The teams that we are no good against - HAwks, Crows, and Saints all play the style of footy where you have to take them on through the middle with handball to beat their zoning. We are trying this but are not good enough at it to win .....yet .

We handball nackwards and to stationery targets, there is little flow or movement, too stagnant.

We can go on about gameplans but we have a couple of issues......our skill level doesnt allow for any high possession plan or overusing the ball........some of our players need remedial skills, Armfield is a nice goer but a butcher by foot, Wiggins is very brave but cant kick straight, Fisher cant kick over a jam jar...Simpson no right foot....etc etc.....you want to play cute footy with a list that doesnt have the tools to get the job done....good luck.

Even Murphy and Gibbs of late are unreliable by foot.....

Handball running game requires good decision making...not a noted strength of players like Russell and Armfield for example...

You want to play cute handball happy football then get the cattle on the park who can make it happen......some of our players are not developed enough with their skills/minds and might never be........

I think the handball moreso than a kick relies on your nearby team mates knowing where to run, because the ball is going to come onto them quite suddenly, whereas with a kick, it can be weighted and you can steer them in a direction.

Some of our blokes don't know where to run, and some of them don't know where to send the runner. As that understanding develops we'll hopefully put some good loop on our handballs, but I still think our technique is well below AFL standard. Diesel has helped, but it's definitely a fixer-upper.

I have to agree with that summation Elwood.

We have a lot of good players, but players with a well rounded skillset have to be developed and/or recruited.

I believe we can improve the handball skill and kicking skill of some to get to the level required, but not all of them.

On the coaches game plan, whilst having been a critic, I believe that Ratts is learning the hardway about his troops' capabilities and what is the best approach with the current group. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt.

I do know that when we did run it through the middle with confidence and no fear of mucking up in the two proceeding NAB carnivals we looked good (and a bit like Knights' game plan).

With that said, it suggests that we can nearly pull off a handball running game, and improve with more practise...so that leaves me thinking the problem is an issue with the game plan, the instuctions and/or the capacity of the players abilility to comprehend and visualise the game plans.