But 'between the ears' is a major part of talent.tony74 wrote:Continually get up for games like tonight. Stating the obvious we're not a great team yet. But rather than follow the majority on here it's not purely talent. So much of it is between the ears. Anyone ( and there might be someone on this forum) who was in the rooms or even at training this week would have sensed it. Not that they got in front of themselves, just there wasn't the desire from the previous few weeks. I hear you say--- that's the coaches jobs. It ain't that simple. It takes the core of a great team, and that's what we're working on.
Very poor effort and result tonight but I can ASSURE you we're finding out who has the goods for the following years. Unfortunately we were a spent team both physically and mentally before we ran out tonight. Sport psychologists get paid a lot, let's hope they earn their money next week. Keep the faith.
P.S. Battle will make it.
It's why I think Hodge is the best footballer ever. Ever.
Not because of his skill level or because how high he jumped at draft camp or because of how many meters gained he gets - but because he's the whole package. He uses it incredibly well. He's brave. He's tough. He plays well when he needs to. He plays well when he doesn't need to do. His decision making is elite. He kicks goals when he needs to. He lifts his team when he needs to.
To me, that's talent. Between the ears as you say, is probably the most important part. Billings nailing a set shot from 40m against weak opposition when the heat isn't really on, is great. But missing them against good opposition in a hot game when the team needs it, is the difference between a champion player and an Ok player that fans will oohh and ahh at every second week - but will never be part of a champion team.
That's where the gap in talent is for us in my opinion. Newnes is a classic example. Tough as, fit, looks polished. Reliable in the sense that he plays every week and can find the ball - but his decision making under pressure, and even when not under pressure is sub-standard.
Joey is a panicker too. But he's not alone. We're littered with blokes that wilt under the pressure and as a result, we're just not good enough.
So I have an issue with the talent of our cattle. We're not good enough.
But, I also have an issue with our strategy. It's too heavy on being 'strong' and 'solid' and basically killing yourself defensively for little reward - and what appears to be a severe neglect of offense. We can't be flogged by 10 goals every time a team is more intense than us. Sure, you'll lose most when you're out-pressured - but we capitulate. We have nothing else.
The problem really is, that we have nothing else - but we're not great at our Plan A.
In my opinion, we need more talent (defined above), and we need to be smarter in our offensively strategy. Seriously, bombing it to the hot spot is just idiotic. Fair dinkum, Hurley had about 20 intercetps last night. Every single person watching on the ground, at the ground and even on TV knew exactly where we were going to put the ball every time we went forward.
It's just mid boggling to think that the 5 or 6 times it works each week is going to be enough for us to kick a winning score.
To bust your arse so hard defensively, then to simply hand it back to your opposition in the 'hot spot' every time your go forward must be demoralising for them. And phyiscally exhausting too.