Dr. Gonzo

But they didn't kick straighter. You could use the same argument to say we would've beaten west coast the week before if we kicked straighter. But we didn't and neither did st.kilda. The fact is we were ahead with 10 minutes to go. That's not to say the team played well or to pat them on the back for getting close. But it is acknowledging that the game was up for grabs and not a 100 point demolition that most on here are treating it as. I don't really understand why, was that the game that blew your fuse? This weekend we will probably lose to the Tigers by minimum 40 points but it wouldn't surprise me to see that blowout even more. Are the same people going to jump on here after that game and regurgitate the same bile about the club ad nauseum? We get it, this year has sucked but are you expecting any different from the rest of the year at this point? I already made up my mind that this year was a dumpster fire when we first lost to the Saints at the G but definitely by the time we lost to Brisbane. What does another loss prove? I will judge the team and club on next year's performances now, the rest of this year is just a write off waiting for the preseason to start.

Nah I'm just willing to acknowledge that while disappointing and frustrating it's not the 20 goal drubbing you would've thought had you only read this website and not actually watched the game.

And for all that we lost by 3 goals after being ahead with about 10 minutes to go. Perspective.

They were 3 goals better than us but let's not let facts get in the way of emotional hyperbole

I'm not discounting what you're saying. If this continues into next year Goodwin will be on borrowed time. Someone earlier in the thread mentioned we had most (14 or 16) of our prelim side in last night plus Lever and Fritsch. However from that prelim side we were missing TMac, Weideman, Melksham & Vandenberg. Say what you will about those players individually or their seasons in 2019 but when you are missing basically all your forward/half forward marking targets is it any wonder you're constantly turning the ball over? That's not an excuse because even with most of those guys in earlier in the year we were terrible but I think we've changed things up since the bye being more patient moving forward rather than trying to blitzkrieg the opposition. It's just that that's coincided with most of our forward line being unavailable

Platitudes. But for the Henny Pennys it's all just affirmation that the sky is falling

Nah mate I watched from siren to siren. I just used two eyes instead of one.

When the turnovers come down to skill errors and poor execution (eg Salem's floater to Brayshaw) I think that comes down more to execution than gameplan. Goodwin has things he needs to work on too and if he doesn't he'll have a short coaching career but it's hard to blame him for the constant turnovers and skill errors.

Makes it easier to get a Grand Final ticket next year

Putrid? We lost by 3 goals and that only blew out from a neck and neck game in the last 10 minutes. Saints aren't the best team going but to act like we got hammered from pillar to post is garbage. Save that for next week when it actually happens

Wagner, Wagner, ANB, OMac & Smith hopefully won't be getting games (or on the list) next year. You can't win giving away 85 points from turnovers. For comparison we scored 22 pts from turnovers. That's on the players, not sure what Goodwin is meant to do about that. Brayshaw needs to learn how to use the footy instead of just bombing away and missing easy goals on the run. Another easy goal missed by Fritsch in the 3rd which turned into a goal down the other end. Our starting forward line tonight was Fritsch, Smith, Petty, Petracca, Lewis & Hunt. Petracca is the only one we would have had there in our starting 22 at the start of the season. The end of this season can't come quick enough, the whole club needs to reset to go again next year. I don't understand the level of vitriol on here, this year's been over for weeks. One positive I found tonight was Petracca, he's really matured over the last 2 or so months and been a consistently good player building more confidence. He needs to learn how to stay in the game longer (stints on ball will help) and nail his set shots but I'm more confident in him now than I was at the start of the season.

But we weren't beyond that point in 2014-16 which are 3 of the years you are using to prove your argument that 2018 was an aberration. In 2014 we were coming from that low point, probably the lowest point of any non-expansion side since Fitzroy.

But lists are at different stages in their development. It's not comparing like with like. Especially when talking about depth to cover injuries (and by the way we have had more games lost to injury to best 22 players than those more developed teams).

You should know that rules in the AFL are always subject to interpretation.

I couldn't even tell you who some of those guys are. Tohill? Noble? Murphy? Kelly? Wells and Dunn are finished so can hardly count them. Wells has barely played for 3 years.

Probably a combination of coach/FD and recruiters but yeah I agree. I think we've tried to amend that at last year's draft but there's been too many misses for mine over the last 4 or 5 drafts. Guys like Hulett, Mitch King, Dion Johnstone never even looked close to making an AFL career and the jury is still out in a few others. Still to early to judge guys like Spargo, Jordon, Baker etc but it seems theyve tried to go with some page over contested players. I'd like to see them focus on skills at this year's draft. Still it juts proves that it's impossible to compare like for like and say "well Richmond and West Coast have had injuries and they're still top 4" because it doesn't work like that.

Agree mate but trying to use logic with the perennially outraged is like banging your head against the wall

We've had to completely rebuild our list from 2014 onwards following the failed prior rebuilds. West Coast and Richmond began their builds in 2007-09. Who do we have left from back then Jones and Gawn? Yeah it's "our" fault (as in MFC) but it's not the fault of the current FD or coach. The list was stuffed under prior regimes and has been built and developed under this one. It's just the fact that we are still a young team and injuries to our key players will hit us harder until we have a mature list with decent depth.

That's assuming each season every team has the same list makeup with the same opportunity to play finals. While theoretically that is true in reality we all know we were not going to play finals in 2014 or 2015 and most likely 2016. Therefore to use those seasons as evidence that 2018 was an outlier is disingenuous because it fails to add context or take into account the fact we were building from ground zero in 2014. We were a VFL level team in 2012-13 I mean Dean terlich and Matt Jones both came top 5 in our B&F one year. If that's not the definition of a VFL level team I don't know what is

Not sure where you got your list Of the unavailable players only Moore, Langdon & Beams could be considered big losses.

Richmond and West coast have more mature lists so they have greater depth to cover their injuries. Our depth is guys like Dunkley, Lockhart, Wagner x2 etc

Take your pick from our game. Players blocked off the ball, players ducking their heads and no holding the ball called even though the rule states it's deemed prior opportunity, Lockhart copping it high while already in a tackle and getting called holding the ball, max getting called holding the ball etc etc

You said every club has injuries but ours this year have impacted our best 22 far more than any other side. Look at Geelong's and Brisbane's injury lists.

He had injuries throughout last year didn't he?

Like to compare the games lost to our best 22 this year compared to other clubs?