Pus & Pain

[swans song]

Be very prepared for an era of disappointments and losses on a regular basis Until there is a new game plan to suit our current personel we haven't got a hope of finishing in top 8. If we couldn't do it last year with the team we had, how the hell are we expected to improve in the forthcoming years.
The coaching staff have for the past 5-6 years have been sticking to one style of play.
It's time to let Longmire to introduce a new game plan preferably from the start of the season to enable us to quicken our rise in the position on the ladder.

6 Months Later????????????????????/

[swansrule100]

geez we dont go for richmond its not all doom and gloom

We are in the 8

[annew]

geez we dont go for richmond its not all doom and gloom

We are in the 8

We were awful yesterday but we were down a few key players, last week well I would never have thought we would beat Geelong at Geelong.

[swansrule100]

We were awful yesterday but we were down a few key players, last week well I would never have thought we would beat Geelong at Geelong.

yeah we have had 2 rubbish weeks. But at the very least we are still around the 8th -9th best side in the comp, im not going to slash my wrists just yet

[BSA5]

Let's compare our team yesterday to that of our game against the Dogs last year:

Added:
Kennelly
Kennedy
Jetta
Rohan
Hanners
Smith
Pyke
Playfair

Lost:
Jolly
O'Loughlin
Hall
Bolton
Moore
Buchanan
Crouch
Ablett

That's a huge loss of talent and experience right there. If we'd had those ins and outs last year we would have been shot to pieces. Now luckily for us, we have coverage waiting in the wings. Bradshaw is supposed to be right to come back next week. Mumford will miss another game, but will be back after that. McGlynn should be available soon, same with Moore, who has been important for us this year.

Lets not sharpen the knives just yet. At the moment we are a severely depleted team, with injuries to key players falling all at the same time, at just the wrong time. Let's wait until we get back our best forward, our first ruckman, our best small forward, and our second best small forward, all of which should happen in the next couple of weeks, before we start panicking.

[Damien]

Well last night Geelong handed Brisbane a bigger thrashing than was handed to us (and it was at the Gabba). Hopefully when we have the full team back, we will look back at the last two weeks with a grin instead of the grimace we (well I) certainly have.

[DST]

All the last two weeks have shown is we are not a top 4 side and for the most of us on here that was already known.

We will be judged on how we go against Fremantle, Carlton, Brisbane, Port Adelaide, Essendon, Melbourne, North Melbourne and possibly Hawthorn as these are the teams we are playing against for 5th spot on the ladder.

At this stage our record has been good against these teams this year and as long we can get our best side on the park most weeks we look likekly to finish somewhere around there.

That's a home final and a chance to do something the second week of the finals if we can take a chance.

DST

[mcs]

+1 for what Auntie Gerald said.
I don't think there is anythign wrong with our game plan, I think our major area of deficiency is depth in the squad. In the first 6 weeks of the season, where we basically had everyone fit and going well, you could see we have a very nice team developing. But take an injury or 2 and a pathetic suspension and you can see that we don't have the depth of a Collingwood ro a Geelong or a Western Bulldogs.

Building depth in a squad takes time, and we have improved vastly in that sense due to some good trading over the summer. But to build long term depth, you need to get quality young players in and with experience, and we are just at the start of that process. I think in 2010 we will make the eight, but I feel its next year that we can really start to challenge again. It's going to take time, but we are on the right path.

To a point, the game plan is irrelevant, and we kicked 100+ for 4 consecutive weeks from rd 2 to rd 5, something that the mighty team of 05-06 didn't do that often (i.e. kick 100+). When everyone is fit, there is no doubting that our game plan is beginning to open up. But when you lose key players to injury, and replace them with people who don't have much experience or are simply no good, its always going to be tough when you are playing some of the best teams in the comp. Especially when the midfield again got absolutely murdered yesterday and the dogs had enough time to sit down, have a cuppa and a fag and then distribute the ball.

[swans song]

6 Months Later????????????????????/

Another 12 months on
Has anything changed?

[swans song]

Be very prepared for an era of disappointments and losses on a regular basis Until there is a new game plan to suit our current personel we haven't got a hope of finishing in top 8. If we couldn't do it last year with the team we had, how the hell are we expected to improve in the forthcoming years.
The coaching staff have for the past 5-6 years have been sticking to one style of play.
It's time to let Longmire to introduce a new game plan preferably from the start of the season to enable us to quicken our rise in the position on the ladder.

Sorry make that nearly 2 years
Has anything changed?

[BSA5]

Yep, you know what's changed? We've managed to finish in the top 8 once, and most likely twice, in two years. Yet you said "we haven't got a hope of finishing in the top 8".

Why on earth are you bumping such a terrible, terrible call?

[royboy42]

History is bunk!

[swans song]

I try to keep an open mind but I'm so tired of the mediocrity.

[wolftone57]

Be very prepared for an era of disappointments and losses on a regular basis Until there is a new game plan to suit our current personel we haven't got a hope of finishing in top 8. If we couldn't do it last year with the team we had, how the hell are we expected to improve in the forthcoming years.
The coaching staff have for the past 5-6 years have been sticking to one style of play.
It's time to let Longmire to introduce a new game plan preferably from the start of the season to enable us to quicken our rise in the position on the ladder.

If I said this I'd be howled down as an anti Longmire (which I am) but I agree, new game plan to suit the personnel.

[wolftone57]

I try to keep an open mind but I'm so tired of the mediocrity.

By the way Swan Song nothing has changed