Adam The God

How many times have we talked about execution. That's been the constant theme for 8 or 9 years. I and others wanted Viney to play as a pressure forward in 2020 because his ball use was a killer in midfield. In 2021 I also lamented our goalkicking. I said if we didn't kick straight we wouldn't win the flag. We had an incredible finals series where we kicked mostly straight. The way you're framing these things is like no one has ever said them. Our ability to execute has constantly been a Demonland trope for as long as I can remember...

Where's the facepalm reaction when you need it? What twaddle.

Posters, myself included, talk about mental fatigue, but it's one of many factors, just as learning a new zonal system. I noted on AFL360 while I was in the pub that we're the number ball movement team in the competition. It's a marked shift in the way we play. IMV, not enough emphasis is placed on this shift in the way we're trying to play. This also explains teething issues, but I've outlined my position now on the rest of the season.

We've reverted game style and as we saw with 2019-2020, it can take time to click. Our zone last week was all over the place, for most of the game, which suggests we're having teething issuss with that. The wingers often get caught no man's land (ie Langford and Lindsay). No doubt you'll disagree, Picket.

And let's be honest, our admin and board is an utter shambles. But who stridently defends the guy that has overseen it all collapse in Brad Green? SWYL. I find the idea that you'd sack Goodwin after '23 ludicrous too. No other club would do this. If Brisbane had done this with Fagan after three straight sets exits (one with a huge home ground advantage), he wouldn't be a premiership coach. I'm in complete agreement that how we finish this season matters a lot to Goody's future. If we fall in a hole and win only 2 or 3 games, we need to look at change in 2026 irrespective of his remaining year. But if we see some further progress, he should coach out his contract, with finals the savour for him.

Some of this is fair, but your centrepiece of mental fatigue doesn't really hold given the amount of best 22 changes over the last 4 years. It's practically half the best 22, and it's the old players that are the ones butchering it and struggling to come to terms with the new way the team is trying to play. It's more likely, as you imply, a multitude of factors at play, which @binman has always stressed.

Dangerfield is a marginally better kick (per DE), but the big difference between the two players is Trac's TOG is quite a bit higher. In order to get more out of Trac, maybe we need to play him more in bursts like they do Dangerfield. I'd be trading Clarry before Trac though...

Bergman is a good player, but fancy him earning more (potentially) than Kozzy. Chalk and cheese IMV.

He was one of many parts that turned the ship.

I know it's been a bad 24 months but [censored] this thread is a shocker.

The Suns can't defend either. Fancy Melksham having 11 shots at goal. And most of them were from directly in front 15m out.

Trac is easily our worst kick, but Jefferson is uncompetitive.

Suns were good, but that quarter was a disgrace to the jumper.

It'd be a huge step down, but if Tim Lamb moves on, I'd be okay with Josh taking up the mantel again.

If we still had PJ as a CEO or had had a competent CEO it wouldn't have mattered. Pert failed to capitalise on the bonanza of a flag. If the commercial team had held a fundraiser before the start of 2022, they'd have probably raised whatever we need for Caulfield... You have to live your values a bit. As the club said at the time, gaming is not our core business, and whilst gaming was imperative in the past, we need to grow our football-related income. Pert had a golden opportunity to do that and sat on his hands. We need to look at ways to grow the business and not also contribute to destroying lives through gaming. It's not woke, it's corporate responsibility.

The Hawks have done the undersized thing at both ends. I think Collingwood have shown the way in terms of undersized set ups at both ends of the ground. If you have speed of ball movement or are slinging back into a relatively empty 50, their pace by foot and handball game is certainly difficult to contain, despite having shorter players. it doesn't mean we have to play this way mind you. Because we have shown we can contain the Collingwood game.

But it doesn't matter who you have defending, if the midfield pressure isn't on, any defensive unit will get scored on. So I think it's a respectable gamble. Collingwood have more run than us with Crisp, Maynard and Quaynor to our Bowey, McVee and Salem. We'd be more comparable if Rivers stayed at half back, probably at the expense of Salem or ultimately Lever.

Yep, that's fair, although TMac was a premiership forward, but I get you.

I am excited to see how they go. Collingwood used an undersized defensive back 7 in 2022-2023, but it allowed them to be good at ground level and ping quickly off half back. Salo is the next one in the gun I reckon. If he had a bit more speed, he'd be perfect back there. That said, his leadership and experience will probably be needed if Lever is on thin ice generally and May is edging towards the cliff. With this last block of games, I hope they give the back 6-7 some continuity together. Likewise, we need to find a forward mix soon enough, instead chopping and changing. I think mostly because JVR has had such a poor year as a forward, it's thrown out our forward mix. Blake has really good endurance, but he's also a nice, neat kick. Good luck again, Blake.

Lever is out. Who is the other?

I'm excited to see how our defensive set up functions with May, Turner and Howes, they might be a little big for us, but I like that we made the call on Lever. I'm not convinced we can play both of May and Lever in the same team. They slow our ball movement down too much and are slow to defend plays now. At the other end of the ground though is where it's going to be most interesting. Melksham, Jefferson and Petty with Fritta and Kozzy. Petty will, I assume, take second ruck duties. Having Melksham down there will hopefully give Jefferson some support against the taller interceptor like Andrew, but more likely Collins. So that should allow Jefferson to fly for the ball. Kozzy needs to go bezerk and Melky and Fritta need to contribute strongly on the scoreboard if we're any chance here. We need a redemption story with our mids. They were dreadful in the corresponding game earlier in the year, so they need to lock down on Rowell in particular IMO, so I'd be fine with a hard tag there from Viney, and I'd be happy for Oliver to go head to head with Anderson, and for Trac and Kozzy to go against Miller and co. As is the story most weeks, bring our kicking boots and we're a chance, particularly early in the game, otherwise you can forget it.

Particularly when the majority of debt is owned by the RBA at 0.1%...

Six each.

I think you could make the argument that this actually goes back to the 2007-2011 list management decisions that left a gap in Max and TMac age demo, which meant instead of having those guys, we had to spend picks on acquiring the Mays, Melkshams, Hibberds. So we're still playing catch up with the next generation and it's probably something that will only right itself if we keep making good decisions as we build that next core.

Well, I have time for Adams as well. And I left put Howes, who I think will be a handy player, but I was more wanting to illustrate that every player I mentioned had shown something at AFL level.