GAME plans have come a long way in the seven years I have been in the AFL system.

Patience and persistence are absolutely vital because it takes time for everything you've learned to come naturally.

When a new coach comes to a club not only do you have to learn a near-new vocabulary and all of his idiosyncrasies, you also have to learn the plan.

There are so many things to learn – stoppage structures, including centre bounces, ball-ups and throw-ins; zoning the opposition at kick-ins; tempo football (running down the clock) – all this and you still have to worry about getting a kick yourself!

It’s a lot of information. It takes time to perfect and it can change from year to year and even week to week.

In 2005 the Hawthorn Football Club was heavily and consistently criticised for its style of play.

Internally we were as frustrated as the fans that we were making skill errors and seemingly going round in circles. We had some games where we moved the ball easily and it all felt like it clicked but more often than not we weren’t playing in the way we envisaged. They were trying times.

Inevitably with the lack of performance, doubts started to creep in: is this style of play really going to stand up?

Doubts can be extremely destructive, particularly to a young group.

Two people played a significant role at the time.

One was Alastair Clarkson, who had been playing with the concepts and ideas since his playing days. The other was Richard Vandenberg, the captain and the first to throw his full faith behind the new coaching regime and its concepts.

A broad range of game plans have been successful over the last few years.

You could hardly say the Cats, Eagles or Swans – the last three premiership sides – have similar styles.

In fact I think they are a very good cross section of what most of the clubs are trying to do – they just did it better.

It gives credence to the thought that it doesn’t matter what your game plan is, so long as you implement it well.