Deeflated

Besides his floored game plan (total lack of forward pressure) I think Bails will concede he backed the wrong horse as captain. Green has been the other big failure of the year, I still can't shake that image of him playing against Adeialde when he snubbed Bate on the joe the goose handball. Bate had been out of the side for weeks and needed a confidence boost. A real leader seizes the opportunity to lift those around him - Greeny just wanted the goal.

I hear you but what's the alternative? Go behind his back and interview candidates during the last 4 rounds? We need to plan 2012 ASAP. The head hunting starts now and not behind the coaches back.

I need to see an ad in the paper tomorrow with the words: WANTED. COACH AND FOOTBALL DEPARTMENT WITH SOME SERIOUS A$$HOLE. If I see 1 more game of bruise-free football from the red and blue I'll throw up.

No seriously, a result like that needs action so us members (the stakeholders) have faith in the club. There's losses, and there is LOSSES!!! To remove the coach alone is not going to fix the problem. Any player in the leadership group should stand down on Monday. If there was any doubt before today it is now a fact - WE HAVE GONE BACKWARDS. I dont care if we win our last 3 games, take out the 2 gold coast wins (which may not happen) and we have no more wins than last year. The only difference this year is our average losing margin. All assistant coaches reapply for your jobs at seasons end. Same for anyone in the footy department. We have the list, now let's give them a chance.

Tom Scully chooses cash over Dees FINALLY, the secret is officially out. Melbourne mercenary Tom Scully quietly, and without any public fanfare, accepted upwards of an extra $3 million over five years to betray his beloved Melbourne Demons. GWS football boss Graeme Allan confirmed on 3AW on Saturday that he made a play for Scully and that it was quickly accepted. Allan, of course, wasn't about offer numbers to the inquisitive radio box, but it isn't too difficult to determine a ball-park figure. Clearly, the numbers are titillating, yet the fact the 20-year-old has turned his back on Melbourne is only part of the story. Scullys love of the green stuff over loyalty, in an age of obscene cash for players yet to prove themselves, makes Scully the pin-up child for disloyalty. Melbourne fans should never, ever, forget Scully’s decision. Two sources said Scully accepted between three and four times more of what he could earn per season at Melbourne. The figure is as an estimate based on figures bandied about for other GWS targets, Matherw Kreuzer ($1 million per year) and Callan Ward ($700,000 per year) and what Scully, as one of the league's best midfielders, could expect in relation. Still being relatively young, his contract at Melbourne next year would have been in the vicinity of $300,000-$350,000. Greater Western Sydney's interest in Scully was first mentioned in an interview with colleague Mike Sheahan during the pre-season. Three weeks ago, speculation - driven by SENs David Swartz - had it that Scully had been offered an ''Ablett-like'' contract from GWS. Read for yourselves, just substitute Kreuzer with Scully. HeraldSun Article A thread like this deserves a post like this.

4 years into his plan it should be.

Possibly. But wouldn't that mean a lot of missed tackles? ie tackles that don't stick. We're not even getting those because we set our defence way too deep. I'm not seeing many missed tackles at all in the forward 50, just opposition players strolling out looking for the perfect pass.

We're further behind, no doubt. Whether it’s the rest of the competition moving forward while we stagnate is splitting hairs... You probably need to listen to what Jarred Rivers said on radio over the weekend, alarming. We have the worst defensive game in the league, numerous times you've mentioned how Bailey is working on a game plan to beat the zone - yet the cattle are too young or injured. Fantastic, but that's only HALF the game plan. You do understand the opposition get the ball too????? How do we win it back? At the moment we don't win it back anywhere near often enough. Our structures are a mess. Not to mention what we have to kick to coming out of defence. The fact you keep blatantly overlooking these issues is getting tiresome. Your blind defence of a coach who I think has done a fine job turning over a list but is now being found out defies belief.

I don't remember being critical of last nights performance. Feel free to post my comments and prove me wrong.

We didn't have many injuries are the start of the year. Last night is irrelevant. We were never going to win with the injuries we have. What is relevant is the performance against Hawthorn, West Coast and North Melbourne. And I'm not talking about losing, it was HOW & WHY we lost. I agree some were expecting way too much this year, I certainly wasn't expecting finals. But I was expecting a more contemporary brand of football. It won't get much better this year no matter who returns from injury.

I 100% agree, it's the same question I've been asking myself since we got smashed by Essendon in the NAB Cup. The 2 things Bailey supporters keep banging on about are 'we're young' and 'why should we copy them..' How about because they're beating us?

You're missing the point. Throwing numbers in our defensive 50 is not effective in today's football. We need to start defending in our FORWARD 50 and apply more pressure to force turnovers and in some cases goals. You've seen it before, its what everyone else does to us! Why do we find it so hard to move the ball out of defence while the opposition stroll out of ours. This is not an assessment based on last night. Our structures are wrong and have been all year.

I would have thought coaches were judged by how teams followed their game plan and instructions.

Agree. Another club not playing the modern style of football are the bulldogs.

We had an entire preseason to prepare. There's no excuse for our start to the season. SURELY there would have been a vast improvement injury free? What do you base that on? We've thumped interstate teams at the G for a few seasons now, the margin may have been higher than usual but that wasn't exactly a break-through performance. But tonight didn't hurt his chances of coaching next year, but they certainly didn't help them.

The week after North smashed us for 3 quarters they handed Brisbane their first win of the season. Not good... For us..

I don't think Dean's the man beyond 2011 but I didn't form that view on tonights performance. So many first 22 players out, hard to get a gauge on it. It's the start of the season that will hurt Bails. When everyone was available we were still ordinary. It's hard to argue that it's all about personnel when we haven't performed when they were in the team. Tonight wasn't pathetic, but it wasn't good either.

1. It may have only been 3 forward entries, but how easily did they walk it out with zero pressure. No chance for repeat entry after repeat entry. 2. They refined a game plan based on modern trends in football, so not original. 3. No you just used a lot of words to say nothing. But appreciate the attempt.

Excellent. Based on Artie's game plan the opposition will never get the ball and our exquisite kicking skills will result in 200 point victories. Don't worry about developing a defensive game plan, it only accounts for the majority of goals kicked in a game - and of late premierships.

Because of our low forward entries?????? Why do you think we lose this stat every week? It's because the opposition have better defensive pressure and structures to force repeat entries. We on the other hand don't. Last I checked we were doing fine from stoppages. Regarding game plan, you think the pies invented the defensive zoning???? The swans/eagles put the emphasis on a defensive game style in 2005/2006, winning flags mind you. Then hawthorn and the saints improved on it. Even the cats have more emphasis on defense this year. You mention being original and staying with our own game plan, please explain to me what that currently is? I eagerly await your analysis.

I've said this a number of times on these forums but the Bailey fanatics keep howling me down. Forget about our young list or our poor with injuries of late. The big issue we have this year is forward pressure/zones. We are ranked 2nd last in the league (only above Gold Coast) in forward pressure. Until this is fixed don't expect to be pushing up the ladder. How did the pies win a flag last year? Why have the bombers & eagles surged up the ladder? Why are we struggling this year (even before the injuries)? Forward pressure.

You think Richmond SHOULD be better than us, and you think I'm stupid???

Some of you on this forum need to consider the next phase of this football club's development. When 2007 ended the board needed to assign a man that could rebuild the list and bring in the right talent. For this I give Bailey a big tick. He is also excellent with the media and seems like a great bloke. But what wasn't as important in 2007 was a game-day tactical coach who would bring out the best in the 22. This is where I question Bailey as it stands in 2011. Who they appoint next year needs to be top-notch in this area if we are to move forward. If you ask 2 former club champions they believe its up to Bailey to show us what he's got. Gary Lyon and Jim Stynes have both publically said this. Oh and I think one of them is working for the club...

You make a good salesmen Artie. Lets even go back to 83/84 shall we? MFC (6) - Joel MacDonald, Brent Moloney, Jared Rivers, Mark Jamar, Aaron Davey, Matthew Warnock. RFC (3) - Jake King, Brad Miller, Kelvin Moore. Weak point.

I'm fairly certain this is only Hardwick's 2nd year? And I'm also certain it's Bailey's 4th. And please don't tell me Hardwick inherited a better list, Wallace certainly wasn't trying to rebuild in his 4 year stint.