When I looked at it, I thought it was a very sound decision from Joel under pressure.
It was intelligent footy that ran down a considerable amount of time and ultimately won Richmond the game.
Some people have argued what Joel did was outside the ‘spirit’ of the game. But for me, I fully supported Greg Chappell and his decision to bowl the underarm delivery against New Zealand all those years ago.
Some people will think poorly of me for saying that, but that’s my view. The rules are there; use them.
Clubs, coaches and individual players take every opportunity there is to use the rules to full advantage. The answer is not to criticise Joel, but to change the rules and the players will continue to abide by them.
I am pretty against changing the rules to make a rushed behind worth three points or anything like that. It’s not for me and I’m sure we can come up with a better solution.
I think starting the clock only after a player has kicked the ball would be a lot easier.
In that situation, the umpire would only call time-on once a player had kicked the footy to himself and, provided the opposition was switched on and close by, he’d only be able to waste a couple of seconds before rushing the ball through again.
It might not solve the problem on every situation, but it would go pretty close to a resolution.
The weekend was significant for another reason, which was that a few teams -- including Port Adelaide -- ended long winning or losing streaks.
It was interesting for us to come up against the Crows on Sunday given that both sides were coming off runs of losses.
We’d lost five in a row and they’d lost four, so they were going into record territory and we probably were as well, so someone had to create a record.
It’s always difficult to change the mindset of individual players, but when it comes to changing the mindset of the group or the club and the whole supporter base, it’s even tougher.
Over the years, you’ve heard of players going down to the pub and drinking a carton of beer to get them out of a particular mindset and, on the odd occasion, that might work.
But I think that’s now a relic of the past.
More often these days you look for something to motivate the group to try and change its mindset.
One might change the training venue and that could mean going from outdoors to indoors, shifting to a different oval at a different time, or letting the leaders or assistant coaches take training.
It could also involve bringing someone in from outside the club and from another sport to run a different activity with the players.
You might think of increasing the amount of competition within the group. It could be something as simple as table tennis, but the key is to have a competition where there are winners and losers and consequences for both.
As coaches, you continually look for things to stimulate the players’ minds.
In the past we’ve taken the morning off to go surfing and, a few months ago, we went out and played golf. It was great to inject the fun back into the group.
When it comes to June and July, it’s really important to keep the players fresh coming into finals. One that sounds ridiculous -- but sometimes works -- is completely taking the day off training.
Everyone goes away, re-evaluates what they are doing, what they are supposed to be doing and then comes back prepared to offer a bit more.
It’s marvellous when you’re on a roll of wins and you think you’ve got that secret ingredient, which will automatically make next week the same as last week.
Preparation is the key and you continually have to tweak around the edges to keep things running smoothly.
But when you are on the end of a few losses, it isn't about tweaking -- it’s throwing everything out to try and get a response from the players.
When a win does come after a long losing streak, it’s just fantastic. Anyone in the rooms after our game on Sunday would’ve realised that the win was as great, emotionally, as any of the games we’ve won over the years.
There was a huge level of emotion involved and the support, warmth and closeness of all the players, coaches, staff and supporters reminded everyone how special winning is.
Hopefully, it stamps in our minds, ‘let’s do it again this week’, and the next week, and the next week, and the next week . . .
