16 March 2007

Gandalf for the Wallabies

| johnboy
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RugbyHeaven is speculating that the Brumbies Laurie “Gandalf” Fisher is a shoe in to be the next coach of the Wallabies.

If you can’t sack him get him promoted?

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Xman

We are talking about footy, not an AA meeting

Sammy. I know a ton about rugby union training, with cauliflower ears to back it up. u7’s learn to catch and pass. Its like breathing, you don’t need to coach it

If it’s good on the training paddock but falls down on the field is that the problem of the coach or player? I’d suggest the latter

I know absolutely nothing about rugby union training.

I do, however, understand a bit about training.

If you are training someone/(a group) in performing a task, and they breeze through the training, but fall apart in real-world situations, then you need to adapt the training.

So, I would suggest both coach and players have an issue.

Sigh.

Coaches aren’t to blame for a player dropping the ball. But they are to blame for a whole team dropping the ball.

Is Fisher a better coach than The Link? Arguable, but both coaches are going through the same thing ATM.

I’ve seen elite level training sessions in both Rugby and Basketball. The concentration on fundamental skills is just as strong at that level as it is in Under 7’s. They just do it faster and under more pressure.

A whole team dropping the ball – at elite level – is all about confidence. If a team has injuries, is not motivated by management or just plain doesn’t believe in themselves then they hesitate, and balls go down and passes behind.

It’s also all about game plans that give time and space for execution. If your game plan – even your entire backline philosophy – is designed around getting Bernie attacking the line and then making veteran decisions about which hole runner to hit…and all of a sudden the same philosophy has J. Huxley having to make those same decisions….well…things go a bit pear-shaped.

I think the psyche of the Brumbies was well damaged by the agonising last minute losses to the Blues and the Canes. This combined with a loss of many veterans being injured led to the Bulls debacle.

The Stormers game was a step forward – the real test of a team building in confidence is now…the RSA tour.

Have patience.

Go Brumbies!

and hasn’t each of those bar Gregan missed at least one game?
Gerrard is in awful form at the moment, Huxley is gifted, and has a great boot but uses it at the wrong times, Rathbone showed how much work he does when he was missing for a game, but I agree with the catch/pass/hold thing. That’s warmup stuff and shouldn’t be happening (although it has got better in the last week).

This year they appear to be developing a whole new game plan, hopefully in anticipation of the departure of Bernie et al next year.

You might not see the full, expansive game of the past because we won’t have the flamboyantly creative players to get away with it.

5 of the 7 backs are Wallabies (Gerrard, Rathbone, Mortlock, Larkham, Gregan), how much waiting do we have to do?

> They used to be able to catch and pass and now they can’t.

They used to have The Git, Roff & Andrew Walker, even Joel Wilson…plus a fit Bernie Larkham for that matter. They’re rebuilding as a backline, these things take time. They do have some talent..it’ll start to click soon enough. The signs were there last week.

I agree with the last line, but catching and passing is a skill that should be ingrained at this level

I’m saying whatever they’re doing isn’t working.

They used to be able to catch and pass and now they can’t.

So you’re now saying that the Brumbies can’t catch and pass because they don’t specifically practice it. You’d probably need to have an actual knowledge of what happens on the training paddock in higher level Rugby to understand the farcical nature of that suggestion.

Catching and passing are core skills of the more advanced drills, otherwise those drills don’t happen. If it’s good on the training paddock but falls down on the field is that the problem of the coach or player? I’d suggest the latter

Skills atrophy without constant practice.

I would suggest basic skills such as those need not be practiced by professionals. They are, well should be, well beyond that when they sign up to play the game for a living

I’m saying that if they can’t catch and can’t pass week in and week out then they’re doing the wrong drills at training.

So your saying that a supposedly Wallaby standard backline needs to be drilled in things like not dropping the ball and missing tackles?

I’m sick and tired of seeing coaches in all codes get the arse because of their team’s performances when, to be perfectly honest, its the ineptitude of the players that put them in their predicament.

A coach is only as good as the players around him. The Brumbies losing games through falling down in the basics (by that I mean the shit you learn in under 7s) isn’t the fault of the coach. He can expect his players to be across those issues, I mean they are professionals

He’s the one with a backline that hasn’t been drilled and consistently crap game plans though.

Since winning the Brisbane club comp many years ago what has he done?

The Vikings relied on being a Brumbies feeder to have a monstrous forward pack in that competition but they couldn’t cut it in the Sydney comp.

Remember how good the Brumbies were last year in the Provincial Championship where coach Fisher had been stood down (along with all the other regular coaches)?

Absent Diane11:32 am 16 Mar 07

you are dead right.. i would prob get my arse kicked.. or if johnboy is right get turned into a frog or something..

But you wouldn’t say it to his face.

I don’t know why there would be talk of sacking. He’s not the one out there dropping the ball and missing the tackles

Absent Diane10:28 am 16 Mar 07

I would have said he looks more like billy connolly’s semi retarded brother…

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