Dee man

Among the many things that have been frustrating this season is the fact that now, six weeks into the season, we actually look worse than what we did 1 month ago, let alone 2 months ago. In fact, each week we've performed worse than the week before it, with the obvious exception being the Sydney game. What makes this extra frustrating is the fact that Simon Goodwin credits our week-to-week improvement in every post-match press conference (each week he's said something along the lines of "We're getting better." or "There are signs we're improving"). Combined with the much-discussed interrupted pre-season we had, we surely should be getting better each week rather than regressing. Including the pre-season, here's how this season has played out. I'd argue that aside from our solitary home-and-away win against Sydney, we've progressively got worse on a week-to-week basis. Practice Match 1: Defeated Collingwood by 24 points. A practice match, yes, but good to beat last year's Grand Finalists in our first scratch match. So far so good. Pre-Season 1: Lost to Richmond by 12 points. Dominated early, fell away but finished well to lose by 2 goals to the Premiership favourites. Warning signs are there, but not a dishonourable result. Pre-Season 2: Lost to Brisbane by 7 points. A frustrating game with lots of injuries. Lots of warning signs. But now in hindsight a 7 point loss to a red-hot Brisbane doesn't look too bad. Round 1: Lost to Port Adelaide by 26 points. Dominated early but fell away badly. Disappointing start to the year. But again, in hindsight a 26 point loss to a Port Adelaide side that will probably play finals this year isn't the worst result. In fact, it's our third best H&A margin for the year. Round 2: Lost to Geelong by 80 points. Dominated facets of the game (inside 50s) but completely outplayed. A huge loss, no doubt, but Geelong have since dominated and beat reigning premiers in a similar fashion last weekend. Round 3: Lost to Essendon by 18 points. Another setback. Given how Essendon was going, this is more embarrassing than the Geelong result. Round 4: Defeated the Swans by 22 points. The one time all year we've looked okay... but Sydney aren't much of a team this year. Round 5: Lost to the Saints by 40 points. A huge setback given the gains made in Round 4. Completely outcoached and outplayed - back to the bad habits of the first 3 rounds. Round 6: Lost to Richmond by 43 points. Arguably an improvement defensively but we look insipid going forward - our worst offensive performance to date under Goodwin and probably the game where we least looked like scoring of any game this year. Reflecting on this, I hypothesize that our Round 1 self (or perhaps even our pre-season self) could beat our Round 6 self. To me, that's the most worrying trend, especially when Goodwin's philosophy is all about improving each week and being the most in-form side in September (which obviously won't matter this year even if it is the case). Do you agree with my assessment or have you seen signs of improvement?

The AFL website is reporting that we have one rookie spot left that we are likely to fill with a SSP list player (in addition to Wagner).