PaulRB

I once had tennis coach explained to me in that the best players get the balance between arousal and precision right, and can maintain this balance throughout the game and tournament. Transposing this to the MFC in 2020 and our performance vs Carlton in particular seems to explain our erratic performance. We started the game at the right level (aroused and precise), but then dropped it midway through the second, and struggled to regain it for the remainder of the day. so what happened? Without wanting to aggravate the froth and bubble crew and generate another outpouring of “More Excuses!!!”, I’d suggest a couple of things: 1. At 7-zip up we thought “this is easy” and our arousal dropped. I do this regularly when 4-0 up in tennis... 2. The Blues at zip-7 think we’re about to get fully humiliated and their arousal lifted. 3. While it took a couple of quarters to restore our arousal, the fact that we did (5min from the end), and we won is significant to our development. it’s significant because teams can rarely dominate for 4 quarters, and rarely maintain high arousal-precision for 4 quarters, so the key to success is being able to produce it when required in order to win. Anyway, just my two bits...

Not to me. Of our prime midfield of Oliver, Petracca and Viney, which would you swap out for Harmes..? Oliver was up against Cripps in the middle on Saturday, and was beating him around the ball early, with Cripps cutting lose up forward when Harmes was one of his matchups. Moving Harmes into the middle isn’t a zero sum game, as someone has to be removed to fit him in...

Meh. Pointing out the weather is a clear reportage of factual data without emotion or subjective commentary, very different to what goes on here. Facts from the weekend 1. We won. 2. Our first 1.5 quarters of play was dynamite and back to 2018 level. 3. Our next 2.5 quarters was poor with tones of 2019. 4. We don’t know what this means in terms of next weeks game. 5. Did I mention, we won... 6. This was our first competitive hit out since Round 1, not including playing ourselves. 7. We included 3 debut players and changed the team a lot from round 1 to round 2, 7 changes. 8. I was going to say “as a result...”, but will just say many players were rusty or performed below our expectations for them, several played really well... 9. So in summary, we won. Go Dees

Agree with it being sufficient for Harley to just get through. However, I was a tad disappointed by his contribution and thought he was tentative and casual at times, just not as intense and penetrating as I’ve recently seen at training, and I can’t recall him creating to many/any creative scoring chains as I thought he would. Agree, I’m being harsh, he’s been out a long time etc, so alls well.

Classic Melbourne game: brilliant 1.5 quarters, horrendous 2.5 quarters. Good and bad aspects have been covered in the past 14 pages. a point though is the sheer contrast in our performance, as in we weren't mediocre all day and snuck home, we were devastating in the first quarter and looking at belting them, then meek and fumbly and looking like spooners... What I find interesting is where we go from here, in 2018 we grew patches of good form in our games into full games of good form late in the year and it carried us into the preliminary. However, in 2019 our patches of bad form dominated and could never be turned... Our good form or game plan is good enough, and the key to growing these patches is minimal injuries, preparation and continued development. Gonna be an interesting season, and I've faith we can build this year, and that when we are on, we are truely hard to beat.

Chazz, you disregard facts and dismiss detailed analysis of any data that conflicts with your predetermined position and conclusion. I’d be a fool to keep “arguing” with you. Let’s agree to disagree.

Chazz, it’s delusory to conflate intention with results. They are not the same, and often don’t correlate. I.e. there are many other more influential factors that determine the results of a sporting contest then the guesses or estimations of a teams “assumed intention” by a biased (and disappointed) supporter. to keep arguing as if what you’re saying is logical or obvious is really agitating my Vulcan calm. Please stop.

Not to make excuses. But isn’t it unrealistic to assume a team who’s average ladder position the past two years is mid table, would knock off the team who’s average ladder position is top 4, including winning a flag... on their deck. Those wanting to stick the boot in seem to live in a fantasy land where everything is suddenly equal and it’s the players or coaches on the day that determines the result. its denies the reality of where our group is at (and where West Coast are at), and is a kind of magical thinking (ie delusional).

Harley on at 4:50 in the above... … hard not to feel his excitement and determination to make an impact and pay back those who've supported his journey. Officially very excited to see him run out in the Red and Blue.

Gawn and Jackson rotating in the ruck will evolve into one of the hardest to combat ruck combos in the competition over the next 1-5 years, so Goodwin has jumped straight into it... with Maxy's fitness and shorter game time he could ruck all day, so if Jackson not up to it, no great loss. Curious to see how Jackson is played when not in the ruck, in the forward line or moved into midfield, as some have suggested he could... Also, suspect Lever may be a late withdrawal...

I think Supporters underestimate the challenges of getting our team to the position of being a regular finals (and then top 4) contender. For many, the performance of the coach is gauged by the performance of the team, and thus by win-loss, ladder position and finals. On this basis The data on Goodwin is inconsistent, i.e 2018 over performed with first finals we got to the prelim, 2019 massive under-performance... 2020 insufficient (and odd) data. For me, when the data is inconsistent or not particularly indicative of direction (ie when we’ve had several seasons mid table), I use other metrics to understand how well we’re going, and how well the coach is going. And it’s at this deeper level that things get tricky... for example, in 2019 our physical preparation for the season was way behind where is should have been, we were underprepared, not the head coaches direct area, and as a result of the underperformance the conditioning coach was replaced by Burgess, one of the best in the business, from all accounts... That’s just one sub-area of team performance management that on deeper inspection was critical in determining our win-loss. And it’s an area that is not Goodwin’s direct responsibility (its Perts and others, and they addressed it really well). Deeper inspection, without inherent bias, of our recruiting and trading (team balance, age/talent profiles, managing exits ie Hogan, retirements, etc), our facilities (access to state-of-the-art equipment and processes), etc... all play a role in our win-loss and are only marginally the responsibility of the head coach. My view is we are ticking up, learning our lessons and improving in many of these areas and these improvements will improve the win-loss as they enable Goodwin to execute his game plan and utilise his relationships and communication with the players on game day to best effect. As the wise say “You can’t make a silk purse out of a sows ear” and in 2019 with the conditioning issues we had, that’s what some on hear were expecting Goodwin to do.. Be happy, as much of the data indicates an improved win-loss is on the cards for 2020. For example, I love that Bedford and Rivers are coming on as the two players I see them most likely replacing (Jetta and Hubbard) are getting on. It’s good recruitment and gives Goodwin the material to do his job...

I think there’s a simplification of our defensive structure and the roles various players will play in it, and OMac often finds himself at the brunt of this misunderstanding. Comparing Frost and Oscar is an example of this overLy simplistic analysis and comparison, as each player plays quite different roles in our defensive structure...

I think this is total horseshit, disrespectful and ill intended. The guy has carried the leadership and expectations of this club for the past 6 years as we built to a prelim before last years stumble, which was in no way his fault. It’s annoying me how quickly and ignorantly supporters turn on the few brave players that have stepped up to bearing the burden of leading our club. How about we acknowledge the service Nathan has given the club, note his injury free preparation and years of quality football and wish him well..? As a man of history Hemingway, maybe you should read Roosevelt’s “Man in the Arena” speech of 1910... "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

That just means they haven’t been pushing themselves hard enough. We’ve been masterfully managed to maximise the physical improvement each player could make over the pre-season. That May, Max And Hannan are all likely to now get up for round 1, shows just how well they’ve don it (Especially Vs last year)...

:)))

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“Bump” For those with short memories and fragile loyalties.

I reckon Goody and Pert are lowering expectations wowing mid-season or 6 game season, and Harley being optimistic re- round 3... So round 6 (vs Tigers) or Round 7 (vs Dons) seems a possibility... Bring it on!

Agree. And I reckon ANB is also a lock for 22. Forward defensive pressure will feature large in 2020 I believe.

I reckon our 22 is almost a lock (in red above), with only 2 of the 21 listed above "debatable in Spargo and OMac, both of which would suit us well out West. So the competition is really for 1-3 spots in our Round 1 22. Good spot to be in.

It's all Don non-speak for "we're in a rebuild", just don't tell our long suffering fans... If ever a team has earned the Norm Smith curse, it's Essendon. May it be over 50 years till they taste the fruit again...

I suspect the issue may be addressed in an up coming episode of “Hell and back”..!?!

That's funny one_dee, I'd have Jetta, Hibberd, May, Lever and even Oscar in front of him... and happily replace him with another gray hound on crack in Hunt, for the "line breaking speed top turn over" thrill ride, if that what gets you going at the footy.

Mate, Frosty was not "premiership quality defence" and not our "second defender". Move on.