jnrmac

We are not holding it in like we used to though. And we are 10th on i50s. Its part of hte reason our last 8 weeks hasn't been as good as the first 10

The track record is damning. You may not like the fact but no good team loses as much as we do to lower ranked teams. Feel free to prove me wrong with evidence

Just checked some stats We are last for tackles in the whole comp We are 16th in total clearances That puts huge pressure on our defence to hold the fort. Its not sustainable.

Agree with this. You can't win forever by generating your scores from the defensive 50. Its great that we have dominant players there but May even said a few weeks ago we "can't keep playing that way" Eventually teams work you out or the dam wall breaks. Our midfield have really escaped scrutiny because Gawn Tracc and Oliver in particular are regarded as elite players. If the are so elite why do we get beaten so often in centre clearances? Why does Oliver always grapple with his opponent? Why are the running patterns and hit outs so off? Then to top it off we kick to the pockets so our scoring is XXX. And our fwds have been unable to hold the ball in as much as we need them to. Playing a back half game is the oppposite of what Goodwin has said he wants. So why are we here? We have largely the same team every week, We're having a great run with injuries. And we are so predictable the way we play. Coaching and leadership are wanting. To bring 'it' only when we play 'good teams' is disrespectful and stupid.

Not only recent form. We did it last year and in 2017 missing finals because we took it easy against lower ranked teams. We don't seem to have learned anything from the 'learnings'

Watch some here try to spin that. All the stats on "On the couch" and First Crack are damning about our pressure dropping, off, our transitioning from defence, our poor clearance work, no advantage from our ruck dominance (in fact the opposite) etc But I love how some come here and say 'gee we're still on top' Its blindingly obvious we haven't been playing well for 6 to 8 weeks bar some good form against Port.

Yeah, great smart alec comment. Play like that in finals and we are out in straight sets. But yeah its only been 57 years, whatever

All teams know not to kick it long to lever and may. The teams that have pinpointed passes, used handball and created theor own chaos or dirty ball entry have done well. We haven't handled it and added to that we are mentally weak - there's no other words for it. To succumb to lower teams so consistently is an abject failure of coaching and leadership

Our whole game appears to be based on being predictable for our team mates. That would be fine but its also predictable to opposition teams and its easy for a good coach to try to upset that. Not all teams are capable of doing it but North and others discovered that moving the ball quickly by hand through the middle destroys our advtantage of strong intercept defenders. Our kick ins I would estimate go 90% to the left hand side if May is kicking in. Often there is a player free in the corridor or RHS of the ground that is ignored. Predictability is clearly a trait that Goodwin favours. Problem is we look so much better when running freely out of defence and when we take the game on. You have to back your talent in that sort of game but we only seem to go that way when the game is reaching its conclusion.

Exactly. So its Coaching and leadership. They both failed against the Hawks. If they can't do it consistently they are going nowhere. Oliver and Trac in particular pick and choose when to go or when to be selfless and do the team thing. Viney frustrates because he is heart and soul but skill errors and decision making negate a lot of that. Our fwd line went walkabout and our defence was humbled by blokes that have played about 20 games (Bruest excluded)

On field leadership and coaching. Earlier in the year there was a huge amount of talk and positioning for certain events. Its virtually stopped. We're back to bees to the honeypot, not positioning properly, not doing selfless things etc etc Gawn, Oliver, Viney and petracca are playing lke individuals again. Langdon hasn't been the same since coming back. The fwd line is still dysfunctional with crumbers nowhere to be seen this week and as demonstrated by Vineys burst through the middle and not one fwd leading at him

The boundary line...

So many of our fwd entries go to the pockets. I assume its so we can hold it in there and doesn't rebound straight out. But it means our goal kicking is totally hit and miss. And totally confusing to our goal kickers that don't know where to lead - at round 18 FFS The example you have referred to is different. Its a fast break from the middle. And not one single fwd is leadin at the ball carrier. Its beyond frustraing. What the hell do they train for ?

I suspect i was looking at Spargo? Thought it was Fritsch. Either way it was a terrible fwd entry AND from a captain.

Fritsch would be lucky to be 40m away. Viney could have kicked to his advantage had he seen him. As it is he chose the worst option.

It won't work. They will require a stop play video review for half of them

We got a run on in the last qtr. The margin 2 pts at one point in the last qtr I think

Saw it on Fox Footy in the post match wash up

Hawthorn won the pressure stat. 206 average. Hawthorn's highest for the year. Blindingly obvious watching the game they were harder and more switched on than us with numbers at the contest. We had no answer. We fumbled, made poor decisions and went back to the selfish footy of trying to do everything themselves. And our crumbing forwards were nowhere to be seen when the whips were cracking.

These kind of stats are total rubbish unless you have an idea of where the shots are being taken from.

Interesting that you think its us supporters who are the bipolar ones. Not the bipolar footy team we follow. The way they play totally befits a comparison to a bipolar disorder. And its been that way for 50 years. But yeah, its our fault.

If you really think we were younger and less experienced then you know nothing about maths or football. Take Burgoyne out and see what that does to your average??? They had 10 players with less than 35 games and had 10 first choice players missing. We were pathetic

Is much harder when we continually kick from deep in the pockets. Insanity

Ahh, the old I don't like what they say so I'll cancel their right to say it You could burn a few books while you're at it There's a word for people like you and it isn't nice Block posters of you don't like what they say. And then grow a pair

Rather spargo kick for goal than Oliver.