Opinion Will We Play Finals

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Pannalstaroz said:
We'd probably need to go back to the preview before the WC final to find we had similar fears about scraping in.
Click to expand...
You're probably right.

Unfortunately, in a lot of areas, this year's team doesn't even hold a candle to last year's team statistically.

Winning contested footy is essential for winning finals. The team this year for whatever reason; doesn't do it enough. The terrible scrambly forward setup has remained from last year but our main cover for it and our defensive zone has not.

They get absolutely murdered in the centre bounce. In my opinion the most puzzling thing that Beveridge has ever said as a coach was the pre-game presser this week when he said he was reasonably happy with our clearance work out of the centre. We are the worst team in the league in that area and probably close to the worst team in the league at clearances overall.

They concede coast to coast field position off a behind kick-in with maddening consistency. Its not like they havent had much practice at defending behinds. They kick a fair few behinds.

Last year's team used to lock it in after a behind and get another stoppage win and get another shot at goal out of it. This year its down the other end without us even spoiling the footy or getting a touch on it.

Its fairly safe to say after 15 rounds that this isn't the 2016 team.
 
Last edited:
jdz101 said:
You're probably right.

Unfortunately, in a lot of areas, this year's team doesn't even hold a candle to last year's team statistically.

Winning contested footy is essential for winning finals. The team this year for whatever reason; doesn't do it enough. The terrible scrambly forward setup has remained from last year but our main cover for it and our defensive zone has not.

They get absolutely murdered in the centre bounce. In my opinion the most puzzling thing that Beveridge has ever said as a coach was the pre-game presser this week when he said he was reasonably happy with our clearance work out of the centre. We are the worst team in the league in that area and probably close to the worst team in the league at clearances overall.

They concede coast to coast field position off a behind kick-in with maddening consistency. Its not like they havent had much practice at defending behinds. They kick a fair few behinds.

Last year's team used to lock it in after a behind and get another stoppage win and get another shot at goal out of it. This year its down the other end without us even spoiling the footy or getting a touch on it.

Its fairly safe to say after 15 rounds that this isn't the 2016 team.
Click to expand...
I agree with most of this but I thought we were really good against the Saints, it's just that we've been crap for 3 games
 
Funny thing is even though a loss this week is a fait accompli we would still ne a game and percentage outside the 8 like we are now.

Why does every team playing poorly that get a smacking by the media respond but we don't?! It's infuriating!
 

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We could look on the bright side and console ourselves with a top 10 draft pick which we haven't had for a while - he say's with abject resignation!
 
DognBones said:
We could look on the bright side and console ourselves with a top 10 draft pick which we haven't had for a while - he say's with abject resignation!
Click to expand...
Our last three top ten picks:
Bont, Macrae, Stringer
 
losing to Adelaide will not be the end of the season as the next 4 games are all very winnable against Blues, Suns, Bombers and Gold Coast.
 
crownie said:
losing to Adelaide will not be the end of the season as the next 4 games are all very winnable against Blues, Suns, Bombers and Gold Coast.
Click to expand...
The way we've been playing, can we honestly go into any of those games confident of victory?
 
As a supporter if we don't play finals it wouldn't bother me as much as previous years.

We have been waiting for the holy grail for 62 years and we we have experienced it
And it felt so good.

I definitely would like this club to win more flags though.
But in the short term it doesn't bother me that much about our results.
 
We should have beaten West Coast twice now, we should have beaten GWS, we should have beaten Geelong. At one stage we were just a bit off our game, now we are massively off our game.

I don't think it comes down to just one reason but several with varying degrees of influence.
  • The change to the third man up rule.
  • Players not getting a full preseason due to playing an extra month of football and also injury I.e. Bont and Dicko.
  • Our older players falling off a cliff.
  • A gap in leadership, with Woody and Picko now our oldest players after the above three (and Picko is too quiet to be a leader).
  • The constant bitching from Opposition fans, coaches and now the media about our free kick count, has meant we have been umpired harshly in some games.
  • The hard fixture, playing a lot of interstate games early after a limited preseason.
  • Loosing key players, I.e. Adams and Dunkley.
  • Young players buckling under the constant pressure (we are the youngest premiership side).
  • Opposition coaches putting a lot of time into unpicking our game plan, and poaching our personnel.
  • The progress of other teams, mainly Melbourne and the Tigers.
  • Other teams playing their best footy against us, I.e, Geelong don't play like that except against Hawthorn.
  • Injuries to key players I.e Roughead for a quarter of the season.
  • Changes to our game plan, which are not well executed yet.
  • Our forward line not functioning.
  • JJ creating a lot of noise around his contract which is an unwanted distraction.
I think this year is shot, it's disappointing but not unexpected. We are not a hardened physical group of 27/28 year olds which are the normal premiership side. Dahl is a senior player at 25 for gods sake. I totally believe the best thing is to miss finals, get more games into some of our kids. Pick up a nice top 10 draft pick, and target our needs through free agency/23rd player at other clubs, and come out snarling in 2018.

We will have:
  • Players with a good preseason under their belts.
  • A kinder fixture.
  • Two games at Ballarat.
  • A top 10 draft pick.
  • A chance to develop a new game plan.
  • A premier team who will have become the hunted, with us back in the hunt.
 
Dogs_r_barking said:
We should have beaten West Coast twice now, we should have beaten GWS, we should have beaten Geelong. At one stage we were just a bit off our game, now we are massively off our game.

I don't think it comes down to just one reason but several with varying degrees of influence.
  • The change to the third man up rule.
  • Players not getting a full preseason due to playing an extra month of football and also injury I.e. Bont and Dicko.
  • Our older players falling off a cliff.
  • A gap in leadership, with Woody and Picko now our oldest players after the above three (and Picko is too quiet to be a leader).
  • The constant bitching from Opposition fans, coaches and now the media about our free kick count, has meant we have been umpired harshly in some games.
  • The hard fixture, playing a lot of interstate games early after a limited preseason.
  • Loosing key players, I.e. Adams and Dunkley.
  • Young players buckling under the constant pressure (we are the youngest premiership side).
  • Opposition coaches putting a lot of time into unpicking our game plan, and poaching our personnel.
  • The progress of other teams, mainly Melbourne and the Tigers.
  • Other teams playing their best footy against us, I.e, Geelong don't play like that except against Hawthorn.
  • Injuries to key players I.e Roughead for a quarter of the season.
  • Changes to our game plan, which are not well executed yet.
  • Our forward line not functioning.
  • JJ creating a lot of noise around his contract which is an unwanted distraction.
I think this year is shot, it's disappointing but not unexpected. We are not a hardened physical group of 27/28 year olds which are the normal premiership side. Dahl is a senior player at 25 for gods sake. I totally believe the best thing is to miss finals, get more games into some of our kids. Pick up a nice top 10 draft pick, and target our needs through free agency/23rd player at other clubs, and come out snarling in 2018.

We will have:
  • Players with a good preseason under their belts.
  • A kinder fixture.
  • Two games at Ballarat.
  • A top 10 draft pick.
  • A chance to develop a new game plan.
  • A premier team who will have become the hunted, with us back in the hunt.
Click to expand...
A good sum up there. Most importantly our keys players are all down. Wood, Libba, Roughie, bascially our top ten players are down on last year.

I think for pride they need to keep pushing for the 8, even if we lose this week. Sneaking into the 8 with some grit and determination if possible shows that the club has really developed a mental toughness for long term sustained success.
 

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Dogs_r_barking said:
We should have beaten West Coast twice now, we should have beaten GWS, we should have beaten Geelong. At one stage we were just a bit off our game, now we are massively off our game.

I don't think it comes down to just one reason but several with varying degrees of influence.
  • The change to the third man up rule.
  • Players not getting a full preseason due to playing an extra month of football and also injury I.e. Bont and Dicko.
  • Our older players falling off a cliff.
  • A gap in leadership, with Woody and Picko now our oldest players after the above three (and Picko is too quiet to be a leader).
  • The constant bitching from Opposition fans, coaches and now the media about our free kick count, has meant we have been umpired harshly in some games.
  • The hard fixture, playing a lot of interstate games early after a limited preseason.
  • Loosing key players, I.e. Adams and Dunkley.
  • Young players buckling under the constant pressure (we are the youngest premiership side).
  • Opposition coaches putting a lot of time into unpicking our game plan, and poaching our personnel.
  • The progress of other teams, mainly Melbourne and the Tigers.
  • Other teams playing their best footy against us, I.e, Geelong don't play like that except against Hawthorn.
  • Injuries to key players I.e Roughead for a quarter of the season.
  • Changes to our game plan, which are not well executed yet.
  • Our forward line not functioning.
  • JJ creating a lot of noise around his contract which is an unwanted distraction.
I think this year is shot, it's disappointing but not unexpected. We are not a hardened physical group of 27/28 year olds which are the normal premiership side. Dahl is a senior player at 25 for gods sake. I totally believe the best thing is to miss finals, get more games into some of our kids. Pick up a nice top 10 draft pick, and target our needs through free agency/23rd player at other clubs, and come out snarling in 2018.

We will have:
  • Players with a good preseason under their belts.
  • A kinder fixture.
  • Two games at Ballarat.
  • A top 10 draft pick.
  • A chance to develop a new game plan.
  • A premier team who will have become the hunted, with us back in the hunt.
Click to expand...
Not sure we should have beaten West Coast either time, other than that a good summation.
 
Draft Pick said:
Not sure we should have beaten West Coast either time, other than that a good summation.
Click to expand...

Yeah maybe, an eight point loss both times shows we were close.
 
A team that were that god in September 2016 and achieved what they did without star forwards (kp) anyway or star defenders other than Moz has to turn it around. Last year wasn't a fluke we gelled and we believed and we fought. That is still there somewhere just keep thinking it is this week but hasn't happened yet. It can't be lost surely.
 
House_of_Dahl said:
Yeah I'm an optimist, but I have a feeling we'll reply and beat Adelaide next week at their home. The prelim we had in our grasp, Taliagate, everyone talking us down, Adelaide being a/the team to beat at home. It's just so we'll set up for a big heart reply from the boys.
Click to expand...

Will Bevo tag Sloan? Bet he won't and Sloan will absolutely slaughter us (35 possessions or more).

It's sucks but that's the way it's going to be.
 
Dogs_r_barking said:
We should have beaten West Coast twice now, we should have beaten GWS, we should have beaten Geelong. At one stage we were just a bit off our game, now we are massively off our game.

I don't think it comes down to just one reason but several with varying degrees of influence.
  • The change to the third man up rule.
  • Players not getting a full preseason due to playing an extra month of football and also injury I.e. Bont and Dicko.
  • Our older players falling off a cliff.
  • A gap in leadership, with Woody and Picko now our oldest players after the above three (and Picko is too quiet to be a leader).
  • The constant bitching from Opposition fans, coaches and now the media about our free kick count, has meant we have been umpired harshly in some games.
  • The hard fixture, playing a lot of interstate games early after a limited preseason.
  • Loosing key players, I.e. Adams and Dunkley.
  • Young players buckling under the constant pressure (we are the youngest premiership side).
  • Opposition coaches putting a lot of time into unpicking our game plan, and poaching our personnel.
  • The progress of other teams, mainly Melbourne and the Tigers.
  • Other teams playing their best footy against us, I.e, Geelong don't play like that except against Hawthorn.
  • Injuries to key players I.e Roughead for a quarter of the season.
  • Changes to our game plan, which are not well executed yet.
  • Our forward line not functioning.
  • JJ creating a lot of noise around his contract which is an unwanted distraction.
I think this year is shot, it's disappointing but not unexpected. We are not a hardened physical group of 27/28 year olds which are the normal premiership side. Dahl is a senior player at 25 for gods sake. I totally believe the best thing is to miss finals, get more games into some of our kids. Pick up a nice top 10 draft pick, and target our needs through free agency/23rd player at other clubs, and come out snarling in 2018.

We will have:
  • Players with a good preseason under their belts.
  • A kinder fixture.
  • Two games at Ballarat.
  • A top 10 draft pick.
  • A chance to develop a new game plan.
  • A premier team who will have become the hunted, with us back in the hunt.
Click to expand...


Sorry I find alot of these just excuses and without basis


- we didn't win a flag purely on the third man up. Surely we are not that one dimensional

- sure they start slow(ie Sydney) but good teams recover. We have not

- Moyd dropping off hurts but Moz has been injured and not too bad in my opinion.

- leadership is basically the same as last year so this is completely wrong. Wood lead the team brilliantly last year.

- Adams played zero part last year and most wanted Dunkley dropped early this year. We did lose Hamling and that really hurts

- been outcoached all year and lost only one back room staff so again this isn't a genuine excuse

- Melbourne and Richmond are both ordinary teams that have improved a little but. The truth is we have gone backwards past them more than them coming forward past us

- teams have played their best but good teams lift and accept that challenge

- we had injuries everywhere last year sorry this is no excuse

- changes to our game plan were moronic and completely unnecessary. Stil can't work out why they made such a drastic change

- forward line wasn't exceptional last year

- another excuse good players play through contract issues and if that has effected the rest of the team they are weak as p!ss.



Add to this for next year

- possibly no JJ

- not sure Bev is not stubborn enough to continue on same path

- drastic drop in membership

- no idea how playing in Ballarat will help us?? Pretty much giving up a home game to play at neutral venue

- will not get anyone decent through FA now

Unfortunately I actually don't like being negative but I cannot see us rebounding. Our lists bottom half is completely over rated on here by most and is in fact very very ordinary.
 
At the moment we are a bottom 4 side.
I am not confident going into any game from now on. Even if we were to play a VFL team we would be a massive chance to lose.
Our drop-off has been spectacular.
 
A wise man once said that it is never as good as it seems and it is never as bad and it seems.

Well not sure you could get any higher than 1st October 2016 and not sure we could get much lower than last Saturday's performance. Lets see what next Friday night brings. I really do not want to change by user name because I cannot spell pes?imistic dog :)
 
Last edited:
Someone posted this before.
The fact that we don't have core group of 26-30 players in their prime is one of a few key issue why we are struggling.

This is also I always doubted we couldn't win a premiership with this group. We lost a lot of players in recent years who would be in this age group.

But it shows how good of a job bevo did last year.
To me bevo was the reason we won the flag.
 
Mattdougie said:
Sorry I find alot of these just excuses and without basis


- we didn't win a flag purely on the third man up. Surely we are not that one dimensional

- sure they start slow(ie Sydney) but good teams recover. We have not

- Moyd dropping off hurts but Moz has been injured and not too bad in my opinion.

- leadership is basically the same as last year so this is completely wrong. Wood lead the team brilliantly last year.

- Adams played zero part last year and most wanted Dunkley dropped early this year. We did lose Hamling and that really hurts

- been outcoached all year and lost only one back room staff so again this isn't a genuine excuse

- Melbourne and Richmond are both ordinary teams that have improved a little but. The truth is we have gone backwards past them more than them coming forward past us

- teams have played their best but good teams lift and accept that challenge

- we had injuries everywhere last year sorry this is no excuse

- changes to our game plan were moronic and completely unnecessary. Stil can't work out why they made such a drastic change

- forward line wasn't exceptional last year

- another excuse good players play through contract issues and if that has effected the rest of the team they are weak as p!ss.



Add to this for next year

- possibly no JJ

- not sure Bev is not stubborn enough to continue on same path

- drastic drop in membership

- no idea how playing in Ballarat will help us?? Pretty much giving up a home game to play at neutral venue

- will not get anyone decent through FA now

Unfortunately I actually don't like being negative but I cannot see us rebounding. Our lists bottom half is completely over rated on here by most and is in fact very very ordinary.
Click to expand...

Leasership is not the same.
What do you think the reasons are ??
 
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