A LITTLE WIN

[CBDees 3,162]

Just have to keep turning them over until we get the right combination.

Thought Jetta was disappointing today.

Other ins Bail ,Tapscott and Evans were good.

Terlich and M. Jones are keepers.

Best game ive seen Trenners play in a while.

Sellar and Jamar have had enough chances.

Gotta bring in Gawn, Kent and Strauss next week.

We are just not good enough at the moment, but it will turn around, unfortunately i think we need another pre season.

We will win next week.

Even in local leagues,teams get beaten by 100 points plus every week, why? Its because they simply ain't got the cattle.

Josh Mahoney said to me on friday, we are still 2 or three top midfielders short, of most other sides in the comp.

This will be our main priority in the off season, and hope to God we land a big fish like Thomas.

I think it only fair to mention that Silvia played a good game[particularly in the first half] and also Davey was good until subbed off injured.

[Chook 14,430]

We were ahead in the contested possession count until 3/4 time.

I said "uncontested possession count". Our contested ball kept us in the game and was a sign of our (comparatively) great desperation for at least the first half of the game.

[DeeZee 6,719]

Unfortunately a big part ofthe problem is that the new established recruits are giving us nothing.

Dawes,Rodan,Byrnes,Pederson ,Gillies.

Would have loved to have kept Ricky, but thats just spilt milk now.

More poor recruiting decisions, but what it shows is its better to draft a top performer in a feeder league, like M jones, Kent ,Terlich etc., than to recruit old players whos careers are finished, or were never good enough in the first place.

Edited April 13, 2013 by DeeZee

[PaulRB 5,897]

I think it only fair to mention that Silvia played a good game[particularly in the first half] and also Davey was good until subbed off injured.

Sylvia was better, but some of his field kicks to players streaming forward in the 2nd half were atrocious.

Edited April 13, 2013 by PaulRB

[Return to Glory 7,690]

The issue right now seems to be more down back than anything. Although it may be because its down there so often. But Col Garland...really not sure he's up to it.

[olisik 4,060]

Boyd and Aish are probably gonna drop their game so they dont get drafted at 1 and 2 by the dees.

[PaulRB 5,897]

Agree, the fact we have to play Mitch back there to help out shows how far our back six are struggling.

[Jesse Christ 2,884]

GWS will start as favourites next week. How the hell did it come to this?!

[olisik 4,060]

Backline coach has done what Royal did to the midfield. Thats the major difference this year. Our backline has gone to [censored]

[bing181 8,151]

Unfortunately a big part ofthe problem is that the new established recruits are giving us nothing.

Dawes,Rodan,Byrnes,Pederson ,Gillies.

Would have loved to have kept Ricky, but thats just spilt milk now.

More poor recruiting decisions, but what it shows is its better to draft a top performer in a feeder league, like M jones, Kent ,Terlich etc., than to recruit old players whos careers are finished, or were never good enough in the first place.

Pedersen was a top performer in a feeder league (B&F at Werribee last year). Unfair on Dawes, not his fault he's not fit. Rodan was pick 88, not sure who else we could have used it on.

[Hardnut 327]

Open your eyes Chook and look at our Club's performance from a rational unbiased viewpoint!

[DeeZee 6,719]

We just didn't have enough Beards.

Dropping Watts and Gillies meant we were two beards short.

They had Josh Kennedy whose beard helped him to a masterful display, and a few other blokes who I cant name, because i couldn't recognise them with all that facial hair.

[Jerry Lundergard 380]

Our midfield is rubbish.

It;s where the game is won and lost these days, and it is why we will continue to lose.

What I would give to have a player the likes of Priddis who can release others in close with quick hands. Who actually knows what he is going to do with the ball before he has it in his hands. Most of the good teams have 2 or 3 of these players. We have none.

I lay the blame squarely on Neelds shoulders for this problem. While we have been recruiting the likes of Clark, Dawes and Hogan, our midfield remains abysmal.

What is the point of recruiting big forwards if you are incapable of winning enough of the ball to get it to them. It's why I am not getting to excited about Dawes returning or Hogan next year. It wont make a difference to our team if the ball is not down there.

If we get the No.1 pick this year, we should trade it to another team for an established midfielder and their first round pick to draft another midfielder. We seriously need help there.

[bing181 8,151]

Agree, the fact we have to play Mitch back there to help out shows how far our back six are struggling.

Not to mention Howe.

Equally though, WCE have the kind of forward structure that we were hoping to have: 2 talls (counting Darling), plus the rucks floating back there.

[The Lobster Effect 838]

Well, the same thing did happen to Brad Scott today, swans 11.4 to kanga 1.3 in the third quarter

In reality if any coach is ever in charge of a side that is outscored 11 goals to 1 in a quarter he needs to go.

[Tatu 416]

Why do our players look like stick figures and all players from other clubs look massive? Something really wrong here (suss)...

This has to be the worst we've ever been.... I can't see any positives.... We are not even a shadow of the old MFC...... There's no way back..... We are finished....

[Norm Smith's Curse 2,078]

Our midfield is rubbish.

It;s where the game is won and lost these days, and it is why we will continue to lose.

What I would give to have a player the likes of Priddis who can release others in close with quick hands. Who actually knows what he is going to do with the ball before he has it in his hands. Most of the good teams have 2 or 3 of these players. We have none.

I lay the blame squarely on Neelds shoulders for this problem. While we have been recruiting the likes of Clark, Dawes and Hogan, our midfield remains abysmal.

What is the point of recruiting big forwards if you are incapable of winning enough of the ball to get it to them. It's why I am not getting to excited about Dawes returning or Hogan next year. It wont make a difference to our team if the ball is not down there.

If we get the No.1 pick this year, we should trade it to another team for an established midfielder and their first round pick to draft another midfielder. We seriously need help there.

I think your right - Neeld should have been more open about the fact that we were picking up talls like Hogan for later when (hopefully) we have a functioning midfield. In other words 'dont expect improvement yet people'.

Looking back when we got rid of Moloney for what ever reason we should have been seriously considering who else was going to be an inside mid or were we so confident in Viney we expected him to dominate from round 1? Jones cant do it alone.

Edited April 13, 2013 by Norm Smith's Curse

[Swampfox 190]

Has there ever been a player so devoid of peripheral vision as Garland?

Kosi

[DeeZee 6,719]

Priddis is exactly the type of player we need.

We need that quick , smart, second and third effort type.

[Lordweaver 235]

The first half was good, then the eagles went up a notch and we couldn't match them, Sylvia had a good game, Jamar poor around the ground. I think we played a quarter last week (almost) and a half this week so maybe three quarters next week.

[Maldonboy38 5,825]

Today showed we can do it. We can match other better teams in contested footy. So - Neeld can coach and we can play. For 2 quarters anyway.

We also showed that we are mentally weak. When a team gets a run-on against us, we cannot stem the flow.

WE continue to show that our structure/positioning through the middle of the ground is the worst in the AFL. Watson and Heppel last week. Kerr, Priddis, Gaff etc... this week were playing 3 verses 1 on multiple occasions.

Pedersen, Sellar - what can I say? They remind of Richmond's back line about 5 years ago. Give Davis, Fitzy a go.

Jamar. How far has this bloke fallen?

N Jones, M Jones, Terlich (kicking excepted) were good toady

Trengove, Sylvia, Tapscott, got in and had a go.

Bail and Evans showed some grunt and run.

[Norm Smith's Curse 2,078]

Dean Kent is due and has done more than enough.

[titan_uranus 22,237]

'Melbourne fans again booed their team at three-quarter time.'

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/eagles-inflict-more-misery-on-lowly-demons-20130413-2hs7l.html

No we didn't. I didn't hear much, but I suspect it was directed at the umpiring, which for the third quarter was heavily in West Coast's favour (the holding the ball against Clark was awful, the holding the man against Garland was worse).

Whoever wrote this garbage can GAGF.

[Undeeterred 2,816]

I was only listening on the radio, so didn't get the live view.

I'm wavering between being happy that we were competitive but not able to go with the big WCE bodies down forward and the rampaging midfield, and asking why the hell we didn't stick with competitive one on one footy. That third quarter, when we let Priddis run free, might be when Neeld finally lost me. That's coaching 101, surely, to lock down one on one on the players who are tearing you up.

It isn't fair to blame the defenders. They just aren't big enough and good enough to stem the flow. No defence can withstand the ball coming in that quickly, frequently and easily.

It sounded like we went to sh!t when they put a man behind the ball and we didn't man up. Why would we do that, when manning up and having 7 forwards worked so well for a half. It beggars belief that we'd put Clark behind the ball, rather than giving ourselves one on one match ups going forward.

Sounded like a few blokes had a go, and we've found a few in Evans, Terlich and Matt Jones. Also sounds like Jamar is the same useless lump as always, and that Tom McDonald will be a star.

Give it time folks, although I really think I am ready to admit for the first time that Neeld just has to be a better game day tactician.

Edited April 13, 2013 by Undeeterred

[Deecisive 1,651]

I am yet to be convinced we have a functioning mid field, we have players we rotate through there, but functioning, i think not. How many of our players have EVER racked up 30+ possessions working in the midfield, actually anywhere on the field. We like our players but hold them up against other teams midfielders and we are pretty poor. as a team our contested possessions were good, but given in the second half we rarely contested it does make it look a lot better than what it actually was. The eagles waltzed out of the centre with no one even getting close to them to contest, did it without breaking into a sweat.

Tapscott put in and did ok, but not enough and his disposal efficiency was pretty poor, part of that though was the pressure the eagles put him under.

Brynes - he is going to far up field to get his kicks, when he should be hanging around the goals to kick goals, a bit slow and tries to take the opposition on far too often, I suspect because there is no one down field to give it too.

Jetta - nothing memorable

Garland tried but significantly out gunned and lacked support and pressure which resulted in a lot of turnovers. I would prefer to see him forward instead of Sellars

Sellars - did a couple of nice things, but really not enough

Pederson - needs more time with Casey,

Sylvia - thought for a while he had turned a corner, first half was pretty damn good, second half...

Frawley - a waste of space, runs around behind his man all day long, 1 mark, no tackles, 4 clangers and 58% disposal efficiency speaks for itself. he is not interested

Toumpas - needs more time to develop, was sold into trouble a couple of times, one where Grimes practically handed him the ball so he could get tackled was typical of the delivery to him.

Terlich -lead the tackle count in the backline with 4. So many backline players did not get more than 1 tackle in, that is poor considering the ball was there so often.

Clark - a trier, sad to see such poor delivery or no delivery to him, frequently out numbered and illegally impaired but continued to fight on. He needs to be made captial in my opinion.

Grimes - a reasonable game

trengrove a good first half a bit of a fade in the second half, was a trier.

N Jones always a trier

Jamar first half was not quite as bad he did give us first touch on the ball, but lacked support, he cannot do it all day by himself. he needs Gawn or spencer to help, and you would rest one of the ruckman in the goal square to keep one of the opposition talls out of the action, may give Clark a bit of relief.