rpfc

Axis! I’m blushing…

This is the key thing - not the centre bounces. If they want to try to win I would free up TMac and bring in Tomlinson. If it is more about giving a fortnight taste to a 'kid' then Fullerton or Verrall. I don't know enough about those two. Any footy sense? Ruckman are usually the dumbest people at the stadium. Yes, I am including fans... Yes I am aware who we are playing this week...

It was great to have him back. He is still our smartest and most selfless forward - he is glue. He really should have a spot on the list next year. Especially as we will get younger on most lines.

You make a really good argument... you've twisted my arm - I also hope they fall out of the 8 and suffer further indignity.

Yes, very impressive but this place is souring on the leader of our Development academy because “wE dOn’T kIcK sTrAtE!1!” Square that circle, Paul. Square that circle.

ATTENTION: MANAGE EXPECTATIONS! I REPEAT: PLEASE MANAGE EXPECTATIONS! Wardens report to your WIP phones.

I thought he showed quite a bit. Certainly enough to keep McVee or Rivers up the ground. Same with Taj. If this year is not a waste it will be through making Rivers a mid and getting reps into McVee through there. Can only happen by letting these kids shoulder some of the burden.

That was a really good performance given where the team is at. But don’t expect that kind of performance (and that kind of second quarter) as becoming more of a regular thing with the youth we have in the side, the injuries we have, and the burden we place on fewer and fewer. Need to keep our expectations in line with reality.

It was a very good performance. To play that well, albeit only potent in a 25 min period, with AMW, Brown, Turner, et al in the 23 is really admirable. I hope it may continue but not expecting it to. Too much burden on too few.

What stealth? I think we will be ‘on the radar’ for the rebuild tomorrow night around 10.45…

Have to give him a month at least.

No need to assume. We had and expected score of 55 from our 47 entries…

55 against the worst team in the comp… that’s indicative. We are going to slide out of the 8 and we have to make the most of it - get Gawn and Viney some rest, get games into some talent in important positions, and continue with the evolved game style. Use this year to get better next year.

Yeeesh…

Yes, and no one gets upset on here when a poster comments on the state of the club…

Can we just take the L on this and move on? Arguing the point or ruminating on the detail is rather pointless. We screwed up, take the licks, get better, and move on.

We won a flag, it kind of began… Its like the flag window was open and we did get the jump out the window… (hey it’s not my metaphor is it?!) So yeah, ‘24 is done but yeah, we all have to look on the bright side yeah…

I agree. I am on record saying I don’t mind this move to change how inert we are off half back but obviously more structural flaws, form and depth are coming into play now. I really think 2022 was a terrible flirtation with our form the way the FD changed our gameplan and restricted it even further from ‘defence first’ to ‘defence only’… Players en masse develop habits especially when you are winning that are impossible to break - so when we needed to be daring and when needed to calm down and pick our spots and connect (2023) - we couldn’t do it.

While I think that ‘the vault’ is already open, I would prefer we use the rest of this year to prolong the careers of Gawn, May, and Viney. There is no point flogging these guys when we just don’t have it.

We are the ones playing him off no pre-season. We are the ones playing him forward as opposed to back. We are the ones chasing another tall back supposedly from St Kilda. At some point this may be a sunk cost we may have to move on from but his form is entirely predictable and are options are obviously barren. We persist, not because we want to but because it is our only option.

WOW, didn’t know Shane had such an impact on us losing by 15 goals. What a neat excuse for everyone else in the team and on the staff…

Are you ‘Jaded’ again?

Our midfield is not 15 goals worse than Freos… That was a whole team debacle. I don’t think we are that good this year. We lost depth, we are changing how we play in the defensive half when we have the ball, we still don’t have a reliable tall, our best midfielder was absent for preseason, some core players are out of form, and we spent the last two years trying to eke out another ‘prelim or better’ performance through dour dumping of the ball to protect the mids (2022) and focussing entirely on a front half game where we were dominated ‘territory’ except in crucial moments (2023). We are rectifying some past mistakes with our onfield style of play and I hope we can rebalance our list and plug some easily foreseeable gaps. For me, 2025 is a better show but we are running out of time.