If the benchmark is finals, then how about we leave any slagging of him until there's no possibility of making finals?

Let the season end, that's the only realistic way to assess whether Ratts has taken the team forward. We're not going to be able to make a realistic assessment until then.

Sure, talk about alternatives, possibilities etc before then, but don't be so keen to cremate Ratten now.

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And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

Synbad, I agree with you on the above points; however, apart from cameos (Wiggins' block for Judd against PA last year), we don't do the sacrificial acts that define "teammanship" often enough- my question is: is that solely Ratts' responsibility? What about the players, especially the leaders? Maybe, the senior players (with the exception of Judd) have been in survival mode up till 18 months ago and have not learnt quickly enough? Maybe, there is a consequence to such "selfish" and/or self preserving acts- Stevens and Scotto being dropped, for instance? This is a culture we're talking about- the art of looking out for your mates and that includes doing selfless acts.......

I will say this, it is concerning when you say a father of one of our young guns is disappointed with the lack of teamhood.........

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Be positive to all those @ TC- the wait is almost over!

I think Ratten wasn't responsible for the way we started but he still has many faults which we are all aware of.

We often seem to not be switched on in the first quarter playing interstate. We have our A-team in the middle and they can't get their hands on the ball.

I don't know what actual set up could do this but I would have liked us to force a ball up at each centre bounce which would then allow us to send a lot of players around the ball. Slow their movement out of the stoppage.

They were winning the clearances with ease and hitting up McPharlin. He bombed it in and the scoreboard ticked over. The way it was coming in no defence could handle it.

It all comes back to our midfield and the team in general not being switched on. I don't know how you can possibly blame Ratten for that.

IMO you can blame Ratten for some of the ball movement and the way we waste our inside 50s. Kicking it to Fevola with Grover or someone else continually dropping in front of him. Why would you logically do that? Setanta is 200cm, it's not as though you can't see him!

Very few of our players were front and square, the ball was rebounded with ease. Yet you see them bomb it long and Ballantyne continually waited front and square while his opponent (Johnson?) went up in the contest. If you are going to go up as a third man you have to clear the ball from the area or you're [REDACTED]!

In the second half we spread brilliantly from the middle, in particular Carrazzo, Gibbs and Simpson. Hopefully they along with the other midfielders realise that running hard from the contest puts the opposition under pressure and creates space for other midfielders to have running shots on goal.

One area we did well in was protecting their kickouts in the second half. They had to bomb it long and we had enough players at ground level to send it back into play.

We finally had a zone in place on an opposition kickout.

Kreuzer in particular shows his football smarts when the ball is bombed from these kickouts; watch him palm/spoil the ball down for our smaller players to rove. His TOG has been reduced in recent weeks, with 65% last week and 58% yesterday.

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"You are being watched. The government has a secret system. A machine that spies on you every hour of every day. I know because I built it." - Finch

Ratten is the last man to address them before the fist bounce.
He instructs them
They play in his reflection.

We had water girls giving away 50s.
We had a 20 year old giving a free kick away and publicly getting his head taken off in public.

Ratten is confused and feeling the heat...

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

I truly believe that in life you improve and evolve if a) you really want to b) you have the correct instruction.

There is a sense of confusion, apathy, ineptedness,

The bit where Armfield is running past for a handball receieve.................. if thats what we have been working towards..................

Now we have had all preseason last year.... the season last year.... pre season this year... and 14 games to have Army being the quarterback??????

I love Army... dont blame him for his mistakes... it shouldnt have been him doing what he was doing....he doesnt have the decision making or the execution skills yet......
He never should have made thise mistakes because he never should have been in the playmakers position...

But hey!!!... thats where were at with our gameplan.. and structures...after all this time............ not much improvement.. a muddled mucking mess.. in so many areas...

Thats just an example...

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

What proof has anyone got that Buckley will make a great Coach?.....what are his coaching credentials?

The most major football associated decision he has ever made is to leave Brisbane for Collingwood so that he can play in Finals; and by doing so......missed out on being a part of 3 Premierships.

It was a bad decision showing poor judgement of the state of the competition at the time.

OK......he won a Brownlow......but Bob Skilton and Ian Stewart each won 3 Brownlows; and both champions failed as a Coach.

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No ones listening till you make a mistake.

Synbad ,I see what you are saying with trying to attack and have it be the best form of defence. ie Bowers using it to get even with Rewaldt , but you have to agree that most great sides are based around defence first. I am not talking about back 6 either. Putting players behind the ball to stem momentum is hardly a tactic only used by Rattan. It could be argued the tactic worked.

Like most supporters I haven't agreed with a few decision but I think he's done a pretty good job to be honest. You can't fast track maturity and experience. If we kicked a bit straighter we'd probably be looking at a top 4 spot right now. The coach is always an easy target for supporters who let emotion and impatience cloud their judgement. Now there are some astute criticisms of Ratten in this thread but they're few and far between. Ross Lyon for comparisons sake inherited a reasonably well developed list and still took a couple of years to get them playing the style he wanted.

I like the way he sounds on tv

Its logical to get your numbers in the midfield and put pressure on the opposition player with the ball..... like StKilda is...

By having players behind the ball... youre expecting the ball to come into your defensive fifty... which is not positive.. and if you do get the ball in your defensive fisty you need to get it through more opposition players to move it forward... and the way we move the ball thats not a good idea..
And a couple of weeks ago .. Ratts had Jospeph on a forward pocket when 2 midfielders cut us up badly...

The guy is too reactive and not bold enough to be a coach...

He coaches not to lose... not to win....

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

So Synbad - who would you want as a coach? I look at other teams and coaches and see them being up and down quite a lot. I see Bomber took 7 years to win a premiership, I see Lyon needing more then a year to mould a mature team with lots of talent. So who is the perfect coach? Any coach can be attacked if you blame them for every mistake or bad game.

I have said this before, but I think that this focus on the coaches is over the top. A football club has many cogs and they have to work together perfectly to produce a premiership. Look at the Hawks - a couple of "cogs" fail and see how they are going. I am sure I could find posts from last year saying how well Clarko has drilled the Hawks......

....sigh......

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TC suffers from the social media illness - the death of respect and constructive discourse by keyboard.

Is it just me, or does anyone else get the impression that if Synbad were a Saints supporter, he would've been calling for Ross Lyon's head before the Saints strung a few wins together towards the end of 2008? Ditto if he were a Hawks fan, he would've wanted Clarkson sacked in his 2nd year.

And since when does a coach start responding to the thoughts & desires of a young players Dad? Please......

That's a shame if true. I think he'd add some useful technical and analytical nous. I think Ratt's might make it but is still learning. Unfortunately, we don't have time to waste so we need that process to be speeded up. Adding a Laidley or someone of similar ilk would not only give us better results this year, but help Ratt's learning curve.

Irrespective of whether you think Ratten got appointed after due process or not, he's our coach and probably will be for all of 2010 too (barring a disastrous end to the season). So I'd just like to make sure that he has the support and personnel needed to give us the best chance of success.

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I would like to thank Collingwood for helping me keep faith in my old man. He always told me that 'People are thick'.

Go through a process and get the best possible.. not just anybody...

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Its the player thats getting smashed around the head....not Ratts....

No if Hawthorn didnt go through a process Dermie might have coached them
And on StKilda is they had a process they might have won a flag by now..... instead of the Thomas wasted years...

Trying to learn from history... im a keen student...

If you dont learn from the past ....................................................


We havent....

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Thats a cop out. Process my backside - we have see a lot of coaches failing in spite of all kinds of process' . Come on, you are so detailed and persistent in your hammering of Ratts, mention a coach - a current coach - who you think would do a better job.

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TC suffers from the social media illness - the death of respect and constructive discourse by keyboard.

Yep, because media performers always make awesome coaches. Isn't that right, Terry?

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And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

Sorry mate... this is 2009 not 1975....

Its the AFL not the VFL

Its a professional competition now not an amateur competition....

The smart clubs now have a process....

There is no cop out....

Picking a guy to coach cos you dont understand the modern competition is a cop out...

You obviously are not a fan of doing things right...

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

You refer to "the process" as if it's a guarantee of ultimate success. And as if it's the only way to appoint a senior coach. I don't reckon Sydney followed "the process" you refer to when appointing Roos, same with Leigh Mattews at the Lions, Parkin 2nd time around at Carlton, Voss at Brisbane.

And Freo followed "the process" when appointing Connolly, Bailey appointment at Melbourne - not great great advertisements for "the process" to me.

I'm prepared to give Ratten more time, and am not prepared to write the bloke off 18 months in. We're likely to make finals for the first time in 8 years, that's at least a pass mark for me. If we're not pushing strongly for top 4 this time next year, my thoughts might change, but this time next year is still 12 months away.

BTW, you definately would've had Thompson sacked in his 3rd year if you were a Geelong supporter. Are you picking up on my theme? JIC - Players take time, coaches deserve some patience too............

Having worked for the state government for a number of years I would have to agree that following a process always leads to the desired result