titan_uranus

When was our prior 6-6-6 infringement? We must have already had the warning. And what precisely was the final infringement?

I'd agree, if I felt like this would spark a response from Goodwin, the FD or the senior players. I'm just not at all confident it will.

Since the Sydney win, when we clawed our way back to 5-6, we're 1-7. Scarily, only three of those 8 games have been against top 8 sides (Collingwood, GC and Adelaide). And they would all be in our four best performances in that 8 week period. The other 5 games were the North win, and then losses to St Kilda twice, Port Adelaide and Carlton. Our fixture this year gave us 10 games against the other 7 members of the bottom 8. We are currently 3-6 in those games, with West Coast to come again next week. Even assuming we beat West Coast, we'll finish 4-6 against the bottom 8. Appalling.

Green bristled in those early-season interviews where he was called an interim president. Well, if he disagrees with that title, he can demonstrate it in the next few weeks.

Hardly the reason we lost though. Whoever the sub was, they weren't going to fix the catastrophic failure through the midfield and across our "leaders" to arrest the momentum or take ownership of the game. FWIW there's no world in which Spargo should ever be the sub, and IMO he shouldn't be anywhere near the 23 anyway, but focusing on the sub selection today is really not at all important.

Gawn should know better, I agree. But he's been coached this way. When the going gets tough, Goodwin has always wanted us to take territory. It's been ingrained in us since at least 2020. So when under pressure, Gawn does what's been coached into him to the point of instinct - he belts it/hacks it/moves it forward. It's not the right play. He should know better. But his coaches should be helping him, and the rest of the side, realise this.

This might all be true but we never should have been in a position where we could have lost. The way we fell apart from 46 points up is a far more significant embarrassment than the final minute, as bad as it was. And not that any of this really matters, but this is another loss where: we "won" on expected score; we had more scoring shots; we had more inside 50s; we lost by under 10 points (that's 0-3 in such games this year, after 3-4 last year and 4-6 the year before. A combined 7-13 since 2023); inaccuracy plagued us (6.2 in the first quarter, then 7.10 for the rest)

The fourth quarter was all between the ears. But we faded late in the other quarters too. We were older and more experienced than St Kilda today. We haven't had our fitness right all year.

I'm not that shocked you went here as your first reaction, but it's still rather striking. Presumably, as you almost always do, you think that our loss today is down in part to our inexperience, and/or our younger players fading? That certainly seems implicit in this post, noting the struggles of two younger players whilst bemoaning the absence of two older/experienced players. Yet the reality is, St Kilda today was on average younger and less experienced than us. So whilst we didn't have Lever or May, we did have in our backline TMac (245 games) and Salem (195 games), whilst in our midfield (where almost all of our losses stem from) we had Gawn (243), Viney (233), Trac (208), Oliver (201) and Langdon (198). Also remember that other than TMac, who was dropped but has nevertheless been fit and available all season, the rest of those 7 players I've just mentioned have missed a combined 6 games all year (Viney's missed 5 and Oliver 1). Turning straight to our two missing defenders to attempt to explain what happened today is really not it.

I want Goodwin and our players to be embarrassed by this. I just don’t have any confidence they will be.

The enormity of what we “achieved” today must not be minimised. Of course we yet again [censored] up a close finish. The final 2 minutes are a checklist of how to embarrass yourself in losing a close game from in front. But to be in that situation at all, or even anything close to it, took such a unique and rarely seen level of disgrace that it has to be properly acknowledged. When it comes as the 27th loss out of our last 44 games, with membership spiralling, with formerly elite players floundering, with no leadership on the field, it cannot be tolerated.

Somehow, despite everything in this club’s history, this is the lowest point. The stench around the club that we tried to mask with the scent of “love” in the pre-season is stronger than ever. I’m [censored] sick of being embarrassed. I’m [censored] sick of being angry. Sticking fat with the same coach, and same players, doing the same things week after week, has ground this club into the irrelevant dirt. We are a laughable embarrassment, and I’m so [censored] sick of it.

Grundy's in great form now, but was pretty poor pre-bye. Only half a season of good football. Gawn's had the better season, IMO by far.

Trac's got a game high 8 inside 50s and 7 score involvements, and 2nd most metres gained (only NWM has more).

I see you haven't met @bluey yet. For the record, he/she is both.