Adam The God

Reckon we might be a lot more active than we may have imagined a few weeks back.

Re watch some of our 2018 games, in particular the finals. He knows how to get involved in scoring chains. He's a natural. I don't think our forward system is particularly conducive to many of our smalls.

Given you've got Longmuir in here, Yze should be in calculation. My understanding is that Freo wanted Yze, but he didn't want to move his family.

Agree with most of this, but disagree on the point about small forwards. I'd be clearing out a lot of those guys you mention. Spargo stays as he is at least a natural footballer, the rest need to go. It's time we looked at natural goal kickers with speed, who happen to be able to apply forward pressure.

I love the parable and I do think it applies to our societies as a whole. I think what it comes down to though IMV, is a lack of genuine leadership. In regards to Goodwin, I just think (somewhat speculatively) that he hasn't always communicated his messages clearly to players and the captaincy hand over between Jones and Viney was clearly poorly handled. You don't want to help rifts manifest or grow within team environments. It means as soon as things don't work for you, there's a chance it could all fall in a heap. That's what I think is happening here. As someone who manages people in my job and works in small teams, I'm not against the corporate speak to be honest, as long as it's linked to a vision. The best leaders IMO are those with a vision, can communicate it to others, and are willing to listen to others and let them do their thing. Sure, pull them into line if they need pulling into line, but when you're doing that, you better make sure you communicate it appropriately, fairly and clearly.

That's pathetic. Chaplin, [censored] right off.

Disagree, but I am biased as I say.

I was just putting out who I'd like, not who I think we'll get. I know the Beveridge's and I'm not sure we'd get Luke.

I reckon you'll find most of the league rates our midfield, but most of the league finds us very easy to coach against.

I don't think so, OD. If we don't make finals, he's gone. You can't set expectations of finals or bust at the start of 2020 from a board POV and then back in the coach when the team fails to get there. We've had a perfectly healthy list for the majority of the year and we haven't got there. He's done. People are too worried about economics here. We'll be fine, as long as we get the next coach right.

I stress that I'm only speculating here, but whilst there might have been some good ideas from Goodwin, it seems to me the way those ideas and messages have been communicated, particularly vis a vis culture, expectations and structures, has meant the players seemingly don't fully buy in.

Simpson, Clarkson, Beveridge of the experienced coaches. I like Yze as the sentiment option, but have no real idea if he can coach.

I don't mind the set up mate, but Richo's history with list management is pretty poor IMO. Ratten did more in one off season to fix their problems than Richo did in many years IMV. But I like him as the GM, I just wonder about that bit.

AFL isn't a big enough business for Fenway. Would love them to own both my football teams though.

I think it's pretty clear he changed the game plan from an 18 man aggressive press to a different style, but whatever. I think the players have brought a horrible inconsistency to this year, but I have to admit, the system is completely out of whack, when you can have 6 or 7 players regularly not registering a tackle and that's even if we're winning. It's not throw the baby out with the bath water time IMO, but we need to sort out some areas. FORWARDLINE We need to really look at our forwardline over the off season. We need to get genuine goal kickers in there. It's not going to do, to simply have pace, or have pressure. We actually need goal kickers to keep the scoreboard ticking. Weideman is a tick for this year, but has faded in the last two games when there hasn't been an adequate foil for him. So Jackson or Petty needs to play. MIDFIELD We need to examine the dynamics in midfield. I've said it before, I wouldn't be against letting Viney walk as a FA, but we won't. So get him forward or get him playing differently in midfield. We need to get Harmes in there too, it's ridiculous. And I think Angus needs to be in there as well. I don't know what to do with Max. He's clearly carrying something, but he's been terrible since he's been back. I'd even consider trading him (I'll wait for the backlash on that one). Need to work hard on those stoppage set ups and the way we move the ball from midfield to attack. BACKLINE The backline needs to shed Oscar McDonald and Joel Smith, but otherwise I think we've got a really solid group to work with back there. It's the one area of the ground I'm comfortable with. May, Lever, Salem, Rivers, Hibberd, Lockhart, Petty and Tomlinson. I'd have all those guys in my team.

Looking at the way we've gone about our last two games, it actually looks like Goodwin has lost the players.

It's bizarre, isn't it? I can only assume the club thought it had done enough to play finals and rested on its laurels a bit. The "kicking wide and to small players" tells me there was no system. It's a ridiculous plan to kick to smalls. We even kicked to Viney on a lead a number of times early. The guy is a garden gnome in the stature stakes. Even that Rivers kick out into the middle of the ground. It didn't seem planned. It seemed desperate. We didn't get numbers around the contest and Fremantle, like most of the night, mopped up the ground ball off the contest. I too figured the St Kilda win would be a defining moment for us. It appears I was very wrong. As for you @Half forward flank, you've no idea if you think there was system to that game tonight.

I'm not interested in turning this very thoughtful thread into a Goodwin bashing zone, but I couldn't see any system tonight. I was worried when the wind was up and about today, and then it started pouring early. The lack of work rate for most of the match made it difficult to judge, but I legitimately could not work out what we were trying to do. Ben Gibson talked about using the far side of the ground to transition the ball and ensuring we were careful with our ball movement down the opposite side of the ground. I saw nothing of that. Outside of that Collingwood win in the rain earlier in the year, I cannot actually remember the last game we won in the wet. Our game style breaks down terribly when we play in the wet, because it relies on handball from clearance or the back half. We need to be able to identify the conditions or the likely conditions the game will be played in and have solutions and a clear plan for the game. I'm not saying for a second that we sat around in Cairns for 3 days doing nothing, but Fremantle owned the far side and the corridor, were cleaner in possession, had better ball use and kicked to the right spots inside 50. Our midfield mix is not getting the job done either and our forwardline has really struggled when Weideman has struggled. It seems like the players are more haphazard with their delivery to him, the less contests he gets to or halves. It's going to be a long off season.

Yep, hard to defend anyone tonight. Pathetic effort from the players, to the coaches, to the selections. But there was no system tonight. And why throw the magnets around after being so consistent on team defence all year? The players looked tired. The guys they brought in gave us very little. Cerra and Brayshaw gave our mids a lesson. Embarrassing. They were cleaner, they used the ball better, they used the right side of the ground more often and it all seemed too hard for us. Max seems to be playing injured, but sides appear to have worked him out. He's a good intercept player in defence playing by himself, but very ordinary in the ruck. It's a funny old season. We looked certain to make finals a week or so ago. Now we'll almost certainly miss and if we do, Goodwin should probably go.

Gee, the bar is low then. Flirted with pressure all night and got a goal at the expense of Langdon's incredible work.

You can't play AFL football when you're as weak at the contest as Fritsch is.

Cerra and Brayshaw have given our mids an absolute bath.

How was that play? Petracca the only mod pressuring and the rest of them jogging.

What a disappointing first season Kozzie has had. Yeah, he brings some pressure, but very little goal sense.

Pathetic Max. And how was Fritsch there?