f**k i hate Essendon*.

The problem we have is that we are diabolical and there is precious little in the reserves. Jacobs is the best Ants player and we can't play three giant rucks. Our coach has finally put down the stats sheet and said some hard things. All that was missing was a realisation that the buck stops with him, and either his messages and game plan are way off or he doesn't have the authority to get the players to do what he wants. How many times does he have to say "bring your mouthguards to training." We are a rabble. We don't run hard enough often enough, we are totally static. Has Ratts ever watched Geelong? How about we run with the ball, attack, try and win and go down swinging, at least then all the players might be on the same page.

Having said players have lacked courage now, if he is selective in who he drops, he brands the droppees as the soft when half the team are soft.

After about 8 weeks of crap, we need to make changes, but it is a bit like swapping deck chairs on the Titanic.

Honestly I don't know what to do. I'd like Setanta back, but the setanta of 8 weeks ago. Hadley has been tried before. Davies looks a distance away.

I am just devoid of ideas. Maybe I should be on the MC.

Really this is a test for Stats Ratts. he has made every excuse known, now we play a side below us, with a crap coach, less experience and who recently got flogged by the bottom side. Ratts has had 6 straight losses to understand their gameplan, but his own players don't understand our gameplan so I guess it's asking too much to understand the Bombers game plan. If we win, it is not some great achievement, it is really about time. You should expect to beat bottom of the ladder sides when you are in the 8.

If we lose this it will indicate that Ratts has lost the players (and most of the supporters).

At the moment we have a committee who have endorsed poor decisions in the way we went about getting a coach and then compounded it by extending his contract too far, too early. Our drafting is looking average. Fairly easy when you have a top 10 pick, why can't we get anything later in the draft? How many quality players have the pies got beyond the first round of the draft? How many have we got?

Our rookie successes - Joseph, Carrazzo, Jamo, are looking more like rookies every week. How can players go backwards as they appear to have?

I am sick of it. Almost 10 years of mediocrity and more to come. We are the new Richmond, and Richmond look like something we are not - a weak list that gets a long way on discipline and determination.

Will any committee members be up for re-election? Can we at least vote somebody out at the end of the year?

Also don't forget, Mark Thompson went through this and worse with Geelong. Hopefully we are experiencing growing pains on the way to ultimate success

They never had access to early picks we have had.

I'm with you.......

They never had access to early picks we have had.

They were very fortunate to get Ablett and Scarlett as father/son selections.

Doesn't matter what number picks they had. The quality of the players they did draft were as good.

And Hawkins too; he's the reigning premiership full forward...and you can never take that away from him.

We might make 1 or 2 changes, but I think wholesale changes are unlikely...

Let's face it, we don't have the cattle in reserve to drop too many of the guys that played on Saturday.

Armfield and possibly Houlihan might come in (if they are fit), but I sincerley doubt Carlos (on current form), Austin (on current form), T-Bird, Hadley or Robbo would make much difference. I think we should persist with Warnock & Hammer, which means Sauce stays in the VFL for now. Davies isn't ready IMO. I'd like to see Tuohy & Kerr get a go at some stage, but I doubt that the MC would take a risk on either of them in such a 'must win' game...

If Armfield isn't fit, I wouldn't be surprised if there was 'no change', to be honest....

A fringe player here or there isn't going to make a difference. As a group, the whole team needs to play with greater intensity and smarts. The coaching staff has its share of responsibility to make it happen, but the buck stops with the players IMO.

The 22 that played on Saturday are the best we had available. Guys that weren't good enough to get a game last week aren't suddenly better players this week. I'm not a big fan of dropping good players just "to send a message". I honestly don't think that works. We just need to get the players we have to play harder, smarter and better....

It will be a massive job to turn the side around. IMO, it goes back further than the Hawthorn game. We've been very average since 10th May (ie. Rd 7 vs St K). Even before that, we were poor at times (eg. 1st half vs Bris in Rd 2, vs Ess in Rd 3). Since Rd 7 this season, we've beaten PA, WCE, Melb & Bris - teams that were all struggling at the time we played them - and suffered some terrible losses to Haw, NM, WB, Syd & Coll (I didn't think the Freo loss was as bad).

I think we've been overrated for most of the season.

We are very much an inconsistent, middle-of-the-road side. Personally, I don't think we are good enough to win a final yet. Even worse, I don't think we're going to beat Essendon* this week.

We're about where I thought we'd be before the season started. I think a few of us got a bit excited and after wins against Geel & St K that maybe we'd come on quicker than expected, but I think we've all had a reality check since then...

That doesn't mean I like it, that's just the way it is IMO....

Its pretty simple.

Just bloody win.

Go in hard, stop playing the way the opposition wants you to play.
Stop playing all your players in the forwards opposition forward line.

Leave 3 - 4 players in your forward line. It opens the game up. Playing all your players in one half of the game played in the pies hands.

Drop the following please:
Hampson - Waste of space.
Fisher - Play him in the goal square or no where else/replace with setanta.
Russell - Stupid decisions cost us atleast 2 goals on weekend. Not good enough. Play him on a wing/away from backline. Does not have a footy brain and never will. Needs to be dropped.
Yarran - Was to soft, classy player, but didn't put his body on the line when he had to.

Bring in Setanta, mitch, Jacobs, Thornton.

Need some experience in the backline. Got none last week. Believe it or not, our backline always seems more stable when thornton plays, even if he makes a couple errors. Never seen the backline as bad as it has been in the last few weeks.

Joseph needs to be put on a midfield tag, not backline tag.