On 27/08/2017 at 14:55, Hogan2014 said:

Our anger & frustration should be aimed at the pathetic performance by the MFC! Destiny was in their  hands & they blew it!

 

This^^ Adelaide didn't give us a thought, and why should they. 

Take another look at the 1st Quarter from Saturday. 

Count the tackles and then get angry at the MFC

Had to cop a lot of stick today. Hard to accept at the moment. But I'm gonna stay positive and look forward to the upcoming season. Go The Dees 

i blame everybody

and i hate everybody

How bout opening a thread on the AFL and the brilliant idea of giving us three 6 day breaks in a row throwing in travel to Perth and Darwin as right bunched in together well done very creative that was, that's where our season end never the same team after that. 

Don't go blaming the Crows not there problem.

 

Face the facts people's were not up too scratch get over it.

  On 27/08/2017 at 22:15, Key Deefender said:

After the shattering loss to Collingwood, I am perversely pleased we didn't get there in the end. To rely on other teams, West Coast and Essendon losing to sneak us in, would have been a travesty after our insipid game against the Pies. The players need to learn that nothing can be gifted and that they need to do it themselves for themselves and also for us, their long suffering supporters. I actually think that this will stand them in better stead for next year rather than having limped in, likely gone out in Week One and then feeling like they had achieved something. 

As the enormity of this lost opportunity sinks in, hopefully the disappointment will galvanize them all to have the pre-season of their lives and to work as hard as hell on the skill and mental deficiencies that left us where it did. Nothing but hard work and that burning in the gut will redeem what might have been this year. The determination to make next year the year they really arrive should be their sole focus and mantra. Simon Goodwin will have learnt much about the list under his first full season as Senior Coach playing the game style that he is drilling into them - as well as assessing this game style and evaluating his own performance as coach and the coaching panel in general. The trade and draft periods will also be crucial as holes are filled and not wall-papered over.

Having said all the above, we have made giant strides this year under often trying circumstances and let's not forget that. Jesse Hogan had the season from hell yet gave us a lazy 6 coming back from a busted collarbone to remind us not only of his talents, but his desire to succeed and contribute to the team as they pushed for September. Jack Viney played under duress most of the season, particularly in the final few rounds before succumbing - and a tilt in the finals potentially without these two (or playing them injured) would have got us nowhere. They can both now have a rest and full pre-seasons. Losing Gawn and Jones and others for significant periods also didn't help yet unlike previous years we didn't really fall away. The talented younger end of our list is improving and perhaps ready to explode. We are still mostly a very young playing group who have not played many games together.

We won two more games this year than last and should have won at least three others and were in winning positions in the last quarter in all our losses bar one or two. The loss to North in Hobart was my biggest disappointment bar the last game. Our percentage remained over 100% all season and when on song we played some exhilarating football. However most teams no doubt lost games they could have won and this should be factored in. However it was our inability to bury teams when in a position to do so that really needs to be addressed, particularly against the lower teams - which good sides do bury.

We will need to keep improving and significantly - as all the teams below us, except maybe Fremantle and Gold Coast, also seem very capable of pushing upwards next year. The competition is ruthless, nothing is a given - as the players have now found out the hard way.

It is in their hands to make sure that the football world knows that they really do have what it takes to succeed and that the ultimate disappointment of this year was only part of the learning curve and merely a blip on their way to greatness.

I await their response.

  

Great post Key Dee.  This is so bleak I hadn't seen the potential for silver lining, but it is there. There was no point making finals if we were still at risk of playing like we did in the first quarter on Saturday.  Missing finals is the best way of giving the players the message about the price you pay for those lapses.  Hopefully they carry that with them for the pre-season, and for the whole of 2018.

We were probably kidding ourselves to think 'what if?' History shows that teams that fall into the 8 with 12 or 13 wins don't threaten.  The Dogs last year, even though they finished 7th, still had 15 wins (and a percentage of 115).  Saturday's loss, while particularly painful,  was just another illustration of a vulnerability which emerged on multiple occasions throughout the year.  Deal with it, and we get 15 wins plus and contend.  Fail to deal with it, and we needn't bother.   Surely they know that now.

I will have a little laugh to myself when the crows go out in straight sets. 

But lets make no mistake us missing the finals is our own fault. 

  On 27/08/2017 at 23:28, pineapple dee said:

I picked the wrong week to give up crack cocaine !!!!

Its ok, this team is enough to put you into a psych ward all on its own...and its cheaper...

Hypothetically, would it have been a different result if all games started at the same time? 

Not with the diarrhoea we dished out.

I could easily be sitting in a group therapy session with other deees tragics, rocking backwards and forwards on the chair screaming " BALLLLLLLLL !! or " Kick the bloody thing !!!!! or just droooling and staring into space. I can picture it !!

  On 28/08/2017 at 02:41, pineapple dee said:

I could easily be sitting in a group therapy session with other deees tragics, rocking backwards and forwards on the chair screaming " BALLLLLLLLL !! or " Kick the bloody thing !!!!! or just droooling and staring into space. I can picture it !!

Simon Goodwin's Mad Monday...

  On 27/08/2017 at 22:11, rjay said:

 'Bobby', 'Bobby', 'Bobby'....Adelaide gave it a red hot go.

Sloane and the Crouch boys couldn't have done more.

As for resting players, if you had watched the game the previous week you would have seen that Talia pretty badly injured his ankle, he wasn't rested. Might have got up for a GF but what was the point of rising him in a game with nothing on the line.

I'm sure they wouldn't have rested Tex unless there was a good reason, they would be well aware of the possibility that they may only play one game until the prelim and would have preferred him to get some continuation.

No...as much as we like to blame the draw, umpires, Adelaide, injury during the season and other side issues...we only have our selves to blame.

in your own words rjay , 'Nothing on the Line'. That backs up my argument. They didn't go all out giving the game to Weagles on a plate. Just because three guys tried their hearts out doesn't mean the rest of the team did. Weagles a 5 goal better side than Adelaide? Don't think so..

  On 28/08/2017 at 02:53, Bobby McKenzie said:

in your own words rjay , 'Nothing on the Line'. That backs up my argument. They didn't go all out giving the game to Weagles on a plate. Just because three guys tried their hearts out doesn't mean the rest of the team did. Weagles a 5 goal better side than Adelaide? Don't think so..

And if roles were reversed do u think Adelaide would expect us to turn up?

  On 28/08/2017 at 03:02, Jibroni said:

And if roles were reversed do u think Adelaide would expect us to turn up?

We couldn't take the risk could we? The AFL would charge us with 'tanking'. Come to think of it Adelaide could also be accused of the same.

I certainly don't concur. 

Adelaide has nothing to do with us missing the eight.

Too many missed opportunities (particularly in first half of season), too many undisciplined acts, too many poor decisions. Despite the injuries, the team and coaches have only themselves to blame. 

Blind faithful supporters see it as a season of progress and are over it straight away; they're happy to go back to their cheese platters, defend who they want to defend, remain positive and think next year will automatically be another stepping stone into finals or top 4 - and that's fine.

Unfortunately, that's not always the way teams/clubs get there. Not in this environment. And it's not always the case, there's no guarantee.

You've got to live for and play for the moment in AFL. Before you know it opportunities can pass you by. 

Our club got a kick start to the season through good tactics that caught clubs on the hop. We could have easily been in a much better position at halfway; but we weren't for a few reasons - one of them poor discipline. And clubs soon worked us out.

They've learnt the hard way, they've drank their own bath water thinking it was going to be their right for finals since they were talked up midway through season. And they copped their right whack v Sydney, and a poor back half to the season. 

Admirable against solid opposition, poor against unfavoured opponents when expected to accumulate 4 points.

The competition is now as even as ever, arguably. 

For this group to evolve and move forward, prizing more solid competitive and skilful players from the draft with great character is a must; so too great recruiting from other clubs. 

And the coaching group need to get their head around getting the players mindset right each and every week so they've flicked the switch and right to go in first quarters. And bring them down earth and remain them grounded when external forces speak highly of them - we don't want them drinking their own bath water; they've not achieved anything.