demon3165

Well, knock me down with a feather. ANB has improved his skills, and here is an idea: all our players do a pre-season with another club before the season starts.

1 hour ago, Earl Hood said:   I think Viney has to go as a mainstay of the midfield. He has been a great warrior for us, but the game has evolved and he hasn’t, either because he can’t or he won’t. I find it difficult to understand how a footballer at the elite level hasn’t got the peripheral vision and poise to pick out targets around them. I know not every mid can have the vision of a Pendlebury but surely you can try. And that’s the worry for me, that Viney doesn’t even try and fail but continues to just blindly throw it on his left boot to nobody in particular. It’s been an issue for some time. I still have flashbacks of that last dumped kick against Carlton with 30 seconds to go, straight to Walsh? while Tracc was running loose on his inside calling for the handball and us going out in straight sets in 2023. Can he play the defensive small forward role with brief stints on the ball? I believe he deserves the chance. I agree with you, except for his playing as a small forward. He simply does not have the smarts, and Backman would simply run off him. He has been a great player for the club, but sometimes you have to make hard decisions for the team.

See Fev even shows how easy it is. 34ba813fef5bfe0cd7e7d5a1da46d56b.mp4

Max is a liability at centre bounces now he unfortunately cannot jump and just trys to body his opponent and opposition sides have worked that out, and I will say it again we have a one paced lack of skills midfield and that's being found out against sides that will transition the ball with pace. Some serious questions need to be asked: can you continue to play Viney in the midfield? How does one change Oliver's role because all he is doing is chasing stops, giving him a hard tag, and he cannot cope? The next 4 games might dictate what direction the club takes.

I agree about burgess he was a bigger loss than we think.

To be fair, a few were saying it, but the majority thought everything was OK until now.

Just fix JVR hand position when marking the ball that would be a good start.

We had one of the best midfielders for our game plan. The game started to change in the 22 and onwards. We became stuck in the belief that our midfield could do the same thing over and over, and now we are struggling. I don't know if losing Burgess was a bigger loss than we expected. And it's just not on the midfield; the decision-making by players is slow, and the skills by hand and foot are at an under-15s standard. Now, I'm sure somewhere along the line we will play better football, but it might be better to burn the house down and start again, and that includes moving seasoned players out to get to where you want to be.

Well last night again showed up the lack of forward craft and positioning of when to hold your opponent under the ball and then move and how to use your body, only fritta knows how to do that but he needs to be the third banana so to speak, JVR has cricketers hands when the ball comes in hard and fast and by that his hands face outwards and arms bent to far back the forward players always seen to let their opponent with them instead of sprinting for the ball the backline is to slow in movement and again out to the left again and the cats were smart they let us have that one then manned up thus stopping the run however we allowed loose players for the cats to switch the ball at ease because we push into the contest all the time, the same going forward we have to wait to kick into the forward line and the cats always had 2 to 3 defenders on their own. And the midfield is again slow and predictable like bears to a honey pot unfortunately Max is becoming a libility at centre bounces he just can't jump anymore to give us first use, Oliver is a shadow of himself sides have worked him out, Viney went back to s rugby player and got caught again, langford just a kid but there is a lot to like, forget Windsor off the H/B and back on the wing. The game plan is a mess it seems Goodwin and the skills are comparable to under 15's football by hand and foot, and they seem slow, but then again when you are always second to the ball, it appears that way.

Time to bring out more soccer balls.

And that's different since 22?

8 hours ago, Go Ds said:   No, kicking a soccer ball and practising torps, bananas etc and kicking short and long distances and when fresh and when exhausted , with a breeze, against a breeze, with a waterlogged ball yada yada yada all help overall with kicking skills. No one's gonna try kicking bananas with a soccer ball. I'd wager the huge majority of AFL players could kick 20m since puberty and if suddenly our players can't that's more likely due to lack of confidence or morale, maybe complacency and maybe lack of fitness. The shape of a ball won't fix those things though maybe a break from a Sherrin,while still practising everything else , may help slightly. I'm all for doing things differently and being inventive to change things up but when you cannot execute the simple things then you keep practising until you get it right, as for the fitness part you may be right there when Burgess was there you still went hard even when sore attitude and we ran out games hard but that was when we played a contest game the game has changed for us.

Simple when you struggling to kick a ball 20 metres with an oval ball i suggest you practice with that first as seen in our last two games a soccer ball won't help that and as for you saying helping to kick tops, banana, flat punts kicks it's not even close kicking a soccer ball now if the were learning how to curve using the inside of the foot well yes but we don't do that.

Well, he ain't slow either.

This has been known since 2022. Even Stevie Wonder could see it. We have just not invested in it and did the old What I did today, you do tomorrow now it's bitten us in the 🍑🍑🍑🍑.

The issue sides have moved away from contest to contest football now it's a pace running game with ball skills and we are one a paced poor skills midfield, last week showed up Oliver, Viney and co and they just chased stops all day, it also does not help that Max cannot jump at centre bounces and relies on contact, more and more opposition ruckman just jump into him and nullifies him to get get first use.

People are forgetting one big difference: one has a round ball that doesn't bounce in different ways, and you don't handle the ball, but if we bring it in the side, we might be in with a chance.

They always kicked back and across the ground and then attacked; Mitchell is playing a similar type of game but quicker. We are a long way off the pace and skill now. If teams allow us to make it a contest-to-contest game, we are in with a chance, but I think those teams are limited.

The Hawks did it in their golden years nothing new there.

Tell that to Darren Burgess I'm sure he would think about doing that.....at Adelaide.

Yep soccer will fix those oval shaped balls skills Yep, soccer balls will fix those oval-shaped ball skills. They would have preferred if they put a car on the oval over 30 to 50 metres away with the windows down and try to kick the balls into the car rather than running around with soccer balls.

While i expect a more spirited performance this week your view on the gameplan is off we don't have the midfield to do it and the games against the roos and the sun's showed that up big time Oliver and Viney and co just ran around chasing stops all day, I have been saying this since 2022 lack of pace and skills are hurting us big time. We have been trying to work out a forward line for the last 4 years time to get someone in to help educate the players on forward craft.

Oliver cannot just keep playing the same role the game has changed as for Viney in all honesty what role can he play he hasn't got the pace to play a linkage running player or the skills that go with that role now he has been a great player for the club and some serious discussions need to take place over him.

You cannot play quick ball movement all day with a one-paced midfield; full stop. They are good against a team that plays similarly, but the game started to change from the 2022, and we kept playing the same way. Now our lack of run, skills, and decision-making has come back to bite us badly. Yes, we will improve, but not to the extent needed to match the top teams. Viney is too slow and, like Oliver, was shown up when there is no congestion in packs. Once the ball is moved quickly, he is out of the contest with ease. Max, unfortunately, cannot jump at center bounces, and opposing teams will now just jump into him, making it harder for him to provide the first opportunity to give it off to someone. The game plan is something else; because of the lack of quick movement and skills, everyone is around the ball creating packs and contests. However, when the ball is moved to the outside by the opposition and transferred, it opens us up and allows them scoring opportunities much easier than we can. All our forwards are that far up the ground when we do get it, so all you see are 2-3 backmen alone forming a wall across the half-back line and picking us off. You cannot delist everyone, but Trac and Kossie should be kept. Oliver should either be traded or have his role recreated. Viney, who has been a loyal soldier, cannot keep playing in the midfield if he struggles to contribute against runing sides, Sparrow is in no man's land, but the worse thing is the inability to hit targets by hand or foot is staggering and does not help the cause at all. It's going to be an interesting year.

Maybe a little harsh but true with me..