The heart beats true

That was a rubbish loss. I’m a long way from convinced about us now, and I was such a believer going in. I don’t mind being beaten, it’s being beaten the same way that kills me. Last half fade outs when the game should be wrapped up. Our fitness department haven’t got it right at all this year. We have nothing to give late in games. Not once have we risen to a challenge in the second half of a game.

Nailed it. Not enough long term emphasis on building a forward line, coupled with a system that values consistency over dynamic variability. JJ will ALWAYS go long down the line. It’s too predictable, and now it’s too easy to coach against.

I’ve been saying the same thing about Collingwood all year, but after the first 6 minutes of the 3rd quarter, where we did all the attacking and couldn’t score, they completely out played us. Last night reminded me of 2017-18. We had so many games in that era where we won every stat except the score line. We simply have to turn Jackson’s trade into a ready made contested marking forward. We aren’t getting any return for effort forward of the ball and it’s demoralising and exhausting for the players.

One of the things that frustrates me is our list management hasn’t favoured forwards. We’ve spent big coin on a backline, spent 10 years developing a midfield, but our forward line has always felt like an afterthought. We’ve been lucky Fritsch came on, because without him we don’t have a competitive forward line. I’m so confused about Ben Brown. He’s playing a game style that has never been his strength. We move the ball into our forward line in order to have the best field position to defend. That’s a good strategy if we can keep opposition to a low score. 2 of the last 3 games we’ve got into shoot outs. That tells me our game style is being exposed, and we are being out coached. Our games are the opposite of last year now. After half time we get figured out, teams adjust and take us on through the middle with pace.

You started a thread 33 minutes ago called ‘Demons won't win the flag in 2022.’

The problem I have with that loss was it was 3.4 to 7.4 after half time. That’s eerily similar to the games we lost during our supposed ‘peak’ loading. The last quarter we never really looked to have the legs when the ball was in play. Our 2 goals came from centre clearances. It’s not going to plan. That much is now clear.

The commentary at the ground was pretty ordinary too. Holding the ball is the most misunderstood rule in any sport.

On the second point, it was a joke. But I take back my apology as you seem a touch self righteous, which is very Sydney of you. On the first point I know exactly who Griffith is. He’s got it wrong. Our players couldn’t run out the game again tonight. We’ve lost 6 games where we’ve had 4 goal leads before half time. I’m sure the club is asking him some tough questions about tonight. We should be in great condition, and from what I saw at the ground we aren’t. Feel free to defend him. I can only evaluate him on what I saw at the G tonight.

I agree with this. We looked completely out of legs again after half time. Not enough burst from stoppage. I thought our midfield was crushed in the second half tonight. I think we’ve got our training really wrong. We had no ability to elevate in the last quarter and burst forward. We looked like we did 2 months ago. Something isn’t quite right with the plan.

I feel like the thread topics after a loss are a little one dimensional.

You’re ok mate. I just wanted to get in a bit of Sydney bashing to make myself feel better on what’s otherwise been a [censored] night. 👍

Let’s just say I wouldn’t want to be the fitness guy. 7 games lost where we’ve been completely over run and looked limp after half time. He’s got it very, very wrong.

Easy to say from Sydney

Hang in there Layzie. I think we’ve got some things wrong this year off field, in an attempt to mirror 2021. Interesting to see how we respond for the rest of the year. Love your passion. I felt that one too.

I hate their supporters. People on the train home watching the replay loudly and trying to antagonise and start fights.

It’s starting to look like we are trying to replicate 2021 and not taking into consideration the different player fitness bases, and the injuries we’ve accrued along the journey. I think our fitness department have got it wrong this year. We looked gassed in the last quarter. We didn’t have any energy. That’s a big mistake by the new guy. I think he’s going to be asked a lot of very hard questions.

Waiting for the train at Richmond. I think it’s going to sound like an over simplification but I think 2022 is boiling down to 3 things: You can’t do the same thing every year. Our game plan has been studied. Collingwood stayed in at half time for an eternity. He was picking our game apart - and they executed it. We don’t have anything new to throw at teams. Same mistake with our fitness. We looked exhausted again after half time. We haven’t got our fitness right this year. I fear we are trying to replicate last season but don’t have the base due to a shorter preseason. And then there’s our forward line. We are asking players to play to a system, but we don’t have the players to execute it. TMac is a huge loss. We need to turn Jackson into a big bull contested player. It just feels like the same loss every time we get beaten. Tonight was a low point though, especially in the context of our season. Really disappointing.

This is some serious Lord of the Flies cult garbage. It gets worse every time you hear about it.

Don’t forget Dan ‘The Won’t’ McStay

A victim of circumstances is all. He’s unlucky, but you also can’t punish the players who got the job done so well last week.

AFLPA may finally get what’s been coming to them for far too long. They too often stay in bed with the AFL on issues, Instead of representing the interests of the actual players. I’d love for some players to unionise away from the AFLPA. It’s worthless in its current configuration.

This is some dumb, corporate nonsense. We reached peak corporate stupidity circa 2017-19. Every second job advertised said ‘join our cult’ and everyone was saying everything was ‘weaponised’. We used to have a spreadsheet at my old job that got updated weekly with ridiculous corporate speak we’d heard that week. This was the last throws of that culture of bravado and puffery. Around this time Richmond starting telling jokes right before the first bounce because they realised that competitive people don’t need 2 hours of emotional abuse before a game - they can just be trusted to do their jobs, and are more likely to buy into the team ethos if they are happy. Thank god that’s over.

I heard they are going to sponsor the under 18’s - because Wu-Tang is for the children.

It’s not exactly subverting the stereotype - although I think Trenery would have been more appropriate.

My take on this is absolutely not. They finished all over North in that game. They needed to as they were a fair way down.