I skipped straight to your last line. An absolute classic...

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"Truth, for the tyrants, is the most terrible and cruel of all bindings; it is like an incandescent iron falling across their chests. And it is even more agonizing than hot iron, for that only burns the flesh, while truth burns its way into the soul"     — Lauro Aguirre

i expect us to play in and win a final

Glad to know youre one that thinks the competion is awash with gun sides...

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Is correct. We still lack quality in the forward line and down back. I'll be happy with 7 or 8. I dont think we are any better than that at the moment. Warnock's injury has been very costly. Some baffling selections in the last 2 weeks, why was Bentley picked? Why was Sentanta dropped? The team selection this week is going to be very, very interesting too.

I expected to beat Essendon*, swans and freo for a start. I was just looking at the fixture. all of a sudden it looks really @#$%&! hard

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Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.

We are coming from a long way behind most other teams in terms of player development., and still have a long way to go. Our top 5 are keeping us competitive, but Peter Pan of course is still erratic. Some "senior" players are disappointing so far this year, and either keep running themselves into trouble or stand around flat footed. There is a bit of a team characteristic of becoming static and watching their opponenents waltz away from them to make position when the ball has been turned over.

We are currently struggling with the simple things like clean disposal, tackling, ball handling and the overhead skills. A few players need to realise how hard you need to work both ways.

I think coaching this group is a tough gig given the recent history ...

I expect we may make the 8, but will probably struggle.

I thought we would finish at best 8th, at worst 10th.

I think we will win 3 of our next 4 games & sit 6 & 5 at the halfway mark.

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#DonTheStash

My expectations where great............!


kindest regards tommi

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that'siti'mnotchangingthistagain......!

I expected us to improve upon last year but not be a real contender for 2 maybe 3 years from now....

I'm concerned that we are still pretty much building our team from scratch...3 of our guns are only 20 odd and we didn't recruit them as the 'icing' because our list was week as flower ...it's not as if they joined a team to compliment it they are the foundations...

We'll probably do a Geelong and take many more years to truly build a champion team...that's what I expect pretty much.

Hawthorn broke the mould a bit by winning last year and time will tell whether they can have sustained success or whether they just had a lucky year through other coaches inability to adapt to their game plan...and Geelong choking in the big one.

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My expectations were around 13 wins and top 6 finish.

I overestimated how good we were though. Still might get top 6 and 13 wins because its an even comp but we are still a long way off.

We have too many players not good enough.

Russell
bentick
Johnson
Hadley
Fisher
Hartlett
Stevens
Cloke
Bannister
Thornton
Houlihan
Wiggins
Edwards

Some may disagree with a couple of those names but IMO they arnt up to it a top AFL level but the MC reckon they are except for Fisher Hartlett Edwards Bannister who struggle to get games.


Thats are problem. Our list is too weak at the bottom end.
Also our top players have issues as well

Judd no issues
Fev inconsistent
Murphy no issues other than his kicking sometimes. Has been fanastic this year
Gibbs too soft needs to go in harder
Simpson has gone backwards despite the fact that he keeps trying
kreuzer fantastic but is asked too do too much
Jamo injured


We miss Walker, Grigg and Warnock but all clubs get injuries.
Problem is our bottom end players are too poor and there are too many of them so we begin to struggle


We also lack leadership
Judd leads by example. He is a better player than I thought he was at WC because he just tries so hard and is a fantastic inside player. However he is an introvert and I reckon we need a captain who will give a fellow player a serve if something is done wrong on the field which stuffs team unity.

i went to the game in Sydney and we were terrible bt the thing that dissapointed me the most was nobody put their hand up. Everyone was looking at everyone else for inspiration. It really was pathetic and I new we would be in trouble this year.

If you want a specific example of what I am talking about look no further than Thornton who after a lollypop pass to Betts which put Eddie under the pump and resulted in a turnover visibly cracked the shits and blamed Betts. It was laughable.
That sort of shit has become part of the club and Thornton now is a senior player. Its not good enough and continues to happen.

If I were the MC I wouldnt play the first lot of players listed admit that we need to reassess our goals and get games into
Browne
Anderson
O'hailpin
Austin
Hampson
Pfeiffer
Robinson
Ellard
Gartlett

We are still a long way off.

This is my expectation for Round 8...

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Sure we should be a better team with Warnock injury free and playing good consistent footy.. but i dont think the problem is in the playing personel...
its with whats been done with them....

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You actually do believe we have a very good list don't you?...All this time I thought you were being sarcastic....dude you cannot be serious can you? Do you believe in the existence of talent? Or do you believe we are all born with the ability to be talented in all things?

Take a serious look at our list and then go out on a limb and imagine yourself coaching them (not some two bit drone who knows nothing about footy) and tell me who in your opinion has the ability to implelement any of the game plans you have in mind...I'm anxiously awaiting your summation but not expecting to see more than a one line generalised response...

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"Truth, for the tyrants, is the most terrible and cruel of all bindings; it is like an incandescent iron falling across their chests. And it is even more agonizing than hot iron, for that only burns the flesh, while truth burns its way into the soul"     — Lauro Aguirre

Hey Juddy and the cruisers... i agree with you yeah??

We have an ordinary list ... but a super coach...!!!

We need to tank.. so the coach can get some cattle...

Happy???

Cos this is a ripping competition...

Teams like Essendon*... sydney... north... freo... west coast... collingwood.. adelaide.. port.. melbourne.. richmond...etc all gun sides...!!!

how are we supposed to compete with such gun sides???

were doing pretty good.. compared to the crap footballers we have on our list... we would be doing even worse if we wernt such a well drilled footy side.. and the players wernt so sure of their roles etc...

again,... youre right!!!

our list is terrible... our coaches and development is A1 .. im with you brother!!!


What we need is more tanking yeah???

some more pick 1s.. to help Ratts and his superior coaching..

Maybe we can add a Pavlich.. Goddard and Deledio to the mix of another few number 1 picks to go hand in hand with the Fevs Waites and the assortment of pick 1s and AA captain in Judd...

I know???

Ratts doesnt have the best midfielder.... we should see if we can swap Judd for Ablett... so we can have abit more in the midfield for Ratts gameplan...to compete against the superstar sides like Freos and Dons..

But you know what that means right???

You would have to change to your super name from Juddy and the Kreuzers to Ablett and the Kreuzers... but we will have to find ourseves more Kreuzers too...
At the moment Ratts has the disadvantage of only having one Kreuzer..

Hes fighting this coaching battle with one hand behind his back...

Im with you son!!!!

Cos you know....

Anyway.. when i read your stuff i learn alot.. my mind is provoked into thinking or and more about the game..

We need more superstars.. or we cant be a good side...

More and more and more superstars... and then even more...

.... dont worry about the salary cap... Pratt would have left us something in his will...

im with your mind ... we are one...
Our ist isnt upto the freos and the dons..

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So you were being sarcastic...apologises dude....I thought so.

You know you sound so angry with the way we are going you'd think you'd never tasted success.

I mean unless you're still in high school, you have been spoiled till recently so just hang in there dude...don't worry we'll get there....your message will eventually sink in...just don't hold your breath.

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"Truth, for the tyrants, is the most terrible and cruel of all bindings; it is like an incandescent iron falling across their chests. And it is even more agonizing than hot iron, for that only burns the flesh, while truth burns its way into the soul"     — Lauro Aguirre

No, agreeing with your very in depth views .
We have an average list.
We have a super coach!
'Juddy and the Kreuzers' are the men that helped me understand footy...

I thought we had an above average list... led by the best if not in the top 3 player in the comp.A premiership winning captain... but then that wasnt really him it was Cuz...
I thought we had 3 number 1 picks and a string of very good young kids...
Also some very handy middle aged and older players.


The role of the coach is to have us playing as close to their best as possible.. and Ratts with his sophisticated gameplan is doing this.....

.... that is why we had the lock out practice sessions...cos Ratts had us playing something extremely top secret... something that was going to blow the footy world apart with its cunning. daring and planning...

i see....

... but we dont have "a good list" as you put it.... and so that ratts lock out practice sessions to have full effect we must get more and more superstar players....

... you see... ratts super duper gameplan that was trialled under closed sessions can not work unless we have the AA team .. yes???

I knew i read your extremely insightful posts for a reason Juddy and the Kreuzers.. and you have convinced me!!!

ok???

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So what you are saying Synbad we have a team of champions and you want a champion team


I think your expecting to much from Murph -Krus and Gibbs and Judd-we are a lot like Stkilda of 4 years ago plenty of high quality draft picks but no maturity in them

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That's it let out that anger dude...

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"Truth, for the tyrants, is the most terrible and cruel of all bindings; it is like an incandescent iron falling across their chests. And it is even more agonizing than hot iron, for that only burns the flesh, while truth burns its way into the soul"     — Lauro Aguirre

Nah we have the closed sessions gameplan to help us.......

im not expecting those 4 and fev and jamo and waite and whoever else to do it for us...

.... we have the master coach.....

the human drill.....

.... that keeps shape in your side and allows the waeknesess to be starardises allowing for more even performances from the group..

... and he players playing close to their best and focussed...

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But they're delivering - and well. That's not the problem. We have more inside 50s than our opponents every week, more clearances. Our tackling against Freo was great (70 tackles!). All the indicators are there.

But the way it's coming together is a mess.

Too many scoring shots from impossible angles (so Ratts can blame innacuracy in his presser....fair dinkum). Too many wasted entries. And we leave our defence too open.

Hawthorn scored 9 goals from 19 inside 50s in the first half. Freo had a stage where they kicked 5 goals from 6 inside 50's on Saturday night. We have no defensive zone. No structure to get back and fill holes.

Our kickouts have been embarrasing last few weeks (after a good first two rounds it got worked out).

All the primary material is in place. Not to win a flag, but to easily dispatch a Freo or an Essendon* or a Sydney. We are meeting our statistical KPI's (to use a Parkin expression). But there's no system, offensively or defensively.

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