Dr. Gonzo

5.5 years after costing us the game against the Cats why does Gawn still struggle with set shots within 30m directly in front? His miss on Friday was from almost an identical position to his kick that sealed the minor premiership for us in 2021, those shots should be like shelling peas. What do you put our inaccuracy across the two finals down to? Fatigue because of gameplan (I don't buy this considering many missed shots early in the game). Overwhelmed by the occasion? Struggled to handle the 90k+ crowds favouring the opposition? Bad luck? Converting our chances is the single biggest issue facing us in the off-season so what can/should we do to address it?

I don't think that's going to happen. Yes "if" is the dirtiest word since potential, but seriously had we kicked just a little straighter (one or two of the many shots including a number of posters go through) we are either looking forward to hosting the Giants after a week off or having a free swing at the Lions. After Petty and Melksham went down I thought our only chance was beating the Pies as the Lions seem unstoppable and dominated us for large periods during both games this year. They did the same to the Pies. Our only chance was to avoid playing them until the GF and hope they choke on the G. We have a lot going for us, as disappointed/angry/frustrated as we all (including coach and players) are we're not gonna blow the team up and start again. We have a very strong team, a strong draft hand and will make some forced changes to the coaching staff. We will tinker but I can't see us making wholesale changes to personnel or gameplan/structure. After the disappointment of the last fortnight I'm already looking forward to 2024 with a forward line of Petty/JVR/Fritsch/Kozzie/McAdam and adding some talent through the draft (hopefully with a focus on elite ball users).

Thought of you when I saw this Clint 🤣 https://x.com/AmurakaHidden/status/1701758420024516957?s=20 Dunno why it's not embedding

You got his number?

Yep should be announced this week

Salem's not going anywhere FFS

Our defence, our midfield, our structures - even our forward line I think we have a good mix but not much depth in key position stocks. TMac and Brown got us a flag but it was their last crack, they are now finished. We have a very very good head coach who has won a flag and got us top 4 after H&A 3 years running. He has developed a great rapport with the players which has seen all our key players sign long term despite significant interest elsewhere. He has developed a gameplan which is sound and stacks up with the best teams. Where we fail is in our execution, we could do with a couple of elite ball users, one in the midfield, one at half forward. We need a back up ruck considering Grundy is gone. I would shuffle our assistants, Stafford should go, Yze will go, we could use a ball movement coach ala Caracella. I think Goodwin could do with some freshing up in the coaches box, some new ideas to challenge/reinvigorate him. Off-field we are kicking goals, Pert has done a great job, Roffey has been very good. 70k members, a potential home base at Caulfield. We have a lot going right and fell short by a kick in two finals. Yes we can and should review and address our deficiencies but we have a lot going right, it is hard to finish top 4, harder still to win a flag. Had Petty stayed for we may have achieved that.

Demographics, we're seen as toffs from the top end of town so people revel in our misfortune.

He would be a great fit but signed a long term extension recently didn't he?

What did we do to Greg? Shaft him to give the captaincy to Garry Lyon after his knee injury?

Changes need to occur but we won't be throwing the baby out with the bathwater. We have a lot that is right, just need to address some of our deficiencies. That last 90 seconds reminded me of the last 90 seconds against the Blues in 2022 but with roles reversed. We did everything wrong and they took advantage.

He's matured, he had some chances last year but didn't really take them. His best game, ironically, was against the Giants. We didn't want to let him go, he wanted to leave - about annoying considering he was an academy player I think but it is what it is.

That's true but I think our forward structure needs fresh eyes. We need to train our forwards to create leading lanes, movement creates space etc

Well we need a new GameDay coach because Yze will be a Tiger next year. Stewie Dew?

Bowey to half forward

I agree to an extent taking the last two years as a whole but I thought we came out against Carlton playing with more movement and freedom, ie quick play on, using the corridor etc. So is it a coaching thing or do the players revert to the safer options when games tighten up?

Vale the greatest name the sport has known

We have Ports pick? Edit nevermind 🤦‍♂️

Sure fatigue may be a contributing factor. So we should play a less defensive game and open ourselves up to opposition scores - then what happens when we still have trouble converting? We can't stay in games. I'd like to see us play with a bit more flair and I think they were looking at that early last night (and last offseason) but we still lack personnel up forward. Brown and TMac are finished, Max can't kick, Grundy can't mark, JVR is still a kid and Petty and Melksham were injured. Moving forward I'm confident if we can keep the combo of Petty/JVR/Fritsch/Kozzie/McAdam with ANB/Spargo/Chandler floating through we will have a pretty potent forward line and it will allow us to play a more attacking style having confidence that the forwards will contest and convert.

Plus the pre finals bye which allows them to freshen up and lessen the impact of having to travel

Sure it's subjective, but then you would have to put the King's Birthday game in the 50/50 bucket too. That's fine.

So what's the solution? What can we do to tinker with the gameplan to fix this? If the issue is accuracy due to poor overall skills then surely the best gameplan is to create as many opportunities as possible and hope that enough of them go through to kick a winning score, which is exactly what our gameplan is.

He'd make a great intercept defender, Dogs should shift him to defence.

So it's because of the gameplan Max chokes and misses a sitter 25m out right in front? Or Kozzie and Fritsch miss regulation set shots they generally kick? Nah I'm not buying it. I do agree we need to draft some better kicks, hopefully we use pick 5 to get someone in. But that's not on Goodwin, we have a recruiting team that owns that.

Goodwin's job is to create a gameplan that gives us the opportunity to succeed. He's done that. It's the execution that is killing us, you say we should've won both games? Why? Because we dominated possession/territory and created enough opportunities to kick a winning score. The fact we didn't is down to execution, not strategy. That's not to say we couldn't rejig things or consider another strategy, we could and may well do so. But it doesn't mean Goodwin is the reason we are losing.