praha

Referencing 2004 in 2024 is like referencing 1984 in 2004. Totally different games. The league is holistically much tougher (and better) now. Good teams don't lose like that. Fullstop.

He gave us forward line depth. Our replacement is McAdam. We haven't replaced Bedford.

Yeah, we lost momentum after letting Bedford walk tbh and Jackson leaving. Brayshaw a huge gap. Recruitment has been poor and the handling of Grundy isn't scrutinised enough.

I'll eat my hat live on Twitch if we win this one.

We're lucky this isn't at the G mate. The score might have been worse.

We had a second AA ruck signed sealed and delivered. They gave it 10 weeks to work then gave up, and crashed out in straight sets for the second year in a row. They traded that ruck to another contender who is now 1st halfway through the year. Meanwhile we sigh McAdam who can't kick 30 metres, ignore trade requests for Petty who average 5 touches a game and no goals, and gave Oliver an ultimatum only for him to turn into a potato. Our best players are all turning/in their 30s, we have zero ruck depth, no forward craft, and a wasted midfield. McRae has demonstrated what good coaching craft does with a solid list. Melbourne has choked so hard post-flag. Today is the eye opening I think many needed.

This is coach-killing stuff.

This is coach-killing stuff.

Not sticking with Grundy and not giving it more time was perhaps the most short-sighted coaching decision I have ever seen this club make. We gifted him to Sydney who is now dominating and has an AA ruck for the next 4-5 seasons. Meanwhile we are plodding along with Petty as a backup ruckman, and we get absolutely spanked whenever a team has more than one big body. Anyone that didn't see the writing on the wall after the West Coast game is delusional.

Freo's best first quarter for the year. Freo's best half for the year. We consistently make this irrelevant spud of a club look like superstars.

Freo's largest half time score is 7.6. They have 7.3 with 10 minutes left in the half.

The difference in this game is one team being able to hit regulation kicks in the corridor. And the other not.

Whatever Goodwin and his coaching team are trying to do this year they need to go back to basics. We are so out of sync and just average. There's no identity to what we're doing. We're not even at half time yet and the week's footy shows already have an entire week's worth of content to talk about. This isn't just a player issue. This is a comprehensive structural breakdown.

Our midfield has been okay though today. We're losing through turnover. It's very concerning that a team like Freo scores 5.2 in the first quarter. We are badly out of sync.

This has been a Goodwin trait ever year bar 2021. Teams always seem to have "their best quarter for the season" against us.

We won't win this. Games like this just don't turn around. We are playing at a second rate level. Our field kicking is deplorable and lazy. Freo would have to drop their pressure for us to win.

This is lazy, complacent football.

They're wearing their footy gear so it would be an AFL sponsorship, not personal.

In all seriousness though the media/marketing manager definitely should have pulled that one. I imagine it was filmed before our current marketing officer started. It is a little strange. I'd definitely have blocked that one.

Pies are still loaded with talent. They are missing pieces but still have game winners down the spine. This is also a masterclass coach coming out against a coach with no plan B. McRae is making the entire league look very average atm. Pies have been the benchmark for three seasons now.

We're not though. It's not 2021 anymore. We need to accept where we are.

You can predict which way this is going to go.

So we have graduated from "long and high to a congested forward line" to "low and short" to a congested forward line.

Saints aren't good but we ain't that flash. We should pump them as we should have Eagles last week. We are flat flooted too often.

We are in the midst of a slump and I doubt Goodwin has the coaching nuance to coach us out of it this week. The writing has been on the wall for our forward structure for quite some time and he's even admitted that this week is going to be a "slog". You just know that means we'll score 60 points and some potato for St Kilda will kick a career high 5+ goals in a game-winning performance for them. The longer it takes Goodwin and his team to realise that Fritsch should be played as an isolated key forward that can kick 50-60 goals a year ala Jack Reiwoldt, the longer we will be a middling finals and mid-table team. Goodwin badly needs to reinvent how this team is coached and plays otherwise he risks turning into Ross Lyon 2.0 or Ken Hinkley 2.0. I'm willing to bet it won't happen this week and St Kilda paying $3+ is ridiculously good money. An underperforming good team is an easier beat, than an average team in the midst of a slump looking for a win.