Opinion Last year was an anomaly

[Shuestar13]

A great anomaly it was! Such a chore supporting this club, really gets you down. So so sad

 

[ChampRevesby]

Just pathetic.

 

[kaII]

It's pretty rare for interstate sides to win a premiership without something anomalous in the mix. Takes a lot to win a premiership, and a significant part of that is just sheer luck.

 

[Candiru]

I wouldn't go quite that far. We've got a fair bit of talent. The problem is that we've been trying to get it done on talent and by playing in bursts. That won't cut it and you can see the examples of how that cost us in the last third of the season.

 

[Candiru]

There's one stat that worries me, though.

How many games have our top 5 mids missed this season?

Sheed and Shuey have played every game. Yeo and Redden have missed 1 each. Gaff missed the first 2 with suspension but none since.

That's the anomaly. I doubt we'll have such good fortune with not a single significant injury to our top-line midfielders.

 

[Jimthegreat]

Unpopular opinion / morning-after melt

I think this side is mentally weak and has been the whole time under Simpson and Hurn. 2018 was an anomaly.

This year we’ve just reverted back to the 2015-2017 flat track bully. Not in terms of thrashing the bottom sides, but in only performing when we’re allowed to play our preferred style.

As soon as the opposition makes it too hard for us to implement our champagne footy, we have no one (other than maybe Yeo) stepping up to fight back.

Last year, we managed to find some sort of spirit in the finals, and all of our players started to dig in, but whatever it was it clearly disappeared over the off-season.

So really when you look at things over the course of a few years, it seems more and more like 2018 was an outlier and we are just continuing to be a very talented but ultimately brittle one-dimensional side under Simpson and Hurn.

UTBC

No, a drop in intensity the next year is the one normal downside of winning a flag. That's why very few sides, outside the really great ones, win flags back to back. You'd accept that to win a flag.

 

[Tom_Thumb]

Too many weak links in the chain, Tom Hickey being the sole ruck ( Oscar is being wasted ) and Gaff being the plodder "go too man" will result in an early exit of finals. Jetta is the guy who should be doing Gaffs role, bring in Vardy and play Hicks in the forward line, drop Waterman, Masten and Nelson bring in Shoey and Cameron. I'd even give Barrass a forward role to get him out of his loss of confidence/form slump and move Shoey into his spot. Do something Simmo because we are in some kind of window that will go begging with your do nothing and rely on the player to come good ideology.

 

[FKASC]

campaigners don’t appreciate a good melt

 

[FKASC]

18 team comp, it's incredibly hard to win flags.

We haven't had early draft picks in a long time. Look at our 22 from last night, the only top 10 draft picks in the lot were Gaff, Sheppard, Kennedy (who we didn't even draft) and Masten (who most don't rate), with Gaff the most recent of those drafted a decade ago. Yet we keep finishing in the top end of the ladder most years. We keep developing a-graders out of late picks regularly. Our assistant coaches constantly get pinched because of how well we do things.

We're an exceptionally successful club.

Not denying we’re successful at all and certainly not unhappy as a supporter. Love this club and stoked that we have won more games / finals / whatever than anyone else in recent times.

But I just think this particular group doesn’t have a hard enough edge to capitalise on the talent in the squad, the H&A success, or the club’s resources.

I think we all assumed that 2018 was a turning point but despite having a good injury list and supposedly the best side in the comp, we’ve failed more tests this year than we’ve passed.

I guess we’ll have to wait til 2020 to find out whether this year was just a premiership hangover, and maybe the hunger will return

 

[FKASC]

Haven’t we played the most finals, won the most finals and won the most games out of every side in the comp over the last 5 years or something?

Nice melt, what cheese did you get?

Old English obviously

 

[FKASC]

Go and look up the definition of anomaly.

Finals the past 4 years including 2 GF's and a premiership.
Won the most games and finals the last 4 years.
Some might say we're due.

Melbourne's season could be classed as an anomaly.

The fact we’ve won the most games to me says we’ve underachieved when it’s mattered most.

Rolling over against WB and GWS in two successive finals series + last night in what was largely an elimination final... it kinda cancels out all the mid season success for mine

 

[Tugga27]

The fact we’ve won the most games to me says we’ve underachieved when it’s mattered most.

Rolling over against WB and GWS in two successive finals series + last night in what was largely an elimination final... it kinda cancels out all the mid season success for mine

Not sure how you think we "rolled over" against the Bulldog, seeing as they went on to win the premiership.

 

[FKASC]

Not sure how you think we "rolled over" against the Bulldog, seeing as they went on to win the premiership.

How else would you describe it? No doubt they were in form but we didn’t put up a fight

 

[Tugga27]

How else would you describe it? No doubt they were in form but we didn’t put up a fight

I would describe it as getting beaten by a much better side on the day.

Every time you get beaten doesn't mean you rolled over.

 

[Matera92]

Players aren't as hungry as last year, when tested they aren't as willing to dig deep like last years because they've 'won one'.

It's a very human thing, and expected.

I wish the people who keep dribbling s**t like 'We've got another gear to go' would stop with that rubbish.
We don't, this is 2019 WCE, inconsistent and patchy.

 

[Max zero]

There's one stat that worries me, though.

How many games have our top 5 mids missed this season?

Sheed and Shuey have played every game. Yeo and Redden have missed 1 each. Gaff missed the first 2 with suspension but none since.

That's the anomaly. I doubt we'll have such good fortune with not a single significant injury to our top-line midfielders.

Good point. We have had injuries but not to our core mids yet our engine room has been our weakpoint.

Maybe our mids are a bit overrated outside of Yeo after 2018?

 

[Max zero]

I would describe it as getting beaten by a much better side on the day.

Every time you get beaten doesn't mean you rolled over.

Some players definately rolled over. Duggan and Barrass came to mind.

 

[Bleedblueandgold]

Yes.
Need a full rebuild with new coaching team.
2018 was a massive fluke that will never be repeated again.

 

[cottoneyeYeo]

Always thought u were a bit of a nuff

 

[Seadog]

Winning a flag is an anomaly, the more normal course of events is not to win one. This year is more where I thought we would finish last year so I get where you are coming from.
I think we are carrying too many "average" players, from last night Petch, Duggan, Nelson, Masten, Hickey and Waterman fit into that category and when they have a bad night Sheed, Redden and Cripps are in there as well. There is a mid size galaxy between Sheed and Reddens best and worst games and when Shuey has probably his worse month of football ever it leaves Yeo with too much to do.
Desperately need some Kelly, Cogs silk injection, blokes who can win it inside and also use it well on the spread. Cogs looks unlikely so Kelly it has to be.
Get it done WC.

 

[Tugga27]

Some players definately rolled over. Duggan and Barrass came to mind.

Yeah, nah.

Just badly out of form.
Doesn't mean they weren't trying.

 

[Jiggyman]

False. Let's see what we can dish out in our first final, before completely giving up.

 

[Max zero]

Yeah, nah.

Just badly out of form.
Doesn't mean they weren't trying.

Na when Duggan was pulling out of contests he was not trying by definition.

 

[Nuke Fremantle]

There's one stat that worries me, though.

How many games have our top 5 mids missed this season?

Sheed and Shuey have played every game. Yeo and Redden have missed 1 each. Gaff missed the first 2 with suspension but none since.

That's the anomaly. I doubt we'll have such good fortune with not a single significant injury to our top-line midfielders.

I've been thinking of exactly the same thing.

I'm putting it down to 2 factors;

1. We usually playing at least 1 fewer specialist mid than most teams, due to Simpson's preference for playing specialist forwards. It worked (just) last year but this year the combined fatigue has taken it's toll. Too much being left to too few. There also hasn't been enough pressure for spots, our Beagles mids have hardly set the world on fire.

2. The perennial problem of over reliance on NicNat. Okay, we won 3 finals last year without him but don't forget he played most of 2018 and was a big reason we were sitting in the top 2 all year. Simpson calls him "our Dangerfield" with good reason.

 

[Rowan18]

Unpopular opinion / morning-after melt

I think this side is mentally weak and has been the whole time under Simpson and Hurn. 2018 was an anomaly.

This year we’ve just reverted back to the 2015-2017 flat track bully. Not in terms of thrashing the bottom sides, but in only performing when we’re allowed to play our preferred style.

As soon as the opposition makes it too hard for us to implement our champagne footy, we have no one (other than maybe Yeo) stepping up to fight back.

Last year, we managed to find some sort of spirit in the finals, and all of our players started to dig in, but whatever it was it clearly disappeared over the off-season.

So really when you look at things over the course of a few years, it seems more and more like 2018 was an outlier and we are just continuing to be a very talented but ultimately brittle one-dimensional side under Simpson and Hurn.

UTBC

I've been pretty pessimistic after last night but this is taking it too far. We won one less game than 2018 with a much harder draw (as we should have being the reigning premier).

We still have a good squad with a great age profile. If all goes well, we can manage the transition of some of our key veterans while still playing finals. It's great being a west coast supporter.