Wells 11

If Preuss rests forward next to weid whoever plays us is going to waltzing out of their backline even more freely than they are now. He isn’t going to fix this glaring issue, he’s going to make it worse.

Small ground between two sides that rely heavily on winning contested ball. Good contest coming. I also think we’ll win this but won’t even be top 10 this year. Watching the way Brisbane are playing and the health and quality of their list makes me see how far we’ve dropped off the pace. From 2018 We,re effectively missing a fit tmac ,Hogan, a fit viney and a younger more effective version of jones and Hibberd ....and a game plan that works. I think we ‘re headed fr bottom 4.

For mine It wasn’t that he sounded complacent. But the line “ we’ve been building to a performance like that” that what u say AFTER a big or gutsy win. it was HALF TIME ffs . The “ performance” was one quarter... and the game wasn’t finished.

But that’s always how it appears when coaches are crap. Omac and frost took us into the prelim .....6 months ago! They didn’t have operations either. Whatever has happened since then has sent them backwards at a huge pace. Imo it’s gotta have something to do with Troy. The first quater last night was truly lamentable...imo the most disorganised and comical We’ve looked down back since 2013. I was shocked. Yes it got better after that but whatever plan they’re attempting to implement clearly isn’t working.

He was out of contract at years end so we extended fr 3. The last thing we would need as a club now would be speculations his position, he’s a good coach but his choice of backline coach is admittedly a poor one

I’m no fan of Pert yet..but that’s a harsh call. Goody fully deserved that extension and I’m 100% glad he got it.

good to see hunt back in form ( love what he can bring) , Fritsch stepping up and trac in bursts but they were the only things I liked. Umpires were horrible... especially in the last qtr. viney can’t seem to keep his feet, prob injured, . Tmac clearly carrying an injury. Backline zone set up... a monumental fail. How did we go so far backwards in this so fast? It’s going to be a long shitful year I’m afraid. Nothing like the season being done by round 3... just like the old days.

What’s happened to Fritsch’s kicking. He used to be mr reliable. Now it’s heart in mouth.

No other way to say it we just have too many substandard players on the park. Kk, wagners, frost, Omac.

Me too DW. Our defence is 2013/standard. And we look like we,re second guessing every time we have the ball. We’re heading for another 80/plus thrashing .

Point is it’s a 10-12 week injury now. Which as far as groins go is quite a bad one and deservedly raises questions . Either he had already done it badly in which case he still shouldn’t have been back on the ground anyway . Or playing on made it worse. Either way there is a ZERO case for playing a hobbling player in a frikn Practice match.

How is that the "most likely" event Dub? Of all the possibilities re continuing to play with a groin strain, that one seems to me the LEAST likely. It was a staggering piece of mismanagement that we're paying for right now. Still makes me angry thinking about it.

Yes I related to all he said too well as well.

Not quite ... but a bad loss to the druggies on Friday night will. 2019 officially on a knifes edge.

Seems unthinkable to say it but I think We’re already there dd. If we lost one of those two we’d be bottom three. Fully agree re Jones btw. He’s not the issue. By and large, Weideman and trac excluded, our intensity at the ball doesn’t seem to be the big issue either. Oliver, Brayshaw and viney were immense. The style of footy we’re playing just isn’t standing up. Similar to last week but even more stark. seemed like almost everytime geelong had a clear possession they scored on the back of a series of easy link ups in their possession chain. Everytime we got clear possession we headed fr another contest . i see GWS also had a lot more i50.s than WC and also got thumped. So at least we’re not alone. Feel like the game has changed a bit this year... and we’re def not up to date w it.

I have a natural pessimism every game day. Hey... I’ve been a Supporter fr 47 years so anything else would seem like inviting trouble! That being said, win lose or draw I want to see them aggressive and switched on tonight. Seasons can slip away fast. Early losses lead to loss of confidence and game plans fall apart when players begin to second guess themselves. It’s easy to start sliding down these slippery paths. So I’m hoping they play less like it’s a practice match tonight and more like it’s a season that matters.

What happened to " we're cracking down on gut punches this year". The cunnington decision means its exactly the same as last year! That decision now sets the precedent...as the gawn and Riewoldt decisions set the precedent. Expect lots more gut punching and ramming people off the ball now. Really really stupid.

Ah he's recovered from his "clinical anxiety"..that was fast. Its not a term that existed pre Jesse so it must be a short lived condition musnt it? He recovered so fast one could almost think it was just a club suspension...which it wasnt . Was it?

They're just not fit enough to turn this around in a week. Too many stars and still recovering match fitness after surgeries. Or if not recovering then just plain injured eg Viney. Please do NOT pick him in that state again! Too many of the second rung played as if they also had had surgery in the offseason. Weideman played like he did a year ago . Frost and Omac played like they already know they're to be replaced by May and Lever and seemed disspirited. We're in trouble. I dont think this is turning around in a week or two.

Watts was always very very good in this regard. I was wondering what it was going to feel like seeing him play well against us. I just couldnt begrudge him his moment somehow. I found I could only wish him well... but Im also Im happy we have Fritsch in the longer term.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/afl-daily-live-rolling-footy-news-from-around-australia-for-march-22-2019/live-coverage/9d08cd80322fcd39d5189ede9737bfa6 Hidden a few tabs down in this report . If this is right its the second time Scully has really f'd with the club he's leaving. They got a future round 4 for him because his ankle was so stuffed....and suddenly, hey presto, he'll be playing in the next few weeks. Clarko busy saying he got better with the hawks because we werent pressuring him about a return date. What a load of absolute frikn garbage. Remember his knee when he was playing for us. Full respect for his footy ability but the guy has the loyality of a pea..which is perhaps being unnecessarily harsh on the vegetable kingdom. Sully wanted to get to the hawks and made it super easy to for the to trade for him by having an ankle "that may never let him play again" then bang...all better. Somewhere theres been some big lying going down. GWS got shafted.

This, alongside allowing Viney to play so early last year, were two of the worst decisions I can remember re injury management. Both should have and so easily could have been avoided. I want to hear him respond to questions about this...I want to hold him to account as we would anyone else in the club.

That’s the part that alarmed me. It’s obviously way deeper than a simple club imposed sanction. Seems like Freo have decided that keeping things hidden wasn’t helping him . But It’s a big risk to go public w a mental health concern if it’s not player driven. hopefully it was and it works out well for both parties. Ross Lyon hasn’t been lucky w big name recruits at St Kilda or freo.

So agree with you DS. It beggars belief doesnt it? Im still really gobsmacked after reading it. Can you imagine that happening at collingwood or WC? Oh what the hell, its only Fritsch and Smith...doesnt really matter leave them out there. Had that been Viney or Jones or Tmac etc there is NO WAY they would have been left on. Play a man short if you have to. Lets hope its a storm in a teacup and he only misses a week or two.

I was staggered to read missions injury report re risking him after his injury " because we were 2 down on the bench" . Surely there was another way around this rather than risk long term injury in a practice match?