Sharks represent at the AFLCA Coaches Conference.

Gday Sharks Fans,

On the recent weekend of Friday Jan 30 to Sunday Feb 1, a large representation of EFFC Coaching staff attended the annual AFLCA Coaches Conference at Etihad Stadium, Melbourne.

Joining me at the conference were Mark Pashby (Reserves Development Coach), Mark Foster (Colts Coach), Jeremy Bruce (16’s Coach), Brett Fannon (Reserves Development Defensive Coach), Nikki  Harwood (Opposition Analyst) and Austin Ward (16’s Assistant).

The majority of these staff paid their own way, which is a significant investment by them towards their coaching. We at EFFC are very appreciative of this and it demonstrates the commitment, passion and professionalism in our coaching group. 

In addition, Jeremy’s costs were subsidised via a Teaching Scholarship he won for being the 2014 Schools AFL Ambassador of the Year. Jeremy is based at Cecil Andrews High School and continues to run a very good football program there, amongst other duties.  

Triple Premiership Coach Alastair Clarkson delivered an enlightening key note address. His main themes were the fun and enjoyment the players at Hawthorn have, due to the relationship between the staff and players. Plus, Hawthorn’s training is Games Based and doesn’t include a lot of Drills which he believes creates an enjoyable environment. I guess winning a few flags helps one’s enjoyment.

We all attended a variety of Breakout sessions and we will conduct our own “conference” with the remainder of our Coaching staff on the conclusions from these.

One of my favorite sessions was on Stoppages (Centre Bounces, Throw ins and Ball Ups) and Transition (running patterns from these contests). Darren Crocker, the North Melbourne Assistant, delivered an excellent address. A new way of analyzing them was put forward, essentially it involves breaking the stoppage area into zones.  As well, he put forward some new drills on how to coach and teach ground level players at winning the ball. Enlightening behind-the-goals vision of the 2015 AFL Grand Final highlighted the tactical and strategic excellence of Hawthorn at Stoppages

Long time AFL Assistant Coach, David Wheadon, was an entertaining speaker on Goalkicking. He was very clear to not interfere with a player's Goalkicking technique too much. Everyone has an individual style, just get better at it, was a constant theme. He believed the varying conditions (wind, rain) and individual mental approach are the 2 main reasons for the apparent lack of improvement in Goalkicking. An interesting point that he labored, was how much the ball’s shape changes during a game. Of course, this would affect the kicking. In belated good news for Sharks Fans, the most important ingredient to score goals is to generate shots - the highest scoring teams have a high number of shots. Low accuracy is not unusual, and may be a function of many things, of which the most powerful is the mental approach of the player taking the shot.

I was also impressed by the work of Jason Berry, a Victorian Sports Academic who presented the case that Individual development and Team development are intertwined. So,you can have team success as well as developing the individuals along the way. The best learning environment is Finals. Young developing players will benefit greatly by being engaged in finals. Therefore, in his view, success should be part of every developmental program.

For example, at EF we have always pushed for our Reserves to be in the Finals. Sometimes this has compromised other aspects, so it was good to have our philosophy reinforced.

We all benefitted by attending the conference and the aim is to be better coaches as a result.

Stephen Malaxos