shadow grinder
First Grade
- Messages
- 5,266
SMH.com.au- Roy masters, Nothing to gain from following the AFL's lead
THE atmosphere in the Storm dressing room prior to playing the Sharks was incredibly tense, a look of steely, grim determination on every man's face.
The players sat on the low benches around the small room on Friday night like those flickering black-and-white movie memories of paratroopers belted to the fuselage of old DC3 aircraft.
It was one of those moments coaches would like to bottle and uncork on grand-final day. But Melbourne's Craig Bellamy knew why his players were on a high: winger Matt Geyer's 200th first-grade game for the Storm.
"They fire up for milestone games," an assistant said, as Collingwood also did, celebrating Anthony Rocca's 200th game with a win over second-placed West Coast after three straight defeats.
The Collingwood team has been in Melbourne a century longer, but the Storm club knows how to nurture its brief history. Founding managing director John Ribot, a former international winger, presented Geyer with his jersey and then the players filed solemnly onto the field and proceeded to destroy the Sharks in the ruthless manner good judges have not seen this season.
No one at the Storm knows who is captain until a day or so before the match. The choice always comes from one of five - hooker Cameron Smith, forwards David Kidwell and Michael Crocker, five-eighth Scott Hill and Geyer. They are called the senior player leadership group, but this is in name only. At a time AFL clubs are investing more and more authority in these leadership groups and NRL clubs are embracing the concept, Bellamy is considering abandoning it.
The reason? Everyone looks to him for leadership. He sees things before the gang of five does. The co-captains make mistakes, too. Perhaps the rest of the team feels uncomfortable with this layer between them and the coach. Anyway, it seems certain Bellamy will return to the traditional leadership model of one captain in 2007.
Ironically, Bellamy opted to try the co-captains system after a long talk with Paul Roos, whose Sydney Swans won last year's AFL flag. But the Swans and Brisbane Lions have encountered serious problems with senior players in the past week, compromising leadership.
THE atmosphere in the Storm dressing room prior to playing the Sharks was incredibly tense, a look of steely, grim determination on every man's face.
The players sat on the low benches around the small room on Friday night like those flickering black-and-white movie memories of paratroopers belted to the fuselage of old DC3 aircraft.
It was one of those moments coaches would like to bottle and uncork on grand-final day. But Melbourne's Craig Bellamy knew why his players were on a high: winger Matt Geyer's 200th first-grade game for the Storm.
"They fire up for milestone games," an assistant said, as Collingwood also did, celebrating Anthony Rocca's 200th game with a win over second-placed West Coast after three straight defeats.
The Collingwood team has been in Melbourne a century longer, but the Storm club knows how to nurture its brief history. Founding managing director John Ribot, a former international winger, presented Geyer with his jersey and then the players filed solemnly onto the field and proceeded to destroy the Sharks in the ruthless manner good judges have not seen this season.
No one at the Storm knows who is captain until a day or so before the match. The choice always comes from one of five - hooker Cameron Smith, forwards David Kidwell and Michael Crocker, five-eighth Scott Hill and Geyer. They are called the senior player leadership group, but this is in name only. At a time AFL clubs are investing more and more authority in these leadership groups and NRL clubs are embracing the concept, Bellamy is considering abandoning it.
The reason? Everyone looks to him for leadership. He sees things before the gang of five does. The co-captains make mistakes, too. Perhaps the rest of the team feels uncomfortable with this layer between them and the coach. Anyway, it seems certain Bellamy will return to the traditional leadership model of one captain in 2007.
Ironically, Bellamy opted to try the co-captains system after a long talk with Paul Roos, whose Sydney Swans won last year's AFL flag. But the Swans and Brisbane Lions have encountered serious problems with senior players in the past week, compromising leadership.
