Where are we heading?

[cannons]

Well, to start with I was sure that this year would be an improvement on last year. I didn't expect top 4 or anything, but I thought we would be able to match it with the top teams.
The first two games have changed my opinion greatly. Our gameplan seems to have no direction. The free-flowing football of last year is gone.
My main question is how big an influence is Rivers? I honestly think having him out is ruining the whole team balance. Miller down back is an absolute waste of time. I don't know if we'll get much better once Rivers comes back though
So, where does everyone think we'll end up this year?
I myself have no idea. Although I personally wouldn't mind right at the bottom, as we might be able to pick up someone who will become a great key defender.

 

[davey_magik]

We could still finish anywhere between 6th and 16th. Rivers back will help, but we can't expect him to solve the problem. The problem is Sylvia, McLean and Moloney should always be in the starting midfield over players like Green. I think the bottom line is we don't win enough clearances and we are too soft with a lot of our players.

 

[demon_chick7]

ill tell u where we are heading.....we are heading towards the bottom of the ladder! i spose the only way is up

 

[Bartram_Class]

We're not heading towards the bottom of the ladder, we're already there.

Hopefully not for long...

 

[dogbowl]

The Dees played a good first half yesterday, and were beaten by a quality team that is going gang-busters. The margin was not embarrasing, and i think it was an 'honorable loss'. You were much better than the week before, so have some heart, as will probably be better again this week. I would back the Dees over Hawks, Tigers, Dons and a few more.

 

[demon 12]

The Dees played a good first half yesterday, and were beaten by a quality team that is going gang-busters. The margin was not embarrasing, and i think it was an 'honorable loss'. You were much better than the week before, so have some heart, as will probably be better again this week. I would back the Dees over Hawks, Tigers, Dons and a few more.

The problem is this week we play the crows and will get flogged, you can't win a game\premiership by playing a good 1\2 or 3\4 every week.

 

[Damp Squarie]

To Carrara....hope its an entertaining game with the Crows winning by a point!

 

[demonsboy888]

Not all is lost but it is a bad start. Hard to judge against the Saints - are they going to be a grand finalist this year, or finish maybe 4 to 8? If they are top 2 then maybe our loss to them wasnt so bad. Shame the crows lost to the eagles - better to get them coming off a win. carrara is a must win! After that its sydney in sydney and geelong, so no certain win coming up. This could get ugly if we dont beat adelaide.

 

[Bartram_Class]

Dont we have the Kangas after Sydney and then Geelong?

 

[demonsboy888]

Woops. Correct. Not an easy one either. There are never easy ones these days.

 

[dee_molisher]

he has done all he can, he should have gone 2 years ago but his ego gets in the way

He may have done all he can but remember, this squad, game plan and everything right or wrong with the side is ND's doing. He can't blame someone else - he has been their nine years, long enough to buid a team to match his game plan - it has failed and faild badly.

Hmmm. i think excuses and time is running ou for our coach. Last year was really the final straw - especially when we recruited 4 onballers when dfenders and forwards are needed. We didn't trade hard enough. We could burnt a few players to really push hard new talent to cover our weaknesses.

 

[CowboyFromHell]

We didn't trade hard enough. We could burnt a few players to really push hard new talent to cover our weaknesses.

You might have a point, but what good forwards were available? What good tall backs were really up for grabs? We were in the hunt at some stages with Whitnall and to a much smaller extent, Hay, but we would have had give up a heck of a lot to get a tall of any quality, and neither of those 2 would have done much, even though I pushed a bit for Lance. Although, I'll admit, the club seems very reluctant to make a tough decision with the current playing group.

 

[Bartram_Class]

I would have taken Lance in a heartbeat, look what he did to us in Round 1, he ran riot on the HBF where we were struggling.

Our tall division is in tatters at the moment, have a look -

Ferguson - Injured
Neitz - Out of Sorts
Miller - Out of Sorts
PJ - looks out of his league at AFL level
Jamar - improving but still raw
Rivers - just coming back from injury, alot of pressure to perform well
Carroll - hasnt come on as we expected
Nicho - is still Nicho, should play this week
Warnock - injured
White - well beaten by Minson last week, needs to perform

We should have pushed harder for Lance, even Hay might not have been the worst choice, if we wanted to be a force this year, Danners should have been willing to sacrifice.

 

[BT]

Right now we look to be heading towards a Balme like slump.

We need a lot of things to turn around. Coaching, Drafting & finance (which appears our strongest point right now )

I've seen it before at Melbourne, we could easily drift into obscurity again.