Lack of creativity and adaptability from out coaching group.  Here me out.

I look at teams like Geelong and Sydney who have the knack of changing the narrative each week depending on the opponent. The Blicavs move onto Oliver/Petracca was a brilliant way of negating the best one-two punch in the league.  Longmire always seems to shift they way they play every week depending on the need. 

We don't!

We play the same way every week.  Kick out to the same side every week.  Refuse to widen the ground by switching every week.  Kick down the line every week. Bomb it high into the forward line every week. When will we tag someone? Where is out creativity?

Any chance we could bring in a taller option like VanRooyan just to shake it up? Even playing Petty at CHF to change up the game.  Where has our switching it to Langdon on the wing gone?  What about Pickett one out in the 50? We never seem to try anything different?

Nuh

Our biggest issue is defensive pressure around the contest

Just now, Graeme Yeats' Mullet said:

Nuh

Our biggest issue is defensive pressure around the contest

The players control that and the gameplay around it. Teams are adapting how they do things mid season and we haven't.  Tell me one thing that we have changed from last year to this. Bet you can't.

Clearance work. Win clearances, you get territory. you get territory, you get repeat 50s. Repeat 50s allows Defence to set up, gives opportunities for scoring.

 

Win Clearances we get on top.

That and Pressure. We have had one good  game with immense pressure, against Brisbane and we smashed them. 

The biggest problem is we continually get out to 20-30 point leads and then decide that’s enough and lose all desperation.

“We always try to walk it in”

11 minutes ago, inanunda said:

The players control that and the gameplay around it. Teams are adapting how they do things mid season and we haven't.  Tell me one thing that we have changed from last year to this. Bet you can't.

You said "biggest issue"

It's pressure around the contest

Bring that consistently and at a high level, last year's game plan wins again

4 minutes ago, Clint Bizkit said:

The biggest problem is we continually get out to 20-30 point leads and then decide that’s enough and lose all desperation.

Exactly right. And that comes down to mental fatigue. We struggle to play out 4 quarters of footy.

Not turning up after half time

14 minutes ago, Clint Bizkit said:

The biggest problem is we continually get out to 20-30 point leads and then decide that’s enough and lose all desperation.

After Freo and Sydney I honestly thought they wouldn't let it happen again this season. Loading or not it's getting really old being ahead at every change bar the last one. It has ruined our mentality. Look over to Collingwood and they almost seem to relish being behind at the last change and win all the time. 

A CHF

17 minutes ago, Graeme Yeats' Mullet said:

You said "biggest issue"

It's pressure around the contest

Bring that consistently and at a high level, last year's game plan wins again

It literally is this, if you told anyone we scored 100 points last night they would assume we won. Sure we could use a little more creativity in getting to goal as that was a bit of a struggle last night but 0 tackles inside 50 says it all. 

If we bring half of our regular defensive pressure we probably win.

Fitness and hunger unfortunately.

23 minutes ago, Clint Bizkit said:

The biggest problem is we continually get out to 20-30 point leads and then decide that’s enough and lose all desperation.

I love Goody, but after the Gold Coast game when we hardly scored in the 2nd half which gave the Suns a sniff, Goody came out and said that we didn't need to score. That sort of attitude gets ingrained into the players. Once we have a lead, Goody will tell the players that we have the game on our terms. Then we try to defend the lead by playing safe down the line football. Once the opposition get a sniff, we can't redress the momentum.

If you look back at all the games where we've given up a lead, the opposition has kicked the last 1 or 2 goals before the half time break. I can't recall the Pies game, but it definitely happened against the Dockers, Swans and Dogs. We go into half time happy with ourselves, whilst the opposition look at the scoreboard and gives themselves a chance.

Not ashamed to say that I backed the Dogs at H/T when they were paying $4.50. I'd seen this script before.

Injuries.

I’d say our biggest issue in 2022 is that we had a ridiculously trouble free run in 2021, I think supporters expected an undefeated season and back to back flags.

Injuries/missed games would be next.

59 minutes ago, inanunda said:

  Tell me one thing that we have changed from last year to this. Bet you can't.

Sorry, but should we have changed everything after we annihilated the other teams across 3 finals last year, or after we won the first 10 games this year?

Judge us by the season, not the quarter. Long way to go yet.

The only thing 2022 has taught me so far is that a lot of Melbourne supporters went from the certainty that we were perennial losers, to somehow thinking we’d never lose again. Strange days.

40 minutes ago, mo64 said:

I love Goody, but after the Gold Coast game when we hardly scored in the 2nd half which gave the Suns a sniff, Goody came out and said that we didn't need to score. That sort of attitude gets ingrained into the players. Once we have a lead, Goody will tell the players that we have the game on our terms. Then we try to defend the lead by playing safe down the line football. Once the opposition get a sniff, we can't redress the momentum.

If you look back at all the games where we've given up a lead, the opposition has kicked the last 1 or 2 goals before the half time break. I can't recall the Pies game, but it definitely happened against the Dockers, Swans and Dogs. We go into half time happy with ourselves, whilst the opposition look at the scoreboard and gives themselves a chance.

Not ashamed to say that I backed the Dogs at H/T when they were paying $4.50. I'd seen this script before.

We have conceded 25 goals after our last goal scored in our 5 losses. All of these games we were leading or within a goal before we stopped cold and let the opposition tear us apart. Last week we also let Port score the last 3 goals. They could have won with a few extra minutes on the clock. The playing out time game is not working. Other sides have worked this tactic out. In our losses,  Freo scored 10, Swans 4, Pies 4, Cats 3 and Dogs 4 of the last goals in the games.

Edited July 24, 20223 yr by John Crow Batty

Lack of contested marks and predictability of kicking long to Gawn and every kick goes long down the line and we cannot mark

It's a predictable joke 

We won games from defence last year. 

We looked safe even under pressure. Now may, Petty, lever fumble, drop marks.

Salem looking for form. 

Sure opposition are devising plans but our defenders are out of form.

We've lost our A1. 

 

 

1 hour ago, inanunda said:

Lack of creativity and adaptability from out coaching group.  Here me out.

I look at teams like Geelong and Sydney who have the knack of changing the narrative each week depending on the opponent. The Blicavs move onto Oliver/Petracca was a brilliant way of negating the best one-two punch in the league.  Longmire always seems to shift they way they play every week depending on the need. 

We don't!

We play the same way every week.  Kick out to the same side every week.  Refuse to widen the ground by switching every week.  Kick down the line every week. Bomb it high into the forward line every week. When will we tag someone? Where is out creativity?

Any chance we could bring in a taller option like VanRooyan just to shake it up? Even playing Petty at CHF to change up the game.  Where has our switching it to Langdon on the wing gone?  What about Pickett one out in the 50? We never seem to try anything different?

That's just Goody being stubborn AF and thinking that it'll all naturally play out. Watching games this year has been ridiculously frustrating with how slow they react in the coaching box.

The only genuine move I can think of where it was completely out of the box was the Weideman to the backline against Freo and that was because it was forced due to May injury.

Collingwood are sitting top 4 and have blooded a number of kids this year which has given their players extra enthusiasm and energy in the same way Bowey did last year. We on the other hand refuse to reward blokes who are actually in form.

The biggest and main concern out of all this though is the significant the drop in pressure and defensive output. Like we're really poor for pressure key indicators, in fact I think we're last which is stark different to last year where we were sitting around the too area.

Our brand has always been built on defensive pressure and contested footy around the stoppages, but we're just getting smashed far too easily.

Edited July 24, 20223 yr by dazzledavey36

All our play between wing and 35m from goal has lacked strength and power in most games. Fritsch and our midfield have covered over a really poor forward transition game.

We are desperate for a tall forward with presence who can be a definite target. With no TMac, and kicking into that zone possibly as bad as any team (including North and I am not joking by saying that), BBB, Weid. M Brown  haven't been able to physically dominate an area to help our forward effectiveness.

Our inability to stop other teams with momentum after half time is also an issue, but nowhere near as dysfunctional as our hlaf forward play.

4 hours ago, inanunda said:

Lack of creativity and adaptability from out coaching group.  Here me out.

I look at teams like Geelong and Sydney who have the knack of changing the narrative each week depending on the opponent. The Blicavs move onto Oliver/Petracca was a brilliant way of negating the best one-two punch in the league.  Longmire always seems to shift they way they play every week depending on the need. 

We don't!

We play the same way every week.  Kick out to the same side every week.  Refuse to widen the ground by switching every week.  Kick down the line every week. Bomb it high into the forward line every week. When will we tag someone? Where is out creativity?

Any chance we could bring in a taller option like VanRooyan just to shake it up? Even playing Petty at CHF to change up the game.  Where has our switching it to Langdon on the wing gone?  What about Pickett one out in the 50? We never seem to try anything different?

That Blicavs role has to be one of the most overblown performances of the year. Oliver had 34 touches and kicked a goal. Petracca had 21 and kicked 3. Both were in the coaches votes in a losing side. As nice as the “Blicavs can do anything” narrative is, I’m not sure it’s 100% factual.

The Naarm Smith Curse

A creative dangerous forward! Carlton has Curnow & McKay, Geelong Hawkins and Cameron, Brisbane have Cameron to electrify the forward line and Hipwood when he gets back to his pre-knee injury. Richmond have Dusty & Lynch the Swan, Buddy, Heaney & Gulden.

We are a bit more workman like with Fritch the classy goal kicker but he doesn't always tackle or chase but finishes beautifully. T-Mac on song is vital and Kozzie showed last week what he is capable of but he was the only forward. Spargo, ANB, Jordan, Clarry or Langers don't kick many goals.