binman

I can't recall a player be8ng specifically asked about loading, so this interview by Tony Leonard with Jake Lever caught my attention. How you interpret Jake's response will probably depend on where you sit with loading, but it is intersting nonetheless. From 4.13. https://omny.fm/shows/3aw-is-football/jake-lever-joins-us-from-the-winning-rooms

I'm not sure you could claim the head of the Catholic church is infallible.

Agree. Like all top 4 contenders , Freo would have done a loading program. You could see the impact on them, an impact acknowledged by Longmuire. I have no doubt they would have timed their program to be in the best possible shape and readiness for Friday's game. So, both teams were ready to rumble, and unlike our last match, on the same footing freshness wise. Using a horse racing analogy, it was a weight for age contest not a handicap race like round 11. With equal luck in running the best horse wins at WFA. And we are genuine WFA group one wiining team and Freo are, at best, competitive at listed level and a way of group class. In footy speak - we are a 6 plus goal better side than Freo. Hence my confidence ahead of the match.

Agree. But their main issue is their woeful defence. Old school sysyem thst just doesn't cut it - as evidenced by how many big scores they've give up. Cost them this game as they simply couldn't stop the tiger's momentum

I wish. The AFL love to copy all the stupid things about American sport - like 'game day experience'. Unfortunately, we haven't copied the way their sports are covered - which on the whole is brilliant accross all their major sports. And the other related thing they haven't imported is open access to the full range of stats. Instead they lock up the champion data and dribble it out to the public via morons in the media who don't know the difference between cause and symptom.

Didn't he say we could miss the finals after our loss to the pies? Jesus wept.

Weed must have missed the ruthless memo. Or perhaps he misread it, and thought it it said toothless.

That's hilarious. Such a bold prediction. He must have splinters the size of cricket bats sitting on the fence like that. For context Andy, given you were oat the game you would have missed him tipping freo right before the game on fox.

Great signs. Smith takes a great pack mark and kicks beautifully to JVR in open space for his fifth

Fair comments. I did sound a bit dismissive with the joe footy public quip. I was more trying to say how the footy media shapes the narrative.

Yep. And thankfully for everyone on dl we can stop talking about loading. The curse has lifted! Can't wait for next week's game. Me thinks the pies might have a different experience than queens birthday. On that game, I love the fact it is a home game. Lets all get there dees fans and make it a hellish cauldron for the pies to endure.

Nev, it wasn't my intention to start a debate about the club's messaging. Its a furphy, of my own creation, that only distracts from my main two points. - David King insulted our players, our club. He didn't say we weren't ruthless enough. He accused our players, and specifically singled out our leaders, of not being invested, of not showing care for their teammates - this defamation was based on a completely flawed piece of analysis that amplifies a simplistic narrative about the game that doesn't help fans make sense of the sport, and worse drives a misunderstanding of the game (by the by even if someone agreed with his premise, the insult is still way out of order, at least in my eyes) You're right there was a clear focus on attacking this game. They no doubt did have a strong meeting to focus the minds if the players. Because we are now in the final phase, and its time to go up a level physically and mentally. But of course King, driving his silly narrative implies that meeting was some sort of extraordinary, circle the wagons , line in the sand crisis meeting. They no doubt had the same meeting at this point last year, a time when not coincidentally our hunger was also being questioned externally (can the dees be trusted?). All part of the program. Smart messaging by the club this week. My perspective on the topic is I don't believe the focus on ruthlessness and the club's messaging was evidence or an indication the players have been complacent or there is any lack of hunger. But that is just my interpretation of the message, filtered as it is through my own biases and beliefs. Other interpretations are entirely valid and I acknowledge I might be wrong. Personally I reject the notion we have been complacent, despite the comments from the club, and similar reject the suggestion we are not hungry enough. You don't establish the level of comparative fitness we saw last night without being manically driven. It's just that fans don't see all that work. I also reject in advance the idea that will be floated all week that somehow we flicked some imaginary psychological switch and suddenly became ruthless and driven. It's not 1978. Elite sport doesn't work like that. (to be clear I'm not suggesting you think otherwise). But as i say that's all just an opinion of mine, my perspective. I might well be wrong. Others might be right. It certainly isn't worth opening up a debate about the topic. Its a dead end and risks an argument for argument's sake. We can certainly agree that we were ruthless last night. And we can agree that the club's messaging had been smart, and that includes the timing of Gus's resigning. Let's enjoy the win.

Smart by the club. Helps calibrate fans expectations too. By that I mean, it's clearly not a coincidence the club didn't come our with the ruthless message last week. We weren't ready, so would not have been able to back it up on field. We were this week, and the message is get ready fans we will go up a gear and our journey to tbe summit has started after a period of plateauing and getting things right half way up the mountain. Then we go out and absolutely make sure the words aren't hollow. I'll say it again, very smart by the club.

Did a good job too. Frustrated the hell out of him.

Of course he had. Which makes his media work trolling of the highest order. I mean two days before it was announced he did an Interview that had some demonland posters convinced he was gone

Coach discussed earlier in this thread rhe concept, whose name I can't recall, that a group of elite athletes training together can go harder, load harder year to year building on the previous year's base.

They have been loading - as is clearly evident when you watch them. You'd think they were fresh as possible last night though.perhaps they haven't quite got their the program right. Or the fact they have such a young group makes it a challenge (our young players have really struggled this year and last year in this phase). That said, we are way better than freo, who are realistically two years away from being a genuine contender. Longmuire's presser was fascinating. Specifically mentioned the impact of fatigue on their performance in tbe last few weeks, noting other teams experience it, and tbey just have to get better at fighting through it. You don't have to be a rocket, or sports, scientist to understand what he was talking about.

Exactly. Control the narrative. It's communication 101. Everything scripted, repetition of key messages by all club people doing media. In this case ruthless. Which we were. From start to finish. As the club knew we were going to have the legs to do so. Smart stuff by the club.

And extra points for getting an 'analyst' to say any variation on 'see, there's still a place for an old fashion rev up in footy' You watch, king will say it 20 times before the week is out!

Well, that's very true

I'm just a man.

Unfortunately I don't have any contacts at all at the club to be 100% honest. The May intel was one of the very few rimes I have been privy to such info, and was not via the club. Mentioning it probably sounded a bit try hard, clever clogsy, which is a touch embarrassing. I wish I could say I had inside intel about loading, but my thoughts on loading all derive from observation (i mean the eyes dont lie - you can see when players are fatigued), assessment of the evidence and application of the Occam's razor principle.

Yep. Playing 'ruthless' bingo. Goal - how many times can we collectively say ruthless And how often can we make footy media say ruthless?

Agree. Though thst was never his MO. I wonder if he is playing a bit tight worrying about doing enough to keep his spot.