buck_nekkid

When I saw Lewis and Jones line up on the wings for the first bounce I almost spewed. Two slowest players in the true ‘outside mid’ positions. Do not offer enough defensive capability from there, and certainly offer little offensively. The barrel must be almost at empty if this is where we are at. i hoped his leadership would add some value, but hard to lead when you can’t lead by example....

So, some rational (?) thought: 1. Our high press defence works well when everyone from half forward to half back works hard and removes space and options. We give the opposition the first or second kick so that we are set up to stop it in the back half of the centre square and repel it back forward. We are simply not running hard enough to the right places, we are not fast enough and we are losing contested ball and groundball gets. 2. Our midfield has no defensive strategy. We seem to believe that we will win every set-up clearance (ball up/ball in) and so set up for offence, with no defensive elements at stoppages. When the opposition do win, they burst away and we are left in the wrong positions to influence the game. This is fine when we are smashing it, but we seem to be barely halving these moments. Also shows up when there is a ball in 30 m from goal. You just know the opposition will score. Happens week in, week out. 3. We are flat track bullies. Put some physical pressure on our midfielders, and they wilt. Get in their faces, push and harass them, and they drop off their game, and give up stupid ‘tough guy’ free kicks. 4. The skills across the park are atrocious. TMAc cannot mark (Goodwin), and we have seen the other glaring problems. Preuss has been a revelation (at least first quarters), but our entire system relies on skills and we are so far down on this it is not funny. 5. Footspeed. Not one chase down tackle. Not one closing speed pressure on the ball carrier (nearly one, but not quite). Is this because we have recruited ‘contest beasts’ or is something else going on? Is it half hearted efforts? The opposition run around and past us all the time. 6. Confidence. Obviously we have zero confidence at the minute. They mark, and stop. Some of the entry into 50 was disgusting. Howe can we continuously try to pass off to people in worse positions (and fail miserably). Trac’s handball to no-one. Spargo’s kicks directly to opposition players on their own, on our 50. The lack of run and spread when we tried to switch play was sad. They would switch, and upfield were a bunch of joggers. No one busting a gut for anyone else. 7. Which half? We are supposed to be a forward half team, but we cannot keep it in our half, or play in theirs. 8. Forward craft. When it does get inside 50, the Saints ran it out unopposed over and over. We could not mark, crumb, hustle, tackle, corral, or sometimes kick simple goals (Trac!). At one stage, we were 30% effficiency inside 50 versus the saints 70%. If Goodwin wants better connection, then he should switch his phone to Telstra. We have some serious issues that need fixing that are more than just ‘connection’. They are fixable, but we are looking at an ugly start to the year, maybe the full first half. With AVB, Hannan, May and Lever we should be better. With TMAc, Weid back (MIA) we will be better. Buckle up, we are in for a long year.

Hannan hasn’t been in this year....

I had the opportunity to briefly share my views with Pert as he was getting into the lift. I was direct, but polite. He looks like he is Petracca’s role model in the pizza eating department.

Our best at delivering inside 50 are Milkshake and Angus. Play them high half forward. Bring in Jeffy and Lockhart to rove, and to lock the ball in the forward 50. Tom Mac will be persisted with but he is terrible ATM. We really need Aaron Vandenberg and Hannan back at half forward, and Lever/May in the backline. Frost did OK tonight, I thought. My guess is we will not be as brutal as we would like. Ins: OMac, Petty, Lockhart, Jeff, Maynard, Kielty Outs: Spargo, Jones, Jetta (inj), TMac (desire, but unlikely), J Wagner, Take your pick of 7-8 others.

That was diabolical and deplorable. We are the best contested ball team in the clomp - except we are not We are the best clearance team in the comp - except we are not. Key problems: Skills - Simply not up to standard. Game plan - ineffective Forward 50 entries and play - completely underwhelming. No crumbles, unable to lock the ball in Defence - broken. The zone is dead. The number of times they ran off us to set up goals was terrifying We were beaten in all phases of the game. All of them Confidence is so low at the moment. Decision making is appalling. Outcoached. We slowed them in the first half, then they just ran around us. All the attributes that Goody prides us on were simply not there We did not run for players, give them options, provide overlaps or lead up marks of quality. Some significant player issues at the moment. Half the list are not up to it or ready. I have been an optimist, but at 4 qtr time, I could see our season on the way out the door. There is going to have to be some magic dust sprinkled around to turn this frog into a prince.

Why am I nervous AF? i think we will win by 34 points, but either I ate a bad curry or this is as nervous as I have before a game in a while.

I don’t hate or love him, I just commented on what I saw. I hate bagging players (they are not ‘spuds’), but his play was noteworthy in its cost to the outcome. Perhaps we all expect more given his role in the firsts?

Nibbles misses a shot. End to end goal. Nibbler horrific handling. Free kick and goal. FMD.

3 games, 3 blowouts. Not a great advertisement for the game.

Wow. Our top 6 all score below any of their top 6. That seems bizarre!

Managing the list for Wed?

That was disgraceful

Jeffy in on Wednesday.

Thanks for the report, Saty. Any thoughts on if they were managing players for the short break, or was it all available putting in?

Nah. Would suit a team near the bottom of the ladder looking for a dominant forward. Oh heck, that’s us! even then, I would say no. I don’t see the fit of someone with a sway back, can hardly train, whose kicking has dropped 10-15m in penetration and comes with a huge contract. Think his time is approaching. Let the swans keep sucking this lolly.

I’ll spew if we sign that flopper

He is not a free agent, or even near it. He had a couple of key performances in big games, but has been a ‘solid contributor’ (at best) otherwise. This negotiation stuff is all ducks and drakes. Does he want to stay and play with us, or does he want out (for the cash, or whatever?). The media love a contract negotiation, and the managers love to use the media to apply negotiating pressure. It’s all froth and bubbles until it is done, one at or the other. If I was Sam, I would be putting pressure on the negotiation with performances that made us really think he can live up to his potential.

It would be interesting to know how the club are approaching this patch of footy, in terms of managing loads leading into the ‘double header’. I wonder if we will be selecting essentially for both games and managing loads and training across the week accordingly (group 1, both games, managed right through, group 2, Saints game, early week load, group 3, Tigers, late week load, etc). I also wonder whether this patch was somehow on the minds of the conditioning staff in the lead into the season? Perhaps the ‘load’ of these two games somehow influenced the preparation, which we then saw in weeks 1-3? They have looked underdone up to the Swans game.

Hawks kept bombing it to the hot spot, and St Kilda kept defending it out from there. Hawks were undermanned and were pretty poor around the contest as the game wore on. We win by: Max connecting to our mids for clearances. Better lead up options and connections into 50. Strong i50 defensive mindset. Not being predictable by bombing down the line, or always kicking out to the members back pocket Strong man on pressure through the midfield, two way defensive running. Pruess man mountain with Jeffy at his feet.

Note to Dees: Hawks bombing to hotspot, and being rope doped by the Saints. How are we planning to enter i50 next week?

He almost makes it unwatchable. He is such a sook, and gets such a free ride.

Next week will be interesting. Expect a few players to be on light or no duties to help manage the team across the short break to Anzac Eve. Tigers looking really poxy in defence ATM, but dangerous when forward.

I reckon Daisy was great as special commentary or boundary. Twice as intelligent as these other fart breathers. Bruce is just an embarrassment. Ling is a trouser ball tamperer of the highest order. Richo seems to be two or three standard deviations below mean IQ. BT is there for the ‘upper middle class bogan’. MMM take this to an unpleasant extreme. Joffie and his toofless mates are who they cater for. unfortunately, it seems to be more about them than the game.

Spotlight on a Hibbard. unsighted until we were on top, then did a couple of link up moves from half back. Haven’t seen him called out, but I thought he was well down, and it was a bit of a downhill skiing performance. Spotlight on Viney i loved his bull tackle later in the game, but he doesn’t get it a lot or use it well from the middle. Hoping he is just warming up, but not at the top of his game. Spotlight on OMac. Enough already said. Spotlight on Hore played a great game, looked composed and prepared to back himself in tough spots. Liked his game Super shout outs to Max, Preuss (slowed later, but showed enough), Oliver from Q2. our game emerged half way through q2. Up until then, it was the last 3 weeks all over again. Hope we have turned the corner