The Quick Fix

[ElwoodBlues1]

It's interesting EB1.

A mate made a nice analogy to our current situation. He said it's like we were building a jigsaw puzzle, we made the border then instead of filling in the middle we destroyed the border and re-started from the inside out.

He thinks we went too far, we haven't retained enough of the early framework, and that has hurt us!

I also wonder, if as a club we are sensitive to the AFL's recent AFLW interference regarding game style, relative to our AFL prime time TV scheduling. Are we serving two masters?

LP, I remember my daughter learning to swim, in the shallow end she could swim across the pool no problems, no fear, all great, she then graduated to the deep end with the big kids, she said the wall on the other side was further away and she couldnt see the bottom of the pool anymore, took a bit of time to convince her it was the same distance and overcome her fear of the deep...maybe with the L plates off now in Boltons 3rd year and more expectation both coach and players need a bit of time to overcome the deep end fear....

[blue4life]

maybe with the L plates off now in Boltons 3rd year and more expectation both coach and players need a bit of time to overcome the deep end fear....

Losing your captain and best midfielder in the warm up was the equivalent of the deep end fear for some of our young fellas.
All of a sudden the likes of SPS, Fisher and Dow were asked to play 20 or 30 percent above what would normally be expected of them to cover the loss of the skipper.
If they'd had since Thursday night to get their heads around it they would have made a better fist of it but it was always going to be very tough at a few minutes notice.
It was almost as tough on Nick Graham who was looking forward to a seat in the stand until 10 minutes before the game.

[LP]

The NB's went from a 130 point defeat to losing by a couple of points in the shadows of the post within a week, without their most prolific ball winner in Graham and last year's best defender in O'Shea.

You know that it was Norp's first ever game as a stand-alone side, they had never played a real game before as a group! :o

[flyboy77]

Losing your captain and best midfielder in the warm up was the equivalent of the deep end fear for some of our young fellas.
All of a sudden the likes of SPS, Fisher and Dow were asked to play 20 or 30 percent above what would normally be expected of them to cover the loss of the skipper.
If they'd had since Thursday night to get their heads around it they would have made a better fist of it but it was always going to be very tough at a few minutes notice.
It was almost as tough on Nick Graham who was looking forward to a seat in the stand until 10 minutes before the game.

Who else did we lose other than Murphy pre game?

??? 

[LoveNavy]

Who else did we lose other than Murphy pre game?

??? 

I read this to mean - Murphy as he's both our captain and our best midfielder.  Two titles same person.

[Robblues]

Losing your captain and best midfielder in the warm up was the equivalent of the deep end fear for some of our young fellas.
All of a sudden the likes of SPS, Fisher and Dow were asked to play 20 or 30 percent above what would normally be expected of them to cover the loss of the skipper.
If they'd had since Thursday night to get their heads around it they would have made a better fist of it but it was always going to be very tough at a few minutes notice.
It was almost as tough on Nick Graham who was looking forward to a seat in the stand until 10 minutes before the game.

Yes blue4life , a lot to ask first yr players eg Dow & OBrien , rest are still finding there way, u fortunately Graham hasn't taken this chance again on all counts I have read. Not the way you would want to come into the side, but if there's an opportunity need to grab it. ,

[LP]

I read this to mean - Murphy as he's both our captain and our best midfielder.  Two titles same person.

Flyboy77 was taking the piss, he knew exactly what B4L meant!

[DesEnglish]

I think it's time to bring some better AFL class (not rejects) in via FA.

Someone like Guthrie, maybe Gaff or Dalhaus. Just another couple of guys that can manage AFL football and take some pressure off the kids. SPS, Dow etc would be better off being mids 5,6,7 etc than 3 or 4.

I'd also look for a Hodge/Lewis type as an on field coach.

I'm all for the rebuild but if we're not careful it could go very wrong 

[Professer E]

Now we're into this rebuild we need to stay the course because we've demolished so much that we must push through and build something.... re-starting now just puts us back 3,4 or however many years.

[Thryleon]

Attract free agents and trade established not getting any younger players for picks.

We need to be looking at seasons 2020-2022 as our hotspot, and that means moving on value players for established mids and draft picks for trades/more talent acquisition.

There arent many left, but the players that fit this category:

Casboult
Kreuzer
Liam Jones (we need to stop making him look stupid back there, and get him back like the second half of last season pronto)

We arent getting draft picks for any other players, and whilst Id be reluctant to trade Kreuzer because hes one of those heart and soul players, that leaves us with only Casboult happily traded for good value, so we shouldnt drop him at all this season, and we need to put him into the frame to kick as many goals as possible.