2 hours ago, H_T said:

That still hurts. 

That really hurt. It was obvious (or at least most likely) that another loss was on the cards (perhaps, a streak of inexplicable losses) and how could I not think Badloss would continue on his merry, well-compensated role to lead us into the gloominess of mediocrity?

I agree with ALL of the above. Good points though were ANB elevating to a higher level and Windsor emerging!  Rivers was good. 

Edited August 13, 20241 yr by Rob Mac......

Kings birthday, even before the Petracca diagnosis and prognosis.  There was no spark or flare in the team; we had looked flat for a long time and it became clear that the will and the hunger wasn't there.  Try as they might, it's a difficult thing to generate.

Long term concerns were there for me midway through last year.  Similar to what I've said, in 2021, the players were clearly enjoying themselves on the field and seemed to take delight in each others efforts and rewards.  For a long time they've looked bored and flat out there, exacerbated by teams being able to get huge run-ons against us since mid-22.  There's a touch Neil Craig's 'Crow-bots' about them.  Craig was a very good coach and the players liked and respected him, but the message just stopped inspiring after a while.

List and staff needs a refresh.

 

2 hours ago, H_T said:

That still hurts. 

It's enraging 

Straight sets 2023.

4 hours ago, Frosticles said:

It was the demolition by Fremantle in R12 that ended season 2024 for me. 

That's the one. Not immediately after the game, but when it became clear this wasn't a wild aberration, but a symptom of very deep problems. 

Not going to lie, the very first practice Game v Richmond I was really concerned.  We looked dynamite in the first quarter, and from memory we were 5 goals up, and then got absolutely obliterated by the eventual wooden spooners.  There were things that day that in hindsight were a taste of what our season was to become, hot and cold, method looked off, we got easily opened up, and individuals looked underdone. Plus all of a sudden the list looked thin. I did have sense of optimism throughout the season, but this was my first concern 

Kings Birthday. I expected us to come out breathing fire, we came out breathing Kool Mints. Trac's injury was just the icing on the cake.

Brisvegas at The MCG. The spark to go in for the kill just wasn’t there….

Losing to the worst Eagles team in living memory. And losing convincingly…

Ever the optimist I thought we would still play finals until that 2 point loss to GWS....close but so far this season too many key players unavailable killed us....that and our depth just isnt what it used to be, so its good to see some good youth coming through

4 hours ago, Fork 'em said:

When Grundy pulled Gawns pants down in Rd1.
1st 2 clean hitouts to swans advantage in the game TBH.

 

With fans thinking like that is it any wonder they drop off. By 10,000 plus once we lose badly. 

I was at that game and really we ran out of puff after 3/4 time plus it was revealed Maxy played under duress, Spargo was never fit and Billing’s got no kicks as the Sub. 
If you rationalise that form and Sydney’s following wins in a row then it was not such a bad performance. 

Thstswhy I would never give up for the 4,or 8 as a result like that. Teams lose and reasons can explain that in more depth thought and a lot more faith for your team. 

Nervous over the preseason, particularly with Oliver struggling the Brayshaw having to retire!

The first Freo game was horrific, followed by Trac going down against the Pies totally finished it!

 

I knew we were cactus when Brayshaw retired.

I regained a small amount of hope after Geelong, but that was well and truly extinguished when the poor start against Carlton was followed by a four quarter debacle against West Coast. 

Ultimately too many players, coaches and officials have been sleeping on the job since September 2021, and especially since September 2023.

Preseason - it was 2019 like with the volume of players in rehab. Can't play a season in this gruelling league with so many underdone - bring on 2025 - we will be back

Losing Gus made me change my mind from top 8 and maybe top 4 pushed back to top 8 only.  We would have needed a lot to go right to be top 4 without such a valuable player like Brayshaw (worth another 2 wins at least)

Gus in the midfield would have given the MC an opportunity to use Petracca forward (along with Kozzie) With JVR, Fritsch Petty and company, suddenly our forward line might have been quite functional

But we would have needed a fit & firing Clarrie, an impactful Petty as well as a productive Melksham (later in the year) as well, to push for the top 8.  

But the above didn't really happen so maybe top 8 only until ... Petracca went down

Then, we would have been lucky to make the 8 and that's how it panned out

Not having a proper ruckman as back up to Gawn also hurt us.  Many of us thought that the recruitment of Fullarton would help but no call-up at all

So, once we lost Petracca it was always going to be tough

Hindsight tells us that losing to the Eagles and then getting thumped by Freo in the Alice were the 2 big pointers

Also think that whilst our grinding, work for stoppages style often keeps us in the game, a more attacking mindset could have seen us win games against the Lions, Giants & Port 

But that subject matter (a more attacking mindset) is a debate for another day

13 hours ago, Nicko said:

Same 

Same here our biggest loss in about 6-7 years and when they repeated the dose at Optus I knew we were on a wing and a prayer.

When @binman said on the podcast 3 weeks ago, after getting absolutely pantsed by Freo, that he would be "shocked if we don't make finals"

Losing to the Eagles in Perth and then smashed by Freo in Alice.

Early in the year I was extremely bullish about our season. That turned after the Brisbane loss when we couldn't win a clearance to save ourselves. I thought we'd lose to Freo but the manner in which we lost was a huge huge reality check. Season over there.

14 hours ago, Frosticles said:

Curious as to when people knew that 2024 was all over for them.

I suspected we were not going to make finals all the way back after the R3 win over Port Adelaide.  Our midfield got absolutely smashed that game and I have no idea how we actually ended up winning.  But of course, I wasn't sure, just shocked.  Getting the two wins in Adelaide papered over the cracks.  Then Brisbane beat us on the MCG and my suspicions deepened.

The loss to West Coast R10 was a bad omen ... but sometimes teams just have a bad one and the oppo play really well ...

It was the demolition by Fremantle in R12 that ended season 2024 for me.  Fortunately I was away o/seas for the middle part of the year and I didn't have to watch that debacle.  I'm having bad flashbacks to 2019 and 2020 ever since.

After we lost to Brisbane the first time I knew we wouldn't win the premiership. 

5 hours ago, 58er said:

With fans thinking like that is it any wonder they drop off. By 10,000 plus once we lose badly. 

I was at that game and really we ran out of puff after 3/4 time plus it was revealed Maxy played under duress, Spargo was never fit and Billing’s got no kicks as the Sub. 
If you rationalise that form and Sydney’s following wins in a row then it was not such a bad performance. 

Thstswhy I would never give up for the 4,or 8 as a result like that. Teams lose and reasons can explain that in more depth thought and a lot more faith for your team. 

I’m not sure, but if you’re saying what I think you’re saying, I agree with you, 58er.

I don’t believe for one second a supporter truly believed our season was over after the opening round match. Same goes for people claiming they knew before the season even started. I just don’t believe that’s possible. How could anyone muster even the slightest enthusiasm for the season when they “know” the season is over before it even starts?! I call a big bunch of BS on that. Sure, you may have concerns at the time, but the question posed is when did you know season 2024 was over. 

Straight sets 2023 set off alarm bells.

Losing Gus rang more alarm bells, the Sydney game was putrid

Kings birthday though. Should have come out breathing fire but too interested in cuddling Maynard 

Edited August 14, 20241 yr by Superunknown

The Alice game was a bolt from the blue. so uncompetitive but i still held out hope. I finally accepted defeat after the doggies game. It was obvious we had our mind on the beach.

 

I still had hope after we beat Essendon. Maybe I was just giddy with delight having beaten that piece of [censored] team but I still thought we’d make finals at that point. It was only after we lost to the Giants two weeks later that I gave up hopes of making the eight.