New recruits Henderson and Sharp must be the worst players to wear the red and blue since Jim Toumpas.

It just all feels a bit sad really. This team is a shell of what it used to be. Not sure where we go from here.

Goody keeps talking about the band being back together. Feels like the band has stayed together for one too many albums.

4 minutes ago, Deefensive Language said:

Geelong have taken a record number of uncontested marks. They have scored every second time they've entered the 50. They toyed with us.

Allowing your opposition to rebound with ease and control ball movement is not how you play AFL level footy. The coaching is horrid.

That Simon refuses to play man v man in key areas of the ground instead of continually guarding grass is unforgivable.

There's no ability to turn the pressure wick up using the game style Simon brings.

Any oppo with decent AFL level skills and spread will break us open and pick us apart once the game opens up in 2nd halfs.

That's another season down the gurgler.

Barring a few who really put in every week this has been as amature a start to a season as i've witnessed since the Neeld era but he had a much younger team without the big names we presently have in the mix.

There's just nothing to hang our hat on. So easy to beat. We'll be lucky to win about two or three games for the year at this point.

Our ball movement is predictable, boring, poorly executed and very easy to defend.

Incapable of putting many quality chains together and then connect with that last entry.

Pressure and ground ball gets inside 50 is as poor as any team in the AFL, if not the worst of them all.

If Simon has any answers his time to show everyone is quickly running out.

If there's no major turnaround in the next three to four weeks we should thank him for his services, appoint an interim coach and commence the search.

Edited April 4Apr 4 by Demon Dynasty

Just now, watchtheeyes said:

I hate using this expression, but Petty is soft. Doesn’t want it, doesn’t want the contest.

Can’t play again.

JVR playing young… immature tactically, immature physically.

I've avoided saying it prior to tonight, but Petty isn't a player who wears an injury well. And there's often a mystery injury. Translate that how you like. Genuinely, I've had him in the gun since the 'golf with mates' interview, but he has no go in him at all. I want him gone. He's an absolute Donny Downer.

1 minute ago, Sir Why You Little said:

I think this all comes down to fitness

Selwyn is not the man

We have to get to a higher level, better fitness gives better skills

I was thinking this as well. We looked a level below the Cats all night. So many tackles didn’t stick, they seem to be far more agile than us and be able to side step tackles at will. Our last quarters have been poor in every game.

Geelong looked fitter, stronger and faster.

Play Petty forward and JVR down back and see if any of them can gain some confidence.

What a fall.

I think we had around 14 premiership players out there tonight.

Plus a few good youngsters.

Lever and McVee to come back.

The biggest on field reason/issue IMO is at our absolute top we had a huge BBB with an inform Fritsch. Readymade hulk KPF's are hard to find.

JVR and Turner are still very inexperienced and not BBB size.

The Cats Neale would be handy.

At least I can get on with my weekend now.

I just don't understand coaching, I really don't. Just boggles my mind with what Goodwin did and how he played into the Cats' hands.

I know we almost won round 1, but we look so far off winning a game at the moment.

If we don't win one in the next 3 we could potentially go winless this whole season. I'm not joking. We look so impotent going forward.

Even off turnover I just can't work out how our forwards never have any separation. We never get an easy look.

I am emotionally distraught. The club appears to have no idea. They put in some effort but lack basic skills, team method and belief in each other. It’s gunna be a looooong season….

This wasn't as bad as some on here are making out. Fritsch kicks that goal at the start of the fourth and it's a 10 point game with us having kicked 6 out of the last 8 goals or something like that, with genuine momentum and for the first time in ages, perhaps a lick of confidence/hope.

But he misses, and like the rest of the last three weeks, what was left of our confidence disappeared.

We did a lot right IMO. We clearly tried to move it quicker. We applied much better pressure, for much longer than the last two weeks. We actually even got a few coaching moves right (Sparrow to Holmes was a good move and to his credit Sparrow did his job excellently).

But there's still so much we're bad at.

Fitness. How the [censored] were we being out-run by an older side off a six (but really five and a half) day break coming off a game played in humid Brisbane? We have got our fitness all wrong

I've been a JVR defender but he's going nowhere fast. He insists on playing back shoulder and running towards goal, when he does actually lead up he cannot take a mark, and he is a liability if the ball hits the deck. Right now, I'm very much in favour of sending him back to Casey to find some form.

It's no wonder Trac's frustrated. Look at who he's got for company down there. Sharp and Spargo wouldn't be getting a game for any other side in the comp right now. Fritsch can't kick straight to save his life. Turner and Henderson can do good things but both are still learning how to be forwards at AFL level. We are so devoid of talent in our forward half.

And then of course our skills. We are just so, so terrible by foot. I lost count of the number of times we had space in our forward line and kicked to a player's feet, or over his head, or straight to a Geelong player, or to the Geelong player's advantage. It's embarrassing at this point.

May was unbelievable, Langford's first half was great but he faded badly, Chandler on a wing and half-back worked well I thought, I've already mentioned Sparrow's great tagging game, and hopefully Pickett's better for the run next week.

Right now it’s hard to see Goodwin surviving past this year, if we play like this against a team who has a day out it’s going to get very ugly.

Mentally and physically we are no where near the level to compete for finals. Throw in lots of inexperienced players a new game plan and experienced players way out of form and no confidence. This has the hallmarks of a year from hell and given the history of this club in my lifetime it’s probably not going to turn around quickly.

1 minute ago, titan_uranus said:

This wasn't as bad as some on here are making out. Fritsch kicks that goal at the start of the fourth and it's a 10 point game with us having kicked 6 out of the last 8 goals or something like that, with genuine momentum and for the first time in ages, perhaps a lick of confidence/hope.

But he misses, and like the rest of the last three weeks, what was left of our confidence disappeared.

We did a lot right IMO. We clearly tried to move it quicker. We applied much better pressure, for much longer than the last two weeks. We actually even got a few coaching moves right (Sparrow to Holmes was a good move and to his credit Sparrow did his job excellently).

But there's still so much we're bad at.

Fitness. How the [censored] were we being out-run by an older side off a six (but really five and a half) day break coming off a game played in humid Brisbane? We have got our fitness all wrong

I've been a JVR defender but he's going nowhere fast. He insists on playing back shoulder and running towards goal, when he does actually lead up he cannot take a mark, and he is a liability if the ball hits the deck. Right now, I'm very much in favour of sending him back to Casey to find some form.

It's no wonder Trac's frustrated. Look at who he's got for company down there. Sharp and Spargo wouldn't be getting a game for any other side in the comp right now. Fritsch can't kick straight to save his life. Turner and Henderson can do good things but both are still learning how to be forwards at AFL level. We are so devoid of talent in our forward half.

And then of course our skills. We are just so, so terrible by foot. I lost count of the number of times we had space in our forward line and kicked to a player's feet, or over his head, or straight to a Geelong player, or to the Geelong player's advantage. It's embarrassing at this point.

May was unbelievable, Langford's first half was great but he faded badly, Chandler on a wing and half-back worked well I thought, I've already mentioned Sparrow's great tagging game, and hopefully Pickett's better for the run next week.

It was as bad as some on here are making out. What ifs don't count.

Thank you Tommy Mac - the only player that looked inside the whole night.

18 minutes ago, DistrACTION Jackson said:

That pick is Lindsay you absolute fl@g of a supporter…. Would rather him at this stage. Maybe learn about what the pick was traded for you peanut brain

Bit harsh. Fairly innocuous comment. Seems you old-timers love to rip into new/infrequent posters over not much.

From Swamp on socials:

MELB scoring and ladder percentage in Q4 this year

4.9 (33) - points for

21.9 (135) - points against

24.44%

That is a huge friggin problem.

Very few positives we can take from that performance. We never looked like taking the lead again after kicking that first goal.

However, it showed that our structure behind the ball mixed with enough pressure, creates more than enough opportunities to kick a winning score, but I'm pretty sure we kicked 2.5 from turnover for the game. We turn it over ourselves immediately when it's time to score back the other way. That 17 points is VFL level stuff and why we're rooted to the bottom of the table.

And it starts with our ball movement, which is truly woeful. It doesn't help that we have an inability to hit basic kicks (sometimes under little / perhaps perceived pressure), and I think the worst sign is we have/had an insistence on going long to contests. Even when it is to 1v1 or a 3v3. Why have we moved away from trying to maintain possession at the back with short passes? It worked a treat for Geelong tonight, and it worked a treat for us in Round 1, and in the small patches across Rounds 2 and 3. It seemed a clear instruction to simply go long to the contest down the line.

Sure, we had more effort (this basic non negotiation shouldn't even require mentioning), but we had no identifiable brand tonight IMO. And that's what we have to look for. I think what we want to see probably happens in stages. First, we want to be able to make the right decisions and hit the right kicks on turnover that lead to scores. Second, as we get better at that, we need to start to take more risks to move the ball faster. But we don't seem to be even attempting the first stage. It ended up looking like a hodgepodge of nothingness.

I'd say Bowey, McDonald and Salem were our best. Trac, a special mention.

JVR needs to play in front and if he is found caught behind, take the body. Clarry needs to do more with 30 possessions now, he's no longer a 23-24 year old mid. 4 score involvements is not enough, particularly when he gets burnt in defensive transition. We need to play Viney forward or in the VFL, we can't have our VC getting it 15 times for 7 turnovers. I'm really at a loss after this one...

Edited April 4Apr 4 by Adam The God

Just now, Sesto said:

Bit harsh. Fairly innocuous comment. Seems you old-timers love to rip into new/infrequent posters over not much.

Just sick of people going on about the first round pick without mentioning who we got for it. Lindsay was genuinely The best performed draftee the first two weeks, better than Ashcroft, lalor, O’Sullivan, Draper… all top 5 picks. He’s an absolute jet and I’m Glad we got him.

Dire times ahead

Some hard decisions needed

9 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

I think this all comes down to fitness

Selwyn is not the man

We have to get to a higher level, better fitness gives better skills

6 goals on a dry night

It’s unacceptable

Goodwin and Selwyn have to move on

I think Selwyn is a problem but we have one guy who has busted his gut to be fitter than most of the list - Bill Laurie. Not only that, but churns out a stat line in the VFL.

Not a great player necessarily - but does he get a look in? No. Not a coach's favourite. Has never been given an extended run in the team. Is he better than Henderson? Sharp? Absolutely. But they get the benefit of the doubt because they're new.

Goodwin lost me when Oliver played round 1 last year after spending most of the summer on another planet.

He has always played favourites and there has been zero selection integrity for years. Senior players rushed back when injured, time and time again.

The coaching is poor and the standards are poor, and yes we have immature melodramatic leaders. The best (ANB) left the club and is now lifting the standards in Adelaide with Burgess.

Our flag team was built on real coaches who taught the game - Roos, McCartney, Rawlings. Stafford, the scapegoat for the conversion proglems...taught Gawn how to ruck, after Roos and Stynes inspired him to be great.

We have [censored] leaders, amateur coaches and our young players are regressing.

4 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

This wasn't as bad as some on here are making out. Fritsch kicks that goal at the start of the fourth and it's a 10 point game with us having kicked 6 out of the last 8 goals or something like that, with genuine momentum and for the first time in ages, perhaps a lick of confidence/hope.

But he misses, and like the rest of the last three weeks, what was left of our confidence disappeared.

We did a lot right IMO. We clearly tried to move it quicker. We applied much better pressure, for much longer than the last two weeks. We actually even got a few coaching moves right (Sparrow to Holmes was a good move and to his credit Sparrow did his job excellently).

But there's still so much we're bad at.

Fitness. How the [censored] were we being out-run by an older side off a six (but really five and a half) day break coming off a game played in humid Brisbane? We have got our fitness all wrong

I've been a JVR defender but he's going nowhere fast. He insists on playing back shoulder and running towards goal, when he does actually lead up he cannot take a mark, and he is a liability if the ball hits the deck. Right now, I'm very much in favour of sending him back to Casey to find some form.

It's no wonder Trac's frustrated. Look at who he's got for company down there. Sharp and Spargo wouldn't be getting a game for any other side in the comp right now. Fritsch can't kick straight to save his life. Turner and Henderson can do good things but both are still learning how to be forwards at AFL level. We are so devoid of talent in our forward half.

And then of course our skills. We are just so, so terrible by foot. I lost count of the number of times we had space in our forward line and kicked to a player's feet, or over his head, or straight to a Geelong player, or to the Geelong player's advantage. It's embarrassing at this point.

May was unbelievable, Langford's first half was great but he faded badly, Chandler on a wing and half-back worked well I thought, I've already mentioned Sparrow's great tagging game, and hopefully Pickett's better for the run next week.

Not fit enough

Standards right through the Football Department have to get better

1-2% is what i mean

All of those what if’s are what’s lacking

So many players faded out! JVR & Petty must go back to Casey. Rivers is close to the same! That means Jefferson and Adams come in. Turner was just ok. Fritsch slightly improved. I agree about Sharp, not getting enough of it, Lindsay comes back for him. Chandler giving his all.

What else can we do about forward line? Well, at least McDonald can still take a mark!

What else can we do about midfield? Max is hitting it indiscriminately, getting picked of 50% of the time. What happened to the deft palms? Time to give Tom Campbell a look in. It doesn’t matter if we are somehow slower (we can’t get much slower) We just need an honest contest in the centre square, Tom will give that. I wouldn’t drop Max… just use him forward more (we need a different look up forward)and let him refresh on the bench.

I know Petracca hit the scoreboard, but he needs to play 80% of his time on the ball. He is one who still has explosive speed and body strength,

Lever and McVee come back to improve the backline.

4 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

This wasn't as bad as some on here are making out. Fritsch kicks that goal at the start of the fourth and it's a 10 point game with us having kicked 6 out of the last 8 goals or something like that, with genuine momentum and for the first time in ages, perhaps a lick of confidence/hope.

But he misses, and like the rest of the last three weeks, what was left of our confidence disappeared.

We did a lot right IMO. We clearly tried to move it quicker. We applied much better pressure, for much longer than the last two weeks. We actually even got a few coaching moves right (Sparrow to Holmes was a good move and to his credit Sparrow did his job excellently).

But there's still so much we're bad at.

Fitness. How the [censored] were we being out-run by an older side off a six (but really five and a half) day break coming off a game played in humid Brisbane? We have got our fitness all wrong

I've been a JVR defender but he's going nowhere fast. He insists on playing back shoulder and running towards goal, when he does actually lead up he cannot take a mark, and he is a liability if the ball hits the deck. Right now, I'm very much in favour of sending him back to Casey to find some form.

It's no wonder Trac's frustrated. Look at who he's got for company down there. Sharp and Spargo wouldn't be getting a game for any other side in the comp right now. Fritsch can't kick straight to save his life. Turner and Henderson can do good things but both are still learning how to be forwards at AFL level. We are so devoid of talent in our forward half.

And then of course our skills. We are just so, so terrible by foot. I lost count of the number of times we had space in our forward line and kicked to a player's feet, or over his head, or straight to a Geelong player, or to the Geelong player's advantage. It's embarrassing at this point.

May was unbelievable, Langford's first half was great but he faded badly, Chandler on a wing and half-back worked well I thought, I've already mentioned Sparrow's great tagging game, and hopefully Pickett's better for the run next week.

Are you in denial? We are very poor & get scored against easily, can’t take a mark in our fwd 50 .. yeah we are close

Brad Green and team, you have a lot of time driving home tonight to have a long hard think about the direction of the footy club.

24 minutes ago, Standard Deviation said:

So, starting with some positives. Apart from Petty, our backline was much improved today. Chandler was excellent for mine. Number of players lifted and were better.

Kicked 0.0 as a small forward