Exactly.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Cottrell can run. Played his best game this year on Thursday. can't forget that. Only 4 days ago.
Camporeale can run, saad, Boyd, Cowan.....lots can run...they're AFL footballers. They are not handicapped.

They can change their method easily from what Bartel and Hird said.
Its not that difficult. Not saying theyy will, but they can, if instructed to do so. And I bet they dont change too much, but will adjust to add that layer.

If we have more than them behind the defender, then a lot a free to run where they need to run.

Ditto ahead of the play. Push your man away and Run into space where you have best chance to get hit up.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

We're stuffed if Weitering goes down. I agree.
I was on the bandwagon to pick up Phillips instead of Evans.
But I fail to see how that comes down to Voss.
He's the coach, not the list manager.

FWIW, I liked a lot of stuff from Thursday night.
Defending kick outs was excellent. Hawks have been gathering everyone on one side and breaking a player out the fat side. It has been highly effective for them. Our players were all corridor side of their opponents in the centre square and our spare pushed up into the middle preventing them taking that option. All their kick out went wide.

Hollands playing on Moore and defending him as the deepest defender successfully was a great outcome. That will be a huge benefit for us going forward. Young going into the ruck from defence worked OK. Our forwards dragging Barrass to the goal square was a well executed tactic.

We lost with a undermanned team to a side expected by many to finish top 4. We executed a lot of stuff well and were well in the game.
I don't buy the doomsday stuff your trying to peddle.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

I gave you my reasons as to what’s wrong with Voss’ game plan
Doesn’t it say something about the importance of contested footy in regards to the GF
As usual you have missed the point on what I am saying
What’s your answer about Weitering going down
Where is our back up
Why didn’t we pay a bag of Smiths crisps for Nathan Cooper who is 6 years younger than Haynes
Yeah he could be a dud but hey we know what we are going to get with Haynes
And Haynes has never been a key defender
So Brisbane were right up there in contested possession
What about uncontested possession
Why was Cincotta dropped in last years final
Old Dane Zorko must have thought all his Christmas years had come at once
Ah and William’s had a typical William’s game when he came in
What about having DeKoning oh a unfit DeKoning as a sub
Oh why play Docherty out of sympathy
And then Voss retreats to the coaches box in the last quarter
The warning signs were there six months ago
Nothing has been addressed over the summer it seems

Agree. That's what keogh calls "moths to a light". I agree.

Footy 101 "Talk"..."use your voices"..."make your voice your team mates eyes and ears"

Can easilly be fixed. If not this week, over the next few weeks we improve in increments and make it DNA.

We will turn this around.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

BV all those great highlights/ tactical wins you note are irrelevant. The sky is falling. We've lost 2 games in a row. Injury and playing underdone players don't count, nor does bias umpiring. We lost to one of the Flag faves by 3 goals.

Everyone is shitty because we still should've won against all those odds. I agree.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Glad we agree on Weitering
My concern is Voss
We shouldn’t be limping into the finals in 2024
Honestly didn’t look like winning Thursday night

The thing is that the way the comp is now you have to act quickly


And surely Voss has some say on List Management
There has to be a change of game style from now on

There isn’t much in the twos but I like Binns to replace Acres who clearly is labouring after back surgery
Moir who is worth a few weeks as a sub because he is a natural forward
Wilson because he has genuine pace
At some point Voss has to make change if the same offenders keep
Offending regardless of how shit the reserves are going

You said earlier the warning signs were from round 11 last year, where we won 5 games in a row till round 17.

I agree with some of your gripes about last years Finals selections. Fact is, we would have played Moir Binns and Lord is we didnt go with underdone Doc Cerra Williams DeKoning and should have played Cincotta. Bottom line is we all know the kids would have had been thrown under the car, a baptism of fire....that's not good for development. Our season was derailed by injury.

Lets stick to this year and what we need to do to have a shot at the Cup, and List management Thread for next year.

I'm past the Elim Final. Ive been waiting for 2025 all summer, and you're still stuck in the past. Lets get with the programme.

W have a season to resusitate

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

How can we not be limping into the finals? We had the worst injury list in the AFL. It's well documented.
You can't win without luck.
People forget we were second on the ladder before the wheels fell off late in the season. You don't get there without talent and good coaching.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

Correct. Charlie and Walsh are stars of the game. They have to be played to get them battle hardened. If it costs us a loss or 2 and pays off later in the season, it's worth it.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

That's better. Circa 2025.

Boyd should be back this week. Durdin should return this week. He's full on training. Maybe in the VFL.

Binns... in frustration, I posted I wanted Binns for Acres because Acres has been less than ordinary in preseason and 2 rounds thus far.

There's other good kids who seem ahead of some you mention imo: Carroll, White, O'Keefe should be back in Ressies this year.

I see what you're saying: try them. Moir as a sub. I wouldnt want him needed to be subbed on at quarter time. But get where you are coming from. Moir needs to be incented to get a spot in the AFL. He's immature and conditional. I know what he's got, but I also know what he hasnt got and why Voss wont pick him. You have to accept the coaches call...but yeah...stop carrying underdone players like Acres.

Mark your words: Voss has to change the same offenders. I'm sure that will happen. Cincotta mid year, Fantasia 2 weeks, Durdin returns plus the kids mentioned, when knocking the door down, and Carroll was before getting injured.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Our defensive profile was bottom four. And as many analysts said… no team has ever won a flag with our defensive profile.

We didn’t pick up Houston who would have helped to no end to solve this issue, and then we also lost Newman who’s our best kick off HB.

I don’t understand how people were excited last year… bcos to me it was a house of cards built on defensive fragility and just one key injury away from certain doom.

To make finals and be down 60 pts before we even scored. That’s not something I’d highlight as a success.

As thrilling as the dees semi final game was in 2023 (my most favourite and hyped cfc moment since the 99 prelim) dees lost that game, more than we won it.

If this is the summation of Voss’s tenure. If that was the peak. Then surely his time here, with our list (prior to the htb change) would be an epic letdown and failure, yeah?

Yes. But I don't believe it is the peak.
We can bemoan not picking up Houston but if Jagga Smith was showing his skills now, that argument would soon be gone. He is a gun. You can't criticise the decision in hindsight, after the kid does an injury following the draft.

View the criticisms and assess them. One person says the list is shit.
If so, Voss must be a star for getting us into successive finals series with a shit list.
If Voss is the problem, then surely the list must be exceptional if we've won 2 of 4 finals the past 2 years with a shit coach. Which is it?

Personally I think we've got a list that can finish top 4 with a decent run with injury. 2 losses doesn't change that.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

Absolutely. The season is a marathon, not a sprint. We just left the gates.

There's a difference between underdone stars of the game who can still do a job, and need minutes at AFL level, not VFL level, and underdone work horses like Acres who are a liability (for the time being) till they get fit again. Acres has enough preseasons under his belt to bring the best version of himself.

I remember David King back in 2019 spruiking Cripps wont last as a player past 2022 because he's battered and slowing down. He won a Brownlow in 2022 and again in 2024 and he's just getting better.

Same was said about Walshy in 2023, then went on to win Ayres Medal for best player in the Finals and he didnt even play in the GF. Ditto last year when missed the first 4 games last year, and came 3rd in the John Nichols Medal.

Now I'm hearing all this propaganda about Bang Crash football, and Vossy's contested brand is not sustainable, yet not one player on last years 17 injured before Finals, nor current injured have fallen victim to our contested brand, which happens to be our one wood.

You don't write off champions, and you make Finals and don't win Finals because youre game plan is no good.

Harry looked great in the preseason, then something happened in GWS game at quarter time and he hasnt been the same since. He'll be back and dangerous too. Someone else to look forward to.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

I truly think we have the list to make top 4.

As I pointed out to Cru, we don't bat too deep, and yes that's because of being top heavy, but to have these Million Dollar stars staying with us, we have a plethora of 18-20yo on miminum salary.

If injury is kinder to us this year, especially towards the end of the year, I'm bullish of a tilt for the flag at the pointy end because of our One wood, contested footy, and our star studded spine (with SOS at CHB).

Weitering
Silvagni (interupted preseason back from ACL)
Cripps
DeKoning
McKay (injured/ sick)
Curnow (underdone and ramping up)

Add the strengths of Saad Hollands Williams Cerra Hewett and Walsh (underdone and ramping up)

That is the foundation of a Finals contender.

Just have to get the support act fitting in and a bit of luck on the injury front (for Voss) and umpiring ...nah fk the umpires and the AFL. We have to do this "our way".

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

imo our list isn’t shit. It’s not balanced, there’s replication (Haynes and McGovern, Walsh and Cerra, Harry and Charlie, Motlop and durdin etc etc)

I think the htb mid season change hurt us. We built our list on strong bodies, standing in tackles and that’s now taken from us a little. Void of outside run, void of handball chains and dare, void of any forward semblance of dynamism and creativity and very fragile in defence.

Team selection is a mystery and a worry. Let’s shelve some better known, lumbering types and butchers and go smaller and more mobile and see what we got.

I don’t feel like we would have come within 7-8 goals of the hawks had it not been a heavy track which heavily favours us


I think we’ve peaked. And as exciting as jagga could be… he doesn’t fill an actual need like some AA calibre thrust and dare off half back like what Houston would have.

Just on this, IIRC, the previous year our defensive profile was very good. With Weitering and Young as our KPD's. Top 4 in the AFL from memory.
But we couldn't score from turnover. The same experts who say you can't win the flag with a poor defensive profile were the same ones saying you can't win it without a top 4 turnover profile. Yet we were 5 goals up in an interstate prelim with our turnover profile.

We chased the improved turnover profile in 2024 and successfully so. But it smashed us defensively. So we have to find the balance.
That's difficult to do in season.
I'm happy to see where we are later in the season. Don't judge us on 2 games. It's early days and we're transitioning players back into the team and trying new strategies.



I disagree. Wet, slippery conditions suit the faster, more skilful teams IMHO. We were good enough to beat Hawthorn. We just need Harry and Charlie to hit some form and we'll match them.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

Either way … the season will play out for us all to see.

I hope on top of hope you and Bondi are right and I am wrong. I’ll have no problem in the world admitting I was completely wrong should we go top 4 …

I think we’ll finish outside the 8. fwiw…

The only problem I have about not judging is after round 2 or 3 or even 4 is; the body of work we’ve put in since qtr time verse the giants in July last year has been the exact rubbish we served up against the tigers.

Hawks was an improvement. But on a dry track, I fear we’d get smashed by them and their way of playing

I recall you posting this prior to the Hawks game. Players with skills stand out.


Also, all that contested footy we won had nothing to do with wet or dry conditions. We won the nut fair and square.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue