The Rest of the Season

[Pennant St Dee 13,428]

6 minutes ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Interesting analogy

Most could see very little from the trenches despite their unquestionable loyalty and bravery.

(Did you know that the outbreak of WW1 can be traced back to Waterloo? Irrelevant but fascinating.)

I choose never to give up when there's a chance, do you remember 1987.

There's always hope, things are never as good or bad as they seem 

[titan_uranus 25,229]

On 8/1/2020 at 12:58 AM, Diamond_Jim said:

No I'm looking for the medium term

This year is a write off. The Geelong loss killed any momentum. The Brisbane and Port losses merely confirmed it. A  win against North and Adelaide will merely paper the cracks.

Mindlessly swimming against the current is what the last how many years has been. The current gameplan is continual "mediocrity" as you term it if not worse.

Break the Wheel !

(seriously though... Goodwin has to re -invent this team and the sooner we accept it the better. The alternative is a new coach and another questionable rebuild.)

The Geelong loss?

Our third game for the year? After we'd fallen over the line against Carlton? It "killed any momentum"?

That makes absolutely no sense to me. 

You are advocating for writing off the season because, the argument goes, we can't make finals (and/or can't win the flag). That, IMO, is accepting our current mediocrity.

You want improvement. So do I. But why can't we demand improvement as well as wins? 

[Watts the matter 1,235]

Season is well and truly alive, if we are good enough we will make it to October. Eventually you need to start beating teams above you and we will need to start doing this. 

[Maldonboy38 6,428]

The season is not over. It is stuttering and puttering along like a beaten up EJ Holden but it is still moving. The Port game has got us all riled up again - and rightly so - but I don't feel the need to fling my arms in the air in despair. Not yet.

Try and win every game. 

If our players hit targets, we win games. I still believe it is this simple with a couple of small adjustments:

1. Pick players in position. Bring Tomlinson in and keep him and Langdon on the wings. Put Brayshaw more through the middle. Persist with Jackson and Weideman as our 2 main forwards, etc...
2. Show some ticker. Get Viney and May to play right on the edge, maybe even go over the edge a couple of times, get angry, aggressive, 

 

[dl4e 5,851]

This comming game against the crows could be interesting. We will know if there is something amiss at the club.

Play the youngsters as much as possible.

[Radar Detector 1,347]

Our next 3 games are all against sides on a 4-day break (including the North game where we are the same but we don’t have to travel and they do).

This is a huge chance for us to get back into a positive ledger including with a win against a battling Collingwood side that at the start of the year we would have pencilled in as a loss.

One week at a time for sure, but the season is well and truly alive for now.

[buck_nekkid 6,092]

This is a season when almost all teams are dropping their pants at some point.  we just dropped ours. If we can bag a few wins in the next little stretch, we could even make finals.  It might be papering over the cracks, but it would be seen as a pass....

If the calculations are true, then we have had the hardest run so far and the easiest run to the finish line. Now to see what they do with the rocket they just copped.

[In Harmes Way 7,866]

I’d like to see the inside mids practice winning centre clearances. Given Gawn wins 3 out of 4 taps, you’d think we should be able to improve in this area while they’re all spending each and every day together.

[buck_nekkid 6,092]

This is a season when almost all teams are dropping their pants at some point.  we just dropped ours. If we can bag a few wins in the next little stretch, we could even make finals.  It might be papering over the cracks, but it would be seen as a pass....

If the calculations are true, then we have had the hardest run so far and the easiest run to the finish line. 

[Lucifers Hero 40,684]

After round 12 we should be/must be 6/5.  Our advantage in travel, fitness, injury and rest is huge:

• We have 2 days extra break than the Crows from round 9.  Crows missing 2/3 top 5  players.  We fly to Adelaide but rest there for North game.
• We have 2 days extra break on North from round 9 game who played on Saturday and they have to fly to Adelaide to play us.  North missing a 2/3 top 5 players.
• We have 3 days extra break on Coll from round 9 game who played yesterday.  Then they fly from Perth to Qld to play Syd on Thur (3.5 day break), then fly to Adelaide to play Crows on the Tuesday (4.5 day break) then back to Qld to play us on the Saturday (3.5 day break).  Pies missing 3 top 5 players

And Collingwood are a rabble off the field with transgressions from:  Beams, Sidebottom, DeGoey, Sanderson, Buckley and a President who keeps putting his foot in mouth only for it to backfire when one of his own committ similar transgressions or worse to those at other clubs.

Short of major injuries to our midfield there is absolutely no excuse to beat them all especially with 3 of their best players, all match winners, out injured. 

We should win all three convincingly.

Edited August 2, 2020 by Lucifer's Hero

[spirit of norm smith 16,676]

Top 10 strategies for rest of 2020

 

1- put Pickett (or Bedford) inside the forward 50 and stay in the arc. Don’t go up to the wing or half forward.  We want someone to actually crumb a pack inside forward 50. 
 

2- a true wingman to partner Langdon. Rivers? Hunt? Jordan? Baker?  We need pace and skill. If it’s not Baker or Hunt, then they are in the delist scrap. 
 

3- Weideman. To bring his intensity every week. Not in patches. We need him desperately to stand up as our key forward. 
 

4- kick ins. A plan B. Not just “May to kick it to Max about 45 metre out on the left hand flank “.  So predictable. So boring.  Teams expect it.  What about setting up space. Run and Kick and run.  Other teams create strategies to get the footy at least to mid-half forward. May could even kick it to 80 metres out. 
 

5- kill off the OVERHANDBALLING pandemic. Dees have this need to handball handball handball until it leads to a turnover.  Two effective handballs then kick it. 
 

6- inside 50 attacks to a scoring position.  NOT TO THE POCKETS. We wander “Why” we don’t score. FFS. You need to kick it to 15-25 out and get the forwards to play in front. 
Conversion rate 10-15% (Goals/inside 50s) is horribly low ... the worst  

7- Salem to actually use the “elite “ ball skills through the corridor.  He needs to be challenged.  He’s safety first 15 metre kick sideways gets a 80-85% efficiency rating but does not achieve anything (a 125 metre gained rating is poor). Ineffective.   
 

8- Harmes to play a run with tagging role. He’s like a Mitch Robinson type. Hard as nails but needs a focus of the job. On Sloane. On Simpkin. On Pendlebury/Sidebottom. On Shiel. These are the next assignments.  
 

9- The Trac must become elite. There’s the challenge.  He’s now in the zone. 24year old. Fit.  Firing. Talented.  He needs to be our star. He will get tagged. He needs to burst out and lift himself and the team. 
 

10- Goodwin.  Be a coach. Give some creativity. Show a strategy. Really needs to move BEYOND HIS CLICHE WORDS AND EXCUSES (“we are having trouble with our connections forward of centre”).  Fix it !!! 

Edited August 3, 2020 by spirit of norm smith
C

[dl4e 5,851]

1 hour ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

After round 12 we should be/must be 6/5.  Our advantage in travel, fitness, injury and rest is huge:

• We have 2 days extra break than the Crows from round 9.  Crows missing 2/3 top 5  players.  We fly to Adelaide but rest there for North game.
• We have 2 days extra break on North from round 9 game who played on Saturday and they have to fly to Adelaide to play us.  North missing a 2/3 top 5 players.
• We have 3 days extra break on Coll from round 9 game who played yesterday.  Then they fly from Perth to Qld to play Syd on Thur (3.5 day break), then fly to Adelaide to play Crows on the Tuesday (4.5 day break) then back to Qld to play us on the Saturday (3.5 day break).  Pies missing 3 top 5 players

And Collingwood are a rabble off the field with transgressions from:  Beams, Sidebottom, DeGoey, Sanderson, Buckley and a President who keeps putting his foot in mouth only for it to backfire when one of his own committ similar transgressions or worse to those at other clubs.

Short of major injuries to our midfield there is absolutely no excuse to beat them all especially with 3 of their best players, all match winners, out injured. 

We should win all three convincingly.

After last thursday why do I still have doubts. I think this Adelaide game will show us a lot about where the club is at the momment. I wouldn't be penciling in a win against North either.

[Clintosaurus 7,939]

Keep players forward of the ball. It is hard to tell if we do this watching on television, but last night Freo always had players forward of the ball so there was someone to kick to every time. So often teams win the ball backward of centre and have nobody to kick to.

Also, use the corridor more - it is the shortest route and should be the easiest.

[titan_uranus 25,229]

3 minutes ago, dl4e said:

After last thursday why do I still have doubts. I think this Adelaide game will show us a lot about where the club is at the momment. I wouldn't be penciling in a win against North either.

We won't learn anything from the Adelaide game unless we lose.

It's one of those classic MFC lose/lose situations. We either lose (all hell will break loose, and rightly so), or we win, even by 100 points, and the response will be "well Adelaide are as bad as GC in 2011"".

If we win, as we must if we are even half-decent, it will tell us nothing.

North on Sunday is the far more telling game, particularly if we beat Adelaide easily. It will be the real test of our players' resolve: will they rest on their laurels after "easing the pressure" with a win over Adelaide? Or can they focus for consecutive weeks?

[Lucifers Hero 40,684]

39 minutes ago, dl4e said:

After last thursday why do I still have doubts. I think this Adelaide game will show us a lot about where the club is at the momment. I wouldn't be penciling in a win against North either.

Just pointing out all the reasons why we should win all three and win them convincingly.

And folks should not be thinking the Pies game isn't totally winnable.

But not confident of winning any of the next three. 

Time to show our mettle.

[Adam The God 30,687]

8 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

We won't learn anything from the Adelaide game unless we lose.

It's one of those classic MFC lose/lose situations. We either lose (all hell will break loose, and rightly so), or we win, even by 100 points, and the response will be "well Adelaide are as bad as GC in 2011"".

If we win, as we must if we are even half-decent, it will tell us nothing.

North on Sunday is the far more telling game, particularly if we beat Adelaide easily. It will be the real test of our players' resolve: will they rest on their laurels after "easing the pressure" with a win over Adelaide? Or can they focus for consecutive weeks?

I think the next three games will be telling as a whole. Just coming out and beating a pathetic Adelaide and very ordinary North will not tell us enough.

You could actually argue that the next three are a bit classic MFC lose/lose situations given we should win all of them, but Collingwood will at least probably play finals, so are more of a test, even being injury-impacted.

Win them all comfortably and then we can reassess IMV.

[Demon Dynasty 17,150]

On 7/31/2020 at 4:27 PM, Diamond_Jim said:

For the ever optimistic the season may still be alive but for realists it finished against Brisbane and definitely against Port.

The pity of course is that like last year it comes so early in a year when we are desperate for diversion.

Normally my mind would now turn to a second team which in recent years has been GWS but they seem to have lost that flair.

So what can we salvage out of this mess so the club goes into 2021 with some impetus.

For me it's the development of Weideman and Fritsch along with our crop from the 2019 draft.

Not much faith in Smith but I'm prepared to see if he has a spot..... probably in the backline.

Happy to rest Gawn if that improves his longevity. Plenty of options for relief ruck.

And of course for the sake of our sanity and Goodwin's well being some variation in our style of play from time to time.

Any other suggestions?

I reckon it's about time to check out to be honest DJ.  Most of the players have...

Edited August 3, 2020 by Rusty Nails

[spirit of norm smith 16,676]

12 hours ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Top 10 strategies for rest of 2020

 

1- put Pickett (or Bedford) inside the forward 50 and stay in the arc. Don’t go up to the wing or half forward.  We want someone to actually crumb a pack inside forward 50. 
 

2- a true wingman to partner Langdon. Rivers? Hunt? Jordan? Baker?  We need pace and skill. If it’s not Baker or Hunt, then they are in the delist scrap. 
 

3- Weideman. To bring his intensity every week. Not in patches. We need him desperately to stand up as our key forward. 
 

4- kick ins. A plan B. Not just “May to kick it to Max about 45 metre out on the left hand flank “.  So predictable. So boring.  Teams expect it.  What about setting up space. Run and Kick and run.  Other teams create strategies to get the footy at least to mid-half forward. May could even kick it to 80 metres out. 
 

5- kill off the OVERHANDBALLING pandemic. Dees have this need to handball handball handball until it leads to a turnover.  Two effective handballs then kick it. 
 

6- inside 50 attacks to a scoring position.  NOT TO THE POCKETS. We wander “Why” we don’t score. FFS. You need to kick it to 15-25 out and get the forwards to play in front. 
Conversion rate 10-15% (Goals/inside 50s) is horribly low ... the worst  

7- Salem to actually use the “elite “ ball skills through the corridor.  He needs to be challenged.  He’s safety first 15 metre kick sideways gets a 80-85% efficiency rating but does not achieve anything (a 125 metre gained rating is poor). Ineffective.   
 

8- Harmes to play a run with tagging role. He’s like a Mitch Robinson type. Hard as nails but needs a focus of the job. On Sloane. On Simpkin. On Pendlebury/Sidebottom. On Shiel. These are the next assignments.  
 

9- The Trac must become elite. There’s the challenge.  He’s now in the zone. 24year old. Fit.  Firing. Talented.  He needs to be our star. He will get tagged. He needs to burst out and lift himself and the team. 
 

10- Goodwin.  Be a coach. Give some creativity. Show a strategy. Really needs to move BEYOND HIS CLICHE WORDS AND EXCUSES (“we are having trouble with our connections forward of centre”).  Fix it !!! 

Any advance on this ... 

[Diamond_Jim 12,745]

2 hours ago, Rusty Nails said:

I reckon it's about time to check out to be honest DJ.  Most of the players have...

Yep

I have come to accept that Goodwin isn't going anywhere.

My fatalist acceptance means he has to reinvent himself.

Snagging a few wins this year doesn't excite me. Would prefer to see a path. That doesn't mean not winning or simply playing the kids. Rather it means pushing this list to see what we have.

Anyway there's a lot more to concern ourselves with this year than the perennial failure of the MFC.

[Demon Dynasty 17,150]

1 hour ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Any advance on this ... 

I can only figure there's been no response as you pretty much nailed it SNS.

My only addition to that is we still don't have enough class coming inside 50 nor a genuine KF.  Our 4 biggest weaknesses for mine...

A 2nd key tall down back that can handle the opp's 2nd best tallish forward and shut him down PLUS create some run with ball in hand and expend the opponent's energy chasing.  We only have Hibb capable of doing this atm.  Hoping that Hore will eventually fill Oscar's place here.  Or someone.

We need a classy tallish marking winger with a bit of dash and clever finesse coming inside 50.  Langdon is a great runner but a tad NQR coming inside.  Still very handy though and the best we have for one wing.  Fritsch 'might' be capable on the other but if not we need to find an option.

One classy / speedy outside biased mid with evasive clean ball use needed.

A genuine KF needed.  Would be throwing a big pile of folding stuff at Cameron.

Oh, and depending on how the rest of the season pans out, a clean out of the FD & a new Coach.

Is that asking a little too much?

Edited August 3, 2020 by Rusty Nails

[spirit of norm smith 16,676]

Thanks Rusty.  I agree the urgent need for a midfielder or two with good skills and pace.  We need to try Hunt or Baker (to use their run and carry and pace) or move them on at seasons end.  
Love to see Rivers or Jordan play on a wing for development as their pace and skills would be handy in such a role.