Do you want to know why the AFL media always gets it wrong? Essentially, it is because they invariably focus on the wrong things. All the ‘so-called’ footy experts are, in the main, not coaches but ex-players and TV announcers. Yes, they do know a lot about AFL via their first hand experiences but not necessarily the secret sauce that delivers consistently winning performances. If they did they would be earning millions as head coaches. In the media they are paid to pontificate. Paid to fill the air time with the hot air of their opinions.
The AFL Media Bans On Endlessly About Individual Players
The golden rule of narrative i.e. telling an engaging story is to narrow the listener’s focus to a single leading character. The media gets trained in these basic premises for creating content that viewers will eat up. The obvious trouble with this approach, when claiming to have the answers to why a football team is struggling, is that AFL is a team sport. 18 players take the field at any one time to do battle with another 18 from the opposing side. Sure, there are ball magnets in the midfield and star players but these elements cannot win you premierships on their own.
AFL Talking Heads Heavy On Stars & Light On Secret Sauce
The secret sauce is getting a team to play high intensity winning football together. The head coach and his panel of assistant coaches have to craft a team capable of overcoming the opposition and working seamlessly in concert with one another. System over stars is the name of the game if consistent victories are your goal. Why the AFL media always get it wrong when analysing football sides is that they overfocus on individuals to the detriment of team football. It is most often this star player underperforming or the coach in their entertainment heavy explanations.
“WAVERLEY Park is back in the AFL’s hands again, after the League completed a deal to buy the venue from Hawthorn ahead of the Hawks’ planned move to their new Dingley training base.
The AFL is yet to confirm its plans for the historic, heritage-listed building and the training oval but CEO Andrew Dillon said the purchase of the ground would assist with “talent pathways programs, community footy, and umpire development and programs”. “
- (https://www.afl.com.au/news/1350194/afl-buys-back-waverley-park-from-hawthorn)
AFL Coaches Have To Be Alchemists
AFL head coaches spend the majority of their time as alchemists attempting to turn dross into gold. Attempting to transform a squad of strangers into diggers in the trenches. Moulding a bunch of talented young footballers into a well oiled machine capable of delivering winning scores and resisting the best efforts of their opposition. How is this done? Well, we rarely hear from the AFL media about this integral mission. Why? Because they are not within the four walls of the footy club. They are not privy to the secret sauce at each different AFL club. However, they could, perhaps, extrapolate on their own experiences in this realm.
It’s A Team Game Folks!
Otherwise, we hear the same old BS coming out of their loud mouths about this star player underperforming or the failure of the coach. Team sports are not individual contests. This is why coaching a team is oftentimes a mysterious process, which can frustrate the bejesus out of fans and those inside the four walls. System over stars. Getting players to perform their roles under pressure. The best coaches have always said – keep the messaging to the group simple! The players all 18, all 23, and the extended squad must buy into the coach’s plans. Painting pretty pictures about individual players will not solve the puzzle about why a team is underperforming. It is a team game folks!
Coach Gives AFL Umpires The Finger!
“Late in his side’s loss to the Giants on the weekend, Hardwick was left frustrated by a non-call that stopped his side from having one last chance at stealing a win.
The coach laughed sarcastically at the umpire’s reluctance to blow the whistle, then flipped the bird from inside the coach’s box, in an act of defiance that did not make it to broadcast.”
“The AFL media feeds on the game like flies around a dumpster. Kane Cornes is the biggest AFL media leech in a blood sucking environment. These guys make their money from stirring up crap from rumour and hearsay. They try to make themselves relevant via offending actual players, coaches and stake holders in the game. Their opinions are no better than the bullshit you might hear down the pub. He is not alone, however. Scurrilous muckraking merchants, like those on Channel 9, are infantile in their attempts to portray themselves as investigative journalists. It is laughable, this is football guys not the fate of the nation.”
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The Stoic Golfer and America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump.
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