1. Structure is king. No make that Structure is Emperor, King, Queen, God, Allah and Jesus in one. It is the sound of one hand clapping and a tree falling in a forest when no one is around.
Well enough mixed metaphors and cliches. Stuff whose ready and whose not. The pig headed stubbornness of Ken to not put structure ahead of those in (questionable with several players) form has cost us any chance of top 2 and probably top 4.
2. Our list is still massively unbalanced. We have an overload of small / medium defenders and small forwards. Harsh cutting / trading of ones from the likes of Stevenson, Heath etc. where some deserve another year must be done. Our list is so out of kilter as the injuries the last 3 games have shown that we can't be sentimental.
3. Mitchell and S. Gray are definite rookie list material. It's an improvement from when the likes of Thomas was praised for being one of the few to put in an effort, but they've become barometer players, IMO. If they are considered good enough to get games, then our list isn't as good as it appeared.
4. Ok, 4 things! For all the doom and gloom, one of our biggest problems is our list is still one of the youngest and it shows. Our players are still a pre-season or two away from being really strong enough to break all the tackles they should and stick all the ones they should. This has been made worse from having to come from so far behind due to Falloon. Aerobic fitness is the easiest to address. Then anaerobic fitness. Which has been done well the last two years. Players strength takes the longest to address though, as it can only really be down over pre-seasons not in season like the aerobic/anaerobic.
Also our skills are still not at the level of the top sides.
Our progression IMO has been:
Pre-Ken - s**t skills, s**t strength, s**t fitness, players lack resolve, too many slow players
2013 - s**t skills, still poor strength, good fitness, players have resolve, too many slow players
2014 - Ok only skills, strength a bit better, but not yet there, good fitness, players have resolve, faster players
Players still need another pre-season or two of skill work to get near the Hawks, Swans, Freo and Geelong (senior players).
If we get players back and a structure we still will need to win asymetrically, as we won't win on skills and strength. We weren't using those to beat the top teams earlier in the year - it was spread, run and fitness.
Well enough mixed metaphors and cliches. Stuff whose ready and whose not. The pig headed stubbornness of Ken to not put structure ahead of those in (questionable with several players) form has cost us any chance of top 2 and probably top 4.
2. Our list is still massively unbalanced. We have an overload of small / medium defenders and small forwards. Harsh cutting / trading of ones from the likes of Stevenson, Heath etc. where some deserve another year must be done. Our list is so out of kilter as the injuries the last 3 games have shown that we can't be sentimental.
3. Mitchell and S. Gray are definite rookie list material. It's an improvement from when the likes of Thomas was praised for being one of the few to put in an effort, but they've become barometer players, IMO. If they are considered good enough to get games, then our list isn't as good as it appeared.
4. Ok, 4 things! For all the doom and gloom, one of our biggest problems is our list is still one of the youngest and it shows. Our players are still a pre-season or two away from being really strong enough to break all the tackles they should and stick all the ones they should. This has been made worse from having to come from so far behind due to Falloon. Aerobic fitness is the easiest to address. Then anaerobic fitness. Which has been done well the last two years. Players strength takes the longest to address though, as it can only really be down over pre-seasons not in season like the aerobic/anaerobic.
Also our skills are still not at the level of the top sides.
Our progression IMO has been:
Pre-Ken - s**t skills, s**t strength, s**t fitness, players lack resolve, too many slow players
2013 - s**t skills, still poor strength, good fitness, players have resolve, too many slow players
2014 - Ok only skills, strength a bit better, but not yet there, good fitness, players have resolve, faster players
Players still need another pre-season or two of skill work to get near the Hawks, Swans, Freo and Geelong (senior players).
If we get players back and a structure we still will need to win asymetrically, as we won't win on skills and strength. We weren't using those to beat the top teams earlier in the year - it was spread, run and fitness.
