bing181

Nothing to do with fitness, but if that's what you want to hang your hat on, go for it. Fitness between the ears, that's something else.

Reminds me of the 2023 semi-final loss to Carlton. We have some great blood 'n guts, die for you footballers. But what we lack are smart players, especially amongst the leaders. That St Kilda could work out what needed to be done and then execute while we couldn't speaks volumes about what's going on on-field.

A loss like that is all down to a lack of on field leadership. eg giving away a critical 666 at a time like that …

Said it a few weeks back, but Clayton Oliver ... sad to watch.

McVee half the player he has been. Howes being reminded of the difference between the VFL and AFL. On top of that, no May and Lever so basically a leaderless backline and ...

Also the sad part is when you assume that all selection decisions are made by Goodwin.

If he backs It up this week you'd think he'd be close to selection. One game is not much to go on, great or not.

As laughable as it is superficial. Kentfield has had a few strong periods across games - but he had zero pre-season and it's questionable that he could run out an AFL game - from what I can see, he can't even run out VFL games, he seems to manage a strong half but then not much. In any case, the club has all his figures and would know. AJ has had one great game after a long period out, before which he was about as vanilla as they come. Let him back it up.

To the extent that either Roos or Goodwin had substantive input or a final say. There's an SEN interview with Tim Lamb post flag in 2021 where he credits the build to Jason Taylor and in particular, Tod Viney who "was really instrumental in setting the framework around how we would assess players and what we would look for and what would stand up in finals and therefore Grand Finals".

But is that because at the end of the day he's still not as fit as he once was? He went a long way backwards last year, and perhaps he needs more than one pre-season to get back up to speed, literally? The club would have all his fitness data, so presumably they would know if that's the case. Interesting that Goodwin has mentioned in a few press conferences working with Clayton to get him back to the player he was. Clutching at straws?

I for one feel that the list is potentially in a much better place than it might seem. Though we're going to need some luck with injuries. If we need to find improvement from within, then it needs to come from the younger players, as they're the ones with the most unrealised potential. But many have been set back by injury: from players like McVee (only just now getting going?), Windsor (same?) to players like Kolt, Linsday, Kentfield who were never going to be overcome injuries pre/early season. Then you add AMW who was tracking well at the back end of 2024, and even Lever who should be at peak performance but whose season (and career?) is shot with foot injuries and whatnot. Similar for Harry Petty (only 25), who hasn't been himself for a couple of seasons now with one thing after the other, but was a really strong key defender for us prior to that. And have we even begun to see what Aidan Johnson can bring? His performance in the VFL last weekend is a one-off for the moment, but he's another who could perhaps step up and really fill a forward/backup ruck void. Slightly similar story for Seston, was also tracking well until injury has pretty ruled out his year. Not all the above will make it, or at least make it enough to make a difference, but there's enough there to be optimistic about without wringing our hands about not being able to bring in talent. Perhaps that's the case, but there's plenty of unrealised potential on the list as well.

Joe Daniher: Long shot, but great that the club is being active and leaving no stone unturned. Would seriously straighten us up.

Perhaps one of the reasons we have such poor delivery into the forward line is because we have such poor forwards - or forwards who aren't exactly screaming for it or who you'd back in. The players seem to do OK at hitting up Pickett.

It happens, both in life and in sport. Regression to the mean and all that. (Unless you're Geelong and the Swans, with a little help from the AFL one way or another.)

Turnovers: 5.7 37 8.2 50 There's the match. When we turned it over they punished us. When they turned it over (actually more often) we let them off the hook through (checks notes) inaccuracy.

"Their game's in pretty good order but they can't score and efficiency continues to be their biggest issue." Kane Cornes on the Dees

Delusional. If we lose this one (and a few more), the list of players to be traded/dumped will get longer. To paraphrase Bill Clinton, it's the list, stupid.

While a couple of those 8 goals are the result of some dodgy umpiring (coupled with some poor discipline), most of them are the result of us being unable to put a score on the board. 12.8 is not necessarily a winning score, but 10.10 is probably a losing one.

Not quite. We have a list that was built around one kind of footy but the game has moved on.

Not the point I'm making is it? Read the original post again.

The wheel will only turn with improvement in the list. That can come from within (e.g., more maturity and experience in the younger players) or by bringing in established players who can make a difference.

Agree with your post, but not entirely in agreement with this. Yes, we have some good/great players. But the trouble is that their work is being undone by the half-dozen who are yet to confirm themselves as AFL-capable. Success on field isn't so much about your best players, but your worst.

Yet me guess, you believe in the tooth fairy as well?

Ah, so you can have a great coach and yet the team can still be losing matches depending on the players/list. You're just saying what I'm saying. Glad to see we're in agreement.

How's mega-coach Alistair Clarkson going at North in his third year?