praha

These umpires are cooked.

Petracca doing his best to lose this game for us.

lol there you go.

Presence. That is why Weiderman is playing.

5 entries for 3 scoring shots.

CHOOFTA. Weeds with more impact in 2 quarters than Mcdonald has had all year.

Insanity from Goodwin not to have Weeds in sooner. He is the target we need.

but we're not. you could say that about a majority of our games the past 18 months. this isn't an uncommon issue. it's a consistent theme. turnovers are symbolic of the broader issues.

GC were a 3-4 goal better team that quarter. We look completely uninspired. There's no identity to what we do. GC have a clear goal and they are bullying us.

We play uninspiring football, lacking in synergy, structure and urgency. When fast it's erratic and unpredictable. When it's slow it's unaccountable with zero risk. The life has been sucked out of this team.

We have had flashes the last two weeks of 2018 quality football. That goal was a flash.

Rough on Weeds there.

Was Lockhart practicing his [censored] golf swing during the warmup? Is this under 10s?

They are going to smoke us for pace but gee whiz on paper you'd think we are a 10+ goal better side. Make no mistake, tonight is a battle of the coaches. Dew and the Suns will see this as exttemely gettable especially given how they probably should have beaten us last year. My honest opinion is that everyone here brace themself and mentally prepare for the worst. Which shouldn't be hard as I'm sure it's something you've all been doing with this club for 30+ years.

I have been in similar roles, albeit in a media advisory role. My experience is that CEOs are often merely "faces" for organisations and don't often have as much pull as people think they do. My guess is that Jackson came in as CEO when the club actually needed a CEO to make the calls, and he was grooming someone in his shadow. Whereas Pert had the media exposure and experience and could probably be pulled alongside the board. Ultimately most company decisions that have broad impact on the entire organisation are the decisions signed off by a CEO but most decisions are signed off and incorporated by those around and below them. So your CEO experience probably isn't uncommon in the modern corporate world especially if the company is a subsidiary of an overseas company. CEOs bear the most responsibility because their KPIs would be 100% weighted on company KPIs, so there is far greater responsibility bestowed upon them, but really much of the time all they are, is media experts and spin merchants. That said I think Pert and co have done wonders for the club given the circusmatnces. Minimising debt is key atm and so I suspect much of the focus atm is on ensuring financial stability before prioritising on field performance. Hard to swallow but ultimately the reality given current circumstances. Yes on field performance impacts the bottom line but this year is very different.

Running as a boutique organisation is fine in an environment where your direct competitors are also boutique. A boutique firm goes after boutique clients for a personable service. They don't go after big clients because they're suited for the big corporates. Our competitors are your Eagles and Pies and Hawks. We would thrive in the short term but once the pressure is on we would continue to be trounced. At the time when Jackson came on board, a boutique approach was probably needed, because we couldn't afford a quick, erratic transition into a big club, which dictates big spending and big visions. Five years into Jackson's plan, with sponsorship and crowds on the up, alongside vastly improved onfield performance, is was completely reasonable in 2018 for the next phase to be introduced. We either come to the table to bet big or we can sit at the $5 a hand table for eternity, and get whiped out whenever a big time player joins the fold. Pert's vision is non-negotiable imo: either we start playing and acting and doing business like a big club or we will forever be irrelevant. Getting 75k supporters to our first and second finals in a decade I think is a reflection of what's possible. The ceiling is higher than what many can see.

after leading by 8 goals at three quarter time.

we are actually in a good place if our only issue is conversion. I think our skills is less a talent issue and more a synergy issue. the team doesn't seem to be clicking right now. if we "click" then I think we are top 4 potential based on our contest winning capacity around the ground. I know conversion isn't an easy fix though. And I think we're as close to top 4 as we are to bottom 4. I can't see a middle ground.

Geelong were a player down for most of the game. Richmond, too. And the skills on display were horrid. It was two top teams that barely left second gear. Geelong should have been further ahead than it was. Richmond, too. If not for some solid defensive synergy we'd have lost both by 8+ goals such was the gap in effectiveness and structure around the ground. I know who.

Maybe I was a bit harsh. He definitely knows his football but my point was that he doesn't go into much depth and actual analysis, it's mostly just emotional commentary.

didn't lay a tackle in the first 15 minutes of the club's most important game for a decade. supporters deserve the pain if we ever bought into this club's BS.

I just threw up in my mouth reading those stats. wtf has Goodwin done to this team?

you're right but fratenising need only be banned when it's with the enemy. A strong coach isn't just someone moving the pieces on game day. They need to be personal and career coaches as well, and there are some things that can be only be learned over a beer.

If you dare, cast your eyes back to 2012, Neeld's first year. We have a much better list now, but ultimately the outcome and situation was similar: a team that had plenty of endeavour but was ultimately not good enough to win on game day. Come 2013, such was that effort that the group of average AFL footballers were completely exhausted of answers: the crash was hard, fast, and quite mesmerizing such was its potency. I doubt any other coach would have gotten much better out of that list. We saw Roos the following year only get 4 wins out of pretty much the same group. But ultimately, it was a combination of talent and skill (or lack thereof) and poor game day coaching across 2012 and 2013. The past 18 or so months have seen plenty of endeavour, but shocking skill, and poor selection and game day judgement. Goodwin's team is imo very close to going the way of Neeld's team. He is sticking with a structure and plan that is going to burn out the longer the season progresses. He is coaching stubbornly atm. Clarkson and Fagan and Simpson and Beveridge always seem to have a trick up their sleeve. They can completely alter the way their teams play. There is no distinctiv style. Richmond is blessed with a group of team players: they player perhaps the best "team" football in the league. Atm, Goodwin is coaching a team of players that seem to hate playing with one another. There is zero synergy. This breaks trust. Creates uncertainty, second guessing. The pressure builds, and mistakes happen. But that also creates bad habits which eventually develop into bad footballers. This is a coaching issue now. Goodwin is either going to be a Neeld or a Bomber Thompson circa 2007. I see no in between here.

Ox is a simpleton with his football analysis on the best of days but he's an emotionally invested supporter and hurts as much as any of us. He also talks us up when we're flying more than anyone, Lyon is a bit more grounded in his thoughts. Schwartz tries to invoke an emotional response by speaking from the heart as a real fan. Lyon speaks like a commentator with an obvious interest in the club. Ultimately they both have the same destination, they just take different roads to get there. Both are correct in this case.