No, this thread isn't about Sav Rocca.
It's about the knee-jerk reactions taking place around here. We play one NAB Cup game, experimenting with new structures and new players, which is one of the beauties of this pre-season competition, we lost by 2 kicks and suddenly our season is in crisis.

It really surprises me about the lack of thought and forward thinking of some people. One NAB Cup game has a tumultuous impact on an entire season of footy ahead? Give me a break. Young Henderson gets labelled as poor, having played only 15 games for the Lions and being used in defence for most of those games. People start to spew over Fevola now, yet they fail to realise that he had a quiet one last weekend aswell, and fail to guage the fact that most forwards struggle when the delivery into the forward line is average. Furthermore, Henderson is only 20 years of age, and he's at a new club having to adapt to the new players. But he's not playing like Carey in his heyday right away, so we may as well label him as a dud recruit and see the trade as a rip off. Again, pathetic.

We had several players out last night, including some of our running players and goal kickers such as Waite and Murphy. Not to mention the absence of Betts, Walker, Houlihan. These players inject some quality into our side, Waite provides us with run off the backline, and when he's not doing that he's kicking us some goals. Murphy became a goalkicker last year, Betts is dangerous around goal, Walker is exciting, and Houlihan still manages to come up with the goods around goal, evident in our final against the Lions.

Then of course, comes the critisism of McLean. People need to learn patience and hindsight. Too slow, crap skills, not good enough. Again, another classic knee-jerk reaction. Give him some time aswell. He's coming into a new team for crying out loud. Don't see why we need to be jumping at shadows just yet. Looking forward to him having a great season and then all who abused him on last night's performance can have a look back on what they had to say of him based on a February practice match.

As some other posters have highlighted in other threads, it gets very, very, tiresome. People jumping to conclusions far too early, writing off their supposed "club of support", then jumping back on the bandwagon when the team starts to go alright. Not only does it make yourselves look bad, it reflects badly on the supporters as a whole aswell. Please don't turn us into the whining Collingwood stereotype supporters. If you guys are THAT convinced that we are going downhill fast, then why don't you just wait until May to buy a membership...see how the team goes, and if they're going well, think about buying one.

It really does my head in.

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Premierships: 1869, 1871, 1873, 1874, 1875, 1877, 1887, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1914, 1915, 1938, 1945, 1947, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1987, 1995.

"GIBBS."

Agree, very poor form to judge players based on their first hit out.

As long as there is a geniune strategy aimed at preparing the team for the long year ahead, I have no issues.

It will be interesting how Sydney preforms this year, after posting their first NAB cup game victory under Paul Roo's. And equally how we will preform, with our eyes firmly fixed to playing finals and finishing top 6.

Unless you are previ to the plans set by the football department, we do not how well or poorly we are actually tracking. They certainly looked at gauging how Lucas, Davies, Warnock, Henderson, McLean, will fit in our best 22. Along with Garlett pressing through the middle, Thornton pushing higher (kicked a goal), and how Yarran should be used. Giving Anderson and browne good game time, to further develop their confidence.

Lets give them the benefit of having a grand plan by which they are working together on. It would make little sense to unleash it all for teams to have a full month to reveiw before the start of the season. We shouldn't forget how good we looked in preseason, only to pick up another cooking utensil !!!

Good Luck Blues - Lets hope my assumption isn't too far of the mark !!

Ahh yes but its not about winning the NAB cupper..

You show what YOU two saw that is different from previous years in the way we set about to play the game .
With our array of excellent young coaches and development people we have in place around the club.

Shell be right..... dont worry about a thing.. it will all be ok..... we will suddenly develop a pattern of game that the players will understand and work with effectively/

The problem is at the moment.. there is nothing obvious ..... thats obvious!!!

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What I saw different, is how the NAB cup games should be used, a dry run prior to the season, a means of conditioning your body (match fitness). An opportunity to tweek the synergy between assistant coaches, head coach and interchange personnel.

Start ripping into it too early increases the probability of soft tissue injuries etc. By all accounts Fisher has re injured his knee!! Griggs 2009 fell away after picking up his ancle injury. You can't eliminate this risk, but you can certainly reduce it by controlling the process.

The NAB cup series has many clear examples of teams using it correctly (dipping out early) to better prepare under more controlled conditions. Collingwood being one! not to mention Hawthorn.

If last night was for 4 points, I would be deeply concerned, you just need to sit back and place a little trust in the team. I'm also waiting to see how they will configure the midfield rotations, forward line setup and who will actually be our No. 1 ruck. Many important details we need to keep protected as long as you can. Do you really think our best midfielder will be lining up as a half forward flanker!

Deep breaths - We have a long season in front of us.

Luckily our defence looked good due to Sydney resting their whole forward line. The defeat isn't the concern - its the way we went about it. There were many 2-3-4 year players out there and showed close to nothing.
We came close on the scoreboard because we played against an extremely average side. Which says alot about our game plan and playing group mentality. Which needs to be fixed. If Sydney played Bradshaw, Okeefe and White we would have been hammered by 20 goals.

And conversly if we played Betts, Waite, Walker, Simmo and Houlihan we may have kicked a few more goals also. All these missing blokes are attacking players and that is exactly what we lacked.

yeah, well i've only read the post match reports, and so far i've concluded that season 2010 is flowered. we haven't recruited well, we still lack any kind of gameplan or structure, and our coach is no good. consequently, all i've got to look forward to is the Ashes in november.

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i don't wanna spend my life explaining myself. Either you get it, or you don't- Frank Zappa

I see. This is clear after one Mickey Mouse Cup game, is it?!

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Love that ROFL copter!!!!

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You want the flame? Give us the marbles!!

Walks has been trying to live up to the promise of his first game ever since.

Fevola may have grown into a better more team oriented footballer if he hadn't kicked those 12 goals in a Mickey Mouse match on New Year's Eve 1999.

Many have stagefright that they soon get over.

First game means nothing. It's what happens in the next 200.

Henderson will be a champ.

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Bawditawaba

I wonder what happens if there is a significant improvement from last week to todays game?

Who will be given credit for the improvement?

Dan,

It is a not a knee jerk reaction to critique what was dished up last week. You can only judge what is presented before you: disposal, structure, tactics were pretty poor. I could go on. You also have to look at it within the context of the last two years. We are lacking in the coaches box.

..santa claus..

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..if you can't be good, be good at it..

I like this one better

Now let me see.

When we lose games it is in the coach's box but when we win games .......

Lets just look at the top 4 teams from last year who you would think are cutting edge in terms of tactics, development and whatever you want.

Geelong we won
StKilda we were in front with a minute to go.
Bulldogs we smashed
Collingwood 50/50.

If you are prepared to blame the coaching staff when we lose then surely you need to credit them when we win.

True, but then you could also look at it in the context of the next two years. Will this game have an effect on us by then? No way. Even 5 rounds into the season we'll have long forgotten about it. I agree the footy displayed wasn't pretty at all, and people have every right to be disappointed. But what annoyed me was those willing to write us off after a NAB Cup match. I too wasn't impressed with the footy we were served up, but I know we are better than that. As far as I'm concerned, the season can't come quick enough. That's when the real judgements can be made of the team overall. If we lose games we should be winning, then everyone will be under the microscope, especially Ratten. Until then, I don't think it's time to be cutting our wrists just yet. I understand your point of view though.

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Premierships: 1869, 1871, 1873, 1874, 1875, 1877, 1887, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1914, 1915, 1938, 1945, 1947, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1987, 1995.

"GIBBS."

There will be no improvement. If there's no publicly available video for thousands of mug punters to scrutinise, how could it have happened?

I'll be down at the game and I'm banking on a more cohesive performance due to an injection of experience, levels of fitness increasing and a forward structure containing more than one permanent key forward.

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29 different attributes,
And only 7 that you like;
20 ways to see the world,
Or 20 ways to start a fight.

A coach that experiments with team structures, player roles and explores player capabilities should be sacked!

Parkin should have been sacked years ago when he persisted with players like Silvagni and Sexton when they were getting a hiding in pre-season matches!

Does anyone remember the great contests between the young players Koutoufides and Schwarz in pre-season matches at Waverley?

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Bawditawaba

I am looking forward to a positive week on TC. I want to know more about our players especially the younger ones. Keep posting everyone and lets be positive as we march forward to round 1. We need to focus on the Tigers

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Actually if we had of just played Betts- never mind the others- we would have won by two goals.