Multiple layers within the central game plan are one of the areas that separate the leading contenders from the rest of the pack, according to Game Performance Manager Mark Neeld.
The Bombers are eight games into a new regime under Coach John Worsfold.
The coaches of the current top four sides have spent an average of five and a half seasons leading their club.
“If you look at the teams that are battling for top four positions at the moment, they’ve evolved their game plan so they have within ‘game plan A’ parts one, two and three,” Neeld told Bomber Radio.
“They change it regularly, if you go and watch Hawthorn play or North Melbourne… they’ll actually change their strategies within a quarter.
“We want to get there, but we certainly need to nail down what would be our standard game plan.”
That’s where the teaching element becomes so important.
Playing lists are made up of young men aged anywhere from late teens to late 30’s (generally), from all corners of the country and now even overseas.
“They’re all different personalities and they will all learn in different ways,” Neeld said.
“Some players will be terrific in a whole team meeting or a whole team training activity.
“Other players will need certain aspects of it broken down, right now that’s really where a lot of energy is being put.”
Neeld was the Head of Player Development last season, but has taken on the role of Game Performance Manager under Worsfold.
“My role centres on working with the coaches on a daily – almost hourly – basis on different things,” he said.
“So I work with John on strategy, I work with the performance coaches … to help them coach their players, educate their players and bring their players up to a level so they can actually play the strategy that we want.
“Part of my role is also making sure that the strategies we want to play on the weekend…that they are being played out on the training track and overseeing the planning and implementation of that.”
On match day, amid the natural emotion, Neeld is there to ensure clarity remains.
“My role is to assist John in the strategy – the way we want to play – and perhaps some of the strategies the opposition are implementing. Again, working with the coaching group to make sure they’re providing John with the information that he wants,” he said.
