PLAYER REVIEWS 2017 - HOLD IT RIGHT THERE

[Whispering_Jack 31,131]

There are lots of reasons why teams fall short of the mark and miss out on the finals and blaming injuries for that outcome is never a popular one where offered.

I'm not suggesting that injury alone was the excuse for Melbourne missing out on the finals by such a narrow margin as the 0.5% by which it fell below the Eagles in percentage but when I look at the player review series currently running on Demonland, it really puts the club's problems in focus. 

So far, the players with guernsey numbers 1 to 12 have been covered and it would be fair to say that many of the players in this group are among the most significant components of the entire team list. They've all either missed a large part of the season to injury or other issues or, as was the case of players injured later in the season, missed blocs of games together. 

I think it would also be fair to say that in almost all of those instances, the form of the players in question dropped off significantly compared to their pre injury form.

I'm not an expert in player conditioning but I am suggesting that the combination of the above factors, together with the fact that the list is still relatively young, contributed to the team's sluggish end to the season where there were periods during games when it bled goals to the opposition. That happened in virtually every game in the last third of the season in various forms (Port Adelaide and St Kilda - leads of 6 to 7 goals were largely reined in; the first quarter v GWS, the last v Brisbane) leading ultimately to the lack of effort and non-existent tackling pressure in the opening quarter v Collingwood.

I thought we were cooked after the GWS game and indeed, that's how it turned out. We were a slow train wreck waiting to happen.

When you consider that Richmond, now playing off in a preliminary final, have had few injuries and currently have one very fringe player on the injury list, it's quite sad to consider our fate (especially since we almost certainly would have beaten the Tigers earlier in the season when we finished with virtually no bench for rotations).

So here we are:-

1. Jesse Hogan - season destroyed by everything but the kitchen sink. Managed to show some form with 6 goals in Round 22 but couldn't see out the first half of the next game.

2. Nathan Jones - missed several weeks after starring in that difficult period leading up to the Bulldogs game when injured. Skipper's influence and experience missed badly.

3. Christian Salem - missed four weeks after injury in the game against West Coast (also suspended twice during the season).

4. Jack Watts - missed four weeks after doing a hammy v Bulldogs. Form dropped off badly after he returned to the point where he spent two games in the VFL.

5. Christian Petracca - there's always an exception to the rule (played all 22 games).

6. Jordan Lewis - crucial three game suspension in Round 2 and we lost all of the games he missed.

7. Jack Viney - surgery after coming off the game v Swans and apart from the first half of his return game,  Hardness and leadership missed in those crucial rounds, particularly at the end.

8. Heritier Lumumba - retired due to concussion issues, didn't play and AFL rules meant he couldn't be replaced on the list.

9. Jack Trengove - played two games. The injury that afflicted him occurred a few years ago but it put paid to his realistic chances of a return to his early form.

10. Angus Brayshaw - concussions kept him out for most of the year.

11. Max Gawn - All Australian, missed half a season with a hamstring injury and was understandably never able to play at his best. Virtually needed another pre season but there was no time.

12. Dom Tyson - injured during the Swans game and missed a few games to coincide with the time when half the midfield was missing.

If you look at some of the above individually, you might say that injuries are part of the game and that's true. But taken as a whole, the above scenario hurt us badly and certainly by more than 0.5%, especially given that a few depth players to be covered later on, failed to get a game at any level during the season.

That's why I envy the Tigers who will be playing off on Saturday night for a grand final spot with their best possible team on the ground - something that's been a feature with them for the entire season.

[beelzebub 23,390]

Much to consider. Timely segue.

[monoccular 17,642]

All very true - you need your better players to be fit and available for most of the season to get your best results.

PS the only one I really disagree with is

"8. Heritier Lumumba - retired due to concussion multiple  issues, didn't play and his selfishness in his announcement AFL rules meant he couldn't be replaced on the list."

[Adzman 2,154]

1 hour ago, monoccular said:

All very true - you need your better players to be fit and available for most of the season to get your best results.

PS the only one I really disagree with is

"8. Heritier Lumumba - retired due to concussion multiple  issues, didn't play and his selfishness in his announcement AFL rules meant he couldn't be replaced on the list."

The AFL really punched us deep in the fart box on this one.

Should have been able to sign a player. Essendon dope their team and get replacementa, we lose His and don't get one. It might not seem like much, but an extra fit AFL ready body would have come in handy this season.

[Skuit 10,031]

I've avoided the post-mortem thread, but; we had injuries like anyone else and then we had mounting injuries on top of that courtesy of our super-challenging back-end fixture.

We had some pretty poor showings in the front half - Freo, Hawks, Essendon and even the Suns, so it's hard to claim injuries, but by the time we'd accounted for the Bulldogs I thought we'd ironed out some of the kinks and were ready to peak.

And then a crazy schedule of short turn-arounds exacerbated by travel to all points and the resultant struggle with a massive injury-list. This, while fielding one of the youngest teams in the comp most weeks.  

We have some other issues, but we undoubtedly missed out on the finals due to our fixture/and then injuries (which can at least to some extent be attributed to our fixture). Still, I have two questions:

Is our game-style contributing to the injury-list?

And as to the 'other issues', is our game-style difficult to execute when the intensity is lacking in return?

[Tony Tea 2,814]

It gets right up my goat that in a season where several teams may pinch a premiership, we got slaughtered by absences while the Tiger Sash Trash are virtually scratch-free.

[dees189227 12,453]

At the storm prelim final tonight, at least one of my other teams know how to play finals.  So I will be following scores on my phone. 

Think I want the crows to win. 

Tomorrow im thinking the tigs will just get the job done. Not sure if I can handle living in Melbourne with the tigs in a gf. Part of me wants the tiges to lose in a heartbreaking way.  But I don't want the giants to get to the gf either.  Except if I knew they would lose.