shown enough in his first year that he understands the issues we have with our attack addressing a few simple areas around being more sharp and direct around dummy half with our go forward. You can also see he is wanting more mobility and more explosive straight running forwards and is trying to inject some youth in our forward line to maintain the intensity for longer periods(we tend to drop intensity real fast when things are not going our way)---overall he is trying to sharpen us up all over the park.
My main concern with Tooves is not his League knowledge but his mere presence does not appear to command respect from an outsider looking in based on the actions and media talk from some players during last season and this off season. Some coaches have all the knowledge but lack that aura about them which is able to make their ideas sink in to the players belief systems.
Time will tell in the end and I really do hope my initial gut feelings are wrong because I see a lot to like in his knowledge of the game.