Talking about Tom Landry, the man who coached him during his five years with the Dallas Cowboys, former NFL player and the author of North Dallas Forty, Pete Gent, once said of Landry’s famous playbook, “It’s a good book, but everyone gets killed in the end.”
Such is the player-coach relationship. Landry was a process-driven tactical pioneer who invented and popularised the “4-3 defense” and placed little stock in the philosophical whims of his players, helming “America’s team” for 29 years, 20 of which were consecutive winning seasons. By the reckoning of another former player, Lee Roy Jordan, Landry was a “corrective” type of coach. “If you do something right, that’s what you oughta do. He only talks when you do something wrong. If Tom says ‘damn it’, you know something severe has happened.”
Last weekend, as Geelong fell to its second consecutive loss – this one at the hands of a Carlton side of which nobody other than fanatical optimists expected anything this season – something severe had happened. Coach Chris Scott reached for the stick, labelling his men “a shadow of the team we were three weeks ago”. Then, after a day to mull it over: “I would contend that we don’t have any right to say we’re one of the better teams in the competition.”
The question is exactly what Scott can do about it. After the game on Sunday he admitted that he was at a loss to explain his side’s form, proffering that there was no immediately identifiable cause for the sudden malaise. It was admirable really, an old fashioned “got me beat”. Not only had nothing changed in the side’s tactical and physical preparation since their 7-1 start to the season, but the Cats had entered both games on the back of theoretically rejuvenating eight-day breaks. Hanging ominously and unspoken was the theory that perhaps his side had excelled its true capabilities in the first eight rounds.
The effects of whatever ails them have been obvious enough to note; Geelong’s previously stingy defence has leaked like a sieve, conceding 100+ scores in the last two games; their own goal-kicking efficiency has been woeful (“almost put down your glasses sort of stuff,” said Scott); against Carlton they were challenged relatively early and didn’t respond or arrest the momentum; plus better sides than Collingwood and Carlton will have noted the way their skills don’t often stand up in the face of intense pressure. How does that auger for the momentum of their season as a whole?
Perhaps most worrying now is Geelong’s path towards September once they’re past this weekend’s game against dangerous GWS. There are crunch games against North Melbourne, the Bulldogs and pesky St Kilda before the bye, then Sydney, Fremantle (away) and Adelaide on the other side of it. The pre-season arrival of Patrick Dangerfield lent this side a swagger it carried through the opening two months of the season but in the same amount of time again the Cats face the realistic prospect of a promising season suddenly flamed out.
Almost every season has such sliders, of course. Last year Collingwood were entrenched in the top four for the opening 12 rounds before falling off the face of the earth. In 2014 it was Gold Coast – third place after round 10 before staggering to 12th spot. In 2012 Essendon plummeted from second spot in round 10 to 11th by the finish. Geelong’s significant task now, if their barnstorming start to the season is to be proven indicative, is making a different kind of history repeat itself.
Quote of the week
It’s going to be a battle the next 12 months, but I want everyone to treat me normal. At the end of the day, when I finish up, Hawthorn is still going to be here.
Who other than Jarryd Roughead could maintain such a selfless, no-nonsense view of the world when confronted with the bad news he shared this week? The preceding statement and one that rang equally true: “It’s easier to deal with when everyone is in your corner and I have 100% backing.”
Photograph of the week
Perhaps it’s the balletic pose struck by Essendon’s Joe Daniher on the training track this week or maybe the way the pole behind makes him look like a figurine being positioned like a marionette by some unseen hand, but this gem from Getty’s Michael Dodge caught the eye this week.
Bits and bobs
Perhaps its not the stuff of Herodotus or Hobsbawm, but history of sorts will be made tonight as North Melbourne and Richmond contest the first Friday night AFL game in Tasmania. That contest is a little more enticing than first versus 14th would suggest, with the Roos having fallen to their first defeat of the season last week in Sydney and the Tigers suddenly finding gear with three wins in a row, though they certainly can’t afford the kind of late fade they suffered against Essendon on Saturday and have defeated North only once in their last five attempts.
Against Hawthorn on Saturday, Melbourne face not only a capable opponent but the weight of their own dismal track record against the Hawks, who they haven’t been able to beat in their last 12 attempts stretching back to May 2006, when Byron Pickett still stalked the MCG’s expanses. Entering their home game against Brisbane with no such qualms, 2016 surprise packet Carlton took another leap last week against Geelong. Gold Coast have a prayer and not much else at home to Sydney while Saturday night should finally see the end of Fremantle’s now infamous losing streak against Essendon, though we’ve said that a few times this year, haven’t we?
Injuries to vital cogs Alex Fasolo, Darcy Moore and the somehow underrated Taylor Adams could prove a significant disruption for Collingwood as they host Port on Sunday, though neither side has proven in any way predictable this season. The Bulldogs – wobbling just a little but still looking good for a top four finish – are home to a West Coast side whose Melbourne struggles are well known, while Adelaide should be too strong at home against the Saints to round things out.
