Autopsy The annihilations continue v suns

[R00StaR]

Like your optimism I hope you're right

Im extremely confident, but time will tell.

 

[Ischenko]

I understand how difficult things are but some of you need to try emotionally detaching a bit. Calling for the AFL to take us over and saying we should have gone to GC? Christ.

Read Rick’s blog.

 

[DuckYeah]

I find it a bit odd that you complain about how soft the game is, but at the same time seem to agree with us that a key issue is our players being small and getting outmuscled... Like, a lot of our problem is that our players are soft in a league that is tough.

As in agree that 18-20 year old kids are pushed off the ball by 25-30+ yr olds? The game is soft.

 

[Fart Cummings]

I can understand Rawlings, but I thought Watt and Hood are doing a good job at holding us together when we are ****ed.

meh maybe im wrong and old school but get me a football man in there like Brendan Gale, i dunno im sick of being the club that does all the off field righteous stuff!

 

[DuckYeah]

meh maybe im wrong and old school but get me a football man in there like Brendan Gale, i dunno im sick of being the club that does all the off field righteous stuff!

Didn’t richmond have a woman pres in their premiership years?

 

[koshari]

meh maybe im wrong and old school but get me a football man in there like Brendan Gale, i dunno im sick of being the club that does all the off field righteous stuff!

Ben buckly was a football man and this rot stemmed back to his watch.

Oversaw an organisation that outsourced its own coaching appointment, if thats not core buisness of a football club i dont know what is?

 

[William Caresser]

To be fair we just dont do it enough. McKercher made a fanatic block deep in defense. Love to see more of this type of selflessness acknowledged. Not sure how much it is behind closed doors since we dont do it enough, but at least in highlight packages the club releases and by us supporters.

It was a great team bit of play that we rarely see and from one of our lightest. Our on ball division - for example - mostly look like a bunch of individuals trying to get as many kicks as they can.

 

[tazaa]

in the last 5 seasons of footy we have won 12/92 games. We will most likely finish this 5 year period 12/106. Of those 12 wins only 3 were in Melbourne and only 2 were in front of a live crowd. I am going to go out on a limb here and say that no other professional sporting organisation in Australia has been that bad. We are the worst run sporting club in the country. Certainly in my time watching footy (40 years) no one has been this bad (and survived). When does the AFL step in and take over? In our current state with the current management there is no way we survive 3 more years.

Supporters are kicking and screaming to bring attention to this and the club is handing out long term deals to absolute s**t campaigners.

The club cannot be trusted to get itself out of this mess.

 

[Fart Cummings]

Ok Maybe a bit harsh! but if someone doesnt step up and sack Rawlings then we deserve every faliure we get! At want point does someone sit back and look at all the poor choices and go enoughs enough

 

[tazaa]

Well, I for one am happy we soaped up the balls in preparation for this game. Skills realllllly stood out. Handballing to the feet. To the opposition. To empty space. Excellent

It actually worked because quarter 1 showed something.

It’s our absolutely pathetic fitness levels where our pressure dropped right off that was concerning.

 

[William Caresser]

People think Rowell was quiet. He had 12 tackles, 39 pressure acts (twice as many as our best) and ran 14.8 km, second most.

He sets a great, team-first example working so hard without the footy. An absolute pro who doesn't look for sugar hit possessions and then mope around when they don't come.

 

[Psi-Roos]

People think Rowell was quiet. He had 12 tackles, 39 pressure acts (twice as many as our best) and ran 14.8 km, second most.

He sets a great, team-first example working so hard without the footy. An absolute pro who doesn't look for sugar hit possessions and then mope around when they don't come.

Not just that. His tenacity to comeback from his major injury early in his career to become the player he has (a machine) is incredibly admirable.

Although he was given an armchair ride concerning being called htb/incorrect disposal.

 

[ansonholt]

Great post. This season sucks. This period sucks.

I've been reflecting a lot, and this is by no means even the worst loss we've had to the gold coast. There was a game when we were at the peak of our powers in the 2010s, and we got smashed. Solidified we were not up to the best of them.

Last night while disappointing, should have come as no surprise given it was Darwin. I think us supporters are tired and frustrated.

Also, LDU is a gun. Sick of the LDU bashing.

Thanks mate. There is hope. Agree, Darwin sucks, in terms of the heat and humidity. Definitely not ideal for football, at all.

Totally, 100% agree with you on LDU. Some people want him to have 40 and three goals every game. I fail to see how he is supposed to do more than he currently is. He is human. How many of those trashing him could have, or have previously, gotten a single game for an AFL side? I certainly haven't.

 

[WesternRoo]

The problem is like pouring water through a seive, we can draft good players (FA/trade is basically going to be off limits for us due to our crapness) so getting 12 good players in whilst keeping the good ones we have will be impossible.

I think I said 8 but I take your point.

I don’t think it is as hard as you think with the money that we could potentially offer.

A Josh Battle, Scrimshaw these types are available. Once a couple of them know others are coming, combined with the dozen quality players we already have, it doesn’t seem such a bad prospect.

I’m certain for all the criticism I’ve levelled at Clarko over the last 24 hours he is onto this.

But after Fisher and Stephens I’m not convinced it should be necessarily left with him to manage and certainly not left with Rawlings.

 

[apollo_creed]

We’re getting worse when we shouldn’t be.

And undeniably we looked a much better, more competitive side under
Ratten.

 

[DocSholl]

One thing that I've noticed and has annoyed me for ages is the way our half forwards are never ready for a quick clearance.

 

[Flawed Genius]

One thing that I've noticed and has annoyed me for ages is the way our half forwards are never ready for a quick clearance.

Bring back Kayne

 

[Cyber_punk]

I understand how difficult things are but some of you need to try emotionally detaching a bit. Calling for the AFL to take us over and saying we should have gone to GC? Christ.

Read Rick’s blog.

I don't want them to but if this keeps up for another 3 years I can see why the worry that it could happen is among us. We are well beyond crisis point already. Just about the worst sporting club period I can recall in my time following sports.

 

[koshari]

Bring back Kayne

because lmac alone is doing a crap job at being the cheif pointer.

 

[Jonnoo]

Was getting sick of the “not 15” calls from the umps with our kicks in the backline that put us immediately under pressure, and I see the Gc kick a 10m kick and no call. Prob rose coloured glasses and all, but still annoying.

 

[Ischenko]

I don't want them to but if this keeps up for another 3 years I can see why the worry that it could happen is among us. We are well beyond crisis point already. Just about the worst sporting club period I can recall in my time following sports.

I don't think it will keep up for another 3 years. I don't see any signs of crisis off-field? Club is stable and profitable, no board ructions etc. We've cleaned out a heap of dead wood. I think all we can do is trust that the professionals running the show now know exactly where we are at and have a plan to get us out of here. I choose – indeed I have no other choice – to put faith in Sonja, Clarko and Viney, even though it is hard to bear atm.

Others are more sceptical, and that's fair too. Fwiw, it was clear that Noble had to go because we were not only getting done by 10 goals every week but the players were just not trying to play a gameplan they knew wouldn't work. This isn't the case now - the young guys are getting better, and they do care. It's the B-grade to potential A graders who should be leading us – LDU, Jy, Larkey, Zurharr and Scott, Logue when he comes back – who have mostly let us down. I can make excuses for Jy, LDU and Larkey, and Scott has been doing his thing and tries his heart out. But yeah, it was on these guys to shoulder more of the burden this year and for whatever reason they haven't been able to do so. And so here we are.

 

[Horace]

Will it? What do you base that on? Having a young team? OK.

But my point is that this club has proven that it cannot make a correct football department decision to save themselves. They can't. Name one in the last 5 years. A non-obvious decision that had a bit of risk about it, but through a bit of creativity and canny management paid off big time. Some seemed good at the time (Stephenson for example), but in an undemanding culture where ineptitude seeps through the walls, failed spectacularly.

Like I said, the club is too far gone and too hopeless to fix itself. The AFL eventually will step in to run the joint, or they will shun us completely. Either way, we won't be the club we are now in 10 years. True, other teams have been in mammoth troughs but none got through without AFL intervention. You mention GWS and the Suns - the AFL didn't even have to step in to save them - they ran them from the get go. Sydney in the early 90s were never going to be left to wither, Fitzroy were to meet the AFL's own agenda.

Confidence that it will turn, before Tasmania come in, based on a handful of good young players ignores how poor literally every other aspect of the football club is.

In the fullness of time we shall see.

 

[Cyber_punk]

I don't think it will keep up for another 3 years. I don't see any signs of crisis off-field? Club is stable and profitable, no board ructions etc. We've cleaned out a heap of dead wood. I think all we can do is trust that the professionals running the show now know exactly where we are at and have a plan to get us out of here. I choose – indeed I have no other choice – to put faith in Sonja, Clarko and Viney, even though it is hard to bear atm.

Not yet, but when the Tassie deal is up and they come in that might take a hit. We can go a ways to rectifying it with winning games and getting back some of those supporters who may have walked away, especially the young ones. But as a small club being bottom 4 for close to a decade (we only avoided the spoon in 2017 as well due to a last round win over Bris) is going to wear awful thin for even the most loyal among us.

Do we ever get back the shinboner spirit again? I worry we've permanently killed it over the last 5 years.

 

[roo blitz]

I’m hearing you, I haven’t watched a single highlight since the GWS match, imagine that having followed this club for 53 years and a paid up member for 30, that I’m yet to see the likes of Hardaman play, Chom improving in leaps and bounds in defence, Sheez, Wardlaw and McKercher in their infancy.
I’m just reading the game day thread and as embarrassing and hard to read that it is, I feel emotionally removed. I hope one day, sooner rather than later, I’ll feel able to actually watch…. Hopefully the kids haven’t already played 50 games by then.

I am exactly the same. I cant bring myself to watch them anymore and I have followed them since the mid 70s

 

[roo blitz]

Im the opposite, North is the only thing that connects me to the game.. Footy is s**t these days. It’s unrecognisable from what it once was. Ive been saying that since before we were this bad too.

I fell out of love with the game a number of years ago as I dont recognise it from the game I once loved. The only thing that has kept me interested in footy is North. And at the moment I cant bring myself to watch them anymore either.