AGM

[Damo 3,254]

I love the sound of 9 wins.

I dont see how we can do it.

Unless one or two clubs have the ars# drop out like we did, I will be marginally satisfied with 4 wins.

Every other team is/seems to be having quite a good pre-season, although many may not have noticed.

The round one game is unfortunately one of our biggest games, if not the biggest all year.

4 Wins may not "sound" good but would be a real turning point and would mean we have been competitive for the whole game most of the time.

[CBDees 3,165]

Roos said Watts was in the Top four players, I do not think he said BOG but not 100% on that.

Roos did not say BOG but he did say that the four players who impressed him the most were the three at the AGM (Cross, Vince & Tyson) plus Watts.

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

I love the sound of 9 wins.

I dont see how we can do it.

Unless one or two clubs have the ars# drop out like we did, I will be marginally satisfied with 4 wins.

Every other team is/seems to be having quite a good pre-season, although many may not have noticed.

The round one game is unfortunately one of our biggest games, if not the biggest all year.

4 Wins may not "sound" good but would be a real turning point and would mean we have been competitive for the whole game most of the time.

You would be hoping we have improved significantly with all the changes to personnel in the past 12 months ( W are coming from a looong way back in the field) and it's realistic that at least one under performing team from LY gets worse.

On our good days I hope we could steal a win or two from sides 9-14 on the ladder. I need to review the fixture but I would be hoping for more than 4 wins. 9 wins would be a good outcome in year 1 with prospects of better in 2015.

[Craig Drinker 179]

Agree with all sentiments of other posters re the AGM.Looked well attended, moved smoothly and didn't get sidetracked.

You couldn't help walking away feeling that we will be competitive in most of our games in 2014. If Roos lifts the confidence of the group , which I think he will , we may surprise some pundits.

Not sure it was a good idea for Brett Allison to be called up in front of the crowd with Brad Miller! Excellent head for radio that Brett Allison!

Edited February 4, 2014 by FairBump PlayOn

[Bedraggled Dee 336]

One thing is for sure some teams will get better and some will get worse. I think we be in the former and potentially have the side to match it with most teams with the exception maybe of the Hawks and possibly the Swans. I would back our back line and forward line against any of the other sides and the midfield while a work in progress has some potential. i dont think will be flogged in the midfield like we were last year in every game. If we can break even with possesion in half the games I am sure we can restrict the opposition and kick enough goals to win. I dont know who we will beat but I am pretty sure we will loose the odd game we all thought was a win and win the odd game we all thought we had no chance in. Look at the Essenon game a few years ago, we had no right to win that one.

A midfield of Trengove, Watts, Viney, Cross, Toumpas, Vince, Tyson, N Jones, Mackenzie, Blease, Michie, M Jones, Evans, Kent, Strauss, Nicholson, Riley, Tapscott, and a decent Ruck brigade of Jamar, Gawn and Spencer will be okay. As I said we are still short 1 or 2 experienced stars but the basics are in place and they have the fitness base to do the job. The first seven are all quality players and I have seen enough from M Jones Strauss and Evans to think they will make it. I also recon mackenzie can do a good tagging role and will be handy this year.

Like a said a pas for me is 9 wins and i recon we should come very close to that.

[Sir Why You Little 36,670]

You are on some Top Grade Meds BD. No offence mate but you are ranking us right up their at the pointy end of the ladder.

We have to climb up out of the dark first. Get used to being in the daylight.

We have come from that far back.

It will be baby steps. What i expect and will not accept excuses for, is that those baby steps MUST be always going forward.

[Damo 3,254]

9 wins would be a good outcome in year 1 with prospects of better in 2015.

Youve always been a c0ck-eyed optimist

[Akum 2,660]

If we dont win 9 or more I will be very annoyed. Unlike some others I think we have the cattle on the paddock to be competetive and all thats required is a decent game plan and confidence and that can happen very quickly. We are probably still 1 or 2 quality mids short but we have some depth now and should be able to match half the sides in the comp.

You should either be prepared to be very annoyed, or lower your expectations a little.

In your post just before this one, you said, "when it happens it will happen quickly. I dont expect a top 4 finish this year and I am sure there will be bad losses but once everything gels I think it wil be a steep curve of improvement from there." I agree that when everything gels, "it will happen quickly", but it might take most of the season for it to happen.

On the other hand, it's surprising how much difference a relatively minor change can make. How much of our improvement in 2010 was due to Jamar's steep improvement in form and his ability to stay on the park? Plus the almost accidental tactic of rucking the likes of Dunn & Sylvia for 5 mins a quarter, so we could play an extra runner, so that the added pace & mobility at least partly covered for all our other deficiencies at the time?

[mjt 640]

Yep, Barrett and Denham will be eating humble pie on this.

Denham was very humble on the radio this morning, actually enjoyed listening to him.

[old dee 23,505]

Denham was very humble on the radio this morning, actually enjoyed listening to him.

Are you referring to SEN?

If so it was Patrick Smith.

Denham is on Wed - Friday

[What 18,810]

Shaking my head at anyone who says 4 wins is an acceptable year and a sign of progress

Unbelievable

4 wins will be a disaster

[old dee 23,505]

Shaking my head at anyone who says 4 wins is an acceptable year and a sign of progress

Unbelievable

4 wins will be a disaster

100% increase on 2013.

Have you forgotten our level of competence in recent years.

We were not even competitive in 90% of the games

there is still 30 odd players from the 2013 list running around in 2014

[rjay 24,616]

Denham was very humble on the radio this morning, actually enjoyed listening to him.

Always enjoy listening to Patrick Smith.

[DeeSpencer 24,793]

Shaking my head at anyone who says 4 wins is an acceptable year and a sign of progress

Unbelievable

4 wins will be a disaster

Wont be a disaster compared to 2 wins but what if we were awful in the first half of the year, didn't win a game and then won 4/11 on the way home including beating a finals team and pushing others until the last quarter and ended the year with a percentage in the mid 80's. Possibly a bit unlikely but not totally unprecedented.

Personally I'm setting the bar at a percentage of 80%. If that only means 4 or 5 wins and even if that means we go down early in games before adding cheap goals later in games to get respectful margins then I'll still take it. Losing sucks. But being incompetent and never even been in games sucks so much more.

[deanox 9,680]

For me the measure of this year has nothing to do with wins. It will consist of a good year of we have a crack every game and manage to have the self belief that we can win every week.

When the opposition gets a 3 goal jump but we claw back instead of letting them turn it into an 8 goal jump.

When we can go passages of 2-4 goals in a row and build confidence and momentum, even if we don't win the game.

When it clicks it will click quickly I think. That might take 1 month or 18 months. BUT the foundation for the click will be how quickly we can re-establish or confidence in our abilities. And street the last 7 years, and last year in particular, that may take time.

The first 10 minutes against st kilda in round one is so important to this club. The next 20 is just as important and the next 60 is pretty important to. Even if we lose, competing in the first game could set us up for a great year, getting smashed could be disaster #2.

Note: I want to make it clear that the above is not acceptable goals for the club or playing group. However, as an outsider, they are the indicators we will see that we are on the track we want to be on.

Expect an up and down year.

[Redleg 40,228]

I don't think we can underestimate the importance of a very good showing in our first game. IMO a good performance will do wonders for the player's confidence, like Port last year and a poor performance of course, could do the opposite.

[Dee Fan 3,247]

100% increase on 2013.

Have you forgotten our level of competence in recent years.

We were not even competitive in 90% of the games

there is still 30 odd players from the 2013 list running around in 2014

Yes there were od, but most of them were running around chasing their own ass, hopefully this year someone will be chasing it for them, like an opponent.

[old dee 23,505]

Wont be a disaster compared to 2 wins but what if we were awful in the first half of the year, didn't win a game and then won 4/11 on the way home including beating a finals team and pushing others until the last quarter and ended the year with a percentage in the mid 80's. Possibly a bit unlikely but not totally unprecedented.

Personally I'm setting the bar at a percentage of 80%. If that only means 4 or 5 wins and even if that means we go down early in games before adding cheap goals later in games to get respectful margins then I'll still take it. Losing sucks. But being incompetent and never even been in games sucks so much more.

I agree that is the bottom of the deck, which is where we have been for two years.

[old dee 23,505]

Yes there were od, but most of them were running around chasing their own ass, hopefully this year someone will be chasing it for them, like an opponent.

You have way more confidence in the "30" than I do Robbie.

This time next year with another 7 - 8 turned over will make a big difference.

[Ouch! 2,205]

I don't think we can underestimate the importance of a very good showing in our first game. IMO a good performance will do wonders for the player's confidence, like Port last year and a poor performance of course, could do the opposite.

I also think that we need to be careful of building this game up to be more important than the others... The last two years the club has gone into a season with a huge expectation of needing to do well, with pretty favourable opponents in Port and Brisbane, but we have failed dismally. From that point the pressure builds.

I wonder whether internally the club, coaches and players have worked themselves over mentally going into that first round, and were possibly gone before the ball was bounced. We then get slammed hard and fast from that point of the season and our confidence is shattered.

Don't get me wrong we need a good showing in round 1, but Roos and the coaches need to mentally have the players treating this game as they would any and every other game.

[FarNorthernD 5,861]

Just listened to the three AGM speeches on the MFC site finishing with Roosy's. I know it is early days, we haven't played a game and lids are supposed to be kept on but We Are On!

This season is going to be fun. Yeah we will cop a couple of canings but there will be enough opportunities to belt out the song and we will argue over which mid/fwd/back should be considered for AA honours

There will be hope and relief that staying with this club will be rewarded.

Bring on 2014!

[Cards13 9,117]

I expect to see some Roos bakes as well.. was it him who had the stats sheet up in the huddle yelling away at the Swans boys then just walked off?

[mjt 640]

Are you referring to SEN?

If so it was Patrick Smith.

Denham is on Wed - Friday

Yes it was Patrick Smith.

[old dee 23,505]

Yes it was Patrick Smith.

Other than that Denham has been much better the last couple of months.

I used to hate him with a vengeance however the further we got into 2013 the more his predictions looked correct.

his main [censored] was that we were run by a bunch of incompetents.

Guess what he turned out to be correct.

Every since the departure of CS and most of the board he has been more approving.

[Hannibal 5,814]

If we win 9 games that would likely put us ahead of about 5 other teams. I'd like to know which other teams our list is stronger than because besides GWS (who will also improve from last year) and St Kilda I think every team still has an edge on us. As a starting point I'd argue every team in the comp besides GWS has at least 1 midfielder better than Nathan Jones OR at least 2 or 3 players at the same level as him. Plus GWS have Callan Ward who is equal to Jones.

Until Hogan, Viney, Toumpas, Salem get 50 games and a few others step up a notch we really haven't added too much immediate impact. Vince replaces Sylvia, Cross is much more consistent than Rodan and then we've added Michie and Tyson with combined experience of about half a season. Those changes might result in 1 extra win but the improvement of the group in total can still improve by 30 percentage points and get 3 more wins (a significant improvement) and we are looking at 6 wins not 9.

I think talent wise we are on track for a percentage of about 85% with the likelihood over the next few years of developing much more in the midfield and actually being better than the average and making the 8. But the first step for this year will be getting in to games and building confidence.

Mainly I'd ask why would you be annoyed if something doesn't happen when Roos has just come out and said don't expect things to change over night.

Not withstanding your general sentiments I believe Hogan's impact in year one will surprise many.