Great Coach AFL - User's Guide

This user's guide covers the 2.0 version of Great Coach AFL. We have written the guide to get you up to speed and get the most out of Great Coach AFL.

If your new to Great Coach AFL, try starting with the Getting Started section first. If you just need a little help, pick from one of the tasks in the table of contents to get the instructions you need.

Also check out the tutorial video and Frequently Asked Questions for more hints and tips

Tutorials Video Frequently Asked Questions

If you still need a little help please contact us and we will help you out.

Contents

Version 2 - What's New

Here is a run down on the new features in Great Coach AFL 2.0 and how to use them.

Great new interface

We have added a great new interface design to give coaches and team managers a more professional look with less clutter. All the graphics has now been upgraded to hi resolution graphics and artwork to get the most out of your Retina iPads.

Match Planning

  • Player rotations now animated. Easier to visualise player movements
  • Planned player game time now displayed as a progress bar above players
  • Print your game boards with AirPrint supported printers
  • Email the team set up to your players

Match Play

  • Match statistics are now available immediately at any time in the game
  • Show and hide player rotations
  • Player game time indicators appear above player names
  • New styled statistics boards with selectable colour styles
  • Customise player tags with optional player photos, jumper numbers & nicknames

Match Reports

  • Match statistics now can be broken down quarter by quarter
  • Tweet match results as soon as the match is over
  • Best players selection allows best players to be ordered.
  • Match round numbers can be entered to accommodate practice matches
  • New statistics for Kicking and Hand pass efficiency

      • Team Management

      • Team photos added
      • Select game time in seconds
      • Select between 4 quarters and 2 halves

Getting Started

The easiest way to get started with Great Coach AFL is jump in and set up your team, players, fixture and some games.

Your Clipboard

From the clipboard you can view your teams and recent games with a simple tap. Great Coach AFL allows you to have many teams set up on your iPad. The Clipboard only shows you the recently viewed teams. To view all you teams tap the ‘All Teams’ button.

Adding a new Team

To add a new team from the Clipboard:

  1. Tap the ‘All Teams’ button. All Teams List will then appear.
  2. Select the ‘+’ in the top right hand corner to add a new team. A new blank Team Sheet will then appear.
  3. Enter details for your team, tap on the underlined areas and enter:
    • Name of the team
    • Select an Age Group - this will select the quarter length.
    • Number of periods per game - ( 4 quarters or 2 halves)
    • Period duration - how long each quarter / half lasts
    • Statistics Board - the type of statistics you want to collect for this team
    • Game Time - lets you set up warnings if players don’t get sufficient game time
    • Coach & Manager details - for reference, emails here are used in match report emails so they are worth setting up.
    • Other eMail addresses - these are additional contacts to be included in match report emails.
    • Select they statistics you would like to collect. Tap the Stats Board and select a name from the list. For more about Stats. Boards see Collecting Your Own Statistics.
    • Team Photo - add a photo of the team
    • Favourites Button - tap the star at the top of the screen to add or remove the team from the clipboard

Hint To delete a team. From the All Teams List - swipe across the team you wish to delete. A red delete button will appear. Tap red ‘delete’ button to delete the team.

Your clipboard

From your clipboard you can access recent games, your favourite teams, players and Settings.

Team Sheet

Your teams details and key contacts.

Adding Players

To add a player to a team from your Team Sheet:

  1. Tap the Player’s ‘View’ button. The Players for Team List will be displayed.
  2. Tap the ‘+’ in the top right of the page. The player information page appears.
  3. Enter player details
    • Name, nickname & date of birth
    • Number/jumper
    • Photo - select a photo from your photo album
    • Add player contact details. Your player’s email address will be used in match report emails.
    • Add parent/guardian contact details (if required). Email addresses for parent/guardians are automatically added to match report emails as well.
  4. Tap on the done button to save your changes.
Hint You can quickly add players from other teams or previous seasons to your team. Tap the ‘All Players‘ button from the Players for Team List, find and tap on a player to add them to your team.

Removing Players

To remove a player from your team:

  1. From your Team Sheet, tap on the ‘View’ players button. The Players for Team List will be shown.
  2. Find the player you want to remove from the team. Swipe your finger across the player’s name. A red delete button will appear.
  3. Press the ‘Delete’ button and the player will be removed from the team.

Note The player is only removed from your team. They are still available in the ‘All Players’ list.

Player details

Record player contact details, photo and development notes.

Adding Games to your Fixture

Now you have a team and some players, its time to add some games for your team to play. To add a game to the fixture:

  1. From your Team Sheet, tap the fixture ‘View’ button. The Team Fixture will appear.
  2. Tap the ‘+’ button at the top right. The Game Summary screen will appear.
  3. Enter the game’s details including:
    • Opponent Name
    • When - tap to select the game date and time. The round number for the game will be determined automatically in the game fixture
    • Venue & Home game indicator
    • Round Number (optional) - You can number games manually or Great Coach will automatically number rounds based on the date
    • Tap the ‘Done’ button to save the changes to your game. Press the ‘Edit’ button if you need to make more changes to the game.

You can then go ahead and plan the game or return to the Team Fixture and continue to add games to the fixture.

Note Features to view match statistics, send the match report or Tweet the result are only available once the match has been played

Match Details

Enter the important details about the match. Once the match is played you can then review the match, scores and stats.

Planning a Game

Great Coach AFL lets you plan your player positions quarter by quarter. In addition to that you can also set up player rotations at set times in each quarter.

Hint You don’t need to plan a game to play a game. If you would just like to use Great Coach for its whiteboard and stats you can skip this step and go straight to Playing a Match.

Adding Players to the Game board

To add players to the field:

  1. Tap on an empty position, a list of players will appear.
  2. Tap on the player in the list. The player will be added to that position.

To add a player to the next free position:

  1. Tap on the Player icon at the top of the page. A list of players will be shown.
  2. Tap on a player. The player will be added to the next free position on the field.

Hint As you add and move players, Great Coach AFL calculates the planned amount of game time for each player and displays a bar showing the amount of match time. If your team has a minimum amount of match time, the bar will be shown in red.

Swapping Player Positions

To swap two players positions:

  1. Press and hold on a player.
  2. Drag the player to the other position and release your finger. The players will then exchange positions.

Removing a Player

To remove a player from the board:

  1. Tap and hold your finger on a player.
  2. Drag the player to the top of the page. The player will be shown with a red cross. Release your finger and the player will be removed from the field.

Changing Game board

For a new game, a game board is added for each quarter. To view another game board you can:

  1. Press the forward and back buttons at the top of the screen. The next game board in that direction will be shown.
  2. Press the Game boards title at the top of the screen. A list of all the game boards will be shown.
  3. Tap on a game board’s quarter and time. The game board will then be shown.

Copying Game boards

You can copy all player positions from one game board to the next. To copy all player positions:

  1. View the board you would like to set up.
  2. Press the ‘Action’ button at the top of the screen. A list of the game boards will be displayed.
  3. Tap on the game board you want to copy. All the player positions for this game board will be copied.

Match Planning

Tap the title to jump to a game board. Use the forwards and backwards buttons to see you team set up for each game board.


Copy player positions

Use the copy button to copy player set ups from other game boards to the current one. You can also copy starting line ups from any game in the season.

Planning Rotations

In each quarter you have a game board for the starting line up. To set up rotations within a quarter you simply add new game boards at set at what time in the quarter your want the rotation.

To create a rotation:

  1. Tap the '+' button to add a game board before or after the current game board.
  2. Select the time in the quarter for the rotation.
  3. The new game board will be shown and all player positions copied.
  4. Move players to your desired positions.
  5. To see your rotations animate, press the forward and back arrows to move between game boards

Once you play the game, Great Coach will automatically watch the clock and give you reminders when certain players need to be moved and where to. You only need to focus on which position you want players during the game.

Removing Game boards

To remove a game board:

  1. Use the arrow buttons to view the game board to be removed.
  2. Press the Trash Can / Delete button at the top of the page. The game board will be deleted.

Note You can’t delete the game board for the start of each quarter.

Changing Formations

You can select a formation for each game board in the planning mode.

  1. To change formation for a game board
  2. Tap the formation button at the top of the page. A list of available formations will be shown.
  3. Tap on the formation. The team will be arranged into the selected formation.

Adding Game boards

Use the + button to add a new Game board either before or after the current Game board.

Playing a Match

For each quarter in your game, Great Coach AFL has three steps:

  1. Setup - Players are placed in starting positions based on your plan. You can change these positions before the quarter begins.
  2. Play - Collect statistics, record player time receive player rotation reminders.
  3. Review - Review player performance using the Coach’s Clipboard

Setup for a Quarter

From your Game Summary:

  1. Select the ‘Play’ button. The first game board will be displayed and your players set up into positions.
  2. You can make position changes with your team.
  3. Drag players to the top of the page to delete them.
  4. Tap on empty positions to add a player.
  5. Drag players to other positions to swap player positions.

Playing a Quarter

Once your ready to commence the quarter, press the ‘Start Quarter’ button. The clock will now commence counting down.

While the clock is running you may:

  • Move players on and off the bench and between positions.
  • Tap on a player to record statistics for the player.
  • Change the team formation using the ‘Formation’ button at the top of the screen.
  • View in game statistics - tap the statistics table icon in the top menu bar.
  • View player time - Each player has a playing time bar indicating how much of the game they have played. Red indicates the player has not played enough game time according to your team's game time rule
  • View detailed player time - tap the clock indicator in the top menu bar to see player time.
  • Monitor player rotations - preset rotations will be shown to remind you what players need to be moved. Move players to remove the reminders.
  • Show/hide rotation reminders - tap the rotations button in the top menu bar to show or hide rotation reminders
  • Game time alarms - if a player has played less than the minimum game time and they are on the bench an alarm will flash to show which players need to be rotated onto the field

Hint: If you capture a score accidentally, tap on the mini score board and use the + & - buttons to correct the score for the quarter.

Hint If you accidentally capture a stat incorrectly, you can correct it in the Game Summary’s Match Stats.

Reviewing a Quarter

Once the siren sounds you may then review the quarter:

  1. Press the ‘End Quarter’ button. The clock will stop and the Coach’s Clipboard will become available.
  2. Tap on the Coach’s Clipboard button at the top of the screen. The Coach’s Clipboard will then appear.
  3. The Coach’s Clipboard shows the score, positive stats for players, areas to improve for players, scores for and scores against.
  4. Tap outside the Coach’s Clipboard to hide it.
  5. Once ready to set up for the next quarter, press the ‘Next Quarter’ button. If there is a planned game board, the players will be moved to the planned starting set up.

You can the repeat ‘Set up for a Quarter’ and Playing the Quarter again.

Playing a match

In match play see visual rotation reminders. Monitor player game time.


Collect statistics

Tap on players to record statistics. The statistics board is selected on your Team Sheet. Select from Junior, Senior or make your own Statistics Board.


Coach's Clipboard

Get a quick summary of each quarter, scores, key achievements and areas to improve.

Completing a Game

Once the game is complete Great Coach AFL allows you to finish off recording information about the game and even sending a match report. There are a couple of activities you can perform when competing a game:

  • Correct Scores
  • Review and adjust Statistics
  • Select Best Players
  • Enter a match report
  • E-mail a match report
  • Reviewing Match Statistics

    • To review the match statistics:

  • Tap the Match Statistics button on the Game Summary. The statistics for the team will be displayed.
  • Swipe left and right on screen to view more players and more statistics information. The screen will scroll to show more players down the page and more statistics across the page.
  • Tap on a column heading to sort statistics from highest to lowest.
  • Select a different report by tapping the ‘Report Selection’ button. Pick a report from the list of reports. For more information about reports, see Making your own Reports.

Adjusting Game Statistics

To correct or adjust match statistics:

  1. Tap the Match Statistics button on the Game Summary. The statistics for the team will be displayed.
  2. Swipe to find the statistic that needs to be corrected.
  3. Tap on the statistic for that player (the square containing the statistic number). The Adjust Statistic screen will appear.
  4. Use the + and - buttons to adjust the statistic up or down.
  5. Tap the ‘Done’ button to save the changes.

Emailing Game Statistics

You can email the current statistics report as a spreadsheet (.csv) file. You can use this to email

  1. Tap the action button in the top corner.
  2. An email message will appear with the .csv file attached.
  3. Enter your email address and hit send.

Correct Scores

To correct the match’s score:

  1. From the Game Summary Screen, tap the ‘Edit’ button at the top of the page. You will now be able to make changes to the Game Summary.
  2. Tap a score in the score summary. The keyboard will be displayed and you may enter the correct score.
  3. As the score is changed, the totals will be updated for the game.
  4. If you need to correct another part of the scoreboard, repeat the same process and tap on a score in the scoreboard summary.

Selecting Best Players

  1. From the Game Summary Screen, tap the ‘Edit’ button at the top of the page. You will now be able to make changes to the Game Summary.
  2. Tap the list of best players. Two lists will be displayed side by side, Best Players and All Players on the team
  3. Press and drag a player from your Players list into the Best Players.
  4. Reorder the best players by pressing and dragging a player up or down in the Best Players list.
  5. Remove a player from the Best Players list by pressing and dragging the player out of the list.
    6. Tap on the Match Summary to close the Best Players list

Enter a Match Report

To add a match report:

  1. From the Game Summary Screen, tap the ‘Edit’ button at the top of the page. You will now be able to make changes to the Game Summary.
  2. Tap the Match Report area. The keyboard will appear and you may now type your match report.
  3. Once finished tap the ‘Done’ button to save your changes.

E-mail Match Report

To e-mail a match report:

  1. From the Game Summary Screen, tap the ‘Send Match Report’ button. An email message will be displayed.
  2. Email addresses are selected from the coach, manager, player and player guardian email addresses.
  3. Tap the ‘To’ or ‘CC’ areas to add extra email addresses.
  4. Tap the ‘Send’ button to e-mail the match report.

Note To send emails, you need your iPad configured for e-mail.

Tweet the results

You can now use Twitter to publish your match results. Just tap on the Tweet Results button to send the match results

Note You need to have your Twitter account set up before tweeting.

Match Summary

After the match complete a summary of the match. Review quarter by quarter summaries, detailed match statistics. Share the results with Twitter or email.


Review and adjust Stats.

Tap on a statistic to make an adjustment. Note: Scores must be updated in the Match Sheet.


Select your best players

Tap on the best players list and drag players from the team into the Best Players List. You can drag Best Players up and down to order.


Working with Statistics

Great Coach AFL allows you to collect a rich set of team and player statistics to assist developing and reviewing your team’s performance.

Great Coach AFL uses Statistics Reports to show statistics and Stats. Boards to collect them. Now Great Coach AFL gives you the flexibility to set up your own reports and stats boards.

Making your own Report

To make a report that contains the statistics you want:

  1. From the Clipboard, tap the Settings button. The settings menu will be displayed.
  2. Select the Statistics Report option. One of the available stats reports will be displayed.
  3. Tap the ‘+’ button to add a new report.
  4. To change the report name and description, tap the report name. The report name and description can then be changed. Press Done when finished.

Adding a statistic to a report

  1. Edit a report by selecting the report from the Report List and pressing the ‘>’ arrow button.
  2. Scroll up and down the available statistics to find a statistic.
  3. Tap and hold an available statistic. Once the statistic pops up, drag it into the Report Columns list and release.
  4. The Report column will appear at the bottom of the list.
  5. To move the statistic. Tap and hold the statistic in the Report Columns list. Once the Statistic pops up, drag to the desired position and release.
  6. The statistic will be moved to the desired position.

Removing a statistic from a report

  1. Edit a report by selecting the report from the Report List and pressing the ‘>’ arrow button.
  2. Scroll up and down the Report Column to find a statistic to remove.
  3. Tap and hold the statistic. Once the Statistic pops up, drag outside the Report Columns and release.
  4. The statistic will then be removed from the report.

Making your own Stats. Board

To make a Stats Board that contains the statistics you want:

  1. From the Clipboard, tap the Settings button. The settings menu will be displayed.
  2. Select the Stats. Board option. One of the available stats boards will be displayed.
  3. Tap the ‘+’ button to add a new stats board.
  4. To change the stats board name and description, tap the stats board name. The stats board name and description can then be changed. Press Done when finished.

Adding a statistic to a Stats. Board

  1. Edit a stats board by selecting it in the Stats Board List and pressing the ‘>’ arrow button.
  2. Scroll up and down the available statistics to find a statistic.
  3. Tap and hold an available statistic. Once the statistic pops up, drag it into the Stats Board in the desired position.
  4. To move a statistics button. Tap and hold the statistic in the Stats Board. Once the Statistic pops up, drag to the desired position and release.
  5. The statistic button will be moved to the desired position.

Customising Statistics

Great Coach AFL comes with 8 custom statistics you can rename to collect your own statistics information. There are 4 positive and 4 against statistics buttons. You can also change the appearance of other statistics in your statistics boards.

To change the appearance of a statistic:

  1. View the Stats Board editor by selecting a Stats Board from the Stats Board list.
  2. Drag any of the pre defined statistics or custom statistics onto the Stats Board
  3. Double tap on a button in the Stats Board. The statistics details will be displayed.
  4. You can change the name, description and short name for the statistic.
  5. Enter guidance for the statistic if you would like it to appear in the coach’s clipboard. Some examples might be ‘great extra effort’, ‘keep your eyes on the ball’
  6. Select a colour for the custom statistic from the list of colouring styles.

Removing a statistic from a Stats Board

  1. Drag the statistic button out of the stats board
  2. The stats board will then be removed

Note It's best the keep the built-in statistics names and descriptions unchanged as some are use for calculations such as kicking efficiency %.

Custom Statistics Reports

Drag and drop from the available statistics into your report. You can also change the order of report statistics by dragging them up and down.


Custom Statistics Boards

Customise the stats you would like to collect. Drag on available statistics onto the stats board. Arrange the stats in a way that make sense for your team.


Tutorial Video

To get started with the Features of Great Coach AFL, please have a look at our tutorial video here.

Tutorial Video