I wouldnt call us hard as a team in an old school sense, we have a couple of harder players like Cripps who can look after themselves but I think other teams think they can get at us physically and upset us. In terms of recruitment we do look for the Von Trapp athlete types who are are of good character and wont rock the boat with undisciplined off field stuff or being a bit different to the rest of the group. We would never recruit players like Maynard, Ginnivan, DeGoey, Stringer or any other rough diamonds and we play safe with selections. Id prefer we loosened up on that front and looked for footballers first even if they were a bit spicy and backed our system in to manage those players. When we were successful we always had a few renegades amongst the bunch who were different and maybe played hard off the field but got the job done on the field when it mattered. JayJay is in his 60's and obviously remembers the good old days like I do but its clear the modern younger supporters see the game different and are happy with a more sanitised approach which conforms with what the AFL want and that characters in the game and extra physicality are not required especially with how the branding of the game has to show safety for players being of higher importance and the game being squeaky clean in all respects.
Go protest overseas ,stop chucking stuff at our cops and their horses and let our Drs/Nurses etc get to work by not blocking the roads, we have no influence on Israel or Russia and never will have, as for Israel's response to Hamas ...what were they expecting a quiet diplomatic protest from Israel? It was always going to be quick , nasty and with interest attached and given the nature of events I can understand why its been disproportionate.
SF's, Hawks beat Port, GWS beat Brisbane. Probably not hard to pick those two.
PF's, Sydney beat the Hawks, GWS beat Geelong. Cats have struggled this year when another side has put it on them. They got a soft touch the other night. Wish we got that. Sydney are more beatable than 8 weeks ago but I reckon they still win at home.
After yesterday's QF Sydney v GWS could go either way. Sydney have experience at GF level but GWS did have a big lead near 3/4 time yesterday. Sydney wouldn't want to do that again.
Agree...Swans and GWS are the two best teams in it....too close to call, need to see final teams.
Cerra was a very questionable selection Lods, short of a gallop, horribly out of form all season and single position player. Not an intelligent selection.
How many hammies has he done Prof?...ridiculous selection when we had Lord or Binns fit and ready to go...
I'm sorry... I just cant see it. Do folks really think the addition of Binns, Lord and Moir would have made a difference to that start? We were being thrashed in the midfield. Our 'elite' midfielders were getting soundly beaten. Would our youngsters like Binns and Lord fared better than a Cripps, Walsh, Hewett Our pressure and attack on the ball and opposition players was miles off...from our better players.
The only change that would possibly have made a bit of difference was if we'd had DeKoning starting earlier. Our maligned small forwards were ineffectual because the ball didn't get down there until just before half-time
Binns, Lord and Moir were in the games against West Coast (where we just fell over the line) and St Kilda (where we just didn't) So how can it possibly be argued they'd have made a difference in a finals match against Brisbane in Brisbane. They would probably have struggled to match their efforts of the preceeding weeks and we'd have been criticised for throwing them to the wolves.
The argument was.... we had a few returning experienced players who we could mix them in with, A mix of youth and experienced returning players....as long as they're all fit, was the best selection according to popular theory.
Who? The two returnees who had most impact were McKay (9 touches) and DeKoning (deemed "not guaranteed to play an entire game".) We got seduced and excited about a few kids. It was good experience for them to play the last couple of games They look like being solid players. A bit of finals experience may have been good, but that would be the reason to pick them....not because they were ever going to make a difference.
We lost it because the injuries left too many of our players short of a gallop. And our pressure was miles off our best.
A gain in finals experience was going to be the only win from that game. We were never going to win with any lineup but finding out a bit more about our kids would have been helpful and educational. What happened picking unfit players and the ensuing weird game plans only created more doubt about our coaching and ability to be taken seriously as a contender for the future.
Nafan can slam all he likes, he doesn't know the tactical reasoning for it, only the coaching team does. Again, things were done that seem/ed poor but there was logic behind them at the time, they didnt work.
I think the tactical reasoning is the point and the logic questionable, as was subbing Kennedy, not playing Cincotta, dropping Hewett and Kennedy in previous games...its just mistake after mistake as was recruiting Fantasia. Prepared to cut him some slack on TDK as he obviously couldnt play a full game and in previous games has done well late in games so I could at least get the logic but the others are just fails imo and if you take unfit/underdone players into finals then the coach has to be responsible. I dont want to hear "we have to get better" every press conference either, thats on a par with I can see "green shoots" . We let Zorko and Neale run around unmanned when every blind man and his dog knows Neale has to have a proper minder and a fit one if you are to beat Brisbane...... Woeful MC and coaching performance and that includes Hansen, Hamill etc as well.........we have Cook and Sayers in their last seasons next season and when Cook goes I worry where we are heading on and off the field.
Sorry, Spotted One, as many notable footy commentators noted, we're too one paced in the midfield and lack dynamic spread. Hopefully they realise that Cinc is a mid with genuine foot speed and should spend the preseason training as such. Point is, we might be very good, but we can be much better... and need to be.
We are also a poor kicking midfield, Cincotta is a better kick than most of the other mids we have too, not playing him was another blunder rivalling subbing Kennedy and previously dropping Hewett/Kennedy when we needed wins in crucial games.
While I agree with that Paul, as Daisy Thomas pointed out, our arousal level was far too low at the start of the game. That’s largely a collective coaching responsibility but with Vossy bearing the lion’s share (oops!). The leadership group also has to take some of the blame.
I’m always impressed by Vossy’s calm demeanour, but perhaps he was too calm and needed to rev the boys up a tad more. He does seem to learn from his mistakes and I don’t expect to see low arousal levels again.
I don’t buy the criticism of Vossy’s game day coaching. He’s as good as the next coach and his planning and preparation is very good. Injuries, and the lack of depth those injuries exposed, screwed our season.
Nathan Buckley has just slammed the tactic of playing E Hollands behind the ball early and leaving us one short down forward fuelling Zorko. Doesnt buy the injury excuse given the poor effort. The Kennedy sub fiasco, selecting unfit players etc....I like Voss the man but his tactics are questionable and he is in charge and ultimately responsible.
Ill say there were reasons why they did what they did which we aren't privy to. They took risks that didnt come off.
Like any big business when you do that though you have to wear the incoming and admit your mistakes. It's been a wasted year due to injury etc but to rock up in a elimination final and give nothing for half a game isn't going to be tolerated that's not injury etc that's players and coaches not up for the fight and it was down right embarrassing and revisiting the dark days.
