Armchair Coaching Clinic

[SBD82]

Alright ladies, gents, and non binary friends. I want you to settle into your comfiest chair, recline that sucker, rest your preferred beverage on your belly, and give me your best coaching tips.

This is your lineup. No changes allowed. I don’t give a shit about who we should play in the position, or any recruitment errors. In this game, as the old adage goes, you can only piss with the dick you’ve got. (Leaving JDB out was a decision that I’ve made purely because I want you to have a side full of players who are guaranteed to be eligible round 1).

1. Lomax
2. Saab (LW)
3. Lafai (LC)
4. Aitken (RC)
5. Pereira (RW)
6. Norman
7. Hunt
8. Vaughan
9. McInnes
10. Graham
11. Frizell (RF)
12. A. Sims (LF)
13. Merrin
14. K. Sims
15. Luke
16. Lawrie
17. Ford

So what are your tactics?

I want to know how you’d attack, what lines you’d have the players running, who you’d hit on what plays depending on how the defense reacts, how you’d structure the halves, how you’d rotate the interchange, set plays off restarts, what points you want to get to to execute various plays, compressed/normal defence, sliding vs up and in and what field position you’d use them.

Come on all, I know we can do better than 4 hit ups, block play, then kick.

 

[Dragonslayer]

Alright ladies, gents, and non binary friends. I want you to settle into your comfiest chair, recline that sucker, rest your preferred beverage on your belly, and give me your best coaching tips.

This is your lineup. No changes allowed. I don’t give a shit about who we should play in the position, or any recruitment errors. In this game, as the old adage goes, you can only piss with the dick you’ve got. (Leaving JDB out was a decision that I’ve made purely because I want you to have a side full of players who are guaranteed to be eligible round 1).

1. Lomax
2. Saab (LW)
3. Lafai (LC)
4. Aitken (RC)
5. Pereira (RW)
6. Norman
7. Hunt
8. Vaughan
9. McInnes
10. Graham
11. Frizell (RF)
12. A. Sims (LF)
13. Merrin
14. K. Sims
15. Luke
16. Lawrie
17. Ford

So what are your tactics?

I want to know how you’d attack, what lines you’d have the players running, who you’d hit on what plays depending on how the defense reacts, how you’d structure the halves, how you’d rotate the interchange, set plays off restarts, what points you want to get to to execute various plays, compressed/normal defence, sliding vs up and in and what field position you’d use them.

Come on all, I know we can do better than 4 hit ups, block play, then kick.

Ok, so with the 17 you've announced, there would be a couple of things.
1. Swap Periera and Saab. Basically, Periera is a left winger and Saab is a right.
2. I'm sure you mean T. Sims as our left edge forward.
3. I'd start Lawrie and have Graham on the bench

Team tactics, well that will depend a lot on what has been practiced in pre-season. There would have to be more running games from both McInnes and Hunt. Obviously with Saab on the right, the bomb to the right hand side would be more effective. A couple of hit-ups from the forwards mixed with a few inside outside plays as we have really no express speed in the backline. Lafai needs early ball, so quick play the ball and a sweep from Norman to the left and pass to Lafai would give him some space to work. This would allow for a tri-play ie, a pass outside to Periera, or inside ball to Sims or a return ball to Norman. This play would also be able to introduce Lomax from blind cover ie running back through a slide defense. On the right side this is where Hunt must do his running game and be ablre to hit Friz on a straight line. Aitken to be used only to bring the ball out of defense. If our defense is going to be stiffened up by Flanno, i'd use that to our advantage to kick early in the tackle count, turning the opposition forwards around (especially Brisbane), but the kick must find the grass. We must keep the opposition second guessing as to what play we are about to go with.
Bench rotation: starting props replaced by K. Sims and Graham around 25 min mark (interchanges 2), this would give them 15 mins prior half time (I think that's enough for Graham). 30th min replace Merrin with McInnes which means Luke to hooker. (interchange 3). That would be it to half time. 55th min replace Graham with Vaughan (interchange 4) 60th minute luke off, Friz to lock and Ford to right edge and McInnes back to hooker and Lawrie on for K. Sims (interchange 6). 70th min Friz off and Merrin on (interchange 7). I'd keep 1 interchange spare.

That's about it atm and it's probably why I ain't a coach.

 

[SBD82]

Ok, so with the 17 you've announced, there would be a couple of things.
1. Swap Periera and Saab. Basically, Periera is a left winger and Saab is a right.
2. I'm sure you mean T. Sims as our left edge forward.
3. I'd start Lawrie and have Graham on the bench

Team tactics, well that will depend a lot on what has been practiced in pre-season. There would have to be more running games from both McInnes and Hunt. Obviously with Saab on the right, the bomb to the right hand side would be more effective. A couple of hit-ups from the forwards mixed with a few inside outside plays as we have really no express speed in the backline. Lafai needs early ball, so quick play the ball and a sweep from Norman to the left and pass to Lafai would give him some space to work. This would allow for a tri-play ie, a pass outside to Periera, or inside ball to Sims or a return ball to Norman. This play would also be able to introduce Lomax from blind cover ie running back through a slide defense. On the right side this is where Hunt must do his running game and be ablre to hit Friz on a straight line. Aitken to be used only to bring the ball out of defense. If our defense is going to be stiffened up by Flanno, i'd use that to our advantage to kick early in the tackle count, turning the opposition forwards around (especially Brisbane), but the kick must find the grass. We must keep the opposition second guessing as to what play we are about to go with.
Bench rotation: starting props replaced by K. Sims and Graham around 25 min mark (interchanges 2), this would give them 15 mins prior half time (I think that's enough for Graham). 30th min replace Merrin with McInnes which means Luke to hooker. (interchange 3). That would be it to half time. 55th min replace Graham with Vaughan (interchange 4) 60th minute luke off, Friz to lock and Ford to right edge and McInnes back to hooker and Lawrie on for K. Sims (interchange 6). 70th min Friz off and Merrin on (interchange 7). I'd keep 1 interchange spare.

That's about it atm and it's probably why I ain't a coach.

Haha. Yes. I meant Tariq. Not sure Ashton would be much use on the left edge.

And point taken re: wingers.

I especially like your left edge attack. A centre like Lafai needs early ball, and giving him options is definitely a good idea.

 

[JohnnoMcJohnno]

Hmmm. Pretty much the same team as last year with the same stupid coach, so if we use the same stupid tactics we will end up in pretty much the same position. That is what every other coach will be expecting us to do, so my plan is to mix it up a bit.
- Lafai to 5/8 where his power walking isn't such a handicap, Norman to centre (or second 5/8 if you prefer) where he can use his step to better advantage
- Aitken to second row where his defence can't stuff up as much, Frizzel to centre where he can really do some damage without being used as a blunt instrument.
- McInnis as dummy half with instructions to run pass or kick as he sees fit. He may stuff up now and again but it will keep the opposition guessing.
- The best recent wins I remember all featured Tariq Sims going ballistic, so he has to be rotated to keep him fresh. With Luke maybe? Feed them both raw meat and slap them at half time to keep them agitated.

That'll do. Am I a genius or what?

 

[Old Timer]

Alright ladies, gents, and non binary friends. I want you to settle into your comfiest chair, recline that sucker, rest your preferred beverage on your belly, and give me your best coaching tips.

This is your lineup. No changes allowed. I don’t give a shit about who we should play in the position, or any recruitment errors. In this game, as the old adage goes, you can only piss with the dick you’ve got. (Leaving JDB out was a decision that I’ve made purely because I want you to have a side full of players who are guaranteed to be eligible round 1).

1. Lomax
2. Saab (LW)
3. Lafai (LC)
4. Aitken (RC)
5. Pereira (RW)
6. Norman
7. Hunt
8. Vaughan
9. McInnes
10. Graham
11. Frizell (RF)
12. A. Sims (LF)
13. Merrin
14. K. Sims
15. Luke
16. Lawrie
17. Ford

So what are your tactics?

I want to know how you’d attack, what lines you’d have the players running, who you’d hit on what plays depending on how the defense reacts, how you’d structure the halves, how you’d rotate the interchange, set plays off restarts, what points you want to get to to execute various plays, compressed/normal defence, sliding vs up and in and what field position you’d use them.

Come on all, I know we can do better than 4 hit ups, block play, then kick.

Do star jumps under the posts while the opposition is kicking conversions.
That way if ever we do score and make the opposition kick off more than once in a match we might actually be able to catch the f**king thing before the opposition get it from a short restart.

 

[Crush]

Hmmm. Pretty much the same team as last year with the same stupid coach, so if we use the same stupid tactics we will end up in pretty much the same position. That is what every other coach will be expecting us to do, so my plan is to mix it up a bit.
- Lafai to 5/8 where his power walking isn't such a handicap, Norman to centre (or second 5/8 if you prefer) where he can use his step to better advantage
- Aitken to second row where his defence can't stuff up as much, Frizzel to centre where he can really do some damage without being used as a blunt instrument.
- McInnis as dummy half with instructions to run pass or kick as he sees fit. He may stuff up now and again but it will keep the opposition guessing.
- The best recent wins I remember all featured Tariq Sims going ballistic, so he has to be rotated to keep him fresh. With Luke maybe? Feed them both raw meat and slap them at half time to keep them agitated.

That'll do. Am I a genius or what?

Lafai's power walking made me lol

 

[jak]

Ok, so with the 17 you've announced, there would be a couple of things.
1. Swap Periera and Saab. Basically, Periera is a left winger and Saab is a right.
2. I'm sure you mean T. Sims as our left edge forward.
3. I'd start Lawrie and have Graham on the bench

Team tactics, well that will depend a lot on what has been practiced in pre-season. There would have to be more running games from both McInnes and Hunt. Obviously with Saab on the right, the bomb to the right hand side would be more effective. A couple of hit-ups from the forwards mixed with a few inside outside plays as we have really no express speed in the backline. Lafai needs early ball, so quick play the ball and a sweep from Norman to the left and pass to Lafai would give him some space to work. This would allow for a tri-play ie, a pass outside to Periera, or inside ball to Sims or a return ball to Norman. This play would also be able to introduce Lomax from blind cover ie running back through a slide defense. On the right side this is where Hunt must do his running game and be ablre to hit Friz on a straight line. Aitken to be used only to bring the ball out of defense. If our defense is going to be stiffened up by Flanno, i'd use that to our advantage to kick early in the tackle count, turning the opposition forwards around (especially Brisbane), but the kick must find the grass. We must keep the opposition second guessing as to what play we are about to go with.
Bench rotation: starting props replaced by K. Sims and Graham around 25 min mark (interchanges 2), this would give them 15 mins prior half time (I think that's enough for Graham). 30th min replace Merrin with McInnes which means Luke to hooker. (interchange 3). That would be it to half time. 55th min replace Graham with Vaughan (interchange 4) 60th minute luke off, Friz to lock and Ford to right edge and McInnes back to hooker and Lawrie on for K. Sims (interchange 6). 70th min Friz off and Merrin on (interchange 7). I'd keep 1 interchange spare.

That's about it atm and it's probably why I ain't a coach.

now all we have to do is get mary to read this, season saved.

 

[TomRedVRiver]

- Graham off the bench. What he lacks in metre eating, he gains in line speed and energy in defence. We need that towards the middle/end of each half, it's always when we drop off.

- Forwards take hit ups in twos, with Lomax chasing up in support EVERY hit-up (if he can manage the workload). We need to put that doubt in the defensive line's mind that an offload could be coming at any stage. All of the top teams have offloading forwards (Melbourne - Bromwich, Roosters - Taukeiaho and Crichton, Souths - Burgess and Murray, Sharks - Fifita (when they won the comp)).
We need Merrin to re-capture some of his old offloading glory.

- Corey and Ben need the freedom to roam and I would be sitting be down one on one in a f**king interrogation room with a light shining in his face telling him to run the ball at any opportunity. He needs to step away from trying to be an organising halfback.

- Corey should take most of the attacking kicks. His bombs, grubbers and long clearing kicks are FAR superior to Hunt's. I remember when the Eels pumped us a couple of years back, Corey single-handedly kicked us out of the game.
I'd also be encouraging Corey to go for around the back short-side plays. He's got a great cut out pass in him.

- Tariq needs to keep hitting gaps attacking the try-line off Corey's left shoulder and for f**k sake, somebody needs to tell Tyson to RUN STRAIGHT AND AS HARD AS HE CAN AT GAPS on the line off Hunt's right shoulder. He needs to stop running straight at the opposition defence haha.
They also need to start running in to out lines. They're strong, if they hit the gaps hard they'll carry the defence over the line.

- Take a chance on Saab's height and kick to the corners when attacking the line if we're out of ideas, with Lomax ready in support to take the bat back.

- We've had little success going side to side in the past. Our backs are too slow and the predictable nature of our second-man plays allow the defence to slide easily. We need to be positive and attack the middle of the ruck hard. Mcinnes out of dummy half, quick play the balls, out to Hunt and back inside to Lomax hitting it up through the middle.

- We need SPEED in our backline plays. And I don't necessarily mean quick players (even though that always helps), but less jogging and more hitting the line with genuine pace.
Watch the Storm and the Roosters.... Guys like Cronk, Keary, Croft, Munster, Bromwich, Slater etc etc... They're all literally sprinting when they get the ball in hand.

- No more compressed defence. The top teams always expose that and a well executed cut-out ball always f**ks us over out wide. Sliding defence it must be.

- As much as Lafai pisses me off, he's actually quite good when he gets early ball and he's one of the best in the comp in a 2 on 2 situation. He's got a good draw and pass/offload. Need to use that more often. Have the backs standing deeper in attack.

 

[giboz71]

Well, our strengths lie in our halves and edge forwards where we have Origin reps. In the absence of any pace out wide, this is where we need to focus our attack. Think Tariq going bananas in the Broncos semi in 2018. Ford may be a nice weapon out wide too. Hopefully, with Luke at reserve hooker, Merrin, Vaughan and Korbin come into play close to the line as well.

Hunt and Norman both have good short kicking games so we need to utilise Saab’s height to jag us points. And Lomax needs to have the ball in is hands every set, see if he is worth that big contract.

Not sure what we can do about Lafai and Aitken defending out wide, hopefully Flanno teaches them how to defend. We’re not going to score too many points with this line up so they are going to have to tackle like crazy to be competitive.

 

[Walpole]

1. Ignore everything the coach says and play some football.
2. See 1.

PS. That team is pretty much exactly what I expect we'll get in round 1.

 

[SBD82]

Well, our strengths lie in our halves and edge forwards where we have Origin reps. In the absence of any pace out wide, this is where we need to focus our attack. Think Tariq going bananas in the Broncos semi in 2018. Ford may be a nice weapon out wide too. Hopefully, with Luke at reserve hooker, Merrin, Vaughan and Korbin come into play close to the line as well.

Hunt and Norman both have good short kicking games so we need to utilise Saab’s height to jag us points. And Lomax needs to have the ball in is hands every set, see if he is worth that big contract.

Not sure what we can do about Lafai and Aitken defending out wide, hopefully Flanno teaches them how to defend. We’re not going to score too many points with this line up so they are going to have to tackle like crazy to be competitive.

I think you’re 100% on the forwards and halves. We have two halves that can play to the line and two edge forwards that are destructive runners. With good lines and decoys out the back to hold the wide defenders our edge attack should be devastating. I see no reason Why Tariq and Tyson shouldn’t be put one on one with the defending halves at least 6-8 times a game.

Very curious to see the new defensive patterns. I’m as sick of our centres’ defence as anyone, but our defensive structure has also been appalling. In good defensive systems even the worst defenders should be able to do their job. Will be very interesting to see the improvement in Lafai and Aitken if Flanno can sort this out.

 

[watatank]

In attack, place emphasis on support play, direct running and hope everything else falls into place

In defence, keep it simple with sliding defence. Can see why they try other things but we are pretty bad at it

 

[Dragon Revival]

The centres are very weak. If they do not fire in Game 1 they should be pissed off. We need metre eaters in the backs and Lomax, Pereira and Saab are acceptable. I see the same problems occuring in 2020 as follows:-
- Poor defence
- Disjointed attack
- Indiscriminate kicking
- Bombed try scoring opportunities-50%
- Not moving the ball with speed
- Inability to score near the line
- Injudicious use of the bench
- Playing with no confidence
- Selecting players who are not up to the mark
- Not choosing players on form
- Ignoring players with genuine speed
- Hopeless coaching and weak game plan.
At least in Lomax we have a good goal kicker.

 

[SBD82]

The centres are very weak. If they do not fire in Game 1 they should be pissed off. We need metre eaters in the backs and Lomax, Pereira and Saab are acceptable. I see the same problems occuring in 2020 as follows:-
- Poor defence
- Disjointed attack
- Indiscriminate kicking
- Bombed try scoring opportunities-50%
- Not moving the ball with speed
- Inability to score near the line
- Injudicious use of the bench
- Playing with no confidence
- Selecting players who are not up to the mark
- Not choosing players on form
- Ignoring players with genuine speed
- Hopeless coaching and weak game plan.
At least in Lomax we have a good goal kicker.

All valid criticisms.

How would you coach them to play?

 

[getsmarty]

All valid criticisms.

How would you coach them to play?

Tell McGregor to peel the oranges and over to you Shane...LOL

 

[ALSGI]

What giboz71 and SDB82 said!

Additionally;

1. MUCH LESS predictable one out mcpower game crap! You know the 4-5 hit ups, straight into 3 or 4 defenders, not looking for support hence no support runners and then SURPRISE - a shit kick down someones throat!

2. EVERYONE in the 17 on notice - that the other 14 in the squad are also on notice to replace you for bad attitude, poor performance, laziness and stupidity.

3. The opposition aren’t your mates. Hurt them (legally) every f**kcing time you touch them. Put them down. Don’t help them up and get ready to hurt the next f**kcer that didn’t see what you just did to the last f**kcer.

4. Anyone caught laughing, backslapping, assslapping or consoling after a loss straight to reggies for first offence - never to return for second offence. Anyone from Capt down.

5. Capt - challenge the f**kcing refs, every f**kcing time. Ensure the ref knows you’re gonna be back next time as well.

6. Show your passion for the jumper, put some fear in the opposition for the jumper.

7. Off field stupidity - bye bye - don’t expect any support, don’t turn up to training, don’t talk to your former team mates - GO get a real job.

8. Everyone under 100kg to practice and perform backflips on tries they score.


That’s just for starters until round 3 - then we get serious.

 

[Kiwi Dragon supporter]

Hmmm. Pretty much the same team as last year with the same stupid coach, so if we use the same stupid tactics we will end up in pretty much the same position. That is what every other coach will be expecting us to do, so my plan is to mix it up a bit.
- Lafai to 5/8 where his power walking isn't such a handicap, Norman to centre (or second 5/8 if you prefer) where he can use his step to better advantage
- Aitken to second row where his defence can't stuff up as much, Frizzel to centre where he can really do some damage without being used as a blunt instrument.
- McInnis as dummy half with instructions to run pass or kick as he sees fit. He may stuff up now and again but it will keep the opposition guessing.
- The best recent wins I remember all featured Tariq Sims going ballistic, so he has to be rotated to keep him fresh. With Luke maybe? Feed them both raw meat and slap them at half time to keep them agitated.

That'll do. Am I a genius or what?

I like the idea of Aitken to second row, he is big enough and strong enough and could develop there. Not sure about Norman to center, could work but prefer Lomax there.

 

[Old Timer]

All valid criticisms.

How would you coach them to play?

The defence side is simple we just use what we have learnt in our new programmes of meditation and yoga and we employ a straight line defence.
We don't half a marker instead we have 12 players knee to knee from sideline to sideline sitting in the lotus position.
As the opposition players run at us we stretch out and interlock our arms and form an impenetrable barrier. They will either crash into our bodies and fall down or they will trip over our outstretched arms, either way easy to put a hand on them and claim tackled.
So in the end they will have to kick the ball over our defence line and there we will have Lomax in the warrior 2 position ready to explode into action.

 

[SBD82]

The defence side is simple we just use what we have learnt in our new programmes of meditation and yoga and we employ a straight line defence.
We don't half a marker instead we have 12 players knee to knee from sideline to sideline sitting in the lotus position.
As the opposition players run at us we stretch out and interlock our arms and form an impenetrable barrier. They will either crash into our bodies and fall down or they will trip over our outstretched arms, either way easy to put a hand on them and claim tackled.
So in the end they will have to kick the ball over our defence line and there we will have Lomax in the warrior 2 position ready to explode into action.

Not gonna lie OT, I’m a bit disappointed in your contributions to the thread so far.

Since you’re someone who is happy to heap shit on coaches and players, I thought you might find this a useful place to demonstrate your coaching expertise.

 

[Old Timer]

Not gonna lie OT, I’m a bit disappointed in your contributions to the thread so far.

Since you’re someone who is happy to heap shit on coaches and players, I thought you might find this a useful place to demonstrate your coaching expertise.

You fail to acknowledge that I believe our roster and our coaching to be very f**king ordinary
To then compound that by giving me your team and no room to move re selection what do you expect me to contribute?
I wouldn’t pick that side as I consider it ordinary and no amount of coaching good or bad will make it a contender other than for the spoon.
If you really want an opinion then let people pick their own sides from within our roster and then tell people why they selected them and how they would expect them to play ie the game plan.