Dr. Gonzo

Weideman showed me something today that I didn't know was in him. The way he attacked the ball in flight was fantastic, he clunked one or two and with a bit more luck would've had a lot more. Some more experience and he'll be smashing packs and grabbing marks. I've loved Spargo since his first game, still needs to learn not to drop in and out of games but there was one effort in particular (3rd quarter) where he got that ball on defensive wing, ran forward kicked then buttered up at the next contest. Kids gonna be a player, he has heart.

Must've been that camp they went on. Wait, what?

Told ya so

No [censored] Sherlock ?

I think we can, I think we can, I think we can

McGovern was thrown forward last week, do we think he will play forward it back? With Hogan out they might think it's better to have him down forward with Darling to stretch our defence.

He made the veil of negativity comment after receiving negative comments from supporters after we BEAT the Lions. Similar thing happened a couple of weeks ago when we thrashed the Suns people in the crowd still whining and moaning. He was spot on, people need to harden up instead of acting like a bunch old sooky ladies. Support the team for Christ's sake, do you think Oliver, Brayshaw, Petracca etc deserve to carry around your 5 decades of baggage? What did they have to do with us missing the finals in 1976? Support the club or stfu.

And yet if Gawn kicked straight from 20m out directly in front we bag the 4 points. Game of inches.

Ie allowing our emotions cloud our judgement

Yeah and in round 1 we kept the Cats to 17 points in the second half, last week we kept the Swans to 1 goal in the 1st quarter and 0 in the last and against the Cats in Geelong we had a run of 5 goals in a row and would've won if the sireb went 10 seconds earlier. Every team has had bad losses/games this year, it's not something that's unique to our team. If 2 kicks across the season went the other way (Gawn goal Tuohy miss) we would be 3rd on the ladder and playing for 2nd spot tomorrow and Goodwin would be being lauded by all and sundry. Does that mean we would be any better than we are right now? No of course not but the discussion around Goodwin and the club would be completely different because the media is full of hot air and the general public are idiots.

You obviously don't have the capacity for critical thinking, please don't quote me again.

Gawn & TMac are the only two from that last who could be "matchwinners". The majority of our influential players still young and inexperienced.

Similarly I recall under Daniher we didn't have one because he didn't believe in that "new age" mumbo jumbo. We did have a club chaplain though...

The thing stopping us from being serious contenders is the experience/age profile of our list. With age/experience will come composure and a better drilled cohesion in our defensive structures.

Absolute rubbish

I both agree and disagree with you. If we miss finals again I will be filthy, I will think it's a missed opportunity in a year of ordinary sides and the monkey will be on the back all next year until we actually get over that hurdle. The experience of making finals and getting past that mental hurdle would be invaluable otherwise we'll spend all next year with the question being asked when it can't be answered until August at the earliest. But if we don't make finals I'll also recognise that we were bloody unlucky in a lot of close games, that we do still have a team where our core players are all still very young and we have a coach willing to back the side in and play aggressive attacking footy. Importantly I'll still have faith that in the long term I think we are in good hands list wise and senior coach wise. Our assistants might need a shakeup but I think we're still on the right path to success.

If Gawn kicks straight in round 1 and Tuohy misses a few weeks back, we're currently sitting 3rd and playing for 2nd spot on Sunday with everyone hailing Goodwin a genius. 2 kicks is the difference. A fine line but the media and general public aren't intelligent enough to understand the nuances.

Former brownlow medallist Brad Hardie is an absolute joke of a commentator.

What is your solution? Sack the coach?

We kicked 1.6 in the 2nd quarter vs the Swans, they kicked 6.1. Is the inaccuracy the fault of the gameplan when players are missing regulation shots at goal? We lost round 1 due to a miskick by Gawn, again from a regulation set shot. Did things change between the first half and the second? They outscored us early, we outscored them late. The game went down to the wire. Games are played over 4 quarters not 20 minutes. We have an issue with our conversion once inside 50 but that issue was not the fault of the coach or gameplan on Sunday, it was the fault of our players missing regulation set shots and losing the game. There are 3 games this year we have been clear losers, Haw, Rich and Coll. We outplayed Hawks in Q1 and did not take advantage of our dominance. Richmond kicked away in the last and Collingwood dominated the game. The Saints game was 50/50, they were the better team on the day but they were also gifted 4 or 5 goals from 50s and soft free kicks. We still should've won but it was a factor. Teams will outplay us on occasions. But if you're ranting against the coach and demanding he change the gameplan and take responsibility for all our losses perhaps take a step back and have a look at all the factors which impacted those results instead of cherry picking stats. I can understand if people think we should be creating more scoring opportunities but I don't understand people arguing that we are not creating enough scoring opportunities when in all but 3 games this year that has not been the case.

Missing a set shot from 30m out directly in front has nothing to do with physical pressure applied by the opposition. The gameplan is in place to create scoring opportunities. If the players miss a plethora of easy opportunities as they did Sunday how is that the fault of the gameplan/coach?

Agreed but is that a coaching issue or an execution issue? If you agree that the coaches don't want us to give up easy i50 exits then it would stand to reason that that is not part of the gameplan and it is the players failure to execute that pressure and those structures which is the issue.

Had Hogan kicked 3 goals instead of points, TMac converted his relatively easy set shots, Oliver Brayshaw Tyson Spargo all converted relatively easy set shots we would have won easily against the Swans. So the gameplan which gave us the opportunity to take those relatively easy shots at goal is in dire straits and it's not the poor skill execution of the players which missed those shots which is to blame? I understand the frustration and anger over the weekends loss and all the close losses this year but don't let your emotion cloud your judgement. We have been outplayed 3 times this year, 2 of those games occurred in the first 5 weeks. Perhaps we will be outplayed again in the last 2 weeks, I'm not saying the gameplan and coaching is flawless. But I don't think on the evidence you can blame it for Sunday's loss (or the other close losses we've had this year bar maybe the Saints game).

That's fair enough, I'm not saying people can't have different thoughts on the coach. I just find it irritating when he's blamed for losses like the weekend when really the gameplan he has developed created enough opportunities for us to win (and against Cats x2 and Port too). The issue is the players conversion and execution rather than an inherent flaw in the gameplan. Not saying he's the perfect coach either, he has room to grow and things he needs to focus on developing this offseason. I'm probably the opposite to you, I have a calm optimism about the coach and the club at the moment. I will be upset if we miss finals again but it's not the end of the club. We have 5-10 years with this group to really try and achieve the ultimate and change the course if the club to what I hope will become perennial contenders (a la Hawks, Cats, Swans over the last 15 years). So missing this year (especially on the back of last year's fiasco) would be upsetting but not disastrous in the larger scheme of things. The main concern I would have is it doesn't give our players the experience of playing in September. Of course the club needs to get to the point where every year we miss finals is unacceptable but we're still on that path that began with Ground Zero 2013.

I agree not playing finals this year is a failure. But the negative hyperbole here is ridiculous the fact is we are two kicks off being 3rd. Of course we aren't 3rd but what it shows to me is we are heading in the right direction just need a bit more experience and composure and we will be a top 4 side.