The head of the club is Tanner and X, it start there and work your way down.
In this case I think we need to find anybody who is stilll there from the knights era or pre saga and punt them.
Imagine not doing your research. Woosha was given a top 4 list and hasn’t been able to capitalise on it.
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I would 100% bring him back. Fark them all. They played for Hird and he was an aggressive game day coach.
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Come game day he had a clue. Woosha has none.
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Except for when his job was on the line, and he really really needed them to play for him.
Then they lost by 100 points.
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That would be the club, not the players. And they can Fark right off too.
Players couldn’t save Hird
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How many finals did we win under Hird?
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Just a few quick reflections from last night, being at the game up high, gives a different perspective that POXTEL in Dubbo.
We have no real game “system”. Being at the VFL and AFL you can see this missing in play in both our teams. To compare/contrast you can see it in action in Richmond, in both teams. They are disciplined and well drilled.
This lack of system is most evident in our dysfunctional forward line.
We dont run hard enough or fast enough across the whole team, compared to Richmond, whose players were moving into position ahead of the play.
We are too reliant on individual efforts not team efforts, we just are not cohesive. Often two bombers would fly for the ball, with no one staying down.
I sense a general lack of spirit amongst the team. Even saw Saad get frustrated at one time.
We are a bottom 4-6 team, I think our players are better than this. Coaching and fitness must be investigated.
I could be wrong.
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I know! It’s like our forward line is made of players returning from injury and guys who are still learning the game!
You’d think by now Francis, Begley, Smack, Ambrose would be a well oiled goal kicking machine.
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And imagine how much better Stringer and Geelong would be had he chosen them over us when he left the Dogs?
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I know.
It’s like this is the first game it’s happened in and those said players have never had any preseasons to practice forward structure.
You aren’t.
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Where to begin?
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We are, statistically, the least accurate team in the competition. Again we missed 4, very get-able set shots in the first half (remember the Geelong game?); again it cost us a chance of at least being level at half time.
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We are not fit enough - period. Arguably, we are the least fit team in the competition. Look at the AFL tracker, the numbers do not lie. Overall, Richmond ran over 5 km more than we did (282.3 km to 276.6 km). What’s way, way worse is that they had an incredible 109 more sprint efforts (that is not a typo) than we did (148-39). This is a recurrent theme across the season:
- Versus Freo: lost total km 275.7 to 280.1, lost total sprints 259-268 (very different game under the roof unless the numbers are wrong).
- Versus Sydney: lost total km 285.9 to 295.6, lost total sprints by a whopping 34-90.
- Versus Geelong: lost total km 245.5 to 270.7, lost total sprints by a whopping 29-70.
- Versus Collingwood: lost total km 262.5 to 269.8, lost total sprints by a whopping 54-114.
- Versus North (our best win of the season): just won total km 275.5 to 275.1 and comfortably won total sprints 291-241 (again, under the roof very high sprint numbers; indicates the game is played differently there than the MCG).
I can keep going back but you get the picture. I don’t believe we won either stat against any other team (certainly didn’t against Brisbane when we won well). Every other team in the competition is fitter than us.
- Putrid game plan: again, the forwards are told to race up the field and then race back. Again, opposition coaches are wise to this and simply instruct their HB line to stay back - hence why yo see Houli rack up possessions at will. Hence why you see Walla once in Q2 and both Walla and Francis in Q3 hesitate with ball in hand going forward because there literally is no one to kick to up forward and get caught with the ball. It took McKenna, late in Q3, to simply race straight up the middle and literally kick for goal from 75m out that forced Grimes to lose his footing just to get a hand to the ball to stop a certain goal and gift Langford and easy dribble goal from behind as a result. In Q4, all our forwards stayed forward and it was a completely different game; again though we didn’t our chances. It’s almost like Worsfold waits until the game is lost and then changes the game plan.
In summary, we are the least fit team in the competition, with the worst goal kicking accuracy in the competition with arguably one of the worst game plans in the competition that has proven repeatedly to fail. In some ways, it’s remarkable we are even 4-6 which is testimony, in my view, to the talent on the list.
Forget playing personnel availability. Get your fitness and game plan right and you can still be a good team - look at Richmond last night missing 4 of their best 6 players.
You fix fitness by changing the fitness plan or changing the head of fitness if he won’t learn from his mistakes to change the fitness plan.
You fix the game plan by changing the game plan or changing the coach if he won’t change the game plan.
Do those two things and I suspect the goal kicking accuracy will take care of itself as the players (especially forwards) will be in a better position to receive the ball to start with and fitter to push harder to best spots near goal to receive the ball.
If ever a club needed a massive, independent, in-depth review of the football and fitness departments it’s ours. That’s what I want the Board and Executive to focus on - not on e-sports, VFLW, etc. that have zero impact on well we perform in the AFL but soak up precious time and resources that could be applied to our core mission.
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I actually think it was really the one bad quarter in the third that killed us. The first half felt like a genuine arm wrestle, where they took their scrappy chances in front of goal and we kept missing ours.
They smashed it in the third and we won the fourth but ultimately, we were already too far back from all the missed chances in the first half to bridge the gap.
I’m still most upset about the injuries to Stringer and Shiel - that kills us, especially with Smith, Daniher & Fantasia already out. Those blokes make up 5 of our top 8 players IMO - unfortunately, we don’t have the depth or the structure to simply cover that sort of talent (especially against a classy side like Richmond).
If Stringer and Shiel don’t get injured and something similar happens to Richmond during the game instead (ie Martin does a hammy), I reckon we win that game.
Yes, there are definitely broader issues that still need to be worked on. But we had a lot go against us on a night where we needed a bit of luck on our side for once.
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The lack of sprint efforts and the huge differential is such a ■■■■■■■ blight on our players that they should be shamed over yet get away with it year after year.
How the ■■■■ do you get to the AFL if you have a tiny ■■■■ and an even smaller heart
■■■■ off then, and take your pea sized efforts with you
Let’s just put in players who give a ■■■■
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This is bullshizen peos. The players were emotionally spent, we were decimated by injuries and our confidence and hope were shot. Sometimes the players can’t give any more. It has nothing to do with not wanting to win, or not backing the coach. Most were devastated when Hird was sacked.
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So before the game, I was talking to a mate saying there is no way we can win this. I said within the first 3 min of the game we will do something that will prove this point…enter Laverde handball in the wet after an early free kick. I also said in these conditions Worsfold should forget the zone and go 1:1 all over the ground. We seemed to finally do this in the final quarter…what a ■■■■■■■ miracle. Why are we no good? Because we have both dumb players and coaches.
As mentioned repeatedly, we have several AA and other match winners, yet we don’t back their talents in 1:1 and keep the same stupid game plan which has clearly been unsuccessful.
I will continue watching games, but I can’t see us improving anytime soon.
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How long did he have? And with an inferior group
Love your insights @BakerWasAStar.
The last few you have done have been absolutely spot on. Someone please email this to the club 1000 times so they get the ■■■■■■■ message.
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