03-22-2018, 11:08 PM
My take on tonight's game for what its worth.
I thought we started very well. I loved the intensity and the way we looked to play on at all cost, even though some of our ball movement was down right crazy and risky. Still it created a 5 goal lead. Kudos. Then an awful thing happened. We begin to doubt the fact that we had actually achieved this and started to 'park the bus' and go back to the tried and true way to stop sides from scoring. We went into our shells and began to shirk contents, looking for the easy possession. After this happened, it was all over, the only thing to consider was, by how much? The 26 point loss in the end flattered us. It should have been well over 70 points. When you look at the important stats- e.g inside 50's, tackles and marks inside 50... we were flogged. If we only have 47 inside 50's and 40 tackles next week, Gold Coast beat us. So what are the main issues IMO? Well firstly, I think we are very poorly coached. I don't believe in Bolton at all. I think he is a junior cadet trying to make it in the big league. I'm sick of his crap actually. The Greenshoots, the Learned Readiness, the Learned Bulldust, whatever it's called, it's rubbish. Truth is, he has a HORRIBLE win/loss record for a coach who has just coached his 50th game. Yes we are young, but doesn't matter. You lead by 30 points to 1, you should win most games, despite the opposition. It is simply to big a head start- or should have been.
The captain is a major issue. He is soft and poorly skilled. I cannot believe how many times he turned the ball over with an errant handball or mis-kick which went directly to the opposition. In terms of leadership, he does not inspire. Why did we not give the captaincy to Crippa, Simpson, etc. Unfortunately we really lack leadership- someone who is going to demand standards out there, lead by example, and crack the odd skull if need be. Then there is the issue of some players just simply not being good enough to play AFL. Some names that come to mind are Levi, Lamb, Ed Curnow, Byrne, Silvangni and Dow (at the moment). Why wasn't Harry Mackay, Cunningham, O'shay etc. tried last night? I think Harry and Cunningham are being 'punished' for some reason. Well it just doesn't make sense. If they are bad trainers, then fix the problem with a solution rather than excluding them from the group. Make them work hard, give them more drills etc. Surely can't be too hard. Truth be known, I really didn't like that performance last night. Richmond were going half pace for a lot of the game, missed shots and had some important outs. I don't think we've improved much, other than a few shining stars (Charlie) getting better and in patches, we showed for we could move the ball quicker- if we chose to, which wasn't often enough. We need to play Harry next game, drop the obvious hackers from last night, bite the bullet on Silvangni and send him to the 2's. Don't play Levi again and don't give him another contract. Tell them next week against Gold Coast to take the game on for at least a half and see what happens. Not 15 minutes. I fear it is going to be a long year with the administration we have at the helm, but let's hope for better next week against a side we should beat at home by 40 points. I'll reflect on this in my next post next week.
I thought we started very well. I loved the intensity and the way we looked to play on at all cost, even though some of our ball movement was down right crazy and risky. Still it created a 5 goal lead. Kudos. Then an awful thing happened. We begin to doubt the fact that we had actually achieved this and started to 'park the bus' and go back to the tried and true way to stop sides from scoring. We went into our shells and began to shirk contents, looking for the easy possession. After this happened, it was all over, the only thing to consider was, by how much? The 26 point loss in the end flattered us. It should have been well over 70 points. When you look at the important stats- e.g inside 50's, tackles and marks inside 50... we were flogged. If we only have 47 inside 50's and 40 tackles next week, Gold Coast beat us. So what are the main issues IMO? Well firstly, I think we are very poorly coached. I don't believe in Bolton at all. I think he is a junior cadet trying to make it in the big league. I'm sick of his crap actually. The Greenshoots, the Learned Readiness, the Learned Bulldust, whatever it's called, it's rubbish. Truth is, he has a HORRIBLE win/loss record for a coach who has just coached his 50th game. Yes we are young, but doesn't matter. You lead by 30 points to 1, you should win most games, despite the opposition. It is simply to big a head start- or should have been.
The captain is a major issue. He is soft and poorly skilled. I cannot believe how many times he turned the ball over with an errant handball or mis-kick which went directly to the opposition. In terms of leadership, he does not inspire. Why did we not give the captaincy to Crippa, Simpson, etc. Unfortunately we really lack leadership- someone who is going to demand standards out there, lead by example, and crack the odd skull if need be. Then there is the issue of some players just simply not being good enough to play AFL. Some names that come to mind are Levi, Lamb, Ed Curnow, Byrne, Silvangni and Dow (at the moment). Why wasn't Harry Mackay, Cunningham, O'shay etc. tried last night? I think Harry and Cunningham are being 'punished' for some reason. Well it just doesn't make sense. If they are bad trainers, then fix the problem with a solution rather than excluding them from the group. Make them work hard, give them more drills etc. Surely can't be too hard. Truth be known, I really didn't like that performance last night. Richmond were going half pace for a lot of the game, missed shots and had some important outs. I don't think we've improved much, other than a few shining stars (Charlie) getting better and in patches, we showed for we could move the ball quicker- if we chose to, which wasn't often enough. We need to play Harry next game, drop the obvious hackers from last night, bite the bullet on Silvangni and send him to the 2's. Don't play Levi again and don't give him another contract. Tell them next week against Gold Coast to take the game on for at least a half and see what happens. Not 15 minutes. I fear it is going to be a long year with the administration we have at the helm, but let's hope for better next week against a side we should beat at home by 40 points. I'll reflect on this in my next post next week.