The last two weeks we have been at a holiday camp, I don't count them as anything more than training drills even though I did have a genuine sense of concern for the NM match.
This week we are back in the saltmine playing the Cats, another loss (even a hard fought loss) will not be considered acceptable nor tolerated.
They have to do a hell of a lot to rekindle my faith & belief, I can't buy into any short-term sugar-fix, I want long-term results & consistency
Dropping this game will just show once again that we are in fact, frauds !!
I heard a whisper Weitering's injury is a little more serious than what is thought.
It's like the players are playing like robots, performing to the TEAM rules not allowing them to play with flair, X factor or Instinct. Look at White, first game running around having the time of his life. Wouldn't have had too many instructions being first game. I thought he competed very well, played with enthusiasm, like he enjoyed it. Compare that to Moir, last year his first game was exciting, showed X factor and we thought this kid could be anything. Now a year later in 3 Qtrs of footy he got 2 possessions. WTF? He is running around trying to do the Team thing instead of hunting the ball instinctively. It's like we coach the skills out of the players, they ALL can play, they ALL have very good skills that's why they got into the AFL, but they second guess their decision making ALL the time worried about making a mistake.
I like Vossy, although I don't think we have the right group of assistant coaches. It also must be hard when you are unable to put your best time on the park every week. Injuries and the big elephant in the room which no one wants to talk about.
Collingwood has scored 30 points this quarter. We have scored 1. We have scored 30 points.....for the whole game.
A terrible quarter that shows exactly where we are at. Collingwood leaders stood up and put us under the gun. No one stood up for us to contact it. Rolled over and accepted our fate. Doomed. C
We have kicking problems, can't hit up a bloke in the same coloured jumper to save ourselves. So to improve our kicking they drop the best kick in our team, Boyd. Seems really weird, no actually that's standard Carlton protocol.
Having just watched the Dawks game again - our defensive game was sound, we held them to a potentially losing score. And our pressure certainly 'panicked' them plenty of times. However...
...our offensive game was simply, I'll be kind, perplexing. So many times we were running through the wings or through the middle, aggott in hand, and not give off to a team mate running free nearby in a better position to receive a handball, grab more grass and then better target forwards on a lead or in a one-on-one contest, but rather a long bomb from the wing/middle! Just not smart or productive... inefficient! Inefficiency results in loss of reward for effort - stagnant scoreboard, so then fall back to a greater reliance on defence (safety mode) / loss of offensive confidence...
Personally, I don't think it has anything to do with fitness, endurance or attitude. Just reward for offensive effort. The backline defence and team defence looks good, we're keeping opponents to potentially losing scores.
My greatest concern against the Dishlickers is that we repeat the offensive errors of the first two rounds - not sharing the ball with runners nearby offering a good option to gain more grass AND those panicky long bombs into the forward line. With H and Charles probably up the front the temptation to drop it on their heads will be there. H and Charles, please move about a lot forcing those up the field to consider their kick, not bomb.
IF we deliver into the forward line properly and we get our offensive reward for effort ticking over (scoreboard), and that offensive confidence returns I would not be at all surprised if we knock over the Dishlickers by 44+.
If the Aints can spot up their leading forwards regularly then I'm sure we can. It's not rocket science and we all have been banging on about this for years. When we have done it we look good, really good.
