We have been in VERY poor form for 5 weeks. Rather than the philosophy 'steady as she goes ... stay with the process', we badly need to change it up.

- We are consistently getting beaten for the ball.
- We move the ball too slowly.
- Our decision making is woeful.
- We have no plan B.

We need to move the ball on at all cost ... break the lines ... lower the eyes going forward.

Can't see us winning this one.

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I am as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more!!!

i drafted a comment about it. not sure if i posted. when he used to do those once a fortnight ABC Sport radio interviews a couple of years ago he was pretty humble but e looked like he was doing an impersonation of a cliche smug footballer. his repeated use of the the phrase “again, like i said before…” might have been picked up from Voss but it just came across as arrogant. probably just bad media training. i hope so.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not that it really matters in the context of this discussion, but Ed's 32.

Just curious - why does everyone feel the need to add an extra year onto every player's age once they're in the twilight of their career?

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"If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself" - Henry Ford

Yep, I agree with this 100%.

Our ball movement has been so slow lately that we end up boxing ourselves into a corner. The opposition has plenty of time to set up their zone and get numbers back, then the pressure builds and builds. This then causes the poor decision making and bad disposal. More pressure builds and then we're cooked!

We have to go all out for the win this weekend. Run hard to create an option, break the lines, take risks and create the overlap. If we can get the ball into space for our runners and open up the forward half, Charlie, Harry, Owies, JSOS et. al. can do the rest. Yes, we may have a few turnovers and open ourselves up, but we need to back our forwards to win the ball 1 on 1 or create the crumb. If we continue to play into the opposition team's hands, we are done.

I would rather have a crack and be beaten by a better team than play it safely and lose anyway. I really hope we see something different this weekend. Perhaps the forced changes will assist with this, but only if the inclusions are given the freedom to take the game on without consequence.

C'mon Blues, surprise us!

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"If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself" - Henry Ford

I quote the age they will be this year. Ed turns 33yo in November. He's effectively in his 33rd year. He's 32yo plus 10 months.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

True but we've been using Walsh as a mid instead of a half forward when a mid is missing. There's no excuse this week unless they give Fisher more midfield time and bring in a half forward. Which they have done once or twice this season.
I'd prefer to see Dow get a shot.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

I always felt Jacob was an exceptional speaker, since day one he has talked more like a Rhodes Scholar than a footballer

But he lacked flow and conviction when he spoke the other day

IMO he seems caught between being told to be ultra positive and being realistic about the team needing to harden up

Clearly the players have been told be project positivity this week . Harry spoke in a similar tone

But I think they can be positive while also being realistic and commenting with more passion about the fact they need to be a lot harder and competitive (and consistently so)

Not that it was you who said it in the first place, but that doesn't make any sense to me sorry. On this basis, someone who was 33 on the first day of January is the same age as someone who turns 33 on the 31st December? If anything, Ed is a genuine 32yo as he doesn't turn 33 until after the season is over.

Anyway, I know it is all just semantics, I have just never understood it.

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"If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself" - Henry Ford

Plan B?
We won most early games by dominating centre clearance. When Essendon* went to work on our strength and beat us out of the middle, we changed it up and scored successfully by using back half rebound. That's 2 totally different ways to win a game.
FFS, we've had these coaches for less than 12 months.

We're 12-7 after 20 years of crap. Put the razor blades away.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

Much quicker to do this:

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

I support the steady as she goes philosphy. We've come a long way and Voss has said numerous times this is about long term and building us in a successful club over a sustained period.
At the moment we trying to find the balance between attack and defence and controlling the tempo. At the start of the year we were run and gun and then hung on to win a few games. At the moment we look like we have gone to far into slowing the game down.

I would definitely try and release them a bit this week and be more attacking but this is very much in line with what is trying to be achieved.

It's been hard to get it all going and will need another pre season. Also, having many key players injured makes it hard to have some consistency as we simply don't have the depth

I feel our best team and beat anyone but if we don't we fall away.

I'm with you mate. I vaguely remember having a conversation midway through this season (or possibly last season) about the next November draft, and someone was aging players by how old they'd be at the end of the following season, or maybe even the following calendar year. I was scrambling to Wikipedia, thinking "no way is H McKay 26 already surely?"

BV - I agree with you in that the half-forward flanks pushing up to the midfield is unsustainable (especially with Pitto back), do you reckon it's better to go back to a conventional 6-2-4-6 set up, or is there some value in throwing Walsh behind the footy for a couple weeks, and try to replicate the issue we've had in our forward 50 with other teams?

Think teams after last week are going to put a lot of time into Saad and to a lesser extent, Doc as much as possible, getting the extra quality ball user in the back half might be useful also.

Looking at Melbourne's key stats in the second half of the year - their ability to keep the ball in their inside 50 has been below comp average, compared to setting the standard in the finals last year. I think it's a weakness that could be exploited.

Yep, it drives me nuts!!

I think the origins come from the trade period when someone is mounting an argument against recruiting a player that usually goes along the lines of:

Poster A: "Player X is 29 years old, we shouldn't be paying overs for someone that is close to the end of his career"

Me: **after checking the AFL website** "But he is 27 and doesn't even turn 28 until 20th December this year?"

Poster A: "Yeah, but he won't be playing at our club until next year and he is turning 29 next year"

Me:

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"If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself" - Henry Ford

Depends how you look at it. I have always looked at players as what age they are that year. Like Ed is 33 this year, he's actually closer to 33 than 32.

For me it comes from breeding horses. They always the age they are that year

As long as your consistent

At this point in his career, Ed’s age is measured in calf strains.

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"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter" - Winston Churchill.

Cripps Walsh Cerra is a good starting midfield group
Mix it up with Dow, Fisher and Jack.

Its definitely Dow time.
He should have had a few games by now.
Plus I prefer Dow to Fogarty.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Dow might finally get a game with ,kennedy/hewett missing now more pressure on him . What about hayes playing in the middle his experience enough ,strong enough,if atkins from cats why not hayes .

That's why we miss Williams. He's a good ball user and his run is helpful. He's not a great defender but his weapons make up for it. If the opposition are going to shut down Saad, Williams and Docherty, good luck to them. They'll end up with a totally dysfunctional front half.
FWIW, I think McGovern is the key. He's our best ball user in the back half and we should be using him more. We're freeing up Weitering or Doc as our spare, that's crazy. Free up McGovern and get the ball in his hands more often. Saad is a great runner and breaks the lines beautifully but McGoverns kicking is surgical. Saad can still run past for handballs but it's important his priority is his opponent and not the contest.

As for the front half, I agree with you that we need to sort out the spares. Forget sending 2 up to the storage. Walsh is being picked up by the winger or opposition half forward anyway so the strategy is no longer a surprise. I think we need to start taking something away from the opposition.
Get Cottrell to tag Neale or to pick up the opposition defensive spare. If we persist in playing a 4 or 5 man forward line, we should decide who's the spare defender, not the opposition coaches. Play Cottrell half forward (he's shown he can mark and kick goals) and get him to go to the defender that suits us.
If the lesser defender wants to go with him as well, that's even better. A 2 on 1 is far preferable than a loose spare.

I like how the coaches want us to play "our way". But "our way" needs to evolve and counter the strategies that are being employed against us.
We've significantly improved our defensive profile by playing a more risk averse game style but it has stymied our offence.
I think we need a bit more balance. Our small forwards are pushing up to defend and as a result, not getting back to provide groundball support deep forward. Hopefully the coaches are working on it. I have a lot of faith in Voss and Hansen.
Let's see what they come up with.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

I just think we need a change up. Teams have worked us out. The last few weeks have been painful to watch because other teams have controlled us.

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I am as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more!!!