titan_uranus

It might get easier. Or harder. We don’t know. It will depend on which sides we get for our repeat matches and what happens to them next year. Odds are it will be hard because we’re top 6 but we got unlucky drawing Fremantle and Collingwood for our non-top 6 repeat games and they both skyrocketed.

DeeSpencer writes a lot of very silly posts, but that wasn't one of them. For someone I've always considered to be very measured, you appear to be really sinking down a hole, rpfc. You've set the bar high for your own expectations and from what I'm reading today, you're almost lashing out at anyone who is posting anything which even remotely suggests there were factors for us bombing out that aren't simply ineptitude or things you had the prophetic vision to have seen weeks ago.

Very easy to get sucked into this sort of VFL performance the day after that sort of AFL performance. But surely we'll be seeing plenty of Bowey and JVR next year. Surely.

I agree with this (not necessarily that it was the "main reason", but that it was a reason at the least). Some will read it as a "cop out" but I truly believe this was a significant factor in our all too rapid demise. Not only did the fixture split into "easy" and then "hard" after Round 10, but the post-bye period was brutal not just for opponent difficulty but for being all over the shop venue wise. Brutal game after brutal game. No respite. No soft patch of games against some bottom 4 sides to just take the pressure off for a week or two.

You seriously want to argue our season ended early because of the contracts we signed?

Individual wise, the most alarming drop offs for me have been Salem, Jackson and Rivers (in that order). Salem might be playing through pain but if so that's not good enough from him or the club, he shouldn't have been playing, particularly with Bowey fit and playing well for Casey. If he's been fit and pain-free, his form has been diabolical and a mile off last year. In Round 1 Jackson looked like he was going to take a step as a forward this year when he clunked that mark and roosted that goal. Never happened. His inability to impact the game when not in the ruck made our lives much harder this year. If Rivers had anything in his first two years, he had composure. That seemed to desert him this year. Fumbly, panicky, making bad decisions. Again, not really excusable with Bowey playing VFL.

No we're not. We just want to focus on the real issues. Theoretically, if we win the flag next year, do you think this stat will still be meaningful?

Well why don't you say more about that in your posts and less about how you hate the Brayshaw contract or you think Smith's a dud.

IMO the three biggest things we need to do are: Re-jig the forward line. I have always felt we are best with two tall forwards. We don't get enough run/pressure out of having all of ANB, Spargo, Pickett and Melksham in the side. TMac's injury and Weideman's lack of development really killed us Re-think how we want to move the ball. Attempting to minimise turnovers by kicking the ball into the pockets makes our lives too hard. It's related to the first point - if we had better marking options we would have a little more confidence of delivering the ball into more dangerous spots in the forward 50 and not seeing it rebound immediately. Work out if/why our game struggles on the G. I say if/why because I'm not convinced we are losing these games because of the ground dimensions. Most of the good sides we played this year, we played at the G: Sydney twice, Collingwood twice, Brisbane twice, Fremantle, all made the final six. Optus Stadium isn't too far off the G dimensions wise and we played one of our best games of the year there to beat Fremantle in Round 20. But we should be aiming to play in a way which suits the G so if there are any habitual weaknesses (zone too loose, not using the full width, etc.), they need to be fixed.

Mate what is the point. Just go do something else with your Saturday if you find these players all not good enough for your liking.

Those two stats are really interesting reading, although not exactly surprising. I think the answer is a combination of the following (as always, it's never one single thing): Fitness - we just weren't fit enough to run games out. Last year we led the league with our running power, this year it felt the opposite Injuries - we carried unfit players and had too many players in/out of the side, even though some of those injuries only saw players miss 1-3 games at a time, we kept having ins and outs. Last year we felt a lot more stable Hunger - it just cannot be denied that the players' internal motivation to do it all again this year was less than last year. It just has to be. No matter what they all say about "doing it for our fans" or "doing it at the G", when we needed to bed down and train hard over summer or in the depths of winter, or when we needed to gut run in second halves, we just didn't have the same motivation to do so Favouritism - significantly more pressure on us. We were favourites with the bookies this year in, I think, every single game except the Geelong game. Every week people expected us to win, the more so after we went 10-0 and there were "undefeated" talks. Again, no matter what they say about it, that brings pressure Hunted/hunter - this year every single side set themselves to play us. Prime time games, bigger crowds, other sides got these games against us and focused on them and at times adapted to beat us Planning - last year stability and predictability led us to the flag. Goodwin, the coaches, the FD, whoever, backed in those things again this year. We put a lot of faith in the 23 premiership players (bar Bowey, it seems) to come good Fixture - we had a brutal second half of the year fixture-wise. Post-bye, we played 6 eventual finalists, plus 9th and 11th, and Adelaide in Adelaide. We also had six straight games in different venues across four states/territories, four interstate games plus a trip to Geelong, and a few short breaks mixed in

Have to hope that this failure reignites the hunger that was clearly missing this year, both in the players and the coaches.

My disappointment will settle. The rage too. But to lose the same way, again, is just maddening. We lost 8 games this year. 6 of them all played out the same way - strong start, 20+ point lead, some point midway our opponent lifts and we absolutely fall apart and never look like righting the ship. Our fitness wasn’t good enough. Our hunger can’t have been strong enough. Our skills weren’t good enough. Our coaching wasn’t good enough. From 10-0, and after finishing 2nd, we should not be watching prelim finals from home. That is not good enough.

No matter what anyone says, there is huge pressure on us tonight. We haven't had enough go wrong out of our control to mean that a straight sets exit after starting 10-0 and finishing 2nd is acceptable. It isn't. I put very little weight in the margin of the two H&A games. Finals are different. We won't blow Brisbane apart (if we do, that says way more about them than us). We are better than them, we should find it easier to score against them than Sydney given their leaky defence, and we should have a point to prove and a burning desire to right the ship. I don't mind if it's a slog, or if it's close, or if we're behind at points. I just want a win. I want a shot at Geelong in a prelim, where for the first time in a long time we'll be significant underdogs.

You couldn't work out my point from my post? We were neither embarrassed nor towelled in those games, which was what you'd said and what I was responding to. You've gone again with a strong word here - you think we have shown "NOTHING that would intimidate the other contenders", which is another silly statement I disagree with. We finished 2nd despite having a significantly harder fixture than Geelong, Sydney or Collingwood (or indeed any finalist other than the Dogs). In our 23 games, we've had a 16+ point lead in 21 of them. Last week we played a really hot game against a really good side, led them for most of the first three quarters, but let it slip late. The fact we've lost all five games to Sydney, Geelong and Collingwood is evidence to suggest we're not as likely to win the flag as we'd all want. But only the Geelong loss was a truly poor game, and even in that one the margin was down to 5 points in the fourth quarter, so we weren't even out of that one in the fourth. If you take all of that and conclude "we are not playing like a challenger", so be it but I can't agree.

Embarrassed? Towelled? In our three H&A games against Sydney and Collingwood we led all of them at three quarter time. In the final against Sydney we led by two goals halfway into the third quarter of one of the best and most intense games of the year. In the Geelong game we weren't at our best but still closed to within a goal in the fourth. They were all in their own way frustrating/disappointing, as every loss is to an extent, but in no way were we embarrassed in any of them.

We didn't struggle to run out the Collingwood or Carlton games. We struggled to win them but we didn't see the same physical drop off that we saw vs Sydney last week.

The ones complaining about our lack of changes are likely, I suspect, to respond to the semi as follows: If we lose - all hell breaks loose If we win by a small amount - pathetic, we beat them by 10 goals twice this year, we're no chance against Geelong If we wi by a big amount - who cares, we beat them by 10 goals twice this year, means nothing

The only thing more predictable than us going in unchanged is the reaction from Demonland.

It's ridiculous because you write as if "4 quarters of relentless pressure" is some sort of magic kryptonite to beat us. it's the formula to beat every single side in the competition.

Because Collingwood played us twice, and then played Geelong in their first final. We played Collingwood, Fremantle and Brisbane twice each. Sydney and Geelong both played the minimum (i.e. no repeat games against the final 6 sides in the H&A season). Their repeat games were ridiculously easy, although that comes with hindsight (e.g. Sydney had the Dogs, GWS and Essendon twice - the latter two made finals last year but not this year, whilst the Dogs went from runners up to barely 8th).

Luck isn't the sole reason for those 5 losses. But in four of those losses we led by at least 16 points, and in three of them we led by 20+. We were on the wrong side of two close games (first Sydney, second Collingwood) and we did enough to put ourselves in a winning position in the other two, plus honestly the Geelong game. What concerns me is less that we're 0-5, more that each one's been similar - starting well, fading mid/late, and in all bar the second Collingwood game unable to press far enough in the fourth to stem the tide or score enough to win. In those five games, we kicked 6.10 in the fourth quarters compared to 20.13. I fully believe we're capable of beating Brisbane, then Geelong, then (likely) Sydney to win it from here. But it's going to take a concerted effort to not be run over in the fourth quarter as we have been each time we've played a top 4 side this year.

Probably because large swathes of our membership, and Demonland, would have lost it if we'd hidden it until after the finals. Imagine: he plays, we lose, he's off, we later find out about the injury. Demonland would go off its collective rocker at the club treating us like nobodies.

Perhaps wait until the season's over before writing obituaries? Goody's "stubbornness" has seen us sit inside the top 4 for 44 straight rounds and finish top 2 twice, win a flag and currently be in a semi final. Ah yes, it's so easy! I suppose that's why we finished a lowly...*checks notes*...2nd on the ladder... FFS, statements like this are so ridiculous. If any of the 17 sides applies "4 quarters of relentless pressure" they'll likely win. But when was the last time Brisbane did that?

I'm in again. I'll kick us off with: 49ers, Colts, Packers