Snoopy

I didn't mean to suggest that the preseason troubles are the only reason, only that the preseason is the main reason and explains much of what has gone wrong. BECAUSE: Poor preseason > loss of games > loss of confidence > lots of pressure > skill errors and on and on. My post was to balance the rather irrational and ill considered calls for: change the coach - he was exceptional last year and coaches don't change all that much. And he's a better coach now than he was then. He's just dealing with a completely different situation. change the game plan - it got us to the Preliminary final last year where 13 of our players needed post season operations. Are you surprised we got spanked? I've read here for years that we are always followers but when we have a game plan with a point of difference that was very successful last year everyone wants to change it. Go figure. change the players - I mean who in their right mind wants to trade Petracca, Viney, Brayshaw etc etc and go to the draft and start all over again in the hope that in 5 years we'll be better.

In an effort to move past the teeth gnashing and knee jerk reactions to this year's disappointments it's time to acknowledge that the real reason probably started a few days after the loss to WCE in the Preliminary Final last year when something like 17 players were scheduled for end of season operations to fix ankles, shoulders, hips, knees and heavens knows what else. This cruelled our preseason which most recognize is the foundation stone of strong on field performances. Fitness is a non negotiable in footy and we just don't have it. It was reported here that Craig Jennings (I think) said that at one stage in the preseason we had 12 players fit enough to complete the main session indicating that the injuries we had went well beyond those who had operations. Key players effected included:- Our entire starting midfield had interrupted preseasons - Viney, Harmes and Oliver had operations and Jones and Brayshaw had injuries. If my memory is correct none started with the main group until February and some not until March. Three of our best forwards had interrupted preseasons - Tmac had both ankles operated on, Melk had hammy issues and Trac a knee operation Our best defenders had interrupted preseasons - Jetta a knee, May with his issues and Lever recovering from an ACL. From memory Hibberd might also have had a operation. This is a list of the "main crew" who had little or no preseason.. Then there were players like Stretch, Hannan, Oscar Baker and Hore who were also significantly disrupted. Through no fault of anyone, unless you want to suggest we send 13 of our Preliminary Final players off for end of season surgery in August, these players lack fitness because of the lack of a proper preseason. I think this lack of fitness underlies the majority of the issues we have faced this year including:- an inability to run out games inability to play 4 quarters basic skill errors - these occur when plays fatigue a lack of confidence a lack of connection a lack of two way running Compounding this has been a wretched run of injury in season. AVB, Smith, May, Melksham, Hibberd and Jetta have been significant losses. JKH, Stretch, KK and Garlett have added to our issues. On Champion Data stats we lost 89 games to injury to our best 22 in the first 10 games - 50% more than any other team and this on top of a poor preseason. You can carry some injuries but there reaches a stage when you lose so many that the game just falls apart because you're playing too many players who are NQR. We've seen this with Richmond and Collingwood. Is it any surprise that Geelong and Brisbane are doing surprisingly well. They've had no injuries of note. And is it any surprise that Gawn and Salem have performed so well. To my knowledge they had good preseasons. The vitriol directed at players, coaches and fitness staff beg the reality of our situation. Calls to rebuild, change the coach and radically change the game plan ignore core issues that have led to our situation. Posters are far too keen to find blame rather than find reasons. I've never been more confident that we've got the building blocks to be very good. There are some gaps in our list we need to fill and we could well do that in this trade period. This has been a disappointing year but is not reflective of our Club or the players and staff.