Dr. Gonzo

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.

Agreed od the only purpose they serve is to make easy work for the journos writing in Monday's paper. A couple of soundbites help pad out an article/talk show.

We also had Viney playing like an absolute bull.

FFS cannot take a trick! Poor bloke he's had so much crap to deal with the last 18 months. Hopefully it's not a result of continuing to play him after he injured it against Port (especially considering the history we have with foot injuries - Clark, Trengove, Viney, McDonald...)

Because the gameplan is working it's only the execution which is lacking. They believe the players will turn it around with better execution and win the game. When we played Essendon we kicked 4.7.31 to half time then 12.5.77 in the second half. The coach didn't panic and had faith the players knew what to do they just needed to fix how they did it. They knew that the gameplan worked and sticking to the gameplan gave us the best opportunity for success not just now but in the future

Pedersen has to go out for Hibberd - unless Hogan is injured then he switches forward

Hawks supporters were calling for Clarkson's head early in his coaching career. Food for thought.

If the two Cats games go in our favour have we still underperformed? We would be sitting on 14 wins and 3rd on the ladder.

We need a "roll eyes" option on the like button for posts like these

The clips I saw of Goodwins presser were fine. He is trying to nurture this young group and get them to focus on what they can control and try and instil belief that they can do it. Going off chop and calling players out like Neeld or Blight would not have been the right move.

Our gameplan gave us the opportunity to kick a winning score in all games bar maybe the Hawks and Pies and even then you could argue we let our early dominance go wasted against the Hawks. I guess you could argue a better gameplan would see us with even more opportunities but I find it hard to blame the coach when players make skill/execution errors as they did yesterday setting up forward play and kicking set shots

People don't like hearing it but it's true. Our lack of experience shows out in these types of games against battle hardened opposition. Our lack of composure is a symptom of our fear of failure. Once we get over the line in one or two of these games the players will start to have the belief and the confidence that they can do it. All of a sudden we're nailing those relatively easy set shots and putting teams away. It may not happen this year and it will be extremely disappointing if we throw away another chance to get some finals experience but the team is building. When we lost to the Saints I thought that was the game that would cost us finals. It might still turn out to be the case. Of course the irony is out of our 5 close losses that is the one we clearly weren't the better side on the day. I still have faith the wheel is turning and I am optimistic we will beat WCE this week. No nicnat, gaff, Kennedy, Schofield plus another one or two I'm forgetting. We play well on the road. We will go in underdogs. I have a feeling we will win or go down swinging this week.

Similarly to the Hawks game in this respect, I guess a positive is we fought this one out instead of capitulating by 10 goals.

We are turning things around. It feels like it's not because of the little losses along the way but the next few years we will be starting to hit our peak. Stick fat, it will be worth it.

Our team doesn't mind the travel, they seem to panic most in front of the home crowd. I also think we match up well with WCE. Anyway I guess we'll see, that was my pregame thoughts but this one was there for the taking and we bloody [censored] the bed in horrendous fashion. Absolutely gutted over his loss today as no doubt everyone here is, it will be a tough one to get over

We'll see, before the game I thought this would be a tough one, a real 50/50 game and I thought we'd have a better opportunity of beating the Eagles in Perth especially if Kennedy is still out. We won't beat the Giants tho so if we want to make finals it's next week or bust.