The view live from Subi stands...

[darkhorse72 1,925]

Well what can I say...I normally write a nice report on the dinner (didn't make it this year) and be positive. (I apologise now for all typos)

I did go to the training run Wednesday night at subi, we looked much better without an opposition. Boys in very positive spirits, night ended with a goal kicking comp.

BUT NOT TONIGHT

First up i will single out one player that played tonight,,,Jack Watts was our best player tonight and the best I've seen him with his attack on the ball, skills, contested marking, hard running when without the ball to give an option. Which you don't see on TV. As I only see games over here at Subi, i can't comment on games in Vic, but tonight he showed what he will become for us. Can't say much for a lot of his teammates.

The Game -- below is from an awful memory so some may be slightly incorrect or blinkered.

First up for those that watched it on tv you would not have seen the full horror unfolding before us.

The first quarter was something I never seen from an AFL club, it was atrocious, beyond words.

Complete lack of skills, my the third side amateur team I coach on the weekend, has better level of skills and decision making than shown in that first quarter

I have been a supporter of Bailey, but tonight showed either a total lack of preparation or a team that doesn't play for him, or there is something seriously wrong with the pre-game routine. Honestly if he doesn't fix these problems bloody quick, he will be gone, i haven't seen any post game comments from him at all at this time. I didn't see his qtr time address but I hope he ripped the team a new one, they deserved it, i know on modern performance coaching is be positive, but sometimes a mans ego needs to be checked and insulted and told to pull his finger out.

What was missing:

Skills - no existent, god knows how may times we kicked directly to a beagle player or out of bounds on the full (a new record I'm guessing)

Marking - easily out marked all night

Intent - we didn't want the footy

Decision making/ball movement/game plan -

- one point coming out of defence from a mark, player looks up, 4 dee's sitting loose across half back all alone, not one of them demanding it, the player kicking can't see them, the entire dee support groups can see them, kick up the line to a contest , turnover...

- Is it our game plan to handball to the player under pressure, or about to get hammered, don't our players look at the player and think sh&t there is an oppos 5 feet away coming hard...next option. nope,,,and bang, turnover.

- why handball to a guy two feet away in a pack..old school kick it clear and reset. (see next point), our guys panic hand ball too much, i know the new rules a 40mtr kick is better than a 5mtr handball, at least its fruther from their goal. Malcolm blight said something once...if you have no one to kick tom kick it as high as you can and byt he time it comes down, a teammate will be there to contest.

- we all scream kick-it...for a good reason, quick clearing kick, up to maybe a 1-1 contest, 50-50 chance of success, back your teammate to beat their oppo etc. Today we have no one to receive a kick, so we go in circles, then turnover

Even the eagles tonight kept at least 1 player int he attacking half to receive a kick and it showed, an option up the ground.

- Maning up, sitting at the ground, there were so many free beagle players, i said to my mate, even before the stoppage cleared, the beagles will go there, there and there then into 50...and they did every time. How can an oppo have three free players constantly available for an easy switch and the run and carry. They are either lazy or its part of the game plan not to match up. When we try to clear, all our players are covered!

- Player laziness, easy from the stands, you can see where the ball will go and when I play in my local comp, i can see where the ball will go before it moves, simply by seeing the oppo players move and the movement of the ball around a pack, its not hard and I play for fun not lots of $$$!! But the problem is our players don't push hard to cover men or just ignore them, when they do more, usually once the ball is travelling there, they run half hearted and concede the possession. Even our quick players you know would catch them pull up short and jog while the oppo player still has possession near them runs away and delivers with no pressure.

- so it looking at what was happening tonight, why didn't we just go man on man to settle down the first quarter, as we couldn't get the ball so let the beagles take us to the ball and get control back...but we just let them run free.

- players don't block for each other to create space around contests including marking, how many times did an beagle player come across in front and take the ball.

- Our players should be taught to lead at the player kicking to them and not away..This is a bailey mistake of having no one in the forward half, guys are alway have to run with the flight of the ball to get space, bloody hard to mark that way.

-Ruck - smashed all night from where I was sitting. clearance needs a lot of work.

IN summing up...for the love of god, footy is a simple game, 18 blokes each on the field, beat your man and give it to a team mate to his advantage. To beat your man you need to be on him, not 30/40m away chasing an easy kick. Coaches make games look hard trying to get an edge, its not hard, beat one man at a time.

I'm sure everyone can add to the list.

Coaching:

While I won't throw my membership away, pointless, however i'm very interested in how our club is going to respond.

I think Bailey does not have the assistants he needs, and wellman was a huge loss to us this year, the club should have made him honour his contract. I think Royal is a hack and should have stayed away a return to a failed past.

All good coaches put an element of themselves into the teams they coach...none of the coaches have done that and none i believe have that hard grunt we need except for Viney from their playing days.

Even West while a great player was a polished player, not a fighting type of player... interesting enough most successful coaches come form the backl ine of teams in their playing days. A very different attitude

is developed in that part of the field over a career as you cope it when the rest of the side plays poor.

[Sir Why You Little 37,165]

From Nathan Jones Facebook....Nathan Jones

Shattering! Up there with the worst loss I've been involved in! Can't argue with any of you... We need to work harder to turn it round!

[Longsufferingnomore 1,652]

From Nathan Jones Facebook....Nathan Jones

Shattering! Up there with the worst loss I've been involved in! Can't argue with any of you... We need to work harder to turn it round!

Hopefully he is feeling our pain

[darkhorse72 1,925]

I have no illusions that they must be shattered, but after a game its too late.

As I said...its how the clubs responds, and i don't mean sack the coach, but use the embarrassment as a drive. Maybe the whole team that played should front up to a media conference and explain their shocking effort. The same way Beamer had to about drinking. Take responsibility in a public forum.

[Mallee Bull 97]

I have no illusions that they must be shattered, but after a game its too late.

As I said...its how the clubs responds, and i don't mean sack the coach, but use the embarrassment as a drive. Maybe the whole team that played should front up to a media conference and explain their shocking effort. The same way Beamer had to about drinking. Take responsibility in a public forum.

Weren't they 'shattered' about the effort against Hawthorn? They shouldn't need to get belted to be motivated to put in a decent effort. No intent, no hunger, no fire, no respect for the jumper.

[1 red eye 1 blue eye 771]

I was there tonight, my god I've been disappointed many times before, every Melbourne supporter knows what I mean, but tonight, I have never been so dejected, dumbfounded, horrified, that first quarter was the worst played by a Melbourne team I've seen since I started barracking for them in 1974. You had to be in the stand to see it, absolutely zero intent, no pressure no run no effort, it was gobsmacking to watch, I've never seen anything like it. Jack Watts looked good, everyone else just didn't seem to give a sh!t. There was more effort after quarter time but unfortunately everyone, they were just sh!t.

[DaveyJones'sLocker 647]

Jack watts was not our best player who are u kidding?

Yes he improved somewhat and took 2 good marks.

[1 red eye 1 blue eye 771]

Re read it mate, first quarter.

[DaveyJones'sLocker 647]

Reply to First post, not direct reply to yours sorry.

Edited April 28, 2011 by DaveyJones'sLocker

[hellcyon years 1]

I was there as well. Year after year of insipid performances at Subiaco, but that effort was the worst. For the first time ever, I left before the end of the game.

One sad and ironic positive: an excellent turn-out of local supporters. I doubt if they'll bother coming next year. In a way, I am glad the Dees only visit once this year.

[Bonkers 994]

What happened last night is no different to what we witnessed against Hawthorn. Interesting what Jimmi & the board do now as they have already stated it's unacceptable after the Hawks game., Bailey hasn't given them many options. This side is going backwards in it's development, has no confidence, looks unfit, unskilled etc etc. Quite simply they are a disgrace. Hope the club does what's required to bring a proven premiership coach in.

[darkhorse72 1,925]

Hey DaveyJones'sLocker

In my opinion last night Watts was the best overall player for us for the game. No he didn't get the ball the most etc etc, but when he had opportunity he went and got it. Also as most people are aware the Tv cuts out most of what happens on the ground, and he worked hard to try and give options to other players. Lots of great heads of kicks that went out of bounds or to a beagle player instead of to him as intended etc etc

[Hannabal 4]

How often do we get blown out of the water in the first quarter at Subi or Aami ?

It has felt like Groundhog day for years.

[Guest Thomo]

OP sums up 90% of what I viewed at the ground.

Highlights were Watts, Jones and Bartrum, never gave up all night.

Lowlights were Davey and Jurrah, never tried. Davey needs to be dropped. I would love to see the results of the GPS that the players carry, but I doubt many out their last night would have cover less ground than Davey. Whenever he was given a possession (rarely earned one), as soon as he disposed of it he would stop running. Extremely lazy last night, looked like he could not be bothered playing. At a minimum, take away the vice captaincy, he doesn't deserve it.

Jurrah was not much better.

[Kento80 83]

OP sums up 90% of what I viewed at the ground.

Highlights were Watts, Jones and Bartrum, never gave up all night.

Lowlights were Davey and Jurrah, never tried. Davey needs to be dropped. I would love to see the results of the GPS that the players carry, but I doubt many out their last night would have cover less ground than Davey. Whenever he was given a possession (rarely earned one), as soon as he disposed of it he would stop running. Extremely lazy last night, looked like he could not be bothered playing. At a minimum, take away the vice captaincy, he doesn't deserve it.

Jurrah was not much better.

Agree re Davey, but I think we all need to remember that our forwards aren't the ones in the gunsight here. Yes they weren't great, but they are forwards. If they don't get any delivery how can they perform. They move down the ground and try to get involved in the game, but the ones that really need the spray are the midfield and the backs. They are meant to be the ones that feed the ball forward. It was nearly the end of the first quarter before we made our own entry into the forward 50. No player should escape the heat, but the bulk needs to be directed to our playmakers.

[Felix 92]

From Nathan Jones Facebook....Nathan Jones

Shattering! Up there with the worst loss I've been involved in! Can't argue with any of you... We need to work harder to turn it round!

Tweet from Colin Sylvia

I agree with all ur tweets we embarrassed ourselves 2nite, very disappointing - I know were better then what we produced 2nite!!!

[Guest Thomo]

Agree re Davey, but I think we all need to remember that our forwards aren't the ones in the gunsight here. Yes they weren't great, but they are forwards. If they don't get any delivery how can they perform. They move down the ground and try to get involved in the game, but the ones that really need the spray are the midfield and the backs. They are meant to be the ones that feed the ball forward. It was nearly the end of the first quarter before we made our own entry into the forward 50. No player should escape the heat, but the bulk needs to be directed to our playmakers.

Davey spent a lot of time walking through the middle last night, not just foward. It must be hard as a backman to look up to a VC who is so lazy when you are constantly under pressure.

[DemonWA 3,936]

i was there too. I lasted out the entire game, but it wasnt pretty.

Flying over for the tigers game at the G later in the year. Based on this form im wasting my time

[AllenIsLord13 1]

Was also there last nite

Deplorable...

First off - just have to vent about the Subi Home Ground Umpire Advantage - can't resile from the fact that there was ELEVEN free kicks WCE before ONE was paid our way (13-3 at half time - i have no doubt they were talked to at half time, hence evening of ledger, but way too late!). Sure, its a hollow complaint, but 2 of those frees lead directly to 2 WCE goals in the 1st quarter which is when we lost it.

Case in point - the very last goal. 2 WCE on 1 Dee - free kick pulled out of nowhere - but also 50m for NO reason - story of the night

(will be conducting a review of frees for/ against, will no doubt show Subi crowds heavily influence in favour of home team, due to 90% being home team supporters!)

Basics

But as mentioned in OP, seems like the players have been coached-out of the basics!

At least 3 times when a player marked, on say, the RHS of the ground, NO-ONE lead to the same side to give him an option! Basic amatuer stuff to lead to the side where the ball is when kicking into fwd 50!! Forget "leaving it open for leading fwd" - NO-ONE lead to that side of ground!

This also applies to quick kicks out of scrummages - ALL the WCE players knew where a quick kick would potentially leak out, as they were open to mark it! Not one of our players has that nouse??

And whatever happened to MANNING-UP? THe entire first half was characterised by massive floods in the backline - kicking out - straight to unmanned WCE player! Then they'd kick it back in to mark on chest?? Made the biggest crab ever Nikoski look good! How was it possible that no-one had a man in the midfield, and still be outnumbered at every contest?

Forward Line

What forward line??? Always astounds me when we name Sylvia CHF, Jurrah FUF! WE NEED A PACK MARKER! Last legit one we had was Neitz! WCE had Darling, Cox, NicNat, Kennedy, Lynch!!! And that's a side that's bottomed out? If we can't hit our mosquito-fleet targets on leads, we need someone to contest!

And if Stefan Martin is the answer, i don't wanna know the question! He was awful!

Drafting

Didn't we choose 4 key position players in the draft?? Why is Darling (pick 26!) averaging 17 possns, 2 goals playing for WCE and all of our rookies are riding pine! Seems Watts plays his best games on Subi Oval too (just sayin'!), but still wouldn't have picked NicNat (whose learning on the job includes back-pushing at EVERY contest)

Coaching

Never wanted to say this before, but something is wrong if you can't get the Basics right. Players must've been coached to play zone to the point of forgetting to mark their man, or anticipating where a ball should land.

Fans

Utter disappointment - was there the last time we won, but have now come to expect the worst after 10 on the trot. Have never left before the oppositions club song but had to get out of there - have never been so depressed after a game... and there's nothing worse than having the legit build-up we've had over past 2 years come crashing down in a 2-horse town with the biggest front-running bandwagon supporters in the world (traditionally also support Man U, Lakers, Storm, Yankees!)

Still worth coming over for Queens Bday clash???

[demonbike 1]

I have to agree with demonWA and Allenislord that effort was disgraceful.Sitting behind the goals city end I felt the biggest loser supporting a club that serves that up to a national tv audience -How can we demand respect after that??

Much has been said of the football shortcomings of last night but I want to throw an observation out there???

Our senior players are bludging --not manning up -laying off their man with a I will get there in time attitude--except with quality kicking like last night you CANNOT.

Look who runs fast to man up --Wona Bennel Watts Jurrah --it appears that a two tiered level of effort --the newbies do and the seniors members dont is in evidence.

Kicking to advantage --we are deplorable ie; Watts on a smaller oppenent signalling to kick the ball over his head so he can run on too it and shoot on goal gets no response from our player on wing then with nothing else on that player kicks a high long floater Watts runs back and with courage puts his arms up and for his trouble gets cleaned up with a knee plus into him.

It wont be the money that the new blokes go to another club for --it will be self perservation

?? Has any player had an easier ride into an AFL career than Cale Morton--his selfish brother at Richmond shows much more endeavor? and ability to do something special