The biggest excuse of all!!

[graystar1]

Has anyone else noticed that all, and I mean all, the losing coaches put their losses down to......"playing the kids"....or "You know we have such a young list."

There are variations on the theme, but I'm sure you know what I mean. Funny thing is that I don't remember hearing such comments from Adelaide or West Coast.

Very seldom will a coach admit the opposition were just too good.

 

[RemoteTiger]

Very seldom will a coach admit the opposition were just too good.

Neil Craig did against the Tigers - said we were too good for his guys on the style of play that was played - thats why I like the bloke - he calls a spade a f....... shovel!

You are correct IMO about blaming the youth - also - a losing coach has never blamed himself or his coaching crew either......

 

[Rosy]

I think in our case the kids have benefited the team not handicapped it. It's certainly becoming a well worn cliche gray.

Agree about Craig Remote. He seems genuine and quietly gets the job done without playing mind games through the media.

 

[FightingFury]

Wouldn't it be great if we could have brutal honesty eh??

Here's Terry Wallace on another loss:

"We were towelled today because of chumps like Gaspar falling over like autumn leaves,as well as blokes like Chaffey and Tivendale turning it over constantly....and don't even start me on Gumpus......"
"Still,we'll be punting them off at years end,so lets hope there's another club stoopid enough to trade for them."

 

[graystar1]

Wouldn't it be great if we could have brutal honesty eh??

Here's Terry Wallace on another loss:

"We were towelled today because of chumps like Gaspar falling over like autumn leaves,as well as blokes like Chaffey and Tivendale turning it over constantly....and don't even start me on Gumpus......"
"Still,we'll be punting them off at years end,so lets hope there's another club stoopid enough to trade for them."

Ah, Oh Struggling One!! You crack me up with your comments.

 

[craig]

If only that was what TW was thinking, if only 8)

 

[tigertim]

Usually when the average age of each team is calculated there is often not that much difference. Some might average 23, 23.5, 24 etc but it's not like it's an average age of 18 against an average of 30 or anything like that.

 

[jb03]

Agree G-Star. Sometimes it seems all 16 clubs (bar Adelaide if you like) have the youngest list in the comp.

Can a stats guru put the actuall figures up - I'd like to see the average age of the entire list of each club and of just the players who have played a game in '06.

 

[the claw]

Agree G-Star.  Sometimes it seems all 16 clubs (bar Adelaide if you like) have the youngest list in the comp. 

Can a stats guru put the actuall figures up - I'd like to see the average age of the entire list of each club and of just the players who have played a game in '06.

good point jb if you have 6 rookies and they are mostly kids thats got to bring your averages down. in sydneys case they have 9 rookies a disgrace.you cant tell me that doesnt affect the average age.
we at richmond have a hole to fill that being ages 22 thru 27 we hardly have a player in this bracket whos played more than 50 games. and theres another angle you may have 5 or 6 players around 23 who have hardly played a senior game due to injury or just slow development this has got to knock the average age around but it doesnt mean youir any more experienced. an example that springs to mind is shane tuck,

 

[Ian4]

listen to alastair clarkson speak in the media... every second sentence he mentions "we're a young side"

 

[LeeToRainesToRoach]

.

 

[LeeToRainesToRoach]

Can a stats guru put the actuall figures up - I'd like to see the average age of the entire list of each club and of just the players who have played a game in '06.

Team                        Players    Avg Age   Rookies    0 Games  20+          50+          100+       200+
Hawthorn 44 22.96 5 8 24 17 9 2
Sydney      47 23.12 9 18 26 20 14 2
Carlton      44 23.25 5 9 29 18 9 2
Geelong    44 23.29 5 7 27 19 11 1
Essendon 43 23.45 4 8 29 19 13 5
Collingwood 44 23.47 4 7 27 20 17 4
Richmond 42 23.51 3 4 26 19 10 3
Brisbane    47 23.60 9 7 26 18 15 6
West Coast 44 23.73 6 7 31 21 15 3
Port Adelaide 44 23.86 4 9 25 21 13 2
Kangaroos 44 23.91 3 6 23 19 12 5
Western Bulldogs 41 23.92 1 6 27 20 10 5
Melbourne 44 23.93 5 8 29 22 16 3
Fremantle                 44 24.09 4 7 27 21 15 4
St.Kilda      41 24.17 3 5 26 21 13 4
Adelaide    44 24.23 4 11 29 22 11 5


Avg age of players who've played at least 1 match:
Hawthorn 23.79
Richmond 23.89
Geelong    24.08
Brisbane    24.18
Carlton      24.21
West Coast 24.28
Collingwood 24.31
Essendon 24.37
Kangaroos 24.56
Western Bulldogs 24.69
St.Kilda      24.83
Fremantle 25.00
Melbourne 25.05
Port Adelaide 25.10
Sydney      25.33
Adelaide    25.80

Sorry, can't work out how to format the buggers.

 

[jb03]

Thanks ltrtr

 

[CarnTheTiges]

listen to alastair clarkson speak in the media... every second sentence he mentions "we're a young side"

And he's a poor coach.

 

[TOT70]

It is a commonly used excuse because it is such a good one. "Our team is losing because we're putting in youngsters who will do well in the future." Fans won't argue because they can see better days ahead and will probably keep supporting.

The alternative is to say that we are losing because the players we have based our team on are not good enough but they will be with us for years to come. This is a bit depressing for fans and might tempt them to not renew their memberships until things change.

Everybody has a youth policy at present, with the possible exception of StKilda who are gambling on their youth policy of a few years ago. Adelaide, WC and Collingwood are feeding in almost as many kids as everyone else.

The reality of the way the AFL works is that when this excuse is trotted out it is pure spin. It simply means the older players are not good enough.

 

[mb64]

Has anyone else noticed that all, and I mean all, the losing coaches put their losses down to......"playing the kids"....or "You know we have such a young list."

There are variations on the theme, but I'm sure you know what I mean. Funny thing is that I don't remember hearing such comments from Adelaide or West Coast.

Very seldom will a coach admit the opposition were just too good.

Think you will fine there is a AFL Coaching excuses manual which most use well.