Longmire.

[Boddo]

Has it ever entered the thoughts of the Longmire critics that it is his coaching that has got a team with limited skills to a string of grand finals? In other words Horse is not the cause of us falling short, but the cause of us getting the absolute maximum out of the team at his disposal.

Exactly!! Look where our midfield was taken in the draft, Hannebery, Kennedy & Parker were not drafted as elite midfielders they were later picks & were not expected to excel like they have. Then look at the defenders Smith, Rampe, Lloyd, Melican, Grundy & Newman all were rookie speculative picks. Then our forwards Papley, Towers & KJack all rookies. All these players have limitations in there skill set so imo he has done a very good job with what he's had to work with.

[Ludwig]

What we need is a coach who gets more youthful with the passage of time.

screenshot-www.afl.com.au 2017-05-27 12-00-30.jpg

[Boddo]

I

What we need is a coach who gets more youthful with the passage of time.

screenshot-www.afl.com.au 2017-05-27 12-00-30.jpg

Bwahaha!!!!

[Merdo5555]

Given that Horse has a huge say in who is drafted and has been in the club for ages its bordering on the surreal to say he hasn't gotten the players he wanted. He constantly went for the "harder" players and ignored the "skill" players. Any great team needs a balance so why haven't we drafted accordingly. Because Horse has a vision of contested football and that is well it. When we can't get a game on those terms we're stuffed.

How in the world did we allow Hawthorn to play their style, yet again. Surely if we manned up closely it was more likely to be a contested game which would have suited. No instead lets have our players trail their opponents by 10m easily allowing the Hawks to play the only way they can now win. This is an awful Hawks side we should never have lost to. Injuries are no longer an excuse, so what now, oh 2 players injured during the game. What rubbish the Hawks have cracked every time they can't play their style, we only need 3 quarters of solid effort to win, we could have cruised through the 4th even down on rotations.

- - - Updated - - -

We need a coach who train our players on Plan B, let alone C & D. Instead its the same game style every week. Can anyone show me a similarly tactically limited side that actually has a large number of good players.

Something is wrong in Sydney and I think change has to come from the top to fix it.

[Steve]

Any calls for Longmire's sacking are clearly over the top and unwarranted.

But below that there is a legitimate difference of opinion between supporters - are we happy with our results in the last 5 years, or do we think we should have done better. I don't think an opinion that Longmire needs to evolve, and that what he has done has ultimately fallen short of the obvious end goal, necessary makes you a 'critic' or 'against' him.

IMO Hawthorn and Sydney were at very similar positions at the end of 2012 and 2016, respectively. In a bigger picture sense - had won a premiership 4 years earlier, been consistently a top team since then, but ultimately fallen short of the success they desired.

Personally I have concerns that we are not evolving to the point we need to, to go a step further. But I appreciate (genuinely - not a sarcastic comment) other supporters' view that things are OK and consistently being a top 4 team, making GF's (albeit losing ones) etc is a hell of a lot better than not getting close. I just think that when you get yourself into a position where you can have a realistic crack at going one better, you need to be brave enough to evolve to do so - which I don't think we have done (or are looking like doing) - and potentially that will be more detrimental as we probably slip from the (good but not great) standing we have held the last few years.

[Merdo5555]

In the end its the cups that count, who wants to just be there on the day.

Its understandable to say our style has produced success, but we have never changed how we played the other great team of the era, the Hawks. Given that our preferred method has consistently failed the biggest tests surely some out of the box Plan B thinking was critical. Given the game itself is changing Plan A is dead and buried against good teams. John has been successful but reality is he hasn't got a Plan B (either he doesn't have one or can't coach the players to one) and therefore its time to go.

In this game if you stand still you're going backwards.

Does anyone really think playing tight man on man last night for at least the 3 quarters wouldn't have led to a better result? Sure if we were overrun in the last quarter by injuries you could understand. But every time we developed some momentum the Hawk went back to their kick and mark game and killed our roll. Bashing your head into the wall might break it but I will bet that most times your head will break first. Therefore why oh why do we let Hawthorn play how they want to.

[Auntie.Gerald]

It is simple
Not easy but simple

I believe our current coaching group can evolve
They should have demonstrated that yest
They let our players down
They knew what was coming and we looked like kids first two qtrs chasing the adults

If the coaching dept doesn't evolve......., well in my opinion it is unacceptable

[dimelb]

In my view Longmire stays. I agree with those who have reminded us of the bleeding obvious: (1) we had two key players out for most of the game, and (2) Longmire has shown he is a good coach. I think last week's team would have beaten Hawthorn (obviously because Reid and Lloyd would have seen out the game).

My one gripe about Horse is that we don't man up in defence. We give opposition teams room to move and they capitalise on it.

In attack we can be breathtaking. And I agree with those who have said Gary Rohan should play as a forward; he is a good kick and his speed is downright frightening when he closes on an opposition defender.

[Boddo]

In my view Longmire stays. I agree with those who have reminded us of the bleeding obvious: (1) we had two key players out for most of the game, and (2) Longmire has shown he is a good coach. I think last week's team would have beaten Hawthorn (obviously because Reid and Lloyd would have seen out the game).

My one gripe about Horse is that we don't man up in defence. We give opposition teams room to move and they capitalise on it.

In attack we can be breathtaking. And I agree with those who have said Gary Rohan should play as a forward; he is a good kick and his speed is downright frightening when he closes on an opposition defender.

When it comes to defence we don't have the cattle to go one on one so we play it as a defensive unit. Every defender was rookie listed apart from Mills which means they don't have the skill set to go one on one like say a Rance would. I totally agree it's frustrating but I can see why we play the way we do. We are a zoning defensive team. And like you have pointed out the forward line is different in that Rohan, Reid & Franklin were high draft picks meaning we have the players that have the skills to play a very good attacking game when on.

[Ludwig]

When it comes to defence we don't have the cattle to go one on one so we play it as a defensive unit. Every defender was rookie listed apart from Mills which means they don't have the skill set to go one on one like say a Rance would. I totally agree it's frustrating but I can see why we play the way we do. We are a zoning defensive team. And like you have pointed out the forward line is different in that Rohan, Reid & Franklin were high draft picks meaning we have the players that have the skills to play a very good attacking game when on.

Wow! What a mistake the All Australian selectors made by naming some of them to the AA team. I wonder if they knew that they were unskilled rookie listed players before they cast their votes? Surely this screams out for a Royal AFL Commission investigation.

[barry]

A good coach would have made Rohan a decent player by now.

[Boddo]

Wow! What a mistake the All Australian selectors made by naming some of them to the AA team. I wonder if they knew that they were unskilled rookie listed players before they cast their votes? Surely this screams out for a Royal AFL Commission investigation.

They did. They play their role perfectly. They playing the defence as a defensive unit. If you can't see that take a trip to opsm. It's called modern footy. Only the elite play a one on one brand of football, players like Rance, May etc. It's how they get picked they play their role to perfection as instructed by the coaching staff. It's not 1987 anymore.