Surely the end is nigh for Mick. There is no system in our play, the players lack confidence and desire to make the necessary effort. I feel so sorry for Chris Judd that he is playing in such an embarrassing team. He must be wishing he'd retired.
For those bagging Ratten, he got far more out of his players. He was very unlucky to be sacked after a season in which the team had an absolute 'horror run' with injuries. Furthermore, I'm really skeptical about Buttifant's ability to develop the running power and endurance of our players. Most of them just don't look like they can keep up with their opposition for most of a game.
Henderson is not really a forward. Clearly his best position is as a key backman. It's unfortunate that we have no one else to play forward to allow him to play his best position. I think we may just have to role the dice with Watson up forward, in the future.
That's 8 from 40, or 20% of our list that would struggle to be considered 'solid' in the defensive roles they primarily play.... strewth our list has some issues.
It was fantastic to see many of our players crashing into Crowley a few weeks ago to help Murphy out. What happened to this mindset last night? Soffo, is spot on about our players not standing up for Murphy against Port - pathetic! Our intensity of previous weeks didn't happen last night and instead we displayed an extremely embarrassing lack of effort.
Yes Lods, there's not much to say. Terrible, terrible performance against a team that hit some red hot form. The only positives were Rowe and Gibbs.
Probably one of our biggest weaknesses is defending against elite small forwards. Port got 10 goals from Gray, Wingard and Neade. Let's look at our current small defenders:
-Tuohy: has gone backwards this year. Leaks goals. -Yarran: more of a offensive defender than a lockdown player. -Walker: same as Yarran. -Simpson: same as Yarran. -Docherty: Developing - may turn out to be very good. ATM, probably more offensive than a real lockdown role. -Sheehan: Developing, but could turn out to be very good. -Holman: First game, so who knows? -Armfield: Not really used there this year (little senior game time due to indifferent form and injuries). Could handle speedy fwds, but not small fwds who are good overhead like jamie Elliott.
I'm not saying this is the main reason why we lost last night, just highlighting one of our big weakness in our playing list.
I know it's difficult after some heartbreaking close losses recently, but what are your positives? Here's mine:
-The players are currently giving a real effort; I can not fault it. Our tackles are sticking more and our intent at applying pressure on the opposition is far better than earlier in the season.
-The game plan looks far better. Early season: Bomb it long, play down the boundary and don't take risks through the corridor vs now: Move it through the corridor when a good option presents itself, don't just bomb it long, look for good options. Having said this, last night we did appear to kick it many times to contest where we were clearly outnumbered.
-A no mongrel, no games philosophy. 'Soft' players with little intensity aren't being played in the seniors: Warnock, Garlett, Watson and Lucas. It seems Malthouse made his mind up on these players. Unfortunately, some of them may get games due to our mounting injury list.
-Rowe's form has amazed me. He is the biggest improver on our list and looks like a bona fide key back. This is a Herculean effort by him, considering his health problems 2 years ago.
-Judd and Carrazzo's form is terrific. I actually thought Carrots was 'gone', but that was an awesome game by him last night on Selwood. It was reminiscent of his form a few years ago before he was driven into the turf by Lonergan. It's a big if, but can we get 2 more good years out of them, particularly if they smell some potential future success at the club?
-Gibbs is becoming the player I hoped for. Isn't it incredible that he's having his best season when played in the position he was drafted for .
-I'm very happy with some of our young players. Menzel and Docherty look like they'll be 200+ game players for us, provided they don't get injured. The wraps on Cripps are big, although he hasn't played many games. All these players, play with intensity which is a big tick from me.
-Kreuzer will be back soon. Even if he isn't wining as many hitouts as other ruckmen, there are few that offer as much intensity as him. I can't wait until he's back in the senior team.
Bell, Robbo and Curnow (thought he was excellent) simply can't all play in the guts together at the same time, as their disposal and decision making (curnow's not bad) isn't good enough. Was watching a dodgy connection of the game, so correct me if I'm wrong, but it looked like Gibbs hardly played in the guts - WTF??? He is far more accomplished than the aforementioned trio in these facets of the game, yet is not played on ball, his most suited role which would most benefit our team, . Again, WTF, especially with Judd and Carrots not playing?
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