smp

Unopposed drills? **** me dead. I may just be a mug grassroots MiniRoo coach, but even I know unopposed drills are not an efficient or effective method to prep your players for match day.

Why not consider this Labi’s half season interview? For that matter, Heff, Meggsy and Catherine Cannuli are also putting themselves firmly in the shop window with the W League this year. The ladies are certainly playing some attractive football right now. The club has some very promising young coaches in the ranks. Let JP take the brunt of the rest of this **** show of a season. No point ruining someone with promise when they can quietly continue to learn their craft in the background while JP takes the heat. All of our early success was with a newly minted first team coach after all. No reason that can’t happen again with the right person.

Personally I prefer Russell to Wilmering, and I think we looked better moving it out from the back last week than we have in weeks. Nothing against Wimering, mind you. A young lad with bundles of promise. I just think his passing game and go forward needs more work. I hope his recovery is a quick one.

Meier would be more successful if we could cross worth a damn. Our striker is a giant and most of our crosses were either low/along the the ground, or harmlessly floated to the other side of the 18. His link up play was good, but he’s always going to be perceived as a dud if the boys on the park can’t play to our marquee’s strength.

Which is way too much money for something that Telstra won’t allow to go full screen on an iPad because the licensing is apparently done by screen size and not broadcast medium (also has Chromecast and Airplay disabled). A good VPN and YouTube at least gets full screen on tablets and doesn’t cost the $25/m that Kayo does. I wish the A League would consider carving out the streaming rights to be a product all on it’s own, or even to create its own streaming service and sell it direct to customers. Unlikely to ever happen with a market our size, I know.

This is the key right here. There is a heap of support for grassroots coaches interested in improving themselves when it comes to outfield players. There’s bugger all for budding goalkeeper coaches or coaches who want to help out the young keepers in their teams. If the FFA wants to improve the keeper stock in this country, it needs to vastly improve the quality and quantity of resources available at grassroots level and then support the cream rising to the top. As usual, it’s a bottom up solution, and the powers that be are looking for a top down quick fix.

To be fair, I think Riera always tries. Sure, he’s a shattered husk of a man who seems to have all confidence ripped from his soul and everything he tries ends up having the touch of a donkey, but at least he’s been closer to the Dino end of the scale than the Piovaccari end.

It’s the lost culture that’s the most disappointing thing. I’m a blow-in (moved to Sydney only 10 years ago), but the thing I love most about Western Sydney is the never give up attitude. I see it around me every day. The thing I hate the most about this current squad is it caves so easily. It has no heart, no fight, no **** you attitude. Given this is probably our most westie squad yet, the fact that it’s the most spineless hurts. Sure, the kids are alright, and they’re always going to make dumb mistakes. They’re kids. But where is the fire from Hammil? I’ve never really seen him deliver a bollocking on the field. There’s no gee ups from Elrich. Vedrans’s passion seems to be directed mostly at a big fat STFU to the fans. I can’t blame Bridge as his failing body means he’s not even on the bench. Hopefully he’s guiding the young ones behind the scene. Our westie elders who grew up here are failing us, and the visa players aren’t getting indoctrinated in the ways of the West. Think of the work ethic of the visa boys in those first seasons. Polenz, Hersi, Ono, Dino. All would flog themselves stupid every game. They had people like Meggsy, Topor and Ante to show them how things worked out this way. Will we ever see that culture again? I’m worried the answer is no.

FWIW, in 2019 BDSFA has modified the national MiniRoo rules. Larger teams on larger fields starting at earlier age groups, and things like foul throws and offside enforced from an earlier age (U10 from memory, but I’d have to check). Game leaders were always encouraged to pull up the blatant offsides, but usually it was parents or the older youth players reffing, and they are rarely confident enough to do that. The idea that coaches are trusted to do the right thing has proven to not be successful, as too many coaches even at this level are more interested in thumping the ball into the back of the net as much possible instead of getting the basics right. It’s disappointing, and the coaches doing the right thing were often left disenchanted and disgruntled by the experience. Scores are recorded from U5 but not publicised, and are in theory used to make sure teams are in the correct division the following year. We already do that internally at my club as we want to make sure that kids aren’t either thrashing or being thrashed - neither outcome is good for development. I’m a fan of small-sided games, and it’s a system that has worked well in Europe for many years. The difference between us and Europe in my view is that elite coaching courses are significantly more expensive in Asia compared to Europe. If higher level coaching accreditation was more accessible, I reckon we’d have a better quality player coming through.

Closest I’ve ever come to leaving before full time. Just so sad to see a complete absence of heart. I sure hope Mitch Duke really missed his folks while he was away, because otherwise he must be wondering what the **** he came back for.

When I was a (very average, park football) linesman many years ago now, we were always instructed that when in doubt, advantage should go to the attacking team. In other words, if you weren’t sure you kept your flag down. All refereeing decisions are meant to operate on that basis, assistant or otherwise. VAR doesn’t change that in my view, and I would have thought should lead to more lineball decisions giving advantage to the attacking team because at least if you get it wrong a goal is chalked off and there’s no harm. If you flag an offside that isn’t, you can’t chalk a goal on and the game suffers. No idea if things have changed in recent years. I suspect not as the principle is still sound.

VPN like, uh, NordVPN to pick one at random, select a country without an A-League licensing deal like, say, maybe Japan, and the official MyFootball channel on YouTube. Allegedly.

What’s the record for a team losing 4-3 in a season? We might as well collect the whole set as a record breaking club.

Kamau needs to bulk up a bit more I reckon. He’s knocked off the ball too easily week after week. He puts in a shift but that doesn’t go far if you’re dispossed with a little shoulder or hip bump every time you’re on the ball.

This time of year always serves to remind me that I must be crazy to keep putting my hand up for Exec positions at my club. Off season feels shorter every year