Review of 2013/14.

[Big Al]

Very good BG
One more please - coaching staff
& while your at it - The fans

 

[bikinigirl]

Good job BG.

Can you give the players a mark out of ten or a grading please.

. sorry my brain doesn’t work like that … it is too hard to be objective about your football team

. plus I can’t even get my head around what people should be ‘scored’ against. is it potential? cost? expectation of reputation? age, experience? they all play a part

. then there is the scale … nobody is perfect, but what is the ‘meet expectations’ score? half?

. combine all that together and I will get nowhere but confused

 

[bikinigirl]

Very good BG
One more please - coaching staff

I hadn’t really intended to do that because it is not too visible to us as fans … and I have probably let it go a bit too long now, but we’ll see how we go:


Arnie

It was always going to be a tough act to follow considering the changes in the squad … and we started with a somewhat traditional slow start to the season. Everyone was hopeful that he would be able to hold together what was left of the squad and that in Marcel he had found a suitable replacement for Patrick.

He had also managed something of a signing coup in Flores, the type of player that many Mariners fans thought we may never see on the Coast: skilful, with a reputation at this level, commanding a good salary and still plenty of potential (not an old-has-been).

Arnie was to be the solid foundation upon which he was to re-build the team through another three year cycle.

Well that didn’t quite go to plan, did it? A couple of months in he removed his own foundations and actually encouraged the dismantling of what was left … taking the fitness coach, our star player and adding a general feeling of uncertainty to the squad, staff and supporters.

We now all know how things have turned out – not only was Japan a failure, he has affected his reputation on the Coast and probably tarnished those of Mariners heroes: Clarkie, Mikey and Bernie in the process. In less than a year since his announcement of a three year re-building cycle he may have done more than three years worth of damage.


Mossy

Mossy was well and truly thrown into the deep end. His first top level coaching gig … taking over a championship winning team that was no longer the championship winning squad. Things soon became worse with the loss of our four star players – the league’s golden boot, our two creative playmakers and the Mariners Medallist – McBreen running back to China, Mikey following Arnie’s dream in Japan, Flores out through injury and Sainsbury to Europe.

With a squad struggling to gel being further decimated and results which reflected the turmoil … it was a tough gig - very tough.

Overall, I don’t think there are many that can criticise what Mossy achieved … including managing another finals series throughout a, not completely unsuccessful, ACL campaign.

Of course there have been a few comments about the quality of football and the ‘negative’ tactics … but as I wrote earlier (with the player reviews) it was not all bad. Towards the hectic end of the season Mossy was employing some effective tactics which suited the personnel that he had at his disposal.

It was one hell of an introduction to top level coaching … and I think that he did very well under the circumstances. How many ‘more established’ coaches could have done any better?


Clarkie

We can only assume that Clarkie would have had the team fit and continually getting fitter as the season progressed … as we have become accustomed. A base level of fitness working towards a good footballing fitness to cope with a typically hectic season end.

Ultimately we can only judge him by the legacy he left behind … as he too took off to to chase Arnie’s Japanese dream.


Tim

Most of us were nervous following Clarkie’s departure. As a foundation player, born-and-bred Coastie he was a hero on the Coast – we all knew he had the football background, fitness education and ‘runs on the board’ to succeed … but would his replacement?

A relative nobody to fans, young and inexperienced … he had some big shoes to fill. Was he capable? Could he demand the respect of the squad? Would he change Clarkie’s methods?

With a squad sprinkled with experienced professionals there was potential for things to go awry, but to everyone’s credit, things appear to have gone well … and besides the season ending injuries (hey these things happen) everybody remained relatively fit. I am most impressed with what he was able to achieve with Bosnar … a seasoned professional and apparent ‘hard nut’ – his fitness was improved over half a season, a commendable result for such a ‘newbie’.

I am not sure who should receive the accolades – the man himself, his predecessor, the remainder of the coaching staff or the players … but once again I think they have worked together as a team and maintained a high standard.


JC

Quite rightly Crawley has received the plaudits for his results with ‘keepers … and the results speak for themselves – with our two long term ‘keepers (Ryan and Vukovic) both achieving representative honours and Mariners Medals.

He has also received a lot of praise for the resurrection of Reddy, but I think that Reddy was always a decent ‘keeper … his issues were not about shot-stopping. Again I am not sure who should receive the credit for Reddy’s ‘comeback’ … I place the credit on the atmosphere.

If people are happy to credit Crawley with Reddy’s apparent transformation I won’t argue heavily against it … but if that is the case, you would also have to say he was unable to bring Justin up to the required level. Particularly after the calamity that saw him lose his spot and his nerve.

An often overlooked part of JC’s role is the video analysis and you would have to suggest that it was the outcomes of this analysis that allowed the team to respond and continue to function with squad and structural changes. But of course this is part of a group effort.


Sully

Well Mossy obviously started the season as Assistant and in that regard it was ‘status quo’. Sully came back to the Mariners with some coaching experience and a knowledge of the workings of the Club and the ‘spirit’ (pun partly intended) of the dressing room.

Without an ‘access all areas’ pass it is difficult to know what roles people play and how influential they are in the ‘background’. I can only imagine that things have gone relatively smoothly judging by how the season finished. One sign of success in this role is how anonymous somebody is – they are rarely in the spotlight … somewhat ‘seen but not heard’ – it is probably a worse sign if the Assistant is attracting ‘attention’.


Patrick

Who knows what has gone on with Patrick?

Was he ‘encouraged’ into retirement with the promise of a coaching role? Was he unsuitable for the role or the role unsuitable for him? Did he really have ambitions elsewhere?

Regardless, the youth team did not excel and Patrick is no longer part of the setup. What people seem to forget is that the youth strategy was to blood young Coasties. That is right, not the best and brightest talents but a squad with a large proportion of local kids supplemented by the best and brightest.

The intent was to test the local ‘talent’ at this level with the hope of uncovering one or two locals that may one day ‘make the grade’ and join the first team. If Patrick was judged solely on the results of the team it was against what I believe was actually his role.

 

[bikinigirl]

& while your at it - The fans

. hmmm

. the grand final win, the following acl and the band have improved the participation levels at games ... all good
. we still seem to be lacking in unity
. too many 'part-timers' for my liking ... and ...
. we are still constantly questioning the management decisions of the club ... particularly the insistence on moving games away from the coast without addressing the issues 'at home' first

. so who knows what the new season will bring. my guess is lower numbers ... and increasing levels of frustration and disillusionment with the club's management

 

[Wombat]

. sorry my brain doesn’t work like that … it is too hard to be objective about your football team

. plus I can’t even get my head around what people should be ‘scored’ against. is it potential? cost? expectation of reputation? age, experience? they all play a part

. then there is the scale … nobody is perfect, but what is the ‘meet expectations’ score? half?

. combine all that together and I will get nowhere but confused

bit of a cop out.....by due to your excellent previous posts and the fact your wouldn't like to upset any of the players you love...you are excused.

 

[dibo]

A bit harsh to demand a season report in a particular format with ratings etc., I think BG raised some good points about issues with ratings too.

She's put down >1000 words of detail and you call it a cop out?

If you're going to make demands of fellow fans of that level to be satisfied then you're going to be consistently disappointed.

 

[bikinigirl]

bit of a cop out.....

. you bet

A bit harsh

. that's ok ... i'm confident that his criticism of my ratings (if i could do them) would have been worse

 

[Roy Law]

Forget the players, I give Bikini Girl 10/10 for excellent work

 

[sydmariner]

Forget the players, I give Bikini Girl 10/10 for excellent work

so does this mean that we're giving ratings for peoples postings last season if so i'd probebly get a -0 out of 10

 

[Roy Law]

sydmariner, you are part of the warp and weft of the mighty Mariners - with, if I may say, a strong bias towards warp

 

[Big Al]

I hadn’t really intended to do that because it is not too visible to us as fans … and I have probably let it go a bit too long now, but we’ll see how we go:


Arnie

It was always going to be a tough act to follow considering the changes in the squad … and we started with a somewhat traditional slow start to the season. Everyone was hopeful that he would be able to hold together what was left of the squad and that in Marcel he had found a suitable replacement for Patrick.

He had also managed something of a signing coup in Flores, the type of player that many Mariners fans thought we may never see on the Coast: skilful, with a reputation at this level, commanding a good salary and still plenty of potential (not an old-has-been).

Arnie was to be the solid foundation upon which he was to re-build the team through another three year cycle.

Well that didn’t quite go to plan, did it? A couple of months in he removed his own foundations and actually encouraged the dismantling of what was left … taking the fitness coach, our star player and adding a general feeling of uncertainty to the squad, staff and supporters.

We now all know how things have turned out – not only was Japan a failure, he has affected his reputation on the Coast and probably tarnished those of Mariners heroes: Clarkie, Mikey and Bernie in the process. In less than a year since his announcement of a three year re-building cycle he may have done more than three years worth of damage.


Mossy

Mossy was well and truly thrown into the deep end. His first top level coaching gig … taking over a championship winning team that was no longer the championship winning squad. Things soon became worse with the loss of our four star players – the league’s golden boot, our two creative playmakers and the Mariners Medallist – McBreen running back to China, Mikey following Arnie’s dream in Japan, Flores out through injury and Sainsbury to Europe.

With a squad struggling to gel being further decimated and results which reflected the turmoil … it was a tough gig - very tough.

Overall, I don’t think there are many that can criticise what Mossy achieved … including managing another finals series throughout a, not completely unsuccessful, ACL campaign.

Of course there have been a few comments about the quality of football and the ‘negative’ tactics … but as I wrote earlier (with the player reviews) it was not all bad. Towards the hectic end of the season Mossy was employing some effective tactics which suited the personnel that he had at his disposal.

It was one hell of an introduction to top level coaching … and I think that he did very well under the circumstances. How many ‘more established’ coaches could have done any better?


Clarkie

We can only assume that Clarkie would have had the team fit and continually getting fitter as the season progressed … as we have become accustomed. A base level of fitness working towards a good footballing fitness to cope with a typically hectic season end.

Ultimately we can only judge him by the legacy he left behind … as he too took off to to chase Arnie’s Japanese dream.


Tim

Most of us were nervous following Clarkie’s departure. As a foundation player, born-and-bred Coastie he was a hero on the Coast – we all knew he had the football background, fitness education and ‘runs on the board’ to succeed … but would his replacement?

A relative nobody to fans, young and inexperienced … he had some big shoes to fill. Was he capable? Could he demand the respect of the squad? Would he change Clarkie’s methods?

With a squad sprinkled with experienced professionals there was potential for things to go awry, but to everyone’s credit, things appear to have gone well … and besides the season ending injuries (hey these things happen) everybody remained relatively fit. I am most impressed with what he was able to achieve with Bosnar … a seasoned professional and apparent ‘hard nut’ – his fitness was improved over half a season, a commendable result for such a ‘newbie’.

I am not sure who should receive the accolades – the man himself, his predecessor, the remainder of the coaching staff or the players … but once again I think they have worked together as a team and maintained a high standard.


JC

Quite rightly Crawley has received the plaudits for his results with ‘keepers … and the results speak for themselves – with our two long term ‘keepers (Ryan and Vukovic) both achieving representative honours and Mariners Medals.

He has also received a lot of praise for the resurrection of Reddy, but I think that Reddy was always a decent ‘keeper … his issues were not about shot-stopping. Again I am not sure who should receive the credit for Reddy’s ‘comeback’ … I place the credit on the atmosphere.

If people are happy to credit Crawley with Reddy’s apparent transformation I won’t argue heavily against it … but if that is the case, you would also have to say he was unable to bring Justin up to the required level. Particularly after the calamity that saw him lose his spot and his nerve.

An often overlooked part of JC’s role is the video analysis and you would have to suggest that it was the outcomes of this analysis that allowed the team to respond and continue to function with squad and structural changes. But of course this is part of a group effort.


Sully

Well Mossy obviously started the season as Assistant and in that regard it was ‘status quo’. Sully came back to the Mariners with some coaching experience and a knowledge of the workings of the Club and the ‘spirit’ (pun partly intended) of the dressing room.

Without an ‘access all areas’ pass it is difficult to know what roles people play and how influential they are in the ‘background’. I can only imagine that things have gone relatively smoothly judging by how the season finished. One sign of success in this role is how anonymous somebody is – they are rarely in the spotlight … somewhat ‘seen but not heard’ – it is probably a worse sign if the Assistant is attracting ‘attention’.


Patrick

Who knows what has gone on with Patrick?

Was he ‘encouraged’ into retirement with the promise of a coaching role? Was he unsuitable for the role or the role unsuitable for him? Did he really have ambitions elsewhere?

Regardless, the youth team did not excel and Patrick is no longer part of the setup. What people seem to forget is that the youth strategy was to blood young Coasties. That is right, not the best and brightest talents but a squad with a large proportion of local kids supplemented by the best and brightest.

The intent was to test the local ‘talent’ at this level with the hope of uncovering one or two locals that may one day ‘make the grade’ and join the first team. If Patrick was judged solely on the results of the team it was against what I believe was actually his role.

Excellent - Took out the emotions on some touchy subjects & hit the nails on the head.

 

[midfielder]

BI

Enjoyed reading that

 

[Roy Law]

I see four Mariners have made it to the Juve junket...

 

[sydmariner]

I see four Mariners have made it to the Juve junket...

That's still 7 players short

 

[eenfish]

I see four Mariners have made it to the Juve junket...

Bloody glad to see Monty get the nod. Best midfielder in the league as far as I'm concerned. Certainly our most important player.

 

[Wombat]

Great reward for a very solid season.

Lets hope he gets the armband.

BTW Bikini Girl always get a 10/10 in my eyes.