bing181

There's so much in this. Confidence drops, you start to second guess yourself, not take chances, not put yourself out there, you even lose confidence in those around you. What got us through much of last year was real high-pressure, exuberant, risk-taking football - and a game plan to support it. But so much of that is in the head, and without it, we just look error-prone and pedestrian. And there are no answers to any of that, not in the short term. We badly need May and Lever, at least.

Not just going forward. It's been the key characteristic of the whole year. The other defining characteristic is that the players' confidence is completely shot, and coming up against an in-form, confident side like Richmond, only rubs their faces in it.

Tom Mac showing us why he's so much more effective up forward where, with the sticks in front of him, he doesn't have to worry about his disposal.

At least we've shown we CAN play, even if it's only for a quarter. Something there to build on going forward.

Coaching 101 is also not to start throwing players around because the whole team is under-performing, or to start shuffling players who are down on form. (Though with May, Lever and O'Mac out, and the next generation not ready, the rule book could be ripped up.)

Except he didn't speak about loyalty did he. He spoke about respect, in the context of insulting comments directed at Lewis.

Me neither, but I do think it's going to take us the first half the season to sort out.

But goes two ways - there has to be a target to hit. Thus the lack of connection that Goodwin has referred to. A combination of players being down on form, down on confidence and not having enough time together.

6+ changes would be catastrophic for any team.

Sigh. You still don't get it after what, how many years?

I have no idea of the specifics of the role, but increasingly that's done by computer programs - you feed in the data, and get a whole heap of metrics out.

No. Misson ticks off on fitness, not injuries. He's not a doctor.

Oh for god's sake.

Except that it's not Misson's responsibility to clear players to play or not. But heh, facts.

Surprise surprise.

Or were they? I would suggest that internally, we knew the risks that we were taking, but went ahead now anyway, on the assumption (correct in my view) that this was never going to be our year for a flag, but next year might be.

You wonder at what point you write off the season - though for me, we'd partly written it off before it started with so many players having compromised preseasons due to elective surgeries. Perhaps time to start investing in players like Sparrow and Petty, and seeing where we are with players like Keilty.

Story of the night in our I50 stats - we had 8 more than them, but couldn't turn those into goals. Melksham and Tom Mac - who has been one of the best KPF's in the league - both down on form, Hunt still finding his feet up forward (if he ever will), Spargo same, Petracca still getting going after not much of a preseason. The list goes on. This then creates issues elsewhere, especially that because we can't capitalise or keep the ball locked in, it provides a springboard for their attacks: 46 rebounds to our 32. Ironically enough, our attacks become the basis for theirs.

Yes. First couple of rounds where the breakdowns were happening further up the field leaving the backline under the pump the whole time couldn't have helped. He'll be back, just needs to find his mojo.

It's a press conference.

Not when it's public communication via TV - and even less via radio. The figures that are bandied about are largely a myth, exclude vocal communication (e.g., voice intonation), and focus mainly on one-to-one communication in social settings.

Or not.

Stretch wasn't that bad, I'd give him at least another match or two to find his feet (again?) at this level. It's a big step up from VFL. Re other changes, two factors that will probably come into play are: - we have a very short turnaround (as noted) - Casey have a bye next week

Good for Jeffy's own sake that he's getting a bit of his mojo back.

Nice. That back line on paper, plus the late withdrawals, on top of how we haven't been playing, it looked like a mountain to climb. A scrappy, hard-fought win away from home against a good side, I'll take it. Now to back it up, and keep backing it up. Still a very long way to go.