They are honest views Daneo. If this club is ever going to turn the corner they need to be able to win that 5 in a row. They need to be able to take that big scalp every so often. No good getting to excited about wins against mediocre teams.
To be brutally honest I pray that Bolton is the man to turn this around. The signs are there that there is improvement. But I don't think the players are as bad as they have been. I think they were poorly coached under Malthouse and conditioned to losing.
It is Boltons biggest challenge.
But I worry about Bolton being the Cliche Kid. I hope behind closed doors he doesn't rattle all his cliches off to the playing group.
He has coached 9 games at the club and you can rattle off his pressers before he even has one.
We are on a journey
We are under no illusions as to where we are at
Small sprouts
Dont want to be to high or to low
It is about the process
A W in the column is not what we are about
We will analyze the good and the bad
Our leaders are leading from the front

I have been waiting for him to say its about Jobs and growth

I hope there is more substance behind closed doors.

We can only hope

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If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

Sydney, that pressure should come to win 5 once we have a finals capable team. I thought we would be lucky to win 8 games this year, let alone 5 in a row.

Reality is we are ten goals off the top echelon.

Be interesting to see how Norf go at the G against some quicker opposition.

They look very big through the shoulders and they're not fast.

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I hope Essendon* folds.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

Freo haven't won a game
Are they 10 goals off the top echelon.
You see not only is the playing group conditioned to losing it has filtered through the coaching staff the administration and the supporters.
The club accepts losing as part and parcel of where they are in the scheme of things. With that attitude they will never go anywhere.
People think that you bottom out build a list wait a few years and everything falls into place. Along the way you accept the belting all call it all part of the journey. But history will tell you that clubs that do this never succeed they languish in the middle of the table rising to the odd final them plummeting again .
The club needs to break this mould. Make every loss hurt and hurt like hell and break through.
Supporters who think we are rebuilding and things will be happy days in 2 to 3 years are dreaming.
Break the mould and start winning these games you are not expected to win and the tide will turn
That is Boltons biggest task

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If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

All reasonable points however we did not have the players available we needed to contend in that game. North are a very good even side with high quality ruckman giving them first use more often than not. Taking Casboult and Kruezer out of that side left a huge hole. We would not have beaten Port with that side we had at the weekend. All Bolton is doing is giving a consistent message. He knows where we are at. What else are you expecting him to say?

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"our electorate seeks less to be informed and more to be validated." Sad times.

I think you have got ahead of yourself SB.
The recycled players were not world beaters at their old teams:
Kerridge, Wright, Gorringe, Sumner, Plowman, Rowe, Curnow, Everitt, Jones...see?

We had missing from the team Kreuzer and Philips, and Casboult: all key posts.
The depth is an issue the whole footy world has acknowledged, and we knew injury would challenge us.

I know of people who have heard him behind the scenes.
Bolton is consistent with his message. Sends a message which needs to be embedded between the ears for the long haul.
You know the message, the players know it and the footy world know it.

The coach isn't about clichés, but there is substance behind clichés.
The success over the a 4 week period was above our expectation and we can only beat whoever is in front of us.
You suggest players were poorly coached and conditioned, now we win 4 and I tell you it was coaching, game plan and conditioning which got us over the line 4 weeks in a row.

North Melbourne relaxed in the 2nd half last week and came out with a 4 quarter effort.
They have been building that team from the midfield out over 5 years.
I remember them getting flogged with their fledgling mids week in week out.
They are a well drilled team full of class on every line.

We came into this game with a lot of sore players after a fantastic 4 week block of wins.
Players said they were sore and only a 6 day break.
We were up against it, hoping to make it 5 in a row.

Regardless of what you're suggesting about a height advantage, North looked a bigger and stronger team than us.
We got monstered against that backdrop but we didn't give up.
Credit where credit is due: both teams.

Any team that wins 9 on a trot should be respected and bias should be put aside.
We lost to a very very good team. The top team.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Go back through the pages of this site and you will see supporters calling for Kruezer and Casboult and Phillips to be dropped.
They all miss and suddenly its the reason why we get pumped by 11 goals.
Need to go beyond who is in and who is out

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If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

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I hope Essendon* folds.

They are part of the reason. We lack class and skill and were always going to be found out against quality opposition. Bolton knows that. You will find he is a man of substance not slogans and meaningless cliches.

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"our electorate seeks less to be informed and more to be validated." Sad times.

As someone else said we are 4-6 class players away from being a top side BUT even we most of the foot soldiers we have with a better and modern game plan , enthusiasm and a buy in by the players to the game plan and a team ethos we have improved significantly
Those players we have bought in whilst not worldbeaters have steadied the ship - have improved professionalism - kerridge and Wright - have improved enthusiasm for club sumner plowman lamb Phillips all seem to care unlike yarran and Henderson - have bolstered the senior players simmo murph gibbs who were directionless and felt unsupported on the field for a number of years

We are taking great strides with a less than talented team that IS IMPROVING - There is joy as we watch weitering sumner byrne lamb plowman cripps all develop as better players - and at least now they are developing in an environment where we play a modern game plan , have a teaching environment and the more seasoned players seem to be buying off on the game plan

I went to Saturday nights game thinking with injuries ,the wins the last 4 weeks and the strength of the oppositions which were where we had all our deficiencies both because of injuries and structurally that North would win between 5 and 10 goals

Don't like getting beaten by over 10 goals but gotta be realistic - it was always going to happen at stages through the season

We are rebuilding, so five in a row is neither here nor there.

If you look at the group who are under 23, we have Cripps, Docherty, Weitering, Byrne, Plowman, Sumner, C Curnow and possibly McKay as regular senior players over the next two years. On the fringes are Boekhorst, Graham, Dick and Jaksch and further outside are Silvagni, Cuningham, Gowers, Foster, Smith, Rainbow.

The next two drafts will be vital in shaping this group to be a top side. Right now we're a long way off.

I have been reading post like this since the early 2000's
It doesn't happen that way

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If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

It's how Geelong and then Hawthorn did it. Geelong took 8 years from when they first assembled their core group. Hawthorn took 8 years too, but had a surprise year in 2008.

It can happen other ways too, but this is the path we are taking, hence the 66 game rebuild. How successful we are will be determined after we've had the three drafts. Melbourne look to have nailed multiple drafts and are on the way up.

It may be a long haul but I like the concept. It's not guaranteed to bring a premiership but at least it's using a bit of thought.

Absolutely spot on.

The Bulldogs were developing and underperforming for about 3 years. They're now quite a strong unit.

I think that's what Carlton fans are hoping for. Give the opposition some credit! They're 9 zip. You can only beat the teams you front up against, they've made 2 prelims in a row and will be right up there again.

We're coming from stone motherless last. 18th.

Perspective.

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Corinthians 9:6- 8

The bulldogs are this years AFL pets the AFL is bustling their butt to get them top 4
Easy draw and 7 to 8 additional frees per game plus the ones the umps let slide.
GWS without Davis Griffen and Hoskin Elliott made them look 2nd rate on the weekend.
GWS is the model on how to rise they were in the same position as the GC and are now miles in front of them.
GC waited for youth to develop GWS combined the youth and topped up with class. Not to disimilar to Hawthorn.
If you look at GWS it is Stevie J Mumford Scully Shaw Ward Davis Griffen that make them a success.

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If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

Freo were 1st now they are last
Things change quickly when you get it right or wrong

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If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

You can not compare the way our Club is now to any time since the early 2000s.
It's universally acknowledged by players, staff, media pundits and most general observers that we're a different Club now (for the better), and that we re finally on the right track.
Its understandable though if you chose to be cynical.

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James Hird and Essendon* FC - #FOREVERDRUGCHEATS