It was like a flick of a switch...

[Pantsless]

...and the Cats killed us.

It was an insipid, pathetic performance. Someone at Kardinia Park needs to hire a goalkicking coach because they should have stuffed us by half time.

It's not just one aspect that needs work. We are slow (everyone knows that), we are less skilful than our opponents and when the going gets tough we have no answers. We wait for someone else to do it. We don't take responsinilty. We have NO CONFIDENCE in our ability.

We did not pressure the Cats in their kick outs. Someone please let me know if there was contested mark after one of our behinds.

We cannot rely on Jimmy to inspire the rest of them. The passion comes from within...and we have none. No pride in the jumper, no pride in our history, no pride in coming of the ground and saying "I did everything I could" because they cannot.

It upsets and sickens me that the club that I love could fold over like they did tonight.

Fair play to Geelong. They played extremely well after getting 20 behind. Maybe they needed that kick up the ass they got, but they looked so much skilful than us tonight. One of their Johnson boys did a flick under the legs and they got a goal out of it. Walls said "it was very clever". Unless it's no 5, I can't remember the last time we did something "clever"......

I've always been an optimist about our team, but M29 has been right all along. We are very ordinary.

We will not make the finals based on tonights effort.

I hope they go back and actually have the intestinal fortitude to look each other in the eye and say "that wasn't good enough"

 

[alex1fun]

Mate you are right.
If Nathan Lovett-Murray plays another game of AFL, I will kill myself.
The most unaccountable, stupid player I've ever seen.
He doesn't have any pride - overrates himself.
Don't get me started on Cupido...

Very impressed with Haynes and Dyson. Lovett was good as well. Thomas shouldn't be dropped either.


We muck around with it so much. They should go long to Lloyd every time. At least he'll do something.

Laycock has a lot to learn.


I'm not joking about Nathan Lovett-Murray and Cupido. If they don't show some heart in the next few games - gee whiz.

 

[bOmBeR_BoY1]

We always knew the time was coming to hit the bottom and start planning for 2008 rather than 2005, it's here - we'll be back as a Club quicker than most because the people making the decisions at Windy Hill will make sure we are on the right track, I am confident of that. It's going to be a hard journey though... take away the result tonight, there was some good signs with the young kids - particulary in the first three quarters.

We know we've got a long way to go though... full credit to the Cats though, they were quite magnificant tonight in the last quarter and a half.

 

[Daytripper]

FFS, we weren't that bad.

Geelong were simply awesome tonight. I saw more good signs tonight than I had from the previous two matches.

Why ?

Our 2nd tier players started to show something.

Haynes probably played his best game for the club. Dyson looks like he is going to be a plyer. Lovett could be the quick on baller we are looking for. Even Henneman looked like he had turned the corner.

It was our top liners that let us down tonight. Lloyd (even though he kicked 5), Lucas, Fletcher and Bradley to a lesser extent. JJ & Solly were poor.

It will be a rare day when all our best players are off. But at last our lower ranked players are starting to show something. When it all gells we will be a good team again.

Keep the faith, please guys. Honestly we are not that bad.

 

[marcuz]

FFS, we weren't that bad.

Geelong were simply awesome tonight. I saw more good signs tonight than I had from the previous two matches.

Why ?

Our 2nd tier players started to show something.

Haynes probably played his best game for the club. Dyson looks like he is going to be a plyer. Lovett could be the quick on baller we are looking for. Even Henneman looked like he had turned the corner.

It was our top liners that let us down tonight. Lloyd (even though he kicked 5), Lucas, Fletcher and Bradley to a lesser extent. JJ & Solly were poor.

It will be a rare day when all our best players are off. But at last our lower ranked players are starting to show something. When it all gells we will be a good team again.

Keep the faith, please guys. Honestly we are not that bad.

We were terrible mate. In the second half geelong used us as witches hats. Nobody manned up there was no pressure on the ball carrier. Nobody dropped back to fill up space in the Geelong forward line to help out Fletch and Bradley. Geelong did as they pleased around the stoppages and the centre clearences by the cats was done with the utmost ease.

You will get times when you get belted during the year but if you are going to go down at least go down swinging and have a dip. Geelong played great no doubt but only because we let them. They broke our spirits too easily and that's not a good sign.

 

[Daytripper]

We were terrible mate. In the second half geelong used us as witches hats. Nobody manned up there was no pressure on the ball carrier. Nobody dropped back to fill up space in the Geelong forward line to help out Fletch and Bradley. Geelong did as they pleased around the stoppages and the centre clearences by the cats was done with the utmost ease.

You will get times when you get belted during the year but if you are going to go down at least go down swinging and have a dip. Geelong played great no doubt but only because we let them. They broke our spirits too easily and that's not a good sign.

Marcuz, I agree.
However as I said, JJ, Solly and co won't have 1/4's like that for a long time. It just so happened that all our top players decided to play poorly at the one time. It won't happen again for a long time.

Also, don't underestimate what a good side Geelong can be when they want to.

The one concern is the coaching department. Why didn't Sheedy try and stem the tide ? You would think he would try and flood back when they got a run on. He didn't however and that leads me to think he is looking at a bigger picture.

 

[marcuz]

Marcuz, I agree.
However as I said, JJ, Solly and co won't have 1/4's like that for a long time. It just so happened that all our top players decided to play poorly at the one time. It won't happen again for a long time.

Also, don't underestimate what a good side Geelong can be when they want to.

The one concern is the coaching department. Why didn't Sheedy try and stem the tide ? You would think he would try and flood back when they got a run on. He didn't however and that leads me to think he is looking at a bigger picture.

I think sheeds has run out of answers at tyhe minute. There is some dead wood in that side like Bolton, Henno, Haynes, NLM etc that need to be shown the door. Play plenty of kids and give bomber fans something to look forward to. At least when we lose we can see some development of some players going forward.

 

[itsintheblood]

FFS, we weren't that bad.

Geelong were simply awesome tonight. I saw more good signs tonight than I had from the previous two matches.

Why ?

Our 2nd tier players started to show something.

Haynes probably played his best game for the club. Dyson looks like he is going to be a plyer. Lovett could be the quick on baller we are looking for. Even Henneman looked like he had turned the corner.

It was our top liners that let us down tonight. Lloyd (even though he kicked 5), Lucas, Fletcher and Bradley to a lesser extent. JJ & Solly were poor.

It will be a rare day when all our best players are off. But at last our lower ranked players are starting to show something. When it all gells we will be a good team again.

Keep the faith, please guys. Honestly we are not that bad.

you werent that bad? were you watching the right game?

you were abysmal

 

[Daytripper]

I think sheeds has run out of answers at tyhe minute. There is some dead wood in that side like Bolton, Henno, Haynes, NLM etc that need to be shown the door. Play plenty of kids and give bomber fans something to look forward to. At least when we lose we can see some development of some players going forward.

Bolton - yes, I agree. May be a good athlete but jusr doesn't have enough football smarts.
Henno - starting to show a few signs. Will be a good stop gap player. Half decent talls are hard to find.
Haynes - always thought he had ability but he has never show it. Tonight, I reckon he showed he belonged at the top level. Could be a poor mans Mark Mercuri.
NLM - I really don't know. Maybe he just needs confidence or maybe he's just not up to standard. Hard to say, really.

 

[go team]

you werent that bad? were you watching the right game?

you were abysmal

I'll take your word for it - you're the expert on the matter!

 

[Daytripper]

you werent that bad? were you watching the right game?

you were abysmal

Why don't you stick to your own board and discuss with Bentleigh how you are going to win less then 6 games this year so you can get priority picks.

That seems to be your overriding ambition for 2005.

 

[IceTemple]

Why don't you stick to your own board and discuss with Bentleigh how you are going to win less then 6 games this year so you can get priority picks.

That seems to be your overriding ambition for 2005.

You're deluded Daytripper, we were shocking after the first 10 mins of the 3rd 1/4.

 

[IceTemple]

A clean out needs to made at the end of the year, starting with the top:

Staff:
Harvs - off to another team for to learn some new skills
Shaw - needs to do something else, maybe footy manager?
Dodoro - appalling draft record
Quinn - this is overdue

Players:
Allan - past it body wise
Murfs - holds up a youngster (he has been okay for us though)
Alvey - don't think he has it anymore
Henneman - tries hard and gives something but that only makes me think we could actually get a trade out of him rather than just a delisting.
Bolton - again, tries hard but we won;t win a GF with him in the side
Bullen - what can I say
Haynes - played okay tonight for 10 minutes in the 3rd but disappeared under pressure like the rest
NLM - he hasn't got it

Others can add their own.

 

[Winderlich]

Well, if we play 4 quarters of football we might have a chance of winning some games. Tonight, we played 2 and a half quarters.

Nathan Lovett-Murray: He should not be playing AFL, the only good thing he done on the night was take out Tom Harley.

I was impressed by Ricky Dyson, Paul Thomas and Haynes was ok.

The ball had to be gotten quicker down to Lloyd, who was beating Scarlett at most contests. Somehow, from our kick-in's, we found it hard to get it out of the defensive 50. Yet, when Geelong got their kick-in's, they got it to the wing after about 3 kicks, easily.

Our tackling was poor, we couldn't make a tackle stick. In the last quarter, Bartel stood 45m out from goals with the ball, no-one went for him .. so from a standing start, he kicked a goal.

Disappointing performance, hope for better next week against the Pies on ANZAC Day, and Congrats to Lloydy on his 700th, everyone in the ground gave him the applause he deserved, he was our best tonight.

 

[alex1fun]

Nathan Lovett-Murray: He should not be playing AFL, the only good thing he done on the night was take out Tom Harley.

QUOTE]


I agree.
If only he was more accountable- just lets his man run loose.
He's still young- who knows.

 

[Darealrath]

For so long we've seemed so stagnant between half forward and half back. Hird, Lloyd and Lucas could have had a field day if our midfield was half decent, while Fletch and Bradley work their ass off but to no avail as there is so much quality ball coming in from the opposition midfield.

Teams who run hard in the midfield (and that's most) will slaughter us like Geelong did tonight, like Melbourne did in R1 and like Carlton did in the last quarter 2 weeks ago. We just don't run hard (and smart) enough, and when we get close enough to apply pressure we so often miss the tackle that we may as well have not have tried in the first place.

We won't make the 8, but we'd be a lot more competitive if we worked as hard as our opposition in the midfield.

 

[Rodion]

I thought James Hird was excellent for you guys last night. He carried you through the whole first half and was the main force behind your 20 point lead in the 3rd quarter. The guy is just an absolute champion. In the last years of his career, he shouldn't have to shoulder the entire burden of your team. He needs support from the young guys and it wasn't there for you last night. Hird should play off half back or half forward and do his brilliant cameos; he's got the talent but he's on the wrong side of 30.

When Josh Hunt got moved on to him, he shut him down and that was the end of Essendon.

Look at Riccardi for Geelong. He's in the same boat as Hirdy. Sublime skills, but getting long in the tooth. But Ricco's got a midfield beside him that does the job, and he doesn't have to do it all himself.

It's not all bad though. You had a dismal 2nd half, but Kepler Bradley did alright for you and Ben Haynes and that Paul Thomas guy (who is he?) were also good. Congrats on Lloyd getting his 700th career goal.

 

[ant555]

A clean out needs to made at the end of the year, starting with the top:

Staff:
Harvs - off to another team for to learn some new skills
Shaw - needs to do something else, maybe footy manager?
Dodoro - appalling draft record
Quinn - this is overdue

Players:
Allan - past it body wise
Murfs - holds up a youngster (he has been okay for us though)
Alvey - don't think he has it anymore
Henneman - tries hard and gives something but that only makes me think we could actually get a trade out of him rather than just a delisting.
Bolton - again, tries hard but we won;t win a GF with him in the side
Bullen - what can I say
Haynes - played okay tonight for 10 minutes in the 3rd but disappeared under pressure like the rest
NLM - he hasn't got it

Others can add their own.

Gee i hate to say this but really Henno and Bolton are not the problem.
Number one problem , we need to find 2 or 3 mid fielders who can run out a game. Same problem we have had for a while. Too much of the same through the middle. At the moment we must have the biggest colection of half forwards/backs in the leauge playing in the mid field along with the kids so no wonder we are getting carved up.
At the moment our forawrd line is ok , Lloyd , Lucas , Hird , Laycock/Hille would be a worry to most sides if we can get the ball down there.
The midfield is either too young and inexperienced or those playing there are not genuine midfielders. JJ yes but he cant do all the work and has always played his best footy when he can have a couple of breaks on the bench. Pev seems to have hit a flat spot but in saying that he always seemed to look better when he was tagging than he does trying to play a creative role.
Hird ,well the time has come for James to play forward i think last night showed that. Sure he is great when he goes into the middle but other teams run off him too much when he is there. MJ good HF/HB . Rioli great impact player but is another who needs to be rotated in and out. Stanton, Dyson and Monfires , well they are simply too young at this stage. Bullen is average. Haynes is average.Lovett is just starting off but i think he will be more of an impact player of the bench rather than a run all day player. Widerlich , well he is still young and hasnt had much playing time. Not completly sold on him though. Murphy , last year was good but again not a run all day player.
Allen more than likely his last year. Hille, Laycock and Cartledge IMO give us a pretty reasonable ruck combo that is reasonably young.
The back line isnt too bad although another tall would be handy. Obviously Fletcher isnt going to as good every week as he was when he was younger but he still has pace and i wouldnt be surprised if he had another 3 or 4 seasons left in him. Bradley is doing a great job as a key defender for a guy his age and experience. Solly looks to be down on form. Bolton is Bolton but he does go ok when he can just play half back/ half forward on the flanks, simply isnt good enough for a key position role.. Henno hasnt played down back this year but he may prove to be handy as the third tall backman but in saying that he is still Henno.Sam Hunt is capable of playing but he disposall is shocking at times.

 

[teams]

Gee i hate to say this but really Henno and Bolton are not the problem.

You never know, the last point Sheedy may prove is Henneman. Was more comfortable with him in both the ruck and general play than Laycock. Laycock obviously needs games but seems to have a bit of the Queen Mary about him when it comes to changing direction. Henneman actually is prone to a deft move here and there.

 

[Dave]

We were terrible mate. In the second half geelong used us as witches hats. Nobody manned up there was no pressure on the ball carrier. Nobody dropped back to fill up space in the Geelong forward line to help out Fletch and Bradley. Geelong did as they pleased around the stoppages and the centre clearences by the cats was done with the utmost ease.

That's a fairly accurate summary. It's been a while since we were witches hats (a term that too readily sprung to mind as I watched)

 

[Dave]

Henno - starting to show a few signs. Will be a good stop gap player. Half decent talls are hard to find.

Problem is he's not even half decent. Have a loko when he plays KP, he's beaten time and again, too slow on the lead and not strong enough to body.

 

[alex1fun]

I thought James Hird was excellent for you guys last night. He carried you through the whole first half and was the main force behind your 20 point lead in the 3rd quarter. The guy is just an absolute champion. In the last years of his career, he shouldn't have to shoulder the entire burden of your team. He needs support from the young guys and it wasn't there for you last night. Hird should play off half back or half forward and do his brilliant cameos; he's got the talent but he's on the wrong side of 30.

When Josh Hunt got moved on to him, he shut him down and that was the end of Essendon.

Look at Riccardi for Geelong. He's in the same boat as Hirdy. Sublime skills, but getting long in the tooth. But Ricco's got a midfield beside him that does the job, and he doesn't have to do it all himself.

It's not all bad though. You had a dismal 2nd half, but Kepler Bradley did alright for you and Ben Haynes and that Paul Thomas guy (who is he?) were also good. Congrats on Lloyd getting his 700th career goal.

Well done mate.
Congratulations on the win.
Good luck with 2005.

 

[Pevers-Legend]

I had to laugh at Henno in the ruck twice he tried to ruck with his back to the ball. Sensational stuff.

How can you play him in the ruck while stalling the development of Layco ck and Cartledge - play em - better they ruck and lose than Henneman who is a stop gap measure. Sheedy - you're still trying to plug holes with cotton wool, rather than just bititng the bullet and playing the kids.

New coach needed. Am totally amazed no one has mentioned our appaling team work - or lack thereof. Can you tell me of a team who works more inefficiently together. Well rely on individuals, and when they get tired - bang we get smashed.

Big clean out needed on and off the ground.

 

[Diamond_Joe]

New coach needed. Am totally amazed no one has mentioned our appaling team work - or lack thereof. Can you tell me of a team who works more inefficiently together. Well rely on individuals, and when they get tired - bang we get smashed.

Big clean out needed on and off the ground.

And who do we get then? Mark Harvey? Gary O'donnell? Who? Tell us who is going to replace sheeds if he is the problem. Maybe Sheeds should go back and coach the team, not leave it up to his assistants. He should be running everything and his main problem is listening to dodoro, NOW HE HAS TO GO and he can take Quinn with him.