SINCE my last column, I have been busy collecting a lot of data.
I’ve paid really close attention to our players’ physical, football, game and personal skills.
I have collected a lot of data on the players from fitness manager Joel Hocking and each of the coaches. This has been to determine where they see the physical and football skills of each individual.
We then had four coaches rate them on those areas.
Then we got the players to rate themselves and how they perceive their skills in those areas.
It’s fair to say it’s been a busy few weeks since collecting that data and analysing the information. So far, we’ve got through three quarters of the players.
The individual player meetings have also included the coach, their line coach and myself.
We’ve discussed those findings and there have been some interesting differences between where the players rate themselves and where the coaches rate them.
It has created a really good exercise to open the communication between the player and coaches to discuss any difference of ratings.
The results have been a mixture. Some players have rated themselves higher, but it’s fair to say most have rated themselves lower than where the coaches have rated them.
It’s an interesting process.
It’s important not to overrate yourself, but just as important not to underrate yourself, otherwise that could tell us that the player is not thinking they’re as good as they really are.
Ultimately that can affect performances and players need to feel confident in their ability.
The meetings have lasted about 20 minutes and the players have come out of it with a really clear focus of where they need to improve.
We’ve given them targets of what level they need to reach, so they can compete against the best players in the competition.
It also measures them against their individual roles and what they need to do to fulfill them.
Now, it’s a matter of fitting this development time into the players’ program.
This allows the players to work on specific areas.
It’s important to recognise where this area fits in the football program, given individual and team training requirements.
We’re still a developing team and we’re not in the premiership window yet; if we were an older team and in the premiership window, greater time would be spent on tactics and game-plan.
But since we have the second youngest list in the competition - behind Gold Coast Suns - we need to make sure we have enough time to work on the technical weaknesses of individuals.
At the same time, we need to work on team structures but the balance is really important.
Within that discussion, we’ve spoken about where we see individual players fitting into the team and what roles they play.
Sometimes the football skills and physical attributes will vary for different roles within the team structure and it is important that the players understand those differences.
When giving the players specific targets to reach with their football and physical skills we are setting the bar very high against some of the elite players and premiership players in the competition.
This is really critical as we need to be elite in everything we do to ultimately get what we all want!
I’ve paid really close attention to our players’ physical, football, game and personal skills.
I have collected a lot of data on the players from fitness manager Joel Hocking and each of the coaches. This has been to determine where they see the physical and football skills of each individual.
We then had four coaches rate them on those areas.
Then we got the players to rate themselves and how they perceive their skills in those areas.
It’s fair to say it’s been a busy few weeks since collecting that data and analysing the information. So far, we’ve got through three quarters of the players.
The individual player meetings have also included the coach, their line coach and myself.
We’ve discussed those findings and there have been some interesting differences between where the players rate themselves and where the coaches rate them.
It has created a really good exercise to open the communication between the player and coaches to discuss any difference of ratings.
The results have been a mixture. Some players have rated themselves higher, but it’s fair to say most have rated themselves lower than where the coaches have rated them.
It’s an interesting process.
It’s important not to overrate yourself, but just as important not to underrate yourself, otherwise that could tell us that the player is not thinking they’re as good as they really are.
Ultimately that can affect performances and players need to feel confident in their ability.
The meetings have lasted about 20 minutes and the players have come out of it with a really clear focus of where they need to improve.
We’ve given them targets of what level they need to reach, so they can compete against the best players in the competition.
It also measures them against their individual roles and what they need to do to fulfill them.
Now, it’s a matter of fitting this development time into the players’ program.
This allows the players to work on specific areas.
It’s important to recognise where this area fits in the football program, given individual and team training requirements.
We’re still a developing team and we’re not in the premiership window yet; if we were an older team and in the premiership window, greater time would be spent on tactics and game-plan.
But since we have the second youngest list in the competition - behind Gold Coast Suns - we need to make sure we have enough time to work on the technical weaknesses of individuals.
At the same time, we need to work on team structures but the balance is really important.
Within that discussion, we’ve spoken about where we see individual players fitting into the team and what roles they play.
Sometimes the football skills and physical attributes will vary for different roles within the team structure and it is important that the players understand those differences.
When giving the players specific targets to reach with their football and physical skills we are setting the bar very high against some of the elite players and premiership players in the competition.
This is really critical as we need to be elite in everything we do to ultimately get what we all want!
