I posted this on the main AFL board, but thought I would repost here;
Between 2007 and 2011, Geelong came out playing a specific game plan every week (attacking, taking the game on, trying to blow teams out of the water) and dared other teams to beat them. Sometimes they did (2008 GF, 2010 PF), but more often than not, Geelong won.
Hawthorn played a particular style that suited their playing list from 2013-2015 and dared sides to beat them. When Sydney play, you know what they are going to do, but very few teams have been able to stop it in the 2nd half of the year. Adelaide have developed their own brand of football based on their playing list, and it is paying dividends.
Since 2012, we've slowly reverted to unnatural, defensive structures and tricksy gimmicks (Taylor to FF on Rance, dropping Menzel) to try and win games. The blame for this lies at the feet of the coaching staff (Chris Scott included) and particularly the Director of Coaching (Simon Lloyd). Chris Scott was voted the coach that was 'hardest to coach against' by his peers, but that just means they don't actually know what style of game Geelong plays. I'd much prefer we were voted 'the hardest side to play against', as we used to be.
We've got the talent on our list, but it isn't being utilised as well as it could be, that's for sure.