Mil Hanna wrote:
Isn't it amazing what a couple of terrible losses does to our supporters!
We go from a great list on the rise, with a heap of depth and the potential to pull a 2016 Bulldogs and snatch a flag from nowhere, to perennial losers with a shit list that will be overtaken by Adelaide in no time etc. etc.....
It both scares and excites me is that Keogh is the one I agree with the most in this thread.
Just take a few deep breaths and think about it for a minute. We have gone from absolutely shizen for the past 10 years to sitting at 8-2, despite a mounting injury toll - the biggest we have had in memory. We thought we would get better as the season went on, but it appears that there is still plenty to work on as a playing and coaching group before it will all click and we have now fallen into a hole.
When we were playing with confidence, our bottom tier players were stepping up and playing a role - now we have hit a wall and these players have been badly exposed. No shame in that - at least we now know we can't rely on them to help us to No. 17, but it doesn't mean that every one of them is useless and has to be cut from the list ASAP.
Critically assess the list, cut the dead wood, draft and recruit for obvious needs, train our arses off and develop the younger players over the summer and we will come back bigger and better than the first half of this year. This year was fun whilst it lasted, but our luck has run out in the end. Next year with a more developed game plan and less injuries we have every reason to be optimistic.
Go Blues!
I agree with most of what you say.
Clearly we have relayed too much on our big bodied mids
More than I expected
With Cripps out as well Voss has nothing to lose and must experiment
I would like to see Saad put into the middle
We desperately need pace around the contest
He is wasted in defence
I have always thought Owies is worth a bet in there
He is aggressive
The concern for me going forward is the deadwood on our list
Particularly so guys on big pay packets
Martin is overrated and a liability injury wise
He has 2 years to go
Does not present enough
Setterfield has been very ordinary
McGovern is so one dimensional
Some of his efforts were abysmal yesterday
And you can’t have that if you want to be a contender
And what do you do with Williams with 4 years ago
Collingwood and Geelong have shown how important recruiting is with rookie picks, late picks and the preseason draft
We don’t have a third round pick this draft because of the Cerra deal
Cerra is a fourth grade mid
Good player but no worth pick 6 and a future third rounder
These long term contracts can be a noose around your neck
Carroll
Kemp
Are the best of the reserve bunch
Cuningham has talent but before the injury had under achieved
Philip likewise
To me there are two things that stand out
We always seem to lack depth
We pick too many “ Hollywood type” players
They look good but don’t want it enough and we are too swayed by the fact they were early picks in the draft as juniors
Stephen Wells recruited Enright and was most impressed by his competitive nature
It took him a while for his career to take off but when it did the rest was history
To me we still have too many players who are too nice and are happy if there just out there
Fisher has been impressive but his last / weeks have been shit
With Hewett and Kennedy out there are no excuses with his experience
He should be stepping up
The same old problems have come back to haunt us
It is up to Austin to recruit well
It concerns me a bit he went for Hayes who is from the Bulldogs when there were better options in the pre season draft
And Voss when he can to not pick softies