run comes with skill and fitness, as our skills and fitness increase, so will our run.

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This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

So on the most challenging night for ball handling, we suddenly found a skill level not seen all year?

I'll give credit where it's due. Well done to Bolts and the MC - win lose or draw, I'm happier watching the last 3qtrs of that style than the bullshit sideways/backward crap we've been dishing up all year. If this was Bolts' preferred gameplan all year, and the players just executed better - well done to all involved.

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I know...against hawthorn on a dry night we'd break free and hit them up every time.

Last night we hit a bloke in blue, It certainly makes the game a lot easier.

Not saying we didn't miss targets, we did, but not to the extent that we had been...and they also missed...and they didn't hurt us when we did miss...etc.

wait...slaps forehead...

are you saying we didn't hit targets last night?

or that Bolts finally instructed them to kick it to each other and that was what he should have been saying all along?

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This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

I just think the boys were playing with a more direct approach which put pressure on the opposition rather than themselves. The Dow goal passage of play was a classic example. I haven't seen an attempt to run and kick like that all year.

Obviously, I have no idea what was said or instructed, but something was different from a viewers point of view.

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What happens on game day each week is a result of what and how you train during the week.

The players we've had on the field for most of this year have looked and acted confused, so there's reason to question how they've been trained.

Last nights more productive showing suggests a good week of training had the players going into the game with a much better mindset.

really.

Watch the opening of the Hawthorn game, commitment, willingness to take the game on and then...they manage to stuff up their use of the ball so much that in the end you could almost hear the rush of our players' confidence leaving their bodies and Hawthorn's confidence inflated.

Last night things never go too far away...we held them, had a lot of the play for no reward - but no damage, belief grew - most games this year belief has been a diminishing construct throughout the game.

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This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

Maybe we went into the Hawthorn game full of good intent but in the back of the minds was an insecurity in the ability to execute.

Maybe this week we went into the game with the same intent but with more confidence in our execution based off a week of effective training.

1 week?

Na...I am sure they had a good week but they were all over us at first. One of theirs went down, we scored and then we slowly grew.

I do think having Bryne helped.

SPS has been building 0 he had a real crack in the Hawthron game but he kept sort of barging forward head down and getting tackled. This time he evaded.

Murph's ball use was as good as that first week he returned - was he buggered last week?

Weitering's ball use was much better

and confidence grew. That DOW goal helped.

Murph's quote “I think the third quarter was the footy we’ve being trying to train and play all year; get some free-flowing footy, blokes backing themselves and being hard at the contest – it finally started to happen for us.”

Mind you he also said they trained hard all week

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This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

Last week may've been the culmination of a few weeks build up... since the change to one on one footy.

Maybe they changed the gameplan last week, but because you can't just 'flick a switch', it's taken some time to have a positive result?

Hawthorn is also a considerably better side than GC.

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One on one footy is only good as the personnel. And against most teams this year, we have been playing majority kids and 2nd tier players because of injuries and getting smashed because of it. Plus add in all the 1st quarter injuries and the players that have studied their opposition all week get thrown out of position is the reason for 2 wins only.

Last night we seen from the other side what happens when a key player in a relative immature midfield goes down. They had the wood on us in the middle until Swallow went down, then all of a sudden our kids played against an opposition with similar body sizes and look what happened.

there was plenty different in our setup. when they had the ball, everyone took a man, not marked space. that made them accountable. we had forwards up the field, which meant we could play on quickly, not chip sideways, chip sideways, turn it over.

the biggest difference though was the effort. 86 tackles – we pursued everything and we ran hard and spread forward all night long.

if we brought that effort all this season, everyone would be happy.

now I have this in my head.....

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Agree with most

Maybe they read my pre-match plea...

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Let slip the Blues of war (with apologies to William Shakespeare) (and Sir Francis Bacon, just in case)

Just maybe Hawthorn applied enormous pressure and Gold Coast applied far less. Players don't miss targets or hit them due to coaching instructions or how they set up when the opposition have the ball.
Any AFL team can perform to a high level if the opposition allows them to. That's why Bolton preaches not to get too high or too low. He realises our current list/injury predicament changed very little over the past 7 days. In fact, it got worse if anything.

He would also keep it in perspective that we played the 2nd bottom side who applied very little pressure on the day.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

instead Carlton were the ones applying the pressure. Tackling, pressure acts, turning the ball over and then streaming forward in numbers around our two forward targets. gut running.


I'm not sure where that running, tackling and pressure effort has been all year ... and why we've only displayed it in a handful of games. it's frustrating bcos we are capable of playing with it, but the coaching group aren't consistent in extracting it week in week out. but, last season they were?

Braithy!!
It seems to me that BV has an excellent handle on the why and I reckon you know why too.
I know how frustrating it can be. If there are too many weak links in the twam due to injury decimation plus inexperience plus lack of mature players at their peak....you get what danny described....confidence leak and too much pressure on players with barely any games in them.
Then...
When you get just 1 or 2 better players in and play a team that can also easily lose confidence and perhaps with similar inexperience etc... you get the result we had on Saturday.
I wouldn't be expecting a run on for the last few games. Just be quietly excited for next year.

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That’s not a political statement — it’s a harsh reality, and we must act,” she said. “He is a clear and present danger to the things that keep us strong and free. I support impeachment.”

the injury thing is blown way out of proportion, BG. injuries don't affect player effort.

that effort on the weekend, was also there against the tigers, pies, sydney and port and we still lost those games ... but no one was disappointed bcos the effort was there.


what was it, 86 tackles this weekend Vs 55 tackles Vs Hawthorn the week before? I'd love to see our gps readings from both games; i'd imagine we ran around 25% further on the weekend.

Could that be pressure from opposition? And then the confidence fizzle? I can see how that can be a knock on effect.

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That’s not a political statement — it’s a harsh reality, and we must act,” she said. “He is a clear and present danger to the things that keep us strong and free. I support impeachment.”