The upside is that, if we’re going to play like this, we definitely won’t make the top 4, and maybe not the finals at all, so there’s no real chance of a straight sets exit. 

There was no effort from the first bounce to the last siren they looked [censored] out on there feet does anyone know why this is we have been playing like [censored] all year just had a few wins go our way I can see us missing finals this year we have no depth at all at vfl level I can’t see this getting any better 

Oliver and Petracca have only once finished in the top 5 disposal getters together this season (against the Dogs). 

Jack Viney has not had more than 25 disposals in a game this season.

This three headed monster midfield, once even compared to Judd, Kerr and Cousins, is just a shell of its former self..

 

Just now, At the break of Gawn said:

Oliver and Petracca have only once finished in the top 5 disposal getters together this season (against the Dogs). 

Jack Viney has not had more than 25 disposals in a game this season.

This three headed monster midfield, once even compared to Judd, Kerr and Cousins, is just a shell of its former self..

 

It would be a great shame if the decline was starting now.

That is a disappointing loss but the Eagles are not the easy beats at home. Compare their marking power up forward with Waterman & Darling clunking seriously difficult contested marks. We had no one who could offer this. I tired of the times Barrass & McGovern took contested marks. I reckon they have 9 of their premiership team on the park today and they played brilliantly and Reid is unbelievably good. They have a settled spine  whereas we have no marking targets up forward.

Sad to say the game has passed Brown by and Petty is way out of form.

We got beaten at the contest and couldn't hit a target from anywhere. Most of their goals came from turnovers. We have 2 first year players in Howes and Windsor and Woewodin hasn't got to double figures yet. Yes we have some holes to fill. We only managed 9 tackles in our forward 50 which is ordinary.

After 10 games we have a fair idea of where we sit and where the improvement needs to come from in the second half of the season. I am sure BBB isn't the answer, I have serious doubts about Billing and his kicking and I am not sure who will stand up and be our marking targets up forward.

There is still a long way to go

9 minutes ago, RedLegs23 said:

Cleary a mindset thing. Can’t tell me anything different. Played like we thought the win would just eventually come. 

One team came out & played as a team & the other came out hoping someone else would do the hard work to get them over the line. 

Serious teams don’t come out & lose to teams at the other end of the scale like tonight.

Because we are a serious team, right?

We play the way we do because we don’t have cattle to play a more expansive game. Defend, defend, defend until you bore the other team to oblivion is what we’re about. Most uninspiring game plan. 

We didn’t play slow or overly defensive tonight, in fact we played too quick. And the set up is too defensive for mine with a defender back but the ball movement isn’t at all.

We have a skill and cohesion issue.

the forward line cohesion problems have spread to the midfield.

We are getting no value from Oliver or Viney’s possessions. Jack holds it too long and burns options. Clayton panics, he’s scared of fighting through contact so dishes bad handballs or hacks it forward.

Tracc is the only mid who provides genuine value for disposals but he’s so far off the pace defensively at times and is needed forward.

Sparrow can’t win it or use it, sadly Pickett fresh airs the ball too much to a midfield.

The mids are killing our forwards and the few times they get it in nicely the forwards run in to each other or offer no resistance on the deck aside from Chandler and Pickett.

It’s not all doom and gloom. Salo played a good midfield game at times. ANB the same. And Pickett was at least a little more reliable in the contest and fantastic at times outside it.

McAdam displayed pressure and forward instincts. If he can kick set shots from 50 he could’ve had 3 or 4

But we have to fix or replace Oliver, Viney and Tracc. And Gawn’s horrendous centre bounce efforts too. We are nowhere in there right now 

50 minutes ago, Cyclops said:

3 players should never represent the Dees again. Jack Billings, Ben Brown and Narrm.

Dont like it one little bit!

That was a really poor game by us and across the whole ground which is just so rare for us. We have lots of issues and our midfield is probably the biggest one. I think we actually have the possibility to mix it up and improve us in there and Goodwin did mix it up today but was very slow in doing so. I also don’t understand why Salem wasn’t put in the backline and Rivers, Bowey or even Judd pushed further up the ground. The way Viney is playing he might need to spend more time as a defensive forward too. Right now it’s really hard watching Oliver. Oliver is my favourite all time Demon and it hurts watching him at the moment, he looks so lost and lacking his competitive edge. 
 

We are also playing too many players who simply just can’t run hard enough for long enough. 
 

Long way to go but this season could slip away  quickly if we can’t resolve some of our issues. 

10 minutes ago, mo64 said:

JJ and Bedford have been better for their respective sides than Billings and Hunter have been for us. Fact!!!! JJ has been used as a tagger to great effect at Sydney. Our mids are getting decimated, and Goodwin is clueless to do anything about it.

Jordon is clearly one of the best taggers in the game. DubDee can't shake off the rosy red and blue glasses.

One of my biggest gripe with Goodwin is he's refusal to tag gun players. Tim Kelly tonight was unbelievable and barely anyone went with him. It's cost us games.

Goody is too arrogant to even realise that he should have at least tried Jordon as a tagger last year after the success we had with Harmes back in 2018 before trading him off. 

4 minutes ago, Red But Mostly Blue said:

The upside is that, if we’re going to play like this, we definitely won’t make the top 4, and maybe not the finals at all, so there’s no real chance of a straight sets exit. 

That would be more a straight exit for Goodwin 🤭

1 minute ago, At the break of Gawn said:

Oliver and Petracca have only once finished in the top 5 disposal getters together this season (against the Dogs). 

Jack Viney has not had more than 25 disposals in a game this season.

This three headed monster midfield, once even compared to Judd, Kerr and Cousins, is just a shell of its former self..

Of all the issues being discussed on this thread (selection, fitness, key forwards), this is the one that deserves the most attention.

24 minutes ago, Fromgotowoewodin said:

Yeah nah. Team has finished top 4 last 3 years, we’re entitled to go into a game against a bottom 4 team expecting a win. Do you think pies or cats fans wet the bed in the lead up to a game against a bottom 4 team? 

Can’t blame supporters for the team being no good.

Yeah nah. Missed the point. Said the team held the mentality vocalised by some on here. Supporters aren’t to blame, of course. But when we take our oppo for granted, this is what happens. 

 

8 minutes ago, DubDee said:

most were supportive on here at selection. you honestly thing Fullarton would make a difference with 21 less inside 50s?

No, Fullarton wasn’t going to be the difference.

It goes deeper than what happened just on the field though. It so shows that the ‘Brains Trust’ are lacking creativity and innovation in Selection and are too staid in their thinking. At worst one could suspect that they will stick to their ‘favourites’ exclusively. Hardly good for the morale of some, for others, perhaps boasting their already healthy egos.  Same attitude applies with the Game plan, despite somewhat of a tweak this season it has remained the same for many years. 
This steadfastness, IMO, bordering on ‘pigheadedness’ ,has ,again IMO, cost the Club a Premiership in 2022 or 2023, or perhaps both years.

After tonight the Alarms bells are ringing loudly for 2024 as well.

If you cannot score more than your opponents you lose. 
our system for going into our F50 is stuffed. Both in terms of delivery from the mids and movement and execution of shots on goal. 
picking up players who are NQR from other clubs for next to nothing does not work. If they are any good they cost.

both areas have been a problem for some time and need fixing.

Does this sound like criticism then it probably is. So selection, coaching, conditioning need looking at quickly. 

1 minute ago, titan_uranus said:

Of all the issues being discussed on this thread (selection, fitness, key forwards), this is the one that deserves the most attention.

A very big issue that has been largely overlooked. 

2 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

Of all the issues being discussed on this thread (selection, fitness, key forwards), this is the one that deserves the most attention.

Raised it with Binman last week and he just pointed to pressure stats 😂

2 minutes ago, Abyssal said:

No, Fullarton wasn’t going to be the difference.

It goes deeper than what happened just on the field though. It so shows that the ‘Brains Trust’ are lacking creativity and innovation in Selection and are too staid in their thinking. At worst one could suspect that they will stick to their ‘favourites’ exclusively. Hardly good for the morale of some, for others, perhaps boasting their already healthy egos.  Same attitude applies with the Game plan, despite somewhat of a tweak this season it has remained the same for many years. 
This steadfastness, IMO, bordering on ‘pigheadedness’ ,has ,again IMO, cost the Club a Premiership in 2022 or 2023, or perhaps both years.

After tonight the Alarms bells are ringing loudly for 2024 as well.

so who is killing it at Casey that you would have brought in?

you can’t go on that rant without at least providing an alternative 

"Midfield malice. How Dees engine room has gone from elite to mince meat"

8 minutes ago, Swooper Northey said:

Looked like they started Sparrow on a wing which I think robbed the midfield of an important rotation. Should have started Woewodin there and let Sparrow run through the middle. 

Yes, That was a head-scratcher. I assumed it would be Billings and Windsor with Woey.

I can understand why they picked Brown, with JVR out, but having an underdone MacAdam in the same forward line was another factor in the unravelling.

9 minutes ago, At the break of Gawn said:

Oliver and Petracca have only once finished in the top 5 disposal getters together this season (against the Dogs). 

Jack Viney has not had more than 25 disposals in a game this season.

This three headed monster midfield, once even compared to Judd, Kerr and Cousins, is just a shell of its former self..

 

Completely.

until our big 3 start playing well again we won’t win a thing and could miss finals

Name change. Bunerong in 2025 

I don't see why so many people are down on us. We're a good side, we just got beaten by a much better side tonight. It's hard to go to Perth, plus we weren't even that bad!

We'll knock off the Saints next week and be back to our winning ways.

28 minutes ago, Colm said:

Anybody know what our pressure rating for the game was?

Somewhere down round our ankles

Like I've previously said I'm completely embarrassed with the performance tonight no excuses.

I will hold off on the premature "Not a contender talk".

I will reserve my judgement until after the next month of Football.

I reckon 15 wins will get you in the top 4 this year as teams are knocking off each other in and around the 8, so there is still plenty to play for but tonight's result is alarming non the less.

Our greatest mistake was made at the end of 22 with the recruitment of Grundy when we should have pursued and placed our resources into a Powerhouse Forward.

Edited May 19, 20241 yr by YesitwasaWin4theAges

Can someone please tell me if Goody’s presser is worth watching with some tangible ‘learnings’ (like what we’re going to do about our slow starts, taking teams for granted, where our midfield has gone in 2024 etc), or if it’s just going to bum me out even more than I am now.