Are we?

[bulldogtragic]

The most reliable chokers in the competition. I don?t watch as much footy as I used to, but we seem to acquire good leads and give them back to lose pretty well and regularly? Honest question.

[bulldogtragic]

Honestly, if you are 5 goals down against us you genuinely have confidence you can get it back and believe it. Not just the coach talking shit, but that we can’t protect leads almost no matter the size on a regular basis.

[JanLorMill]

Soft since 2021. Melbourne broke us

[DOG GOD]

Every team is always a chance against us because they know any brain fades we have will have a barrage of 4-5 goals, keeping any team in the game.

[Eastdog]

We love to give teams a sniff thats for sure after dominating earlier in games.

[EasternWest]

We love to give teams a sniff thats for sure after dominating earlier in games.

GREAT point Eastie. We always leave the door open.

[W W Biscuit]

If we dominate early in games and often build 4-5 goal leads - i.e., when we are fresh and running on top of the ground - I have serious concerns about our fitness regime. I think it was clear today. Notwithstanding being down one rotation, we looked absolutely rooted from halfway through the third quarter.

I hear the accusations of mental fragility and coaching ineptitude, but our fitness and conditioning, I feel, has been substandard for some time now. It has definitely played a part in how we seem unable to capitalise on good, early leads.

[SonofScray]

The most reliable chokers in the competition. I don?t watch as much footy as I used to, but we seem to acquire good leads and give them back to lose pretty well and regularly? Honest question.

There’s a significant body of evidence to show the boys wilt under pressure now.

The system is so inefficient, in that we expend so much effort for little reward, that any push back rings the alarm bells because we don’t have enough petrol in the tank to go again.

[Danjul]

Soft since 2021. Melbourne broke us
I hate reading comments that say Melbourne broke us.

No they didn?t. Things fell apart before that.

The last three games of 2021 were a disaster. We crashed from 1st to 5th on the back of crazy selection and game day decisions.

The players rallied for the most difficult finals run ever.

Melbourne was rested and fit, our guys were close to spent.

As long as influential people can hide behind the claim that Melbourne broke us expect repeats of 2021s final 3 home and away games.

[Grantysghost]

I hate reading comments that say Melbourne broke us.

No they didn?t. Things fell apart before that.

The last three games of 2021 were a disaster. We crashed from 1st to 5th on the back of crazy selection and game day decisions.

The players rallied for the most difficult finals run ever.

Melbourne was rested and fit, our guys were close to spent.

As long as influential people can hide behind the claim that Melbourne broke us expect repeats of 2021s final 3 home and away games.

There was some mitigating circumstances especially around the Hawks game.
Think the Tasmanian government made it as hard as possible for us.
SA did the same in the prelim.
The port game well they just beat us..
The Dons game was certainly a bad one.

[Danjul]

If we dominate early in games and often build 4-5 goal leads - i.e., when we are fresh and running on top of the ground - I have serious concerns about our fitness regime. I think it was clear today. Notwithstanding being down one rotation, we looked absolutely rooted from halfway through the third quarter.

I hear the accusations of mental fragility and coaching ineptitude, but our fitness and conditioning, I feel, has been substandard for some time now. It has definitely played a part in how we seem unable to capitalise on good, early leads.

our mids got 5 of our 10 goals.

JJ and Dale (backline) got 2. 1 from the sub.

We only needed 3 from Naughton, Weightman and JUH to win. They couldn?t combine, coordinate, link, team up, whatever in order to get it done.

And that?s in a game where 4 players had over 30 possessions and Bont and English also played excellent games as well.

Why couldn?t the team capitalise on a lot that went well?

[FrediKanoute]

We got the tactics wrong again. Asking English to ruck all day when you waste his chop out in the backline because you are too stubborn to mov the most obvious choice is beyond me.

[Sedat]

I hate reading comments that say Melbourne broke us.

No they didn?t. Things fell apart before that.

The last three games of 2021 were a disaster. We crashed from 1st to 5th on the back of crazy selection and game day decisions.

The players rallied for the most difficult finals run ever.

Melbourne was rested and fit, our guys were close to spent.

As long as influential people can hide behind the claim that Melbourne broke us expect repeats of 2021s final 3 home and away games.
Respectfully disagree Danjul. If you (rightly) criticize the last month of H&A in 2021, you have to equally give 100% credit for the outstanding performance in the first 3.5 finals of 2021, which have been (right alongside the 2016 finals series) the absolute peak of this team's performance in my 51 years alive. Comprehensive mauling of Essendon and limiting them to 4 goals, looking Brisbane in the eye and beating them on their fortress in a classic, destroying Port in enemy territory (1st half is the best football we've ever played IMO), and after a slow start, completely dominating in the GF kicking 8 of 9 goals and looking for all the world like premiers with 40 minutes left.

We had the week off before the GF and were well rested. We didn't look tired for the entire first 20 minutes of the 3rd qtr of the GF, which we were completely dominating and weren't giving our opponents even close to a sniff. We lost due to our inability to curtail opposition run-ons, our inability to respond to opposition tactical/personnel changes, and our inability to manage minutes and show in-game awareness. We lost due to 8 minutes of madness that were totally preventable, but our coaching group and on-field leaders had absolutely zero answers to responding against it. And that inability has been on show repeatedly since then - the 2022 EF was as stark an example as you could get. And though I didn't see the game yesterday, from all reports it looks as though our system broke down badly in a similar way, with a lack of ability to regain control either through coaching moves or on-field leadership.

This is why the talk about Sweet, West, Khamis, VDM, McNeil, TOB, Hannan, etc.. are worthy of analysis but are tinkering around the edges IMO - we have a clear problem that first aired in the 2021 GF and has consistently been a thorn in our side since then, and our senior core and our coaching group have not unlocked the secret of how to successfully deal with to these consistent opposition run-ons. We win because of our best players and, harsh as it may sound, we lose because of them as well.

[Danjul]

There was some mitigating circumstances especially around the Hawks game.
Think the Tasmanian government made it as hard as possible for us.
SA did the same in the prelim.
The port game well they just beat us..
The Dons game was certainly a bad one.
No they didn?t.

Port fell in by 2 points on the back of our crazy management decisions.

They were allowed to win the ruck 50-20. English accidentally had 1 hitout. I remember him running away from ruck contests. We used Hannan and Bont (who got 4) more than English.

Thats right, take your prime mover out of the game by putting him in ruck contests.

It is the anyone can do anything mentality.

And we saw it again yesterday. Lobb to the backline???

[angelopetraglia]

We are currently the anti-Collingwood. It is difficult to argue with the results.

- Lead GWS by 35 points in the third quarter only to lose by 5 points. Concede 9 of the last 12 goals. Concede two goals in the first half and then nine in the second!

- Hit the lead in the last quarter against the Swans and lose by 2 points

- Lead Geelong for almost the entire first half and half way through the third and get overrun and lose by 22 points

- Jump the Suns, get out to a 20 point lead. Fall 20 points behind. Come back in the last quarter. Close to one point. Lost by 7 points.

- Lead Port in the last quarter on their home deck, look to have relative control. They have kicked six goals for the game at that point. We concede four goals in the final quarter including 3 in six minutes to lose by 14 points.

[Grantysghost]

No they didn?t.

Port fell in by 2 points on the back of our crazy management decisions.

They were allowed to win the ruck 50-20. English accidentally had 1 hitout. I remember him running away from ruck contests. We used Hannan and Bont (who got 4) more than English.

Thats right, take your prime mover out of the game by putting him in ruck contests.

It is the anyone can do anything mentality.

And we saw it again yesterday. Lobb to the backline???

We did beat them by 70 points in the prelim.

How were the coaches that night?

[SonofScray]

I feel like we’ve given the league too many decent looks at how to beat us, and we haven’t really thrown anything different at them to keep them honest. They know how to beat us, it’s just a matter of executing.

[angelopetraglia]

We did beat them by 70 points in the prelim.

How were the coaches that night?

It is a valid point. However, we did have the long tenure of both King and Hansen in the coaches box that night.

[Danjul]

We did beat them by 70 points in the prelim.

How were the coaches that night?

You have the wrong question.

If we were number 1 on the ladder and capable of being well ahead at half time in the grand final?..

?How did these three teams defeat us??

The answer to your question is?

they were equally bad but didn?t get involved.

[azabob]

The most reliable chokers in the competition. I don?t watch as much footy as I used to, but we seem to acquire good leads and give them back to lose pretty well and regularly? Honest question.

We are too comfortable with ourselves on field during the game.

We are too comfortable with ourselves off field post season.

We tinker around the edges, but do we have the hunger and drive to get better?

When did we last make a significant change to our game style, or fundamentally has it been the same since Bevo came to the club?

The only two forced off field changes we made from memory are moving on Chris Maple and Jason McCartney.

[Grantysghost]

You have the wrong question.

If we were number 1 on the ladder and capable of being well ahead at half time in the grand final?..

?How did these three teams defeat us??

The answer to your question is?

they were equally bad but didn?t get involved.

Hmm don't agree Danj. Respect though.