Hellish Inferno

Interested to see if we stick to the zone defence guarding space. Never liked it because requires everyone to know exactly where to position themselves and be able to adjust on the go with awareness of what's happening around you. Don't have the confidence that all our players have the smarts or instinct for this...

Looking at AFL player ratings so far Best 5 players this year - Gawn, Brayshaw, Harmes, Oliver, Petracca. The player ratings rewards score assist type of players, which IMO is why Salem is not there (although he is noted as 17th best general defender in the league this year) Whereas in form decline 2018 to 2019 for the whole league guess who's the worst. TMac...followed by Hibbered, Melksham, Oliver It's odd that Oliver is in both, but he was rated 4th best in 2018 whereas he's down to 43rd this year

Points to key players out of form and poor teamwork

The article mentioned that game day relations were more the issue rather than at training. I wonder if that is due to different opinions in giving instructions, which no doubt would lead to confusion etc. Also I remember Lingy (maybe Round 1 or 2) replying to one of the commentators that asked who the defensive coach was... "Chaplin and McCartney"

I was often astounded to see just how few players we actually had at the fall of the ball. We seemed to be outnumbered everywhere. Not being at the ground it's hard to see where they are, but I suspect they're generally caught in no mans land between contests. This is down to both workrate but poor structure and positioning.

Yes it's partly about making skill errors or turnovers that break down our structure But more glaringly, it's mostly about the opposition working out how to get control of the ball in our forward 50 then break through our high press with clever positioning, teamwork and skill. With easy entries into their forward 50 leading to easy goals. If we don't take a mark inside 50 (particularly contested marks, which is one of the hardest things to do inside forward 50, usually only a handful per match) then we also can't clean up the crumbs at ground level. We're often outnumbered at the contest. Where are our forwards?? Sitting just outside 50 aiming to lock the ball in??

Yep, well drilled teams almost always prevail over chaos

Our inability to make ground ball gets (not including stoppages) is horrible. We continuously get stuck in no mans land while the opposition have several players at each contest and are first to the loose ball. Also due to their correct positioning, reading of the play and staying down when their teammate makes the contest. Just basic stuff we've failed to do this year.

Game plan stinks and no Plan B Stubbornly sticking with the way we want to play. I do get this strategy to an extent, but surely it is obvious now that it doesn't stack up and is easily dismantled. We need another game plan Really poor coaching, or at least the players either refuse or don't know to carry out instructions. Or just simply don't know what to do because we have no plan to counter this type of game.

Melbourne during training this week "Ok more of the same guys, let's stick to what we have been doing as it's bound to work sometime. Last year it worked a treat" St Kilda during training this week "Ok so we know how Melbourne play, what can we do to counter this? We should implement this game plan, here is the structure and here is your role. Oh and this is Plan B"

Do our players just not know when to run forward and when to push back to defend?? Exactly what the Saints are doing to perfection. They understand their gameplan. We don't

I think the umpires don't either

Jesus has resurrected a day early, his name is Preuss! Wow the rest of the forwardline having a stinker. Spargo 0 stats, TMac and Weid nowhere to be seen, Melk with a horrid set shot

Haha one player (Petruccelle) has until this point kicked the entirety of the Eagles score (2.2)

Right, so footy then? ? Let's hope these players on modified programs can step it up post-Christmas. I'm not worried so much now as it is quite usual for players to be eased back into pre-season before Christmas with mostly running drills, but I'd be concerned if the rehab group doesn't shrink significantly by then. Let's see! Thanks for the reports btw

I wonder what the players think about playing up in Darwin. Aside from the obvious physical effects, the potential impact on morale must also have some consequence. A happy team surely performs better. But then again the players may not have an issue with it and I have no idea of knowing...