Our biggest issue is... level of competition and our draw. We received the hardest ranked draw in the league, with other finals contenders in freo and Collingwood receiving quite easy draws comparatively. 

The competition has also stepped up, last year we were head and shoulders above the rest but other clubs have caught up and equalised the competition. 

Goodwin’s DNA is a game plan which is dangerous when fresh and well resourced (diamond defence in ‘18 and defensive zone to drive turnover in ‘21) but when it is either no longer fresh OR well resourced he looks incapable (or willing) of pivoting quickly to turn fortunes around. 
 

Not yet sure if it is incapable or willing…. We’ll find out in the next 4 weeks I reckon.

9 hours ago, DeeZee said:

Our biggest issue is that our second tier players haven’t really improved this year, and we haven’t added anything new.

Geelong have added DeKoening, and Stengel and Atkins has improved out of sight.

Sparrow, Rivers, Spargo, ANB, Bowey, Jackson,  Harmes etc never dominate games. It’s always the same players, Oliver, Petracca , Gawn , May etc etc

Even Salem and Langdon  aren’t as good.

Brayshaw is probably the only one I give credit to, and that’s out of necessity of him going down back, but he is a true warrior anyway so it’s no surprise.

In my mind a lot of those (young) guys played out of their skin in their first couple of years and so a lack of growth this year probably follows the natural progression.

Next year I'd really expect Sparrow and Rivers especially to come on, Jordon to step up to be a regular fixture alongside Oliver and Trac, and a high-quality recruit to bolster the ranks.

Beating top 8 sides is a concern.

Our ability to control the tempo of the game, we can't control the footy to slow the game down when teams get a run on.  This comes down to skill execution, we look great front running soon as real pressure comes on our skills really fall away

10 hours ago, Jaded No More said:

Our biggest problem is that we are coming off a perfect season where absolutely everything went right and it’s impossible to replicate. And now we all want more of this drug and it’s unavailable and we are having withdrawals and it’s making us angry. 

Agree 100% with this.  We have had a taste of the sweet sweet nectar of smashing teams and winning it all and want more and more.

As a few have mentioned in this thread also, we were absolutely blessed last year with the continuity around having our best 22 on the park - especially at the pointy end.

If Lever played, I have no doubt we would have won Saturday night.  Just as I feel we would have beaten the Pies if May was available.

Just like all teams, you can't replace your out and out stars and it's always going to hurt when they're unavailable.

WE HAVETO START TAKING MORE MARKS TO CONTROL THE FOOTY TEMPO

Our game plan hinges on predictability.

• We kick to the left side, probably because its the best side to attack from.
• We kick to pockets, if we don't mark it we get a fwd half stoppage.
• We back our players to win contests
• We used to be able to keep the ball in our fwd 50. No more.
• We rely on our mids to win the centre clearances
• Our wings hold their width to give us an 'out'
• We get leads and try to maintain them rather than put teams away. Way too cute for my liking.
• Our second half fade outs are concerning.

 

Unfortunately this is predictable to the opposition

• They kick short rather than bomb it into Lever and May
• They switch play to avoid kicking to Gawn
• They rebound out of our fwd 50 much more quickly.
• Guys like Jordan stop and prop until our team has moved into position. Its methodical, boring and predictable
• Our wings are being targeted - Langdon was outmarked several times against the Dogs by a taller running player.

 

Overall though our output is down from last year and we miss McDonald - whose running and bullocking was vital to our set up.

Harmes, BBrown, Weid, Spargo, Fritsch, Gawn, Jackson, Salem, Bowey, Lever are all significantly down on last year.

Our system still stacks up against weaker sides but our record this year against top 8 sides is worrying. They have the talent and ethic to work around our system.

We look much better when the ball is moved quickly into our fwd line but slow play kills us.

 

11 hours ago, Jaded No More said:

Our biggest problem is that we are coming off a perfect season where absolutely everything went right and it’s impossible to replicate. And now we all want more of this drug and it’s unavailable and we are having withdrawals and it’s making us angry. 

This isn't right. Everything went right after round 17 or 18

10 hours ago, deanox said:

 

If it is mental and not physical (injuries, lack of fitness/conditioning/match fitness, loading, etc.) then I think that is understandable after lockdown, hubs, travel etc. followes by the comedown from the buzz of winning a Premiership.

Especially after winning 10 straight to start the season despite not getting out of second gear.

This would also suggest that when the real pressure for a top 4 spot comes in the next few weeks and the finals game steps up, that extrinsic motivation should kick in again.

 

Goodwins rhetoric has changed from 'we are still working things out' to 'its time for us to put the foot down, its the pointy end of the season etc' 

I think he is a little worried and is subtly trying to lift the collective performance without hitting the panic button

Just now, jnrmac said:

Goodwins rhetoric has changed from 'we are still working things out' to 'its time for us to put the foot down, its the pointy end of the season etc' 

I think he is a little worried and is subtly trying to lift the collective performance without hitting the panic button

Well he should be more than a little worried because they are in deep doo doo and he's consistently out coached as well.

The main problem is that the defence is no longer unbreakable

The forward line and entries have always been more or less  problematic other than at  the business end last year

Put another way ..it was inevitable the opposition would pay attention and work us out.

Pity the coach appears not to have had a plan b 

Too many smalls.

We are always limited regarding the players we can move up.

I’m considering a fire sale.

Chandler, Bedford, and Laurie.?

It's a very hard competition.  Finals are hard to make, GF's even harder and to win one requires almost everything to go right.  We have put ourselves in a position not at all dissimilar to last year.  The difference being we have had more instability in our team compared to last year.  Our forward line connection improved dramatically on Saturday night.  Any other game we have played sine 2019, 100 points for wins us the match.  Defensively we fell to bits and that was partly the lack of forward pressure (0 tackles for the game inside forward 50), midfield not working hard enough the other way and missing Lever's capacity to organise everyone.  Ugle-Hagan is a future star of the comp and unfortunately he picked Saturday night to have his break out game.

All we can do now is go back to the basics, trust in the system that has so far won us 13 games and work hard one week at a time.  The rest takes care of itself.

Hawthorn won 3 flags straight. No clubs worked them out.

Loads of injuries, several players having ordinary seasons and the toughest and most tiring H&A fixture are why we're losing games.

Geelong have a armchair ride into the GF. Might lose this weekend but thats about it.

Our biggest problem is continually playing injured or unfit players. The reason we drop away late in games, or are unable to provide the required level of defensive pressure, is because the players simply aren't capable of putting in the effort required.

Of course I would prefer to have guys like Salem and Jackson in the team, but if they can't run for four quarters, they're a liability.

Given that Casey is 15 - 0 there is really no excuse for not playing some of those guys. Otherwise, what is the point of keeping them on the list?

13 hours ago, Demons1858 said:

Spot on, have never seen such a blessed run of injuries in 2021... our biggest issue this week was the fixture ... 6 vs 8 day break returning from the NT ... expecting more pain by the end of the year given the run home

Everything did go right last year true  but after winning 10 straight I expected better      certain top 4,,,, which is very uncertain now

2 hours ago, Deeko2 said:

Agree 100% with this.  We have had a taste of the sweet sweet nectar of smashing teams and winning it all and want more and more.

As a few have mentioned in this thread also, we were absolutely blessed last year with the continuity around having our best 22 on the park - especially at the pointy end.

If Lever played, I have no doubt we would have won Saturday night.  Just as I feel we would have beaten the Pies if May was available.

Just like all teams, you can't replace your out and out stars and it's always going to hurt when they're unavailable.

good post

So one thing was evident on Saturday night. A problem that we have talked about all too often is the slow, predictable ball movement. Yes it was still there, however there were times where we had real speed on the ball and we took the game on  through the middle. This is why our forward 50 connection and efficiency was so good (some of it was from centre bounce clearances as well).

Its clear we have a gear that is all out attack and it works really effectively like other teams in the comp. It brings in the likes of Weid and Fritta who have otherwise struggled under the slower ball movement. This - against all intuition - is something we need to maintain going forward as scoring and forward connection has been a real problem for us. 

The catch, however is that this really exposed us on the turnover and our defensive structures  were often caught out - perhaps exacerbated by the absence of Lever. The area we will need to fix is forward and midfield pressure and some adjustments to defensive setup as well so that when we do get caught out, we are not as vulnerable. You have to remember, that the Doggies carve up teams with their ball movement. 

Our intent and effort was again off - not by much - but it wasnt manic. Loading? maybe, but we have been saying its been off all year. Freo, dont have as potent a forward line as the Doggies, so i think we need to take the same gameplan on Friday night plus some amped up pressure. If we do that, it will be a statement game, the response (drug hit - reference Jaded's post) we all needed and will steady the ship. IF we take Game Plan A, it will be a slog and tbh, Freo are probably better at it than we are right now. 

 

As someone else said pressure around the contest, but it’s also our unrealistic desire of a clean exit out of stoppage. The number of times we had first hands on the ball at the stoppage (particularly at centre bounce) but we tried to handball it away for a clean exit and the dogs stole it was mind boggling. Same thing also happened with Freo and Geelong. I get that at times we can be really damaging and score goals from clearance but I really think we need the territory first. This desire for a clean exit must be coach driven so maybe they’re worried about our ability to get ball to ground in our F50 if we do a bomb kick?

1 hour ago, CYB said:

So one thing was evident on Saturday night. A problem that we have talked about all too often is the slow, predictable ball movement. Yes it was still there, however there were times where we had real speed on the ball and we took the game on  through the middle. This is why our forward 50 connection and efficiency was so good (some of it was from centre bounce clearances as well).

Its clear we have a gear that is all out attack and it works really effectively like other teams in the comp. It brings in the likes of Weid and Fritta who have otherwise struggled under the slower ball movement. This - against all intuition - is something we need to maintain going forward as scoring and forward connection has been a real problem for us. 

The catch, however is that this really exposed us on the turnover and our defensive structures  were often caught out - perhaps exacerbated by the absence of Lever. The area we will need to fix is forward and midfield pressure and some adjustments to defensive setup as well so that when we do get caught out, we are not as vulnerable. You have to remember, that the Doggies carve up teams with their ball movement. 

Our intent and effort was again off - not by much - but it wasnt manic. Loading? maybe, but we have been saying its been off all year. Freo, dont have as potent a forward line as the Doggies, so i think we need to take the same gameplan on Friday night plus some amped up pressure. If we do that, it will be a statement game, the response (drug hit - reference Jaded's post) we all needed and will steady the ship. IF we take Game Plan A, it will be a slog and tbh, Freo are probably better at it than we are right now. 

 

The ball movement in the first half was probably the best I've seen all year.

For some unknown reason we went in preservation mode in the 2nd half and it showed out once again.

22 hours ago, jnrmac said:

Our game plan hinges on predictability.

• We kick to the left side, probably because its the best side to attack from.
• We kick to pockets, if we don't mark it we get a fwd half stoppage.
• We back our players to win contests
• We used to be able to keep the ball in our fwd 50. No more.
• We rely on our mids to win the centre clearances
• Our wings hold their width to give us an 'out'
• We get leads and try to maintain them rather than put teams away. Way too cute for my liking.
• Our second half fade outs are concerning.

 

Unfortunately this is predictable to the opposition

• They kick short rather than bomb it into Lever and May
• They switch play to avoid kicking to Gawn
• They rebound out of our fwd 50 much more quickly.
• Guys like Jordan stop and prop until our team has moved into position. Its methodical, boring and predictable
• Our wings are being targeted - Langdon was outmarked several times against the Dogs by a taller running player.

 

Overall though our output is down from last year and we miss McDonald - whose running and bullocking was vital to our set up.

Harmes, BBrown, Weid, Spargo, Fritsch, Gawn, Jackson, Salem, Bowey, Lever are all significantly down on last year.

Our system still stacks up against weaker sides but our record this year against top 8 sides is worrying. They have the talent and ethic to work around our system.

We look much better when the ball is moved quickly into our fwd line but slow play kills us.

 

Hello Mr.G. Read this. If all we do this week is keep up the tempo and play quicker to give our forwards a chance , then it’ll be a step forwards. Slow and slow is boring and gets defended too easily. Teams are using our strategy to beat us !!! 

Our goals from centre clearance were great but relying on that to score is worrying. 

3 hours ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Hello Mr.G. Read this. If all we do this week is keep up the tempo and play quicker to give our forwards a chance , then it’ll be a step forwards. Slow and slow is boring and gets defended too easily. Teams are using our strategy to beat us !!! 

We used to do that and rely on keeping the ball in there to give ourselves repeat chances. That has been decimated with latest states showing Brown, Spargo et all are 15th in the league for keeping the ball i50. In addition our defence was rock solid creating most of our scoring chains.

Our pressure is now 17th in the league and the above stats are vast departures from the way we were playing last year. Is this deliberate? Have we changed what we are trying to do? Is it laziness? Have teams worked us out?

We moved the ball noticeably quicker in the first half against the Dogs but our defensive efforts were well below what we expect. The second half was a rinse and repeat from other games we have lost.

 

Interestingly we have lost 8 4th qtrs and 8 2nd qtrs this year. The 4th qtr stat seems to be the most damning given we have been ahead in nearly all of our losses.

 

Our form has actually been ok but we have faced good opposition and had a few loses where lady luck was against us.

That said, we are too predictable, which has allowed opposition coaches to trial things and work out the best way to beat us. We need some variation in our ball movement from the back half and inside 50 (not every time but 1/3 of the time) and in how we set up for stoppages around the ground.

We also need Max to get back in form. May was better on the weekend but has been mediocre since Entrecotegate and Salem has lost his drive.

A lot of people are saying we have been worked out.  If that’s the case, why in all our losses have we been up by 3-5 goals before being over run?  Are opposition coaches only working us out during the games?

I’m a believer in we’re tiring due to training loads getting ready for the real stuff. The next 2 weeks will hopefully prove that correct. 🙏🤞