Review Negatives against Port (Maybe positives too)

[Bacchus]

Again, this is entirely conjecture? The club has spoken about the hub at length, and has never whined (beyond Simmo asking for a return date). You can’t just say “he’s been whining” when there’s direct quote after direct quote of him saying it’s not the hub, it’s us, we have no issue with the hub, the atmosphere is good, we’re not good enough etc etc

Writing a long paragraph about how Simpson is whining without providing evidence of it isn’t any more convincing than the previous poster who did it in one sentence.

Yes, it may be 'conjecture' that Simpson has been whining but I suggest that I would not be alone in having this opinion. I can not give you an armful of direct quotes where he has said 'we don't want to be here' and 'we resent being here '. However he has said things like 'a lot of the guys have families' (he himself has four children and a wife who have stayed behind in Perth, for what, six weeks?), and 'it's not ideal', and giving no answer along with blank, not happy looking expressions. It's body language and reading between the lines, not the lines directly, but it could be BS. It could be splitting hairs as to whether this constitutes 'whining', only he knows his real position on it, we are all speculating. My conclusion is that he is not happy about the situation.

 

[HoneyBadger35]

Yes, it may be 'conjecture' that Simpson has been whining but I suggest that I would not be alone in having this opinion. I can not give you an armful of direct quotes where he has said 'we don't want to be here' and 'we resent being here '. However he has said things like 'a lot of the guys have families' (he himself has four children and a wife who have stayed behind in Perth, for what, six weeks?), and 'it's not ideal', and giving no answer along with blank, not happy looking expressions. It's body language and reading between the lines, not the lines directly, but it could be BS. It could be splitting hairs as to whether this constitutes 'whining', only he knows his real position on it, we are all speculating. My conclusion is that he is not happy about the situation.

I don’t doubt he’s unhappy about the situation. I’d suggest he wasn’t happy that his team, as the higher ranked side and having already beaten the Pies twice, had to play an away Grand Final in 2018, but he still got the job done. I doubt anyone was happy Nic Nat did his knee again. They adapted.

Being unhappy with the hand you’ve been dealt doesn’t equal whinging, and it doesn’t mean you drop your bundle and stop trying. They’ve proven time and again that they can deal with frustrating situations that they’re not happy about, but this media narrative that we’ve been whinging is laughable given we’ve been doing anything but.

I’m sure they’ll be particularly happy with spending seven straight weeks at home later in the year. Does it mean we’ll go 7-0? Doubtful, if they keep turning up like this. Happiness with the situation or otherwise does not equate to going in the media and having a big cry about it, which is what’s being presented and is demonstrably untrue.

 

[RookiePick]

There was a clear plan to block Barrass and stop him from impacting contests.

Sheppard spoke about it after the game and put the responsibility on the entire back 7 for not doing enough to help him out.

This really frustrates me. Why do we seem incapable of doing the same for our forwards? It is rampant in the midfield too. No one does the unglamorous grunt work that let's the stars shine and so everything we do is rushed, under pressure and laborious.

 

[Dylan82]

If I find some extra time between work commitments I may put another piece together in response to where the clubs needs to go now in order to recover the season.

There are a number of issues that are combining to create the disappointing performances that we have been witness to.

Arguably the three biggest ones are in relation to the following:

Lack of pace in defence - when every other team in the competition is trying to get more and more drive and run from the back half, actively recruiting in the off season to ensure there are multiple options available on the ground, this club has remained static and now has a major problem on its hands without an easy solution. The ineffective ball movement; discord between defence, midfield and attack; inability to prevent opposition transition; and even the ability to assist in neutralising opposition blocking efforts would all be addressed to an extent simply by adding mobility to the backline.​

​

Giving the ball away recklessly and failing to win it back - this team currently plays like it does not care about midfield turnovers, it just wants to gain territory and try to lock it in and start again. But you obviously cannot lock it in if the possession is turned over to the opponent. In the past this risk/reward of territory versus turnovers worked in the clubs favor and non-targeted kicks gained useful forward entries through which pressure could be applied upon the opposition. Now however, that is no longer the case - opponents press much higher up the ground and their emphasis is upon the prevention of the second possession from contested situations. If a kick from a contested situation is not targeted, it will likely fall to an opposition outnumber and become a turnover. Opponent turnovers in the middle and forward of centre are the number one source of scoring in the competition for all clubs. In other words, the hack kicks forward no longer work to get the ball forward and create a avenue to score for the opposition.​

The ruck and selecting players who spend more than half the match on the sideline - the last two matches saw the second ruck position (Allen, then Hickey) spend just 45 and 41 percent of time on the ground during the match. Effectively, the club is selecting 21 players to play against the opposition's 22. Conditioning issues aside, it is clear the club is setting itself up to overrun with the current selection policy. Naitanui with his less than 70% time on ground in reduced length matches needs to be brought into question. Is his output during that two-thirds of the match when he is on the ground enough to justify the upending of the structure and running capability of the squad?​

The current position on the ladder is both disappointing and deserved.

 

[WCErevival]

To solve the 3rd issue, your second ruck plays as a forward. This where Williams needs to be blooded.

 

[mystrongeye]

Feel Simo has erred in commenting so much on the hub. Too much new age soft cuddles from Simo has filtered into the players heads.
Saw this too. What do you think is going on with the backs? Change of leadership?



Saw Barrass at half time sitting with arms and legs crossed not interested. The entire backline looked tired and depressed including Hurn. The bodylanguage of the defense at half time in the rooms was shocking. The mids and forwards looked engaged with the coaches but not the defense group.

We have the players but the attitude is shocking.

 

[mystrongeye]

Saw this too. What do you think is going on with the backs? Change of leadership?

 

[Freomaniac]

Potential wooden spoon game coming up. You guys maybe without Fyfe.

we will go 0-5

 

[Eaglemaniac]

we will go 0-5

I actually thought you guys have shown some good signs. You’re definitely more watchable since Lyon left.

 

[Freomaniac]

I actually thought you guys have shown some good signs. You’re definitely more watchable since Lyon left.

the cruel thing was we lost to essendon by 6 points, Brisbane by 12 and Gold coast by 13.

3 Narrow games. Losing Alex Pearce and Joel Hamling hurts. thats your Full back and Centre half back there. Sean darcy is injured, thats our main ruck. Acres is out.

To top it off, Fyfe has done a hamstring. thats 3 weeks, that means he will miss the derby. Dont get me wrong, I dont mind the change of a new coach and playing some kids, but Freo needs a win.

 

[Obeanie1]

Maybe the vast majority of players have nothing left to give.

Been up since 13 or 14. Including last year, that's 7 years. It's a long time.

Replace vast with a handful of key players.

Its a tough mountain to climb and others want to climb it more than we are atm.

Kennedy - starting to show some form and contribution .
Hurn - he looks tired and slow. Sad but it happens, great player.
Jetta - is he in superannuation mode.
Schofield - he is in post retirement preparation mode.

What Port showed was a batch of exciting kids surrounded by experienced players all hunting the contest.

 

[Obeanie1]

Were all the C-Virus related layoffs the staff that rubbed the players' bellies? What I saw yesterday were players sulking. Which is only going to perpetuate in an environment where they can do nothing but sit around and sulk together during the week.

It's like they're sulking that the opposition wants to work harder than them. We're seeing single efforts (if that) from 95% of the ones out there, and it's the easier, softer option every time. This ******* pisses me off more than anything as a supporter. You can't change the whole team (unfortunately) but you have to start by dropping the worst offenders. Find us some players with backbone and self pride quick, get them in, and just hope it rubs off before we turn into ******* Melbourne FC and this becomes a disaster for years to come.

We did look like a side with not much heart.

I didnt like a couple of time players went the flashy reverse bannana shots and missed when a 15m short pass to player in front would have been easy. Kelly was one, someone from the boundary was another.

We need to focus on working hard without the ball and that even means when we do have control of it. Players need to do selfless running, blocking and tackling to help their team mate with it or to get the ball back. Focus on helping your team mate instead of looking good yourself. Do that and things will start to click.

 

[ziad]

This really frustrates me. Why do we seem incapable of doing the same for our forwards? It is rampant in the midfield too. No one does the unglamorous grunt work that let's the stars shine and so everything we do is rushed, under pressure and laborious.

our backs get blocked and our forwards sit dumb and get blocked - we need to adapt

 

[The Stid]

How inspiring are Van Berlo and Rosa as coaches

+ Webster

 

[Mighty Eagles]

POSITIVES
- Sheppard continuing his brilliant 2020
- Jetta too
- Naitanui having one of his best seasons for us
- JK's return to form - needs to perform it more consistently to hold his spot (think he knows it too)
- Ryan's good 2020 continuing (I'll excuse the inaccuracy v GC)
- Another game into Brander - looks more confident each week
- Jones
- Ah Chee is having an impact which is pleasing

NEGATIVES
- Midfield; Kelly, Yeo, Redden and Sheed are having next to no impact on matches. I question whether they did the full program during the "break"
- Darling - 2 goals in 3 matches; just 381 goals from 200 matches. It’s time to trade him.
- Cripps - having a stinking 2020.
- Barrass
- Cole
- Hickey

 

[Yoey]

We will at some stage have to look at cutting the North Melbourne influence at West Coast, I'd be keen to have a complete coaching staff clean out and bring in some new idea's along with culling the list pretty hard. Also we need to look at the GWS list and see who is gettable like the big Melbourne clubs do every year.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

We will at some stage have to look at cutting the North Melbourne influence at West Coast

Brady Rawlings not do enough for your liking whilst here?

 

[Godfather32]

Brady Rawlings not do enough for your liking whilst here?

Darren Glass has got a lot of work to do in the next couple of years

 

[wc_eagles_since86]

A lot of conjecture about feelings based performance. Unless you're a qualified psych. with the Eagles, I doubt anyone here is really qualified to say much on the matter, unless it is, of course, hearsay.

Surely it is much more about our players positioning, coaching, strategy and output as opposed to just our mental state. One could argue that the mental aspect is everything in sport, but it isn't: if it were, none of our players would be able to stand on good numbers because the whole team would be absolutely awful. That clearly isn't the case as it seems some of our players are getting up.

To add, without having private access to all their communications and conversations, can we really say for sure we know that they're unhappy? I agree that after searching the net for information about whinging, I didn't find sweet f. a. To contrast with this idea, they do look 'disinterested' as a lot of us remarked: perhaps it's more to do with being f' king unfit?

 

[Cuzz09]

definately need some blindfold training.

On SM-G925I using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Yamumluvsbigcox]

we will go 0-5

 

[Gwaihir]

What compounds my disappointment in this season, is I have no interest in any games not involving the eagles, I have been put off by boring game play, and garbage commentary. So I only tune in to see our boys play.....and ugh.

When we play bad, we all look bad.....well except Shep....how f'in great is Shep?

Hear hear.. Love for the club is the only thing keeping me interested in AFL.. After a colleague gave up a third qtr score update (spoiling is a dog act) and I heard that flog Dwayne Russell (one of the worst of a terrible bunch) calling the game, I didn't even bother to catch the second half of the FTA delay.. Maybe I'm just a fan and not obsessed..

 

[Cuzz09]

What compounds my disappointment in this season, is I have no interest in any games not involving the eagles, I have been put off by boring game play, and garbage commentary. So I only tune in to see our boys play.....and ugh.

When we play bad, we all look bad.....well except Shep....how f'in great is Shep?

The other games are so boring and our games are depressing. I haven't watched a full game and probably wont.

On SM-G925I using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Kempy the legend]

POSITIVES
- Sheppard continuing his brilliant 2020
- Jetta too
- Naitanui having one of his best seasons for us
- JK's return to form - needs to perform it more consistently to hold his spot (think he knows it too)
- Ryan's good 2020 continuing (I'll excuse the inaccuracy v GC)
- Another game into Brander - looks more confident each week
- Jones
- Ah Chee is having an impact which is pleasing

NEGATIVES
- Midfield; Kelly, Yeo, Redden and Sheed are having next to no impact on matches. I question whether they did the full program during the "break"
- Cripps - having a stinking 2020.
- Barrass
- Cole
- Hickey

Agree with everything you wrote accept what about darling, he was woeful. Not sure hickey instead of Allen was worth it.

 

[Mighty Eagles]

Agree with everything you wrote accept what about darling, he was woeful. Not sure hickey instead of Allen was worth it.

Very good pickup, that was an oversight, will amend.

While Hickey isn’t cutting the mustard, he is at least a ruckman. Allen is - in no way, shape or form - a ruckman. He’s a key forward.


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com