Wiseblood

Just my kind of guy!

It's still absolute, utter rubbish and you are silly for believing it.

He kicked 80 odd goals in 2 seasons as a kid and then hasn't kicked on this year due to the issues outlined earlier in the thread. He has played 8 games for the season, and even some of those had his father's illness hanging over his head. If he were to play every game next year and not show improvement then the points are valid, but I don't think we can talk about reaching his potential until he has been given the proper opportunity to reach it without the issues he has faced this year.

It's absolute rubbish. Simply won't happen.

The poor bloke is potted even when he's not on the field! #freeGarland

Which discards are you referring to?

Sounds like he is just laughing off the rumours, not necessarily laughing at the prospect of coming to us. He would probably say the same thing if the rumour was about him meeting with Collingwood or the Dogs. Not surprised that it didn't take place, though. Seems a little unprofessional to me, plus the Crows are flying at the moment and are a big chance of winning it all. You would at least wait until the season is done before really looking at your options.

Not to mention that many of them are already gone or on their last legs - Ablett and Rischitelli are almost done, while others like Bock and Brennan retired long ago. GWS nabbed players like Ward, $cully and Davis who are still giving them plenty. They learned from the GC mistakes.

I wouldn't argue that it's a significant difference, but our kids are being asked to play different roles than theirs. Players like Rioli and Bolton, for example, are given less physical roles to play or play a less physical brand of football. Oliver and Petracca, as an example, play a totally different role within our side. At their age it takes it's toll. Suspensions have certainly played a part, and something that could have been easily avoided, but the role that our younger players are given has had a factor in the last month. The beauty of it is that we still have time to turn it around.

I fully agree that Richmond are a bad comparison for us, but we have had a very different season when it comes to the younger players. The Tigers have had minimal injuries and have been able to either rest their younger players or have them play in less demanding positions. For us, however, we've had plenty of injuries and have therefore had to rely far more on our younger players. Petracca and Hunt are a case in point - their last 4-6 weeks have been quiet, and to me that's no coincidence. Oliver has also had to carry a huge load all year, and the kid is just 19.

This is always a loaded question, and quite rightly we have very different feelings on the matter. For me, the next 3 weeks tells us plenty. I would HATE to miss finals, especially considering how well we did during the middle of the season with so many injuries, but at the same time we've shown tremendous improvement across the board - many players have improved this year and the fact that we are now a very competitive side speaks volumes, particularly where we've come from. Being competitive isn't enough, though, and the drop off in the last month has been disappointing If we win our next 3 and miss out somehow, then you could argue that we have made the improvement we all wanted. Lose a couple and it would be hard to argue the season isn't a failure. I do like the direction we are headed in though, and I'm excited to see how Goodwin goes with a full season under his belt, not to mention key players potentially getting a proper crack at a full season.

Not surprising. GC have totally underachieved in his time there, even if they've had a bucket load of injuries. Sacking him probably gives them the chance to be relevant, as they were going nowhere under his leadership.

We've almost gone in the opposite direction - we were excellent without the key players, and since we've gotten them back we have lost the plot. We were supposed to push for a Top 4 spot, now we're just keeping our heads above water. I do wonder about the physical toll this season has taken on the players and the constant changes they have had to endure. It feels like the last month has caught up with them, but as we've had wins in the bank we have been able to stay with the rest. Hopefully we get a second wind and turn things around from here.

Garland is contracted for 2018. You would assume he'll stay on the list because of this and be purely a depth player.

Doubt it, but that's your opinion. I'm glad you hang around for my posts, though. Makes me feel special.

That's why I like these over the top and silly threads where people need to 'vent' - it gives most of us the opportunity to read the OP, sit back and go 'we aren't even close to being that bad. We then realise again that we're headed in the right direction and that this season is far from over. We've done lots right this year and we're still learning to fix up the issues we have. Goodwin has only been a senior coach for 20 games after all.

I'm not so sure about that. We've had an excellent spread of goal kickers this year which shows we do have, when the gameplan kicks, multiple avenues to goal. Our problem is fixing up our structure across half forward. In the last month we've missed Hogan and Watts, got Hogan back, then got Watts back and then lost Hogan again. That makes it tough. What the list truly needs is some continuity and, dare I say it, a little luck on the injury front. We need some of our key players to stay injury free and to get momentum back into their game. We've had to adapt so much to different things this year that it's almost left us without petrol in the tank and this key point in the season. An AA ruckman, our best tall forward and a co-captain have missed close to 30 weeks combined this year. It's tough to get consistency when this happens. Fringe players you can cover; key personnel you can't (not for an extended period anyway).

Yep, that's exactly what I'm doing. I don't think you have the capacity to engage in an intelligent conversation.

Of course I don't know you. I just go by how you post on here. I'll ignore the 'watching since forever' rubbish as it means little to me. And yes, you hand pick. Even in the above you start waffling on about North, even though it had nothing to do with what we were talking about. It's your classic posting strategy; you deflect well and drum up other stuff to cover your tracks. I've seen the putrid first half, I saw last week and I've also seen the courageous wins over the Eagles and the Crows on their home deck. Which side are you on? Obviously on the one we've seen in the last two weeks. I'll hang on to the team that defied some adversity and gave us some terrific wins. I'll back them in to turn it around, you can start thinking about next year.

While GWS were good yesterday, the Crows are in the box seat. They have great players across the ground and would only have themselves to blame if they don't win the flag.

No, you're a defeatist. Plus you like to hand pick things to support your view, such as ignoring the 10 wins we've had this year and the ability to stay in the season when so many other teams would have crumbled under the pressure of so many injuries.

Performances we are more than capable of rectifying, not to mention the fact we are still well and truly in the hunt. It's not as if we're two games adrift. I know it's not in your genetic makeup to have some faith, but you should try it sometime WYL. You might like it.

Such a predictable answer. Give the bloke a chance to play in September before you judge his performance in it.

To go with this, we need some continuity in our side. We've had to adapt to playing without much of our starting midfield, do without a proper ruckman for almost two months, take our best defender out of the backline and then adapt to playing without Jesse Hogan and Jack Watts. You could argue that the season has caught up with us a bit over the last two weeks. I'll be hugely disappointed to miss finals IF that happens, but at the same time I'm excited to see us get another pre-season under our belt and hopefully get our list healthy again.

The blokes out of form, no doubt about it, but do we really need to single him out yet again? Plenty in our side at the moment who are struggling. Would he? How do you know that?