jim wrote:
Teague is doing a fine job but he has one major thing he needs to do, make sure the side is switched on ready to go. That's what stands between us and being a good, consistently winning side. I'm sick of pissing 4 points down the drain through not being switched on. We've shown we can match it with any team but we just waste it too often. No point giving away 6 goals starts then whittling down to bugger all and losing, or, like last night, cut back half the margin. We showed against Geelong what we can do when we turn up to play. For 3 qtrs we smashed them on their own dog patch with sublime football. That's the standard and I expect it kept to. This has less to do with ability and more to do with a piss poor attitude. We're 8-8 under Teague, which we would've accepted at the time of his appointment, but $hit, we should've won quite a few more. We have just simply pissed so many games down the drain and has to stop.
Agree with you.
I think the poor starts are largely the manifestation of a losing culture that has festered for too long. In all the 3 poor starts this year, we’ve been smashed in the contested ball (we’ve been second to the ball) and then smashed in the tackles (no pressure once the opposition win the ball). Those are effort and hunger indicators. And they are non-negotiable at pretty much every other club. Unfortunately at ours they’ve been negotiable. There’s been no consequences for not showing up.
I thought the Cats game could be a bit of a line in the sand on the effort front. The hunger we played with for 3 quarters was massive and set the standard for what we should produce every week. Unfortunately 2 weeks later we’re back to square one. Will they show up next week? Who knows - it’s been the same question for years. I’m not putting this on DT but it’s his time to change the culture. No more acceptance of a lack of effort. It’s a massive task - no one (apart from Ratts for maybe 2-3 years) has been able to get the players playing with a ruthlessness and intensity that other teams bring every week. It’s not just on DT, it’s on the whole club, but it’s got to improve and quick.