Written by: Dragan Blazevic

The worrying aspect for me is that 2.5years have past and no evidence of any significant improvement have been on display. Some would argue that player's skills have eroded even further. With this in mind the board had no choice but to prematurely terminate Farrar's coaching contract. I wish Farrar all the best in his future endeavors.

I'm excited by the appointment of the new coaching team and really believe they will make a difference. However the road ahead won't be without it's bumps, turns and potholes. So it would be totally unrealistic to expect them not to make any mistakes. Mistakes are good, provided you learn from them and you don't REPEAT them. They build character and provide motivation for
further development. 

Fundamentals and training under game conditions are a key to any teams success, whatever the sport. Understanding what your players can do and will do when faced by different game conditions all stem from these two aspects.

The overriding mission we all have as coaches is to take these young men under our leadership and make it a high priority to develop them into wholesome individuals. There's such a big emphasis on winning. We can't fall into the trap that winning is everything. Being your best, doing your best is something you should aspire to, and we should teach young men to do so as long as we put principals first. Coaches have an awesome responsibility and opportunity to influence lives. The truest measure of a coach's worth is the measure of his team five years down road; what kind of people their players have become both on and off the field.

Players like Barrett. A player with real talent and ability and the best way is to help him understand the whole scheme both offensively and defensively. These type of players have to understand why it's important that they do something. Many times they're simply undisciplined. They'll go outside the realm of their responsibility which leave seams, gaps for the rest of the team. A coach once told me that there have to be 17 guys each guarding a door. Their responsibility is not to let anybody in their door. Do whatever you have to do to keep people out. If you run away from your responsibility to help someone else, everybody is hurt by it because you loose your focus, your responsibility. Break their responsibility down to simplest form to help them understand.

Coaches today have so many commitments above and beyond the x's and o's of the job. Just like medicine, banking or other professions, everything is specialised today. As a result, there's not as much interaction with your players' life outside of football. It's terribly difficult to know who the young man is and what he's all about with the limited time you have. You
want to treat the players exactly alike but they're not the same so you have to find ways to get through to them on an individual level without showing favoritism.

One of the biggest challenges is helping kids to manage their time. Many of them are still kids who basically don't want to be responsible. They've got a variety of new decisions to make which makes it difficult for them to stay focused on football. For many of them they're not only responsible for balancing their time without their parents watching over their shoulder but they may also be balancing a cheque book for the first time too.

Well Browny/Barnhill/Daley some sound advice from a novice, I suggest you take a step back to the basics and a step forward to improved training. I wish you all the best and know that with your commitment and professionalism we are in for a great year in 2003.
 

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One Dragon United
The St.George Illawarra Dragon!!!!