John Mitchell - master tactition

[Egan]

Nobody mentions Mr Mitchell much on this forum, but the success of the Force would have much to do with the attacking mode of the Force in the past few games. We are now daring to make mistakes, daring to win and have had a significant improvement in skills and gameplay.

Even when we where losing last year, the club played an exciting brand of rugby.

After the first game and despite being delved of confidence, Mitchell deserves a huge pat on the back for how he has turned around the momentum of pessimism that beset the club into an overwhelmingly positive situation for the Club.

Cheers to Mr Mitchell, lets hope you can one day give us that Super 14 trophy and that WA raised player we so desire...

[Burgs]

Gee, I dunno Egan, thought he got a fair wrap here: http://thewholeforce.com/showthread.php?t=3561

[frontrow]

We all love Mitch mate, there is just sooo much to talk about on here about everything, that no one seems to have had enough time to dedicate too much time to Mitch, but that is not to say we don't appreciate his efforts...

[prop53]

True words never spoken Frontrow

[blindsid3]

Before I start, I want to preface what I am about to by lacing my arrows with honey...

Mitchell is doing a fabulous job building the culture, teamsmanship, physical strength and skill level of the Force.

But to claim that three weeks in he is "The Master Tactician" is pushing the boundaries of elation following a SA clean sweep a little bit too far.

Lets consider round one - a game in which almost everyone (except Sheps and Gits) had a shocker. And none more so than the bench.

I wrote about this previously, but lets consider it again...

We had three clean shots at goal from penalties in the Highlander's quarter in the dying stages of the match. In all three occasions Sharpe directed that the effort was to be placed in scoring a try.

Darryl Halligan (former bulldogs winger and amazing goalkicker) is now the Force kicking coach - and the results of his efforts are Shep is now the best boot in the country. But it doesn't matter how accurate you are if you don't call for the kicking tee.

Gits is also pretty handy with the place kick, having been the Wallabies kicker for a number of years.

So there is no excuse for not taking the shot.

Mitchell must shoulder the responsibility for this one. His coaching and development of the game plan and how Sharpe implement them as Captain are solely his responsibility. The shot wasn't taken not once, but three times. The message should have got out there to have a a shot but it didn't. History shows that we are now third and not first as a result.

The second error, to my mind was to perservere with a struggling backline when Junior Pelesasa was sitting on the bench. Junior's form in the trials and subsequent games to round 1 has been excellent. He may have provided the impetus needed to alter the result.

The third problem we have is with the lineout and since Mitch is the Forwards set pieces coach, he also shoulders the responsibility for its demise in recent weeks. We can't afford to be uncertain at the lineout - its one of few times in the game when the 5/8ths are 20m apart and we could really do with some better ball to Gits from this set piece.

I haven't got my copy of "Sun Tzu's Art of War" here at work. But I'm pretty sure it says something about not continuing with a losing situation if you have other tactics / reserve forces up your sleave.

And Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

When we have more tactics to throw at the opposition than the ones we have which are not working, and we can bamboozle them with well drilled and executed moves that never fail, we can describe Our Mitch as a "Master Tactician".

Until then we need to recognise he is doing a pretty good job. But like the whole team, he has some work to do before he hosts a home final in May.

[frontrow]

Wooooo, heavy analysis man...Accurate i agree, but pretty heavy dude...Bringin' down the mood for sure...It is only early in the season so hopefully whatever Mitch has put in place will eventuate,and he did have a three year plan as well, so of course there are gonna be issues to address this early in the season, and in his plan...So lets loosen the constriction bro and enjoy the ride.....ahhhhhhh

[Burgs]

Apart from the rating on Pelesasa (a separate issue) I would tend to agree with you blindy.
I would say though that from all that I have seen so far, Mitch coaches for the bigger picture more than the immediate result.
It's as if he would prefer to lose implementing the game plan as a lesson than to shuffle it all up for a win that has no lasting meaning (apart from the points of course!) to it.
I don't recall reading or hearing him stating how many matches "should be won" in '07. His consistent mantra since being appointed has always been that he is implementing a three year plan.
This in itself will make his position next season like another stint as AB Coach in a RWC year, with the pressure of "you said Mitch" mounting from every quarter if he fails to succeed in '08.
After losing matches he does show some disappointment however, most of his comments aren't about specifics but more of aspects of play. The Bulls win is the first time I recall seeing him really happy after any result and that bodes well for the future as it would indicate that the "aspects" are falling into place.

[Nick]

Well I think JM is doing a pretty good job infact I think he is one of the bettr coaches going around, Nucifora was pretty impressed as was Deans when they played them last year.

When they drew with the crusaders last year when that team was on Fire was no mean trick.

The AB's when he took over where struggling he turned them around and made them viable World Cup contenders and in fact favorites within two years!

The Force play attacking exciting rugby and every game (bar round 1 this year) has built on that. Your setting yourself up for a heart break if you think that two wins is linning the Force up for a tournament win but they should certainly take a few more games - next year maybe a very different story. Outside of the Force's first year JM's coaching record in Rugby is phenomenal.

[blindsid3]

So it's ok to sledge the Yak, Drew Mitchell et al for having a shocker (as has been a sport over the past year in this forum), but not draw attention to some pretty fudamental flaws from round one from the coach?


I just think that putting Mitch in the same League as Sun Tzu, Patton or Stormin Norman may be a little premature when he has only got three wins under his belt and evidence of wayward gameplan implementation.

This wasn't supposed to be a Mitch Bashing Session. The guy has done some great things (albeit with some pretty handy players) and there is more to come - but if we accept that this is as good as it gets it will be.

[Nick]

He made his Waikato senior debut in 1985 and played at number eight, blindside flanker and lock before he became firmly established at number eight. Equal top scorer in first division rugby in 1989-90, he thus scored more tries over these seasons than any other NZ first division player.

Mitchell was given the Waikato captaincy in 1989. In 1990, because of a broken leg, he could only play half the games. He was reappointed captain in 1991 and led magnificently from that time on until his retirement just prior to the start of the 1995 season. He captained the side a record 86 times. Overall he played 134 games for Waikato and scored 67 tries.

In the off season, Mitchell played club rugby in France and Ireland. Coached in England, including a stint as England's assistant coach. Appointed coach of the Chiefs' Super 12 side for 2001, and on 3rd October 2001 was appointed as All Black coach through to the 2003 World Cup.

Mitchell was appointed Head Coach of the New Zealand All Blacks, winning 26 out of 30 games between 2001 and 2003 ? a winning percentage of 86%.

86% there not to many coaches that can claim that... I dont think you could ask for a better coach really, and I think in all honesty the team that ran on to the Park in Round 1 should have been able to bring home the bacon.

The coaches always cop the blame when the team loses but I think he deserves a bit of time in the sun too.

[frontrow]

Look man, take a chill pill on the title, "Master Tactician", perhaps he isn't worthy of that title as is Sun Tzu, etc, but he is worthy of our respect, and that is what we are giving him by letting the cards fall as they will over the next few weeks, similar to the way the cards have fallen for Hennas or Mitchell...
Last year Hennas had a mediocre year, now he is looking the goods, Mitch as a coach had a mediocre year, and now the tide is starting to turn, Drew had a Barry Crocker to begin with but now is coming along great guns...Things are starting to happen, and as it is only what, the seventeenth game the Force have played, i think we still have to sit back and realise it could be a while before everything Mitch has put into place, or is planning to put into place, finally begin to show consistent results, but at present we are on the back of a two match winning streak which is a club first, with every chance of a third win, and that being a home win, this weekend...So we are setting new standards all the time, so realise this man, no one is saying this is as good as it gets, they are just relishing the moment and savouring the feeling of a couple of wins...Overzealous in our support, we may well be guilty as charged, but it ain't a hanging offence...

[Darren]

I didn't read your thread as Mitch bashing at all.

JM needs to be kept as honest and held as accountable as the rest of the Western Force coaches and staff...

[Vanilla Ice]

The Force style of play resembles how the Wallabies played 5 years ago. Mitchell deserves more credit than he gets. I thought he was only 10 years behind the times.

[Nick]

JM needs to be kept as honest and held as accountable as the rest of the Western Force coaches and staff...

For sure coach but it wasn't just WF supporters that saw the Force as a team that in it's first year even with a pretty shocking win loss record as something that was building into a promising unit and gave more than one team a bit of a scare.

We can all 2nd guess selections but it does seem that JM's perserverance has paid off and he is the one that see the guys at training etc

Youre right blindsid3 in that we cant get too carried away but at the same time we cant let our expectations get unreasonable. I think we should have won that Highlanders game and I think we should win this week, but certainly there will be games we loose - its a tough comp. (I also didn't see your thread as a bash - I just disagree)

[Darren]

I back and support John Mitchell 100%