(07-27-2024, 12:17 AM)Baggers link Wrote:Facts: 1st, 3rd and 4th qtrs yielded 2 goals.
Once the inevitable happened - Port increasing pressure, yes we were able to absorb it but lost boldness, creativity and offensive bite/too many blokes went into their shells and became reactive and safe, Ollie was and is a good example of this, under serious pressure, too many mistakes, fumbles and panicky disposals.
Hamstrung by the realities of injuries to key personnel - H/TDK/Blacres in particular.

Possible MC and coaching errors:
Just because L Young is 200+ cms tall, it doesn't mean he's a viable or obvious replacement for H - though I do get tall for tall. I wonder how many of us thought that when we learned of H's illness that Kemp would have been the obvious replacement up forward and Young down back on the out of form Dixon to free up Weiters for a more creative role? (2nd ruck duties to mids, to simply provide a contest and get the aggott on the grass).
Cerra a HBFer? Nuh. And we all know it. He's a midfielder, FFS.

Persistent issues:
Inconsistency in games and week to week.
Sh*t the bed when the real heat comes.
MC conservative, odd and safe selections.
Walsh trying to do too much, FFS Walshy use your possessions to bring team mates into the game rather than trying to do it all yourself.

So why am I still optimistic?
Trust in Cook, Voss & Crippa.
Imminent return of H & Blacres.
Our side does have character, a strong culture and a great core group.

(07-27-2024, 01:47 AM)ElwoodBlues1 link Wrote:I'm done with Young and would prioritize Lemmey. The former was terrible last night and you would get more of a contest at a nursing home bingo night than we got from Young.

(07-27-2024, 02:04 AM)laj link Wrote:I'd think about Lemmey as well. Right now we have blokes playing that have missed pre season and missed a chunk of the season. That includes Walsh, who is looking tired. We are playing premiership footy for a qtr then are cooked. We can't play more than a qtr right now. Just don't see why Cottell plays. Why bring him straight back after injury. Binns must come in, fresh and can go all day.

(07-27-2024, 03:04 AM)Baggers link Wrote:At the start of the season my greatest concern was expectation. And how we would deal with it and rise above it.

So let's distill and keep it simple. Here's the boring repetitious stuff that I've being banging on about for months (that erases nervous expectation delivery)... be the hunters. Live it and breath it.

A cliche that p1sses me off is... 'we know we can't have it all our way all the time...' what a ridiculous obvious reality to put in the player's heads and hearts - it opens a back door. It's a lapse excuse. It's a lapse justification. That's human nature, don't feed it with comments that give a lapse a justification or excuse.

Hunters crack the sh*ts with lapses. Hunters are intolerant of lapses and letting other sides in. Being the hunter should be and must be the default and the ruthlessly persistent position. And if someone hunts us... fckn great... 'now I'm going to hunt you harder than you hunt me, and for longer'. Hunters inspire and lift team mates. Hunters create an energy and spirit that is contagious & omnipotent... and a great single focus, provided, in our game, you have the blokes who can deliver. In the main, we have those blokes. A hunter culture weeds out non-hackers real quick. Examples? Newman is a hunter, so is Weiters, so is Acres, so is Crippa, so is Charles, so is TDK. I'm sure you can think of examples of blokes who once hunted, succumb. They're not hunters. Above the shoulders stuff, again.

This is a combative sport. Keep it simple. Be the hunters for 120 minutes. Every single minute.