rodgerfox wrote:Milton66 wrote:
So how do you explain the improvement in players such as Mini, Joey, even Dal??
Did they suddenly wake up one morning and decide to become elite players?
Joey was always going to be a player. He just had the body of David Spade.
He's grown up, and now has the body to compliment his ability.
Dal was what, runner up in the Brownlow a couple of years ago? So hardly a rise from the gutters for Dal.
As for Mini, see Joey above.
Although to be honest, I'm still scratching my head about him. I thought he was useless.
I reckon anyone who watched On the Couch on Foxtel the other night would have got an insight into what Lyon has done to influence this group.
I agree Joey always was going to be a player - how good was always unclear. He appeared to some extents to be a flat track bully. Great outside runner,but I have NEVER seen him tackle like he has this year. His hardness has pushed him into the upper percentile of players in the comp where he now will probably be an AA midfielder.
I too thought that mini wasn't much. The change in him is phenomenal. What do you attribute that to? Of course mini himself has to take great credit, but OI'm sure Lyon and co assisted with the penny dropping.
Even Roo. Hard for a multiple B&F and multiple AA player to improve. But he has. I rarely saw roo tackle in the past 8 years. THis year he has laid some great tackles. As he said, you feel like that if you don't do your part re tackling and pressure, then you're letting the team down. In the past I reckon he felt that taking 15 marks and kicking 3-4 goals was enough (it was) He admitted himself it wasn't a great part of his game.
The coach or the coaches have had to have made a huge impact on these players - even by emphasising all ground pressure. If one player doesn't buy into it, then they let the whole team down.
Small things like appointing one sole captain - I reckon has had a huge impact.
I believe that Lyon had to take a couple of steps backwards before we moved fwds. It was painful to watch at the beginning, but he always had a plan, and he ALWAYS maintained that we weren't just copying Sydney as many ppl believed. AS it turns out, now that we can all see what he was trying to achieve, you are right, he has done what all the great coaches do - he has borrowed a bit of the pressure skills from Sydney and developed them further, and he has borrowed a small amount of the cats attacking flare. He has the cattle to work with, and he has ensured that they stay on the park. He has also developed the zone technique of Hawthorn and taken it further or advanced it.
No doubt if we are successful, then other clubs will try and take what WE did this year and advance it as well. In every field of industry that's what all the leaders do. It's called PROGRESS. Lyon should be considered a leader in the industry of football.