Review Rate Our Season

[DaZorko]

10/10 did what we was suppose too, also knocked off Adelaide and West Coast.

 

[POBT]

Cotter mentioned the Reserves. The way we've performed at that level is a further plus for the club. Whilst the senior performance will be how the club is ultimately judged, what we've managed to do in the NEAFL this year, compared to previous years, should be factored into how the club's season is rated.

 

[Toffee Lion]

Cotter mentioned the Reserves. The way we've performed at that level is a further plus for the club. Whilst the senior performance will be how the club is ultimately judged, what we've managed to do in the NEAFL this year, compared to previous years, should be factored into how the club's season is rated.

Spot on.

Players like Green, Beams, Harwood, Lisle, Yeo all dominating the reserves and then making an impact at the senior level this year as well.

Hopefully next year it's the likes of Clarke, Michael, Bartlett, Polec, Docherty etc.

 

[jackess]

If someone asked me before the season if I'd be happy to take 10 wins I'd say yes and it's still the case. I think 8 wins would've been a pass so to get a couple more and to finish the season strongly is a big win.

 

[POBT]

The draw certainly opened up for us, having 2 games against the Dogs and Melbourne who were a lot worse than what people expected. Having said that, I reckon 90% of the footy world had us as a clear bottom 4 side, alongside Port and the 2 expansion clubs. Even with the decline of the Dogs/Dees, based on expectations, we should have been scrapping around in the bottom 5 or 6 spots, winning some and losing some against the sides in a similar position. But we didn't - we're 4.5 wins ahead of Port in 14th spot - that's a hefty gap. By comparison, there's 1 win and percentage separating us from Carlton, Richmond and Essendon in the 10th-12th range. Not such a big gap.

 

[The Flying Belgian]

If the scale is from 0-10, 0 being a winless season and 10 being a flag, then you have to say its a 4/10.

But of we're factoring in list profile then I'd probably be saying around 6.5/10. There's still a lot to be fixed in the midfield. That we seem to score predominantly off turnovers is a good and bad thing. Our skills are still sketchy and decision-making not the best at times. But guys like Golby, Zorko and Green have improved us markedly and Lester and Yeo have stepped up also. Cohesion and as a result skill and decision-making will improve as these kids play more and more footy together.

 

[blynd_freddie]

If the scale is from 0-10, 0 being a winless season and 10 being a flag, then you have to say its a 4/10.

But of we're factoring in list profile then I'd probably be saying around 6.5/10. There's still a lot to be fixed in the midfield. That we seem to score predominantly off turnovers is a good and bad thing. Our skills are still sketchy and decision-making not the best at times. But guys like Golby, Zorko and Green have improved us markedly and Lester and Yeo have stepped up also. Cohesion and as a result skill and decision-making will improve as these kids play more and more footy together.

Agree and agree with the above two ratings -

I think in the preseason quiz [by the completion of the NAB Cup] I had an expectation of 9 wins - so in addition to the above I feel I can rightly give them 10/10 for exceeding my win expectations PLUS as others have alluded to, the player development, both in the 1sts and with the 2nds now earning a berth in the NEAFL GF.

I think I may have quoted a coaches suggestion before but there is a belief that to stay at the same level from one year to the next you need to improve overall by around 10% - buggered if I know what the KPI's are or what percentage we have improved is but we have improved - therefore the improvement [imo] has been greater than the suggested 10% - if [whatever the % improvement was] is repeated again in 2013] - then I am comfortable in the belief that a finals berth to be the 'next par score' on my scorecard for the coming season... [apologies if that sounds like a riddle but it's all as clear as mud in my mind's eye ]

 

[Caiphus]

I give the season a B+. I don't buy into Vossy's lack of tactical nouse that everyone has spouted on about for the last couple of years; in 2009 the number of come from behind victories we had was more than about having a motivator in place, he made adjustments on the fly that allowed us to pull wins out of thin air. This year, he demonstrated he has a clear game plan that he wants to implement... and in my opinion it is a very good game plan to take on the top sides once we have more consistency amongst the players to be able to execute their roles. He seems to be a very good teaching coach as well. He has demonstrated the ability to be pro-active this year to add to what many considered an overly reactive tactical style. With a young side many of the games seemed to demonstrate a "lesson-of-the-week" sort of plan to things rather than going all out for the win.

Some of our big losses were no where near as bad as what many would have you think from just looking at the scoreline. We played well against Geelong in most areas aside from goal-kicking in my oppinion. Our first half at the gabba against Carlton we ran pretty well with a team in form at the time before they blew us away in the second half after a 5 day turn around coming off an unexpected (at the time) win against Melbourne at the MCG.

Freo was one of those "lesson-of-the-week" that showed we could play a lock-down defensive game when we have to, we didn't win, but that was such a radical change in style that I thought some valuable lessons were learnt from it.

Essendon, Collingwood, Carlton away and Richmond were our only really poor games for the year IMO (where we didn't get a result). We played badly against Melbourne at the Gabba and won in my opinion; did the same at Metricon; and arguably at AAMI against Port. Who would of thought at the beginning of the year that we would be able to play badly and beat any team?

For me, the game against St Kilda was probably the ideal game to showcase our season. We played well, but couldn't come away with the win because a team on the slide still was more damaging then us across the park but we competed very well and on another day could of gone very differently.

We seem to have some depth now too, with tough decisions about who to cut from the list in the off-season. We have a list full of footballers, rather than athletes we are trying to turn into footballers, and our backroom staff seem to be doing a pretty good job of getting people fit and maintaining their loads for the year.

And we still have some good talent waiting in the wings that we didn't even see on the park for the seniors this year, not because they weren't good enough; because we could afford to let them develop a bit more instead of rushing them.

I'm optimistic for the coming seasons. At the beginning of the year I was afraid that we might take another 7-8 seasons and another bottoming out before we could have a run at the top 4. I was afraid that when we would be good enough to be up there that the expansion clubs would be in full swing with their extra concessions having a period of dominance that we couldn't break. I am now afraid that if we continue on this trajectory, the clubs projections of a 2016 premiership might be a bit conservative...

'Carn the Lions!

 

[Haso]

[apologies if that sounds like a riddle but it's all as clear as mud in my mind's eye ]

There's that Freddy effect again

 

[POBT]

It will be interesting to see where the pundits rate us over the off season. You'd think that no-one expects the bottom 5 sides to make massive improvements over one summer so I can't see anyone predicting that we'll finish lower than 13th (although I wouldn't be surprised to see the Gold Coast jump up the ladder a bit, particularly if they recruit well over summer).

Both Carlton and Essendon had patches where they looked top 4 worthy. Richmond is considered a team on the rise. I can't see anyone ranking us above them. I don't reckon anyone will put St Kilda inside the 8 - they look like a club on a very slow slide whilst they regenerate their list. Geelong's finals performance will determine how they are ranked over summer - lose to Freo on Saturday and the knives will be out.

Gut feel is that we'll be ranked pretty much where we finished this year - but I suspect that a few people will have an asterisk that says "could surprise".

 

[knaf]

I posted somewhere that 7 to 9 wins was about the best I could see us doing. So I suppose I should be very happy with 10 wins. Also happy overall with the improvements in individual players.

Still a long way to go. I not expecting finals next year, but I think a 10 to 12 win year would be acceptable given the current development stage of the list. Next year it is really critical that we get consistency out of the players who have got a taste over the last two years.

 

[POBT]

The draw is going to be really significant in how many wins we get next year. As a non finals side, we should expect a relatively good draw in terms of minimising top 8 match ups and maximising bottom 5 match ups.

 

[The Flying Belgian]

From what I've seen from experts ladder predictions they take last years ladder and bump it with their elbow.

 

[Harris Specter]

The draw is going to be really significant in how many wins we get next year. As a non finals side, we should expect a relatively good draw in terms of minimising top 8 match ups and maximising bottom 5 match ups.

So really, it's like the Adelaide draw this year?

 

[POBT]

From what I've seen from experts ladder predictions they take last years ladder and bump it with their elbow.

And given they can't tell their arse from their elbow....

 

[Stocka]

I think we made par this season. We did well to not lose any games that we would have been expected to win, and a lot of our wins against lower opponents were by healthy margins. The strong finish to the year, including the win against Adelaide is a temptation to say that we exceeded par, but I still find it disconcerting that we were unable to beat any of the other "middle of the table" teams (Fremantle, North Melbourne, St.Kilda, Essendon, Carlton and Richmond), and in fact, were often beaten very comfortably by them. Additionally, our percentage also ended up being a fair margin behind these other middle teams.

If we are to look at games that we potentially "could have, won but didn't", I'd suggest the games against Fremantle (Round 3), North Melbourne (Round 9), St.Kilda (Round 16) and Carlton (Round 20) come to mind (whilst we also had some competitive patches against Hawthorn in Round 12 and Richmond in Round 19). Certainly, we should have won against St.Kilda, after leading for most of the night. However, even these other three games saw Fremantle, North and Carlton have fairly comfortable wins, usually on the back of one quarter of dominance with our challenge coming from too far back to be successful.

To some degree, I perhaps would have liked to have seen us beat some of the middle teams, instead of beating Adelaide and WCE, given that it would have assisted our climb up the ladder and signified that we certainly in the mix for the "middle team" category. So, for me it is still a bit disconcerting that we did not achieve this, given that we will still need to improve further to even to get 10 wins next year, as it could be expected that the teams below us will have a chance of improving and reducing some of "easier" wins from this season to a lower number, and yet further improvement on top of this to get in the mix of the middle teams, who all looked comfortably above us this season.

For mine, the best thing, apart from an increased number of wins this season, was the fact that we were able to give a considerable number of games to the likes of Golby, Bewick, Zorko, Harwood, Lester and Green, who all added significantly to the team. Yeo and Crisp also showed a bit in a reasonable number of showings as well. A number of these players made significant improvements to our team in the areas of midfield depth, ball-winning ability, improved skills, pace and goal-kicking ability, whilst a number also showed the ability to take responsibility for a defensive role down back or in the midfield. Most of these players looked to have quite a bit of promise for the future.

The improvement of Rich and Hanley in particular was also a highlight. Redden's continued improvement, whilst perhaps not as "spectacular", should see him win a deserved B&F and was also very pleasing. Merrett and Raines probably had the best years of their careers.

Most of the other "older players" (Brown, Black, McGrath, Patfull, Maguire, Hudson, etc.) did what you'd expect of them to a reasonably good level, with Hudson in particular giving us good value. Drummond battled through the year and looks more on the "way out" than any of our other older brigade (I still think he is worth keeping on for another year, though). Adcock was a little underwhelming, but he did also have some very good games throughout the season. Polkinghorne was better than some on here give him credit for, but he probably didn't improve his game as much as might be desired. Banfield was overtaken by others and Karnezis and Cornelius had trouble finding form and a role in the team, and for mine, are perhaps both question marks heading into future seasons (I'd consider both as tradable). Hawskley, Stiller, Sheldon and Buchanan contributed little more than the bit-part roles combined that they'd done in previous years. Regarding the players in this paragraph, I'd say that most performed as expected, and we probably "broke even" with this group of players.

Also, another positive was that we seemed to avoid injury more than in previous years.

Outside of bad losses (of which there were a few), and not beating St.Kilda when we should have, disappointments, for me, were that Beams and Lisle did not get as many games as perhaps they could have during earlier parts of the year. Both showed in the last month of the season that they could have a positive impact to the team and arguably could have been of help earlier in the season. Injuries to Leuenberger and Polec that robbed us of their presence in the team were also disappointing (the same goes for McGrath, Maguire and Golby who missed a significant number of games). Rockliff's season was a bit of a let-down on what he displayed in 2011, however, it seems as though he may have been affected by various injuries throughout the year and possibly played most of the second half of the year unfit.

 

[blynd_freddie]

To some degree, I perhaps would have liked to have seen us beat some of the middle teams, instead of beating Adelaide and WCE, given that it would have assisted our climb up the ladder and signified that we certainly in the mix for the "middle team" category. So, for me it is still a bit disconcerting that we did not achieve this --
-- not beating St.Kilda when we should have, disappointments, for me, were that Beams and Lisle did not get as many games as perhaps they could have during earlier parts of the year. Both showed in the last month of the season that they could have a positive impact to the team and arguably could have been of help earlier in the season. Injuries to Leuenberger and Polec that robbed us of their presence in the team were also disappointing (the same goes for McGrath, Maguire and Golby who missed a significant number of games). Rockliff's season was a bit of a let-down on what he displayed in 2011, however, it seems as though he may have been affected by various injuries throughout the year and possibly played most of the second half of the year unfit.

Apologies for the snips - I'm all for the WCE and Adelaide wins Stocka, on two fronts, the kids may have taken the belief of the WCE win into the ADE game and therefore take this into next season. IMO these are mentally, far greater foundations for positiveness going forward then middle of the road wins. [not to mention staying within a top ten draft pick ]
The disappointments of the injuries to the above, previously thought to be 'best 22 players' should also be beneficial in a serious preseason period for ALL players wanting to hold/regain a 2013 position - the in house competition for selection theoretically should again raise the bar for the overall level of squads skills and fitness. [ahhh, the off season -- where the dreams of what can be are not burst by pricks of comments in the vent thread after a loss [big winks to those that are/do].

 

[POBT]

Of all the sides outside the top 8, would we be the most satisfied with our season? Richmond - maybe although I sense they see this year as a bit of a missed opportunity. GWS would probably be pretty happy with the development of their youngsters.

 

[Cousin Jed]

Can't see any way Richmond would be satisfied. Blowing 3 games in 3 weeks 1 against the Suns would have to cut. Got 2012 Coleman medalist and winner of the Coaches Votes award in their team and couldn't crack the top 10.

 

[Bucking Beads]

I'd say our season gets a 7/10 mark. We have certainly improved but will need to at the very least maintain what we have produced this year next year for it to matter at all.

 

[WhiteLionFeva]

I think we made par this season. We did well to not lose any games that we would have been expected to win, and a lot of our wins against lower opponents were by healthy margins. The strong finish to the year, including the win against Adelaide is a temptation to say that we exceeded par, but I still find it disconcerting that we were unable to beat any of the other "middle of the table" teams (Fremantle, North Melbourne, St.Kilda, Essendon, Carlton and Richmond), and in fact, were often beaten very comfortably by them. Additionally, our percentage also ended up being a fair margin behind these other middle teams.

If we are to look at games that we potentially "could have, won but didn't", I'd suggest the games against Fremantle (Round 3), North Melbourne (Round 9), St.Kilda (Round 16) and Carlton (Round 20) come to mind (whilst we also had some competitive patches against Hawthorn in Round 12 and Richmond in Round 19). Certainly, we should have won against St.Kilda, after leading for most of the night. However, even these other three games saw Fremantle, North and Carlton have fairly comfortable wins, usually on the back of one quarter of dominance with our challenge coming from too far back to be successful.

To some degree, I perhaps would have liked to have seen us beat some of the middle teams, instead of beating Adelaide and WCE, given that it would have assisted our climb up the ladder and signified that we certainly in the mix for the "middle team" category. So, for me it is still a bit disconcerting that we did not achieve this, given that we will still need to improve further to even to get 10 wins next year, as it could be expected that the teams below us will have a chance of improving and reducing some of "easier" wins from this season to a lower number, and yet further improvement on top of this to get in the mix of the middle teams, who all looked comfortably above us this season.

For mine, the best thing, apart from an increased number of wins this season, was the fact that we were able to give a considerable number of games to the likes of Golby, Bewick, Zorko, Harwood, Lester and Green, who all added significantly to the team. Yeo and Crisp also showed a bit in a reasonable number of showings as well. A number of these players made significant improvements to our team in the areas of midfield depth, ball-winning ability, improved skills, pace and goal-kicking ability, whilst a number also showed the ability to take responsibility for a defensive role down back or in the midfield. Most of these players looked to have quite a bit of promise for the future.

The improvement of Rich and Hanley in particular was also a highlight. Redden's continued improvement, whilst perhaps not as "spectacular", should see him win a deserved B&F and was also very pleasing. Merrett and Raines probably had the best years of their careers.

Most of the other "older players" (Brown, Black, McGrath, Patfull, Maguire, Hudson, etc.) did what you'd expect of them to a reasonably good level, with Hudson in particular giving us good value. Drummond battled through the year and looks more on the "way out" than any of our other older brigade (I still think he is worth keeping on for another year, though). Adcock was a little underwhelming, but he did also have some very good games throughout the season. Polkinghorne was better than some on here give him credit for, but he probably didn't improve his game as much as might be desired. Banfield was overtaken by others and Karnezis and Cornelius had trouble finding form and a role in the team, and for mine, are perhaps both question marks heading into future seasons (I'd consider both as tradable). Hawskley, Stiller, Sheldon and Buchanan contributed little more than the bit-part roles combined that they'd done in previous years. Regarding the players in this paragraph, I'd say that most performed as expected, and we probably "broke even" with this group of players.

Also, another positive was that we seemed to avoid injury more than in previous years.

Outside of bad losses (of which there were a few), and not beating St.Kilda when we should have, disappointments, for me, were that Beams and Lisle did not get as many games as perhaps they could have during earlier parts of the year. Both showed in the last month of the season that they could have a positive impact to the team and arguably could have been of help earlier in the season. Injuries to Leuenberger and Polec that robbed us of their presence in the team were also disappointing (the same goes for McGrath, Maguire and Golby who missed a significant number of games). Rockliff's season was a bit of a let-down on what he displayed in 2011, however, it seems as though he may have been affected by various injuries throughout the year and possibly played most of the second half of the year unfit.

I lost you after "I think we made par this season".

 

[WhiteLionFeva]

Of all the sides outside the top 8, would we be the most satisfied with our season? Richmond - maybe although I sense they see this year as a bit of a missed opportunity. GWS would probably be pretty happy with the development of their youngsters.

Richmond because they always think next year's their year.

 

[WhiteLionFeva]

Only tipped 8 wins so I'm very happy with the outcome and the fact that our list looks so promising. Don't care who we beat, a win is a win. We had some bad losses but not just against top teams so it wasn't about not being good enough, more about us learning and developing. Now for Tippett at a steal and some more young guns and we're on our way.

 

[BamBam10]

Will Voss be in trouble if we don't get the 10 wins we got this year? It's very possible we may not next year (depending on draw, injuries etc) but could be playing better footy.

I wonder what they'll measure him on next year seeing as though we probably overachieved in terms of wins this year.

 

[blueiris]

I tipped all ten wins but I tipped Brisbane ever week so I guess doesn't really count I think we had a great season in beating two top 5 sides our others wins were against lower sides on the ladder then us but a win is a win we really found some good players this year in green zorko hanley-who was good last year but he stepped it up i think lisle played quite well at the end of the season and so did beams must get more games next year now for sure