Dee*ceiving

We don't have players that can score. Look his in the forwardline. Petty can't catch a cold, McAdam not up to it, Chandler just a battler. ANB and Kozzy are playing midfield, Petracca trying to do everything. We haven't had the cash the last 3 years. Sucked up by signing long term deals with Oliver, Tracc & Angus. Won't be the case this year. Already lost Gus (surely paid outside the cap, resraint of trade that we don't at least know already if it will or won't), plus Smith and will lose Brown & Hunter (on top of Harmes & JJ last year)

Agree, some offield problems no doubt bit every club would have them. Might ours be worse than others? Maybe. Ours do seem to get aired on public to a greater extent and then beaten like a drum by the media ad nauseum. I personally dont think we shooting straight to the bottom. Oliver and Viney will return to form, both are A grade as are Gawn, lever, may, Fritsch and kozzy. Some of our B grades are very good, ANB, Langdon and rivers We have some young players with upside JVR, Windsor, mcvee, bowey, kolt, Jeffo Petty goes next year, need to find a forward and a mid that can make a real difference. Don't have to be superstars but need to buy in, work hard and ideally have some X factor. We owe to max, and the other leaders that have been loyal, to open the cheque book and not take no for an answer just like we did to get may, lever and Langdon

It is the gameplan but it's also the players; 5 seriously down on expected form; Petty, Viney, Oliver, Bowey & Sparrow 5 being played out of position; Petty, ANB, Kozzy, Rivers & Langdon 2 not suitably fit enough or capable of meeting the requirements of the level; McAdam & Hunter 2 critically important to our structure not playing; Lever & JVR 2 removed from the list; Brayshaw and Smith (a massive handicap vs every other team) 0 back up for Max (v Freo), JVR does a manful job but it does rob us of a forward 2 recruited for the role completely unseen and unlikely to provide any relief; Schache & Fullarton

Great work @spirit of norm smith I think the problems aren't that hard to see, we've managed to paper over the cracks (mostly) for half a season thanks largely to our back 6/all team defense and some big efforts from Gawn, Tracc, Viney, ANB, Fritsch, Langdon, Kozzy and JVR. With fatigue, injury and form the cracks are not sinkholes. Facts Forwardline = completely decimated Petty, unfit, hopelessly out of form and not a forward. Averaging ~7 touches & 0.3 goals McAdam, either not fit or not up to the level. Cannot kick further than 30m Turner, learning the ropes, possibly not a forward and ulikely to evolve into David Shwarz with the support available Kozzy, playing midfield ANB playing midfield JVR didn't play v Fremantle (but has been an absolute warrior all season) Fritsch, a class act but is currently being asked to play like Tony Lockett. Very difficult for Bailey to play his role well without a legitimate FF or CHF Midfield = severely undermanned Brayshaw gone Oliver, not fit and down on form Langdon, playing forward Hunter cooked Windsor, trying but fatiguing Sparrow down on form Viney, manful but down on form Tracc & Gawn, trying to be everything, everywhere & probably saved us from 2-3 more losses Backline = dam wall finally broke Lever, not playing Rivers, playing midfield Salem, playing midfield May battered and bruised Tomlinson a very good VFL player McDonald steady but on the retirement tour Overall Playing with 2 less than everyone else, Brayshaw, a legitimate top 5-10 player and Smith, a useful utility Recent mature age recruits have not helped at all (Billings, McAdam, Fullarton, Schache) Rookies with serious potential are not ready (Tholstrup, Jefferson) Cathartic but painful to type out. I'll need to rest before putting forward some solutions 🙄...but largely agree with what Norm and others have said

No excuses. Hungry side on the rise vs a tired side on the decline

I don't mean to be alarmist, but put a fork in us WE ARE DONE! Playing 20 v 23, nothing in the cupboard. Hunter, McAdam, Petty, miles off the level. Can't kick, can't run, can't mark. AMW must play for the next month at least to see if there's something there.

Thanks for sharing that WCW. Doesn't help with the sadness of it all but it does give us a greater insight to the injustice of it all and how it's left not just Angus but the whole playing group/club feeling.

I was joking, he'd pick 18 backmen at a maximum 😉 Being serious, I love Goody as our coach. He has a philosophy and he sticks to it and continuously tries to make it better. He's also a bloody hard worker, a diplomat and incredibly resilient.

I think you're right. Though I also think goody would pick 23 Backmen of he could 😓

Forward and back up ruck...

Ouch, that Roo injury is a real low blow...😉

I can see 4 definite outs We are already two players down, Brayshaw (retired) (1) and Smith (highly unlikely to return) (2). Brown will retire (3); Scache will be delisted (4) Likely outs Agree, Tommo will seek other options (5) Petty will try again to get to Adelaide, especially if his form perists the way it has and we continue to play him forward. Crows will play the 'number one defender role' card (6) AMW, Verrall and Sestan are all second year rookies. Can they be rookied for a third year? My guess would be two would go, AMW the likely one unless he gets a taste in the second half of the season seeing he's been the most consistent of the 3 at casey (2) With McVee due to be promoted to the main list that looks like 6 main list exits (Brayshaw, Smith, Brown, Schache, Tomlinson, Petty), one promotion (McVee), net -5 3 rookie list exits (2 of AMW/Sestan/Verrall and McVee) Not sure we could afford to lose TMac.

Agree. At his best, Melksham will marshall the forward line, disarm the oppositions best key defender and hit the scoreboard.

It will be fascinating to see how Melks fares when he returns. He's been running and training for some time now so should have the tank (in theory). Question is does he come back with steely grit and determination or wanting for motivation. My guess with Jake is steely grit and determination, which would be an amazing addition for our last 6-10 games!

Agree wholeheartedly. Purely bizarre. I am glad we're playing on Sunday as hopefully it's bedded in better by then after the umpires completely eradicate the notion of prior opportunity Thursday to Saturday

I'll say it again. If a forward won his position as as often as Steve may does as a defender that forward would probably be the highest paid player in the comp. Backman don't get anywhere near enough respect.

Ok, coming around to be more optimistic about Smacca, plus if it's really his brithday what better time than to send positive energy his way. In the realm of extreme optimism how good would it be if Pickett and McAdam could forge a Sean Charles/Jeff Farmer esque tag team? Not sure the combination won us a heap of games in the 90s but they sure were exciting and did look for eachother (as it seems Kozzy has been doing).

I think that makes sense Jaded. We won't lose much in terms of pace with Woey Jnr, plus he gets rewarded for good form, plus we manage Leb's minutes. Leb could be a real impact player if injected at the 20 minute mark of the 3rd qtr.

Petty will remain forward in the 1s until he's out of the team injured or we're no longer in realistic contention. At which point we'll see TF, MJ and WV...hopefully not an outcome we see this year. If Tommo plays well the next two weeks it will be interesting to see what we do with him when Lever returns. I am not sure we can have all of May, TMac, Lever and Tommo in the backline. Tommo could potentially play the role Howe filled until last week, but he and TMac are both slow and having four talls back there means a small or medium (who is much faster) would need to move out.

I think it's fair to say that our high performance strategy does not utilise: resting/managing players utilising the VFL as a means for players to find form, whether returning from injury or just not playing well Re: Hunter, I thought he was very good. Found himself in good places, defenisvely often, offensively some and had some deft touches, slight handballs and knock ons that opened up play. He's a smart player and probably didn't (and didn't need to) extend himself too much in the VFL).

I think with Petty there's still a chance he'll find form and make a considerable difference. It looks a long way off but the FD is taking a gamble that it will click and with any luck it does at the right time. Like it or not, my guess is they'll stick with this until Petty is legitimately injured to the extent he can't play, or it's evident we're not a genuine chance to win the flag. Whichever comes soonest (hopefully neither)!

That's sad Fork! As we get older, lamenting the current to be as not as good as the past is a fact of life. If you once loved something that you don't love anymore you should let it go. You will probably feel better afterwards. Unless it's your life partner, in which case you should check your superannuation and enquire thoughtfully about the financial implications elsewise it's possible you'll feel much worse! Was there a long time ago Clint...At least the WWE have the decency to admit it.

I agree, no change. But the clock is ticking for Petty and McAdam. Petty looked to have turned the corner in the second half v Geelong but has barely touched the footy since. He clunked one about 5 minutes in yesterday and I thought he might be on, sadly not. Re McAdam I agree he needs a block of games but it's a big ask to carry two forwards who not only don't hit the scoreboard but barely touch the leather.

Definitely feels like a trend. Though in 2022 we'd do the opposite. Jump out of the blocks, lead at half time and then try to grind out the second half. Of course it all grinded to a halt eventually