layzie

Too right BDA. We've been blessed to have Steven May. What a player.

It's like the square root of a million, no-one will ever know..

To rob us of having Trac at the stoppage and a chance to generate something was just silly.

Having Petracca contest the ruck 3 times was flat out embarrassing. Making a play for an AA ruckman only to stamp his papers before finals is one to move on from quickly. The holes in the list are obvious and need filling.

Me too, gonna try and play some mini golf. Enjoy the sun!

If, if, if. If we did this, if we did that. The number one keyword for DL in the past 24 hours, 'if'. Rudyard Kipling must be doing cartwheels in his grave. We shouldn't call it the premiership, we should call it "The team that took their chances early in games and won cup" or the "luck with injuries Pennant". When we talk about past great teams and what they do best, forget the Clarko cluster, Richmond chaos ball zone or Gee-long and direct styles of play they all just had luck with injuries and took their chances early. Case closed, shut down all footy talk shows, close all online discussion forums like this, that's apparently all it ever is. Sure sometimes football comes down to very simple things like above, but it's kind of baffling to me how many people here, some really smart and cluey football brains are going into total simplistic mode. "If we turn a few more of those points into goals" lines are true but why are we not able to convert at league average in these games? Is it psychological? Technique? The entry quality? The types of looks we get at goal? This needs to be drilled down into more and expected score needs to be used as a tool not a yip-yap. If 4 straight finals of failure on the big stage isn't enough sample data to tell you something isn't right (3 of which inaccuracy killed us) then I can't help you. If you just want put it down to bad luck then what are we paying specialist coaches, psychs and other staff for? Not directed at you Gregdemon but I don't like this idea of people telling me I should be happy to get to this point but not unhappy about the result because there's a myriad of excuses to use for it.

Yeah that definitely sounds like a crutch, a kick for goal is a kick for goal at the end of the day and as you pointed out we had plenty of those that we didn't kick. If there aren't enough good kicks for goal in the merry-go-round then that's an 'us' problem. Aside from a rough for a month in the middle of the year and these last two games our accuracy was quite good with alternative forward lines so I'm not really buying it. Respect your views Webber but this is the podcast thread for questions we want asked on the show, will let Andy decide if my questions are stupid or not.

Just generally over the last 12 months. Their ruck issue could have cripped them but they got through it all. In relation to fishing for answers though I believe it's still a pertinent question for the guys as I don't believe the game style we played last week and this week made the most of what we had out there. Long balls into a forward line with little to no chance of bringing the ball to ground regularly and slow movement didn't help. I think looking at chances missed and using the "if we kicked those we would have won" argument is simplistic and a bit of a crutch. We need to be looking at the types of entries and generating the best looks at goal because it's clearly not working in big moments. Now that I think of it, maybe the question should be "At what point do we stop using inaccuracy as an excuse" either/or will do.

I do see what you're saying Webber. There's no doubt we would have done better but I still think what we had was capable of winning at least a final. We managed our injuries quite well and it was a shame that the injuries we did have were key structural ones spread across the season. Then when you see clubs like Collingwood and the Dogs the year they won it? Well, I know these are outliers but it's still frustrating. I also don't believe we need wholesale changes but tweaks definitely need to be made.

Well said. Yes it's a reason and truth but it's a truth that every club deals with. We aren't one out on this. Focus on what we can control and the personel available. I can't sit here and say confidently that we did that in this finals series.

2022 was the let off, 2023 has been a disaster. We lost the game, that's the business we're in. This isn't a one off, 4 finals is more than enough sample data to see there we can't get over the hump. Before anyone chimes in that we won a flag I'll just point mine and many others goal is to see one on the Melbourne Cricket Ground where as you are likely content, which is more than fine. So we can't get over the hump and 3 of these finals inaccuracy cost us the game. On top of that just because we've been close in these games doesn't necessarily mean the gameplan and method are stacking up in finals. Ross Lyon came within 12, a draw and then 15 points of ultimate success and I don't recall many here saying his gameplan stacked up for flags. Time for change.

When do we stop using injuries as an excuse? We did really well with the cards we were dealt this year but just like the inaccuracy there is little control over it and I feel like people are just hoping that will somehow be perfect next year. We need to control the controlables, gameplan, personel and coaching staff need to be looked at.

Me too. I'd have thrown the rodecaster mixer out the window the moment I got home.

Sniffing my farts is all the enjoyment I've got left this weekend John Demonic. That and paying my phone bill

Brilliant post mate. It honestly read like something I would write. We lost these games, purely and simply. We can talk about expected score and chances missed all we want, it's the definition of losers pleasing themselves. It's a matter of time before someone mentions that we only lost by 7 and 2 and uses it as some kind of crutch to make themselves feel better and pot all the other posters who dare to be critical. I'm just defeated today, very much defeated. I don't know what you can do about kicking at goal in big games and it looks like they don't either.

I'm just going to drum this into myself.

Getting mighty sick of this. Deja vu...

Bit of real talk never hurts. I think there's a chance it knocks us back a peg as well. Teams are getting better all the time so we can't just expect another top 4 finish. However with tweaks to the gameplan and list changes we could be back in there. Need ball users and some kind of forward.

I'm shoving the poker sticks into the fire.

That's exactly what I was saying before about going to the footy week in week out, enjoying some wins etc but really it's not too far fetched to feel like it was all for nothing in the end. After all, what are we playing this competition for? Season squandered, 4 finals at the G lost. Umpiring and injuries not great but there comes a time when the excuses need to stop.

Agree, as much as I hate to say it.

6. May 5. Sparrow 4. Smith 3. Lever 2. Hunter 1. Gawn

I feel like there is genius to come yet again from Simon. Don't ask why, just one of those dumb hunches. A tweak in personel and he'll be the right guy again.

Same old story really, backline keeps us in it, forwards fry us. So proud of those guys though

Thought Sparrow was immense tonight. Time to break out into top line territory