Now let's be entirely honest....

[Rob-bloods]

I hate to talk this way but I was truly disgusted with last night's effort. Following up from a pathetic effort against Carlton and a good go against Pies (no points for trying) I would like to know exactly what our plan is?

It is great to see the youngsters getting a run, and everyone has this opinion about player A not putting enough defensive pressure, Player needs to improve this that or the other. Are we rebuilding to blod youngsters and hang the finals, are we trying to retain trade value in a couple of players?

Some random observations whilst still vangry..

1/In nearly 300 games our dual Brownlow medallist has almost NEVER been a successful full forward.

2/ Sam Reid is a really exciting prospect, but he is kicking less than 1 goal per game, pls check that statisticians, so how on earth can we expect to kick a winning score? Can't he play half fwd flank and just try something different up front? Play small, whatever...mix it up more.

3/ Jetta is quick, but an appalling all round contributor, with only 3 on interchange we start effectively with a man down every week, his average possession count is minimal and 1 or two flashy things do not make up for his continual lack of defensive effort or nous. Why do so many players have to learn in the reserves...but not Jetta?

4/ Our match day coaching seems back to the end of the Eade era.....nothing happens we meander down a losing path for too many quarters. Longmire opines in his post match speech last night we hand passed too much then kicked too much, don't tell the media after we lost, tell the runner to bloody well fix it!!! How long did we take to defend Johncock? How long to make changes in these matches..

5/ Longmire and the coaching panel have shown nothing in their approach to fill me with confidence and I frankly think we are pretenders in the 8.

I really hate to say this but it might be better that we don't make the eight because we might just think we are more advanced than we really are.

[Cheer_Cheer]

1/In nearly 300 games our dual Brownlow medallist has almost NEVER been a successful full forward.

I remember Goodes kicking 8 goals at FF against Freo a few years ago.. (I think it was Freo.. I know it was 8 goals)

[swansprincess]

I wholeheartedly agree with every single word you have written. Goodes to the midfield and Jetta to reserves should be priorities.

[Rob-bloods]

I remember Goodes kicking 8 goals a FF against Freo a few years ago.. (I think it was Freo.. I know it was 8 goals)

Yes his biggest ever score, I'm not great at stats, but that certainly sounds like my point that was when he was younger and they were trying to ease his groin so played him at full forward...and it was Freo! Almost NEVER....

[Bloody Hell]

One of my earliest memories of Goodes is him kicking 3 goals in a quarter from full back (think it was under Eade).

He is naturally a very attacking player and undoubtedly his best position is in the midfield, where he is likely to kick as many goals as he will playing forward.

I don't understand the logic in playing him predominately forward. He should be in the midfield moving in and out of the forawrd line....much more of a headache for opposition coaches.

Never though Roos was much chop as a gameday coach....and I don't think Longmire has proven himself any different...we'll see how that one goes. If you drill your players hard enough....(I don't believe that...but it worked for Roos!)

[Sauce]

I really hate to say this but it might be better that we don't make the eight because we might just think we are more advanced than we really are.

Oh no you are so negative, i mean how could you deny the kids a chance to play in the finals!111!!! I mean how pathetic that we don't aim for at least top 8 and give the kids a chance to play a real finals contender and get walloped..thats just isn't what AFL footy is about!11!!111!

BTW i was being sarcastic - i started a thread about not playing finals this year and i was smacked from pillar to posts by the old RWO firm.

[Doctor J.]

Oh no you are so negative, i mean how could you deny the kids a chance to play in the finals!111!!! I mean how pathetic that we don't aim for at least top 8 and give the kids a chance to play a real finals contender and get walloped..thats just isn't what AFL footy is about!11!!111!

BTW i was being sarcastic - i started a thread about not playing finals this year and i was smacked from pillar to posts by the old RWO firm.

Build a bridge Pie'n. So what, not everyone agrees with you. You know what, thats life!

[magic.merkin]

Oh no you are so negative, i mean how could you deny the kids a chance to play in the finals!111!!! I mean how pathetic that we don't aim for at least top 8 and give the kids a chance to play a real finals contender and get walloped..thats just isn't what AFL footy is about!11!!111!

BTW i was being sarcastic - i started a thread about not playing finals this year and i was smacked from pillar to posts by the old RWO firm.

The majority on the site didn't agree with you, suck it up and move on. Or close the browser.

[Sauce]

The majority on the site didn't agree with you, suck it up and move on. Or close the browser.

They don't agree with me because i am brutally honest. I have learnt that a footy fan hates it when his club is being attacked or being told some blunt truths..they hate it.

So suck it up.

[Mr Magoo]

I have been watching from the sidelines and would hardly say your comments are brutally honest. Brutal honesty is telling someone the truth that they dont want to see. All you have done so far is push the point that somehow we are better off not being in the eight and that playing finals is not somehow good for player development. I believe that a majority of people would disagree with these two points.

Brutal honesty might be more apt if you were saying that we are not a top eight side and that our current position on the ladder flatters but I think you would be struggling to back this up with any hard evidence considering that we havent lost to anyone except for adelaide below us on the ladder.

Brutal honesty might be stating that we dont seem to have many a graders compared to top four teams and we need to develop them to really contend for a premiership and the only way to get a whole group of a graders might be to drop out for a few years to the tale of the ladder and hope that we pick the right draftees. But considering that this hasnt yet provided the panacea to a premiership , you could argue that this is not brutal honesty but mere opinion.

IMO the brutal honesty this year is that Collingwood and Geelong are that far above everyone else at this point in time that it would be difficult to see anyone else winning the premiership. Is it worth bottoming out as a result? I hardly see the value when GWS will get the pick of the draft for the next two years and unless you bottom right out its hardly better value finishing 9th or 10th rather than in the bottom of the eight - so what you get picks 15 or 16 rather than 12 or 13. Is that really worth missing finals for?

[Melbourne_Blood]

We had a pretty poor patch around this time last year ( maybe a bit later in the season ) and everyone from the media, to other teams supporters, to our own supporters ( including me) wrote us off, but we turned it around and finished off the year strongly. I think we can do the same this year.

[On-Baller]

Have always wondered about Goodes returning to CHB,not sure which season it was but maybe 2003 when Adam had some knee issues and had trouble moving off a straight line so was played at CHB for half a season and absolutely dominated,i remember a game down at Skilled stadium in particular where he was just unstoppable.

[ugg]

It wasn't 2003 he won a Brownlow playing in the ruck that season

[Triple B]

He hurt his knee in 2004 v West Coast.

I remember because I was on an Alaskan cruise listening on the net at US$15 an hour. And the $ was at about 60c ... lol

[Doctor]

Other than the bit about playing finals, because I think it's important for a team to play finals as often as they can, I agree with a lot of Rob-bloods' original post. Reid looks like he needs a rest or a spell in the ressies to get his confidence back. Goodes is obviously physically incapable of playing a full game in midfield anymore otherwise he'd be there wouldn't he? I'm a huge Jetta fan but he needs to do what he can do more often. I realise that he's the kind of player who will drift in and out of games and we need to allow him to do that but he needs to have more of a consistent impact when he is involved. We need a lot more from O'Keefe too though. That miss in the last quarter was unforgivable. His disposal generally has been way down on what we'd expect and he can't use his groin injry as an excuse any more.