Fremantle

[Interceptor]

Anyone catch "On The Couch" tonight?

Freo's problems run further back than Harveys relatively short time in charge as the main man, but fair dinkum, all he offered was excuses on virtually every front (Tarrant, recruiting of older players, Peter Bell's living in Geraldton, Josh Carrs ill-discipline etc.).

Seems to have been a problem at Freo for quite some time now and were I a supporter I would have found that pretty dis-heartening tonight .. Surely this is a club that needs to stop pussy-footing around and accepting mediocrity??

I'd say that Harvey sees himself as the man to instil hardness of mind into an almost-there list, hence the recruting of older players (Mark Johnson - a poor man's Harvey). Allowing Bell to go to Geraldton was crazy, probably symptomatic of the lunatics running the asylum. Interesting that he has now shifted back to Perth.

All Freo's coaches have been first timers.

Harvey does have the "excuse" of inexperience, but he seems out of his depth in order to sort Freo out.
Got irritated and very defensive when Walls went on the attack tonight.

Probably ranks last amongst the AFL's coaches at the communication level (quite evasive and doesn't articulate himself too well).

[McAlmanac]

Harvey does have that boofhead factor about him.

[JK]

Some coaches (at any level) can also struggle with being "one of the boys", Harvey almost gives off a bit of this at times.

[gadj1976]

Anyone catch "On The Couch" tonight?

Freo's problems run further back than Harveys relatively short time in charge as the main man, but fair dinkum, all he offered was excuses on virtually every front (Tarrant, recruiting of older players, Peter Bell's living in Geraldton, Josh Carrs ill-discipline etc.).

Seems to have been a problem at Freo for quite some time now and were I a supporter I would have found that pretty dis-heartening tonight .. Surely this is a club that needs to stop pussy-footing around and accepting mediocrity??

My missus and I looked at each other and said "what the f... was all that". Excuses, defensiveness, he basically did everything except give a way forward. He even caught himself out with the "I'd rather not go into that" line after Mike said he seemed petulant at interviews. Another thing that struck me was the clarity of his speech. He tended to mumble. I'm sure he doesn't do that when he's addressing the players, but he didn't come across with a clear interpretation of what was required to get them out of the mire.

When Gerard said something like "what does the Freo footy club stand for" he mumbled something (values and something?) and then when Mike said "so how will you instill it" he came back with "I learn something about this club every week".

Good, but what about giving the 40000 members and "x" sponsors something to get excited about, knowing that SUPER MARK is going to lead this club from the quagmire it's currently in?

Wow, I'm glad he's not at my club.

[brod]

Just to make the job even easier at Freo -

THE likelihood of Fremantle's Des Headland playing in the AFL again this season appears to have decreased further, with the midfielder failing to train as planned.

Coach Mark Harvey revealed earlier this week the bone bruising around a knee which had kept Headland out of the side since round four was more serious than first thought