Too early to commence a Get Lade thread?

1 minute ago, Queanbeyan Demon said:

Too early to commence a Get Lade thread?

Everyone.

Formal interviews commence tomorrow for all involved.

Wish us all luck…

5 minutes ago, GawnOfTheDead said:

Everyone.

Formal interviews commence tomorrow for all involved.

Wish us all luck…

So interviews with the assistants still in the finals?

1 minute ago, kurtneverdied said:

So interviews with the assistants still in the finals?

Yes

Bring Daisy home!

What is the official date of picking a senior coach?

5 minutes ago, Coolx2 said:

What is the official date of picking a senior coach?

There's no official date, they decide when they decide. But they have said Prelim final week, so if they stick to that it gives us another 10 - 12 days.

For mine, given that they're only starting full interviews this week it seems a bit rushed - but I doubt they want it to run into GF week either.

6 hours ago, demoncat said:

I’ll die on the hill that we were never “figured out” in 2022 and 23

We didn’t give ourselves a chance in 22 because of an inability to run out games, part of which was a result of poor management of players throughout the season

We were primed in 23 but had a horrendous run of bad luck which saw us run out with a D grade forward line in the Carlton semi, which saw one of the all time awful goal kicking performances

Neither of the straight sets exits were a result of our system, but 23 was probably the last year we could realistically win the flag with that style and group of players

2022 we got arrogant and thought the GF was a given. Never rested players when necessary and lost our fitness guru before the pre season.

2023 learnerd the lessons from 2022 but due to a combination of bad luck, a thug and horrendous kicking we went out in straight sets again.

3 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Will be very interesting to see what the candidates are for the board position.

1 hour ago, bing181 said:

There's no official date, they decide when they decide. But they have said Prelim final week, so if they stick to that it gives us another 10 - 12 days.

For mine, given that they're only starting full interviews this week it seems a bit rushed - but I doubt they want it to run into GF week either.

There's a trade period in mid October, yes? Even then other eliminated clubs would already be using right now gaining whatever advantage they can formulating every detail of next year's battle plan earlier. Of course a coach change is the biggest way of well.... changing. But the sooner the better.

3 hours ago, Queanbeyan Demon said:

Too early to commence a Get Lade thread?

Well we did have scoring problems - rushing it inside 50, not finding good positions and only managing behinds. Maybe it would've helped if we had got Lade months ago. 😁

8 hours ago, Macca said:

Well, there weren't many (if any) people questioning our method of attack in the 2022 or 2023 seasons

Both years we won 16 games in the season proper and what we were doing was actually working

I'll take a 16 & 6 or a 16 & 7 record any day of the week. Of course, we ran out of legs in 2022 and that was an issue. And in 2023 we ended up with a D Grade forward line once the finals started

So sound reasoning for falling short in 2023 but no excuses in 2022 (Imv)

But gradually, the long bomb started becoming obsolete culminating with a lot of questions in 2024 & 2025

The argument against not bombing it in back in 2022 & 2023 was that we were effectively stopping the opposition from scoring when we did bomb it in (average score against in both years - 65 points)

For proof, go back and read the relevant threads in 2022 & 2023. Hardly anyone here was questioning our method of attack. Many of us thought we were heading for another flag especially with a 10 & 0 start to the 2022 season

In hindsight, it's a different take. But that's hindsight. Bit like the draft ... shouda, couda, wouda

As for the forward line, we need at least a couple of new additions as the personnel we have right now keeps falling short

The midfield? Our existing mids need to share the ball in an attacking way with long bombs being a thing of the past. The extra handpass instead with our mids running into space up forward to receive 20 metre passes

It's funny that I started to say these things in 2022 and onwards, as you could see the changing game styles that teams were starting to implement. Our midfield then was one-paced and lacked skills, and as the years have gone on, it has been shown to be correct. We had forward line problems then, and we still do now, so nothing has changed since then.

Edited Sunday at 12:122 days by demon3165

6 hours ago, Jjrogan said:

You can't teach forward craft. Players either know how to instinctively lose their opponents or that they dont. It's why 3 or 4 of our players had career best years for marks inside 50 per game (due to faster ball movement) and 2 didn't. We're going nowhere with the same KPFs.

You can teach body positioning, and you can teach leading patterns, and while forward instincts take time, you can at least make them competitive.

10 minutes ago, demon3165 said:

It's funny that I started to say these things in 2022 and onwards, as you could see the changing game styles that teams were starting to implement. Our midfield then was one-paced and lacked skills, and as the years have gone on, it has been shown to be correct. We had forward line problems then, and we still do now, so nothing has changed since then.

Brown succumbing to injuries along with T-Mac losing his impact was the main reason our forward line became dysfunctional

And we have tried to remedy things with JVR, Jeffo, Smith, AJ, Petty, McAdam etc etc

Hindsight tells us we should have gone after a proven key forward at some stage and we may well go down that path in the upcoming off-season

I hope we do as our current batch of KPF's just keep failing to measure up. Aside from the delivery forward, our KPF's don't win their own ball enough anyway. Low impact and once the ball hits the ground, it's the oppositions ball

I'd go after one proven KPF this year and then go again in 2026

We'd have to give up a bit but that's the price you have to pay for a quality forward

Our delivery forward needs an obvious fix. That's a job for the new coach

Edited Sunday at 13:422 days by Macca

1 hour ago, Macca said:

Hindsight tells us we should have gone after a proven key forward at some stage ...

Actual facts tell us that we have gone after proven key forwards (e.g. Lynch), but haven't been able to get any across.

Edited Sunday at 17:032 days by bing181

21 minutes ago, bing181 said:

Haven't been able to get any across ...

Personally, I was quite happy for the club to go after JVR & Jeffo in the draft (back then)

So far, it hasn't worked but it was worth the gamble (remembering that JT's strike rate in the draft is very good)

Time to change things up and shake up the list

Edited Sunday at 16:062 days by Macca

2 hours ago, Macca said:

Personally, I was quite happy for the club to go after JVR & Jeffo in the draft (back then)

Me too. But we've also targeted plenty of other key forwards: Schache, Fullarton, Johnson, Kentfield, even Turner. As we know, with the benefit of hindsight, not all those brought anything - but sooner or later, something has to stick. Add those to Petty, JVR, Jeffo ... there has to be at least one who'll step up to the 40 - 50 goals a season plate.

20 hours ago, Redleg said:

You have obviously forgotten that we lost to the now brilliant again Pies, twice this year, by a goal or less.

On each occasion we had more possession, contested possession, inside 50’s, shots at goal and of course less frees.

So based on that and the fact we lost 9 games by less than 2 goals this year, are we really hopeless, or maybe a couple of players needed, a recommitment to selfless play, under a slightly changed game plan, a strong pre season, natural development of some younger players, a good injury run and we are a strong chance to play finals.

we still lost those 9 games ! Start of season only the deluded thought we were a finals chance and we were not

Not sure why we didn’t complete our Coaching search process by now, to have allowed the new Coach to address the club at the B & F.

I suppose if the Coach is currently involved with another club in finals, that could have been difficult, but given they have said they will announce the Coach before the GF and possibly before the PF’s and especially if it is the rumoured favourite, that doesn’t seem to be an issue.

It would have been a great opportunity to have the Coach address the players, staff, sponsors and fans at our premier club function, before the players take their break.

Imagine the new Coach rallying the troops, the new CEO announcing Caulfield as the new training base and the President mentioning that Judd McVee has just signed and that fellow Board member Steven Smith will be President at the end of the AFLW season..

Fair bit of good news that could have been the catalyst to start the next pre season.

54 minutes ago, Kent said:

we still lost those 9 games ! Start of season only the deluded thought we were a finals chance and we were not

57 minutes ago, Kent said:

we still lost those 9 games ! Start of season only the deluded thought we were a finals chance and we were not

So call me deluded. Been called worse. I will most probably think the same again this December when all the houses are down and broken.

I get carried away by positive reports from the track watchers So read negative reports even more closely. Go Dee’s

What price did the bookies offer in March that we'd make finals? 3.50?! If that's delusional I don't think I'll ever have a bet again ; I couldn't bet on most races or back a team to win this year's flag until maybe now.

10 hours ago, demon3165 said:

It's funny that I started to say these things in 2022 and onwards, as you could see the changing game styles that teams were starting to implement. Our midfield then was one-paced and lacked skills, and as the years have gone on, it has been shown to be correct. We had forward line problems then, and we still do now, so nothing has changed since then.

10 hours ago, demon3165 said:

You can teach body positioning, and you can teach leading patterns, and while forward instincts take time, you can at least make them competitive.

Hard to understand why you're not on the shortlist of candidates really.

10 hours ago, Macca said:

Brown succumbing to injuries along with T-Mac losing his impact was the main reason our forward line became dysfunctional

And we have tried to remedy things with JVR, Jeffo, Smith, AJ, Petty, McAdam etc etc

Hindsight tells us we should have gone after a proven key forward at some stage and we may well go down that path in the upcoming off-season

I hope we do as our current batch of KPF's just keep failing to measure up. Aside from the delivery forward, our KPF's don't win their own ball enough anyway. Low impact and once the ball hits the ground, it's the oppositions ball

I'd go after one proven KPF this year and then go again in 2026

We'd have to give up a bit but that's the price you have to pay for a quality forward

Our delivery forward needs an obvious fix. That's a job for the new coach

Yep... hindsight - a helpful teacher but lousy critics. I bet there would be some fascinating stuff in the archives on here. I keep hearing that CHF/talls take quite some time to develop. We drafted one at #9 in about 2016 and obviously were patient. Just imagine if we traded Wiedeman at the end of 2020 and in the five years since he'd kicked 300 goals; on here we'd read about it daily. Anyway at the end of 21 we had a flag, Brown and TMac going ok and still a bit of hope for Wiedeman. At the end of 22 we still had Brown , TMac, JVR on the horizon and lots of people confident Petty could become a good forward. I'm not sure what we should have done since. But certainly we've tried a few players forward and recruited Jefferson. What terrible oversights have we made? It's so easy to knock out recruiting, for example. But I bet few can usually show proof of their original doubts or provide better alternatives.

On 06/09/2025 at 13:20, old55 said:

Bucks had to deal with Eddie and Pert, he's certainly had some tough schooling and would have learnt plenty from the experience.

It's a great point. Hadn't thought about that.

Is there a more unpleasant crucible to have been forged in?