Coach’s instructions

When the Bombers announced Scott Lucas was joining their coaching panel with a brief to work with the club’s emerging forwards, AussieRulesBlog was less than impressed, but we’re now prepared to admit we hadn’t considered the matter fully.

 

Holding forth on the matter with our sibling, we highlighted Lucas’ legendary lack of handballs as an indicator of an individualist rather than a team contributor. We didn’t see Scott Gumbleton, Jay Neagle and young Joe Daniher popping goals from 55 metres and didn’t relish the idea of them learning individualist traits. Our view was, and remains, that Lucas’ best season was his first Crichton Medal-winning year at centre half-back.

 

Our sibling, also a keen Bombers supporter, gently reminded us that Lucas could hardly have clocked up 270 AFL games if he wasn’t doing what the coach had instructed him to do. And here we come to the point of this post.

 

For the media, punditocracy, blogosphere and fans, sitting outside the fence and not privy to the detail of team planning, team dynamics and coaches’ instructions, it’s easy to pontificate on player performances — and we do! But we are, to all intents and purposes, doing so from behind a blindfold.

 

So, dear reader, when next you gird your loins to pour forth a stream of abuse at Player X — we all have one, don’t we? — take a moment to remember that they’re probably doing what they’ve been told to do and are, despite appearances to the contrary sometimes, trying their best to win the game for their team.