It Does in my world..............

Especilly considering we paid Ratten out six figures for us to get Mick Malthouse.



Again........ getting back to the title of the thread................ Mick does indeed have a lot of work ahead of him....... but he is getting paid a crap load of money for that work so i expect him to do it!

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"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit"
- Aristotle

RB , but is really an underperforming group? Is it really as talented as some suggest?, some may conclude that the team has performed according to its true talent level

I still don't get how people can make definitive comments after three rounds.

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#NewBlues beginning 25th August 2015

It's performances to date comprise 3 narrow losses to seemingly superior opposition (excluding Richmond). Hardly super poor performances I wouldn't have thought.

They make them before the season starts.

Three rounds is like a meta study.

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I hope Essendon* folds.

Psy, your point is right on the money... The answer is that YOU CAN'T make such definitive comments after 3 rounds.. I think it's more a case of opportunism motivated by previous prejudice on coaching selection/preference.

..i wouldn't under-estimate the tuggers this season, i reckon they're a good chance of beating the pies and being 4 zip..

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

UD
You’re ingraining one area with another
I agree with the majority of your post but a resolve is a determination, willpower rand drive to win, which we lack.
Talent is the flair and ability we have which to me is quite evident and that can only take you so far and we need to take the next step this is why Malthouse was hired.
The time for the new coach and one as uncompromising as Malthouse should be effective as soon as he steps out on the grass in his first training session. This is the time to make a statement to take charge and show some authority and deliver your opportunity to the playing group. This is the best time to exert your position and expectation on your playing group
To my observation he hasn’t addressed this area which is a missed opportunity to effectively demand nothing less than full commitment and in addition he has confused the players with additional useless information.
We have had as you mentioned three narrow losses but last year under Ratten we did beat Richmond and Collingwood twice. For me we are not only not improving but also going backwards.
We can put it any way we want about what type of players we have or need or were we should finish and what to expect but we had the players to play 3 out of 4 final series previously and with some important personnel missing fare chunks of the season.
I expected immediate improvement with the list much intact at the start of the year with no excuses about game plans and structures, ineffective interchange bench’s and player inefficiencies. If we don’t at least make a vast improvement in the immediate future and don’t even make the eight this year I will and a lot of other feel this has been a waste of exercise.
Next year is a different year and separate expectations and promises.

Exactly....pot shots laced in 'I was right you were wrong' crap....

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"Truth, for the tyrants, is the most terrible and cruel of all bindings; it is like an incandescent iron falling across their chests. And it is even more agonizing than hot iron, for that only burns the flesh, while truth burns its way into the soul"     — Lauro Aguirre

Not enough time, knowledge and data to make a really informed assessment.

Three close loses. I have been to two games live and it just looks from the outside we are trying to work to a new game plan but it is simply not "instinctive" yet. Players are working through it but slight hesitation is magnified by good opposition and is causing bursts of goals against us.

Also, the game has had a major shift this year in terms of scoring. There are more goals in each game than in years. This has been caused by quick ball ups, the slide rule etc. We are playing very much a "group" defence and it takes time.

I watched the Geelong game again last night and we played some really impressive football in patches. Geelong got a lot of goals from some mistakes which will be eliminated.

Some changes in personnel will make a difference. Betts & Waite are 2 of the few real A graders we have and will add to a forward line that is our weakness and lacks depth.

You also cannot question the effort. The players are working hard and the team harmony seems very good. Training is consistently the best I have seen in years. My opinion is that we are getting better and with some minor changes and confidence, which comes with winning, we will be a much better side.

I still stand by my comments that if we reach mid year 6-6 or even 7-5, which given the draw is very possible, we are looking good as I expect our second half of the year to be much improved.

I also believe with the development processes we now see in place the group of Graham, Menzel, McCarthy, Temay, OKeefe, Casboult, Lucas, Buckley, Dale, Bootsma, Bell will really add to our side in the next 12 months.

IMO its a bit of short term pain for long term gain.

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#NewBlues beginning 25th August 2015

..you can't just look from year to year and say, we beat this team, we lost now so we've gone backwards.. ..it's not as simple as that.. ..2011 we finished 5th, and lost to pies.. ..2012 we beat them twice [convincingly], and we finished 10th.. ..it takes time for authority to take effect.. ..you can't just come in and whack everyone right away, even if plenty perhaps deserved it.. ..you'll get ev eryone off side being too hard too soon [e.g Neeld]..

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

I have to disagree with that. The attitude of the group is excellent and they are working hard.

Compared to last year the attitude, effort and will to win is chalk and cheese.

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#NewBlues beginning 25th August 2015

So we made 3 out of four finals with a hack coach and player group who performed to their talent.
So we don't expect to make the finals with a experienced muti premiership coach like Malthouse and the same playing group.
Who's prejudice against our previous coach.

Not making definitive judgment - dont like being 0-3 and possibly 0-4 after the weekend and being 15th or 16th on the ladder- hard draw or not we know early wins make it easier to make the finals and we know this team however coached or mentored struggles to string along a number of winning games so like your thought of 6/6 but last few years performances dont suggest we will get that consistency and achieve the result

Happy to assess at the end of the year but if we dont make the finals it will be a fail for this year simple as that - the coach and the players will have to wear the backlash if we dont - so will the administration in that we were hamstrung in the trade period last year with salary cap and signed up people like joseph and davies on longer term contracts Not sure if warnock is going to play this week but if he is not why on earth didnt we trade him last year for early draft picks or a gun young player .Given we have used 28 players already and kreuz and hampson have both been injured and big knockers cant get a game why is he still there

Im backing MM over the longer term because of his outstanding record but at the moment at this very early stage its not going so well - do like that he has tried 28 players already but that also goes to the fact that apart from Jamo and walker we have not had any consistency in performance across the team

The fact that he is playing kids in big games is fantastic and will benefit us greatly in the long term.

As for consistency, I am more for improvement.

Walker has been awesome finally in his right possie
Gibbs has been very good and wouldnt of previously had the effort with the knee issue he has.
Henderson has been getting better after average pre season
Kruezer first class until injured
Lucas a lot better
Judd back to near best
Garlett a lot better than 2012
Carrots as a tagger been very very good

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#NewBlues beginning 25th August 2015

agree I said playing 28 players was good and there are some positives ie lucas etc - but with a team such as this - its underperforming if we are 0-4

..it's more than simply being 0-4.. ..tigers look to be a finals side this year, and possibly a 5th -7th finals side, vs scrapping in at 8th.. ..pies and cats we know to be top 4 potential, and eagles even with a slow start and their injuries, are a middle finals side and we're playing them in subi..

..considering our tall fwd structures [woeful], and our [so far] 0-3 losses being competitive and close,, i'm not sure you can say we've underperformed.. ..or at least if we have, it's so far only slight.. ..we've had a lot of bad habits to undo, before we can drill in good habits.. ..it was always going to take more than a pre-season.. ..i think we as fans are being a bit impatient.. ..understandable, because with our list we shouldn't be this far back in regards to how a contender should play.. ..but we are.. ..simple as that..

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

imo your argument on this issue isn't well founded RB, but I certainly cannot question your engagement, communication of, & commitment to your view/s.

..except that our finals finishes weren't too juicy.. ..7th and 8th finals finishes is barely making it, and our best season of 2011 we didn't beat a single top 4 team, still weren't able to win more than 3 games in a row,, and we finished 5th but were 2 and a half games shy of 4th..

..i think the expectation that we're a top 4 worthy side is a bit hopeful.. ..list issues, and bad in-game habits were there for everyone to see, and still are.. ..it's quite possible that our 2011 season was more about the competition for that year, in regards to there being 10 teams that year that were well off the competitive edge..

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

The biggest problem with being 0-3 is that the three teams we gave 4 points each to are the same teams we need 4 points from to bea above them come finals times.

I have a feeling that being unable to take the points particularly against Richmond are going to bite us in the rear.

It's a long season. We could go 19-0 from here. But most likely we will be around 12-15 wins this season, depending on how some of the reverse fixtures occur. Simply, the next time we play Richmond and both times we play the Peptides we must win, as well as all other games outside of this week, Hawthorn, Sydney and Collingwood again. That gives you a 15-8 win which puts us in pole position for finals. The Richmond loss is going to hurt the most I feel.

We can't afford to stink it up particularly against team like North Melbourne like we did last year.