What I want for Christmas....

(Yes I'll start a thread on it)

... is a working forward structure where the players know what to do when the ball is hot but coming in at a rate of knots. At least 8 times on my count we had the quick pressured kick from the midfield go I50 and we came up with nothing, with the ball cleared away too easy. Terrible thinking going I50, making a slight advantage a disadvantage. The good teams do not do this.

At the very least a kick I50 should be better than 50/50. The probability with you in control should be edged in your favour but we keep doing it, time and time again.

Forward coach and main coach should be able to work it up such that we at least get a good (better than 50/50) shot on goal. Incoming youngsters covering for injuries should know the drills and know the plans and know where they need to be.

A forward structure, please.

I have no faith in Ratts and he,s staff 5 years of coaching and we are back to where we started no forward stucture no real game plan some player have gone backwards. Lack of development or poor drafting time for some changes imo.

Some Victorian clubs will be licking their lips after that performance from the Swans. Bordering on insipid.

Says a lot about us then Verbs

Few things to note about this Game:


1- The Selection of Davies ahead of Thornton was Rubbish. Not only Davies ended up being the Sub but when he came on, he made Some Critical errors in Defense which Gifted Sydney 2 Easy Goals. Doesnt look an AFL Standard Player.


2- Bell & Casboult are Clearly not ready for AFL yet. Bell is a Ripper but doesn't yet understand the Game and continues to make bad choices. Casboult has not yet perfected how to Kick for Goal. He seems to Struggle even at front of Goal. Getting some AFL Game time into both of them will do us the Goods moving forward.


3- Critical mistakes in Defense Gave Sydney 5-6 Easy Goals Today. Touhey, Davies, Joseph & Scotland all refused to Kick out of Defense and kept Dancing around until they Gave the ball away. Needs a better effort.


Overall, a Decent performance but I think its time we Look Forward to Next year and leave this Nightmare Season behind us!!!

Where we're at has been obvious for 10 weeks.

Some don't see it.

Yep

_________________
#NewBlues beginning 25th August 2015

We have more outs than any finals contender besides West Coast, Essendon* and Collingwood and all three look like also rans this year. We should certainly be better than what we are but ignoring the outs completely serves no purpose.

Casboult will turn 23 at the start of next year and after 3 years on the list still hasn't improved his kicking. The grabs are nice but it takes more than that to be an AFL forward.

Collins had 13 disposals and gave away 3 free kicks. I wouldn't consider that pretty good.

Weren't the commentators impressed when Tuohy kicked out, and hit the centre square with a perfectly executed torpedo punt?.....they raved about it.....

They were so impressed, that they showed a slo mo replay of the ball making perfect contact with his boot.

It showed initiative from our Irishman.....and why can't that beautiful kick be an attack weapon from defence for us occasionally?

_________________
No ones listening till you make a mistake.

I saw some stats about two weeks ago that showed that those sides had lost more games from their supposed best 22 players than ours. Interesting reading.

Have you seen any reserves games over the past 12 months? Casboult's kicking has been very good and he has worked hard on it. Ever thought the kid may be nervous or fatigued? He hasnt had a lot of footy this year.

I seem to remember Tom Hawkins kicking being questioned only a few weeks ago. Seems to have improved lately!!

_________________
#NewBlues beginning 25th August 2015

Those stats showed that the majority of WCE's missed games were from 4 players who have missed the year, and also showed that Essendon*'s injuries are massively overstated.
Collingwood is the only team with a similar amount of injuries to us.

im with you. did our best to lose game at selection table. thornton ellard lucas duigan all left in vfl while davies (r u serious ratten?) mckinnes white bell curnow AJ make the 1's........???????????

thanks ratts. but do the honorable thing and fall on your sword.

There have been countless forwards over the years who were hopeless kicks at first.....Tom Hawkins comes to mind immediately as a good example.....kids can be taught how to kick goals.

When the CFC appointed John Barker (ex Hawks) as our Forwards Coach; my mate who is a fanatical Hawks fan; laughed and said he was ''bloody hopeless as a Coach''......hmmm....

_________________
No ones listening till you make a mistake.

You don't get it.

Its not about seeing everything as positive.

The way you guys carry on and blame the coach for everything is embarassing.

_________________
"The ability to speak doesn't make you intelligent." Qui-Gon Jinn 15-05-2005

"there’s more chance of me becoming the full forward for the [Western Bulldogs] than there is of any change in the Labor Party." Julia Gillard 18-05-2010

Our lack of structure up forward largely comes down to the fact we have had little continuity with playing personnel up there this year.

A fairly unsexy reason but true.

That's not to say the whole club needs a big review at the end of the season, but it is possible to think that Ratts won't take us to the promised land and not everything he does is wrong.

Pretty good effort really.

We were a side that's barely played together and it showed. Frustrating, but not much you can do about it.

I reckon we gifted them 3 goals from stuff ups and 4 from not being switched on.

I found the stoppages a bit frustrating as we seemed to have two or three of our blokes fighting over it, but they would have one guy in and two options out the back or side.

That's why the Swans are on top I suppose. I wonder how they will go without Bolton and Reid in the finals.?

_________________
I hope Essendon* folds.

I was quite impressed with Davies given the limited time he had on the field.

Maybe that's because the coach manages the team who make the moves. Pretty simple really.

I think it was more likely a choice between Thornton and CBoult.

Not sure TBird's rucking is what we need right now.

_________________
I hope Essendon* folds.