Continuing on with the inconsistent theme that basically sums up our team and this season, I've found it really strange that when we win, we do tend to win well and with a large margin. The only win we have had that we were under the pump until the end was against Brisbane.

Also, when we lose, we lose convincingly and usually by just as large a number.

Rd 1- V Swans Draw

Rd 2- V Hawks 77 - 122 Loss 55 points

Rd 3- V Lions 82 - 71 Win 11 points

Rd 4- V Suns 159 - 69 Win 90 points

Rd 5- BYE

Rd 6- V Eagles 52 - 106 Loss 54 points

Rd 7- V Crows 149 - 53 Win 98 points

Rd 8- V North 83 - 124 Loss 41 points

Rd 9- V Saints 86 - 106 Loss 20 points

Rd 10 V Blues 46 - 93 Loss 47 points

Rd 11 V Bombers 101 - 68 Win 33 points

Rd 12 V Pies 41 - 129 Loss 88 points

Rd 13 V Freo 149 - 60 Win 89 points

Rd 14 V Tigers 118 - 91 Win 27 points

Rd 15 V Dogs 63 - 127 Loss 64 points

So with a record of 6 wins, 1 draw and 7 losses, we now have an average winning margin of 58 points and an average losing margin of 52 points.

Its so wildly conflicting to have such high wins and such huge losses. Its really quite bizarre. I'm not concerned with the Win/loss ratio, the only game we didn't win that I expected us to was the draw with Sydney, I'm just staggered at how we can be brilliant one week an awful the next. Anyone that plays a type of sport would understand that you aren't going to play at your best every week. That being said, it seems that when our boys are off, they are REALLY off as a team.

I have absolute faith in Dean Bailey as our head coach. I think we have all seen how good his style of footy is when we are executing it well. Our players are still too young and raw to execute it perfectly and consistently, but I believe that will come.

What I'm confused about, and would love to hear some rational thoughts on, is why an entire group can seemingly be on or off so often? Is it a motivational thing? Preparation thing? ( Please don't turn this into a 'Dean Bailey Sucks/We have no game plan thread)

It's def a concern. Thought all these blow outs were past us. In the last year or 2, we lost a bit, but I always walked away knowing they had a crack till the very last second. This year we have definitely given up on a number of occasions.

The simple answer is ... we are mentally weak.

The difference between this year and last year is that the best coaches (Malthouse, Eade, B.Scott) are planning on how to beat us - how to nullify our strengths and expose our weaknesses. When this happens, we simply aren't able to counter it, and what at half-time is a struggle ends up in a blow-out. Opposition coaches seem to be more aware of our strengths & weaknesses than ours are.

Last year, Malthouse & Eade didn't plan for us and we nearly caught them by surprise, and made us think we were better than we actually are.

We have to get used to the reality that we're now the hunted. If we don't have the capacity to counter the opposition coach's moves, then this is as good as it gets.

Mental.

When we're in front we feel like we're awesome, we feel confident, and we blow teams away.

When we're behind we receive no leadership, we feel like we're being swamped, pressured and blown apart, and we drop our heads.

Cause is a combination of terrible leadership, poor coaching, and a few players who just can't get themselves going when we're not 5 goals up (I'm looking at Bennell, Morton and Jurrah here; Green and Sylvia fall under the 'insipid leaders' category).

  On 02/07/2011 at 05:57, titan_uranus said:

Mental.

When we're in front we feel like we're awesome, we feel confident, and we blow teams away.

When we're behind we receive no leadership, we feel like we're being swamped, pressured and blown apart, and we drop our heads.

Cause is a combination of terrible leadership, poor coaching, and a few players who just can't get themselves going when we're not 5 goals up (I'm looking at Bennell, Morton and Jurrah here; Green and Sylvia fall under the 'insipid leaders' category).

Besides lack of leadership and the coaches appearing to have no Plan B, C, D etc when Plan A is not working, the risky gameplan of using the corridor means that turnovers are heavily punished.

2 words - downhill skiers

Yes this inconsistency is really starting to [censored] me off.

The worst part about it is that when we are behind by more than five or six goals in the last Quarter we roll over and let the other team score a heap of goals in the last 20 mins or so.

We saw this against the filth when we let them kick the last 7 goals of the game and again yesterday when we let the Dogs kick the last 6 of the game.

Lot of talk about us having played 3 games in a row with 6 day breaks. Team was very tired. Don't know if there is much in that but it is a young team.

We did roll over last night and that hurt the most.

We all know what it is...Mental Toughness.

If our list last night was wearing a Hawthorn Jumper, would we have won that game??

I tend to think we would have... Don't like saying it, but i think it has some truth.

What a sad end to a very sad week for this club. The Bye could not have come at a worse time.

This side needs a very solid work out on Monday, but because of the Bye won't get it.

  On 01/07/2011 at 17:31, Mallee Bull said:

Continuing on with the inconsistent theme that basically sums up our team and this season, I've found it really strange that when we win, we do tend to win well and with a large margin. The only win we have had that we were under the pump until the end was against Brisbane.

Also, when we lose, we lose convincingly and usually by just as large a number.

Rd 1- V Swans Draw

Rd 2- V Hawks 77 - 122 Loss 55 points

Rd 3- V Lions 82 - 71 Win 11 points

Rd 4- V Suns 159 - 69 Win 90 points

Rd 5- BYE

Rd 6- V Eagles 52 - 106 Loss 54 points

Rd 7- V Crows 149 - 53 Win 98 points

Rd 8- V North 83 - 124 Loss 41 points

Rd 9- V Saints 86 - 106 Loss 20 points

Rd 10 V Blues 46 - 93 Loss 47 points

Rd 11 V Bombers 101 - 68 Win 33 points

Rd 12 V Pies 41 - 129 Loss 88 points

Rd 13 V Freo 149 - 60 Win 89 points

Rd 14 V Tigers 118 - 91 Win 27 points

Rd 15 V Dogs 63 - 127 Loss 64 points

So with a record of 6 wins, 1 draw and 7 losses, we now have an average winning margin of 58 points and an average losing margin of 52 points.

Its so wildly conflicting to have such high wins and such huge losses. Its really quite bizarre. I'm not concerned with the Win/loss ratio, the only game we didn't win that I expected us to was the draw with Sydney, I'm just staggered at how we can be brilliant one week an awful the next. Anyone that plays a type of sport would understand that you aren't going to play at your best every week. That being said, it seems that when our boys are off, they are REALLY off as a team.

I have absolute faith in Dean Bailey as our head coach. I think we have all seen how good his style of footy is when we are executing it well. Our players are still too young and raw to execute it perfectly and consistently, but I believe that will come.

What I'm confused about, and would love to hear some rational thoughts on, is why an entire group can seemingly be on or off so often? Is it a motivational thing? Preparation thing? ( Please don't turn this into a 'Dean Bailey Sucks/We have no game plan thread)

The reason is, we can beat crap sides but as soon as we come across a side that is half reasonable they crunch us. We get sucked in by by success against the mediocre and actually think we are on the right track but we get shown up and belted by the top sides and semi belted by the middle of the road sides. We really haven't come all that far in the last four years and some of the efforts this year are worse than some of those in previous years under Bailey; we were soft when he took over and nothing's changed.

We have some players that can look pretty when they have no pressure on them but melt when exposed; Bennell and Morton are prime examples, they would have probably been good footballers ten or so years ago when the style of play was different and there wasn't as much intensity.

We beat Richmond last week and puffed our chests out thinking that we had started the trek on the road to success, but if you see what happened to us last night and to Richmond today you can see that we were kidding ourselves. Realistically we are a bottom 5 or 6 club.

  On 02/07/2011 at 07:32, RobbieF said:

Realistically we are a bottom 5 or 6 club.

Though I think that's extreme, I'd still call it progress from being a bottom 1-2 club.

  On 02/07/2011 at 07:32, RobbieF said:

We beat Richmond last week and puffed our chests out thinking that we had started the trek on the road to success, but if you see what happened to us last night and to Richmond today you can see that we were kidding ourselves. Realistically we are a bottom 5 or 6 club.

Spot On Robbie...You are right.

Trouble is i don't rate Footscray either (as a club) so i still think we should have beaten them.

Both Coaches were fighting for survival, so the 64 point margin is an atrocious result.

  On 02/07/2011 at 07:40, Nasher said:

Though I think that's extreme, I'd still call it progress from being a bottom 1-2 club.

If going from bottom 1 - 2 to bottom 5 -6 in 4 years is progress then I guess you're right.

  On 02/07/2011 at 07:43, why you little said:

Both Coaches were fighting for survival, so the 64 point margin is an atrocious result.

Personally I don't think either will survive, I reckon Eade has run his race at the Bulldogs and he is no closer to a flag now than when he started. The Bullies are a middle of the road club now and will monster the bottom clubs like us but will get flogged by the top sides.

Our problem is the inability of the players to stem the flow once it starts and when you go to the games you can actually see the turning point and watch them disintegrate after that point. The current and previous coaches have been unable to turn that around and we need someone that can or will.

You're right it was an atrocious result and every time these losses occur the supporters get more disenchanted.

I think its pretty simple really. The North game aside teams with mature midfields spank us. Not because we dont try but because we do not have the strength to win quality contested possession. Teams at or below the level of maturity of our midfield we can hold our own and because of our young quality we win well. As our strength grows our quality will not diminish and we will start to cut the current wide gap between those sides.

  On 02/07/2011 at 07:43, why you little said:

Spot On Robbie...You are right.

Trouble is i don't rate Footscray either (as a club) so i still think we should have beaten them.

Both Coaches were fighting for survival, so the 64 point margin is an atrocious result.

Couldn't agree more.

Some of the match ups strategically and structurally were abysmal last night.

Our best forward from the previous 2 weeks playing up the ground and down back where he often monsters the ball with a few forward pushes. And Sylvia, who should have been doing the opposite (ie., 70% or so in the guts/30% pushing forward or therabouts) was left up forward adding little value. AJ was getting a towel up from Murphy but lets leave him there for most of the game and move him into the middle once the result is beyond doubt?

I don't rate the Scraggers either, although they did have approx 400 games experience on us, albeit up to our game, horribly out of form. And no i don't count the GCS win. 20 odd points isn't really a win against that mob at this point.

Our coaching dept has yet to inspire and structure up our boys to Find a Way To Win (FAWTW) when the going gets tough. And by that i mean once a team like the scraggers gets a run on, we seem unable to shut them down and change the momentum of a game. We just go along with the same game style/set up hoping that we'll out score the opposition at some point and/or turn things around.

Great teams FAWTW when the chips are down and things aren't going their way. It's mental and it's process driven, along with experience. Eventually we'll gain the experience. I'm more worried about the mental/process side with this team given the damage that might occur between now and then.

  On 02/07/2011 at 07:45, RobbieF said:

If going from bottom 1 - 2 to bottom 5 -6 in 4 years is progress then I guess you're right.

Rewriting history there. 18 months ago we finished bottom of the ladder.

  On 02/07/2011 at 08:39, dandeeman said:

Rewriting history there. 18 months ago we finished bottom of the ladder.

Where did we finish 4 years ago? Rewriting history; I don't think so.

  On 02/07/2011 at 09:18, RobbieF said:

Where did we finish 4 years ago? Rewriting history; I don't think so.

We weren't yet at the bottom of the U-curve four years ago.

  On 02/07/2011 at 09:18, RobbieF said:

Where did we finish 4 years ago? Rewriting history; I don't think so.

Remember we finished bottom 2009, thus granting us picks 1 and 2, you know Scully and Trengove. You know when we engineered the result to our gain when Bailey was given a mandate to rebuild our list through the draft.

Remember how Bailey took over the worst list in the comp and culled it back to it's bare bones. Remember how we turned over nearly 1/2 our list in two seasons.

  On 02/07/2011 at 10:25, dandeeman said:

Remember we finished bottom 2009, thus granting us picks 1 and 2, you know Scully and Trengove. You know when we engineered the result to our gain when Bailey was given a mandate to rebuild our list through the draft.

Remember how Bailey took over the worst list in the comp and culled it back to it's bare bones. Remember how we turned over nearly 1/2 our list in two seasons.

We were not even competitive against the Bulldogs so where are we better; rewrite that.

Do you think we are the only club with young players?

  On 02/07/2011 at 11:36, RobbieF said:

1. We were not even competitive against the Bulldogs so where are we better; rewrite that.

2. Do you think we are the only club with young players?

1. Never said we were.

2. No.

Just stating the facts man, you can argue with them if you like.

Maturity, Maturity, Maturity!

We can all see if we look a the the replay and at the stats,etc. Those with the Maturity, not youth. Trengove, mature mentally & physically beyond his years. amongst our best weekly in his second year. All belief & determination.

This is where Our Pool is shallow.

You could also call it Leadership!