Jaded No More

23 minutes ago, Binmans PA said:

They did kick straight though. Both their ruckmen kicked ridiculously acute shots from the boundary that pretty ordinary players shouldn't kick, but did.

IMV, it's our ability to execute forward of centre that is the single biggest weakness of ours and has been for 3-4 years.

It's our inability to execute forward of centre IN HIGH PRESSURE GAMES that's our biggest weakness.

Every side has games where they can't kick straight and their opponent can't miss. It happens regularly and it's happened to us many times.

The issue is that when we are under pressure, we seem to totally lose composure forward of centre. Our entries are putrid, and our goal kicking is not much better. We lost an elimination final last year because two of our most experienced players missed absolute sodas. That's mental, and that's a problem.

The issue this year however, is that when things go against us, we completely drop our heads. We've been in many games in the past where things have gone wrong, and we've always been able to arrest momentum and claw our way back. We've rarely ever been out of games, until this year. And that has nothing to do with our forward mix, and everything to do with our midfield getting regularly smacked. 

We didn't lose yesterday because the Pies kicked a couple of miracle goals, or because our forwardline was worse than theirs on paper. We lost yesterday because our pressure rating was abysmal, we got smashed in clearance again, and we were severely punished on turnovers.

JVR, Kosi and Fritta are better forwards than all 6 of the forwards the Pies had on the field yesterday combined. Only Hill is a really quality forward.

Edit: I also want to be clear that our forwardline is absolutely a problem, and we desperately need Petty to pull himself together, or to find a quality tall to help JVR. No arguments here. But no forwardline, no matter how good, can play good football if their midfield can't execute a 2m handball.

Is our forwardline great? No.

Is it the reason we are losing? No.

Who the hell was playing in Collingwood's forwardline yesterday? Absolute nobodies, that's who. Still managed to pile on 14 goals.

Maynard getting a vote.

Just kill me.

12 minutes ago, The Stigga said:

Everyone on the trade table for mine.

Need to get as many early picks as possible before Tassie come in.

It was a fun ride while it lasted.

Ridiculous over reaction.

You're trading Trac, Lever, Gawn, Fritta and Kosi are you?

Let's rip the guts out of the team, and just bottom out again and go for draft picks, because that worked out so well for literally every club that's done it.

We still have a good nucleolus, but we need to bring in some key players to plug obvious holes. That's not the easiest thing to get right, but it can be done. We did it in 2018/2019, and went on to win a flag in 2021.

15 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Oh sorry, it’s just a petty game then that means nothing, ok!

How did you get from AFL being nothing like a war, where everyday is life and death, versus the game means nothing? 
 

My dad served in the military for 20 years. He’s a mad passionate football fan and he would tell you categorically that football and war are nothing alike.

7 minutes ago, Gawndy the Great said:

I wouldn’t take SENs reporting as gospel. They do tend to add some mayo to everything to fuel the clickbait industry. 
 

Nevertheless, you can’t rule it out as truth either, which is unfortunate for Trac and MFC.

If you look at the photo Trac posted on his socials, he certainly appears to have needed something done.

You don't often have a finger monitor and an IV in your arm if you're just in for light observations to some cracked ribs.

Just now, Smokey said:

To anyone lamenting our medico's for "allowing" him back on to the ground - the extent of the injuries were not known until he went to hospital. All they really have to go on is whether the player themselves thinks they can continue play or not. 

Incorrect. My friend who is a doctor saw him sucking in the air on TV and immediately said “he punctured a lung or bleeding internally”

If they didn’t know the extent of the injuries, they should have taken the right precautions and sent him to hospital immediately, given the risk of internal injuries was very high. 
Imagine if he got hit again after being sent back on the ground. This is not a hamstring or a knee, the risk is not worth it. Much like we take no risks with head injuries. 

11 minutes ago, Demon_spurs said:

Where did you get this information from?

The man himself just posted a photo on his socials in a hospital bed.

1 minute ago, Gawndy the Great said:

2024 can GAGF. 

3 minutes ago, rolling fog said:

Going to be very interesting to see whose call it was. Surely Trac would have had input in the decision.

Felt like a classic Goodwin all or nothing call to put him back on.

Wonder how his family are feeling about it too. 

Trac should have had NO say in it. He looked like he was shot he was in that much pain. Who cares that his adrenaline said "I wanna play I'll be fine"?

How many players get knocked out and want to return to play? Most. 

The decision should be totally out of their hands. This is why we have team doctors.

Imagine if he copped another hit!

2 minutes ago, RedFox said:

Trac four broken ribs, lacerated spleen and punctured lung. Good god. Shocked they allowed him back out there in the second quarter.

Disgraceful mismanagement 

Should have gone straight to hospital. Poor thing I cannot believe he was allowed back on the field. 

32 minutes ago, John Demonic said:

Why wouldn't we turn Sparrow into a tagger? Seems the ideal body type and is ready fitness wise to do just that. Instead we are sacrificing an incredibly important player to our structure like ANB on Daicos.

ANB is the most disciplined and unselfish player in probably the entire competition. He is the only player on our list capable of executing a heavy tag to absolute perfection.

I would play Viney more as a half forward when Nibbler is in the middle, to counterbalance that defensive minded attack that we miss when ANB isn’t there. 

Perhaps the pain of the supporters is more pronounced than the pain of the club at the incident. We aren’t pragmatic, we are emotional. Players and coaches can’t afford to be. 
 

I would have been fine if we ignored him and won. But we [censored] the bed AND we were unnecessarily friendly to him. 
A kick in the guts to the supporters and most importantly to poor Gus. Hope he’s enjoying his trip and didn’t watch it!

5 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Hard to believe we were 56 points in front of a side, just 2 weeks ago.

That game was an absolute false economy against a side that didn’t put any pressure on us.

We’ve lost 4 of our last 5 games, including last year’s wooden spooners. Our only win was, as you say, against a putrid St Kilda who is a bottom 4 side. 
 

Hawthorn have won more games than us in that time. Against better teams too. 

Football hasn’t been the same for me since last year’s finals and it probably won’t ever be again. 
Today has just about killed the last bit of hope I had for the season. 
Time to take a break from football. 

20 minutes ago, Billy said:

Sorry, but this just makes my blood boil

Embarrassing how “nice” we are. 
What happened to the team that was so hard to play against? 

Just now, deanox said:

I'm not convinced were making the 8, but this week is very different to what we've seen the last few...

We are still lacking in basic skills. Yes we are playing better contested footy, but we cannot execute simple handballs or kicks, and we have lost all ability to defend the turnover. And we are 10 down in clearances with Pies missing De Goey, Mitchell and Pendelbury!!!

We are playing soft football.

Imagine letting Maynard and Collingwood have the last laugh with such a limp performance 

Shameful. I had enough. 
Thank god I’m leaving the country. Imagine watching us lose to North 🙄

Billings needed to GO HARD

Jesus Christ why 😭

Putrid goal kicking just to top off a great day 

The feelings I had after last year’s final against this mob is all coming back. 
Time for a mental wellbeing switch off

[censored] THIS GAME AND [censored] THE AFL

Take Maynard out and call it a day

JVR, ANB, Tmac and Gawn the only winners 

Pies can’t miss and we can’t hit a simple target

Shameful performance after the slop we put up last week. Giving not a yelp.