After reading Hindy's autobiography I realised that today's players are wrapped in cotton wool and nursed along by the coaches and senior players. When Hindy and the Baby Eels came through the grades they were given a hard time by the coach and the guys like Jason Smith, McCracken, Pay, and Dymock. They were toughened up mentally and they were better for it. They were prepared for First Grade footy mentally and knew that if they stuffed up they'd have hell to pay. These days rockets aren't put up players when they stuff up. A softly softly approach tends to be used. I think only a handful of coaches and senior players these days still are tough on the young players. Back in the 90's the younger players had to be in line with the older guys and would get hammered if they stepped out of line.
Players these days just want the money and don't want to be yelled at or criticised if they do something wrong. I think Brian Smith is a very good coach in that respect and he knows how to make a player know he's stuffed up. Brian Smith worked at Parramatta because he had senior players who were tough and were also enforcers. Wayne Bennett is another who can be tough on the players. But I also think Wayne can be a little more relaxed than Smith and it shows with his dry sense of humour.
Replies
Thats gold! Nice work Ron.
The problem with the tough guy approach is that it loses it's impact very quickly, you need to find other ways of motivating your employee's (players in this sense). This is why Brian Smith hasn't been lasting long at new clubs, the bloke never realised that to get the best out of players you can't just yell at them.
You have a photo of bennet consoling the untalented sook darius boyd, bennet (if you have read hindy's autobiography) was a noted disciplinarian who tore hindy a new one after an attempted tackle. The best approach is a mixture of both worlds.
The problem with stuff like this is that its suggesting a blanket approach, when really the best coaches understand what makes each player tick and finds appropriate ways to motivate them.
In earlier times, the hard ass approach might have been the most appropriate, however today I don't think it would be as successful.
I don't think Hindy and Jarryd can be motivated in the same way. They come from different era's of RL.
I have a general problem with this topic. If a player has an attitude problem & cannot accept being reprimanded then maybe we would be better off without him.
If he cannot accept critcism or discipline then how can he be a team player or carry out coaching instructions out on the field.