Unlike some others, I wasn’t convinced about the Blues going into last night’s game, and in turn I wasn’t entirely surprised we got beat. As good as we were against the Saints, the truth of the matter is we haven’t strung 3 or 4 games on the trot all year, whereas decent teams like Collingwood and Adelaide have. I think we have been grossly overrated all year, by the media, fans, and bookies. Yes we were statistically the 3rd best team heading into the Saints game, but that was only half way into the year, and we hadn’t at that point played the top 2 sides. I dare say statistically now we are not rated the 3rd best side. And in any event, the only stat that matters is the win/loss column, and right now we are falling behind the second pack and if we lose interstate next week (against Freo, who have beaten us twice this year already), we can just about kiss Finals goodbye.
I think we still have a number of problems. And it starts at the top, with the coach.
He has already accepted responsibility for the Adelaide debacle, and I wonder if he will put his hand up to take partial blame for what happened last night. While the players obviously have to take a lot of the heat, I think it’s fair to say Ratten has had 10 weeks to plan to stop Essendon*’s run, and he failed. This game mirrored the R3 game, except this time we got smashed in the second half. The other issue I have with Ratten’s coaching, is I have a feeling we are often too defensively minded in midfield. Seems Ratten is paranoid. (And there’s a link here with the way we set up against Adelaide). Basically, we seem to get smashed in clearances most weeks, and I half wonder if it is because too few midfielders are actually helping the great man Judd win the hard ball. Against the Saints Carrazzo and Grigg were the difference - they both came into the team and both won lots of hard ball and I thought their inclusions in the team made us a lot more capable of winning hard ball. But last night they both played largely defensive roles. As a result, it just seems to me that way too often this year Judd looks like the only one who has the opportunity to win clearances. We’re relying too much on him. Similarly, we are relying on Fevola too much up forward. Essendon* were successful last night at regularly getting the extra man to come across Fevola. It begs the question - why play Fisher if he isn’t going to be a threat? It also goes without saying I could not understand for the life of me why Bannister kept his spot in the team and was floating around HFF for a while (I saw his as a horses for courses inclusion for the Saints game, who should never have played against the quick paced Dons). Some of the selections this year have truly baffled me. But I digress. Back to the coach.
I had a moment of clarity watching the Saints game. I thought the main reason we got back into the game was Bower just decided to take it upon himself to generate run at every opportunity. And after the game we heard Ratten concede he told the players to just ‘take the game on’ after quarter time. Is that good coaching? Hardly if you ask me. Any fool could have instructed the players to do that. In contrast, we know run-and-carry-at-all-costs is Knight’s distinct game plan, and we cannot escape the fact that the Dons are now a game clear of us (with no no.1 draft picks and no Judd), and have now won 5 of the last encounters against us. It’s a damning statistic. Again, I stress the issue for me at least is Knight’s appears to have a distinct game plan that his players adhere to, and the team seem to be getting better and better as the season unfolds. Watching us kick, mark, stop, then kick, versus the Dons who would move the ball from full back to wing in a flash, it was clear very early on that the Dons were a huge chance to win.
Similarly there was a bit last night where the tv camera was fixed on Ratten, and looked unmistakably like a man who had run out of ideas and had totally lost control of the game and had no idea how to cope with the thrashing that was happening in front of his eyes. I know this happens to the best of coaches, but my issue with Ratten is - does he actually have an unique game plan? A plan that has at its centre a competitive edge? I don’t think he does. And I recall an interview with Heath Scotland a little while back when Heath said “The coach tinkers with the game play every week”. Sounds a lot like he tinkers because he hasn’t got a game plan, if you ask me. The club seemed to have picked Ratts to take over as coach pretty quickly, they didn’t appear to do much homework, they just went with the old Carlton boy, probably because he sold in to them the fact he would bring back the ‘arrogant, uncompromising attitude’ to the club. I’m now starting to wonder if there is any actual substance behind the coach’s rhetoric.
In terms of personnel, it is great the likes of Armfield and Browne etc battled so heroically against the Saints, but the cold hard reality is both are a long way off having the required class/skills, and that’s not the only issues we have with personnel. Houlihan is just too slow these days, Scotland and Stevens are both having terrible years by their standards (why??), with Stevens handball turnovers in defence all year being a massive liability - seriously, Ratten must toss that Stevens-down-back idea in the bin now. The game seems to be going past the likes of Stevens and Scotland. it’s a real worry.
I know we are the youngest side (apparently) in terms of experience, but surely that’s no excuse when you see an equally young team like Essendon* dismantle us with such ease last night (and remember they belted us for periods in R3 too). How many top draft picks does it take? Either the remaining balance of our team are not up to it, or the coach is not up to it. And I reckon it’s a bit of both.
I actually believe this team, for some strange reason only get up for the ‘big tests’. We beat the Dogs, almost beat the Hawks, who in my view were ‘on’ that day, and we almost beat the Saints. And yet we have been insipid against the Dons (twice), and Freo, and Adelaide etc. Why are the lads getting up for big challenges, but not for games they ought to win (some would say anyhow)? Is it the pre-season slogan? Is it the coach? This team appears to think they are better than they are, and that they only need to bust their guts when they play the top sides. I think Ratten’s has a challenge to really rattle some cages among the playing group. Can he possibly get that side of things (psychology/motivation) right?
We are going to have to battle very, very hard to make the Eight now. Forget about Top 4, that is very unlikely. While we have a good run home, the irony is these games against teams we should beat are the sorts of games we have blown all year. At what point does the MC decide to drop a slow Houlihan for good, and blood a Robinson instead?
In my view it is time to play the quick and talented, and not the battlers and those the game has passed by.
Bring in Anderson, Yarran, and Robbo, and dump Banniste, Houlihan for starters.
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