binman

Hunt on the extended bench is about right. Giving him a message. I expect him to play but needs to step up. Not convinced bout him up forward and he drifts in an out of the game. Perhaps plonk him on the wing and tell him to run both ways. Same goes for Hibberd in terms of giving him a message. Another who needs to go up a few levels.

Dropped. Pretty stiff i reckon given we really need his pace.

Really?

With all due respect Saty your credibility on this particular issue is not high.

Would have worked better as a sledge if you knew how to use the quote function

No its not. For reasons outlined previously.

Thanks for the reply. Nice for to you make it clear that you don't go nuance or grey, just black and white. But you needn't have worried. I knew that already.

Agree. Lose this week and the club, and goody in particular, will get the blow torch treatment. And deservedly so. In some ways our terrible tackle numbers and pressure last game - and the fact they have highlighted by the media - will help us this week. Can't see us not bringing the heat this week

I guess if you see things in simple black and white terms then you might be right. But I prefer a more holistic, nuanced perspective that sees how a range of factors are interconnected. Don't feel you need to reply.

But dazzler attitude is never in isolation to issues such as preparation and the impact of injury. We have had shocking run with both poor preseasons and injuries and in addition to the obvious impact of fitness these issues also have a psychological impact. As Grapveiney pointed out on last nights podcast it is much harder to remain in the right head space week in, week out when we started well behind the 8 ball, have never caught up and the season has disappeared before the players eyes. It's hard enough to keep a group motivated week in week when finals are in play - just look at the Pies who are having truth sessions because their intensity has fallen off a cliff. But it is so much harder to keep them focused, switched on and motivated week in week out when finals are of the table. But no less important of course - and perhaps even more important. And don't get me wrong i'm not making excuses - the point you make about the woeful tackling numbers is spot on. And not good enough from our leaders. I've said this before but one reason i had so much respect for the late great Robbie Flower was that when we struggled his effort never, ever dropped and often even seemed to go up a level.. So as i say i'm not making excuses for them but the reality is finding intrinsic motivation to perform and go hard every game and every contest is hard in the sort of season we are having. This will be Goody biggest challenge for the rest of the year and will test his motivational and man management skills more than say last year when were riding a wave in the last third of the season I gather from your posts you are still playing footy. Surely you have experience of the connection between physical preparation and mental performance on a team a whole.

Oh please we made the preliminary final for pete's sake. With a team missing Lever, nominally our best defender. It wasn't a fluke. We were the highest scoring team and from round 12 the best defensive unit in the AFL. And that's without Lever. We were doing plenty right. Look at the pies and west coast this year. Both are nowhere near as effective. Maybe their much vaunted chip kick game plan has already had its day.

And add to that the fact that in all sports, all sports poor technique is exposed by fatigue. From darts to football and everything in between poor technique is made worse under pressure and fatigue. And we 80% of our players have terrible technique. So it stands to reason that we make more mistakes than say last year when the team as whole is nowhere near as fit.

My head is seriously going to explode Our situations are not comparable

Sorry, it's not. I went to the preliminary. It was hot, we were coming off two intense games, had to travel.accross the country and we were totally cooked half way through the first. West coast, who went on to win the premiership had a weeks rest and played at home. Way too much has been made of that lost. Exactly as snoop dog says people have bagged us for following others plans. We have ours. Now it might not be the right one, but this is not the year to be definitive about that. And last year's prelim is one game. We beat the same team (albeit missing Kennedy) 3 weeks earlier.

And another potential oprion is that goody is agnostic about injuries as they relate to our game plan. He may well have determined our game plan is the one that will achieve the ultimate reward, that he has complete faith in it, will stay the course and sees no value trying on another this year and wasting time on other game plans he does not believe in.

No they don't.

Ok boss (Ps. By your logic when he does return he will be AFL standard. Pos you continue to confuse fact with opinion. A reminder - because you believe it to be true does not make it fact. Pps don't write back, there is no need).

Really? Only one of 2 things are happening and you are privvy to both. There are no other possible scenarios?

Yep. Exacltly like them. Assertions based on innacurate information and opinion confused with fact. For example that omac is not up to AFL standard. Which is your opinion. And one clearly not shared by the club given they saw fit to extend his contract (which they tend not to for players not at AFL standard).That they extended this contract is a fact. There's a new one too. That he won't be back. On omac he is one of the 17 players who had post season surgery and had an interrupted preseason. Like his team mates his struggles this season need to be seen in this context.

Rubbish. They were not as hard as us. No where close. Not in the same universe. A completely unhelpful myth.

Love it Snoop dog. A rare ray of logic shining through the morass. There is a lot of focus on injuries but the poor preseason is the real kicker as players can never get the fitness base game if not done pre season. its just not possible. Injuries hurt a team's chances of course but the impact is mitigated if the club had a good pre season with high percentages of players completing most if not all sessions. Richmond is good example this year. We have had the both issues and the impact is plain to see. I'd add that it must really hurt a teams capacity to run effective drill that simulate game plan and introduce any new systems when so many players can't train with the main group. Compounding that issue is who can't train. Having your key mids not available makes it hugely difficult to plan and practice set ups and plays at stoppages, which are critical parts of any game plan.

I hear what you are saying but in no universe was that a 50/50 game. As for how it played out, yes we were in it but only because the Lions missed any number of easy shots on goals and butchered the ball going inside 50 (perhaps they caught our bug). We, on the other hand, were unusually efficient in the first 2.5 quarters Even trac was kicking set shots. As soon as they cleaned up their efficiency and staring slotting goals from all over the shop they dominated and we got the result we deserved.

True, their defensive pressure was woeful. That's a worry.

Agree with all points. In some ways it was the most sobering loss we've had. We should have beaten wc and crows so they hurt. In tgis game we played ok but lions were clearly the better team all game (only their innacurate and lack of effficiency kept us in it) and eventually that told. I reckon an issue for us was that ecan before maxy got injured they were reading his taps brilliantly. And when their mids got it they did something dangerous with it. Unlike ours.

Agree. We need Lever to be the player we expected when we recruited him. But we might have to wait for next season as after such a long time out he will take some time to get back to his best.