There were times in last nights game where you knew what would happen with the same predictability that night follows day. We all knew 5 minutes into last night what the outcome would be. We have had issues since 2017 that reoccur tme and time again. I had to close my eyes on numerous occasions when Richmond sent a long ball into their 50 as I just knew there would be a pack mark, largely uncontested, from one of their talls. Hell we were 30 seconds away from seeing Chol kick a bag and we've seen similar players do this to us in the past.

So, what issues are you just sick of seeing from us? What issues have you seen for years that just don't seem to be getting addressed? I'll get the ball rolling:

1) No forward line structure/organisation: We don't ever seem to have a cohesive plan up forward. It always looks like we are just bombing it in there to a pack of players. The only game we have looked remotely organised was against north but I think that game said more about them than us. We barely see any sense of opposing lead patterns, blocks (we saw one last night from Gowers) or sensible positioning. We also have a lot of bit-part players in there. Wallis was a mid, Naughton was a defender (not saying he can't play forward, he obviously can, but it shows how desperate we are down there that we had to try one of our best defenders as a forward), Gowers is not AFL quality. We're crying out for natural forwards but even when we recruit some (Bruce, Lloyd) we seem to run into the same problems that these guys didn't really have at their previous clubs.

2) Goal kicking inaccuracy: Don't really need to add much more. Its horrendous and players we bring in from other clubs seem to get worse. Ok Bruce was never a great kick at goal at the saints but he's gotten worse with us. He shanks so many basic shots. The Bont is a marvellous field kick (usually) yet can't nail a standard set shot. At some point you wonder what he would be like if he played for another club. What is it about our club that leads to such shocking goal kicking? The saints have fixed their woes and I'm sure Roughead has had a hand in that. Someone who I thought we should have targeted. This is another issue to come.

3a) Forward half marking contests - all up none down: Either everyone goes up for the mark or noone does. One would think this is fairly simple to address yet here we are years later watching it over and over again. How many times have you seen 4 of our players go up for the same mark leaving no-one to rove the crumbs. It feels as though 9/10 kicks into our forward 50 sees this happen. It would help our forward problems if we could get this right. We see it all the time that as soon as the ball hits the ground, it's coming straight out as we have no-one at ground level to provide a contest.

3b) Forward half marking contests - all down none up: We also have the opposite to the above where no-one will go for the mark. This typically happens at the 'hot zone' 10m in front of the goal square. For whatever reason no-one will go for the mark and the oppostions biggest player, typically the ruckman, just takes this easy uncontested mark. I can't get my head around how many times i see this happen. What is going on in the forward line that consistently leads to this? Is the ball kicked to the wrong spot that many times? Or are our forwards just not communicating?

4) Foot skills: We all know this one. We would have to be one of the worst teams when it comes to skill by foot. We're elite with the handball but woeful by foot. Why is this? Some players come into the club and you think "wow they look clean by foot" yet they then deteriorate over time. Again you wonder if they played for another club would this happen? Think Richards, Dale, Bont, Bailey Smith, Suckling etc. It might be the incredibly taxing style of game we play that leads to fatigue and also the fact that we play a contested style where there are few players who find space.

5) Taxing gameplan We have to be 100% on for us to win. Our gameplan is built on 100% intensity to outwork our opponent at the coalface. We seem to be quite vanilla here with no point of difference. Either we crack in and muscle the ball forward (think Macrae style) or we fall over meekly. I actually think we've got some unique talent on our list that isn't being utilised to it's best potential. The Bont is a classic example. He should be used like Dusty is at Richmond, but no, we seem to use him the same as any other inside mid, jumping in the coal face for a handball out. He just never seems to have space anymore and I think this is as much gameplan related as it is his own performance. We just have so many numbers around the ball that it's nearly impossible for our mids to find space. What happens is a junk airball to our forwards who have little chance of getting anything going. What irks me more is that when we have found space, we are lethal. Think Essendon last year and north this year. Ok yes the opposition had a large say in allowing us to have that much space but I would think if we put in a fair bit of effort to try create that space for ouselves it would help immensely. We shoot ourselves in the foot here. Are we making an effort at all to help the likes of Bont and Smith get space the same way Richmond does for Dusty?
The other side to this is getting hurt on the spread. If we aren't first to the ball we are often killed on the spread. It feels as though we are structured around assuming we win the ball so that when we don't, we aren't in a position to stop the spread from the opposition and they just get the ball away too easily with handballs over our players' heads.

6) Lack of pace: This is fairly eveident but could also be a symptom of point 5 above. Most elite teams have points of difference but we seem to be fairly type A. We have too many plodders who will crack in and not enough guys who can actually burst out of a pack to create space. I did mention above that I feel we have players who can do this, but it's not enough, especially when we're relying on these same guys to win the ball themselves. You can't have the likes of Smith and Bont winning the ball and bursting out of the pack all the same. We need more players with genuine pace to gain some separation. Last night we looked horrendously off the pace. I get that we've had a packed schedule but Richmond were coming off 1 day less break and made us look like an EJ Whitten Legends team.

7) Effort for goals: Which other team appears to work as hard for a goal than us? We just seem to have to run a marathon in order to kick a goal, yet the opposition will get cheapie after cheapie out the back with relative ease. Another symptom perhaps of our game style but it seems like so much effort for each of our goals compared to when watching other teams. And the goals don't appear to come from systematic play. It always seems so scrappy (see point 1 re forward line cohesion).

8) Plan B, or lack thereof: We've all spoken about it. If our style isn't working we are doomed. It appears our plan A is numbers around the ball, work the handball to the man in space (rarely happens) and drive forward (to an inept forwad line). The numbers around the ball come from having numbers behind the ball. What we've seen in most of our losses is that when teams pressure our numbers around the ball, or, they deny us possession and suck our numbers from behind the ball up the field, we are stuffed. We have no answer. And we've seen a fairly poor response from the coaches box. Simply swapping Bont with a forward isn't going to cut it. We just don't seem to have an answer. We also don't ever seem to strategise around our opponents' weaknesses. It seems to be we play our way and if it works great. If it doesn't we'll simply try harder next time.

9) Defensive half marking contests: As hopeless as we are at marking the hot spot kick in our own forward 50, we're just as inept at defending it in our defensive 50. Every time a sky or long ball is kicked into our 50, the opposition is odds on to take a pack mark with little resistance from our defenders. It's well known we can make a dud tall dude look like Wayne Carey let alone a decent player like Lynch. I'm getting nightmares in thinking what tall, lanky but talented Max King could do to us in the future. Why are we so bad at defending the long high ball? We seem to get caught out ball watching and horribly out of position when the ball comes in. As stated above, I have to close my eyes when the long and high ball is kicked in.

10) Defenders caught out the back: This one is easy. We've seen it time and again in our losses. Although it only happened a couple times last night, there were still issues with our setup allowing far too much space to Richmonds forwards. There was one point, from a turnover, where Cordy was at least 25m in front of his opponent who himself was about 40m out from goal. Cordy was all by himself so i have no idea what value there is in guarding empty space whilst an opponent is all by himself in the forward 50. This particular play resulted in a goal not surprisingly as the ball was kicked over Cordy's head to the richmond player all by himself. But this happens all too often. Again, we seem to rely on a certain defensive setup but all too often teams exploit this setup and we get royally screwed.

11) Allowing short chips up the ground: Last night was not the first time we've seen it. Teams simply deny us possession by using small kicks up the ground. They'll work from a kick-in all the way to 60m out from goal doing this. And each time the opposing player taking the short mark is 10m in front of our guy. This must simply be workrate or again a symptom of our gameplan where we push numbers behind the ball meaning we're on the back foot when an opposing player makes a lead. But the opposition will get the ball 60m out with ease then provide a long high ball into forward 50 where point 9 rears its ugly head.

12) Coaching panel: Ok this is essentially what the thread is about but what on earth are our coaches doing if these reccuring issues are not getting solved? What are we working on each preseason when we have seen very little change? A few have mentioned that our coaching staff needs a shakeup and I agree. We need fresh ideas as using the same plan for 5 years clearly isn't cutting it anymore. Teams have figured us out.

I would like to think this list is complete but I'm sure i've missed some that others can provide!