The heart beats true

I have been very optimistic about this side. For me it’s not the losses now, it’s the trend. We have less than a 30% win rate against top 8 sides over the last 12 months (and we’ve played a lot of games against them, so there is good data). Losses are understandable, but that stat says we can’t currently compete with the best. As a result my optimism has turned into pragmatism. The numbers tell the truth.

Is he our most improved player this year? I reckon he’s been fantastic.

Statistically it’s hard to argue with. It appears our best keeps us in most games, but it’s not enough to get us over the line in more than a third of games against top teams. The issue, at least partly, appears to be improvement in players. None of our tall forwards have improved over the last 18 months, and our midfield mix is stagnant. Grundy has replaced Jackson, and that’s the only difference. Our defence is as reliable as ever in my opinion, but in reality look to have too much asked of them. It’s a game of inches at the top, and staying still is actually going backwards. I love how consistent we are as a club, but unfortunately that consistency looks to have hit its ceiling.

I reckon Woewodin will play his first game next week if Hunter is rubbed out. I think we need some fresh energy.

All valid points Titan. I think for me the genuine concern now comes from our record against good sides. We don’t seem to be able to get the job done in 70% of those games. JVR and Tom looked ordinary all night, but it’s very hard to judge tall forwards in those conditions.

I don’t get why people keep asking what Nick Daicos will do to us based on Butters game? Daicos might have struggled tonight. It wasn’t a game for hand offs and elite kicking. It was a ‘go and get your own ball night’. They are both great players, but very, very different.

Essendon showed them how. It was the exact same plan.

Dunno. I love this playing group but our midfield gets beaten way too much as a group against top sides.

Technically that should have been 2 x 50 metres to Lever. The umpires are instructed to tell the player running on the mark to clear out or give away another 50. Did he? No. Not at the Adelaide Oval.

I think some questions need to come in the media about our midfield. Our numbers are appalling. We look to be tinkering with the game plan, but surely the game plan can’t see Trac and Oliver get 30 every week, and still get beaten? Something isn’t right, and I’d love the club to feel some real heat now. As already noted we are now 4-10 against top 8 sides since mid last year. That’s not ‘trending badly’, that’s straight up not working.

How much did we lose by again? Oh, that goal that he gave up? Defend him all you want, but he made 2 horrible errors, one off the ball (which is undisciplined), and one where he didn’t tackle properly.

I think this is now a huge problem. I feel like we haven’t brought enough innovation to our game plan. It’s no longer a winning game style, and we are very close to full strength.

We don’t have the role of our half forwards right. How many times in that game did we go long to Gawn and they won the ball back at ground level? It was like watching the Essendon game all over again. At the fall of the ball we repeatedly get beaten. Add that to our clearance issues and we are asking way too much of our back 6.

He made 2 absolutely horrible errors.

By my reckoning our midfield has been beaten 70% of game time this year. Out hunted, our worked.

Kenny getting them up for a contract year. It’s like clockwork.

You’re right. It’s not the defences fault. It’s pure midfield and clearances.

Are you joking? He’s the greatest ruckmen in the game, and is as hard as nails. You should be ashamed of saying this.

Our midfield just played the worst quarter of football they’ve played in 7 years.

Great quarter from Fritta. Him and May have been huge.

Game day thread in meltdown already. You’d think this team deserves a bit of credit, no?

Trac booing his teams mates and having a laugh about the lack of crowd noise when they ran through the banner. Hilarious.

This ranks right up there with ‘Is more effective than the cloaca method’ as my favourite random sentence of the week on Demonland.

Gees Geelong’s midfield looks really ordinary this weekend against the Dockers. Wouldn’t be surprised at all…

He’s playing on Oliver and Petracca tomorrow. I doubt anyone sleeps well under those conditions.