General Bombers Talk Is the slide on.

[fishardansin]

I was unable to see nearly all the game today being sick in bed and the AFL app crapping itself again. However, the performance of the team over the last two weeks makes me think the slide is on again.

There are dips in form for all teams across the season and if they coincide with good opponents then loses occur. There are also teams that are ahead of the bombers too. This is something else though. This is meek rolling over of a team that looks tired.

I have no doubt that Crameri, Hurley and Winderlich change that side a lot but really there isn't a lot else missing from the side.

To not fight it out to at least minimise the damage is unacceptable. I hope the club swings the axe before the West Coast game and gets a team together that can beat the three big games after that and then at least our first final.

I want Pears back in. I want Hooker replaced with Hurley. Give the big polar bear the big jobs and let Carlisle regain form on the number two. I also think Fletcher goes when Dempsey comes back.

Gumby and Winderlich can lead up from half forward and Crameri and ruckman can be brutes deep. Colyer and Davey as small forwards and Colyer pushing high.

Midfield needs a kick in the pants.

 

[Old Campaigner]

Yeah I think they are pretty solid suggestions. I'd really like us to poach a conditioning coach from a team that doesn't fade out through the season, like the Swans or someone.

 

[yaco55]

WC game will give us categoric proof - Playing a team at home who have put the cue in the rack - We don't win by 5+ goals and we have fallen off the cliff.

 

[yaco55]

Interesting that two posters who didn't watch the game are passing specific comments on the game.

I don't think you can actively join a discussion, until you have watched the game.

 

[ZEV]

I also think Fletcher goes when Dempsey comes back

With all due respect Dempsey looks done for the year

 

[fishardansin]

With all due respect Dempsey looks done for the year

Hammy wasn't it?

 

[rines]

Dempsey gone..

will only get back if we make 2-3 round of finals... maybe..

Real blow for the team and team balance.

 

[yaco55]

Hopefully its a standard hammy and is three weeks.

 

[ZEV]

Hammy wasn't it?

Looked really bad leading the chase for the ball and went when he bent over to pick it up. Grabbed it immediately and took an eternity to get off the ground. Judging by his body language it was a bad one sorry to say guys :/

 

[rines]

Also.. I think the team is definitely fatiguing.. which is worrying that this just keeps happening year after year.. whether it is physical or mental this year.. who knows but we look downright ordinary.

Should beat WC.. but the rest all look shaky based on last 2 weeks form.

 

[fishardansin]

Looked really bad leading the chase for the ball and went when he bent over to pick it up. Grabbed it immediately and took an eternity to get off the ground. Judging by his body language it was a bad one sorry to say guys :/

I watched the replay and he fell over because he pulled it while he was bending over. Last year Hibberd did his in ANZAC day clash and fell over while diving for a mark.

 

[jesselift]

james hird in the press conference said the injury isn't bad as they first thought. judging on that he should be back and play 1-2 rounds before the season ends

 

[The Jet]

Should easily beat Eagles. Carlton are pretty much now finished. Should beat them. By the time we play Kangaroos, their season clearly done with also. That's the next 3 wins. Depending on form at the time & currently injury list, if we play to our normal game plan and it's not raining, we should beat tigers.

5th spot would be nice, as we'd probably play Port at Etihad week 1 in the finals.

We should finish top 6 at worst. Pies have a very hard run home. We have it a bit easier but we still got to win though.

 

[Halftimehero]

This week will let us know, if we cant beat the Eagles at Etihad we are GAAAAAWN

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

Need to get someone in with toughness and run to help out......

Alex Browne.

 

[srobbo]

We have been ordinary the last 5-6weeks....our struggles to beat the minnows was the writing on the wall and true to form we have been slaughtered against good opposition last 2 weeks.

West Coast is no certainty next week! On form we are a bottom 6 side. I actually think barring next week we will lose all remaining games.

 

[jesselift]

Need to get someone in with toughness and run to help out......

Alex Browne.

we need nathan lovett murray imo

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

we need nathan lovett murray imo

I'm thinking it but not brave enough to write it.

NLM right now would be a better option than Jetta, Kommer, Davey, Colyer, Delolio

 

[blitzer]

I hope I'm wrong but I reckon we will only win 1 more game for the season (West Coast). The midfield just isn't working as hard as it was earlier in the season. I see this as being exactly like last season except the only difference is because we had less injuries it took longer before we fell off the 'cliff' plus a few of our players have stepped up a bit + Goddard addition. Although that said we do have a few handy players that will be back next week that should be able to lift our general competitiveness but my question is......Where the hell have all the guys that were dominating in their positions earlier in the year gone?

Hibberd - totally dropped away (rebound has dried up from him and intercept marks)
Carlisle - Has gone from being one of the best defenders in the comp to perhaps one of the worst over the last few weeks (hasn't helped midfield pressure dropping off but he's lost all confidence)
Stanton - No impact lately
Crameri - OK he's been injured but it seems like after about round 8 each season he just can't sustain his form.
Zaharakis - Can't get out of second gear at the moment. You wouldn't even know he's bloody quick if you were only judging him on his last couple of games.
Hooker - Still been playing OK but he hasn't been able to intercept incoming marks the way he was earlier.
Howlett - His first game of the year had 25 possessions and 4 goals. He was one of those guys that was really damaging as a second tier midfielder. Not lately though.

I'd say there's only two players who are playing at superior levels in the second half of the season to the first half. Heppell and Melksham. Don't worry guys though, we've got poor Watson who played a great game after being out for 3 weeks.

The acid is really going to be on the players and the team from here on out. Players really need to lift or we will simply see history repeat itself and we will limp into the finals and get a walloping. I wish I could be more optimistic but I'd be lying. Hopefully I've misread the situation and the team completely but that's how I see it.

 

[Tas]

Should easily beat Eagles. Carlton are pretty much now finished. Should beat them. By the time we play Kangaroos, their season clearly done with also. That's the next 3 wins. Depending on form at the time & currently injury list, if we play to our normal game plan and it's not raining, we should beat tigers.

5th spot would be nice, as we'd probably play Port at Etihad week 1 in the finals.

We should finish top 6 at worst. Pies have a very hard run home. We have it a bit easier but we still got to win though.

Our season is already cooked, but we wont go soft on Essendon, Hawthorn or Collingwood. Although we have to play Crows first before having a crack at the other three.

For us, this year wasn't so much about ladder position, it was about working on playing good footy consistently enough so the last 3 weeks of the season gives us a good crack at seeing if we improved on the efforts earlier in the season or not.

 

[Rack Watts]

Need to get someone in with toughness and run to help out......

Alex Browne.

He will come in for Dempsey you'd assume?

 

[BrunoV]

Hopefully its a standard hammy and is three weeks.

We probably don't want to be bringing Dempsey back from any hammy in three weeks.

 

[Tassieboy]

This week is huge. Quite nervous to see what's going to unfold. Hirdy said following something like 'I hope this isn't a sign of things to come. I mean I know it's not going to be a sign."

 

[Lord Nicholson]

Let's face it, we've been ordinary for a long time. Great wins like the West Coast and Carlton ones are all well and good, but we should have put those sides away early based on early season form. It's the same decline that we've seen in Hird's previous two years, it's just that the decline has been less pronounced.

All four sides we meet in the next week absolutely need to win. They will if we don't at least perform on the level of say... the Gold Coast performance, which is the last performance I've been even remotely happy with. (perhaps the PA one as well).

 

[BrunoV]

Not sure how to approach this other than to just post different thoughts.


1. Whether or not we lose points, which I very much doubt we will, there is a strong possibility that due to factors which are well beyond the control of the players we will finish 2013 not having learned too much about our side for 2 years. The bullshit this year speaks for itself and the toll exacted by the ASADA investigation cannot ever be discounted.

In 2012 it was injuries which ripped the heart our of the season (Robinson, you ****ing idiot, the injuries were the reason we had to stop training, Dr Wilicourt provided us with his analysis of the players' blood which confirmed as much).

2. Leading on from 1 is that we may be treading water in terms of list management/development. We've brought in a number of mature guys who have not looked close to being the sorts of players needed to continue the development and positive evolution of the list and the theory was that we needed cover this year because we weren't confident that the players' bodies would hold up this year.

3. We need to more closely consider the relationship between fadeouts and coaching.

I have little faith in the tactical preparation of the side. For all of the criticism of Knights, and North and other sides, for attacking game plans when we lose we get absolutely belted. 2.5 years into the Hird reign in which defence is supposed to be king, we are shithouse at defending the ground and controlling the tempo of play in order to conserve energy. The only reasponse our coaching panel seem to have is to ask the players to play on quicker, run harder and faster through the corridor.

Lack of tactical nous is also highlighted in team selections, positioning of players and questionable match ups. Today was the lightest side we have selected. We were packed with outside runners and small forwards for wet whether footy against the side with probably the deepest running midfield in the competition who was also playing for its pride.

4. Leading on from 3 is that I think we are simply being found out. Collingwood answered our switching of the play and attempts to transition through the corridor every time. When the heat was on early they were simply able to sweat on us to turn the ball over as we approached out own 50m arc.


I think that ultimately if we are going to be reliant on supreme conditioning in order to be competitive we are going to lose a battle that is impossible to win.