Macca

I'm a firm believer that Goodwin is advocating change and is trying to implement change But it's fairly obvious (to me, at least) that the players are just not adhering to change The old habits becomes the default mode under pressure I reckon most of the other teams have realised that if they pressure our mids then the ball will be rushed forward to a forward line bereft of talent And just to make sure of it, the opposition teams flood our forward line to make it doubly hard to score (from the inside 50 entries) Not exactly news either ... it was evident in early 2022 that was the M.O. of the opposition teams We rarely see Oliver, Petracca or Viney in free space delivering the ball forward

Moving the ball quickly is pointless unless we can then convert that movement into efficient forward 50 entries We'd probably be high up for inside 50 entries but that's another useless stat as we are terrible at converting those entries Let's face it, we are now a bottom 6 team and it's a long road back. Definitely need change but change isn't easy when the contracts are rock solid Didn't we have a full scale review in the off-season? Need another one

Regardless, Oliver's impact is not worth anywhere near what he is getting paid Let's not forget that he went off the boil in 2023. So it's been over 2 and a half years of B grade (at best) performances So it wasn't just last year and this year To be fair, he's not alone Viney, May, Lever, Petty, Salem, Petracca, JVR, Sparrow, Fritsch and a number of others are below their best As a team, we are miles off it and it's not one particular area. For instance, we choke in front of goal And we are not hard at it either. Fearless football was Goodwin's mantra but we're not seeing it

Well if they aren't counting the long bombs into the forward line then they should be Just another useless stat if all the variables aren't included The eye test tells us we waste the ball heading into the forward line so our offense stinks to high hell

Doesn't Oliver's salary increase pro-rata to the Salary cap increases? By the time we get to 2030 the overall salary cap might hit $18Million up to $20Million The reason I referred to the $1.7Million is because of the numbers that are being thrown around Might be $1.3Million Per annum which is still an almighty sum for a player nowhere near his best If Clarrie could kick to position or at least hit targets by foot then this conversation probably wouldn't exist

To contend again we need our former A Graders to start performing at their best (???) or we need to replace our former A Graders with other A Graders (immediate or long term) So culling the list won't necessarily make us a better team. But right now, we are not progressing in the right direction The other issue is how to offload players on long term deals on big salaries. Easier said than done as none of the big money earners (apart from Gawn) are performing well Could be that we're either stuck with these players or we won't get much in return In my view, it's a player performance issue and less about the coaching The big earners can't change the way they are playing. They get the ball then waste it Apart from anything else, right now, it would cost the club about $2.5Million to offload Goodwin (that would include about $750k with regards to the FD Tax) So we're probably stuck with Goodwin but we're also probably stuck with a bunch of underperforming big earners For instance, what club would be remotely interested in taking up Oliver's salary? Reported to be in the region of $1.7Million per season until the end of 2030 And what would we get back in return? (if anything) A new coach would need at least 2 or 3 years to fix the list (especially if we cull the list)

It's more about more of the same All those hundreds of long bombs forward effectively speeds up our ball movement (e.g. A 50 metre kick takes about 5 seconds where as a string of handpasses or short kicks can take 15 seconds plus) So that stat is not about a change in the way that we play For instance, I'd say our speed of ball movement in 2021 would have been right up there as well In the games this season where we have had less long bombs and more short kicks & handpasses, our ball movement has been effectively slowed down (principally the games against Freo, Lions & Swans) I'm surprised that more people here haven't picked up on the above. It was the first thing I thought of when hearing that we lead the comp in ball movement In other words, nothing to hang our hats on So the issue is what it was at the start of the season ... our experienced players are letting us down with their poor disposal forward As well as that, in a general sense, our forwards are incapable of winning their own ball

We move the ball quickly forward on the back of the long kicks (bombs) forward For instance, a 50 metre kick travels a lot quicker than a strong of handpasses or short kicks Ironically, we'd be far better off sharing the ball around and maintaining possession but of course, that effectively takes more time (than the long bombs)

Yes, trying to define jazz is like trying to explain the rules of footy to a novice By the way, your link didn't work but just in case you didn't know, GB, you have to open up the song in YouTube and then copy & paste the address bar

4 years later for this thread? Where did the time go?

Fair enough but we know he's capable of so much more For instance, Oliver & Petracca both rushing their kicks is problematical as well. The best players take the contact and still execute with accuracy And the pace of the game seems too much for Viney right now ... but as a defensive forward, he might provide some value as he's not a bad kick for goal and is still a bulldog

$1.7Million to tag? That's a $500k a year gig (for a good one) No thanks We should be getting Oliver as a premier midfielder tearing the opposition apart for the sort of coin he's on Same deal for Petracca & Viney But we're quite possibly stuck with them as I can't see any other club willing to take up their salaries or giving us anything back in return Fingers crossed all 3 somehow find their best form again

If that happens then Oliver is the likely candidate as he can only play as a midfielder Viney could make it as a defensive small forward with Petracca as a high half forward But we're paying all 3 to be dominant midfielders so the way I see it is that Goodwin needs to demand more from all 3 ... no bombs and no hack kicks forward Elite footballers kick the ball well to position and have the ability to bring their teammates into the game Oliver, Petracca & Viney do none of that. They just get it and waste it (apart from when they are creative with handballing The other huge issue is that none of our forwards demand the ball, lead to the ball carrier or can win their own ball (consistently) I'm tipping a huge off-season as the current model is cactus

It's a mystery as to why the players didn't stay the course after being obviously encouraged by the outcomes when we went against bombing it in The other thing that stands out is that bombing it long is lazy & selfish. A bit like the long ball in soccer ... a relic of the past

That could work and we should have tried that option with Viney by now Petracca often used to hit targets by foot but he rushes most of his kicks these days We're paying elite money for B grade return (for all 3) At this rate there's very little chance that Goodwin will coach beyond his contract so he may as well go down swinging And to a certain extent he has ... dropped JVR & Fritsch, thrown Petracca forward, benched Oliver and played the newcomers But players get dropped for poor disposal and that should apply to any player