Michael Voss under the pump?

[westozfalcon]

I must admit I've been genuinely surprised by how badly the Brisbane Lions have fallen away after a bright start to the season.

For me, alarm bells started ringing on the eve of the round-5 match against Melbourne at the MCG when Jonathan Brown was rumoured to be suffering a bad groin injury and in doubt for the game. The way in which coach Michael Voss quickly and vociferously played down these injury reports smacked of anxiety from a coach who was genuinely worried his side's season was about to unravel with an injury to his superstar.

It has since been proven that Brown's injury was serious and our poor performances since have highlighted the unhealthy reliance we have on Brownie and other senior players like Simon Black, Luke Power and high-profile recruit Brendon Fevola.

One newspaper scribe over here in Perth wrote that last year that Michael Voss had 'sold the farm' during trade week in a pursuit to steal a premiership. I initially disagreed with him but in hindsight I think he was right.

By trading away draft picks for experienced foot soliders like Brent Staker, Amon Buchanan and Matt Maguire and destroying a relationship with a club stalwart and capable full-forward in Daniel Bradshaw to secure the unpredictable Brendon Fevola, Voss put all his eggs in the short-term basket to try and steal a premiership and the move appears to be backfiring.

If the team's performance don't lift before season's end I think Vossy is going to have a hard time convincing the club that his approach is the right way forward.

[dedja]

I'd have Daniel Bradshaw any day over Fev ...

Time will tell on Voss, it's still very early days, but you have made some good points.

[Hondo]

They would have to separate the coaching from the recruiting and assess him on the former. If he had as big a say on the latter as has been implied by the media then I reckon it's time they recruited a proper recruiting manager and leave Vossy to coach Do we know how many of these trades were his call completely? In hindsight, he's traded a bunch of average players for a bunch of average players (excl the Bradshaw-Fev swap - they are quality players) and in the process missed out on the last compromised draft for a few years.

[CK]

In fairness to Voss, if you took the best centre half forward in the game today (Brown) out of any team, plus a player with, arguably, the top ten in the best skills by foot (Drummond), as well as two pretty reliable defenders in Adcock and Maguire and a premiership ruckman (Charman) out of any team, they would struggle.

Staker has been pretty good for the Lions this year, and Buchanan certainly hasn't disgraced himself either. Maguire was also in solid form before the foot injury.

You do make good points about unhealthy reliance on certain players though. Would be interested to hear how Brisbane fans view Johnstone, overall, for one. Rich doesn't seem to have come on at the same rate as Stephen Hill has so far at Fremantle (acknowledging fully it is still very early days for both of those players).

One of the biggest challenges for Voss is Fevola. Some of his antics last week against Richmond toward teammates were plain ridiculous. At his age and experience, Fevola should be considered a leader at the Lions, not still carrying on like he can at times when the ball is not given to him.

Jury still out on Voss overall for mine though, I keep coming back to that injury list and how well they started with a fuller list to pick from.

[westozfalcon]

They would have to separate the coaching from the recruiting and assess him on the former. If he had as big a say on the latter as has been implied by the media then I reckon it's time they recruited a proper recruiting manager and leave Vossy to coach Do we know how many of these trades were his call completely? In hindsight, he's traded a bunch of average players for a bunch of average players (excl the Bradshaw-Fev swap - they are quality players) and in the process missed out on the last compromised draft for a few years.

The senior coach would surely have the final say on every deal that is done. You couldn't have a recruiting department acting autonomously. I reckon Voss was the instigator of every one of our pre-season trade deals. We'd never traded that aggressively in other years.

In the end Fevola was not actually a swap for Bradshaw. We gave up Lachie Henderson and Pick 12 for Fev. Bradshaw would have still been at the club except he got the hump and asked to be traded because Voss initially tried to palm him off in a deal for Fev.

The only players we gave up in trade week were Henderson and Bradd Dalziell. There rest was in draft picks.

[Dirko]

All I'll say is I'm glad Fev is gone, Henderson is going to be a pretty decent sort of player and Kane Lucas is a gem. Thanks Vossy.

[Rik E Boy]

All I'll say is I'm glad Fev is gone,

...and so is Carlton.

regards,

REB

[Hondo]

The senior coach would surely have the final say on every deal that is done. You couldn't have a recruiting department acting autonomously. I reckon Voss was the instigator of every one of our pre-season trade deals. We'd never traded that aggressively in other years.

It does seem as though it was Vossy's strategy. However, at the Crows for example Matt Rendell has a large autonomy from Neil Craig on recruitment it seems. NC coaches, MR recruits. Maybe Brisbane need to look at something similar. I know Bradshaw-Fev wasn't a direct swap, I was just grouping the ins and outs.

[Booney]

The senior coach would surely have the final say on every deal that is done. You couldn't have a recruiting department acting autonomously. I reckon Voss was the instigator of every one of our pre-season trade deals. We'd never traded that aggressively in other years.

It does seem as though it was Vossy's strategy. However, at the Crows for example Matt Rendell has a large autonomy from Neil Craig on recruitment it seems. NC coaches, MR recruits. Maybe Brisbane need to look at something similar. I know Bradshaw-Fev wasn't a direct swap, I was just grouping the ins and outs.

If the coach is not directing the recruiting department to fill the positions / player types he wants then the club will be stuffed in no time at all. The coahc must drive the recruiting division in regard to what type of player he feels he needs, it is then up to the recruiters to find the best available talent for this spot, surely?

If Rendell just picks whom he wants and then Craig finds out who is on the way to the club, isn't that the cart leading the horse?

[Drop Bear]

Vossy's not under the pump. He commands a bit more respect than that. Of course the media will be out for blood, but I reckon the Club will back him in. If we managed to have the same (or close to) cattle on the park each week it could be a different story. No excuses for the team's piss poor performance in a few games, but Voss doesn't hide away from it.

[Hondo]

If the coach is not directing the recruiting department to fill the positions / player types he wants then the club will be stuffed in no time at all. The coahc must drive the recruiting division in regard to what type of player he feels he needs, it is then up to the recruiters to find the best available talent for this spot, surely?

If Rendell just picks whom he wants and then Craig finds out who is on the way to the club, isn't that the cart leading the horse?

I gather that they jointly assess the type of player the team needs but then it's up to Rendell from there with final sign off from the coach and footy manager. Rendell is the employed expert at the club and he spends the 100s of hours on it so I assume the club doesn't feel the coach needs/should cut his lunch on the final decisions when he himself hasn't spent the same time on it. The set up is that the coach coaches and recruiter recruits. Both roles are managed not by the coach but by the football mananger. I think clubs are trending that way.

Neil Balme and Geelong's recruiting manager seem to have a lot more input than Bomber Thompson at trading/drafting time, for example. Peter Rhode does all the media work at drafting/trading time too.

[Rik E Boy]

*ahem*

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regards,

REB