I am saying that we have depth problems. And because of this, our significant injuries have exposed this.
But equally , for any side to win the premiership, they need a good run with injuries.
I firmly believe that we are still a fringe eight side, but injuries and a combination of bad luck and brain fade, has let us slip below where we could be.
I have given up on this seasons finals aspirations, but i am not a "no hoper". With some smart trading at year end we can bring in some more leadership. Hopefully with a fit list we will regain the form of our players that this year have been below par. Eg henderson, thomas, kreuzer, garlett, walker etc. that will make a big difference

Mick has form for playing injured players but it is beyond reason that we'd risk any of the better players in a season he BBQ'd 10 weeks ago.
I'm hoping that he may play one at a time, but I can't for the life of me see why he can't play Graham.

What @#$%&! use is playing him as sub 4 times.

I think he doesn't see them as game breakers so he'd rather play tagger types like Carrazzo and or Curnow.

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I hope Essendon* folds.

Curnow can stay.

Mclean, Carrots, Armfield etc are all players stealing valuable development time off Holman & Graham. Even Temay. At least Temay has scope for improvement. Mclean and Carrots are cooked. And they're leadership has been piss weak too. So they're not even contributing that way.

On top of playing injured players, playing those who are not going to get us anywhere when we are every chance of finishing bottom 3 (without tanking) is just hilarious.

Why did you include Army?

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dane's trolling again

Because I don't believe he will help us improve.

I don't know how many times it can be discussed, but our season was over before it began.

23 players who were not able to complete a full pre-season, with the vast majority of that 23 players being our starting 22.

hawthorn won a grandfinal, the following year with something like 15 players not doing a full pre-season they struggled to make the eight.

the afl, now more than ever is a game based on a full pre-season with a fully fit side. you don't have it, you are going to struggle.


....

that however does not excuse the inconsistency in effort which I think is out biggest issue, but if we have a fully fit list, we are a far better side.

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Got to love the stare Down by Setanta on Llyod

10 years of poor performance by club cannot be explained away by a run of injuries

Ok but malthouse has been here for the past 2 only and has been severely hamstrung in what he can do.
Our list is good enough when fit to make the finals.

Perhaps our best 16 is good enough

Our list is not good enough, otherwise we would be competing

holman and graham are not only slow but cant see out a game...
perfect storm along with menzel who struggles for 100 point losses

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Cant blame ratten. Got carlton a cpl points away from 2011 prelim final with Thornton and setanta as our key forwards with kruzer and jamo out from memory against wce.

25 players still exist on our list today.

You seriously think this list has gone to a bottom 3 team? Even yarran quoted the players not playing as a team, playing as individuals. Mm has lost the players and cant coach in todays era. Hes gonsky.

I don't want them in because I think it'll help us win - I want them in because they'll try more than some of our senior players and will actually play like they care.

Where is this improvement? And please do not list young players who have improved a little. That is basically common from game time and opportunities

I'm not a fan.

How could you be? We are going nowhere fast.

Losing your temper is not cool.

You would think a 60 year old grandfather would have that worked out by now.

Yelling at Gen Y kids doesn't work.

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We are eternal, all this pain is an illusion.

lol - injuries? Wasn't that what got caused us to miss finals and got ratten sacked in 2012? How can it be used for one coach and not the other? Particularly when the injury list was significantly worse in 2012

In 2012, we used 41 players (Buckley being the only one who didn't debut and even he missed 8 weeks though injury!).

In terms games missed by best 22 players through injury/suspension (i.e. not form)-> Judd 5, murphy 6, jamison 6, duigan 6, walker 7, carazzo 8, waite 11, henderson 11, hampson 9, ladler 18, ellard 12, warnock 5

Other players such as joseph, thornton & collins missed games due to injury (but also form)

On top of that you had injuries to the following depth players
- rowe - unavailable ALL year
- mitchell - has only been back in the ants for about a month or so
- casboult, davies, white - unavailable for most of the year with injuries
- bell and ROK didnt play in ants until mid may due to injures
- buckley missed about 2 mths of the season with a finger injury
- bray missed 2+ mths due to a shoulder injury
- henye - missed 6 weeks
ie 10 non-first 22 depth players sigificant long term injuries - 7 of which might have made reasonable contributions to the team (exceptions being buckley & bray).

Ladder at start of rd 15 - 2012 we were 10th with 6/7 wins and a % 0f 107.1 (the peak of our injury woes). Before the start of this round we were 4/9 with a % of 87.4

We finished 2012 10th with an 11/11 record @ 108.0% - yet here we are, talking a bottom 4 finish with a likely % of <90, losses to 4 of the other bottom sides (brisbane, GWS, melbourne, richmond) and the coach is blameless?

Also
2012 - we finished up with the 11th best attack (points for) and 9th best defence (points against).

As of now (pre-pies), we still have the 11th best attack but now our defence is only ranked 14th. What are Malthouse teams generally well known for? - good defence...

Caught the tail end of Mark Stevens bagging Malthouse over his comments on the state of the game on the radio last night. Spider Everett asked him his thoughts on the game and he admitted that it was a much better spectacle a few years ago. "So you agree with Mick?"

His response:
"No, I didn't use the word 'hate' and I'm not a coach."

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"One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds." - Frank Zappa

Agree.

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#NewBlues beginning 25th August 2015

Ratten had Simpson, Judd, Carrots, Scotland, Duigan, Jamieson, Waite all at an age when they reach their peak and had a few talented youngsters coming through like Murphy, Gibbs and Kruezer. Our premiership window was spot on then.

Now we have Simpson, Judd, Carrots, Scotland, Duigan, Jamieson, Waite who are all past their best, Murphy and Gibbs reaching their peak and no youngsters (besides Menzel) coming up to help the team improve.

Our list is in a very bad state compared to what Rats had at his disposal.

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It is not as bad as you are lead to believe.......it is %$#^& worse!!!

Malthouse has brought in Menzel, Cripps, Docherty, Thomas, Everitt, Graham and Johnson. Our list should have improved a lot with those names.