The brutal game style has taken its toll

[clisaint]

It's ironic that we lost it to Collingwood who had the same thing happen to them 8-9 years ago.

How many players did they have that played back then? I think it was 4 or 5? Doesn't read nicely for our older players...

But they have the same coach.

Oh wells, hopefully I'll be around when we see our next one. Although ~60 years is starting to sounds like it could just be more heartbreak :p

Wouldn't have been many- Didak, Johnson are the only ones (I think) who played in the losing grand finals and last years GF replay. I think there were some others who were still on the list last year but didn't take part.

Leon Davis as well.

Presti didn't play in the grand finals did he? Fraser was on the list but wasn't in the GF sides.

Think Swan may have been on the list but not playing then.

Oh yeah, Davis. I was just thinking of the side that beat us, that's why I forgot him. Lockyer and O'Bree from memory too were still on the list.

[Johnny Member]

In 2009.....we simply kicked backwards, played slow till we could get the ball into a Goddards hands. In 2011 we are no longer afforded that time as ALL sides now press up.

That's it in a nutshell.


We've been outfoxed by our own tactic! To be fair, you don't often build a strategy around beating yourself! It's usually designed to beat other teams!

I'd probably add to the above quote by Teflon though, that it wasn't just BJ that we tried to get the ball to.
It was Sam Fisher, BJ, Gilbert and Gram. Even Raph Clarke was able to chime in in this capacity.

That's 4 guys who were breaking lines with their kicking and running.

Right now, Gilbert's kicking is horrible so I'm not sure he really wants the pill, and I'm certain many supporters don't want him to have it either!

Sam Fisher is being forced into more key stopping roles on big guys, which is making his role as a running back difficult.

And Gram, well, he's pretty much useless!


So we've gone from having 4 really good, damaging running backs to basically 1 and a half (BJ and Fisher). Both of whom are needed elsewhere anyway.


I reckon that's almost the reason for our fall from grace.

If we suddenly had 4 guys streaming out of defence and breaking the press, who could also hit targets by foot, we'd be a completely different team right.

Now that's not rocket science, but what is the conundrum is that all 4 of those guys are still in the team.

[White Winmar]

Hard to disagree, Johnny Member. It seems our inability to develop elite kicks amongst our backs is a major part of the problem. Gilbert is a classic example. He's gone from competent to Danielsesque in the space of the summer. He can no longer be trusted to hit a target when coming out of defense. That is what I see as a major part of the problem. In order to penetrate the "press" or "zones", you need elite, or at worst, competent kicks. What's happened to ours?