A few comments and questions. Looking for some kind of silver lining.,

1./ Collingwood are elite with turnovers and we just couldn’t defend their fast breaks. They seem faster, more physical but also much better kicks. Are we really suddenly this far behind? 

2./ Our kicking for goal was a mix of terrible but also unlucky. Kozzi hit the post .. was it 3 times? As poor as we looked do you think if we kicked straight we’re actually in that game… or am I clutching at straws. 

3./ I can’t quite put my finger on it but there seems to be a definite lack of buzz or joy or energy in this group at this point. I can’t help but wonder about what’s going on behind the scenes. Did you feel the same? 

 

First of all thanks for all the work you do on the site and the podcast.

If at this point we are on the hypothetical trajectory of worse case scenario and are about to collapse once more into the footy doldrums, what is the team's best approach for the rest of the year to try to allay or avoid that? Should we hope for a low ladder position this year to go to the draft again? Does this team, who have played high end footy into finals for 3 seasons in a row, just need a longer break?

Adversely, if we are on the hypothetical trajectory of Swans/Cats style long-term pointy-end-of-ladderness, how should the team approach the rest of this season? I don't think we would be wavering from the team and coaching structures based on one [censored] season. Having 1 cooked year in 4 actually seems pretty normal. See Hawthorn 2017, Tigers 2021, Cats 2023 and Swans 2023.

Lastly, my thoughts on Dees fans' general negativity throughout these remarkable years are that we exhibit three generations of supporters not having any clue about what following a good footy club looks or feels like. My Hawthorn mate knows his team will come good, we expect us to become useless again. Can we change this? How?

G'Day Gents

Very very disappointing month.  

Goody had built a contested hard nosed style of football that complimented our mids perfectly, Viney, Petracca, Oliver could get down and dirty and do what they do best.  It's clear that he has tried to implement forward hand balling into our game.  But it doesn't suit our list and quite frankly a lot in our team are not good at hand balling, the amount of times a player has to stop his momentum to wait for the ball to arrive is frustrating. 

The players look lost with this new system and haven't bought into it fully i don't think.  My question is, we have been top 4 for 3 years and last year lost 1 final by 7 points and the other by 2, the first with a makeshift forward line and the second with no forward line.  Why have we made such a drastic change to our game style when were were that close? and it is a drastic game style change, handball more, posses the ball more, use the corridor more.  I feel Goody and Co have jumped at shadows a bit here.

We tried to go back to old Melb a bit this game but this clearly confused the players and they look confused and lack confidence.  We are now fighting to make finals and fighting to find which style of football we want to play, that's not a good position to be in at this stage of the year with the ladder as tight as it is. 

Have a good week off guys you have earned it!

Nothing is ever as good or as bad as it seems. Have we lost our way? It feels that we are modifying our gameplan and have lost our DNA.  We seem confused and have a lack of confidence in what we are doing.  Can you please discuss and maybe help me see a ‘bright side’ to all of this,

Pondering the last month or so of footy, the 2 most disappointing sides have to be Melbourne and Adelaide. With Burgess in charge of fitness at the Crows and Griffiths, a Burgess acolyte, in charge of fitness at the Dees, is there something common in the training of these 2 sides that could be causing these results? Are the training methods out of date? Are they training in a hard block in May that's going to pay dividends in the rest of the season? Is there too much focus on fitness and not enough on skills? It just seems interesting to me that those 2 sides, who should be fit are languishing at present.

9 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I didn't want blood but I did want physicality. Not directed at Maynard either, just a bruising style around the ground. A Maynard "bounty-gate" would have been counter productive but there is still room in footy to "make them earn it" with a hard-hitting attack on the footy and opponent.

Absolutely. 

I was all for making him earn it and letting him know we 'were there'. But how much extra was there to gain by slamming him into next week?

It's burying the lead in my view and the truth is that we weren't hard enough on balance. 

Another poor performance from our midfield. I’m glad Goody acknowledged how bad we are at centre clearance and clearances in general in his presser. It makes it very difficult to play a strong territory game when you get smashed in clearances.

I also think Viney is really struggling. Who knows if he’s injured or not but only 19 disposals. Only 1 clearance, went at 53% and only 20 pressure acts. I’m just not sure what we do with him. 

How can we overcome this clearance problem in the middle? Is it the player mix or is it more of a positioning and strategy thing?

Going to cut the questions off here. Thank you to everyone for their contributions. Hopefully tonight can be the therapy session we need.

 

I finally said goodbye to Google Podcast, and am now following along again on Antenna Pod.  Sounding great as always, fellas, even if it is another difficult game to discuss!

My Mid Season Review:  Outstanding first half of the season @Demonland, @george_on_the_outer and @binman.  Win or lose, I never miss a Pod, and they always keep me absorbed from go to whoa. Thank you, and enjoy your mid season bye!