Yes, but it's very much a fading memory only a young kid. Like your self getting older very quickly.

  On 25/07/2018 at 02:38, praha said:

The trick is to not factor in long periods because they are irrelevant to the current *team's* success. From that perspective, finals time is now because we have the talent and opportunity, and we are in year 5 of the Roos rebuild. For the club more broadly yes success needs to come soon but we can't burden the current crop with the ineptness of 50 years.

I think this needs to be posted in neon lights when assessing Goodwin and his team.

  On 24/07/2018 at 04:10, bringbackthebiff said:

Judd is a good judge. That’s why he picked Carlton and didn’t even speak to Hawthorn ?

Apparently the opportunity to be an ambassador for Visy was an opportunity too good to refuse for the would be conservationist

Edited July 25, 20186 yr by Demons1858

  On 25/07/2018 at 03:31, Diamond_Jim said:

I think this needs to be posted in neon lights when assessing Goodwin and his team.

We were coming from quite far back, but then, so were the Bulldogs who were tipped to finish last by many in 2015 before making finals. IMO we are a year behind where we should be because we should have finals experience in the bag.

  On 25/07/2018 at 03:47, praha said:

We were coming from quite far back, but then, so were the Bulldogs who were tipped to finish last by many in 2015 before making finals. IMO we are a year behind where we should be because we should have finals experience in the bag.

Last year we had significant long term injuries and just missed the 8.

This year Lever and Viney aside we have been relatively injury free to key players.

For that reason alone standing still, let alone improving should have seen us make the 8 this year with relative ease.

  On 24/07/2018 at 04:56, willmoy said:

Wise i agree with the Games analysis, the thing is these blokes try their guts out, play it the way it should be played then have it dashed by one or more stupid, non nonsensical, blatantly bias,non rule, made up to even up, power play, bubble of the moment decision that makes the three of them stand around at the next bounce and say to themselves how do i play the next foray into the forward line, under the ground, in the air, or do i run fifty meters and bounce the ball over everyone's head and kick it myself from in front, because that is the only way we get a goal without being penalized,,,,,,,,,

Not one full stop. Great work

  On 25/07/2018 at 01:57, Ron Burgundy said:

I thought last year's final round loss to the Pies was the loss we had to have.

Since then, we've managed to lose to the Cats (twice), the Saints and Port in games that we absolutely should've won.

When does all this wonderful 'learning' finally translate into winning the close games that:

1. we deserved to win; and

2. arguably we did not deserve to win.

For all of these frustrating losses that can be put to good 'learning' experiences, I've not seen any good evidence yet that we are closer to winning the close games (which seems to be what the really good teams consistently do).

Our percentage is the second in the comp, we have the most inside 50s, and yet we're holding onto the 8 by a knife's edge.

That article was more relevant to the Demons of 2017. IMO there's absolutely no good learning in these honourable losses if we miss the finals this year - just more fury and frustration.

 

This reflects my views. The future looks good, but the problem is, all 17 other clubs probably expect to improve next year also eg tiges with lynch, gws with no injuries etc. That’s why in sport you always need to take your opportunities, because the future is an unknown.  Simply this year to date - we haven’t take them

  On 24/07/2018 at 04:11, MSFebey said:

Why didn't he end up coming to the Dees?

took one look at junction oval. didn't like the possums.

  On 25/07/2018 at 04:45, daisycutter said:

took one look at junction oval. didn't like the possums.

He wasn't thinking of Rebecca in possum fur obviously

  On 25/07/2018 at 03:54, Diamond_Jim said:

Last year we had significant long term injuries and just missed the 8.

This year Lever and Viney aside we have been relatively injury free to key players.

For that reason alone standing still, let alone improving should have seen us make the 8 this year with relative ease.

True but it wasn't injuries why we missed last year. 

  On 25/07/2018 at 01:57, Ron Burgundy said:

I thought last year's final round loss to the Pies was the loss we had to have.

Since then, we've managed to lose to the Cats (twice), the Saints and Port in games that we absolutely should've won.

When does all this wonderful 'learning' finally translate into winning the close games that:

1. we deserved to win; and

2. arguably we did not deserve to win.

For all of these frustrating losses that can be put to good 'learning' experiences, I've not seen any good evidence yet that we are closer to winning the close games (which seems to be what the really good teams consistently do).

Our percentage is the second in the comp, we have the most inside 50s, and yet we're holding onto the 8 by a knife's edge.

That article was more relevant to the Demons of 2017. IMO there's absolutely no good learning in these honourable losses if we miss the finals this year - just more fury and frustration.

 

Really well said Ron. 

We can all see the improvement and the effort now. We push the good sides hard, but when the crunch is on, we make the same mistakes over and over. 

The St. Kilda game 2 year ago when we lost it in the last minute., was So similar. 

To lock down a game of Momentum in the last 1-2 minutes is a drill the side should know backwards by now...

Edited July 25, 20186 yr by Sir Why You Little

  On 25/07/2018 at 06:02, Sir Why You Little said:

To lock down a game of Momentum in the last 1-2 minutes is a drill the side should no backwards by now...

Though the opposition will not be so frantic as in a one goal game, we should practice that when we are 5 goals ahead with 2 mins to go

  On 25/07/2018 at 06:05, sue said:

Though the opposition will not be so frantic as in a one goal game, we should practice that when we are 5 goals ahead with 2 mins to go

Should practise it in many different scenarios Sue. Maybe they already are, but it certainly isn’t translating on Gameday and it could well cost us a spot in September, when in so many ways we should be worthy finalists

  On 25/07/2018 at 06:21, Sir Why You Little said:

Should practise it in many different scenarios Sue. Maybe they already are, but it certainly isn’t translating on Gameday and it could well cost us a spot in September, when in so many ways we should be worthy finalists

that's what would be  so disappointing.

 

  On 24/07/2018 at 11:42, mauriesy said:

Here's another example of the experience and maturity of our list.

Number of players with 100 or more games experience:
Hawthorn 17
Collingwood 16*
Geelong 15
Adelaide 15
West Coast 14
Richmond 14
Sydney 13
GWS 13
Melbourne 8

* includes Grundy who plays his 100th game this week.

That's a scary stat, because Vince will be done at the end of 2018 and Lewis at the end of 2019, followed by Jones at the end of 2020.

And after reading this thread earlier, I was put off reading Judd's article as it was considered by a few to be a puff piece.

I read it yesterday and it was a measured, well written, logical and intelligent article. The only thing I didn't agree with was the Jones leadership bit, but generally it made sense.

Saying that we're in year 5 of the Roos rebuild and therefore we should have loftier expectations is ridiculous. Year 1 of Roos' rebuild was partly still playing with a horrible list that still had the residue of the worst VFL/AFL list ever IMO. Year 2 we started to play those early draft picks. Year 3 and Clarry debuted. Year 4 saw Goodwin take the reigns fully and had we not been crippled by our poor drafting in the mid 2000s-2012ish, we would have had the sufficient experience to get us over the line into finals.

Still, we were in every single game last year (bar probably the Sydney game at the 'G that we were never really in). That was without Gawn for much of the season and Viney, Jones and other important players were out for significant, crucial periods. In truth, we were ravaged by injuries. Just look at how Adelaide have dealt with that this year. Had we won 2-3 close games (that we would have with a little more experience - think the way we set up in the final moments against Freo at the 'G as an example), we'd have almost qualified for the top 4. As it was, we missed the 8 by the smallest margin ever.

I'm now on record as saying I don't think we'll get there this year, but the newish adage in football is that progress is rarely linear. If you look at a number of premiership sides from the past decade or so, you'll notice that their development was never as linear as ours has been. Yes, that's partly because we're coming off such a low base, but it also shows how difficult it is to go from one of the worst lists in the competition, to one of the best, in such a small amount of time. It means we're left with a lack of experience and that the majority of our top talent is not yet sitting in that sweet spot of games experience. Only Gawn and the injury-riddled Viney have entered the sweet spot. 

If we can manage to make the finals this year, I reckon we can win the flag next year (we need some finals experience), if injuries and luck (which you always need) goes our way.

Edited July 25, 20186 yr by A F

Reassess after every game and you will have a different opinion  of our finish at the end of the home and away season.

It's the old cliche one game at a time. We are still in the race  it's not funny. I still have that faith.

after a couple of days it's time to reflect on how we play, in a word entertaining.  Yes we might leak goals but geez we play the kind of footy you pay to see. thinking back only a couple of years ago and how bad it was watching our team scrap together 5.11 each week. Now we really have a genuine crack. so much so that it really hurts when we lose because we know their endeavour is there. be patient the consistency will come as the team plays more together

  On 25/07/2018 at 09:53, big bull said:

after a couple of days it's time to reflect on how we play, in a word entertaining.  Yes we might leak goals but geez we play the kind of footy you pay to see. thinking back only a couple of years ago and how bad it was watching our team scrap together 5.11 each week. Now we really have a genuine crack. so much so that it really hurts when we lose because we know their endeavour is there. be patient the consistency will come as the team plays more together

Nice first post, unless you're another devil in disguise.

  On 25/07/2018 at 09:53, big bull said:

after a couple of days it's time to reflect on how we play, in a word entertaining.  Yes we might leak goals but geez we play the kind of footy you pay to see. thinking back only a couple of years ago and how bad it was watching our team scrap together 5.11 each week. Now we really have a genuine crack. so much so that it really hurts when we lose because we know their endeavour is there. be patient the consistency will come as the team plays more together

And familiarity can breed contempt ?

Just suggesting playing together might provide nothing.

The best ingredients to a poor recipe invariably result in disappointment.