Whether the GPS was stuffed or not, we clearly weren’t running like we needed to. Zac looked like he’d given it away 20 minutes into the first quarter. We weren’t fit enough to implement whatever rubbish defensive minded gameplan the coaches wanted from us. It sort of held up for about 20 minutes, but once we were broken it all fell apart. Red time goals in the first and second were terrible.
As for the gameplan. It was last year all over. Dangerous offensive weapons were so worried about being in the wrong defensive position that they weren’t prepared to take the game on. Taken to the extreme it’s as if someone running into an open goal from 30m won’t take a shot because the defensive set ups aren’t in place for the case that he misses. Their heads seemed full of self doubt and confusion. Which was so last year. Maybe when we build fitness we’ll be in a better way to take the game on, but we seemed so far off it that I can’t see that happening until the season is done.
I know Conor made mistakes that were costly, but at least he was trying to make things happen (mostly). It’s tough when the rest of the team are standing still with their weight on their heels.
The other thing is that mentally they weren’t up. GWS were clearly coming with a point to prove, and we were still enjoying our summer break. That’s on the coaching group.
It’s going to take a massive effort to turn this around quickly. I hope the coaching group is onto it. I fear “no changes” as we need to give the team we have been working on all summer a chance to gel.
One other. Bellchambers is so often outmuscled and out “presenced” when he comes up against a bigger unit. This is seriously concerning for our prospects of success.
The more you think about the performance the more you think that there has to be something seriously wrong. Weather there is no buy into the game plan or something deeper than that like cultural issues but you just can’t perform like that in round 1 without there being something seriously seriously wrong
David Myers didn’t even raise his arms and attempt to smother the kick that was delivered to Jeremy Cameron for his 4th? goal. Really looked ordinary.
Just one of many pissweak efforts by the team.
Good side I agree. But the scary thing is I feel if that was a Collingwood rich, hawthorn it would’ve been a lot worse. We made them look a lot better than they actually are. We were literally witches hats yesterday
No. Even though we didn’t show up i’d argue that GWS looked the most polished out of any side that played. They were lacking in front of goal but their ball movement was very clean and pressure was very high.
They were good. But we were atrocious. Hard to know which way was the cause of the other…DId we look horrid because they were fantastic, or did they look fantastic because we were horrid. Probably a bit of each, but I feel the way our intensity fell off a cliff made them look better. They played like pros and are undoubtedly amongst the teams that will be up there. But they won’t get it much easier than we gave it to them (with a side helping of the umpires gifting it to them as well on occasion.)
The guys that have been on the list the longest - Myers, Bellchambers, Hurley, Zaharakis, Hooker & Heppell are losers. That’s all they know. It’s not their fault because they inherited a losing culture from their predecessors. Then of course they have an underlying resentment for what happened during the saga. We can’t change a losing culture while they are on the list.
They talk about top 4 or top 6 like it’s a natural progression, yet nobody knows what it’s like to win a final, or even perform in a final. They only know finals humiliation. Our leaders lose confidence and throw in the towel if they don’t get reward for effort. We often put in a good 15 minutes in the first quarter, fail to score and that’s it, heads down and that sinking losing culture emerges.
I understand what you mean mate. Wasn’t being smart, just hard to get a read on them fully after what we dished up. They are a top 4 side especially with the quality to come back in
