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Ball users are worth next to nothing if you don’t have Clarry or someone like him to get it to them. He’s one of the all time greats at getting it. It’s a very important piece of the puzzle.

0-23 is on the table too

Gws looked far more damaging with their entries and possession chains. Collingwood had a bit of us about them in that possession didn’t necessarily amount to much. Jury is out on us and Collingwood for me. Gws too for that matter as it’s round one and the season is long. I was just interested in the contrast between our reaction generally to our loss and then seeing the reigning premiers get pretty comprehensively beaten and how that relates to their chances this season according to those on here who have written us off already.

I just assume we are training with a congested forward line because we’ve observed that’s how teams are going to play us. Im sure we’d love clean turnovers across halfback and through the middle leading to an open forward line but we also need to learn to navigate a congested forward line. when we have the game on our terms and lock it in our forward half that’s what we will be faced with. it looks like we are trying to learn to navigate it better than we have in the past with bringing in certain personnel who are better equipped to hit targets and by training it and understanding it better.

It’s not really up to us. Are we not training for the way teams will inevitably play us?

Wouldn’t that be nice. Gws look like they’ll cut most teams up.

Collingwood seem to have major problems too. Out played in a far more dramatic way. if we show a lot more at home without the slippery ball will you see things differently at all?

Considering Brisbane and Collingwood also lost does that make our loss to Sydney any easier to stomach for those who believe it is a major problem and potentially season defining?

Really?

You have to ignore a lot of things to consider this a reasonable article or come to this conclusion. When we had a forward line last year all of a sudden we looked dangerous. media love ignoring things like injury and the list in general to make another dumb and shallow point that will keep them relevant in that weeks cycle of nonsense.

You’re a lot of fun

Can you evolve your game plan if your issue is one of skill. We lack skill. We do a lot right with what we have. Every side has fatal flaws. We know ours more intimately than we know other teams. Slippery football is our kryptonite. We are clearly trying to inject skill into our team. It’ll take time for it to settle and make sense. We looked best last year when we got our forward line up and running. I’ll wait till we have a better forward line playing before I write us off. Our game plan is what it is. It’s been very effective over a long time, sure it’s boring and ugly but it has worked.

We need a larger sample. This game was frustrating but we all know we suck in the wet/slippery conditions. It’s never as good or bad as it seems. The way everyone’s carrying on feels bigger than losing by 20 points interstate. Surely by now we all know the season is long and a lot happens over 6 months. It’s not like we have nothing to work with.

Woah. Talk about the sky falling. Why diminish our flag though?

Me too. Terrible timing on his end

Yet they are accountable to no one, If not encouraged by the toxic system they exist in. Even with our understanding of mental health and how hard it can be for young men in the spotlight being dragged through nonsense rumour and innuendo. The best thing we can all do is turn it off which is the only way they will be held accountable and or forced to change.

Has it actually been a shocking pre season? Or has the media told you it’s been a shocking pre season? If you didn’t listen to the nonsense coming out of your tv and radio how would our pre season look? Aside from Clayton’s troubles, what else have you got beyond accusation? A few injuries that have carried over from last year? We traded well, for need. We look fit. If it’s true we are down the bottom of the testing ladder it would seem it’s all a bit of a blow up. The media are not honest actors. They will do whatever they can to keep their jobs and create “entertainment”. The proof of what kind pre season we’ve had will be how we go this season.

It is bleedingly obvious he doesn’t watch Melbourne games. Just made some nonsense up as he went

My favourite part was how the commentators went from talking up our problems and the off season pre game while talking Carlton up to talking about how we are a quality outfit and finished top 4 the last 3 years by the end.

Fair enough with the training times. I don’t think we deserve anything beyond the basics though. It’s a cut throat competition with a nasty media arm. Staying quiet is my preference

How do you know anything about the internal culture? surely you’ve learnt in the last however many years that just cause the media say it doesn’t make it so. you may have also learnt that the afl media is more toxic than the normal media. They love a pile on and bully clubs/coaches/players cause they can and cause it generates views. Views come before everything, even truth. collingwood are proof that this idea of culture that we throw around from the outside means absolutely nothing. They won a flag with a horrific culture in recent times. why on earth would the club open the doors and let everyone see creating endless possibilities for more nonsense headlines? That would be the dumbest possible move. It may not suit what you want, which is more access, but you don’t deserve nor are you entitled to any more access.

Or let people vent after what has been a very sad few days for supporters. Controlling peoples emotions is a toxic trait

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How do we measure today if we don’t know what our intent was going in? Did we try and shut them down when they kicked ten straight or did we continue to work on our attacking game. When the pressure comes we know how we will Play. We know how Collingwood will play too. Like us. If we can play the way we were at the end of last year with ten percent more efficiency we win a flag. By working on skills and run now and early in the year, hopefully allowing the work we’ve done continuously for a few years on goal kicking and skill work to progress and inject some better ball users into important positions we should do alright. brown jr looked great. Get him in the gym and onto the park asap

He seems like a well spoken, balanced, thoughtful young man. How did he get to be this way?