von

Brisbane look like they are prepping for Monday. No presence early. Found something in the last 5 minutes.

Injuries are the #1 factor for how well you can go throughout the year. If last year was our ceiling(for arguments sake), with the same list, how could we expect to be better this year given the difference in injuries to key personnel. We weren’t banged up this time last year. We had an incredible run. We all know the injuries we’ve had. Our continuity this year has been poor. Our stars bar Oliver have struggled to get going. How can you refuse to use injuries as a reason for why we aren’t where we were last year? It’s not the sole reason but it’s a big one. You could also say dysfunctional forward line for example, but who’s missing? Tom Mac. Why? Injuries. A few percent off this time of year can be everything. We don’t have endless depth.

Revisionist it could be argued that the pro loading community were the ones crying out for a more nuanced look at the game and our form etc. those who were allergic to it just preferred the channel 7/fox footy talking points that are overly simplistic and lack context.

I wonder whether the club sees it as flirting with form. You have to go in with a plan. The best laid plans often go astray. The plan worked last year. It’s true in life and in sport, sometimes you have to deal with unforeseen circumstances. It’s possible trying to change the plan on the run mid season would end up being worse, I’m not sure. A fitness plan would surely be set and then adhered to as best as possible. No team can cover injuries to players beyond a point whether it be quantity or key players. I saw the season as dealing with what we had as best we could. We ended up second and look like finishing top 4 in a very competitive season.

There are good excuses. We are banged up currently. We have been banged up for large parts of the year. Injuries interrupt a teams ability to work toward collective fitness levels due to interruptions to the individualised programs throughout the season which means as a group we just aren’t as fit as last year. We just haven’t had the chance to build throughout the year the same way we did last year. This affects form, fitness, psychology. All kinds of stuff. There are so many factors to consider, to just say we aren’t as fit as last year, someone must be to blame is unfair. Pressure and fitness are as linked as anything could be in the game of football, it seems obvious that pressure goes down with fitness going down.

They were, you’re right, and without the three 50s it was a four point game. Point is even though we look miles off and they smashed us, we’re really close.

It was a 4 point game without the gifts.

So because you want more flags anything less says the club is inept? Disregard all the other good clubs who also want flags and how difficult it is. How you need form, injuries etc to all go your way in periods when your list is in the right position. Geelong only won every second year in their dynasty, Richmond lost one in amongst theirs. Great sides. This league is hard. We’ve had issues this year and we are still contending. Calm down and enjoy having a side filled with stars. It’s not all about flags it’s about the journey your club takes you on. This journey is a great one. And it’s for years to go.

These people have short memories and or know nothing about football. Good on them.

It would be fitting to see the pies lose both of their finals by a goal and get bundled out in straight sets. Come on footy gods.

In game injuries and injuries generally have a strong correlation with our losses and form. It has effected our ability to have continuity and build throughout the season. This effects our ability to prepare to our potential and has made it harder to hit the peaks we did last year. We have the players and our game plan generally stacks up, as boring as many consider it to be. Some teams have come up to a higher level and put more time into our game plan etc but we haven’t had the chance to build our year the same way we did last year. We will without question look to improve and change where needed in the off season. A better functioning forward line pretty much solves everything. Injuries dictate your ability to succeed like only a few other metrics. When you have a list like ours it’s the defining metric in many ways. So I don’t believe loading was an unreasonable talking point throughout the year. Looking to win this conversation seems to mean you misunderstood it to begin with.

With the injury news coming out this morning it makes a bit more sense why we didn’t have the drive/energy you expect in a big game. Not surprised that injuries could finally put an end to this season. It’s just been a bit like that this year. Haven’t been able to get going because of it. List health is the most important stat in football after all.

If that’s the case buddy should have been done three or four times for holding someone up like that.

May didn’t do anything. That’s all on the ****ty umpiring

I’m not taking comfort from it. If that’s what we are, it’s too late this year. I’ve reserved judgement on us this year till I saw a final and the biggest issues were we were out worked, out coached and mentally weak, and I think the mentally weak tag is generally a useless one in understanding a teams performance but I don’t know what else to call last night. They dug in and we refused to go with them. The upside for me is beyond this year in that we are likely a contender for a while and we can improve a few areas to go again. Even though a lot has gone wrong this year and it never felt like we got it together we are likely a prelim side.

I guess the upside is we were average they were good, they got a couple of goals from very soft free kicks and they only won by four goals. Feels like we are miles off but we are still thereabouts in a lot of areas.

I was screaming my head off. Felt like a real feral and probably upset the children in the general area. No one around me had much to say. Felt very lonely.

It felt like we got a bit rattled after the buddy 50, absolute gift of a goal that it was. We lost our composure and never really got it back. I wasn’t expecting us to lose the mental battle. We seemed to get frustrated that they wouldn’t let us do what we wanted and weren’t willing to turn it into a brutal grind when we should have. They were incredibly well set up all night and played to it really well. There has to be an element of luck with the way the ball fell to their set up enough over the night to do so well with stoppage but we didn’t try and stop it. They pounced on our errors and spillages time and time again. We gave them too much room particularly across contests on their half forward line. they gave us nothing all night and were very good. Can’t see us going all the way after tonight. Geelong and Sydney are ahead of us on form and we look like we have too many problems and too many holes to plug. Hope I’m wrong but we didn’t look like a convincing side tonight.

I think they may have over rated their list or at least where it’s at. Feels a bit like they panicked with the Clarkson situation and the media pile on and now they have to follow through. Stability is a vital asset to improvement and winning finals. They have none of it. Let’s hope they double down rather than clean out, for the good of the competition.

Anb got a whack in the guts

Much improved field kicking. We took a lot more on tonight. Kicks over players heads running toward goal worked beautifully a few times. Put us in better scoring positions throughout the night.

This has all gone down better than expected. I like north. As much as you can like any other team. Mainly because I relate. They are us a decade ago. Clarkson is no guarantee of success. He had some of the great players of the era to coach. But good on them for finding a way forward. But what is exceptional is the bombers imploding. Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch. Hopefully rutten sues or something on the way out (no idea if that’s possible) just to rub it in. What would make it even better is if after watching the way rutten has been treated the coaches get together and do something about the way the media hunt coaches. It is an absolute disgrace but the media and the afl don’t seem to care at all. Teams where Essendon are on the ladder routinely get flogged this time of year. It’s truly irrelevant. How this became what it did is pure insanity and shows how miopic the media are. Essendon are really just a young team who over performed last year. They have some talent but a long way to go. They are a bunch of skinny kids when you see them live. Their board got sucked in by the media panic and they have stained their brand. What coach on any level, be it assistant or head would want to go there now? Interesting to hear Mahoney and dodoro aren’t getting along too. Hopefully there’s heaps wrong with the place. Absolutely spectacular result. 12 year old me sitting at the grand final in 2000, head buried in the football record after half time, afraid to watch anymore is very pleased with where things are at I imagine.

Yeah winning flags sucks. I couldnt stand the way we ran over the best teams in the league last year when finals came along.

I remember beating them convincingly recently 🤷🏼‍♂️

Where was that kind of kicking from Collingwood last week. Sydney did what we should have done had the kicking for goal not been so nuts.