Coaches are irresponsible to back Bowden
Roar Guru By Greg Hawke, 23 Jul 2008 The Crowd is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- AFL, Bombers, Essendon, Essendon Bombers, Joel Bowden, tactics
Rule changes and the tinkering with our great game of Australian Football, has been the topic of heated and emotional discussion for a while now. So why don’t we take a good hard look at some of the real reasons why the administrators feel compelled to constantly chop and change the rules?
A good place to start would be the tactics employed by a section of the AFL coaching fraternity these days.
Joel Bowden on the weekend, for instance, twice (in succession) kicked the ball to himself from a kickout after an Essendon behind. He then stepped back over the Essendon goal line to concede one point in the dying stages of the last quarter to ensure the Bombers had no chance of gaining possession of the ball, and hence any chance of snatching victory.
Granted, this was quick thinking from Bowden. And yes, he secured the four points for his side.
But let’s be honest, is this the style of play we want to see in our game? Players not even prepared to take the risk of bringing the ball back into play?
I hope not.
Yet a number of current and ex-coaches are coming out to applaud the tactics used by Bowden. I wonder if these same coaches would give Bowden a big slap on the back if he employed the same tactics he did on the weekend in a Grand Final, and influenced an unfavourable result?
If any team were to lose (or win) a Grand Final using tactics like this, I feel it would be the mother of all injustices.
So, for some of our current and ex-coaches to send the message to Bowden that what he did last weekend was ‘ok’ because it was inside the rules, is irresponsible and a cop out. And it also gives our administrators more reason to hold expensive meetings to discuss and implement strategies to combat our coaches’ ongoing desire to find the easy way out to win games.
At any cost!
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- Explore:
- AFL, Bombers, Essendon, Essendon Bombers, Joel Bowden, tactics
July 24th 2008 @ 11:14am
Pippinu said | July 24th 2008 @ 11:14am | Report comment
This possibility has always existed and it’s incredible that it’s the first time we’ve ever seen the tactic employed. A football writer from one of the dailies (I can’t remember who, sorry) has already mentioned that it’s likely to be much ado about nothing. From memory, he made the following points:
1. Earlier in the year, with only 2 minutes left and a 19 point buffer, Richmond rushed a behind, only to see the Bullies score 3 goals in rapid succession to win the game. Ok, Bowden could have spent the next 2 minutes rushing, say, 8 behinds to guarantee a 10 point win, but
2. Just as teams need to be switched on in the last minute of play and man up to stop teams running down the clock, they need to wise up to this tactic as well – a deliberate 50 metre penalty will do the trick; and finally
3. Make sure you’re the team that’s up with a minute to go!