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Snoopy

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  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Fair dinkum!I thought he was doing ok for a bloke with such a poor midfield. How did the next bloke go?
  4. I've been gone for a while. Has anything happened?
  5. I'm sick of the club putting up injury lists. Depressing facts and nothing but bloody excuses for the apologists to grab hold of and try and explain away everything that is wrong with our club. Everything. Hell, I wish they'd take the numbers off the backs of the players so we couldn't identify them. No, lets go further, lets dye their hair, put false bottoms on their shoes to change their heights, put a bit of padding here and there and even paint their skin a different color. That would stuff the apologists too because they couldn't tell one player from another. And while we're at it what about player information?? Let's forget things like providing ages, heights, weights, draft pick position and experience. Let's get to the stage that when a Melbourne team run out on the ground it's just 18 bodies (yeh, lets forget names) playing 18 bodies. No excuses then for not competing, not chasing, missing kicks and missing tackles. No ability to make comparisons with other teams to compare abilities, experiences or games played. We'd just be Melbourne and we could judge the team based purely on performance with no distracting "facts". Think of the advantages. No delistings, no need for a recruiting department because all the players would be the same and all those little pesky "facts" can be eliminated. And if things aren't going well (winning every game) all we have to do is change the coach. Yeh, it'd be all his fault. He's not motivating the players, he's not got a game plan, he's not playing them in the right position, his training methods aren't right, he may not even speak the right language. And we just keep changing him until we do. And we shouldn't know who he is. That way personal feeling won't come into it. No debatable judgements about his personality would be required. No interpretation of media conferences (because we'd ban those as well) and no concerns about his experience, age or religious preferences. Can't you see the advantages?? No apologists. No nasty divisions. No diversity of opinions. No need to try and think about footy. Just a simple equation. Win and the coach stays and lose and he goes. We would be a united supporter base. No torch bearers wanting to burn apologists at the stake. No apologists wondering if the men with hoods were coming in the evening to burn them at the stake. No big dick competitions. We'd all be as one and Demonland would be a happy and loving space. I think it's time for this club to get serious and consider the supporters. Hell, we pay our subs and we are entitled!!!
  6. G'day Snoop. I like the name. Maintain the rage,

    cheers,

    Tim

  7. Rhino's excellent post highlights just how inexperienced we were compared to the Hawks on Sunday. But it only tells a part of the story. There are two other fundamentals a team needs to be genuinely successful. You need a dominant midfield. You need stars. You can do your own analysis of the second of these points (which highlights why we did better against the Swans with similar "stats") and I'll tell you something about the first. I think there are five pretty dominant midfields in the competition - Collingwood, Geelong, Hawthorn, Saints and Western Bulldogs. It's no surprise that most believe these teams will fill the top four spots - win the midifield and you'll usually win the game. Here are some stats for you. I've taken the top five midfielders in each of these teams and looked at the number of years they've spent on an AFL list and the number of games they've played. Then I've compared them with us. You will most likely disagree with some of the selections but the conclusion is frightening whichever way you cook it. Collingwood (Swan, Pendlebury, Thomas, Ball, Beams). 35 years on the list and 583 games. Geelong (Bartel, Ling, Selwood, Johnson, Corey). 49 years on the list and 871 games. Hawks (Burgoyne, Mitchell, Sewell, Rioli, Lewis). 41 years on the list and 669 games. Saints (Dal Santo, Hayes, Montagna, Jones, Ray). 45 years on the list and 789 games. Bulldogs (Boyd, Cross, Cooney, Griffen, Higgins). 42 years on the list and 676 games. And now for us....... (Moloney, McKenzie, Scully, Trengove, Sylvia)** 24 years on the list and 277 games. BTW, we were missing three of these players on Sunday!! For all those that think these figures are just excuses for losing and accepting poor performances - your dreamin'. We've a way to go boys so like has been said before - enjoy the ride or get off now and join again at a later station when some of this shite is behind us. *years on list maybe a little rubbery but you get the drift. ** edit to remove Morton and add Sylvia.
  8. As readers of Demonland know I post little and rarely if ever start threads but this will most likely go unnoticed if it's not mentioned here. In the dark years, prior to Saturday night when we saw the first real evidence of the sunrise, many at our club were vilified for their part in our circumstance with few avoiding the wrath of posters and supporters. That vilification intensified as time went on. Craig Cameron was one such person. I don't intend to enter into the well worn and now boring debate as to whether he was great or deplorable but what I will recognize here is the defense that he built. On Saturday night our defense was made up of Frawley - pick 12, Garland - pick 46, Warnock - rookie, Bartram - 60 and Grimes pick 14. Warnock was a mature rookie punt from Sandringham and is 26 but the others are 22 or younger and will form the core of our defense for a good few years yet unless some early picks from the Prendergast years replace them. But I doubt the foundations of that defense, Warnock, Frawley and Garland will be replaced. Prendergast will get much praise for the eventual rebuild of our Club, and while I'm a huge fan (looking at Bennell, McKenzie and Bail being later picks who look great,) he will have done so with the advantage of picks Cameron never had. Our defense will be built by Craig and he will have his fingerprints all over our future success with Jamar ®, Morton (P4), Spencer®, Rivers(P26), Wonaeamirri®, Jones (12), Petterd(30),Bate(13) and Martin(PSD) all good chances to be meaningful members of the new era. Thanks mate.
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