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Aussies lose to Iran
Posted by devo on June 8, 2008
A very tired looking Australian Men’s Volleyball Team lost their final match at the Olympic qualifiers in Japan today. Nathan Roberts again top scored with 13 points. Luke Campbell came on for the 3rd set and picked up 2 kills and 4 blocks. VTAM finished the tournament with 3 wins and 4 losses, in fifth position. They were the third placed Asian team behind Japan and Korea.
VTAM lost to Iran 0-3 (18-25, 16-25, 23-25)
Head Coach Russell Borgeaud: I think from our point of view a disappointing performance from our team. I started with some younger players who had finished the match against Algeria in good form and were not able to maintain that today. Credit to Iran. They played a good match and controlled our game very well. I was proud of the guys in the third set for the fight they showed, but it was not enough today.
Captain Ben Hardy: We did not perform our best, and it is a very disappointing finish. more @ fivb
“We started the tournament well with good wins against Thailand and Argentina but we just didn’t perform in the other matches. In the end we weren’t good enough and we have to go away and improve – it’s as simple as that,” said Borgeaud.
Captain Ben Hardy admitted the loss to Iran was a reflection of his team’s tournament . “We just didn’t seem to have the same desire that we have had in the past,” said Hardy. “We hold ourselves in high regard and the potential in this team is high and from that perspective it is a disappointing finish.” more @ Hanson Sport Media
pictures ~ match description ~ stats 1 ~ stats 2 ~ press conference ~ standings ~ all match results ~
Louise said
I think we’re all feeling “very tired looking” – not just the players but also us Aus volleyball supporters. The utter disappointment of seeing the Olympics “fade into the sunset” is hard for us here but how much harder is it for everyone of them there??
Yes, it would have been great to end on a high note against Iran … but the guys have been through such extreme physical, mental, climatic and body-clock pressures that we should all be so very, very proud of all their achievements over these last months, weeks and days. They may not make it to Beijing this year but, looking at the strength of the young players, Australia is sure to be a hell of a team in months and years to come!!
Louise
p.s. I hate to admit it but now it makes it much easier for me (and my volleyball-mad and German-born son, Carsten) to watch the Olympic volleyball – we can totally support Germany and won’t feel torn between supporting both countries!!
Cathy said
I think Louise has said it all for us supporters.
“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”
Theodore Roosevelt (1858 – 1919)
Thanks for the Ride boys!!!!!
devo said
No one is prouder of each member of the VTAM than I am. But the question must be asked. This team went into this tournament with great expectations which they did not achieve. Why not? The team must learn from this. Worlds are only two years away. Platitudes will not help them do well there.
Louise said
I understand fully,Devo – as a father from an Aus team player you know more than any of us how they train and the energy from them and parents and supporters.
Yes, it’s definitely a learning experience in more than one way for them – in future I’m SURE they will do certain things very differently (whether it be preparation, mental & physical approach etc.etc.) but I think now’s the time to tell them that we are proud and behind them. They all probably well know what the loses mean to them personally, all their parents, family and supporters and to Australian volleyball in general!
I know it’s easy when your son is only in the Aus Youth team and they see the world with tinted glasses …
thanks anyway … to you .. your son .. and his fab team, trainers and support-staff … including Dan Illot(OK, we’re living in Qld so we have to plug the great people from here)
whosin said
Does anyone know – with our guys not qualifing for the Olympics, will this jepordise our sponsorship money from the Sports Commission / Govt departments. As this is their main goal, to provide money to those sports that make the Olympics? Let’s hope not.
Also – just to look to the future, what areas do people think we need to improve on to further improve?
Roberta said
Without wanting to re-open a can of worms, the selections over the last 2 years have been suspect at best…
There was clearly a problem with the setters in Japan- is that the best we have…or were there other options???
Also, why were there no viable passing players on the bench? I saw a lot of hitter-passers, and no passer-hitters. Where was the balance?
Howard on the bench for the third set against Japan- there has to be something going on there!!
And finally, were they serious making the team do three laps of the world, effectively exhausting the players, before the games had started? We had the advantage of being in the same time zone and inviting teams to play in Australia…
There needs to be more scrutiny on what is going on there.
J said
Roberta,
I’m afraid id have to disagree with you on these subjects. Firstly, the two setters that were being used, both played at Athens four years ago, both won Australia their first ever Asian championships in the competition’s history, so theoretically they would be the best options; with one setter also getting second best setter of the competition.
Secondly, the pass hitters were the best options from the players that were available, with Australia only being a ‘small’ nation in volleyball terms, we don’t have the playing stocks with international experiance and playing level as other nations. With that being said, it means we can only use what we have and the best players available. It is of my opinion that these were the best players available.
Thirdly, although Howard is one of the best players in Australian volleyball, if a player is not having the desired affect on court then something needs to be changed. Although we can’t really scrutenise this decision as we are not over there ourselves.
To finish, we must look at what this team has achieved over the last few years. Since Athens, many of our senior members retired and we had an influx of young talent. This squad won the Asian championships with an extremly difficult and almost rediculous match schedule. They also played World Cup (without Howard) and improved their overall standing in world volleyball. This team has so much talent and quality at such a young age that this is really a team for the future. We must all be proud of what they have achieved and must fully support this squad for their future endeavors.
Thanks for the great coverage devo and spike magazine. J
Yankee Boy said
It is very tough to be critical of coaching decisions when you are not fully aware of the facts. I guess the thing “going on with Howard” was simply that either he wasn’t playing well or the coach thought a different middle may be able to do the job a little better.
The travel schedule before they played this event was obviously very tough and maybe it did have an effect on the team especially at the end of a long European season for most of the players.
Also I don’t think we can be too harsh on the team overall, yes they did win Asians last year but it is not as though they were completely dominant in doing that. They beat Japan, Iran and Korea in 5 and lost to China in 5 and then had a minor miracle in Thailand beating Japan to enable them to get across the line. My point is that it is very close at the top and on any given day those top teams can beat each other. It just so happens at this time we didn’t have what it took.
I think the team has a very bright future and the AVF needs to look at ways of getting them top level competition throughtout the year. I know that World League will probably never be on the radar but we need to have this level of competition on a more regular basis.
Josh said
And it’d be nice if some of that competition was in Oz! We get to see the team in action here way too infrequently.
Josh
Tanya said
Just to further stick up for the setters, it is poor judgement to blame the setters when things go wrong. If you look at the game stats, you will find that serve reception was a major problem in the Korean game and probably in others as well. Anyone who has played decent volleyball will know that if the pass isn’t there, the setter has a harder job to make something of it.
As for Dan Howard, no matter how good a player is, they sometimes have off days. It is the job of the coach to observe this and do something about it through a sub or other means. The great players are not infalliable as much as we’d like to think. That being said, I think Dan played very well for most of the tournament, particularly with so much pressure on him.
As Yankee Boy pointed out, the team has made amazing progress in the past couple years.
Now we can look back at the tournament and find out where we went wrong and try to rememdy it. Lets look at all facets of the game, including coaching staff, and try to improve.
Josh said
I guess the key question regarding the Howard sub was… it was 26-all at the pivotal moment of the match and the tournament.
Regardless, as everyone else has stated… forget the Italy game and the Iran game… and our progress or lack thereof was a toss of a coin. It’s hard not to be critical because the consequences of our failure is so huge.
I can’t imagine how shattered the team must be feeling.
Frank Solomona said
Very intriguing debate by what I’ve been reading.
Just wanted to add a note to J’s & louise’s point of VTAm’s achievements. They also won last year, the Commonwealth Cup too.
I’d say as a fan and just from memory what I’ve remembered reading, there has been a lot of mention about tiredness. Its been a physical toll on their bodies what they have been going through (playing games day after day) for the last couple of months, added on top all the travelling. Atleast we all know what they are capable of. Like Ben Hardy has mentioned, games really were soooo close. Its a shame but there is a lesson here somewhere, but there is a very very bright future with other major volleyball tournaments.
Whosin said
I agree with josh earlier, bring some more teams to us – esp if Asian teams are so strong, why don’t other national teams come here for some preparations, similar to ARG last year??!!!
Just to add to Dan Howards retirement from the National Team, who do people think will take his spot. Congratulations by the way to Dan, who has done the team proud, a great role model.
Also – what about the new rule (from 2009 onwards) about having 2 libero’s for a tournament – who else can help our lovely Phil? Do we need another Libero in the mix? Will this hinder or help?
Nic said
Just in reply to Whosin- i think Aden is the clear choice to help Phil if we took two Libero’s. I think the rule will made decisions difficult because you still have a squad of 12 but now have to factor in a 2nd libero who do you leave out?
hugh29 said
I have no idea why they pick some people in the national squad and not others. I always felt that it was retarded that Stu Maycock got overlooked years ago as a setter even though he was better than some of the people they picked (oddly enough, he doesn’t even set that much anymore, but he was brilliant when he did).
maybe a second libero is a good idea. they’re only off the court 2 rallies every full rotation. Howard used to stay on, so no doubt there will be a bigger load on the liberos.
you’ll all have to excuse my bleeding south australian heart, but I’m all for seeing Aden play for Australia. Was good to see Nathan Roberts up there with some impressive stats too!
Bummer the Aussies won’t be in Beijing. Guess Korea and Japan were fired up to see us not be the “asian” team represented again.
good point someone said about if this affects funding. let’s hope it doesn’t go the same way as VTAW. They’ve had otherwise good results. But if they cut the programme and the limit on international players gets imposed, it could be some dark times