Better now in June

[Hawkzzz]

Some may disagree, but I feel the slump we are having (and it is a slump) is part due to form, part due to injury (continuous changes made to key mids) and part due to our team becoming predictable when going fwd.

It's very obvious we are looking for Buddy to lead into certain areas and teams are starting to block those specific holes. What we are NOT doing is utilizing other spaces in the fwd line, made available due to opposition teams being buddy-centric. Put simply, a bit of variety.

Like Geelong our mids need to stream fwd, run to space and kick goals and NOT look for Buddy all the time. We could look for Willo more on the lead as well - 6 kicks from Willo usually equates to 4 goals minimum. All up, we need to become less predictable.

Obviously there's not much we can do with injuries - the brighter news being many key players will be back soon as you all know.

But the GOOD news is it is June and it is obvious we have some deficiencies to work on. I have great confidence the coaching staff will be working on these areas from now till September.

We also forget that we have many youngsters in our side. Body for Body vs Geelong, the Cats are much more physically mature. Yet we have what it takes to beat them. (ok let's wait for rnd 17) So our boys are doing very well considering. They will tire and some of them (Young, Ellis, Rioli etc) will need a rest. Our attack on the ball looks stale and I reckon we're sometimes a bit harsh. 11-2 is great. If we can win next week, we will be 12-2 and the break, in my view has come at just the right time.

The coaching staff will be aware of what opposition defences are planning, which is great. We have plenty of time to work on options and some variety to our game plan. I for one believe we will regroup and will see some fresh attack in the second half of the year.

 

[macdaddio]

Yup great thread, We still have some good players to come back and when they do they will be refreshed and ready and to make a charge to top 2, Every one will forget these loses once we get our best 22 on the ground and show the footy world why we are genuine contendors........

 

[Brown]

They will tire and some of them (Young, Ellis, Rioli etc) will need a rest.

Most definitely. The midfield just dosent have the depth of experience at present, which has effected our clearances and delivery to the forward line that was working well earlier in the year e.g. against Brisbane.

The season is long however, and player management is very important. We will make the finals this year and timing is everything. Our key stars will ALWAYS return and hopefully we will peak at the right time in September.

 

[Mitchell Madness]

apart from 2003, we have generally struggled between rounds 13 and 17 for some reason....

least we will get over it.

 

[JezzHawk]

we have generally struggled between rounds 13 and 17 for some reason....

Yeah I've noticed that too.

 

[monhawks]

We're going alright. Reading the threads on here tonight you'd reckon we were shocking yesterday but the reality was that our woeful kicking for goal contributed greatly to us losing. We just kept butchering shots as we did against Richmond and the Roos were good enough to make us pay.Buddy and Roughie are horrible converters too often for my liking. Roughie could have put us on our way in the second quarter and Buddy 2 weeks running should have had 3 at quarter time. Brad Sewell leaves a big hole in our side ,very underated and i'll be a lot happier when Croady is back . The Bullies were ordinary today whilest still winning but they'll have a trough sometime soon and get beaten. The season is a marathon and as long as we get some of our better players back and fit we're looking good still.