Review The Bad, Sad and the Ugly v Port Power 2020...

[1970crow]

He's a natural forward, I can't understand why people here don't wanna play him there

Because he’s s**t at it and is barely a fringe player as a forward. Kicked 2 or 3 in 5 minutes once and had done jack s**t there prior to that and SFA there since. The only time he’s looked AFL quality for more than a few minutes is playing behind the ball.

 

[1970crow]

Brad can go forward, and his set shot kicking is generally good.

Swap him with Jones.

We need to run more players through but according to Brad mid week, Nicks deliberately went with less.

 

[hey shorty]

Because he’s s**t at it and is barely a fringe player as a forward. Kicked 2 or 3 in 5 minutes once and had done jack s**t there prior to that and SFA there since. The only time he’s looked AFL quality for more than a few minutes is playing behind the ball.

Disagree, he's a natural forward.

But we don't ever leave him there long enough. From rne he's a mid/forward and I'd reckon most of his junior coaches would agree

 

[1970crow]

What kind of forward is he going to be though? Doesn't have the height or strength to outmark a small defender like a Dangerfield, Fyfe, or Bontempelli, doesn't have the pace to beat a taller defender on the lead or to ground balls, and isn't elusive or right-place to be a crumber.

He is fast, but doesn’t look like he’s using it at the moment. Another issue as a for ward is that he’s a one way turner, can’t be that way when you’ve got the ball in your hand and back to goal.

 

[1970crow]

Seems extraordinary now that Matt and Laird were AA.

I know he’s small, but why wouldn’t we get a decent look at Laird at stoppages? He’s quick over a few steps, moves laterally extremely well, is stupidly brave and generally a bit of a desperado. We pigeon hole players and there they stay and we wonder why they reach their peak after 3 years and then flatline or worse. How many of our backs do we run through the midfield? How many of our forwards get a run as part of the initial plan?

 

[1970crow]

He did very much look like a natural forward when the ball hit him on the chest and he dropped it at the end of the 4th.

He looks the least lost of our players under 25 years old though. Like he looks like he knows he's playing football, as opposed to the guys who seem like they were shanghai'd and put in a guernsey and they woke up an hour before the game.

The player in front of him decided not to mark at the last second. Can’t remember who it was, but it was a regulation, uncontested overhead grab for that player.

 

[hey shorty]

The player in front of him decided not to mark at the last second. Can’t remember who it was, but it was a regulation, uncontested overhead grab for that player.

Murphy

 

[1970crow]

Nothing wrong with playing Keays

In reality, there was an issue surrounding his inclusion in that Davis again got 1 game and was dropped. If a highly inexperienced player does the work to earn themselves a game, they should be getting a minimum of 3 as long as the work ethic is there. We place them under severe pressure because they know they need to be better than senior players otherwise they’re out the next week. Our senior players are under no pressure unless they‘re at the back end of a 3 month form slump.

 

[1970crow]

I liked it better when the season was cancelled

Just focus on draft picks and barrack for GWS to lose. If they can self destruct we could be looking at 1 or 2 for our shitness and something like 10 from them.

 

[1970crow]

Well with only 1 or 2 coaches we can’t afford to be too complex

Look at Port’s coaching group compared to our’s and they lost Nicks after 2018. I’m hoping that ours is only the worst in the league because we needed to include sacked payouts in this year. But we were bargain basement before that, so there’s not a lot of hope.

 

[1970crow]

It's also the camp and the questioning of mental strength. I reckon that did much more damage than being humiliated in a grand final and was the beginning of the end for this group.

And nobody picked up on that before the fallout

 

[hey shorty]

Look at Port’s coaching group compared to our’s and they lost Nicks after 2018. I’m hoping that ours is only the worst in the league because we needed to include sacked payouts in this year. But we were bargain basement before that, so there’s not a lot of hope.

We are all hoping that, we really are

 

[1970crow]

We should be grateful for small mercies, it isn’t going to be a 22 round season.

But on the flip side, we’ll have our best ever draft picks and the least amount of exposed form to maximise the value.

 

[1970crow]

I'm not sure, if we play things right it could turn quick

If our senior players don’t turn it around we could be looking at a while. There’s not a senior player who I wouldn’t trade and really only Sloane and Talia wouldn’t I be prepared to drop based on Saturday night. And in reality, if you look at our 22, we’ve not lost that much important experience. Jacobs on last legs and ROB did fine. Betts the same and a forward pocket who would have been awful given how little opportunity he would have gotten. CEY, Keath and Thor a handful of games only and 2 of them not what I’d say had battle hardened bodies. Gibbs never really a factor and player X 150 games as a potato. Our problems run much, much deeper than the ‘rebuilding’ 22 that hit the park on Saturday evening.

 

[1970crow]

I wasn’t expecting to much of this season but we are coming from further back than I thought, I have a concern more with our senior players

To rebuild properly we need to move on at least 5 players with trade value. That will make us very young and it would be a waste to trade in Crocker/Keays types no matter how cheap. Next year I reckon will be our worst, but that assumes our senior players turn it around this year. If they don’t, then it’ll be bloody hard to get worse.

 

[1970crow]

Listening to Nicks presser and I'm actually rather positive on it.

I liked that his one positive was Chayce Jones when he went into the midfield, and calling the rest unacceptable. I also liked how he didn't blame effort, but the method, seeing it indicates he's also taking ownership of that performance, and I liked how he didn't shy away from the bruise-free moniker.

Talk is cheap, sure, but considering this is his first genuine test, that gives me a bit of hope he'll get through it. Better than Pyke post '17.

I liked it too, but that Jones wasn’t in the midfield rotations from the start concerns me. This bit I expect to be accused of paranoia or jumping at shadows. When asked whether anybody in the scratch put their hand up, he listed a few players, all good. Then he goes on to say that it’s important that they do because the players above need pressure applied. He didn’t say any would be under consideration, just that he likes the pressure it brings. I took that as him saying the better they are, the better his 22 will perform. I remember Walsh saying after the disappointing win
at the Gabba that he’d be looking at the 2s to improve the side. That’s what I’d have preferred to hear from Nicks.

I accept that I could be reading this wrong. History with our club is on my side, let’s hope that our club has employed a coach because they realised they’d been getting it wrong.

 

[craig crowing]

The problem with saying your two biggest areas of focus are contested ball and defence is that you can't do it with kids.

And you cant do it with players that don't want to do it either.

 

[1970crow]

I realised bottom 4 was likely after we lost, at home, to Sydney - who are themselves one of the favourites for the wooden spoon this year. Right now, I'm wondering if there is any other team in the competition that we're actually capable of beating... If we're not the worst team in the competition, then we're perilously close to it.

16th is the highest I can see us finishing, and there's a very good (bad) chance that of us claiming our first wooden spoon.

Gold Coast, Freo, Blues and Saints at home was what I would have pencilled in if that was in our fixture. Like the club, I take it 1 week at a time and have NFI who we play and where.

 

[1970crow]

Lever was coming off an ACL himself.

He was an ever present in 16 and 17

Played 2 runs in 2015 as injury cover and dropped both times. First for the returning Hartigan and then for Cheney.

 

[hey shorty]

Played 2 runs in 2015 as injury cover and dropped both times. First for the returning Hartigan and then for Cheney.

And as a first year player coming off 18 months without footy that's fine.

 

[1970crow]

And as a first year player coming off 18 months without footy that's fine.

Waiting for injuries and then being dropped when they return is the best we have to offer. Other clubs do it differently.

 

[hey shorty]

Waiting for injuries and then being dropped when they return is the best we have to offer. Other clubs do it differently.

In his instance i have no issue with it.

You couldn't expect a 17yo kid who hasn't played footy in a year and a bit to come in and play 22 games do you.

Surely not even you're silly enough to think that.

 

[DJ75]

Had a listen to Nick's press conference - really impressed.

Let's hope he has the courage to follow through on what he said.

 

[1970crow]

In his instance i have no issue with it.

You couldn't expect a 17yo kid who hasn't played footy in a year and a bit to come in and play 22 games do you.

Surely not even you're silly enough to think that.

In isolation you never have an issue with it. The bigger picture requires that we can name 1 player who got more than injury cover games or token tastes in their first year since Smith. We can’t and Lever being dropped each time at first opportunity is part of the problem. But yeh, in isolation it’s a good result and our kids get plenty of opportunities.

 

[1970crow]

Had a listen to Nick's press conference - really impressed.

Let's hope he has the courage to follow through on what he said.

Agree it was good, but he didn’t really say he was going to do anything except work harder. In terms of the 2s he said he was happy that they play well to keep pressure on the guys selected. He never suggested that changes were on the cards. Unless I missed it in the 9 or so minutes that I saw.