We are at our ceiling again
An elimination final exit
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Bye often gives a chance for a game plan tweak. Expect to see some form of adjustment on our forward entries in the back half of the season. Time will tell if that is effective, but we wonāt be blindly sailing straight into the iceberg.
Personnel wise, our team should be a bit stronger next time we play with a combination of a good rest and multiple returns from injury. That probably kicks in strongest in the second game back, as the cobwebs get blown out.
Iām not super optimistic on where this season lands, but think the bye is perfectly timed for us to regroup and hit the back end of the year strong.
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Apart from the injuries and some issues with team selection/lineup the biggest worry is becoming the forward line of 2MP/Langford and Jones having little to no influence at any point.
I would like to see Caddy and some of the younger guys given a go in the second half of the season. Caddy, Jayden and Saad should all see some AFL. I wouldnāt mind seeing Langers switch ends with Martin at various points, especially when Langford is seeing it at all, we need it in his hands more as he is one of our better transition kicks.
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Whatās it like being this sour all the ā ā ā ā ā ā ā time?
We all knew with Brad coming in that this process was going to take years, we have some very good players to come back, winnable games coming. We are a decent shot at winning a final if we get out of the 7/8 spot
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I hope Caddy, Jayden and Saad all play AFL. We need to take some risks.
It would feel really odd being mad at sitting 3rd after 13 games.
Despite the last 2 weeks being pretty ā ā ā ā weāve still exceeded all expectations I had preseason.
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Probably still win a final before we do
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I think we are almost certain to make the 8 and 50/50 to win a final depending on where we finish/who we play. Cant see us dropping out of the top 4 in June, and after the bye we will have pretty much a fully fit list to choose from (except for Parish).
So we should see some class and enthusiasm injected back into the team which has been lacking in recent weeks - i.e. - bring in Redman, Caddy, SEH, Draper, Duursma, Hobbs etc and less of Kelly, Tsatas, Jonesā¦
A bit worried about Merrett & 2MP both who have been down - Langford also
Hopefully a rest/reset and a few tweaks & we come out and smash the Weaglesā¦comon Bombersā¦!!!
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I dislike Scottās methods intensely, but I canāt deny he has the team playing somewhere close to its best.
The problem is, the list is still schitt.
The player development is terrible.
The VFL program is dreadful.
The strength/fitness/conditioning program is just risible.
The ladder position flatters us, and we will finish in the no-manās land zone of mid-table mediocrity yet again. As a club, we still donāt do anywhere near enough things well.
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Hind and Jones play one average game each and get talked up. Not good enough.
Bring Shiel in for god sake. Allergic to actually bringing in a need who is fit and not injured. Ridiculous at this point.
no!
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This is such defeatist bullshit.
Itās laughably ā ā ā ā weak to be honest.
Post break with some very good players back, a rest and reset weād be in a position to beat to be any of the following teams on our day being everyone of them are inconsistent:
Carlton, Geelong, Melbourne, Port, Freo, Giants, Collingwood and Gold Coast
Only the swans have been consistent and apart from the Port game, so have we. We had more scoring shots and forward entries and could have easily won the last 2 games. Thereās no way and boys would be scared to play any of Collingwood, Carlton or Gold Coast again.
And this is whilst we have a dysfunctional forward line and McKay and Ridley have played only 3 games together.
Will we win the flag? No, but neither will Carlton, Collingwood, Geelong, Port. Sydney will win by a country mile.
If we pull some more trades with our āwar chestā over the offseason and have a run of good luck with injuries weāll land top 4 next year. Our list is getting better and our teams output is more consistent
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Enjoy it then.
Everyone keeps banging on about giving 110% for the club. Iām glad we are overachieving. I hope it continues.
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20 years of disappointment does that to you, I guess.
Weāll fall in a heap as per usual and finish 10th and the same people will say ābut next year!ā
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People said weād struggle to win any of our first 6 games too.
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This is a review, as I am not sure Iām totally happy with the season, but to be where we are on the ladder at this point, itās hard to say itās anything more than a B+ or an A if you wanted to give it a Herald Sun style āreport cardā rating.
What Iām happy with (over the season)
- Merrett, Durham, Martin, Caldwell All very consistent (although the latter needs to get more accurate on the scoreboard)
- Scottās coaching, some certainly disagreeing with this, but hard to argue with the amount of wins weāve got. Weāve only really been strongly beaten in 1 game, and even the last 2 weeks, if weād kicked straight we could have been in it or won both.
- Our backline has been fairly solid, thanks in no small part to McKay, and McGrath (although the latter really seems to have dropped off in recent weeks)
- Jones and Cox being solid role players
- Heppell (will get some haters given his last few weeks have not been as strong, but across the whole season, has been very serviceable and been critical in providing that leadership in some close games)
- We still havenāt really seen our best 22 - Draper, Reid, Parish, Duursma to come back in, is still exciting. Iām not happy I havenāt seen much of Caddy, but hoping heāll start working his way into the side before year end also.
- Weideman and Shiel arenāt best 22, glad Scott isnāt prioritising either of these two
What Iām less happy with
- 2MP, very ineffectual, seems to have lost ability to clunk and any grunt whatsoever
- Our small forward problem, Davey provides good perceived pressure, but is not physically up to the standard of AFL football yet. Poor list management here as we have no obvious replacement (Menzies also not the answer).
- Tsatas, Hobbs, Perkins, Bryan four players Iād love to see really stepping up from last year. Tsatas and Hobbs seem to have dropped off a cliff. Perkins isnāt really owning any position, and Bryan has barely had a chance.
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Happy with Jones?
Jeeezus, what a high tolerance level
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Shiel is done mate, he is not the answer. Unless you want another midfielder playing offensive side of the stoppage waiting for someone else to release a hard ball. Then when we donāt win said ball, we have another midfielder happy to jog to the next contest.
He is a liability and doesnāt have the work rate or desire to play to AFL anymore.
Time to move on, the coaches have.
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