Norm Smith's Curse

When they say they are worried about supporters it makes me wonder whether they have been reading this forum LOL

As I was saying in another thread - I think Crawford hit the nail on the head: new coach, players wanting to impress new coach by sticking to game plan and new structures to the point where they are second guessing their natural play and instincts and wanting to do the structure thing even when it may not make sense at the time. he thinks it will click eventually. We are better than this.

I think he tried to impose himself on the game - I saw him many times dive into a pack of players for the footy and that impressed me. It didnt always pay off and on one occasion he had posession, wore a bump and then kept going but then poor decision making caused a turn over. But his confidence will be much better for performances where he gives his all and tries to impose himself when it eventually pays off.

That's the thing - its always evolving and structures only work with the cattle suit them. Adaption is the key and who knows, the future might bring back man on man footy.

ive already got my sign painted up for round 13... Look out for a Jonesy lookalike with a angry sign...

That just comes with success. When we were doing well I remember going to my sister's kinda for footy day and seeing three shane Woewodin clones. Whereas kids arent going to want to emulate players that get beaten LOL.

i watched the Channel Nine footy show this morning and I think Crawford's comments made sense. he basically said that the players are confused because they have too much their thinking about in terms of new structures/game plan and this is drowning out their instinctual play. He said that when Clarkson took over at Hawthorn all the players wanted to make the new coach happy so would do what the coach said structure or position wise no matter what and then second guess the basics and their footy instincts, or get the ball and get confused about what they are supposed to do. Particularly young players. It made sense to me when I watched the first quarter yesterday and the strange decision making and kind of panic second guessing you could see before handballs, etc. He thinks that they should spoon feed players a new game plan and structure over time to avoid confusing the players. But he thinks it will click eventually and the structures will become instinct.

Come on mate there were 'a few good signs' and 'a few home truthes'.

Pretty similar to what Ive heard.

Put it this way mate, the person who dreamt it up would know. Is Tapscott quick enough for the midfield?

I really justy dont think the Collingwood Boundry hugging thing will work.

When your only playing two of the there you are talking about as a ruck, yes you can. Unless of course two of the three dont perform.

According to the game stats he was the fifth worse demon yesterday.

Mitch will be a great forward if he can get some delivery.

I think we defend mediocrity too much at the Demons. How long do you think a Miller or a Morton would last on hawthorn's list?

the panicky skill errors in the first quarter drove me to drink...

yeah he was a big tick for me today - because he threw it all in. That's what we want - once he does that, goes for the contested footy and then gets used to winning it, your going to see a much better player. Watts and Howe were good today. But we need more of it much more often.

Stef's had one good season and quite a few ordinary ones.

Our list is a running list, not a competitive ball winning list.

I thought Cale was pretty poor today as Ive already expressed. This doesnt make me a 'keyboard hero' for having an honest opinion and an honest assessment. I dont think he was poor because of his kicking - which once or twice was quite nice. But poor because the weaknesses in his game were not only still there, but it was clear he wasnt really interested in improving those weaknesses or making an effort to pretend he wanted to correct those weaknesses after all the time and effort the club has put into him. This is a player that was pick 4 - picked above numerous players that we'd likely take over him now given the choice. On two occasions he caused team-mates to be caught with the ball by handpassing to them while they had opponents right on them - on both occasions Cale had no direct opponent. On two occasions he chose not to compete one on one and the competitive ball was won by a richmond player that went on to score a goal. And his second efforts were non existent. Same old Cale. It would be naive to think that Neeld would not be listening to some experienced heads right about now - and according to my wife Malthouse was Scathing of Morton on Channel 7's telecast and dont doubt he will be worse in private with Neeldy.

But the players were exercised too hard before the season! You cant expect them to respond to hard training...

Ive heard this about the later

Not sure about Tappscott, Blease doesnt seem that committed to the Demons. Trengove and Gysberts should be stars. Mckenzie had a good season last year but I havent seen enough yet to make me confident. And Bate isnt a midfielder or shouldnt be. Sylvia should have been a star and Davey has had some great seasons for the Dees.

Exactly my point. And saying that Dusty isnt a top liner now does not exclude the obvious indication that he will be from his current potential.

Agree Maldonboy and with most of the replies.