We had Moir, but that was about it. When we don't dominate in the middle, our structural issues become more apparent. And Moir has to up his workrate. God knows he can make a difference when he gets the ball. But he doesn't get the ball enough. Simple as that. We had Warburton at CHF, which shows how devoid of options we were.
Moir will be put on the trade table at seasons end.
He has the ability but not the grey matter and clearly doesn't want to work hard enough.
One of the worst ever games to watch, it was a horrible spectacle on so many fronts. However, knew we were home when Ison kicked his goal.
Some of the young guys didn't look completely out of their depth, Florent played his best game for us thus far and Cowan was back to his absolute mongrel best.
Not getting carried away, as Elwood said, the Dogs were ripe for the picking and we still had some players who were passengers yet again.
The one thing that stood out for me was Jagga & Ison embracing at the end, there is a nucleus of good young guys who have a camerarderie that will be the building block for the future.
You don't want older players. You complain about gifting games to younger players and cite Murphy and Gibbs.
So basically is you want a team full of blokes that deserve a game, where gun kids and aging players don't apply.......and you think these blokes are on the list???
Retiring blokes ahead of time, trading blokes for shiny new objects, simply creates the next batch of people who do a Jack Silvagni, Tom De Koning and Charlie Curnow.
WE as an organisation, need to prove that this is not a place for careers to come and die.
Yes, I believe we have a culture issue in the club too but it is coming from our leaders, not the rank & file.
Persisting with old players who are either past it or not playing to the level required (i.e. just don't give a feck) has a strong ripple effect too.
We kept gifting games to guys like Murphy & Gibbs when they didn't deserve it, everyone else became complacent & lived in the comfort zone.
Time to make a strong stand in this area.
Play some of the younger guys each week, give them 3-4 games and then back to the magoos, at the end of the season, the list management team will be in a much better position to make an informed decision.
I say we keep those types and trade off ones we get value in - eg Cripps, Harry, Weiters. No point sacking old blokes because they are old. It doesn't help. You 'sack' (trade) old blokes who get you something via trade to help improve your younger crop.
No point giving the old blokes a contract extension too, if they are out of contract then there is nothing to be gained by keeping all of them around.
Yeah lets retire players early again, that will make players want to come to us and we can cut their careers short too!
Okay then, let's perservere with serial offenders who should be in a retirement village.
We have a gaggle of young players on the list who we genuinely don't know if they are worth keeping or not. The only way to find out is by drop-feeding them through the seniors and see how they respond.
And if you are concerned about what effect that may have on our chances of winning a game, then have a look at the current win/loss columns on the ladder, we are third last with one solitary win against the bottom tean by a mere 4-points.
We have played all of the old coots all season and look where that has got us.
FMD, an interim coach is not going to magically turn us into a raging finalist overnight.
As for players not wanting to come to the club ............ BFD, we are going to the draft first off, they have no say in it. As for potential trades, if they don't want to come, once again, BFD !!
Down the track when we are a threat again, we will remind them how they knocked us back as we bury them into the turf.
Derksen kicked 5.2 on the weekend whilst Kemp eked out 0.1.
Most people are completely missing the point here, winning games now is totally irrelevant, we are not going to make finals anyway.
However, what can be salvaged from this trainwreck is a clearer picture of what we have on our playing list.
There are 19-20 players out of contract this year (thanks Nick Austin) meaning that there should be some heavy axings, but who ??
It is imperative that we give some senior games to other players on the list to ascertain who genuinely has a future and who hasn’t.
Besides, we are going nowhere with Saad, Williams & Haynes and they are three of the out of contract guys.
Lets use the remainder of the season as a part building block for the future instead of doing the same crap we have done thus far this season with the same non-performing players.
Play Derksen in the role that Kemp has had up forward and move Kemp back into defence, his kicking for goal on the weekend showed quite clearly that this experiment has failed.
B : Cowan, Dean, Florent HB : Kemp, Weitering, Carroll C : Smith, Cripps, Walsh HF : McGovern, Ainsworth, Derkson F : B. Camporeale, McKay, Hayward R : Pittonet, Hewett, Lord, I/C : Wilson, Ison, O'Keefe, O. Hollands, Newman
IN : Derkson, B. Camporeale, Lord, Ison, O'Keefe OUT : Saad, Haynes, Cerra, Evans, Williams
I am still struggling to get my head around how this team can play 7-8 weeks of utter sh1te and look like a basketcase so badly.
Next thing we see is against the reigning premiers, once again, play like a totally incompetent busted butthole in the first half and then magically transform into near worldbeaters in the second half and nearly pinch it from them.
What did they drink, smoke or inject in the rooms at halftime ??
What pixie dust did they have sprinkled on them ??
What did Voss do or say that completely changed their mindset and application so dramatically ??
The other big question now has to be, was this a one off 'flash in the pan' or will the raised standards continue for the remainder of the season ??
