rjay

It's the game plan stupid (or our players understanding of it)... Yeah we could do with some leg speed, and you sure as hell could've tipped tipper would cause grief tonight. Apart from Frost (and he doesn't count cause he's not to AFL standard), our back 6 are slow as treacle, and to think some say Lewis back will maker a difference. ..we continually get sucked into the contest which allows an easy outlet for our opponents. Oliver lays a tackle, Viney wants in on the act...the EFC player scrubs a hb over to Viney's player 20 metres in the clear and off they run. A free kick, centre infringement in the first Q...the game stops but Oliver, Brayshaw & Viney play on taking advantage. Problem is it was an obvious EFC free kick. The ball comes back to EFC. Max is on the mark our 3 mids are forward of the circle. EFC nicely positioned....bang. So many times since & including the prelim our guys get drawn to the contest & the oppo's clean up with a much better structure. Yep, we don't have a lot of leg speed but we can cover if we play smart and we're playing really dumb. It's not rocket surgery guys, it's football.

The period in the 2nd Q where we looked ok coincided with Tommy Mac going off injured. I would persist with Weid, it worked for a short period. Drop Tommy or play him back until May & Lever come in. Maybe Pruess as the 2nd tall forward/chop out for Max.

'dazzle', what I would give to have Dawson in the team. At least he could kill a contest. The 2 guys we have in at the moment spoil with the power of a wet lettuce leaf. Although Frosty did get one ripper spoil in tonight, unfortunately he came over the top of Max & spoiled him.

...but to be out bodied in the goal square by Bagly.... For F...............sake.

Not overreacting Goody and good fans. ...but that's 6 in a row. The Prelim, 2 JLT games and 3 AFL games in 2019. We've played like a dogs breakfast in each of them. The writing is now on the wall. Some domestic duties to take care of now but will come back to this later...

Jake hints at it here but if they're going to rehash the Melbourne thing again I wish they (someone in the media) would put it all out there...dig into why Libber recanted..look at Collingwood and WC results...replay the Wallace/Tiges story. Look at Carlton again and again, explore the link between them and the AFL chairman. Do a thorough job on the AFL and tanking. Unfortunately no AFL journo has the pills to do it, the hand that feeds etc... An outsider will have to write this story...anyone looking for a Walkley???

It hasn't escaped me... Nor has Gary's leading the pack to have Bailey sacked and his input into CS retaining his job. Great player Gary but his behind the scenes work at the club unfortunately leaves a lot to be desired. That crew very nearly killed off the club...

Yes it's Mick Warner's article but Robbo is the chief of the footy dept so you would think he had some say in when it went to print. In fact it would be his decision (maybe in consultation with other senior staff) not Warners... I'm not sure about the conspiracy stuff, people can make of that what they will...

They had coverage from Mike....

It has nothing to do with the current administration, FD or players. I wouldn't think it would rate a mention at the club and nor should it. I hope they say nothing, don't get drawn into it in anyway, play well and win. The only people to be galvanised are us poor long suffering supporters.

The way we've been playing the first 2 games the kid would have been lucky to get a touch with us. He's no superstar yet, may end up a handy player but he's on the end of some pretty good work at the moment with the Cats flying....

Agree 'Diamond'... ...but get really angry that other clubs are not held to the same standard. 2 clubs coaches have come out and basically admitted tanking yet nothing has been done about it and we are forever going to carry the can as the only club that tanked. I guess like everything else we did at the time we were bad at it. I mean look at who was running the place and his offsider, jobs for the boys. Should never have been allowed back into the club. It was a disastrous period and nearly sank us, we've still recovering. If we pick the clever clubs then Collingwood, Hawthorn and West Coast covered up well. They set the standard... Carlton had influencers (the guy who leaves the room) at the top to help them cover up and the Tiges, who knows why Wallace (and club) was never investigated over comments he has made.

I can judge us on performances and I have. Since & including last years prelim... We've been a shambles/a dogs breakfast. Pretty simple really. Let's see what Friday brings.

Attacking the man. ...a form of bullying 'Smokey'??? You can make your point without resorting to this.

Beat me to it...

When a player or team is down, I'm not a big fan of them being on media street. I prefer them to get on with the job. I guess this is my personal reaction to the Neeld years where every week players would come out and say they would turn it around, this week we will....etc, etc.. At least Tommy didn't make any big calls, just said he needed to keep working at it and it will come. ...but still I would prefer him just getting on with it.

All this talk of Smith, you would think he was the 2nd coming of Hudson.... Yes the injury is a concern & I wish him a speedy recovery. ...but he struggled to find a position last season, he's really not the answer. A full list & I don't know where you would play him...

From my listening to post match footy fan talkback I've gleaned the following... Losing teams don't have plan 'B'...

Whilst the conference system seemed a strange decision by the AFL in the end the GF result only proved that Adelaide were streets ahead of any team in the competition. Carlton comprehensively defeated Freo who finished 2nd to Adelaide in conference A. Freo had an easy win against North, 3rd in conference A in the final game of the season & Adelaide belted us (4th in conference A). By the end of the season it could be argued that Carlton were the 2nd best team, they definitely improved and results point that way. I would suggest that no matter who lined up against Adelaide the result would have been similar.

The Hawks & Clarkson have the runs on the board. Unfortunately we are going to be a target until we win a flag or two. We've done nothing yet...

I would say it's a very good indicator. We were easily scored against and we had trouble scoring, our skills were poor, we had no system and we got beaten. Basically from the prelim on we have been a dogs breakfast. You've got a blind spot on the skill errors, they're only part of the issue.

To me Smith is still a lot like Frost... Athlete not a footballer, he's done nothing yet to show me he will address a lot of our deficiencies. When used as a forward last season his running patterns were poor and he ended up competing with teammates for the same ball. We have this same problem now, he will not fix it only add to it unless he can learn to create space for himself. He does have the pace to seperate himself from his opponent I just don't think he has the game sense to be able to do it. ...and while we're on speed, which you seem so hung up about. Speed in football is not just about straight line pace. Frost, Smith & Hunt have it but none are good quality AFL players, probably all decent VFL players. Speed in football is a lot to do with quick and accurate ball movement, and quickness of mind to make decisions. Of course it helps to have a line breaker or two but it's not the be all and end all, you can cut the lines with smart ball movement. At the moment our ball movement is poor and our folly of getting sucked into the contest is killing us. It's not outside speed that's killing us, it's spread. The Opposition don't have everyone at the ball, they have a good balance with a nice spread on the outside.

It's only part of the problem. It's the plan, it's implementing the plan, it's where the forwards lead to, it's creating space, it's the quality of the forwards. Not just delivery...that's the tip of the iceberg.

They should make it easier for us to score...less congestion, one on one starting positions. ...but we are not using it to our advantage. The new rules, if we use them to our advantage should make it a lot harder for teams to defend. We are playing dumb football.

Here's an interesting alternative. Forget locking it inside 50, forget bombing it in to create a stoppage... How about a forward leads and we kick it to him. He then kicks a goal. Simple strategy but we struggle with it.