Little Richard

And that's how you picked your favourite child.

I agree that there's more to the problem than just kicking, yes. The difference between us playing fast and Richmond playing fast is that they have players that can kick, and kick well, especially around half forward. They're also much more creative with their ball use and delivery inside 50. Sadly we're miles off that level right now. To me Bennell is a player that is going to be absolutely essential around half forward (as long as he stays fit). He's a smart decision maker and a sublime kick - essentially he could be doing what Melksham was doing so well for us in 2018. I think the way Nev plays is crucial to when teams do slow it down. He's a cool head who isn't going to blaze away out of the backline and instead will take a safer option, not coughing it up straight back to the opposition. I know that bring these players into the side won't solve our problems but it's a step in the right direction IMO. In terms of struggling against teams who play slow, hold onto the ball kind of footy, we do look lost. You only need to look at the Geelong game to see how hard we found it to get the ball back or hold onto it. Is the answer playing man on man when this is the case? And then when we did struggle as you say, we simply bomb it long to Max which doesn't work much of the time. Better kicks in this situation would allow us to retain the footy ourselves though and therefore set the tempo, so I think it does play a big part in solving some of our woes.

If we had the luxury of another solid key defender playing well, then I'd be for it, but to move him forward will leave us horribly exposed.

Absolutely agree. We're at a stage where there are certain things we need to try, but moving May just as he's playing his best footy for the club down back is not the answer.

Thank you!

Any links to his assessment?

Yes, we played a scratch match against Richmond at Punt Rd.

Sadly extremely accurate. We are a horrid kicking team, so why are two of our best kicks/decision makers in Jetta and Bennell not playing? Ridiculous. Still find it hard to listen to Lyon though and him continually trying to cut off Watson was so annoying.

God I miss the days when he used to get the ball and stream off half back or down the wing.

I don't think we played our best team at all. Our best team doesn't involve Tom McDonald as a sole key forward, or playing Jake Lever as a second tall back when he should be a third tall. Harley Bennell is in our best team. There are changes that need to be made and I don't think it should involve throwing first year players into such a poorly drilled team or before form warrants it.

This the wrong attitude. It's about putting the best team on the park every week and trying to win. That's the best form of development for any footy club, let alone ours.

Out: T. McDonald, Hunt, Melksham, Lockhart, Smith In: Brown, Weideman, Bennell, Jetta, O. McDonald

I'm not entirely sure of the dates but is there a correlation between a number of our players' development stagnating and Brendan McCartney leaving the club?

The definition of stupidity is seemingly having a game plan in place where players bomb it long into the forward line whilst only playing one (rubbish) tall forward in Tom McDonald. A neanderthal could come up with a better avenue to goal. Drop McDonald and bring in Brown and Weideman FFS.

We're going backwards at a rate of knots.

Punt Road mate. Also didn't see Jonesy at all, not sure if he only played the first bit or not at all.

I watched some of the second half through the fence, was difficult to see what was going on at times but saw Weid kick at least two, one from a smart lead and nice hit up by ANB and the other from a well judged contested mark. Harley Bennell looked a level above and looked as though he was barely trying. Skills and running patterns were elite. The other stand out for me was Kyle Dunkley who looked really good in the middle and in the clinches around the ground. Can't offer much more than that unfortunately, except that I stood in dog [censored] as I was walking back to my car.

I can't stand Lyon and have never wanted him as coach in the past. But now it suddenly seems that he'd be the perfect fit for our list - that coach that can focus on getting the best out of players that are near their prime and instil a disciplined, proven game plan.

Surely he can't find a way to squirm his way out of this one...

Or we could look at it as an opportunity to hit Richmond while they're well off their mark. Obviously we're playing trash football too but I'd rather face this Richmond than Richmond of 2019.

Unfortunately I think the facts point to the contrary in that regard.

I'm with you on that. As long as they work hard on their leading patterns too, three talls might just be the change we need up forward, and something we haven't had for a while.

Great to hear mate, just gave him a follow on Twitter ?

Agreed, it was the biggest take away for me too but I felt like I harped on about it enough yesterday. Yesterdays game has eradicated a huge amount of the confidence I had in Goody. Coaches can certainly adapt and improve over time, but we just aren't seeing that with Simon.

Watched it again and regret it. However these are my major takeaways from the painful spectacle that was yesterdays match. Positives: Hibberd looked better than he has in a long, long time. Hard at it and used the ball far more intelligently. Joel Smith improved plenty on his performance from last week. The jury is still out on whether he’ll make it as a defender but improvement was more than welcome. Viney looks set to continue his strong form this year. May and Lever looked better together. Obviously there is a long, long way to go before Lever reaches the form he was in at Adelaide (if ever) but some improvement and more cohesion was good. Kozzie splitting a pack in the third quarter like a bloke 30cm taller and 30kg heavier. Everything he does is class. Negatives: I was a big fan of Lockhart after round one but yesterday his composure was non-existent. Pinged three times (?) holding the ball when trying to take an extra step or moment through traffic was simply not good enough. Needs to work on his awareness. VandenBerg looks a long way off the pace. Hoping he finds his feet quickly, along with some of that 2018 form. No second key forward… what the hell was the selection committee thinking? Goodwins failure to react to Geelong’s obvious game plan was criminal. Dangerfield and Selwood both with repeat efforts at playing and diving for frees. Expected but doesn’t make it any easier to watch, pathetic.