Among the many things that have been frustrating this season is the fact that now, six weeks into the season, we actually look worse than what we did 1 month ago, let alone 2 months ago. In fact, each week we've performed worse than the week before it, with the obvious exception being the Sydney game.

What makes this extra frustrating is the fact that Simon Goodwin credits our week-to-week improvement in every post-match press conference (each week he's said something along the lines of "We're getting better." or "There are signs we're improving"). Combined with the much-discussed interrupted pre-season we had, we surely should be getting better each week rather than regressing.

Including the pre-season, here's how this season has played out. I'd argue that aside from our solitary home-and-away win against Sydney, we've progressively got worse on a week-to-week basis.

• Practice Match 1: Defeated Collingwood by 24 points. A practice match, yes, but good to beat last year's Grand Finalists in our first scratch match. So far so good.
• Pre-Season 1: Lost to Richmond by 12 points. Dominated early, fell away but finished well to lose by 2 goals to the Premiership favourites. Warning signs are there, but not a dishonourable result.
• Pre-Season 2: Lost to Brisbane by 7 points. A frustrating game with lots of injuries. Lots of warning signs. But now in hindsight a 7 point loss to a red-hot Brisbane doesn't look too bad.
• Round 1: Lost to Port Adelaide by 26 points. Dominated early but fell away badly. Disappointing start to the year. But again, in hindsight a 26 point loss to a Port Adelaide side that will probably play finals this year isn't the worst result. In fact, it's our third best H&A margin for the year.
• Round 2: Lost to Geelong by 80 points. Dominated facets of the game (inside 50s) but completely outplayed. A huge loss, no doubt, but Geelong have since dominated and beat reigning premiers in a similar fashion last weekend. 
• Round 3: Lost to Essendon by 18 points. Another setback. Given how Essendon was going, this is more embarrassing than the Geelong result.
• Round 4: Defeated the Swans by 22 points. The one time all year we've looked okay... but Sydney aren't much of a team this year.
• Round 5: Lost to the Saints by 40 points. A huge setback given the gains made in Round 4. Completely outcoached and outplayed - back to the bad habits of the first 3 rounds.
• Round 6: Lost to Richmond by 43 points. Arguably an improvement defensively but we look insipid going forward - our worst offensive performance to date under Goodwin and probably the game where we least looked like scoring of any game this year.

Reflecting on this, I hypothesize that our Round 1 self (or perhaps even our pre-season self) could beat our Round 6 self. To me, that's the most worrying trend, especially when Goodwin's philosophy is all about improving each week and being the most in-form side in September (which obviously won't matter this year even if it is the case).

Do you agree with my assessment or have you seen signs of improvement?

4 hours ago, Dee man said:

Among the many things that have been frustrating this season is the fact that now, six weeks into the season, we actually look worse than what we did 1 month ago, let alone 2 months ago. In fact, each week we've performed worse than the week before it, with the obvious exception being the Sydney game.

What makes this extra frustrating is the fact that Simon Goodwin credits our week-to-week improvement in every post-match press conference (each week he's said something along the lines of "We're getting better." or "There are signs we're improving"). Combined with the much-discussed interrupted pre-season we had, we surely should be getting better each week rather than regressing.

Including the pre-season, here's how this season has played out. I'd argue that aside from our solitary home-and-away win against Sydney, we've progressively got worse on a week-to-week basis.

• Practice Match 1: Defeated Collingwood by 24 points. A practice match, yes, but good to beat last year's Grand Finalists in our first scratch match. So far so good.
• Pre-Season 1: Lost to Richmond by 12 points. Dominated early, fell away but finished well to lose by 2 goals to the Premiership favourites. Warning signs are there, but not a dishonourable result.
• Pre-Season 2: Lost to Brisbane by 7 points. A frustrating game with lots of injuries. Lots of warning signs. But now in hindsight a 7 point loss to a red-hot Brisbane doesn't look too bad.
• Round 1: Lost to Port Adelaide by 26 points. Dominated early but fell away badly. Disappointing start to the year. But again, in hindsight a 26 point loss to a Port Adelaide side that will probably play finals this year isn't the worst result. In fact, it's our third best H&A margin for the year.
• Round 2: Lost to Geelong by 80 points. Dominated facets of the game (inside 50s) but completely outplayed. A huge loss, no doubt, but Geelong have since dominated and beat reigning premiers in a similar fashion last weekend. 
• Round 3: Lost to Essendon by 18 points. Another setback. Given how Essendon was going, this is more embarrassing than the Geelong result.
• Round 4: Defeated the Swans by 22 points. The one time all year we've looked okay... but Sydney aren't much of a team this year.
• Round 5: Lost to the Saints by 40 points. A huge setback given the gains made in Round 4. Completely outcoached and outplayed - back to the bad habits of the first 3 rounds.
• Round 6: Lost to Richmond by 43 points. Arguably an improvement defensively but we look insipid going forward - our worst offensive performance to date under Goodwin and probably the game where we least looked like scoring of any game this year.

Reflecting on this, I hypothesize that our Round 1 self (or perhaps even our pre-season self) could beat our Round 6 self. To me, that's the most worrying trend, especially when Goodwin's philosophy is all about improving each week and being the most in-form side in September (which obviously won't matter this year even if it is the case).

Do you agree with my assessment or have you seen signs of improvement?

I will reserve judgement for after the next two week when we play Hawks/Suns. If we perform poorly in those two then yes we have gone backwards but I was at the Port Adelaide game and we were seriously bad then. I wouldn’t compare practice matches. The only positive and there aren’t many is the team we have lost to are the some of the most in form in the league. The one really poor team we played was the Swans and we knocked them off. The next two game are winnable so let wait and see.

I disagree DeeMan. Have watched every game and there has been some marginal improvement in recent weeks. Starting after quarter time of the Swans game perhaps a small lift in intensity. 

We were lamentable against Port and Geelong in the opening two rounds. 

But it’s splitting hairs really. Virtually every aspect of club performance is in the doldrums, including game day coaching and even team selection. 

I cannot recall an implosion of this speed and magnitude in my 35 years watching the Demons. And we’ve served up some rippers.

Something is not right and it’s not just the questionable fitness of a few players. 

 

3 minutes ago, Matsuo Basho said:

I disagree DeeMan. Have watched every game and there has been some marginal improvement in recent weeks. Starting after quarter time of the Swans game perhaps a small lift in intensity. 

We were lamentable against Port and Geelong in the opening two rounds. 

But it’s splitting hairs really. Virtually every aspect of club performance is in the doldrums, including game day coaching and even team selection. 

I cannot recall an implosion of this speed and magnitude in my 35 years watching the Demons. And we’ve served up some rippers.

Something is not right and it’s not just the questionable fitness of a few players. 

 

Spot on. Whatever is really going on will come out in the wash eventually. I honestly dread to think. We’ve been such a tight club for a few years now but whenever this type of thing happens there’s almost always poison coming from somewhere. Perhaps we need to pray to the spirit of jimmy to return and weed it out. 

Watching the last week against the tigers I think we’re getting BOTH  better and worse. Those stupid uncontested possession chains that Geelong and Essendon massacred us with had mainly disappeared. Imo We looked tighter, tougher and more like last year. So....in this way  I thought we were better. At least they had to earn their goals.  We were still in the game at 3/4 time against potent opposition... at least on the scoreboard. 

Offensively though we looked remarkably 2013. I was seriously in a time warp.  the leading patterns of the fwds were  comically  disfunctional on the v rare occasions that we even went there. I say rare occasions as We had almost non existent run or flow from half back. Even Oliver, who is an offensive weapon w his handballs, consistently chose the poor option.  It was our lowest i50 count for the year and probably fr a few years. So in this way much much  worse. From qtr time on I honestly had no idea how we would kick another goal. As it turned out We got two v lucky ones... but it could / should  have been 3 goalless qtrs. THAT is Neeldesque. 

In summary We’re going fwd slowly but  backwards fast. Just like game day. 

Looking back, the Essendon game wasn’t too bad compared to the rest of the slop we’ve dished up (besides Sydney).

Last week was Goody's version of Plough's flood IMO.  Had no real belief we were likely to win so went defensive from the get go to prevent a massive blow out.

While that may have worked, from what i witnessed, we still regressed badly in general play & skill level.  I can't recall seeing so many fumbles and basic turnovers in my time watching the club other than maybe the capitulation against Essendrug in 2012 or 13 when we lost by 140 odd under Neeld.

97 turnovers,  81 clangers, Team DE under 60% (our worst for the year and possibly in a long while) and 59 disposals per goal.  Must be some sort of record in those.

Confidence at its lowest ebb for the year.

Can only hope that was rock bottom and we head north from here.

Will need to put in a massive effort on Sat to prevent a blow out against the Dawks on a ground Goody's game style is unable to defend on & a completely innefective forward line.

Can't see any significant upside in the short term until Pruess returns and settles and IF Jeffy fires, and i wouldnt want to put any $ on that  happening.

15 minutes ago, Rusty Nails said:

Last week was Goody's version of Plough's flood IMO.  Had no real belief we were likely to win so went defensive from the get go to prevent a massive blow out.

While that may have worked, from what i witnessed, we still regressed badly in general play & skill level.  I can't recall seeing so many fumbles and basic turnovers in my time watching the club other than maybe the capitulation against Essendrug in 2012 or 13 when we lost by 140 odd under Neeld.

97 turnovers,  81 clangers, Team DE under 60% (our worst for the year and possibly in a long while) and 59 disposals per goal.  Must be some sort of record in those.

Confidence at its lowest ebb for the year.

Can only hope that was rock bottom and we head north from here.

Will need to put in a massive effort on Sat to prevent a blow out against the Dawks on a ground Goody's game style is unable to defend on & a completely innefective forward line.

Can't see any significant upside in the short term until Pruess returns and settles and IF Jeffy fires, and i wouldnt want to put any $ on that  happening.

It was an effort in score minimisation. His coaching performance against Richmond reflected a coach with zero confidence in the potential for a win. 

That says a lot about our leadership atm. 

8 hours ago, Dee man said:

Among the many things that have been frustrating this season is the fact that now, six weeks into the season, we actually look worse than what we did 1 month ago, let alone 2 months ago. In fact, each week we've performed worse than the week before it, with the obvious exception being the Sydney game.

What makes this extra frustrating is the fact that Simon Goodwin credits our week-to-week improvement in every post-match press conference (each week he's said something along the lines of "We're getting better." or "There are signs we're improving"). Combined with the much-discussed interrupted pre-season we had, we surely should be getting better each week rather than regressing.

Including the pre-season, here's how this season has played out. I'd argue that aside from our solitary home-and-away win against Sydney, we've progressively got worse on a week-to-week basis.

• Practice Match 1: Defeated Collingwood by 24 points. A practice match, yes, but good to beat last year's Grand Finalists in our first scratch match. So far so good.
• Pre-Season 1: Lost to Richmond by 12 points. Dominated early, fell away but finished well to lose by 2 goals to the Premiership favourites. Warning signs are there, but not a dishonourable result.
• Pre-Season 2: Lost to Brisbane by 7 points. A frustrating game with lots of injuries. Lots of warning signs. But now in hindsight a 7 point loss to a red-hot Brisbane doesn't look too bad.
• Round 1: Lost to Port Adelaide by 26 points. Dominated early but fell away badly. Disappointing start to the year. But again, in hindsight a 26 point loss to a Port Adelaide side that will probably play finals this year isn't the worst result. In fact, it's our third best H&A margin for the year.
• Round 2: Lost to Geelong by 80 points. Dominated facets of the game (inside 50s) but completely outplayed. A huge loss, no doubt, but Geelong have since dominated and beat reigning premiers in a similar fashion last weekend. 
• Round 3: Lost to Essendon by 18 points. Another setback. Given how Essendon was going, this is more embarrassing than the Geelong result.
• Round 4: Defeated the Swans by 22 points. The one time all year we've looked okay... but Sydney aren't much of a team this year.
• Round 5: Lost to the Saints by 40 points. A huge setback given the gains made in Round 4. Completely outcoached and outplayed - back to the bad habits of the first 3 rounds.
• Round 6: Lost to Richmond by 43 points. Arguably an improvement defensively but we look insipid going forward - our worst offensive performance to date under Goodwin and probably the game where we least looked like scoring of any game this year.

Reflecting on this, I hypothesize that our Round 1 self (or perhaps even our pre-season self) could beat our Round 6 self. To me, that's the most worrying trend, especially when Goodwin's philosophy is all about improving each week and being the most in-form side in September (which obviously won't matter this year even if it is the case).

Do you agree with my assessment or have you seen signs of improvement?

The gruelling camp should be back on the agenda. Maybe do mid season to wake the buggers up!

4 hours ago, Rusty Nails said:

Last week was Goody's version of Plough's flood IMO.  Had no real belief we were likely to win so went defensive from the get go to prevent a massive blow out.

While that may have worked, from what i witnessed, we still regressed badly in general play & skill level.  I can't recall seeing so many fumbles and basic turnovers in my time watching the club other than maybe the capitulation against Essendrug in 2012 or 13 when we lost by 140 odd under Neeld.

97 turnovers,  81 clangers, Team DE under 60% (our worst for the year and possibly in a long while) and 59 disposals per goal.  Must be some sort of record in those.

Confidence at its lowest ebb for the year.

Can only hope that was rock bottom and we head north from here.

Will need to put in a massive effort on Sat to prevent a blow out against the Dawks on a ground Goody's game style is unable to defend on & a completely innefective forward line.

Can't see any significant upside in the short term until Pruess returns and settles and IF Jeffy fires, and i wouldnt want to put any $ on that  happening.

If we're at the bottom and head north...aren't we still at the bottom, but just a bit closer to the equator?

12 hours ago, Dee man said:

Among the many things that have been frustrating this season is the fact that now, six weeks into the season, we actually look worse than what we did 1 month ago, let alone 2 months ago. In fact, each week we've performed worse than the week before it, with the obvious exception being the Sydney game.

What makes this extra frustrating is the fact that Simon Goodwin credits our week-to-week improvement in every post-match press conference (each week he's said something along the lines of "We're getting better." or "There are signs we're improving"). Combined with the much-discussed interrupted pre-season we had, we surely should be getting better each week rather than regressing.

Including the pre-season, here's how this season has played out. I'd argue that aside from our solitary home-and-away win against Sydney, we've progressively got worse on a week-to-week basis.

• Practice Match 1: Defeated Collingwood by 24 points. A practice match, yes, but good to beat last year's Grand Finalists in our first scratch match. So far so good.
• Pre-Season 1: Lost to Richmond by 12 points. Dominated early, fell away but finished well to lose by 2 goals to the Premiership favourites. Warning signs are there, but not a dishonourable result.
• Pre-Season 2: Lost to Brisbane by 7 points. A frustrating game with lots of injuries. Lots of warning signs. But now in hindsight a 7 point loss to a red-hot Brisbane doesn't look too bad.
• Round 1: Lost to Port Adelaide by 26 points. Dominated early but fell away badly. Disappointing start to the year. But again, in hindsight a 26 point loss to a Port Adelaide side that will probably play finals this year isn't the worst result. In fact, it's our third best H&A margin for the year.
• Round 2: Lost to Geelong by 80 points. Dominated facets of the game (inside 50s) but completely outplayed. A huge loss, no doubt, but Geelong have since dominated and beat reigning premiers in a similar fashion last weekend. 
• Round 3: Lost to Essendon by 18 points. Another setback. Given how Essendon was going, this is more embarrassing than the Geelong result.
• Round 4: Defeated the Swans by 22 points. The one time all year we've looked okay... but Sydney aren't much of a team this year.
• Round 5: Lost to the Saints by 40 points. A huge setback given the gains made in Round 4. Completely outcoached and outplayed - back to the bad habits of the first 3 rounds.
• Round 6: Lost to Richmond by 43 points. Arguably an improvement defensively but we look insipid going forward - our worst offensive performance to date under Goodwin and probably the game where we least looked like scoring of any game this year.

Reflecting on this, I hypothesize that our Round 1 self (or perhaps even our pre-season self) could beat our Round 6 self. To me, that's the most worrying trend, especially when Goodwin's philosophy is all about improving each week and being the most in-form side in September (which obviously won't matter this year even if it is the case).

Do you agree with my assessment or have you seen signs of improvement?

Agree. Depth is a myth. 

30 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

If we're at the bottom and head north...aren't we still at the bottom, but just a bit closer to the equator?

... aren't we lucky the ladder is only one dimensional.  and not like outer Space...  where the Southern Cross may in reality be a Cross of the North,  by another persons tongue.

The first quarter against the Tigers was one of our best for the year. If we had maintained that level for the next three we'd have been a real chance.

The inability to apply any kind of scoreboard pressure continues to hurt us. Right now it feels like even GAJ wouldn't be able to find any connection with our forwards.

Ugh. "Connection". Now he's got me saying it.

Edited May 2, 20195 yr by P-man

Lose Badly to Whorethorn and we are right back to where we were 5 years ago. Smash Whorethorn and the season may still be a positive going forward.

I hear that the boys wore mouth guards at training this week . That is what i want to see

1 hour ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

If we're at the bottom and head north...aren't we still at the bottom, but just a bit closer to the equator?

LD i am now wishing i had a better grasp of the King's English.  If only i had used the word "upward"!!

Disagree with the OP. I went to both games, the Port game was the worst game I've been to in years (bar St Kilda last year). We weren't as bad against Richmond,  a better opponent, just couldn't move the ball forward of centre.

We looked [censored] good in practice match, maybe Collingwood truely were having none of it and i went away from it thinking we are in for a real crack. Down the path things certainly have gone south.

16 minutes ago, david_neitz_is_my_dad said:

We looked [censored] good in practice match, maybe Collingwood truely were having none of it and i went away from it thinking we are in for a real crack. Down the path things certainly have gone south.

Yes the sun was still shining at that point.

However, I went to Shepparton. The sun shone in the first quarter but from quarter time onwards, we looked like we do now. 

Ha! What makes anybody think we're going to beat Hawthorn?

We are also removing players from the 22 in precise balance above and below the average height pf the team.

Seriously, look it up.

I went to the Port, Essendon, Swans and Saints matches. The "performance" v Saints was the worst of that lot.

4 hours ago, Tony Tea said:

Ha! What makes anybody think we're going to beat Hawthorn?

Oscar Mc Turbo is In!!?

13 hours ago, Matsuo Basho said:

I disagree DeeMan. Have watched every game and there has been some marginal improvement in recent weeks. Starting after quarter time of the Swans game perhaps a small lift in intensity. 

We were lamentable against Port and Geelong in the opening two rounds. 

But it’s splitting hairs really. Virtually every aspect of club performance is in the doldrums, including game day coaching and even team selection. 

I cannot recall an implosion of this speed and magnitude in my 35 years watching the Demons. And we’ve served up some rippers.

Something is not right and it’s not just the questionable fitness of a few players. 

 

Fitness ..... physical and / or mental?

And an apparent lack of interest and commitment, at times.

14 hours ago, Matsuo Basho said:

I disagree DeeMan. Have watched every game and there has been some marginal improvement in recent weeks. Starting after quarter time of the Swans game perhaps a small lift in intensity. 

We were lamentable against Port and Geelong in the opening two rounds. 

But it’s splitting hairs really. Virtually every aspect of club performance is in the doldrums, including game day coaching and even team selection. 

I cannot recall an implosion of this speed and magnitude in my 35 years watching the Demons. And we’ve served up some rippers.

Something is not right and it’s not just the questionable fitness of a few players. 

 

So you can’t remember the years where we were up the top one year and down the bottom the next?

5 hours ago, Tony Tea said:

Ha! What makes anybody think we're going to beat Hawthorn?

Nothing. We’ll lose badly. This team is a complete joke.

5 hours ago, hemingway said:

Yes the sun was still shining at that point.

However, I went to Shepparton. The sun shone in the first quarter but from quarter time onwards, we looked like we do now. 

It was also about 42degrees on the ground that day.