spirit of norm smith

Demonland. Can we start a post on this. It’s been obvious for years and years. Not just the past bad 18 months. It does “kill us” and the players. There is no skills development coach clearly. I just posted about forgetting about trades etc. Fix the skills of the 22 that play right now. Skills and decision making are CRITICAL

SNAP. BINGO. EUREKA!!! Yes even this is so simple. We don’t get back or quickly enough to take our mark or free kick. We play dumb and this is one of the 5-6 most basic easy to fix things. Trac, Viney, Oliver, Harmes. Plenty of examples. I’d fix it in 3 minutes to the list with a short video. Surely Goody!!!

Couldn’t agree more. Intensity is not just physical. We need mental intensity. Concentration. To kick it properly. To make the right decision. To use handball creatively. That’s seriously lacking. It’s not lack of confidence. It’s the foundation skills and decision to then execute it.

My option is the one where you take the many years of underachieving and ask why and how. There is plenty of talent on board. Not any greater than other clubs but the equal of others. But as I watch the Dees and compare us to other teams, there are glaring issues. 1- the main one. Our foot skills are horrible. The worst in the league. We are the TURNOVER KINGS. IT KILLS US. I would have sessions of constant skill development. Delivery of the footy is critical. The Hawks and Tigers teams of the past decade that won premierships were manic on how accurate they deliver the footy. And it’s not just slow. You have to make quick decisions and have the skill to deliver. 2- OVERHANDBALLING. There are too many handballs that put pressure on teammates. Some handballs are looping. It’s another part of the game that is so critical. Handballs are to create. Our stats show we have more handballs than kicks. It’s not running line breaking. It’s often to a bloke standing still who is 60cms away. Ridiculous. I think it’s sometimes the lack of confidence to kick the footy so we handball it instead. 3- Converting our inside 50s. We win contested footy. Two issues. First - The DELIVERY INTO FWD50 IS DUMB AND HORRIBLE. To the pocket or in high. Easy to defend. There is no bullets or setup kicks or even chaos delivery. We are often too slow and teams flood back into zone. Second - We need a true marking forward. Desparately. Hogan and Weideman were our hope. Weideman can still be. We must play him for the next 6 weeks. Yes 6 weeks at least. I don’t care if he doesn’t get a kick. It will say that’s your chance. We will back you. If it doesn’t work, I will still reckon there will be 3-4 clubs still seeing Weideman as a trade target. Key forwards are gold. Tommy mcd is ok, a bandaid forward that has played above and beyond. Jackson is not ready yet. So my point it’s back to basics but critical need for skill development. Yes that’s the coaching responsibility. You can’t keep saying “we have trouble connecting forward of centre” without fixing it. I am not a believer in trading out a Viney, Brayshaw, Oliver etc. They have shown they are A grade in some period of games. We need to bring that back consistently. You trade out your surplus. I see ANB as the player who has value as a mid-forward who at 24yo with 6 years 70-80 games has some appeal to others. He will probably want chances elsewhere. Overall I will stick with our blokes but with fanatic desire to see them work on transition of the footy by hand and foot. Creative and positive. Intensity is not just about pressure and tackling. Intensity is a mindset of 100% commitment 100% of the time. We need that in our skills. We are too soft and dumb with our footskills and handball. That’s the hard work that is critically needed.

Jetta?? May. Smith Hibberd. Lever. Salem. Langdon. Harmes. Brayshaw. Bennell??. Tmcd. Hannan Pickett. Weid??. Fritsch. Gawn Petracca Oliver Rivers Vandenburg Tomlinson Jones?? outs. Lockhart Hunt Viney Melksham emerg. Sparrow Brown Anb

Many many on here were against Butler and rubbished anyone who thought we should grab him as a cheap draft pick. Not laughing now.

6 Gawn Tried his guts out , won hit outs, took marks got to the back 50, good disposal 5 Petracca. Earned 4 votes for his first qtr alone . Died out as fumbled but two good kicks created goals in last qtr Needs to kick it more 4 Hibberd worked hard , good defence , despite some skill errors he kept trying to create then daylight 3 May strong defence today and looks to bring others in from his rebounds 2 Hannan. For 3 goals. Took limited opportunities 1 Fritsch. For presenting as a forward. Kicking needs work still. apart from Harmes , the rest were mainly passengers. Oliver and Viney hurt us from their ineffective turnovers. Killed us in fact.

Good defender. Not great. Not above average. Just good. Not worth $600,000+ per year Not worth two first round trade picks. But he’s in red and blue now

Yes that’s definite.

Clayton oliver. What the

3rd qtr ✅ Melksham goal ✅ some pressure on the footy - chances missed inside 50 ... need marking forward - letting tiger smalls run ? umps crucifying us with inconsistency ? tigers just bully us and no response

Agree. Viney needs a confidence shot

Exact. This is spot on.

Yes it was the moment to show some team spirit. And nothing. Nudda from his teammates

We need to use handballing to create play. But often we handball around in a circle or handball to a player under pressure. Oliver and Viney in particular, are great at getting the footy but make dumb choices. 1/2 time today Dees 186 possessions- 106 handballs. A lot to players standing still Tigers 165 possessions- 71 handballs. Yet their handball is running and creative.

2nd qtr - Nankervis goal and umpire gift. Umps killing us - Oliver disposal poor. Others fumbling and missing tackles - forwards non existent. No crumbers. McDonald being out marked by balta ✅ none

1st quarter - winning the footy but disposal poor - overhandballing still ✅ Harmes on ball (good) ✅ Petracca getting it done. 14 possessions - missed tackles are costing us goals ✅ Pickett is a beauty. Skills. Pace. How’s the leap !!

Trade Brayshaw. No from me. This years draft is so compromised with 15 of the top 30 being club based academy, NGA aligned or father son picks. No value in draft picks as was shown why JT traded out 2020 first rounder for Pickett. I would use ANB as bait to try to grab one of Port Power youngsters who are missing out. Willem Drew, Joe Atley or Jarrod Lienert as fringe types who have shown AFL standards but are squeezed out right now.

Agreed. I thought they were almost in holiday mode already. Blues and Cats games lacked AFL intensity.

Three Vic boys names to watch out for: (Likely outside top 20 picks and unaligned to clubs academy) Josh Clarke (Eastern) - fast skilled wing or half back. Watched him in 2019 GF and was Easterns best (as a 17 yo). Needs a gym session but displays all AFL qualities. Ollie Lord (Sandringham and Geelong grammar) - trained with the Dees over the summer. I saw him in the under 17s futures match. Big 195cm key forward. Tom Hawkins like. I firmly believe that we should be picking the best available key forward in the draft with our first available pick. Sam Berry (Gippsland) - like a Lachie Neale clone in how he goes after the footy and wins it. Creative type. Won’t win 100m sprint or vertical leap, but is a typical footballer who gets the footy and uses it.

Lions playing 4 straight home games and now with parochial 10,000 crowd. Got to be a huge advantage.

Really hope we see Bennell and Weideman in shortly. Also like to see Sparrow back as he showed real promise in the brief chance he had last year.

Dees v Cats last week was like a practice match. Lacked intensity I watched Saints (v Blues) and Bombers (v pies). The tackling, pressure and controlled aggression was noticeable. Again tonight Brisbane’s ability to pressure and then run with pace is so different to our style. It’s a handball or two max then a kick to forward footy. No slow sideways stuff. We win the contested footy but then turn it over or move it too slow. Our talent is equaled by others. Our list isn’t better than most. It’s the toughness and intensity WITH THE FOOTY that’s needed

Weideman is fully fit. I spoke to him preseason. No issue there.

Apart from Terry Wallace, no one in the media seems to be amazed by our reluctance to pick Sam Weideman. I think it reflects our continued irrelevance as a club and that it doesn’t really matter because we are going nowhere right now.