He wants him to learn how to deal with the tag so he’ll be better for it – I would have thought teaching and learning are key areas to a coach’s role, and that Mick would know how to best use his players.
This is not the first time Tony has been critical of Collingwood or its players. A couple of years ago, Tony said his nephew Rhyce should move on and ask for a trade. This is despite Rhyce not wanting to leave the Pies, and obviously deciding to remain in the black and white.
It would be a fair call to say he made the right decision to remain at Collingwood considering he has worked his way back from a knee reconstruction, with 2008 arguably being the best year of his career as he continues to curb the influence of the best midfielders in the competition, as well as getting the ball himself.
He is third at the club in kicks, fourth in handballs, and leads the club in marks. This is all despite being a ‘tagger’. It seems Mick has got the best out of him by changing his role from a half back flanker to an onballer.
Another of Tony’s comments was that Brodie Holland’s bump on Brett Montgomery in 2006 was something in the words of the weakest act he’d seen on the footy field.
What he didn’t know was that before the bounce, Collingwood captain Scott Burns told Brodie to keep a close eye on Montgomery because he’d been coming in hard off the square and creating physical pressure on opposition players in past matches.
When Montgomery began moving in fast off the line to the contest, Brodie took it upon himself to make the first move to protect his teammates. A courageous and loyal move in my opinion considering what Brodie thought was about to happen.
Now I know that Tony Shaw is paid to have an opinion and that’s exactly what he does. He was a champion of the game and one of the most decorated players in the history of the Collingwood Football Club.
What I can’t understand however, is how his opinion seems to mean so much on certain subjects? How does his opinion on Mick’s coaching regarding Heath Shaw make the back page of the Herald Sun?
He may have been a champion player but I would have thought when it comes to the intricacies of coaching, Mick’s record would stand well above almost anyone to have coached the game.
Mick has got the best out of teams everywhere he has coached over many, many years, and continues to develop his methods as the games evolves, year in and year out.
Not that he should need to justify his coaching with the excellent record he has, but I think the explanation he gave of wanting to teach Heath was completely understandable. The interesting thing about Tony’s quotes for me were the use of the word ‘we’ when describing Collingwood. This leads me to ask myself, what are his motives?
He is very much a Magpie through and through and wants the best for his club. I would like to see that however, come via a phone call instead of reading about my teammates or coach in the paper by someone who is supposed to be one of our own.
As the line goes…"side by side we stick together".
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
