South

Given South's much improved performance so far this season, I'd be interested to know how South fans (and others) now view Ron Fuller. Do you give him credit for laying any groundwork that Gotch is capitalising on, or does the improvement show that Fuller was holding the team back?

I am biased as I was always in Ron's corner and still believe that sacking him was the wrong thing to do. But yes I do think Ron set the team up well for this season!

I am not always 100% sure about this one. Each season new players come and others go, so how does one make a sound judgement.

I was very much in favour of Fuller getting the job, the improvement was shown in the second year by playing in the finals which was a year ahead of itself, then in his last season everything went haywire, with the South of old returning. Every coach changes the ground rules of the group, when a new coach arrives he does have something to work with, Gotch has brought with him a different method which the players have understood and adapted to, which has shown in their improvement so far.

Fuller was holding them back, only because Fuller was not prepared to change and go forward.

Having said that, Gotch got the tar beaten out of him last week when South got beaten by the Crows. Was it that the Crows were just that good or is it that his gameplan has been under scrutiny for several weeks and has lost its edge over the other sides?

Well I have a different opinion.
Signing Ron Fuller on a 5 year contract was ridiculous, but at the time South were a basketcase and very desperate. In Rons second year we made the finals and actually won a final  against our whipping boys down at the Bay. Rons 3rd and 4th seasons at the club were a disaster, especially the 4th where by seasons end it was clearly evident that he had lost the players.After a disastrous loss to West by a margin close to 20 goals the board decided, rightly so in my opinion , to terminate his contract.
Rons management style and his inability to connect to the Gen Ys of the playing group were the things that brought on his demise. His game style was straight out of the Nineties- man on man; well today the game is Zones and Flooding defences, and Presses -these words were clearly not in Rons playbook.
South now have a Coach who is particularly well versed in the modern game. He is a brilliant communicator and the players love him. Gotchy can go hard too, and the players have seen that side of him as well. But for mine the club has taken a massive step forward in signing Brad Gotch for two years. The other thing that has occurred is the club decided to involve Leading teams in our preparation for this season. I believe the playing group has had a massive transformation in attitude and desire and that is clearly evident with our on field results so far this year.

Ben W wrote:Having said that, Gotch got the tar beaten out of him last week when South got beaten by the Crows. Was it that the Crows were just that good or is it that his gameplan has been under scrutiny for several weeks and has lost its edge over the other sides?

I saw the game. yes our third quarter was ordinary, but I do have a feeling the Crows are beginning to get their s--t together..  

blueandwhite, I think we both said the same thing, only using different words to describe it.