buck_nekkid

It encourages you not to cheat

At least it shows that they are still working to fast track performance, through breath hold/lactic acid type exercises. It may have been a shift up from HIIT type training, to give some variation. I dont imagine that they would be doing this every week. 2 other points: Trac was obviously pushing himself, (good thing). Trac was pulled out safely in an appropriately monitored exercise (also a good thing). It is just that we are travelling so badly that everything is viewed though the ‘clown school football club lens. Its a hard job not to....

I am very pleased that Dec gets a chance, and I will be cheering him on to have a brilliant game. I find it interesting that as Smith came out, they didn’t bump Weids back in. Obviously the decision was made to send the Weid a lesson, to go back and work. I think Dec will be a good inclusion, backing Maxy up in the ruck and taking some nice grabs in the f50.

I think this points to a number of impacts - not only were we essentially 33% down on completed sessions, 22 to 33, we were also down 36% in the number of played who did them (25 to 39). This speaks to a decrease in conditioning prior to the first game, but also speaks to individual players not being confident or up with their skills. Even more importantly, the lack of team cohesion becomes apparent when the players have had little chance to work together on the game plan, on changes to the gameplan, and to convert ‘what we have to do’ into instinctive play through repetition. The lack of cohesion is critically apparent. Poor decision making, looks like there is low trust for players to complete what is expected of them (lead to space, win an contest) and this is dramatically slowing the play, allowing the opposition to become completely set behind the ball. So no excuses. However how can you realistically compete when your team is >5% down across the board (Rusty Nails stats analysis), only 2/3 of players completed 2/3 of the volume and training? Seems like either a disaster, or long term planning in action. My suspicion is they thought they could get away with it, but are being caught out. The pressure will go on to be more competitive, and as we start to bring important players back and conditioning and cohesiveness improves, the back part of the year should be vastly improved. It is still a terrible waste, however!

We simply are not getting any line of sight. Who knows what he actually does, has achieved, or what his plans are. The on-field performance is the result of the football department. How he responds will be interesting. Perhaps he may even make himself seen and heard?

The Scully Frawley Memorial Grubbers game. Always hate playing this team.

Perfect, that was probably the better question - “how did WE average at our best?” 14% off is massive. 5% off is still enough to get towelled up. Don’t want Mrs Rusty to get upset, so this answers the question. It will be interesting to see if we can pull our team average up and see it show up on the scoreboard.

Loving your work Rusty. A quick question: What would the team average be for an elite team - say Geelong this year, West Coast at their peak last year? I agree with your observations about average ratings across the park and nothing forward. This is a significant concern.

The most dangerous animal in Africa...

Should be “welcome back to the bottom”... FFS, this is MFC after all.....

Some of the footy is totally unwatchable. Add to that feeble commentary and it is a right turn off. The rule changes have not had their desired effect. The game looks more contrived, poorly umpired and low on overall entertainment value.

Wasted? I am getting a little over all of the spewing on the kids that got selected. If he was a first rounder and was cruising around like a millionaire, then OK, have a crack. But this kid was a late selection (60+) if I recall, and part of our academy. There was enough positivity about him being selected at this pick at the time, as a project type for us. Everyone overlooked the Stack kid picked up by Richmond. About 100 times he was overlooked (Draft and rookie selections), and people even overlooked him when they had room on their lists still to fill. It is not a perfect science. Gotta say that things will turn. Not everyone will make it, some will exit our system. Others may be selected in the ones and become players and do better. Some on our list will improve and make it. Bedford has played something like 5 games at this level and you are making this call? How many games did Michael Tuck play in the reserves before he got his chance? I get that everybody is pizzed off with being stone motherless last, but it getting a bit annoying that people can’t feel that way and still support the kids that we have (and will have until the end of this year at least), recognise that Casey is important to our success at senior level, and do more than just spit vitriol. I want all of them to play better, to push the seniors hard for spots and make the seniors work harder to stay in front of them. Most of these guys are just kids, and unless they are freaks will take time.

The crystal ball glows strong in this one, young Jedi...

Have you noticed the player pics in the header? Based upon performance (and staying on the park), there are 10 players there, and on a pass mark basis, we would be lucky to get a 3.5 out of 10. Describes the whole season, I reckon.

Honestly, Jack has underwhelmed this year. Back from his foot injuries, he is not explosive out of a contest or clean enough with disposal. Being ‘tough’ only gets you so far. I am disappointed he is injured, but he is a real barometer on where we are at right now. We can’t keep playing guys that are NQR, except there is no one to replace them.

I think Maynard and Sparrow become important. Our current midfield are ‘get ball, butcher ball’ at the moment. I could see a role for different players in the guts, and shifting Brayshaw and even Oliver outside at times to get better value out of them. 30 possessions and 25 turnovers and 5 passes to players under heaps of pressure is not really a good day out for the team. I think Petty and Kielty must be really close, and if they can show form would add significant value to the main squad. I also see OMac as worth watching - can he discover his form? Chandler, Bedford and Jordon (and Bradtke) are really early in their careers, so let them build into the game. Oskar Baker is returning from long term injury, so I suspect needs a few games to get going before he would even be looked at. I would not write off any of these guys. It is unfortunate that they are even in the conversation by necessity at this stage.

Goody has sent the players away for a 4 day break before they regroup at the club on Monday. After a few 6 day breaks and the 4 day break, it is probably a good time for them to freshen up. Goody said they might watch a ‘bit of footy’ over that time. Without kicking off a massive player bashing session, I am interested if that’s what a few of these guys need - a bit of time away and self reflection? Perhaps now the bath water has been drained and we are staring at the dregs of what should have been, a little time away to ‘freshen up’ might be time for them to get their heads back in the game. I would seriously be hoping the coaching staff take the time to take stock and reset. If J Lewis was speaking from the club approved position (to change the gameplan a bit), then they have very little time to work out what they want to change, and get the systems ready to train next week. Some of the players need to take a fairly solid look at their performances over this time and make some hard decisions about what they do from here.

Colonwood scored 2 goals after quarter time. 2 to 7 and fell over the line. Sounds like the demons somewhat...

We haven’t yet seen what we are capable of. Imagine if Lever and May had both been on the park, and we were able to structure up in the back half behind the ball with elite pillars? Imagine if TMac and Weids had a bit of form forward of the ball? Imagine if we were able to hit a target by hand and foot? Jesse wanted out. We made the best of that, and the deficiency we had in defence ‘appeared’ fixed when we secured May, and KK as a freebie to go with him. We have not yet seen how this will go. It looks like it will take us until the Bye to get all the right pieces on the park. I just hope that as we write off 2019 that we can use it to redefine a style of play that we can manage, and to get some cohesion into our players so that we can become ‘elite’ in 2020. I also hope we start playing a style that will encourage the AFL to give us premium time slots and not consign us to the rubbish time slots again.

Currently Weids is within his rights to ask for a half sucked mintie and 2 musk sticks.

Something stinks. I dont know how sacking people will fix the problem, but from the outside, it looks like something has gone really off the rails. We can sack the lot of them, but unless we find and address what is really going wrong, we are simply swapping deck chairs. How do we go from chocolates to boiled lollies so fast?

Some time to pause and reset. Send Viney if fit to half back. Give him time to man up, tackle and dispose of it without being panicky every time he goes near it. Send Weid to a wing. Put Brayshaw on the other. Have a forward line of Preuss, Keilty, Smith, Frisch , Melksham, and try Bedford. Lewis and Jones both out. Petty, Frost, Salem, Hunt, Viney and Hibbard as back 6 Middle of Gawn, Oliver, Harmes, Maynard. Bench of TMac, Stretch, Trac, C Wagner

Summary of press conference: We were better, because quite frankly, we couldn’t be any worse. Our skills are deplorable. Whilst I use the word ‘connection by hand and foot’, what I mean is the most basic skills that even the under 12’s would be expected to deliver. Our forwards are out of form so badly we cannot even hide them in the backline They will have 4 days away from the club. Seek.com will be busy. We are all in this together. No one can escape this sinkhole of a season with any dignity alone.

He might be better served as a half back, where he has a little more time to decide. His panicky rubbish dish offs are embarrassing. Getting knocked over by the work experience kid was also embarrassing.

If Jones and Lewis retire, can we get extra picks?