Our defence

[Milkshark]

You said no excuses next year, he'll have help.

You don't even know who the help will be.

Take away the top coaches quality help and they don't do their job as well.

Do you think he is the sole coach next year?

Was he this year?

 

[HaroldBishop]

Do you think he is the sole coach next year?

Was he this year?

Do you rate Sandercock?

You're not listening. He needs quality help, as do all successful coaches.

Even more important for a young coach.

 

[Milkshark]

Do you rate Sandercock?

You're not listening. He needs quality help, as do all successful coaches.

I dont know **** all about him, but going off what we saw this year, no I do not rate him. But like I said earlier, who hired him? Coach?

I do not want to get to the end of next year, be out of the 8, come in here, complain about it again, then have you or someone else say its because he didn't have quality help.

 

[bort]

I said a while ago Sandercock was useless, but at least the players like him.....

They do and he "thinks he's one of the players"

I dont know **** all about him, but going off what we saw this year, no I do not rate him. But like I said earlier, who hired him? Coach?

I do not want to get to the end of next year, be out of the 8, come in here, complain about it again, then have you or someone else say its because he didn't have quality help.

Presumably the coach and the board and maybe even some other people from the club were involved in hiring him

 

[stormshark]

How can so many Players(generally- not just a Sharks based observation) get to FG, without being sound defenders? I don't get it. Maybe some play in champion front running Jnr teams through the grades?

 

[Sir Chadley]

How can so many Players(generally- not just a Sharks based observation) get to FG, without being sound defenders? I don't get it. Maybe some play in champion front running Jnr teams through the grades?

This has always puzzled me as well. Also the fact that some players can't pass well or pass at all, like from right to left or left to right. Surely they learned all this in the junior grades?

 

[stormshark]

This has always puzzled me as well. Also the fact that some players can't pass well or pass at all, like from right to left or left to right. Surely they learned all this in the junior grades?

True, unless ones played FG i know its an enormous jump, fast tough etc, to execute under pressure, but its some of the basics of the game missing, in a surprising amount of players, it appears sometimes. As you say Jnr Reps should have sorted most issues.

 

[Gards]

This has always puzzled me as well. Also the fact that some players can't pass well or pass at all, like from right to left or left to right. Surely they learned all this in the junior grades?

'specialist' side of the field....

How can so many Players(generally- not just a Sharks based observation) get to FG, without being sound defenders? I don't get it. Maybe some play in champion front running Jnr teams through the grades?

Chad is from junior rep teams and he is the best defender you will ever see...

 

[Cage]

Is 'Shark's defence' an oxymoron?

 

[Wiz]

How can so many Players(generally- not just a Sharks based observation) get to FG, without being sound defenders? I don't get it. Maybe some play in champion front running Jnr teams through the grades?

I hear you ... I genuinely think the team is not as fit as the other teams, always looks like there are little gaps on the field everywhere

 

[BurgoShark]

How can so many Players(generally- not just a Sharks based observation) get to FG, without being sound defenders? I don't get it. Maybe some play in champion front running Jnr teams through the grades?

This has always puzzled me as well. Also the fact that some players can't pass well or pass at all, like from right to left or left to right. Surely they learned all this in the junior grades?

We've had 20+ years of rewarding the biggest, fastest players (early bloomers) instead of developing good footballers. This is one reason why the NRL has just re-worked their entire development framework. QRL and VRL have taken this on; NSWRL have created their own framework based on the NRL one.

Some extreme examples...

- Ryan James made the Australian Schoolboys team and was chased by several NRL teams despite not being able to tackle (this was well known by his own coaches and opposition coaches at the time)
- Ben Pomeroy came out after playing 40+ NRL games and said he never learned to pass

People like to whinge on Facebook about the removing finals etc. from junior footy, but it is backed by research that removing the ladder/finals encourages most coaches to move kids around between roles and develop skills, rather than just slotting them in to a spot which helps the team win (fast kids on the wing, big kids in the middle, etc.). This approach improves the overall standard of players and the game in the long term across all levels. Sometimes I play my biggest kid at halfback, because he needs to learn to play footy - that physical advantage he has is only going to last so long.

 

[bort]

People like to whinge on Facebook about the removing finals etc. from junior footy, but it is backed by research that removing the ladder/finals encourages most coaches to move kids around between roles and develop skills, rather than just slotting them in to a spot which helps the team win (fast kids on the wing, big kids in the middle, etc.). This approach improves the overall standard of players and the game in the long term across all levels. Sometimes I play my biggest kid at halfback, because he needs to learn to play footy - that physical advantage he has is only going to last so long.

I remember when I was in like U10s or something our coach owned a couple Maccas and with about 3 or 4 games left and needing to win them he shouted us maccas for every win for the rest of the year.
We made the grand final (but lost).
He gave us maccas anyway.
Pretty sure getting a burger was more important to me than either making or winning/losing the grand final.

Started to care way more into early teens or so I guess. For me anyway I don't think not having finals at early ages would have had any negative impact on me.

Also on the physical advantage thing a lot of better players through my late teens (typically the most physically developed) stopped playing once we hit seniors because suddenly they were physically disadvantaged pretty much across the park.
Over the years I saw a few of them come back and some ended up sticking with it for a bit again but most were lucky to stick out a season and then disappear again because it wasn't as easy as they had been used to.

 

[Cage]

Agree. The 'give it to the big kid' advantage mostly disappears when they hit the seniors, and a lot of the big kids quickly have their confidence shattered.

This is the main reason I don't want to see Pele rushed into first grade.

 

[BurgoShark]

... on the physical advantage thing a lot of better players through my late teens (typically the most physically developed) stopped playing once we hit seniors because suddenly they were physically disadvantaged pretty much across the park.
Over the years I saw a few of them come back and some ended up sticking with it for a bit again but most were lucky to stick out a season and then disappear again because it wasn't as easy as they had been used to.

Agree. The 'give it to the big kid' advantage mostly disappears when they hit the seniors, and a lot of the big kids quickly have their confidence shattered.

This is part of the idea - and not just for seniors. 14's, 15's etc. start dropping out or losing interest. What we want is for those bigger kids to have other skills before they get to that age so that they 1) become better players, and 2) stay in the game. If you teach the biggest kid how to do other things well when he is young he is still going to be useful to his team (and have confidence) when the games start to matter.

For age-level rep teams, kids born in Jan-Mar have historically been over-represented; the selectors are often choosing the most-developed players, not necessarily the best ones. This is a systematic issue that the NRL has recognised and are looking to remedy.

Pretty sure getting a burger was more important to me than either making or winning/losing the grand final.

Yep. Kids want to win on game day, but in 3 weeks it's the Maccas and the break-up-day jumping castle that they are all still talking about.

 

[Sparkles]

True, unless ones played FG i know its an enormous jump, fast tough etc, to execute under pressure, but its some of the basics of the game missing, in a surprising amount of players, it appears sometimes. As you say Jnr Reps should have sorted most issues.

Watching a very out of shape (well he was a perfect round shape) Sandow absolutely tear it up in a NSW Cup game made me realise what a gap there is between the grades. Kind of like how a Gardner or Billy Mags can be amongst the best but not translate that to first grade I suppose... it’s pretty touch footy in comparison a lot of the time.

 

[stormshark]

"For age-level rep teams, kids born in Jan-Mar have historically been over-represented; the selectors are often choosing the most-developed players, not necessarily the best ones. This is a systematic issue that the NRL has recognised and are looking to remedy"



True this.

 

[BurgoShark]

Watching a very out of shape (well he was a perfect round shape) Sandow absolutely tear it up in a NSW Cup game made me realise what a gap there is between the grades. Kind of like how a Gardner or Billy Mags can be amongst the best but not translate that to first grade I suppose... it’s pretty touch footy in comparison a lot of the time.

NSW Cup used to be a very weak comp when Sandow was playing (2012). Blake Green was unstoppable in 2009. Scott Porter won PoTY in 2010.

I don’t remember the year, but there some big changes made to that comp 6-7 years ago which made a big difference and brought it in line with the Qld Cup. The scrapping of NYC was another big step, because it brought the best young players in to that grade (e.g. Brailey in 2018).

These days the gap between the best Cup teams and the worst NRL teams is much less than people think it is. Melbourne’s team last week was basically the Sunshine Coast Falcons from the start of last season, and they only just got beaten by a full strength Dragons. Also - Fogerty got his opportunity from Holbrook after Burleigh beat the Titans in a trial.

 

[Flanno]

I remember a player from Tigers, Jake Mullaney who absolutely destroyed the lower grades. Something like 29 tries one season, record points for a season at the time but never got a start at Tigers. I think he played a few for Eels but was bog average