No Oppo Supporters The Melt Thread

[aussieviking]

All this doom and gloom about GWS and Gold Coast being invincible for the next 5 years is wearing a little thin. I remember when the Suns entered in 2011 people were saying we have 3 years before they are completely dominant. Same with the Giants.

The Giants are a strong side, but far from invincible, Gold Coast are middle of the road, with some good young talent - but then so are other teams.

We can't predict what will happen to these teams in terms of injuries, penalties, player movements and all the other variables that go to make up a successful team. I'm of the view that we just work on the assumption that there are 17 other teams all vying to be the best they can be, and we just have to try to be better.

This narrative of give up for the next 5 years because nobody has a chance is just dumb.

When I compare our list to Gold Coast I realise we are a long way off top 8.Melbourne and Collingwood have more young talent than us by miles. None of our young talent has really excited me. Weller and Langdon are OK but compared to others from that draft they will never be A graders. Apeness is very over rated . McCarthy may or may not cope with pressure of AFL life. Alex Pearce will struggle to play effective football this year. Sheridan continues to disappoint. Crozier continues to disappoint. I just can't see which new players on our list are going to jump up and become B and A grade players. Bennell would help us but I doubt his calves are going to let him reach his potential.

I think we are in for another long season unless some players jump up and surprise us all.

 

[Wally Walpamur]

When I compare our list to Gold Coast I realise we are a long way off top 8.Melbourne and Collingwood have more young talent than us by miles. None of our young talent has really excited me. Weller and Langdon are OK but compared to others from that draft they will never be A graders. Apeness is very over rated . McCarthy may or may not cope with pressure of AFL life. Alex Pearce will struggle to play effective football this year. Sheridan continues to disappoint. Crozier continues to disappoint. I just can't see which new players on our list are going to jump up and become B and A grade players. Bennell would help us but I doubt his calves are going to let him reach his potential.

I think we are in for another long season unless some players jump up and surprise us all.

Take off your purple tinted glasses

(I agree with pretty much everything you've said, as a supporter it's just really hard to accept.)

 

[blue shark]

When I compare our list to Gold Coast I realise we are a long way off top 8.Melbourne and Collingwood have more young talent than us by miles. None of our young talent has really excited me. Weller and Langdon are OK but compared to others from that draft they will never be A graders. Apeness is very over rated . McCarthy may or may not cope with pressure of AFL life. Alex Pearce will struggle to play effective football this year. Sheridan continues to disappoint. Crozier continues to disappoint. I just can't see which new players on our list are going to jump up and become B and A grade players. Bennell would help us but I doubt his calves are going to let him reach his potential.

I think we are in for another long season unless some players jump up and surprise us all.

Our list looks fine to me, its more about our style of play, coaches pets, game plan than what is available to put on the
park.
If you don't get excited by Weller, Langdon, Tucker, Balic, McCarthy, A Pearce, Logue, Darcy, Hamling, these guys should be at
least A-B grade.
You don't win the wafl grand final, against a solid team without class, skill.
Then add Hughes, Nyhuis, Collins, and the kids who haven't played but come highly rated in Cox, Ryan.

 

[freoextra]

Just rewatched this game and while west coast were very clean, we were a rabble in the middle. Whoever let Barlow go should be sacked. I know the argument about him not being part of our next premiership, but there's at least 10 to 15 others that also won't be, and that's being very generous. I'd rather have him on the list. I would be actually very surprised if we win a flag within 10 years. The drafting has been deplorable. Still no quality key power forward on the list and the young mids, apart from Neale look average at best. We try and play these young mids as small defenders but they can't actually even defend or win the hard ball. How long until they can extract the ball from the middle, ie Sheridan, Crozier, Weller...all top 20 picks.

End rant.

Yet Brady Grey can and has some real intent and cant even crack the main squad. This will do my head in if we continue to jog behind the opposition forwards this year.

 

[Ragtooth]

When I compare our list to Gold Coast I realise we are a long way off top 8.Melbourne and Collingwood have more young talent than us by miles. None of our young talent has really excited me. Weller and Langdon are OK but compared to others from that draft they will never be A graders. Apeness is very over rated . McCarthy may or may not cope with pressure of AFL life. Alex Pearce will struggle to play effective football this year. Sheridan continues to disappoint. Crozier continues to disappoint. I just can't see which new players on our list are going to jump up and become B and A grade players. Bennell would help us but I doubt his calves are going to let him reach his potential.

I think we are in for another long season unless some players jump up and surprise us all.

I don't think we'll make the eight but i do expect our young guns to make more of an impact. Its never as good or as bad as it seems....and i expect this season to have more of an upside than it being 'a long season'...

The bolded players have been given chances and failed to take it to the next level agree, however our younger guys look more promising. Weller and Langdon are good, and i say at this stage they are just as good as most of the plays in that 2014 draft, except for Brayshaw, Caleb Daniel and probably Issac Heeney. Blakely is quite good and Neale is still only 23! McCarthy is promising, B.Hill is an upgrade, Hamling is an upgrade...Fyfe is fit! Meanwhile i'm looking forward to what the rookies Grey and Strnadica can bring and how Balic can go in a whole year.
Combine this with a fit Sandi, Mundy with more support around him, Johnson to play more games, and the team having a (at this stage) less interrupted injury preseason, its not all that bad.

However we are on the back of a rebuild, most of the team haven't played a lot of games together and it appears we're already set up for a four year plan. So i expect it to be a better year but not a 2013-2015 year.

 

[Nickos66]

When I compare our list to Gold Coast I realise we are a long way off top 8.Melbourne and Collingwood have more young talent than us by miles. None of our young talent has really excited me. Weller and Langdon are OK but compared to others from that draft they will never be A graders. Apeness is very over rated . McCarthy may or may not cope with pressure of AFL life. Alex Pearce will struggle to play effective football this year. Sheridan continues to disappoint. Crozier continues to disappoint. I just can't see which new players on our list are going to jump up and become B and A grade players. Bennell would help us but I doubt his calves are going to let him reach his potential.

I think we are in for another long season unless some players jump up and surprise us all.

Tucker, Logue & Blakely's development will be one of the most interesting things to watch this year from a young developing talent POV.

 

[UFO Tatsu]

Tucker, Logue & Blakely's development will be one of the most interesting things to watch this year from a young developing talent POV.

McCarthy will be more interesting for me. Can he re-capture the form he displayed couple of years back after 1 year out?

 

[Nickos66]

McCarthy will be more interesting for me. Can he re-capture the form he displayed couple of years back after 1 year out?

Yep, provided he gets the support he needs down forward.

 

[Righteo]

Just rewatched this game and while west coast were very clean, we were a rabble in the middle. Whoever let Barlow go should be sacked. I know the argument about him not being part of our next premiership, but there's at least 10 to 15 others that also won't be, and that's being very generous. I'd rather have him on the list. I would be actually very surprised if we win a flag within 10 years. The drafting has been deplorable. Still no quality key power forward on the list and the young mids, apart from Neale look average at best. We try and play these young mids as small defenders but they can't actually even defend or win the hard ball. How long until they can extract the ball from the middle, ie Sheridan, Crozier, Weller...all top 20 picks.

End rant.

Who is Connor Blakely. No need to be so disingenuous even if you're ranting.

 

[Righteo]

Tucker, Logue & Blakely's development will be one of the most interesting things to watch this year from a young developing talent POV.

Yeah those are the 3 youngsters I'm most keen to watch this year. Absolutely gutted we can't add Alex Pearce's name in there though, was tipping something special from him this year.

 

[Steinfreo]

Our Midfield looks so small now.

Who is Connor Blakely. No need to be so disingenuous even if you're ranting.

Connor has good size.

 

[TheLoris]

Who is Connor Blakely. No need to be so disingenuous even if you're ranting.

Yeah ok, he shows promise....I'm now ever so slightly more optimistic. Also much cheerier.

 

[Righteo]

Yeah ok, he shows promise....I'm now ever so slightly more optimistic. Also much cheerier.

Fantastic

 

[meima]

Yep, provided he gets the support he needs down forward.

D.Pearce and b.hill will give the support CaM Mac need.

 

[Nickos66]

S.Hill and b.hill will give the support CaM Mac need.

Fixed.

 

[blue shark]

Yeah ok, he shows promise....I'm now ever so slightly more optimistic. Also much cheerier.

I also know where you are coming from with Sherro, Crozier, its make or break for these two, but it also
appears Ross doesn't know what are their best positions.
The upside is that the new breed are already looking better at an earlier age, Tucker and Logue are
the opposite of skinny flankers, add Darcy and Cox, we could actually physically dominate teams.
I'm pretty sure after last year Ross knew we didn't have enough height, muscle on the list.

 

[TheLoris]

Yeah, I would love to see both Croz and Sherro step up this year, would be massive for us, but they're running out of chances. Like you say, they'll be overtaken soon by Tucker, Logue, etc

 

[Purpletown]

I wasn't sure whether this had been discussed already or not but it raised my hackles when he said it.
You don't put in a performance like that and then raise the "re-stump" white flag. It was like he was firing a shot across the bow of the press and supporters, an early warning that it's not going to be a great year. I don't think he needed to say that at that particularly time and it contradicts the whole "anyone, anywhere, anytime" mantra.

In fact it's the first time I've thought that RTB has said something in a presser that was unpleasant to hear from a supporters point of view.

I noticed that the transcript for the presser gets it wrong. It states
"We’ve got a dual narrative, we’re aiming high this year but we’ve also come off a full year rebuild last year..."

But what Ross really said was
"We’ve got a dual narrative, we’re aiming high this year but we all signed-off on a 4 year rebuild last year, really, re-stump, re-wire, re-plumb and that hasn't changed from list manager, president, CEO, coach, football operation manager and our leadership group."

Is this the first time RTB has used the term "rebuild"? and if it is a rebuild then this is definitely the first year, not the second. And where does the "4 years" come from? Following the doldrums of 2008 and 2009 we had a competitive and exciting group of players assembled by 2010 and as Scham suggests the state of the list this year is better than it was, say, back in 2008.

I don't know what others think but I think it was unnecessary, poor form RTB.

This is what Ross said last year when his contract was extended for another 4 years. Best to set the agenda before the media scum start a sack the coach drum beat.

 

[ydraw]

Yeah, I would love to see both Croz and Sherro step up this year, would be massive for us, but they're running out of chances. Like you say, they'll be overtaken soon by Tucker, Logue, etc

Crozier was a revelation at HBF last year. Are you saying hes running out of chances based on a single practice match?

 

[wild side]

This is what Ross said last year when his contract was extended for another 4 years. Best to set the agenda before the media scum start a sack the coach drum beat.

Ross sets the narrative. He's a master at it, master coach (jury is still out)

 

[Dirty_banchez]

McCarthy will be more interesting for me. Can he re-capture the form he displayed couple of years back after 1 year out?

It will take him about 10 games. He is extremely talented.

 

[freo84]

 

[M_rash]

Just a subtle bump before this thread falls off page 1.

Team selection has got me riled up already. Will only take a poor opening 10 minutes to push me off the edge.

Melt or marvel - what will the team dish up today

 

[FreoMonocle]

End of q1 against the pies and we aren't playing like a train wreck in motion. Damnit, how are we supposed to microwave our cards if they do this to us!

3 quarters left to revert to form I guess...

 

[M_rash]

Punctured lung for kersten???

I'll melt to that (if that's what it is)