What I’m frustrated about is this kick to the pack on the boundary.
It’s not a tactic.
It’s not even a play.
It’s a kick in hope.
We do it over and over again and it fails us constantly, yet we persist with it.
Fair play to Sheil. Going into last quarter he had equal second tackles on ground. Not saying he had a great game but not sure that is a good thing or a bad thing.
From people who were a training Thursday I heard we busted our ■■■■■ off and it was most urgent the team sprinted to get in position and be an option for the change of direction switch and it was awesome.
What I think happened tonight is we over cooked ourselves at training, because there was zero of that gut running evident anywhere.
Most of the time we went forward we had nothing there, and the players that were high up the ground were not moving fast enough to be a viable option.
Tackling was there, skills were down, but not so sure we helped ourselves with that.
disappointing but at least we tried. Think about this:
Heppel & Smith cooked
Cutler, Hind, Kelly, Waterman & Guelfi not best 22
Hobbs, Reid, Bryan & Martin less than 10 games
Draper, Perkins, Durham less than 30 games
That’s 14 players meaning we’re relying on 10 ‘veterans’ no wonder we’re struggling!
Some of the tough stuff seemed a fake and because boofheads on Fox Footy called for it.
There was a bit more effort at the ball, but sometimes it highlighted how off we are as a true team. Blokes spoiling each other’s marks etc.
And with that was a renewed, stripped back game plan. If we showed the same intent with the usual plan, would we still get done by six goals by a middle table team? It’s hard to say, but maybe.
The output of Merrett and McGrath is very concerning. Draper probably having less impact than Bryan.
Shiel seems to have checked out and I don’t blame him. We haven’t got the best out of him, the trade hasn’t worked, and I think mostly it’s on us for having a ■■■■ team around him and not playing him in a way where he can use his best attributes.
Brand, Wanga, Ridley and Jones should all play next week. And eventually we may as well give McBride a go.