Something seriously wrong with the club (Part 2, March 2022)

Why are these lazy mids smiling after a horrible loss. Also, why are they telling us they are miserable and hurting!! I’m outraged in all directions here ffs

Even if we do consider it an overachievement. And the club did have the internal expectation that there may be regression, it can be just realism.

To use Matty Knights profound analogy, the teacher expects that when things get harder the student may regress a little. That doesn’t mean they’re not trying to prevent that. It just means the advanced student may fall back to their expected developmental level, which is possible.

Of course, then you investigate why and what can be changed.

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Apparently Caldwell is close mates with one of them, childhood friends or something.

Guelf; who knows.

I realllly am taking the pi$$ mate. IDGAF if they riverdance in unison after a loss whilst chanting Xavier Campbell’s name. Just play better footy.

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It’s so hard to pick satire from the meltdowns. My bad.

…I’m totally on board with this river dancing. Is it an entire best 22 affair? Reckon we can get the opposition involved? Sounds fantastic!

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Same.
I chose to not renew at the end of 2020 (after 32 consecutive years of membership) thinking i’ll reassess in the future. As it stands, it’s highly unlikely i’ll bother again. I’ve pretty much given up on seeing any real meaningful success.
Watching this rabble on TV has become as big a chore as actually attending.

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Where is the line between coaches enacting a game plan and players choosing to play it?

I get there are ■■■■ game plans, and their are ■■■■ players who ignore game plans.

If we started enacting one last year built on pressure and now are adding some system and to it, why is it suddenly unable to be implemented by the players.

Conversely, did we change something of our game plan between seasons? Why are the players suddenly die interested in the defensive side of the game, to an epic level?

I guess the point I’m trying to make is that at this juncture I have no idea if it’s a good players executing a ■■■■ game plan or ■■■■ players unable to implement a modern game plan.

The one thing I do know is the lack of fight, commitment or basic defensive action is a very tell tale sign of a coach that’s lost a playing group.

I just really struggle to see how a group of highly regarded assistants and a supposed exceptional young coach can get it this wrong?

Absolutely. If watching this team of jellyfish isn’t bad enough, you also have to contend with clueless skidmarks like Brian Taylor, James Brayshaw and Hamish farking McLachlan.

But…

When they put in limp-wristed efforts like this weekend at least I can simply turn off and go back to whatever I was doing beforehand - there’s no 20 minute walk back to the car and 45 minute drive home (and I didn’t have to invest the same time to get there). Nothing like getting a few hours of your weekend back…

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Same, I found myself booing our goals late into Sundays game. I wanted Freo to ■■■■■■■ bury us so that the club would react!

Or (what’s left of) your sanity…

You’re kind of right though. The club is still great, it’s just that the current caretakers are really questionable.

Even if we have to put up with a further 20 years of crap after the last 20, I’ll still support the club, but it would be a hell of a lot better if we could just sort out what is wrong. It really would save so much heart ache.

For starters: club on field leaders making a honest 4 quarter effort each week. Too much to ask?

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What happened in 2018 wasn’t so much the gameplan was ■■■■■ (although it was), the problem was that the coaching panel were putting out mixed messages on what the gameplan was, and how it should be played. Eventually Neeld got booted out and we went back to one gameplan rather than an unholy mess Frankensteined together from a couple of different, incompatible gameplans, and things improved.

Look, I have zero inside knowledge or evidence to back any of this up, but I’d be looking hard at the changes to the coaching panel over last preseason - not just who was added, but who was shifted where. You need to be fkg sure that the message is coherent, understandable, and consistent from all the coaches, and that the message that, for instance, the defensive coaches are putting out is compatible with the one that the midfield and stoppage coaches are putting out. For example.

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I am so split, on one hand i want a response, you want them to show some spirit and grit.

On the other hand i go, i hope they don’t just get up for Anzac day as what does that actually prove.

I am going to the game so i think it will all get sorted out soon.

As someone else has said i hope we don’t have a terrible year and as it gets to the end of the year, we win a few games and go from 16th to 12th and the club goes, look we are on the right track.

what he said x 100.
Except to add that the fish rots from the head, so look at the directors and executives too.

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:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

So what happened in off-season? Rutten and Heppell were in charge last year just as much as this year, and while we were occasionally bad last year we were never this rudderless and lacking spirit. I don’t think it’s as simple as just a matter of personnel.

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And they were no good then too

I think Rutten and Heppell are as much to blame for this year’s failures as they are for last year’s successes.

Ie, not very much.

They’re not magicians. Stop expecting them to be.

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were we though ?

brisbane spanked us last year.
geelong ditto altho not by as much
melbourne game had a similar vibe, albeit they wont by a lil more this year

adelaide game was the ultra keepings off cos they had no forwards last time around playing.

Just got over the line re freo last year and they’ve improved this year.

we were 4th easiest team to score against last year up to and around the sydney game, despite having a softer draw.

the only real difference this year is the grouping of the harder games and losses, again if the losses were dispersed further out with wins against ■■■■■■■ opposition, would more people be deluded about how far we are off, cos you know it’s not too bad.

we always look pretty rudderless against good sides and panic under the pressure, that is nothing new.