titan_uranus

An absolute disgrace. Stripped all the enjoyment from the two wins and the half-decent game vs Brisbane, and replaced it with that feeling of dread and anger that we're all too familiar with. But somehow my anger at the club is being rivalled by my anger at some of the posting here. People getting stuck into Jackson and Pickett, who have played like 11 games between them, or calling out Lever when we was probably our best, or asking Goodwin to make changes on the field. The problems on show tonight are long-standing deep seated problems that we all know about, and they're not drafting, nor are they kids. The way we play is wholly dependent on winning CPs and clearances. When we don't win them, we cannot win. We require high level intensity at the coalface and across the ground. If it falls apart, we have nothing else. We want to play an aggressive forward half game but that doesn't work when you turn it over, and we turn it over an unacceptable amount. And we have a crop of leaders who disappear when we need them and fail to lift or improve us. So let's stop potting our first year players and put the blowtorch where it belongs: on Gawn, Oliver, Brayshaw, Viney, Harmes, Salem, Jones, TMac and Melksham. And on Goodwin, for his continued inability to stem the tide or make any permanent inroads into our failures.

It's only 24 hours less than what Port had, and we were at least in Queensland last week (they were in Adelaide). Not sure it's that much of a factor?

Ah good one. If we play like this, all 17 clubs are better than us. Meanwhile the Dogs won a flag four years ago. When did we ever "go past" them?

This is far more of a problem than gameday moves. I get people are frustrated but there is so much rubbish in this thread. There's plenty wrong with the club but complaints about Lever (possibly our best), Pickett (7th game) and Goodwin not flipping magnets is ridiculous and doesn't address the real issues: turnovers, gameplan, lack of leadership, inability to play football unless we win CPs/clearances, lazy midfielders.

It's not necessarily about different methods, but it is about how dependent we are on CPs/clearances. If we can't dominate in the middle, everything else falls apart.

What do you expect him to do? He's got Fritsch on a wing, Viney in the forward line, TMac higher up the ground. What do you want? It's systemic change from him we need, not gameday flipping of magnets.

23 inside 50s to 7 since quarter time. We've been inside 50 7 times in nearly a half of football. Disgraceful.

That's the way guys, let's get stuck into the 7th gamer when all of our core leaders are playing poorly. You muppet, he's possibly one of about 2 of our players who are playing well.

This is as bad as anything from 2019. Utterly pathetic.

This is your big problem? Far out. At least he's doubling back and doing his [censored] job.

We're so devoid of confidence in the forward line that everyone flew at that recent inside 50. Our turn for a soft free kick in front of goal. Of course, we miss from 15m out.

That passage of play from TMac's pass was everything that is wrong with us. TMac takes too long to decide what to do, letting Port set up, his kick is a surprise to the forwards, it hits the deck and no one gets near Port's defenders and they waltz out of the backline.

Could Hannan have kicked that ball higher in the air? Terrible kick, ruined some half-decent ball movement.

Starting with Sparrow in the middle and Fritsch on a wing. Brayshaw on the bench.

Weideman 1 (no marks), Hannan 1 (1 mark), Jackson 3 (no marks), Pickett 4, Melksham 4 (1 mark), TMac 4 (3 marks), Fritsch 6 (2 marks). 18 inside 50s for 1 mark inside 50.

Selection not looking great at the moment. We drop Jetta for Sparrow, send Harmes into the backline where he has been a proven failure, and then put Sparrow into the middle who is nowhere near it, whilst leaving Brayshaw on a wing where he is no good. Surely if we were going to free up centre bounce rotations for Sparrow, we could have made room for Brayshaw instead? And then we bring TMac in for Bennell and TMac is somewhere stuck between trying to be a half-forward, a marking forward and a midfielder, and is none of them.

Abysmal. Absolutely abysmal. It's the Richmond game, and everything that is wrong with our club, on repeat. The turnovers are just soul destroying. Sparrow, Harmes, Salem, almost every single one of their touches is missing its target. We cannot compete with anyone, let alone Port, if we keep turning it over. The forward line pressure is non-existent. The midfield got belted on the outside in the first quarter and then got beaten on the inside in the second quarter (-4 CPs that quarter). The backline is trying to hold them out but they are getting so many looks at inside 50s under no pressure that it's impossible to defend. We will lose this by at least 10 goals if we don't seriously lift in the middle and start hitting some [censored] targets.

It's mainly our backline standing up relatively well. Most of their inside 50s have been delivered with zero pressure because of our turnovers. To have only conceded 3 goals, it could have been so much worse.

This is the Richmond game all over again. Turnovers left, right and centre. Cannot compete with anyone, let alone the side on top of the ladder, if we keep turning it over.

It might be the only way to get the message through.

This could well be right. Jackson will at times get thrown into the ruck as well, so it may make sense to let TMac and Weid stay in the forward line working together no matter whether Jackson is forward or ruck.

I'm also worried about TMac in our forward line, but not for the pressure reason: Bennell wasn't putting much pressure on so we're not losing that much in that regard. I'm more worried about variety.

That would be the simplest way, but has Sparrow played defence at all this year? And whilst TMac can slot into Bennell's spot in theory, in practice he's a totally different player who won't be sitting off the side of packs waiting to distribute the ball the same way Bennell does.

Richmond started tonight out of the eight. They're currently sitting 3rd and are a draw behind Port and Brisbane. Obviously a number of teams can pass them this round, but still, the ladder is so even through the middle, with teams jumping 6 spots after one game.

Not sure if this has been posted on here, but Champion Data posted this yesterday: If I'm reading it right, it suggests we've had the hardest fixture so far in terms of our ability to beat our opponents, but have the easiest draw left (prior to tonight's game). According to their formula, we have an "expected wins" so far of just over 3, so we're about right. It says we have "expected wins" coming home of more than 6, which would get us to 9 and could have us in the finals race. It's mainly silly number crunching but it does suggest the opportunities are there down the home stretch to pick up some wins if we're good enough.