Originally Posted by
wolftone57
We would pretty well be the youngest I would think. to say we are at the end of the road is just stupidity. We have a really talented and strong group of youngsters who will be far better next year than today. We have a core group of developing players who are soon will be hitting 50 games all at once. We still have a strong core group of experienced players, abate under-performing. This is the crux of the matter. The senior players not performing this year compared to the past.
For us to win several things must fall into place;
1. We must play as a cohesive unit. This so far has been seeming impossible to do. We have had periods where this has happened but not a consistently long period.
2. We have to stop the drifting in and out of games and tapering off. This could be due to our youth but I am not convinced this is the only factor. Last year we had some games where we played a lot of youth and we weren't inconsistent. The other factor is that it isn't just the likes of Ollie who fade out of the game it is also the senior players. That tells me there is something wrong with the leadership group and their will to the contest.
3. We have to win the clearances and stoppages. Winning the stoppages is going to be almost impossible with Sinclair and Reid as our ruckmen. But the clearances can be won off their ruck. But our mids actually have to turn up first. The coaches have to design better set ups as they have been dreadful so far. The players positioning at centre bounces has been terrible and just allows the opposition to get easy clearances. Add to that the terrible form of our mids and we have disaster.
4. Our forward set up has to be more cohesive. Players must work together, spread and lead. The mids must stop just kicking to Bud and Reidy. Reid going into the ruck is a huge problem and robs our forward line of any tall structure. it also gives the opposition lots of room to move defensively. Bad move Longmire, Reid in the ruck has always been a disaster. We would have been better off bringing in Talia or Melican and putting Aliir in the ruck.
5. Our defense has to hold up. The defense has been a very weak area this year. They have been exposed due to a weak, under-performing midfield and have been badly exposed. Add to that the poor form of Reg and Smithy and the erratic form of Marsh and Mills and you have a disaster waiting to happen. They are also not playing as a unit and the movement out of defense is random, not cohesive at all. It is as though the senior players are playing together and the youth is a bit excluded or not trusted. Even then the players look at times disinterested, slow and unready to do the hard yards. If the defense is marshalled and there is a general directing them it will work. But so far the usual general, Reg, has failed to direct. both Reg and Smithy seem to be more worried about their own form, which is understandable. But that doesn't help the younger players. Reg cam back into a bit of form last week but Smithy is a worry. he needs to play well this week as the Eagles smalls do kick goals if their opponent is not tight enough. Last week smithy was 5 to 10 metres off Fassolo on many occasions in the first half. He can't allow the Eagles smalls this amount of space.
6. the coaching has to be more innovative with the new talent we have. They need to design tactics that suit the new guys and use them this week or we will be in trouble. always play to your strengths and use the abilities and skills sets of your workers. This is the challenge our coaches are going to have this weekend and into the future. If you base your game on past concepts and don't change that game plan you are going to get caught out and that is exactly what is happening. we could blame having too many young players etc etc. But I think that each time we have looked like getting a run the opposition coaches change tactics to negate our game plan. They play a style we don't particularly like, the short kicking game. that is because we always set up about 10 metres off our opponents, a part of our game plan, this is far too far if their delivery, like Collingwood last week, is very good. The opposition are less pressured and they get easy kicks. This is what Hawks did to us every time and it seems every team is doing it now and Longmire seems to have no answer. he needs to develop one very soon otherwise we won't be 0-5, we will be 0-9.
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