What do you want out of season 24?

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Don’t @ me.
But why
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Rayner also showed at least a willingness to be accountable to an opponent during his brief stint in defence early last year.

I genuinely wonder if this was the attempt to force consistency? There's no where to hide back there and it makes sense to try and get concentration and effort through change than punitive measures. Unfortunately we walked away from the experiment not knowing the outcome.
 
While not at Kiddys level Dayne Zorko has been a good replacement for him, Shadeau Brain's disposal/vision in the reserves has been very good, looking forward to seeing if he can translate that to the seniors.
Zorko a great kick although you not getting 40-50m kicks.
Also Zorko not the intercept mark or dropping into hole type like Kiddy was.
So yes I hope for Brain to come on.
 

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I genuinely wonder if this was the attempt to force consistency? There's no where to hide back there and it makes sense to try and get concentration and effort through change than punitive measures. Unfortunately we walked away from the experiment not knowing the outcome.
I said the same we needed him in the forward line for a game.
He had one of his good games so we never moved him back again.
Now back to his old bad habits of just getting lost again.
Either we drop him to VFL or work out a better spot as having him the 3rd or 4th forward not working.
I feel for Cal AhChee as well never getting a spot that works for him.
You prob add Dev when he plays as well.
Or Berry I think better inside then outside player..
We do have a few players who do not seem to be played in their best spots.
 
Mid season review time.

The good:
  • Not a whole lot, although a few of the kids that have come in have shown a bit. Special mention to Morris & Kai. Harry, Bruce and Brain have also shown a bit after being given a chance.
  • Harris and Lester have been pretty good for us down back, both probably in close to, if not career best form and have saved us a number of times.
  • Berry’s form since being thrown into the middle has definitely been a positive comparatively to how he was tracking out on the wing.
  • Zorko has shown a bit down back at stages during the year.

The bad:
  • Injuries. I was on record saying I was shitting myself about this before the season given how lucky we’ve been. And shit hasn’t that luck turned?!
  • Special mention here to Kiddy going down in the first game. Season felt done from that moment;
  • Charlie showing signs that age is catching up to him. Sad to see when a guy loses that top end speed he once had;
  • McCluggage, Starcevich etc, that next tier group who just haven’t kicked on as we hoped. I’m hopeful this is temporary but we shall see.

The downright ****ing ugly:
  • where does one start? So many of our players either haven’t kicked on or have regressed this year; The main culprits have been spoken about as nauseam so there is no need rehashing names, but maybe some big decisions need to be made at the end of the year;
  • momentum swings. Whether this is a player/coaching or both issue we can’t seem to halt momentum whatsoever this year and when we give it up we look like a bottom 4 club;
  • seemingly less motivation in the group. I hope if this is a thing internally they work out whatever the issue is during the offseason and resolve it. I think we have enough to push again next year, but we need everyone back on the same page from top to bottom and everyone in between.
 
This is a good piece from Gerard Wately, and aligned with what i hope we do for the remainder of the season:

I hope we take the bye to reframe the rest of the season. Acknowledge we’re struggling, put some serious time into finding out why. Try new things, take the pressure off wins and losses and use the second half of the season for real learning (rather than learning from our mistakes).
If players are playing with niggles, rest them, and certainly send for early surgery when it’s 100% we’re not making finals.
Let players who are struggling on the field have a break. Without a doubt there’s mental struggles after missing out on the GF by 4 points, and this is reflected on the field. The good news is losing sides in GF’s recently have bounced back after a bad year. We can do the same.
Continue to play young guys and give them proper blocks of time in the seniors to see if they really belong… but don’t throw them to the wolves!
If Charlie has lost a step, help him see how he can modify his playing style (and the teams playing style) to get the best out of his skills - and get confidence back in his kicking for goals.

Edit: and if all that happens, use press conferences to let supporters know we’re trying something new. It makes losses easier to take if we have the feeling we’re now focussing on the future!

Edit2: alternative… i hope we go on an unbeaten run for the rest of the season, and claim an against the odds grand final win!!
 
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This is a good piece from Gerard Wately, and aligned with what i hope we do for the remainder of the season:

I hope we take the bye to reframe the rest of the season. Acknowledge we’re struggling, put some serious time into finding out why. Try new things, take the pressure off wins and losses and use the second half of the season for real learning (rather than learning from our mistakes).
If players are playing with niggles, rest them, and certainly send for early surgery when it’s 100% we’re not making finals.
Let players who are struggling on the field have a break. Without a doubt there’s mental struggles after missing out on the GF by 4 points, and this is reflected on the field. The good news is losing sides in GF’s recently have bounced back after a bad year. We can do the same.
Continue to play young guys and give them proper blocks of time in the seniors to see if they really belong… but don’t throw them to the wolves!
If Charlie has lost a step, help him see how he can modify his playing style (and the teams playing style) to get the best out of his skills - and get confidence back in his kicking for goals.

Edit: and if all that happens, use press conferences to let supporters know we’re trying something new. It makes losses easier to take if we have the feeling we’re now focussing on the future!

Edit2: alternative… i hope we go on an unbeaten run for the rest of the season, and claim an against the odds grand final win!!
If Fagan still believes we may do a GWS or Carlton run of last year, it's hard to change his view at this stage.

May be if the players stink it up and we do another 0-4 against Dogs, Saints, Power and Demons - that might finally convince the coach to give up and try something different.
 

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If Fagan still believes we may do a GWS or Carlton run of last year, it's hard to change his view at this stage.

May be if the players stink it up and we do another 0-4 against Dogs, Saints, Power and Demons - that might finally convince the coach to give up and try something different.
I can't see us doing 0-4, but winning home games should be the realistic target... even against Melbourne. So 2-2. If we go 1-3, then time for Fages to give up hope.
I'm not filled with joy at the thought of spending my evening at Marvel against the Bulldogs in 2 weeks!
 
I can't see us doing 0-4, but winning home games should be the realistic target... even against Melbourne. So 2-2. If we go 1-3, then time for Fages to give up hope.
I'm not filled with joy at the thought of spending my evening at Marvel against the Bulldogs in 2 weeks!
I tend to channel my joy in the new players we're finding and watching them grow into their roles. Morris and Bruce are my solace last round. I was quite annoyed losing Brain to reserves and Sharp to sub.
 
After 11 games in 2023 >

Giants - 4-7, 87.3% Finished H&A 7th(13 wins), made Prelim, under a goal of making the GF.
Blues - 4-6-1, 96.7% Finished H&A 5th(13 wins 1 draw), were good against us in the Prelim.
__________________________

Lions now > 4-6-1, 111.6%

I can not recall how the Giants and Blues were going at round 11 2023 but their percentage at the time suggests not too well.... all is not lost... at least Mathematically.

Going by 2023 that would mean we need to win 9 of our final 12 games to play finals.
 
No way back this year for mine though we might stage a few Custers Last Stand efforts. And for a club like us it's always good to at least sneak into a final and get a bit of buzz going.

But if we're smart ,and I presume we are ,we're already doing whatever we can to relaunch in 2025 to give ourselves every chance then.
 
No way back this year for mine though we might stage a few Custers Last Stand efforts. And for a club like us it's always good to at least sneak into a final and get a bit of buzz going.

But if we're smart ,and I presume we are ,we're already doing whatever we can to relaunch in 2025 to give ourselves every chance then.

All mobile phones switched off at the start of the end of season trip. Burner phones only.
 
End of season trip choices.

Daylesford.
Ayers Rock
Nerang.
There's a bunch of places around Australia that have terrible/no mobile phone reception too, maybe they want a fishing trip up the Cape. :D
 
If we can win out at the Gabba (will be a couple of games where we start underdogs but we are still a different beast at home) then there's every chance that we can pinch wins against say St Kilda, Gold Coast and WC and have a decent chance at making finals.

We'd be a bit of a wild card, probably the team you wouldn't want to play in the bottom half of the 8.

If I was a betting man if we lose the next game vs the Dogs I'd be getting those juicy odds for us to make the finals.

Equally, wheels could fall off and we go 3-9 not 9-3.
 
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