FOOTBALL clubs employ coaches to make decisions. When Carlton appointed me as senior coach in late 1985, then chief executive Ian Collins looked me in the eye and said: "You make all the decisions, just make sure that three out of four are right."

And so another round passes and all the coaches weigh up what they got right and what backfired. Port Adelaide was labelled soft last week after its inglorious last-quarter fade out against the Blues. So coach Mark Williams gave the Power a solid week of bash and crash on the track. It then took the "tough man" approach into the game against Geelong. It was a recipe for disaster. Williams' misguided men gave away over-the-top frees and 50-metre penalties. The Cats laughed at them as they piled on the goals.

At the start of the final term in Adelaide on Saturday night, the Crows led by three points. To that stage, Nathan Bock at centre half-back had controlled Lance "Buddy" Franklin. But Buddy doesn't line up in the forward half to start the last term. He is on the wing. His instructions are to chase the footy. Bock is told by his coach Neil Craig to hold his position across the half-back line. I'm sure Buddy likes that because he has been let off the leash. You just can't give talented players what they want. So Buddy runs amok.

In a nail-biting finale, he gathers nine possessions, kicks his only goal and lifts his team's spirits with some scintillating length-of-the-ground runs. Result? The Crows lose a game they should have won.

It's half-time at the MCG on Sunday. The Blues have problems. They have only three goals on the board and young guns Matthew Kreuzer and Bryce Gibbs have had just one disposal apiece. Kreuzer had been struggling at half forward and Gibbs — playing to instructions — had dragged his quality opponent, Heath Shaw, to the Carlton goal square. Both Gibbs and Shaw had touched the ball only once in the first half, proving Jack Dyer's theory, "It's no good being where the ball ain't", to be again true.

So, at half-time Carlton coach Brett Ratten got pro-active. He moved Jarrad Waite from defence to centre half-forward. Kreuzer was moved into the ruck and Gibbs to the midfield.

Forward pocket specialist Eddie Betts was also given runs in the middle. All of the moves worked. Waite kicked two goals and added spark at half-forward. Kreuzer's stats went from one to six, plus 10 second-half hitouts, while Gibbs went from one to 12.

What Ratten did was maximise the output from his men. Magpies coach Mick Malthouse chose not to. For several weeks, Shaw's opponents have dragged him away from the action. The rebounding half-back has averaged 21 disposals a game. At half-time against Carlton, he had just one. He was fresh and raring to go. But Carlton continued to give him opponents — Gibbs first half and then Kade Simpson and Shaun Grigg — who would drag him away from the action. At game's end, Shaw had a total of six disposals and more than 60% of petrol left in the tank.

I'm not sure what Malthouse is trying to prove by not putting Shaw into the action because at present, his talents and engine are not being fully utilised.

With eight losses in a row, Essendon coach Matthew Knights was weathering a tough initiation into the caper and his skipper, Matthew Lloyd, was having his game heavily scrutinised.

So it was pleasing to see the coach release Lloyd from the confines of the goal square and give him space and freedom further upfield. Lloyd responded with a telling spread of contested possessions, tackles, goals, goal assists and topped it off with the mark of the game.

Knights also took advantage of the domino effect on West Coast. With Chris Judd and Ben Cousins no longer in the colours, and with Daniel Kerr and Chad Fletcher out injured, the most highly rated midfielder becomes Matt Priddis. So he copped the heavy tag of Andrew Welsh, who rendered him ineffective with a hard-hitting, 14-tackle game.

But the coaching move of the season has to be Terry Wallace's inspired use of Matthew Richardson. It took a while (five coaches, 15 seasons and up until "Richo" turned 33) to work out how to get the best out of the big fellow. Alternating between wing and full-forward has done the trick. Richo now has freedom to use his great athleticism. He is no longer out of the game for extended periods, when frustration would build. He doesn't feel as though he has to kick a bag of goals to be of value to his team.

The opposition finds him harder to match up on when he plays several roles and he gets to use up all the juice in his tank. On Sunday, Richo was one of two players who never left the ground.

He kicked the most goals (five), took the most marks (18) and had 21 disposals. In short, his coach allowed him to maximise his talents for the benefit of the team.