AFL Rd 22 2024 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Hawthorn

[crashlander]

Been hearing this for the last 10 years. How many times can we blame bad luck or lack or personnel.

We lost many games when the injury list was not what it is now.
As a club we continued to persist with guys on pit list that just cant stay on the park for any sort of extended time without breaking down so it's our fault its not luck.

And then we go out last year and waste a spot on another one in the same basket.

Actually, I'd love to see the stats, but we haven't had a full list to select from since early 1996. Not for a single game in 28 years. As Richmond have shown this year, you take away a significant part of the better players for a significant part of the season and it is very hard to win.
I was hoping that we'd turn that around when we appointed Russell, but that hasn't been the case. Last year we didn't have huge numbers missing and we (mostly) did well. This year, we have missed key personnel for extended periods. That is not sustainable.

I don't know if that can be explained as 'bad luck' or something more sinister, but it is a fact. Teams with intact lists going deep into Sept, teams that don't tend to struggle.
That is not to say that injury is our only problem; it isn't. But injury is a significant factor in our fall.

I would like our recruiters to recruit guys who don't have extended histories of injury.
I would like us to recruit another tall defender, and some real pace to go with our midfield grunt.
I would like our game plan to be more flexible.
I would like our coaching staff to be more reactive during a game, when things are not working.