2014: Pass or Fail?

[Supermercado 2,617]

A pass compared to last year, but a failure by the standards of any reasonable club.

Still, I gave it a C because I didn't expect us to be any good so was pleasantly surprised in the first 13 rounds then back in my comfort zone for the last 10.

[RalphiusMaximus 5,993]

I have to give it an E. There were half a dozen close games we could have won. Normally Id call those 50-50 games, but we managed to fall short in every one of them. I think four wins was a bare minimum for us, and given the teams we beat, we really should have wound up on 7-10. I agree with Roos when he points out that half a dozen of the first team players didn't have a pre-season and ran out of legs, but there were players at Casey who could have been tried rather than sticking with guys who were fading out due to fitness issues. All in all the team under-performed and I don't think Roos really did the right thing by refusing to make changes. While stability is a fine thing, if you have unfit players in the senior side and fit players in the reserves there is something going badly wrong.

[Beats 190]

Get used to it bud.. We are a struggling club that's trying to improve each week and we are trying to learn how to win out games. Unfortunately for us we are in such a defensive mind set under Roos we are timid in taking the game on, trying to win the game by negating the opposition from scoring in the last quarters. However enter our turn overs and skill errors which then gift teams goals which consequently drops our confidence and allows teams to then pile on goals, over take our margin and win games.

We will improve on this year by year, so those games that 'might have been won' this year, 1/4 of those WILL be won next year. The year after 1/2 of those games. We can't hope for drastic improvement overnight, you might be sulking and annoyed that those were winnable games and annoyed about how I say 'we should have beaten' but the fact of the matter is Beats, those games 1-2 years ago were NEVER winnable to begin with. Let's be at least a little optimistic in seeing multiple games where the game could have been won.

No need for the condescending or patronising tones there juzzy juzz. You've said at least be a little optimistic, like the majority of supporters out there, I tried that for a while and after 8 years of constant disappointment, it's hard to be overly optimistic, especially when you look at the stats and competition (rather than compare it to the last season).

The fact of the matter is, as I stated in the post you quoted, a lot of people (apparently yourself included) roll out the 'oh, if we had won a few more of those close games'/ 'we've lead in 9 last quarters but only won 4' but in reality we were a lot closer to losing the games we won than winning the games we lost.

So buddy, lets leave the realm of fantasy and enter reality. A win is a win, a loss is a loss. We had 4.5 times as many losses as wins. We finished second last. We didn’t have a player make the AA squad. On the AFL’s own ranking system we don’t have a single player in the top 100. We didn’t have a player nominated for the rising star (and on exposed form Tyson is the only youngster who you can say is more likely to make it than not). Our best and highest paid player retired at the peak of his career without playing a game this season. There’s plenty more to add to that list of negatives.

Where does the optimism come from? That we lose by less than we did last year? SOMEBODY BREAK OUT THE CHAMPAGNE. As you pointed out, this is done through playing a negative game style, not through a vast improvement in skill/ fitness/ personnel.

St Kilda and possibly Carlton aside, every team around us has as much young talent (and most have seen more signs from theirs). St Kilda aside (once Riewoldt retires) every other team has at least one marquee player (Jones may be A-grade possibly even elite but he will never be a ‘marquee’ player).

Edited September 4, 2014 by Beats

[Deecisive 1,652]

Given the year left us two key forwards short in Clarke and Hogan, and Dawes did not play the first few games, I believe we have improved considerably. Last year the team did not appear to be able to come to terms with Neelds game plan, they seem to have understood and tried to execute Roo's game plan pretty well. We obviously failed big time with our skills and turnovers which cost us quite a few games but some of those responsible will be departing and hopefully replaced with better ball users. The odd poor umpiring decision may also have had an impact on a couple of games.

The wins we had were against quality teams that may have under estimated us, but still were better teams, the fact they all tried to kick goals from anywhere instead of passing the ball around worked in our favor. Almost all of the games we played except for the Eagles and GWS we were competitive at times though sadly inconsistent throughout the game and let leads blow out with the odd 10-15 minutes of lost concentration/effort. The GWS was probably the worst outcome for this year because we looked so disinterested, though I have to say the GWS has improved significantly from last year.

considering how bad we were last year I would give the team a C-.

[Sir Why You Little 34,529]

^^^How can you even consider this season a C- when the team lost the last 9 games in a row using a skill level that was below basic AFL standard?

Astounding that supporters still accept such mediocrity after 8 years in hell.

We are becoming conditioned.

I am glad Roosy made his final statement at the B & F....

[Dr John Dee 1,057]

Those who voted A or B need to see a psychiatrist.

either that or they are psychiatrists

[Dinosaur Rover 197]

^^^How can you even consider this season a C- when the team lost the last 9 games in a row using a skill level that was below basic AFL standard?

Astounding that supporters still accept such mediocrity after 8 years in hell.

We are becoming conditioned.

I am glad Roosy made his final statement at the B & F....

[Dinosaur Rover 197]

^^^How can you even consider this season a C- when the team lost the last 9 games in a row using a skill level that was below basic AFL standard?

Astounding that supporters still accept such mediocrity after 8 years in hell.

We are becoming conditioned.

I am glad Roosy made his final statement at the B & F....

Its my fault they are crap.

I know the players study what we write and us glass half full apologists send the wrong message and the players ignoring pride and pay just dont try hard enough.

I unreservedly apologise for the hurt I have caused to my family and team. I ask that the press respects my family's privacy and allows us to move on....to optimistic discussions relating to the draft and the magic that pr will visit on our list

[DomTysonsLeftFoot22 20]

The season was a failure.

The off season was a success with the likes of Tyson, Vince and Cross into the side and having them finish top 5 in the Bluey. But the season on a whole was just shy of a pass mark.

What it did prove was that our list was not up to competing with most sides and the players we had drafted in the past, including Blease, Strauss and Tapscott are not upto the AFL or were upto it but have not developed as required.

That being said, another pre season that will hopefully prove to be more rigorous than that of an amateur football club will be beneficial as will the implementation of a game plan. Hopefully the players don't fall foul to injuries either like years gone by.

Liking what I am hearing already with potential trades being courted with the plethora of picks we have or will soon have when Chip joins his mate Riv down at the Cattery.

Also liking the fact we have earmarked Brayshaw as our likely pick in the draft and happy to use the Petracca factor as the trade bait around with pick 2. Roosey has stated that all are on the table and some of the Adelaide boys sound like they are being dangled in front of the Crows. All for it.

Plenty of water to go under the bridge.