Well saidWe dont' have the cattle any more, and we don't have the fitness levels required to match it with the top teams. That means that we can play well in spurts, or as we saw in Cotch's 300th for one entire game, or last week v Dees, the first 3 quarters, but that's it. Every time we front up the week after one of those elevated intensity performances, we are completely spent. We are as slow as all get out. We can't lay tackles that stick and earn frees (alright, umps have a fair bit to do with that) anymore. Our pressure, and intensity in hunting the ball is not there anymore, but I'm sure that comes down to fitness. We just don't have the levels required for the repeat efforts. We used to be the hunter, but not anymore. Sides don't fear coming up against us anymore, because they know they will get first use of the footy, and be off and running before we realise it. Keep us running around chasing, and we are worn down quickly.
We have kept our ageing champs playing when form doesn't warrant it. Playing players out of position only robs Peter to pay Paul as they say, and that only results in sapping the confidence. We used to have guys that could come in and fill a role when our champs were injured or rested, and they wouldn't miss a beat. Now the well is dry. No surprise this week that Cotch and Grimes rested/dropped, but what the hell's with Dusty being 'managed'? Do or die match, and we just roll over. We needed to be more ruthless in our selections last year, but loyalty and or stubbornness got in the way.
Bachar was still playing great footy when tapped. Grigga was playing fine when tapped, but the older guys now are just too slow and banged up to warrant selection. For those about to cry out that we owe them respect etc, and to be allowed to go out at their own choice, well we are about to find out what happens when you wait too long and have everyone bow out at the same time. Because that day is coming fast! Grimesey another contracted year, spare me! Co-captains who are not up to it, spare me! As a club, taking the inconsistency in how we are umpired, week in week out, spare me! Mismanaged injuries, and poor fitness, spare me! Mini for the job, spare me! We need someone who can make sure our players are fit, switched on, and have the hunger to succeed. We may have been the destination club that everyone wanted to play for, and maybe that just resulted in players coming in and just expecting to be taken along for the ride. Well guess what, success doesn't come without effort and the desire. It's tough getting to the top and harder staying there, and just being allowed to retain your spot on average performances week in week out, regardless of reputations, doesn't cut it. We are in for a heap of pain, so we better just accept that a complete sweep out and rebuild is about to happen.
We need as a collective to make some hard decisions and move on some greats of our club Jack Cotch Grimes players like KMac Vlaustin need to be seriously looked at
Bring in some youth and speed
Bring in some outside coaches for new blood and thoughts
Fitness staff need addressing we look slow our tackles don’t stick and our players seem to take forever to recover from injuries I mean who ever heard of a season out for a hamstring
Time for some hard decisions which need to be made NOW