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ScrappyDo

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All the teams are improving except Saints.

We are going backwards.
Overly negative here nitewalker. We took a giant jump backwards late last season and we are still trying to get back to square 1 since then. We are in fact going forwards right now, it just seems like backwards because the continent is moving faster in the opposite direction.
 

plugger66

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Amazing the positive impact of getting Mitchell and Priddis out of the midfied and replacing it with runnners
Never a truer word spoken. As much as dunstan and Ross get the ball they don’t provide much run especially Ross. Steele is also similar.


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Diehard Saint

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All the teams are improving except Saints.

We are going backwards.
We cannot underestimate ( although I think we all did) the loss of around 700 games of experience in Roo, Joey and Dempster. You don't just replace that in six months.

I also think that we actually over achieved the last couple of year and it would have been far more beneficial to have stayed down for at least another year. It really placed unrealistic expectations on the team from all of us.
 

ScrappyDo

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We cannot underestimate ( although I think we all did) the loss of around 700 games of experience in Roo, Joey and Dempster. You don't just replace that in six months.

I also think that we actually over achieved the last couple of year and it would have been far more beneficial to have stayed down for at least another year. It really placed unrealistic expectations on the team from all of us.
We're just clearing out the garage and sorting old junk before the new sports cars get delivered. It hurts right now but has to be done, and we've put it off for far too long and told the misses we'd already done it. The blokes we hired to keep it clean were just bullshitting us and most of the crap we were hanging on to isn't as good as we remembered it was. But don't worry, there's a maxi-skip booked for September and the new cars aren't due till after. We'll clear the junk and sack the bullshitters, then we're off to the races and the Mrs will never know. Keep calm and don't carry on.
 

gringo2011

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We're just clearing out the garage and sorting old junk before the new sports cars get delivered. It hurts right now but has to be done, and we've put it off for far too long and told the misses we'd already done it. The blokes we hired to keep it clean were just bullshitting us and most of the crap we were hanging on to isn't as good as we remembered it was. But don't worry, there's a maxi-skip booked for September and the new cars aren't due till after. We'll clear the junk and sack the bullshitters, then we're off to the races and the Mrs will never know. Keep calm and don't carry on.

Except they just made the dickhead that did the damage last time foreman and it's likely that we just hang a big banner in front of the rubbish and pretend we we fixed it.
 

ScrappyDo

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Except they just made the dickhead that did the damage last time foreman and it's likely that we just hang a big banner in front of the rubbish and pretend we we fixed it.
Nar, he's been put in an old suitcase and dumped on the lawn. If its still there in a few months it will go in the skip under a ton of rubbish.
 
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Overly negative here nitewalker. We took a giant jump backwards late last season and we are still trying to get back to square 1 since then. We are in fact going forwards right now, it just seems like backwards because the continent is moving faster in the opposite direction.

Yeah true. It just when you see other young players doing well and we are 7 down in this season.
 

Saint Watto

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I also think that we actually over achieved the last couple of year and it would have been far more beneficial to have stayed down for at least another year. It really placed unrealistic expectations on the team from all of us.
+100 there Diehard.

I can say it now....but I've mainly kept my big yap shut and not said anything....but back in 2016 when we were racking up the wins....I thought to myself.. "we're rising up too quickly.........we need to stay down for another year or two".

I never repeated my thoughts as the idea of being called an unloyal D***head didn't appeal.

But you can't stop winning and as the club had no margin for error IMO from the start of 2015(re engaging members........increasing membership....getting sponsors on board) we just had to keep winning/rising.

All of the above has increased year on year since the spoon.....imagine if we were anchored near the bottom of the ladder for a couple more years after 2014.....the above probably wouldn't have happened.

What an absolute dilemma !!!!!!!!!

And yes.......2015/16 IMO placed unrealistic expectations on the team.

A few of my more wiser pals said towards the end of last season that we're just an ordinary team......so far their right.
 

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Nutsngum

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+100 there Diehard.

I can say it now....but I've mainly kept my big yap shut and not said anything....but back in 2016 when we were racking up the wins....I thought to myself.. "we're rising up too quickly.........we need to stay down for another year or two".

I never repeated my thoughts as the idea of being called an unloyal D***head didn't appeal.

But you can't stop winning and as the club had no margin for error IMO from the start of 2015(re engaging members........increasing membership....getting sponsors on board) we just had to keep winning/rising.

All of the above has increased year on year since the spoon.....imagine if we were anchored near the bottom of the ladder for a couple more years after 2014.....the above probably wouldn't have happened.

What an absolute dilemma !!!!!!!!!

And yes.......2015/16 IMO placed unrealistic expectations on the team.

A few of my more wiser pals said towards the end of last season that we're just an ordinary team......so far their right.
I think the realities of where our list is (not where it can be mind you) came to light this year. The issue is our deplorable drafting prior to 2011 has left us with far too few older veterans to even the list out.

That said, I dont think our wins have really hurt us much either. Looking at those drafts I think we set out and got what we wanted anyway. Gresh + Carlisle when we probably would have taken Gresh with the first pick anyway. Turned pick 10 into pick Clarke, Long, Battle and Phillips which are looking the goods so far.

Naturally only time will tell if it all falls into place but in retrospect, we absolutely overachieved a bit and still need time to finish this rebuild.
 

sauce_head

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At the moment we just have nothing on the field that can turn a match when it’s not going our way. Sure, one or two have done it once or twice, but typically we have very little ability to impose our will on he game. It is not his fault, but merely looking at who is captain is demonstrative of this. A team bloke that gives it his all but is fatally flawed as a player.

The appointment of him was the point in time I knew we were kidding ourselves and were truely stuffed.

We should have hit the ground as hard as we could to bounce back up as fast and height as possible. Everybody knows that. Premium mids, premium mids, and more premium mids.

Maybe one day.
 

sauce_head

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I think the realities of where our list is (not where it can be mind you) came to light this year. The issue is our deplorable drafting prior to 2011 has left us with far too few older veterans to even the list out.

That said, I dont think our wins have really hurt us much either. Looking at those drafts I think we set out and got what we wanted anyway. Gresh + Carlisle when we probably would have taken Gresh with the first pick anyway. Turned pick 10 into pick Clarke, Long, Battle and Phillips which are looking the goods so far.

Naturally only time will tell if it all falls into place but in retrospect, we absolutely overachieved a bit and still need time to finish this rebuild.
I’m not so sure. I think that’s the drafting myth. So far it’s been pretty ordinary.

Do we even have a second round pick this year?
 

gringo2011

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+100 there Diehard.

I can say it now....but I've mainly kept my big yap shut and not said anything....but back in 2016 when we were racking up the wins....I thought to myself.. "we're rising up too quickly.........we need to stay down for another year or two".

I never repeated my thoughts as the idea of being called an unloyal D***head didn't appeal.

But you can't stop winning and as the club had no margin for error IMO from the start of 2015(re engaging members........increasing membership....getting sponsors on board) we just had to keep winning/rising.

All of the above has increased year on year since the spoon.....imagine if we were anchored near the bottom of the ladder for a couple more years after 2014.....the above probably wouldn't have happened.

What an absolute dilemma !!!!!!!!!

And yes.......2015/16 IMO placed unrealistic expectations on the team.

A few of my more wiser pals said towards the end of last season that we're just an ordinary team......so far their right.

Yeah, I still stand by my suggestion that Richo is good at putting up a game plan that is very competitive but really laborious. It had us above teams like Collingwood who have had a much more mature and better list than us and even sides like Carlton have a lot of high end older talent. It doesn't mean I think he's a premiership coach, I think he has a make the most of what we have to remain competitive game plan. For the players he's had he always had us sitting above where we should be. We finished on the same wins as Bulldogs last year with the same list that won a premiership nearly. We finished above Hawks, Pies, GC and North who all had better lists.
 

Greg1853

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They are amassing some better talent to build around though. They will leap frog us at some point. We are only ahead of them because we have a huge group of middling GOPs with experience. Once their youth gets some more development we will be behind them and Brisbane.
depends on who gets some midfield quality and depth first. They will be set elsewhere
 

Greg1853

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Lamb from Carlton is a real pest. Just wants to give it to the opponent at every opportunity.

I'd kinda like that if a saints player says like that, but at the same time it's a bit ugly and he just needs to focus on the game.

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Would rather just have Ben Long being manic and accidentally hurting people in tackles, without even saying a word
 

gringo2011

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depends on who gets some midfield quality and depth first. They will be set elsewhere

Yeah both have better talls, we need outside run and it sounds like Melbourne are likely front runners for Gaff now, he's said premierships are something he is focussing on where ever his next contract is. Melbourne look more appealing than us right now. Anyway we look pretty solid in our meat and potatoes players but lack stars. If we can start to find some from FA and the draft things can turn quickly. North looked years off 12 month ago.
 

Indie Rock

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+100 there Diehard.

I can say it now....but I've mainly kept my big yap shut and not said anything....but back in 2016 when we were racking up the wins....I thought to myself.. "we're rising up too quickly.........we need to stay down for another year or two".

I never repeated my thoughts as the idea of being called an unloyal D***head didn't appeal.

But you can't stop winning and as the club had no margin for error IMO from the start of 2015(re engaging members........increasing membership....getting sponsors on board) we just had to keep winning/rising.

All of the above has increased year on year since the spoon.....imagine if we were anchored near the bottom of the ladder for a couple more years after 2014.....the above probably wouldn't have happened.

What an absolute dilemma !!!!!!!!!

And yes.......2015/16 IMO placed unrealistic expectations on the team.

A few of my more wiser pals said towards the end of last season that we're just an ordinary team......so far their right.
Good post.

My gut feel after last season was that we were to go backwards before forward, felt we were overachieving then too. I didn’t see it being this bad and it’s clear now as a result of those years I have probably over rated our players.

2 steps forward 1 step back.

Hopefully this year is the big step back that compensates for us going a bit early in 2016 (ready to go elite talent from the draft this year would be nice).

So that means from here it’s at least 2 steps forward....
 

austinnn

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Bulldogs stopped kicking goals after half time, haven't registered any kind of score since 3rd quarter, are they still on the field?

I am almost ashamed to say I am ambivalent about the Pies doing well, I thought I'd be more bitter. I suppose out of all the top 4 they are the ones I don't really mind, got a few friends who support 'em, they're far from the stereotype. Plus I'd like for Bucks to recover his rep in the way that Hardwick has.
 

toxic

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Bulldogs stopped kicking goals after half time, haven't registered any kind of score since 3rd quarter, are they still on the field?

I am almost ashamed to say I am ambivalent about the Pies doing well, I thought I'd be more bitter. I suppose out of all the top 4 they are the ones I don't really mind, got a few friends who support 'em, they're far from the stereotype. Plus I'd like for Bucks to recover his rep in the way that Hardwick has.
Plus Tox :thumbsu::D
 
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