bing181

Completely. That plus no Kozzie, JVR and Brayshaw.

Thank god for that.

Living in the past.

We're missing the general in that defense, May looks all at sea without him. As for the mids, no point living in the past. Oliver is half the player he has been for reasons we all understand, Petracca is having to play forward to make up for our lack of forwards, we've lost Brayshaw, so that leaves Viney - who needs those others around him. There were centre bounces today where we had Viney plus Sparrow and Neal-Bullen, not many AA's there.

As I said, all on the players.

I don't know how people can keep saying this, it's bordering on delusional. We have a few stars. After that ...

Nothing to do with Goodwin. Turnovers, contested possession, clearances ... all on the players. Though even there, we just don't have the cattle and there are players out there who are out of their depth.

We've managed to paper over the cracks for quite a while, but you can only get away with that for so long. List has some serious holes and hard to say where solutions are going to come from, at least in the short term. Almost time to start playing the kids, couldn't be much worse.

cough ...

Coaches can only work with what they have. Look at Clarkson at North. It's the players and the list.

Nothing to do with the coaches. We've managed to paper over the cracks for a while but Oliver missing the pre-season and down on form, Trac needed up forward because we have no key forwards, losing Brayshaw, Lever out ... it just goes on and on. JVR in for Turner next week but deck chairs.

- Angus Brayshaw.

This 150%. Our last two seasons in a nutshell - also underscores how you need luck on your side to win a premiership.

Nice theory. Not disagreeing either because who of us really knows? But we still need to finish top 4 to have a real chance, so the keep your powder dry till finals strategy is not without risk.

I suspect that many are overlooking that we've lost one of our key mids/on-ballers in Brayshaw. Also, a heart and soul player who lifted those around him. Bigger loss than is being acknowledged I feel.

Better now than later in the season. Though once again, it confirms that so often players are carrying injuries we don't know about that must be impacting their performance. Not an excuse for Sunday, but I wonder if there wasn't more going on than we knew - Max for one, May for two. Why was May playing on the less dangerous, less mobile forward, especially once it was clear that Waterman had McDonald's measure? Just idle conjecture, but I know from being around elite level sport in various ways from time to time that all isn't always as it seems.

Don't disagree, but not sure how we improve, or improve enough. I just don't see we have any cavalry coming over the hill to turn it around, especially up forward. BBB is cooked, Petty has spent too much time injured/out of the game, Jefferson nowhere near it, JVR "emerging". We're still too reliant on Viney/Oliver around the ball, Sparrow hasn't taken the next step and there's no-one in the wings ... etc etc Might as well cherish the one we managed in 2021, also being competitive across a few seasons, but surely we have to face up to reality.

The great myth. The list just isn't that good once you get past the stars - especially up forward. If we still had Jesse Hogan (for example) you might have a point, but we don't.

This.

Only ourselves to blame. Trac huge. But it's the old forward-line woes again, it's still a work-in progress and was always going to get found out by players like Weitering.

Forwards completely smashed - almost zero possessions between them - so the ball is just coming straight out again. Weitering on Petty especially.

5-day break after a big game like that is a killer. All teams have struggled, so not holding my breath. We’re also a bit screwed by Casey only playing Sunday, so none of the Casey players will come in.

Impressed by the growing maturity of some of the younger brigade. Augers well.

heard/read somewhere that McAdam will be given a full game at VFL level before being AFL-ready. He didn't play a full game today and was rested late.

Harley Reid. I know we offered two decent first-rounders, and not complaining about Windsor and Tholstrup ... but Reid is a generational talent. Two first round plus a second plus a future first wouldn't have been excessive. It's not just what he does, it's the way he does it and the impact that has on players around him. ,