Russell Robertson gives his two bobs worth.

‘Babes in the woods’: Former Dees star delivers blunt warning to current crop

 

i liked it.  Made sense.  Interesting he points out how they achieved what they did without any infrastructure resembling a professional club.  Now we have this, unlike any other time.  Happy days.

To add to the general theme of this thread:

 

Paywalled, JCB?

2 hours ago, John Crow Batty said:

Russell Robertson gives his two bobs worth.

‘Babes in the woods’: Former Dees star delivers blunt warning to current crop

 

Won’t open for me JCB

1 minute ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Won’t open for me JCB

Try this: AFL 2021: ‘Babes in the woods’ - Former Melbourne Demons star Russell Robertson delivers blunt warning (theage.com.au)

Else I'll happily post the article.

4 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Won’t open for me JCB

Same here. 

4 minutes ago, Olgreybeard49 said:

Try this: AFL 2021: ‘Babes in the woods’ - Former Melbourne Demons star Russell Robertson delivers blunt warning (theage.com.au)

Else I'll happily post the article.

Interesting article. ?

3 minutes ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

Same here. 

clear your cookies etc if you are on a laptop

4 minutes ago, Olgreybeard49 said:

Try this: AFL 2021: ‘Babes in the woods’ - Former Melbourne Demons star Russell Robertson delivers blunt warning (theage.com.au)

Else I'll happily post the article.

Thanks for that

Robbo needs to address the playing group with this. Hopefully he has already done it

2 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Thanks for that

Robbo needs to address the playing group with this. Hopefully he has already done it

Robbo and his teammates needed to address this back in '05.
Lost to bottom side Carlton twice that year.
Forkin' hopeless.

6 minutes ago, Fork 'em said:

Robbo and his teammates needed to address this back in '05.
Lost to bottom side Carlton twice that year.
Forkin' hopeless.

I remember it well

2004 was very similar 

19 minutes ago, Olgreybeard49 said:

James Jordan

I officially give up.  It's a losing battle.  Nuffies gonna nuff, I guess.

This crop is nothing like the team of 2005.  Daniher had a terrible defensive structure and teams would easily score against them. 
 

Before their run of losses that year the conceded: 

dogs 15.21 round 2

saints 23 goals round 4

dockers 22 goals round 6

hawks 19 goals round 8

no wonder they lost the next 7 games. As soon as the pressure dropped sides would pile on the goals.

 

I sincerely hope we do what Brisbane used to do in their dominant era - have a massively hard training block come June/July in order to be absolutely prime in September. 

 

We have already earned the chance to manage player load through winter and do some in game experimentation of players in different roles to allow flexibility at the end of the year. 

We will lose games - happy to do so more on our terms when we are gearing up for our first serious charge in a long time

 

 

 

 

 

I recall thinking at the time that we were a seriously god side, then I had a look at the back end of the year and realised we had an easy first part but there were not many clubs we would be expected to beat in the last part of the season and we didn't.  

That's why we fell in a heap.

they spelt James Jordon incorrectly (again) too.

May be deliberate in this case, for all the Johns he gets?...

Have to agree, with Robbo.

One thing that stood out for me was not having our own home ground, the club realy needs fix this; i wish we could convince the MCC to allow us to make the MCG our home, to train on and have everything our players need?

That side had talent no doubt but they were pushed aside under even a little bit of pressure. 

This year's team will have its slump/s. It will come. Don't be surprised if we lose 3-4 games in a row at some point. A belting or two will definitely come around. 

But this team is different. We'll be primed for a run late in the season.

14 hours ago, bandicoot said:

This crop is nothing like the team of 2005.  Daniher had a terrible defensive structure and teams would easily score against them.

Before their run of losses that year the conceded: 

dogs 15.21 round 2

saints 23 goals round 4

dockers 22 goals round 6

hawks 19 goals round 8

no wonder they lost the next 7 games. As soon as the pressure dropped sides would pile on the goals.

Robbo was talking about player mind set.   

It is a timely warning from Robbo - the back half of our season will be a lot harder than the first as we play the better sides and we play interstate every other week.   Injuries are starting to happen.  Youngsters will tire.  Lots of things can derail our season.

If the right mind set isn't there the team, structures and systems won't protect us.   Players just can't get ahead of themselves.

Edited May 3, 20214 yr by Lucifer's Hero

I can remember 2 instances of this playing local footy.

One year we were undefeated on top of the ladder after the first half of the season then couldn't buy a win agains the same teams in the 2nd half and dropped out of the final 4.

The other one we were comfortable in the 4 and cruising, one of my mates took off on holidays about 4 or 5 weeks before the finals and was due back to play when we made it. He turned up on the Tuesday before with his gear ready to get stripped and train, walked into the rooms and we were all sitting around having a beer. He couldn't believe that we'd dropped out. 

...so nothing is a given. I'm comfortable with where we sit but take nothing for granted.

Hopefully the first half against North is a good reminder we can lose to anyone anytime if our intensity is off. It certainly was for me!

15 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Thanks for that

Robbo needs to address the playing group with this. Hopefully he has already done it

The side issue in Robbo's comments on the histroy is that looking at the games in the season collapse he refers to , Robbo did his bit as a very productive forward in those losses and I wonder if he felt others let him down, or maybe he is emphasising that it can't be left to a few - everyone has to stay contributing to the end.

A timely contribution by the great man.

I think someone mentioned it this week but up until the Tiges game we've had a honeymoon run. Kudos to the fitness staff to have us up and going.

From here on in it gets hard. We've already lost our gun defensive mid (Viney). We've lost a great one on one defender in Tomlinson. Fritta has been rubbed out for a week. What impact will further injuries have?

Opposition teams are targetting Gawn, Oliver and Petracca. Some of the tactics used against Gawn were downright thuggish on Sunday.

We're top of the ladder. Everyone is gunning for us. Our game plan will be examined thoroughly with the slightest chinks in our armour tested thoroughly.

Will be interesting to see if we can withstand the pressure from here on in.

Up till now the way we've gelled as a team has been outstanding.

Edited May 3, 20214 yr by dee-tox