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Was our gameplan relevant last year.... Whilst we competed well in some games and had a drought breaking win at the Cattery ultimately the answer has to be no. For a team centred around defence we were dismantled too many times far to easily by sides in the top 4 as well as sides in the bottom 4. We had numerous qtrs where teams were able to score between 6-8 goals against us (in round 20 the Bulldogs piled on 10 goals to 1 in the last qtr) whilst other games we had lost before we ran out because simply because scoring wasn't a focus, and if it was we didn't have the players capable of carrying out the gameplan. Last season we didn't have the depth many thought, whilst our list is in a better position the majority of our talent falls into the age bracket of 23 and under, we are still at least another 1-2 seasons away from real depth. We had a sound best 22 but once we sustained injuries we were exposed. We lack onfield leadership, I love the way Jones goes about his footy but he isn't a leader, not in the way I'd like him to be. He got little to no help last year from Dunn, Garland, Watts and The Prince. I think Grimes has some great leadership qualities but that all goes out the window when the ball is in his hands, too many basic skills errors, poor decision making and an inability to influence games. Dawes has also shown the ability to lead but again he is unable to influence games and struggled to stay fit. We lack game sense, it's as if some players can't think for themselves, we go into a game with a clear plan but seem to forget there's an opposition plotting against us. When things don't go to plan we are unable to adapt at all, players look as if they're not sure what to do having to wait until the break to seek further instructions from Roos meanwhile the opposition has piled on 8 goals to 1. What has continued to kill us is that the playing group as a whole dont come to play every week. Someone might work hard to run and spread to receive the footy only to look up the ground to find that no one else had has done the same, resulting in the opposition defence getting back and the player having to kick the ball backwards or sideways. How will this be different this year.... - Goodwin's introduction of an attacking gameplan, finding the balance will be crucial. - identifying the need for both back flankers to to be able to use the footy. Will be interesting to see who gets upgraded of the rookie list. - the continued development of players, improving not only their individual skill level but their game sense. - hopefully the realisation from players for the need to come to play every week. Roos to spend his last year drumming into the players to finally take ownership of the culture and the playing standards. - having a dominant ruckman. - hopefully better luck with injuries us our depth isn't quite there, a lot of our depth are kids. This will give us better continuity. - Making Jack Watts a stay at home fwd and being part of a three pronged attack along with Hogan, Pedo/Frost. - Making players accountable, weeding out those that don't have the necessary skills/footy smarts followed by those that don't compete. - Having Casey play the same brand/style of footy as us making the transition easier for players.

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Your not suggesting Richmond would ever get ahead of themselves RJay?....anyone but them. Imagine Tigers finished 5th and we snuck into 8th....Id be grabbing Hardtack and whoever else is from Sydney and flying down to watch Richmond bow out again in the first round.

Well it's becoming tradition unfortunately.

They have been made to understand this year, hopefully it remains a precedent in years to come.

I haven't had a chance to check but do you know how the Bulldogs draw looks this year? That would be a telling point, I thought the idea was after 17 rounds the ladder breaks into three groups of six, you play the other five teams in your group and that makes 22 games.

You got me there, I'd forgotten about that but you get where I'm coming from. They are on the end of the Hulk fists this year getting brought back to earth with no Friday nights games however they open the season with the traditional clash against perrenial finals chokers Richmond.

http://youtu.be/L1JYHNX8pdo

And by consistent period I'm thinking at least two seasons, at the moment we can't even string two good games together.

What else would you like to see in terms of equalisation? No doubt the draw is always a hot topic but in fairness the we only have ourselves to blame. The networks pay for the rights and they want blockbuster games in prime time slots. If we can play big game football for a consistent period we will get rewarded, regardless of who plays on a Friday night I'm normally watching because there's a fair chance the game will be entertaining. I also thought each year the AFL released how much funding each club received for that year. Whilst every club was allocated the base rate, we along with the Doggies/Saints etc got extra. Today's announcement of a new sponsor is a sign we're heading in the right direction and that we can't just rely on handouts.

How many years and for how much? Out of interest how many members of Chinese heritage do we have?

It will never happen but I'd love for a club/s to boycott the Brownlow this year.

Hardly

Delay on Brownlow decision....

Who were the 10, top of my head I can think off Kent, VB, Salem, Trengove/Petracca were never going to play, Frost, Dawes, ??

That's bringing back some memories....

End of this season we remove the last of the dead wood from the list, then 12 months after that we will have real depth. But according to some we had depth last year, that lasted until about round 4.

I think that was the case but last year we had options up fwd as well as our midfield showed signs of improvement. I think half back is still an area of concern, Salem only played the 10 games last year, we need at least 3-4 options. Melksham makes two next year, Grimes is cooked and The Prince is merely keeping the seat warm. Waiting to see what happens with White, we need another mid who can kick the footy able to rotate through their if needed.

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I will also be judging him not only through the NAB challenge but the season as a whole with regards to how he handles Watts. I thought Watts was bloody quick over 20 metres, if he plays as a permanent fwd, with an improved midfield and having two other talls around him there's no reason he shouldn't be influencing more games.

You make some good points and I find myself agreeing in parts. But my concern is we are practicing this attacking game plan at training and getting it wrong. There seems to be a thought process amongst some posters that come round 1 it will all fall into place. I hate excuses being thrown up for the players because I believe it's more a case of some of them are just not up to it, but if I was to try and defend them all I could come up with would be that during these full ground drills we've split into 2 groups spreading out our best 22 players. When our best 22 play together we might be able to make it work. Port a few years ago and the Bulldogs last year changed their game plan in one pre season. I watched a few Bulldogs games last year and at times their execution wasn't perfect but by moving the ball at breakneck speeds the opposition defence was put under a lot of pressure and as a result they managed to kick a lot of goals, sometimes out of nothing. I also believe that the coaches haven't settled on a best 22 yet (injuries aside), I think their are still 3-4 positions up for grabs. Frost is top of my list, I think he's going to be massive for us, if he does play down back I can't see us playing 4 talls. Also I think there are higher expectation with Bugg and Kennedy than what we had with Newton and Michie. I'm really interested to see if JKH has taken his game to a new level or will he spend another year at Casey sorting out where he stands. Also who is running off half back with Salem, I would like to think it's up for grabs. If we were nailing the new gameplan at training fair enough but we're not, if our skills were sharp across the ground but their not. Anyway we'll know soon enough.

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Fair call, I was actually thinking of him before.

As for my third and fourth point I think they go hand in hand "fighting out every game until the end and coming to play every week"but in fairness they are now the responsibility of the players and the leadership group, I'm not sure what else the coaches can do. My second point is probably only relevant to the regular season, and when a player is dropped its for a minimum of two weeks, they've been dropped for a reason. What needs to happen is probably the opposite and by that i mean we (against my wishes) won't field our best 22 until the third game if at all. So we take the opportunity to look at a few players. From memory we have extended interchange?? With regards to the kids I would for example say to Hulett for the first game you are playing the first half at full fwd, then regardless whether you kick 1 goal or 7 your subbed off and guaranteed to play the first half of game two. Oliver plays on ball for the first half then regardless of his stats is subbed off and guaranteed to play game two. Give these kids the confidence to go out and play their natural game backed with the knowledge they can afford to make mistakes. As for my first point, understanding and sticking to the game plan and your question how do we asses line/development/head coaches....I think my concern regarding the gameplan stems from reading training reports, I'm worried that we might go from one extreme to the other, from full on defence to flat out attack, our execution may not be there but the intent will or our players not understanding the gameplan and revert back to old habits. I'm judging Goodwin on the gameplan, the gameplans relevance and the players game sense and as a team have we found the balance between the two (attack and defence) and do the players understand what's required of them. Line coaches are ultimately under the direction of the head coach, I will be judging them on how our backs and forwards structure up and the midfield on how they match up, how we perform at clearances/stoppages as well as how midfield rotations are handled. Development coach/es will be judged by the individual skills improvement of our players in particular our 1-3 year players. Note I believe the coaching group as a whole has given up on some senior players and see them as purely holding the fort until our younger players are ready. I was under the impression that Roos always intended for the first 1-2 years to be centred around defence. Once that was sorted he intended to increase of attacking capability. Does he have an attacking gameplan or does the timing of the transition year with Goodwin work in his favour. Would it of mattered if he did as our list has been so ordinary it they wouldn't have been able to execute it.