Send for the Aussies

[Zulu]

Taken from todays Independent, some very dubious points made IMO but also some valid ones I think and it does provide food for thought.


Send for the Aussies

Don't blame the format for the lack of quality in this year's football championship. It's down to poor execution of the basic skills and tactical failures by the coaches, claims Martin Breheny

Saturday June 27 2009

LAST Sunday a Derry team that had finished runners-up in the National League and beaten Monaghan in the first round of the Ulster championship, scored just three points from play -- and seven in all -- against Tyrone.

Roscommon managed four of seven points from play against Mayo as they suffered their biggest Connacht championship defeat for 80 years. A week earlier, Donegal, who had spent last spring battling with the big boys in Division 1, failed to beat Antrim who had been in Division 4. The fact that the game was in Ballybofey made it all the more deflating for Donegal.

On the same weekend, Wexford, 2008 All-Ireland semi-finalists, scored just 0-5 from play in a dismal display against Kildare.

On June 8, Dublin and Meath shot as many wides as scores in a Croke Park error-fest while Leitrim lost by four points to a Roscommon team that would lose to Mayo by 20.

Adding to that mediocrity list would be very easy in what, by any standards, has been a disappointing football championship so far. The argument that it lacks a real cutting edge because all beaten teams have a second chance doesn't stand up, because the problem isn't a lack of will or desire but a blatant absence of basic skill.

Combine that with an increasingly defensively-minded approach by coaches, most of whom lay huge emphasis on the absolute imperative to smother the opposition, and the inevitable result is a sub-standard product. So far, the public have largely accepted it as they continue to flock to the games in numbers which defy the recession.

And now that we're approaching the provincial finals and the sudden-death All-Ireland qualifiers, it's likely that the '09 attendance figures will remain high and may actually beat the '08 returns. That's very encouraging for the GAA, but it doesn't alter the reality that some of the football on offer this year has been quite awful.

ALARMING

It's alarming that in an era when a record amount of time and money is being put into preparing teams -- many of whom travel overseas for training camps -- executing the basics effectively appears beyond the reach of a growing number of inter-county players.

How many times this season have players been penalised for picking the ball off the ground and not always while under pressure either? Whether or not you agree with the pick-up rule is not the point -- it's there at present and has to be done properly. It's a very simple skill, yet you can expect at least five frees per game to be awarded for illegal pick-ups.

How many misplaced foot passes have you seen? Again, it's a routine skill which should come as second nature yet it continues to be beyond the capacity range of many players.

And when it comes to shooting for goal, the standard is desperately disappointing. But then it seems that coaches devote their time to devising ways of stopping the opposition rather than working on creative strategies. Keep the concession rate down and a team always has a decent chance of winning.

One of the clearest testaments to the lack of coaching imagination is the near-redundancy of goalkeepers. Many of them go through entire games without being called on to make a single save, which is an indictment of the attacking forces.

Only Mayo have managed three goals in a championship game so far and that was against a Roscommon defence that couldn't have played worse if they despised each other. Six Ulster games have produced the grand total of six goals; two games produced none while four produced one goal each.

The goal-rate has been higher in Leinster (12 in seven games) but still isn't exactly a monument to lethal snipers.

The decline in basic standards has been with us for some time but seems to be gathering worrying momentum as the first decade of the new millennium draws to a close. Those closest to the action -- especially the managers -- become very defensive when that allegation is laid before them.

They take it as a slur on what they grandiosely perceive as highly-sophisticated systems and attempt to explain to the rest of us sceptical cretins that we really don't understand what's going on. Besides, what do we want -- a return to catch-and-kick? Actually yes, if the catching and kicking is done well.

Sean Boylan said on RTE radio last Sunday that he was concerned about the modern-day emphasis on bulking up Gaelic footballers. He inferred that it was being done at the expense of other training, notably ball work.

Coaches will deny that but the evidence of the weights programmes is there for all to see. We're also told that there's no shortage of ball work in modern training regimes. Why then is the standard of kicking so poor?

If pre-match warm-ups are anything to go by, the balance between ball work and physical grind has become totally imbalanced. The emphasis in pre-match routines has switched from shooting at goal, practising mid-to-long-range foot passing and fielding to drills which involve players hand-passing the ball to each other from a few yards away. That's followed with a jostling session which looks as idiotic as it's pointless. Never mind, it creates the impression that some sharp mind is at work and has a novel plan which is about to be unleashed on the hapless opposition.

One of the problems with Gaelic football coaching is the lack of exposure to international trends. Because the game isn't played anywhere else, we're relying on ideas that emerge from an inbred gene pool. Our rugby coaches can draw on the best of creativity from both hemispheres which, when combined with their own experience and instincts, give them a rounded view of how to take a team on.

In Gaelic football, the manager whose team wins the All-Ireland title become the font of all knowledge, even if other panels don't necessarily have the same qualities or strengths. Besides, just because it suits the All-Ireland winners doesn't make it a fit-all size.

Recall how Kerry's decision -- born out of desperation by the way -- to switch Kieran Donaghy to full-forward in '06 led to a spate of copycat tactics at county and club level. Prior to then we were told the days of the big full-forward were over, but suddenly every manager was scouring the landscape for a giant to post on the edge of the opposition square.

It would be a very interesting experiment to put a top Australian Rules coach in charge of an inter-county team here. He would be drawing from a different culture, mind-set and tactical data base which, when applied to Gaelic football, could produce a very exciting mix.

Frankly, the game needs it because it's pretty static right now. With skill levels dropping, hand-passing increasing and coaches becoming more negative, Gaelic football is in serious need of a lift. And if you doubt that, cast your mind back to the games you've seen so far in this year's championship.

Better still, take a look at one of this weekend's four provincial semi-finals.

- Martin Breheny

[Jinxy]

Nonsense article.
I read the aussie rules message boards and fans regularly lament the poor skills of the lower level teams.
The good teams have no problems with the skills.
That's the nature of sport.
Constant fouling, and a lack of knock-out intensity have far more to do with the poor quality of this seasons championship than any skills deficit.

[Zulu]

Constant fouling, and a lack of knock-out intensity have far more to do with the poor quality of this seasons championship than any skills deficit.

There is definitely a skills deficit, of that there is no doubt, but there is far more to the lack of quality in games than that and although hand passing and kicking aren't routine skills we would be foolish to ignore the poor technique which even our very best players display on a regular basis.

[JMohan]

Bullsh*t article

[Zulu]

Some of it yes, all of it certainly not and too many GAA folk are too quick to dismiss articles like that as you did.

[Rossfan]

Agree with Zulu.
One question ..how many inter Co footballers can catch the ball over their heads these days....1%,2%.....?

[JMohan]

It's easy to write a piece like that - the bigger question is not how many catch the ball over their heads - but how often is it kicked long to have to catch it!
I think he just writes negative pieces like that because it's easier than doing some decent interviewing or writing a constructive piece.
That's why I admire Shannon - I don't agree with him all the time - but he travels (well seems to) the country to interview and investigate - have to respect the hard work.

[Zulu]

It's easy to write a piece like that

But that doesn't take away from the fact that he has raised some interesting points and some of his criticisms are merited. I didn't disect his piece as I wanted to see what people thought of it and as I feared it was dismissed out of hand. He makes some valid arguments even if his justification is sometimes poor and at the end of the day he is correct in what he says about the quality of technique.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

To listen to Breheny you'd swear that defence had neither significance nor skill in the modern game. He's not totally without merit, but he is totally without balance.

[Jinxy]

Agree with Zulu.
One question ..how many inter Co footballers can catch the ball over their heads these days....1%,2%.....?

Plenty can.
It happens umpteen times every game.
Don't believe the hype Rossfan.

[JMohan]

He's not totally without merit, but he is totally without balance.

I'll take take

[AZOffaly]

The problem with Breheny is that he is so polarising, people won't even read his articles without thinking there's some agenda behind it.

As it happens I definitely think more coaching of skills needs to be blended in with the physical, mental and diet stuff that goes on now. I know the game is very fast now, but it's almost orgasmic for Ger Canning 'A huge one' when someone scores from more than 25 metres, and it's really noticable that it is the good teams that can pass accurately, into space or into a man.

Basically it's very coachable to get a young lad, or even an auld lad, to kick the ball where he wants it to go even under pressure. I wonder do teams do the skill drills any more, or do they really take them seriously? The kick pass through a tractor tyre anybody? It doesn't always have to be hi-tech.

I've just started coaching (today actually) and one of the things I am certainly going to be big on for any team I am lucky enough to be involved with is the basic skills. Catch the ball, kick the ball accurately. and kick scores.

[JMohan]

The problem with Breheny is that he is so polarising, people won't even read his articles without thinking there's some agenda behind it.

As it happens I definitely think more coaching of skills needs to be blended in with the physical, mental and diet stuff that goes on now. I know the game is very fast now, but it's almost orgasmic for Ger Canning 'A huge one' when someone scores from more than 25 metres, and it's really noticable that it is the good teams that can pass accurately, into space or into a man.

Basically it's very coachable to get a young lad, or even an auld lad, to kick the ball where he wants it to go even under pressure. I wonder do teams do the skill drills any more, or do they really take them seriously? The kick pass through a tractor tyre anybody? It doesn't always have to be hi-tech.

I've just started coaching (today actually) and one of the things I am certainly going to be big on for any team I am lucky enough to be involved with is the basic skills. Catch the ball, kick the ball accurately. and kick scores.

Fair enough ... you'll do that all you want - but you'll soon see that you can have a bigger influence on winning faster by focusing on the other areas 
It might not be right - but it's true!

[Tyrone Dreamer]

Having watched the game last week again Tyrone's kick passing was excellent for much of the match.

[Zulu]

I'd disagree with that JM and in fact both Tyrone and Kerry have been well ahead of other counties in the skill department over the past number of years. Likewise both Dublin and Monaghan have failed due to skill levels rather than fitness levels. The problem isn't that coaches don't want to work on skills but that they simply don't have enough time or resources to do so, even at county level. In saying that I do think county teams could be doing more to improve technique as could underage coaches, which is where they have the time to do so.