Are we stale??

[Boris the Contradiction]

I know we have had a lot out in the last few weeks but it isn't the fact that we are losing games that worries me. In previous seasons (recent seasons), even if we lost a game there would always be real fight and we certainly didn't put in 2 non-efforts in a row.

I've counted 8 so far this season (with spells of the Geelong game and the first quarter against St Kilda the only possible exceptions)

There is no passion, no fight, no real desire in the performances we are putting out. We've even looked lethargic in our wins. I know there has been a lot of speculation about Mick and I don't want this to be another "bag Malthouse thread" but I am really starting to get the feeling that the players have lost faith in him and where he is taking the list.

I am not a subscriber to all the recent "we have a terrible list" comments that have come through these boards because I actually think we have quite a good list. Obviously at the moment it's decimated but the replacements, while obviously not good enough, don't show me that they want it enough often enough. This has nothing to do with the injuries either because we've been like this all year- we were in a good position list-health-wise in the first few weeks.

The thing that's made this stand out for me is that in the last few years we have been such an even list with no real standouts. We haven't had a genuinely elite player except for about a ten week period from Didak last season which I hope he can replicate when he comes back. Now --> I believe Davis and Pendles have made the move into the elite category with Swan close behind and nearly everyone else (who's there) has gone AWOL. Tarks, Fraser, O'Brien and Presti have been good also for that matter which further empahises this point. It seems that with these players standing out the others have relaxed on armchairs thinking "the superstars will get us over the line" and the effort has gone missing. Bit like the pies when bucks was in his prime. I know the circumstances are different but the pies are reminding me of the poo we all had to put up with in the late nineties right now.

Last season when we lost players we re-focused and played ten times angrier to get the job done. We don't even look like we care this year!

I actually think we are on the cusp of something with the list we have but I believe a shake-up is necessary to re-focus and re-energise the team and the board right up to Eddie!! Without this I think we could be in for a really bad couple of years.

Thoughts?

 

[didaka]

Extremely stale. Teams know what they face when they play Collingwood these days.

I believe we have a talented young list. But in order for it to grow further we need some fresh ideas installed into them.

If Malthouse is removed, I for one will say thank you. I think he has taught the young players well. However his time has come, and I believe if Eddie signs Malthouse to another contract, then he may as well sign his own papers of resignation because the natives are getting very restless.

 

[Snag Breac]

If we were bread, I'd be feeding us to the magpies.

Did anyone notice Judd's massive leap just before the first bounce on Sunday? He drew up both heels and just shot up of the ground. It was so impressive - an I'm here, I'm fit and I'm mad to win sort of leap.

We'll have to get Nick to do something similar.

 

[thatday]

Seems to be a feeling lots of supporters are getting, can't say anything other than yes, we are stale.

 

[RRRooocccaaa]

Did anyone notice Judd's massive leap just before the first bounce on Sunday? He drew up both heels and just shot up of the ground. It was so impressive - an I'm here, I'm fit and I'm mad to win sort of leap.

No, we were instead treated to a Channel 7 piece about some old biddies going to the game... and cut straight to 20 seconds into the match. It just didn't start well at all...

 

[TwisTz]

We need the spark back.

When Leon kicked that goal in the 3rd, that was seemingly the only time the team got into the match at all.

We need Medhurst and Didak back.

These players can give us that spark (i.e. Medders vs. Brisbane earlier this year); without it... we are just flat.

 

[Soul_Pie]

I think we are looking a bit stale, there is just not the same energy as there has been in past years. I think a large part of this has come from the predictability of our gameplan, which seems to be more restrictive on the players than ever.

It also seems like so many of our guys are down on confidence, and some of them, dare I say it, just look disinterested and dispassionate at times. It's for this reason that I was quite disappointed that Barham was dropped from the team, as I thought he was one of the few players who looked like he had "come to play" this season, so to speak.

A point in the match last week which really highlighted our stagnation as a side was when Steele Sidebottom put in second and third efforts on our half forward line. Greatly outnumbered, he forced a boundary throw in through sheer guts and desperation. Players should have come from far and wide to give him a congratulatory pat on the arse, but nobody bothered.

If we are to achieve anything this season, the team really needs to find that "backs against the wall" mentality that we brought into the match after the Shaw/Didak affair last year. Malthouse is increasingly coming under pressure, if the players can't respond then perhaps they have lost faith in their coach and need someone else to revitalise the playing group.

 

[Kirby]

You certainly get the feeling that there is a real lack of confidence around the place. The players have pretty much been in their shells all season and have not been willing or allowed to show much flair.

I suspect that after 10 years of MM that his message is getting stale. I certainly think that our wide game plan, that also centres on pressure on the opposition, is just getting too exhausting. This is especially so now that we have suddenly encountered this rash of injuries to our key players. Of course, this has further eroded their confidence.

I will not knock MM as i believe that he does his absolute best and believes whole heartedly in his game plan. I just think that the message is a bit stale after all these years. He's not like Sheedy who used to re-invent himself when things started going bad.

Having said all of the above, any team would be really struggling with so many of its class players out injured, particularly when most of them are our forwards.