Pirlo

Whose job is it to drive the standard?

Couldn't agree more. The culture from a player-focussed POV is there. The guys are happy and well-supported. From a competitive, elite sporting POV it is non-existent. Relying on a few guys who learned under Roos to drag us on their shoulders.

It's over. We look like sisyphus. Rolling the stone up the hill. This club is uncompetitive at the moment. Its time for big change. The collective effort is there but pathetic efforts from guys like Bowey at the end there and McVee on Schultz epitomise that the standards being set are non-existent and it is killing the young players.

Love the honesty from him, but also appreciate the title. Enough is enough in more ways than one.

Yep, and trading away all of our seconds for marginal gains has left the cupboard bare at Casey. There was a time not all that long ago when Taylor loved using second round picks. Nothing against the kid either, but was Tholstrup the profile of players who was worth trading a bunch of mid 20s and early 30s picks for? We got a slight upgrade for all of those picks.

How were we awful in three quarters against Carlton? They smashed us in the first, then the 2nd and 3rd quarters were dead level.

Not what I said though. Brisbane we looked dead on our feet, fitness clearly an issue but we did have about 3 games in 16 days including a week in a hotel. Carlton we were awful but built back into. West Coast we looked ok, we tried, they just did everything better.

First time another team has done what they wanted with us for about four years. Since the Cairns debacle, we have either been in every game or had a real off day. The boys tried today, but a fitter, younger, hungrier team made them look old. Reid is worth the hype and we didn't have an answer. He made Oliver and Trac look like yesterday's news, just bounced off them. Our ressies are getting smashed every other week. We've got a bunch of absolute journeymen in and around the team, and no real hot talent to bring in with the exception of Tholstrup who looked a long way off and plays in a position we're well stocked in. Its 2024 and our tall forward options are Brown, Petty, van Rooyen, Fullarton, Turner, Schache, Jefferson. Just hopeless mismanagement when you look at it in the cold light of day. All our money is spent on the midfield and defence. The defenders were terrible but deserve a mulligan. The mids have been smashed around the ball all year.

Keep the faith, folks. Lisfranc injuries can be career ending. You don't come back at your best after a month. He needs patience.

McDonald has been awful for two years as a forward, having a renaissance in defence. Why on earth would you do that?

I agree, but having this many talls crowding his space doesn't help. We saw it with Melksham in this game last year. Medium marking forwards need space to run and throw their man off.

Its well documented that his mum was fine. Crying isn't a weakness but these are football players who aren't notorious for brains. Petty can give them as good as he gets, and to his credit he just ignored Answerth.

Beaten up by three good teams, but got up against one with backs against the wall. Can't say there was a lot to like: The defence was excellent overall. Brisbane were dominating with the ball and had plenty of times to plan their entries. McDonald, May et al all stood up. Windsor had a few blistering moments. He's as quick as Hunt but can actually change direction and bounce under pressure. There were multiple moments where Fritsch didn't pass to JVR. Wonder if there's an issue there. Particularly poor in the last quarter when JVR was alone in the square. Speaking of Van Rooyen, he has dug himself a mighty hole this season and needs to be big enough to get out of it. Teams are noticing him, and he's struggling to find space. 1.3 goals and 2.8 marks a game this season is a big disappointment. Extrapolate that and he kicks 30 for the season. He should be ticking past 40 at this stage of his development. Tholtstrup has some assets, but he was naive to the extreme and simply isn't ready. Stop fending off in your first game mate. Get the ball, think smart. Chandler worked hard, I guess. As did Langdon. Billings was awful early but had a few moments later. Max was good, but playing average opposition. Bizarre that he was often the first to get to the clearance of our mids. Our guns were horrible. Petracca, Viney, Oliver just nowhere near it at all. Their worst game together ever, and each of them hasn't been individually this bad for years. The lack of depth underneath them is frightening. Same deal off half back with Bowey and Salem both out, and Hore a few weeks away too. Taj played back (he's not a defender at all) and next week we're looking at AMW or going super tall with Disco. The late flurry of goals flattered us. Brisbane beat us up. Quicker to the ball, better in the air, played in front in defence all night, harder at the tackle. The bye is well timed, but it has been six games. I'm disheartened to see us bookend a good patch with anonymous efforts against Brisbane and Sydney. The comp is weak this year, but there is lots of work to be done to make the four and win a final.

How does this make sense?

Brisbane, Collingwood, Essendon, Geelong, GWS, Richmond and until recently Port, Sydney and the Eagles all traded in their #1 KPF. We have been notoriously lax at the trade table since May and Lever, including the failed attempt to bring in Adam Cerra.

Press 'Pos' not 'Pts'

Amazing how fickle people can be on this. We saw the best of them together last year, and we had issues. Max and Brodie were both playing below their best when in the team together. Blame the coaches if need be, blame the list management team who brought him in, but don't blame either of the two guys who obviously tried their best to do something unprecedented and couldn't.

He might be, which is a problem. I would also play Fullarton this week if fit, but I'm in a despairing mood over our depth across the board. The cupboard - aside from the unavailable trio of Petty, Kozzie and McAdam - was bare at selection and we were fairly well beaten by a side who snuck into the eight last year. Plenty of water to go under the bridge, and I hope we will improve quickly, but we've gone from reliable depth to plenty of unknowns within two years.

He's played 19 games as a ruck/forward. In that time, he has 50 hit outs and 6.4

We have lost a lot of solid depth and the guys underneath them just aren't good enough yet. By the time they're ready, if ever, our best players will be finished. I thought the guys tried hard tonight, but were well beaten by a better team. If this form becomes a trend, valid questions will be asked of a summer where we picked up the perennially injured McAdam, back-up ruck Fullarton and underachiever Billings.

Has anyone mentioned Langdon running away from them in the D50 as they were stringing handballs together for a goal? In Q2, I think. Grateful to him for his role in 21, but it has been clear for 18 months now that he has interests outside of footy and isn't totally committed to the cause now that he's achieved a flag. He shirks body contact constantly. You can't carry guys like this, we need to be ruthless.

Wonder how anyone can think this? We have had similar game plan issues for two years and failed to fix it. People can cry poor about injuries all they like. At the bye, Petty was playing predominantly at FB (bamboozling coaching) and Melksham was in the VFL. JVR was sent to the twos not long after for a spell. Tonight's forwardline wasn't far away from rd 1.

Nice of him to assure us that we'll focus on getting better.

This team deserves no excuses made for them. Unable to execute under pressure.

Classic case of white line fever. He looked distraught after it happened, but it was so avoidable. Your comparison is apt. Maynard can mount whatever defence he wants. He "made him earn it" from what should have been an innocuous flying smother. Whether he plays next week or not is irrelevant to anyone bar the opponent he mans up on, but he'll know what he's done and he will have to live with it.