Pates

I wouldn’t have an issue with us having a look at Patton, I’m not sure what gets the job done in terms of picks/trade options. He is injury prone and that’s the major risk we’d take with him, it’s a matter of whether our (new) high performance team would feel that they can nurse him back to health without too many regular setbacks. Right now our forward line is completely impotent, do we think that TMac will get back to his best? Do we think Weids will become the player we hope he can be? In the last two trade periods we’ve given up two forward in Watts and Hogan (while also delisting Pedders who had decent hands on him) but haven’t got any sort of key forward back. I don’t think we can continue to hope TMac and Weids will be the answer to our goal kicking issues.

Clarry has had a good year without being outstanding, he’s still very good at finding the ball in close contests and feeding it out but he has to improve his efficiency with kicking and become more damaging. Mat the moment I’d say he’s an excellent inside player but that’s about it. Needs to hit the scoreboard and be damaging when he gets the ball on the outside. His spray of Fritch was a very poor look, I can only hope a senior player or coach has taken him aside and tell him to pull his head in and think of the team.

Max captain, Viney VC, Melksham, and Jetta (and maybe Lever depending on fitness) as the leadership group. Jones gets one more year for me but relinquishes captaincy with no guarantees of spot (similar or Lewis this year). ANB, Stretch, Keilty, both Wagners, JKH, Maynard (already gone) all get delisted. I'm unsure of Garlett's contract but if he doesn't have another year to run he gets the chop too. I would like to see OMac traded out and we get another tall defender in (not sure who). Target pace/outside run at the trade and draft table. We have to get small a forward or two that will work hard and provide a spark. If Ratten or Voss doesn't get the Saints job then target either one for a midfield coaching role. Hire a skills coach, I saw Yze mentioned above I would love that.

I'd say it's confidence for the most part, he's not the only one. Hibberd is usually a very good kick has been way off, I would imagine that most people here had him clear in front on the B&F in the first half of the year. He's dropped off and his kicking has been way off the mark. But like many other he's performing well below his best and I'd be pretty confident in saying he's also struggling with an injury or two.

If it wasn't the last game of the year I would 100% be calling for him to be dropped. That kick from Fritch was sublime and absolutely the right decision, for Oliver to give him a spray for that is pathetic and I hope Goodwin gave him a spray back. This has been a horror year and the fact the players are turning on each other shows that they are in completely self preservation mode. They want good stats to be able to say, "see, see I'm doing well". Feels like an eternity that last year they would say things like, "well I didn't have the greatest game but the most important thing is the team performance and that we're backing each other up." All I can say is Clarry better put in a gut busting, BOG performance next week because that was embarrassing.

I live overseas, I've been buying my long distance membership every year since I've been here. I'll continue to do it if nothing else because I'm a gold member from consecutive years. But jeez this year has made it tough to cough up the dough.

I remember during Roos's time at Melbourne he very clearly said that Josh was a very good operator at his job. I think up until this year his track record has been pretty good, it all depends on how you look at it. Now obviously with our team having a horror year you're going to analyse is with a negative view point, but how about we think about how we rated him at the end of last year? I'd say most of us would've said he's doing an excellent job. He'd managed to attract talented players to our club, and overseen a period of long stability in amongst the key coaching ranks. The regular knock on him was that he didn't negotiate hard enough on the Lever trade, I don't disagree with that but we are yet to see Lever have a proper season with us. I suspect when that happens he will show us what a difference we makes to the team. Now flashing forward to now. It has been a horror year and as head of the footy department of course he has to take a measure of responsibility for that as do others in key FD positions. I'm not interested in the wrist slashing view points, until this year he's been in charge of a footy department that has seen improvement every year until this nightmare. How history will ultimately rate him is how he reviews the downfall of this year and what he does to ensure that next year we are back up to the top 8. If he isn't brutal and impartial in his assessments, if he doesn't ask the hard questions of the coaches (mainly Goodwin), if he takes the approach of "oh injuries screwed our season before it began" then he is not doing his job and by all means the fire can be lit under him. But Paul Roos and PJ BOTH spoke extremely highly of him, and as I said until this year we've seen steady improvement. This is where he earns his money, if he does a thorough, proper review of the FD and the squad, and if he's again able to identify and secure some talent from other clubs to nab then he's doing his job.

He kicked 32.24 last year and was no. 1 for goal assists so his kicking was pretty on point for the most part last year. Maybe like a few others last year was the aberration. ?

What was Hibberd kicking to then?!

We’re playing Frost as our key forward!

We could seriously go goalless for three quarters. When it gets inside 50 we are useless.

Two goalless quarters against the swans, pathetic. Milkshake should’ve scored at least a couple, it’s a sign of how low our confidence is that he is missing goals he would’ve gobbled up with his eyes closed last year. I know we went through the up and down years of the Rev but I don’t think I’ve seen a bigger drop off compared to where we were last year.

We look so lost any time we have the ball near or in the forward 50.

Something else I’ve noticed about our players is how often they go to ground in one on one situations. Once you go to ground you’re immediately stuffed if you don’t win it. Is it bad core strength or something that’s being taught?

It does kind of look that way, it’s like their interest moves up and down throughout the game. But then the moment the ball gets out that’s where it all just drops and in their own mind they think “here we go again”. But our players are just super lazy right now, I understand things really suck but how about a little bit of personal pride?

I’m ok with him staying on for one more year, but he should be on massively reduced coin and be glad that we’re giving him another run in the red and blue.

I’ve turned off, that last 3-4min of play was pure garbage. Stupid footy, with us coughing up opportunities for us and them getting a shot on goal right before half time. Another goalless quarter, total ineptitude. I was going to name specific players but really almost the entire team coughing up DEAD BASIC kicks/handballs. Our “good” players are not performing well either. Gawn is the one player doing his job well, Level and Hibberd are trying to hold out in defence but when it comes down there it’s under so little pressure it makes it hard for them. But Brayshaw, Oliver, Viney, Jones, Harmes are getting murdered in the middle. And while I’m mentioning Oliver, what the F was that shot on goal? He needs to be nailing them 90% of the time. We are so pathetically bad it’s excruciating.

Oliver ?‍♂️

What the actual F was Salem doing with that kick in?

Ridiculous decision against Frost there.

Depends on the situation, get him for nothing and he could add value. For me though I think we should be looking elsewhere, maybe try drafting in (maybe a slightly mature player).

I like Frost and when May/Lever are both fit there's no doubt in my mind he gets the leftover spot in defence. But at their best May and Lever have him covered by a country mile.

The most important thing that HAS to come from this year is that the match committee, coaching department, and players learn from it. I agree with Duck that we have a midfield that is very capable and we haven't been blown off the park many times this year, for me the two biggest issues this year has been low confidence and a game plan that is either super messy or the players aren't working to. We'll have a softer draw next year, that is a certainty. We will hopefully have players that have been struggling given the opportunity at a full pre-season. We will also have pick 2/3 to play with whether we go to the draft or we use it to trade with. It's been an awful year, I just want to move on from it.

Since we’re dredging up the past let’s look back to see if the tanking debacle is still affecting players that we’re around since then, or if we’re still mentally scarred from when Neeld was coaching. I see no reason to look further back than 12 months ago and fact is 12 months ago we had ingredients that many considered to have us competing at the top for a while. The camp got cancelled and we went on the make finales, for me that’s where that narrative ends.