Ratts never drops his favorites and as such get away with laziness.

Garlett for one should've been dropped on several occasions this year.

btw, didn't we grow up last year? Have we ungrown this year? fmd

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“I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned.” ― Richard Feynman

In all forms of life, when the motivation and inspiration goes so does your output.

Excuses excuses. Rose coloured glasses.
Sounds like sugar coating it for the players.

Do you really want a team of players that fall away so badly because they know their position is safe or don't respect their coach?

We have a flaky bunch. Ratts should take ownership for putting such a team together.

Tigers just delisted Connors and suspended Martin for 2 weeks for missing a training session. Wonder what we would have done?

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"Who discovered we could get milk from cows, and what did he think he was doing at the time?" Billy Connolly

The difference between country 'kamikaze' football (physically tough and expected) and the modern 'sleek' skilled football is a fine line for the players to walk. As much as I would like to see a game of stacks on, or who can run through an opposition player the hardest each week, the way footy is played these days means over-committing to a contest can leave you in more strife than under-committing.

That said, there is no excuse for an 80% effort when you know 100% is what you need. The players (with a few exceptions - Robinson, Duigan, Tuohy) do seem to lack that hard edge though; some BIG tackles, putting the body on the line sometimes and not backing down when your mate gets a whack is definitely stuff I want to see more of.

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"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." - Howard Thurman

There's definitely a problem between the ears out there and I found it instructive last Friday night to look at what was happening a little off the ball (yeah, I know there wasn't much happening on the ball ).

I lost count of the number of times one player would dish off to another running or jogging or even at a standstill nearby, and then NOT do anything about shepherding his team mate from a Hawks player coming at the ball. I thought it was appalling in terms of a clear indication that no-one appears to be the slightest bit interested in playing as a team or being hard at it. Now, I'm not sure whether Ratts has lost the players or something else is going on, but its no way to play football as a team and win matches. Conversely the Hawks helped each other out all the time.

Yes, the team is much the same on paper as the one that played Collingowod in round 3, but right now it is a universe apart in terms of a team on the road to achieving #17. For that the coaching staff have to take some responsibility, but for me its HTFU all round.

"Delusion" is a term I would use in describing the operations and management of the club. Breaks my heart.

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also on twitter @m_j_short

I didn't read the comments as sugar coating at all. To me it was more criticism of Ratten, ie. a well-drilled coach would ensure his players don't have any of the concerns raised. Perhaps onfield leadership is one aspect the players could own up to.

The players do have their fair share to do to put things right, I agree, like working better as a team and being harder at the ball. But being better prepared for match days is Ratten's gig.

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I do get tired of the excuses being made for the players. If they don't believe in the gameplan or respect the coach then why can they give 100% against Collingwood but not in the weeks after? Does their belief and respect change week to week? Quarter by quarter? Why do we play less than one quarter of footy against West Coast at Etihad in 2011 when they're our biggest challengers and then go over to Subi in the finals and give them everything we've got?

The players pick and choose when they put in, seem almost allergic to playing a full four quarters of football, constantly play down to inferior opposition and when things aren't going their way they all look around waiting for someone else to do the heavy lifting. Don't they get embarrassed when they get called frontrunners or get roughed up time and again? I don't care what's happening off the field, in the coaches box or who deserves a spot and who doesn't. They could at least show a bit of pride in their own performance as individuals instead of meekly surrendering. Simmo has more heart than most of them put together and if our new coach, whoever that may be, needs to inspire them week after week after week just to get to his level then we're in trouble.

spot on. we've gone backwards in 50 different ways this year. the speed Essendon* has gone past us is frightening.

collingwood are playing seven debutantes, while 17 of our 22 last week played finals, and we're the ones pointing to injuries.

We're missing key players down the spine in more ways than one.

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Dut, de dut, de daaa!

Agree 100%. I would add another observation .......Every decent team has players that stand near a mark or a free kick so that they can shepherd the opposition player standing the mark, clearing a path for team mate. One of the simplest things to do in modern day footy.I lost count of how many times Hawthorn did this creating run. Didn't see a Carlton player do it once. How hard is it to put your f#$@en body in the way. LAZY and not playing for each other! Why?????

I'm over Gibbs playing the celebrity on the Footy Show.

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Bawditawaba

Yes, Heath Shaw would be the biggest recipient of that sort of manoeuvre when kicking in. Gives me the irrits to see us fall for it every time

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also on twitter @m_j_short