What really sets us apart...

[JudesaGun]

From our best performances of recent years is....

Lack of Discipline.

Pace, gameplan, skill etc etc may all contribute to our performances, but the glaring downfall, for me, is the side's lack of discipline.

I'm just not talking about BBH's 50m penalties, but silly free kicks inside 50, guys like Buchanan not following team rules and blazing from all angles, missed tackles/ shephards, unaccountable players etc etc.

Against the Dogs, 10 minutes of undisciplined footy killed us and again yesterday, we put ourselves in a position to win on numerous occasions and some of our most experienced players, Buchanan and Crouch in particular, gave away silly free kicks or failed to follow clear team rules. I can think of numerous other instances throughout the season... it's killing us.

[Melbournehammer]

I reckon you are right...but I also agree with Mike Sheehan's article in the Hun yesterday - you don't win too many games kicking 11.9...at least not since the rules changed

[satchmopugdog]

Also..the young kids we used to play against..ie Ablett jr, Franklin are now grown men ..and are the srength of their teams whereas the strengths of our team are older and slower.

[ScottH]

Also the fact we've won 3 games in Melbourne in 2.5 seasons.
2009 = 0 wins from 2 games.
2008 = 1 from 6 (Not counting Geelong, but including finals))
2007 = 2 from 6 (Ditto)

[stellation]

hmmmmm... how long ago did Julian move down there?

[Margie]

Also..the young kids we used to play against..ie Ablett jr, Franklin are now grown men ..and are the srength of their teams whereas the strengths of our team are older and slower.

This is so true.

[swans_premiers]

What sets us apart is that no one has improved and we've lost good players.

If you look at the 2005 Grand Final team arguably Jolly is the only real player who has improved.

We've lost Ball, Williams, Schneider, Mathews, Dempster, (pretty much lost leo) Fosdike and Kennelly.

The only real player who was on our list then that has stepped up is Mcveigh.

Hall, O'keefe, O'loughlin, Kirk, Boltons, buchanan, ablett, Bevan, LRT etc are playing around the same if not a little worse.

And the likes of Jack, Bird, Grundy, White, Moore, Richards and Malceski just aren't as good as Williams, Ball, Kennelly etc.

That's why we've remained competitive because alot of our core team has played at pretty much the same level but the players we've introduced just aren't up there. This year we're finding it even more difficult now we've lost kennelly, fosdike and Barry. Malceski isn't performing and Grundy, White, Moore, Jack etc just aren't taking the next step. We need atleast 2-3 of these players to step up like mcveigh did last year to be a challenger again..however we're running out of time as the older guys don't have long left.

[Lohengrin]

I think that's pretty much right, except I would say that Hall, O'Loughlin, and Buchanan are well below their 2005-06 form, and Kirk probably a bit.

Plus we also lost Davis.

[rojo]

What about the changes to the assistant coaches - backline, mids and forwards? Has that been for better or worse?

[dimelb]

What about the changes to the assistant coaches - backline, mids and forwards? Has that been for better or worse?

To my mind, worse.
And our skills, never the greatest, seem to be down. So apparent when we play teams like the Bulldogs.