Opinion Is this rock bottom?

[Only Forwards]

If we lose round one it’ll be my rock bottom.

 

[Themanbun]

Pick 3 Will Phillips delisted
Pick 4 Wardlaw can’t get on the park
Pic 4 Zane Duursma wants out
Pic 4 LDU runs one way

No one wants to say it...and I love him to bits...but Pick 3 Harry also only runs one way which hurts us when he plays as a mid.

We're carrying quite a few defensive deficiencies.

 

[Possession]

If we lose round one it’ll be my rock bottom.

Eagles smacking us in round 2 will be it for me.

 

[scottywiper]

Pick 3 Will Phillips delisted
Pick 4 Wardlaw can’t get on the park
Pic 4 Zane Duursma wants out
Pic 4 LDU runs one way

You forgot JHF.
Horror reading.

 

[shimaburnsgrieg]

You forgot JHF.
Horror reading.

And TT.

 

[Chadwiko]

No one wants to say it...and I love him to bits...but Pick 3 Harry also only runs one way which hurts us when he plays as a mid.

We're carrying quite a few defensive deficiencies.

Like Luka Doncic, his offensive talent is so good that it doesn't matter. He's the least of our problems.

 

[Themanbun]

Like Luka Doncic, his offensive talent is so good that it doesn't matter. He's the least of our problems.

He's the only one I'm happy to carry. But he doesn't help our two way running problem.

 

[scottywiper]

He's the only one I'm happy to carry. But he doesn't help our two way running problem.

You can have one or two but our entire midfield is allergic to chasing. As are our forwards. How has this been allowed to happen???

 

[Themanbun]

You can have one or two but our entire midfield is allergic to chasing. As are our forwards. How has this been allowed to happen???

Because we've been assured that high draft picks = success of course

 

[Woolly Mammoth]

Getting touched up by a teenager in a Halloween mask. Gotta be worse than Dangerfield and the sanger doesnt it?

 

[WesternRoo]

You sort of wonder where this group would be under a Stephen King from a great club

Clarko was always the wrong choice.

 

[Makeshift Park]

Given merging interstate isn't a threat anymore, rock bottom would be Wardlaw leaving at the end of the season.

 

[DesertRoo]

Rock bottom comes after this, reality is the board has to go before the coach, I have little faith can make the right appointment. Otherwise we’re just going to extend the pain into the next coaching tenor.

 

[Possession]

Given merging interstate isn't a threat anymore, rock bottom would be Wardlaw leaving at the end of the season.

If the wheels do fall off this year then Wardlaw, Hardeman, FOS, et al. could all be looking elsewhere. Duursma is already off to the Bombers, let's be real there.

To begin leaking top pick, quality youngsters would be disastrous. High stakes season ahead.

 

[Makeshift Park]

If the wheels do fall off this year then Wardlaw, Hardeman, FOS, et al. could all be looking elsewhere. Duursma is already off to the Bombers, let's be real there.

To begin leaking top pick, quality youngsters would be disastrous. High stakes season ahead.

Yep. Lets face it - retention of good young players is a more important KPI than how many games we win this year.

I think the main push and pull factors of what the board do about Clarko come down to this:

1) He's on around $1m a year, he's contracted for 2 more years, and paying that out in full early in the season would screw our soft cap. If getting rid of him means we can't fund the football dept properly for the next 18 months, then sacking him doesn't create an opportunity at all.

2) Wardlaw, Trembath, Hardeman and Duursma are all out of contract come year's end. If our on-field performance becomes a shitshow, and there's no credible plan for players to believe in, they walk. Moreover, if the club becomes beset by instability as Clarkson digs in while the board actively pursues successors, there's a serious risk the players walk. If the season starts really bad, there needs to be time for an alternative to make some headway before the contract negotiations come to a head.

 

[Samsquanch]

He's the only one I'm happy to carry. But he doesn't help our two way running problem.

As a mid, compared to the opposition yesterday Harry is a problem. Melbourne mids were raising our forward line repeatedly and then following up by launching attacks. Harry and LDU are talented players but they didn't cover the ground or provide anything like the defensive nor attacking work that their free running opponents did.

And the opposition must enjoy seeing Simpkin with the ball in hand. They know that none of our forwards have a clue what he's going to do or where he's going to kick it - and in any case it's likely to hit a defender on the chest.

I reckon that monkhorst could pull on a jumper and he's be a better option than CCJ. It wasn't a good day out for X either, but at least we know what he can do on a good day.

 

[Masked Avenger]

Buck stops with the Coach. End of story.

Unlike a few, I'm not convinced he can't turn it around.

That said, for a Coach under genuine pressure one selection decision yesterday takes the cake.

To relegate a talent like Trembath to the seconds to play Darling - 3 weeks before the start of the season - FMD.

Darling's far from the worst of the older players, but seriously what does it achieve playing a rising 34 year old when he won't be here next year.

Nothing.

 

[Val Keating]

I couldn’t watch the game but I’m not sure I’d consider getting smashed in a scratch match rock bottom

 

[zoomba23]

I couldn’t watch the game but I’m not sure I’d consider getting smashed in a scratch match rock bottom

It's not. I'm Mr Pessimism a lot of the time and praccies just do not hold anywhere near that kind of significance. Brisbane won a preseason comp 12-13 years ago and then were shit in the real thing.

What people are getting at is that they don't see evidence of changes we've been calling for, and then they're extrapolating that scenario across the year. The result: a rather miserable year. For the seventh year running.

Agree with others that true rock bottom would be a failure to uplift in this period of expected marginal improvement followed by the departure of disillusioned young gun/s.

If that happens there's no way out. Curtains

 

[scottywiper]

At some point the AFL probably needs to step in. But I doubt they will due to the personalities involved.
Simmo will be watching closely

 

[scottywiper]

Buck stops with the Coach. End of story.

Unlike a few, I'm not convinced he can't turn it around.

That said, for a Coach under genuine pressure one selection decision yesterday takes the cake.

To relegate a talent like Trembath to the seconds to play Darling - 3 weeks before the start of the season - FMD.

Darling's far from the worst of the older players, but seriously what does it achieve playing a rising 34 year old when he won't be here next year.

Nothing.

Go back further. What has the decision to recruit guys like Darling, Parker, Daniel done? The first two have been ok. But it hasn't progressed the team whatsoever. And all were just stop gaps that will soon be gone.
Flawed decisions.

 

[Masked Avenger]

Go back further. What has the decision to recruit guys like Darling, Parker, Daniel done? The first two have been ok. But it hasn't progressed the team whatsoever. And all were just stop gaps that will soon be gone.
Flawed decisions.

Old habits are clearly dying hard.

Spargo's recruitment.

Very few could justify that let alone understand it.

 

[My Left Foote]

You sort of wonder where this group would be under a Stephen King from a great club

Clarko was always the wrong choice.

I disagree, Clarko was the only choice at the time; a former player and an experienced premiership coach, no first time coach was coming anywhere near us and nor should they have. Clarko bought us hope, off field stability and some time. Now it hasn't worked out like as any of us had hoped but at least the revolving door of coaches has been closed for 4 years and when he does go we might be able to attract the next big AFL coach in waiting. We were a basket case on and off field before Clarko joined we're stable off field now and despite staring at another bottom 4 finish I don't think we're a basket case on field.

 

[gokangas]

I disagree, Clarko was the only choice at the time; a former player and an experienced premiership coach, no first time coach was coming anywhere near us and nor should they have. Clarko bought us hope, off field stability and some time. Now it hasn't worked out like as any of us had hoped but at least the revolving door of coaches has been closed for 4 years and when he does go we might be able to attract the next AFL coach in waiting. We were a basket case on and off field before Clarko joined we're stable off field now and despite staring at another bottom 4 finish I don't think we're a basket case on field.

Hawks destroyed him once he left. Some scores being settled there and we paid/pay the price. I don't agree re on field - we are a complete and utter rabble. What do you see onfield to justify your comment?

 

[gokangas]

At some point the AFL probably needs to step in. But I doubt they will due to the personalities involved.
Simmo will be watching closely

A couple of media folk have been saying for a few years now how bad the situation is at the club. Sadly, each year they are proven more and more correct.