For me its not even about win and losses but trying to understand the Richo game plan and set ups and see if there are any fault lines there. Sometimes game plan flaws can get covered up by individual talents when you have extremely good players come into their prime. You can say that was the flaw with GT's tactics who got done over by coaches with better defensive systems that ground his individually talented teams to a halt. Lyon was the opposite, brilliant defensively but no willingness to attack and land scoreboard pressure in big games.Johnny Member wrote:I think the reaction to a walloping at Adelaide Oval against a red hot side was strange.
I think the reaction to a walloping against the Eagles in Perth was strange.
I think the judgement of the club right now, given the perspective of the team's we've played, is far more relevant.
I don't think Tony74 was suggesting for a second that the last month of footy makes us an awesome side.
I think the comment was suggesting that some perspective may be in place in a month So a more reasonable logical assessment of where we're at could be formed.
What is a red flag for me is the huge thrashings around the 90 point mark we are still copping. I'd cop a 10 - 12 goal loss interstate against a top eight team. Richo's system should certainly bend, but it shouldn't break. We've had four near 100 point losses in our last 14 games. And Richo can't even rely on saying we are extremely young playing a lot of oldies or that we are chopping and changing the side as we haven't been that much.
We just seem to fall into a heap when the momentum is against us without the players knowing what to do to stem the flow. That worries me as its very GT. They should have a system to clog it up, flood, keep the footy for a bit, counter-attack, something to take the heat out of the game and slow it down. In grannies the oppo will have the momentum during different stages - does your system hold up to stop it until you can get the momentum back? The way teams can still go coast to coast against us worries me about our system and zoning.
I still don't know how Dogs and Hawks manage to be so attacking and yet incredibly tight defensively. Its something to do with having guys in certain zones to cover if there is a turn over but its also incredibly dynamic. We seem to rely on all the players being up and bringing incredible pressure and effort - we were at the top of the pressure table last year which was surprising for a young team. That lasts for a couple of games and then falls over from physical and mental exhaustion and we cop a pounding.
I'm not going to judge Richo until next year when he a lot of his draft babies will start to bloom and it will be genuinely his team. But if I see another near 100 pt I'm going to be really worried that he doesn't have the footy systems understanding to match it with the likes of Clarkson, Beveridge, Longmire, Scotts etc
and despise the Pies, the Blues, and the Injectors.
