One way traffic

[Grantysghost]

You're all slaves to the hype! XD

Cats Pies was a good finals game.

Actually the Ligers game was the higest scoring final since the Dogs v Crows in 2015.

Nostalgia - pump it into your veins.

[GVGjr]

Were they? We had the week off before the GF last year and similarly had the week off before the EF this year. On both occasons we didn't look the slightest bit fatigued immediately before the opposition onslaught began - Melbourne didn't even look like scoring before the floodgates opened in the 2021 GF and neither did Freo on the weekend until mid 2nd qtr.

This is 100% a structure/personnel/tactical issue, and it is now clearly also a mental issue. I'm not giving the club an out based on fatigue - if fatigue was an issue last year it would have been against Brisbane SF or Port PF, but we ran both those games out as well as our opponents. We erred badly not reviewing the GF 12 months ago, and in this game if you aren't prepared to learn lessons you get what you deserve. I hope we take due care to learn the lessons this off-season, and the words are enouraging around already discussing how we can get better post-game and also confirming a proper review of all operations will be conducted.

It's the easy option for some to consider rather than explore the real reasons behind inconsistent performances.
From a physical perspective we didn't look flat until Melbourne got the run on and we couldn't go with them.
From a MH perspective it didn't look like we had any challenges there.
We can trust the club to have made what they believe to be the right call on not watching the GF replay as a group but 12 months later after coughing up a significant lead it just looks like a missed opportunity.

[Grantysghost]

It's the easy option for some to consider rather than explore the real reasons behind inconsistent performances.
From a physical perspective we didn't look flat until Melbourne got the run on and we couldn't go with them.
From a MH perspective it didn't look like we had any challenges there.
We can trust the club to have made what they believe to be the right call on not watching the GF replay as a group but 12 months later after coughing up a significant lead it just looks like a missed opportunity.

It was an out of the ordinary month of travel though I think we can acknowledge that.

As soon as they printed those path to glory t-shirts we'd lost.

[GVGjr]

It was an out of the ordinary month of travel though I think we can acknowledge that.

As soon as they printed those path to glory t-shirts we'd lost.

Tough no doubt but we were in a winning position and couldn't lock the ball down when the other guys lifted.

[boydogs]

So 15 out of 23 games we gave up 4+ goal runs, but we still won 5 of them - we must have gone on some decent runs ourselves

[AshMac]

Gosh that’s a confronting read - brutal season.

Something stinks down at the club no doubt but I still think we have way too many established “premium mids” and not enough premiums in key positions. Despite this other teams seem to dominate the middle when it matters

[Topdog]

Gosh that’s a confronting read - brutal season.

Something stinks down at the club no doubt but I still think we have way too many established “premium mids” and not enough premiums in key positions. Despite this other teams seem to dominate the middle when it matters

It wasnt something I had thought about too much previously but honestly think Sedat's post linked below very much hits the nail on the head.

https://www.woof.net.au/forum/showth...103#post806103

[Sedat]

Doing a deeper dive into our last 3 finals losses, all of them can be referenced back to our failures at stoppage/clearances in key moments. We were obliterated in this area on the weekend by Freo for 2.5 qtrs, and likewise by the Demons for 1.5 qtrs in the 2021 GF. Prior to that, Paddy Ryder put it on a silver platter for the St Kilda mids in the 2020 EF, that we ultimately lost by less than a kick after conceding 4 costly goals directly from clean clearances in a low scoring game.

I don't want us tinkering around the edges this off-season. I hope we are courageous enough to have a proper review and rectify a critical and obvious area of weakness, one that has already been clinically exploited by opposition in the games that truly matter. Is there much point smashing weaker opposition in clearances/stoppages in H&A and repeatedly coming up short in the same area in finals?

Geelong will be an interesting watch in the PF. Will they pull the trigger on the tougher more bash and crash type in Ceglar, or will they keep the faith with the more athletic Stanley, who was really poor on Saturday? Geelong have cost themselves premierships the last few years not adequately addressing their ruck/stoppage situation, opting for the Stanley/Esava/Blicavs athletic types. It seems we have done the same in the last few seasons.

[KT31]

It's been bugging me for a while our inability to stop other teams runs but never really saw it mentioned by the media. Decided today to look into it and the results shocked even me. Really tried to limit this to teams scoring 4+ goals without us kicking one but included some 5+ goals to 1. This season that occurred 19 times with 2 other shocking runs included. I'm also pretending the GF didnt happen last year.

Round 1 - Melbourne - 27 point run (29-2), 38 point run (40-2) and 24 point run (24-0)
Round 2 - Carlton - 30 point run (37-7)
Round 3 - Sydney - none
Round 4 - Richmond - 23 point run (31-8) & 42 point run (47-5)
Round 5 - North Melbourn - 32 point run (32-0)
Round 6 - Adelaide - none
Round 7 - Essendon - none
Round 8 - Port Adelaide - 24 point run (24-0)
Round 9 - Collingwood - none
Round 10 - Gold Coast - none but outscored 39-14 at one point
Round 11 - West Coast - none
Round 12 - Geelong - 34 point run (38-4)
Round 14 - GWS - none
Round 15 - Hawthorn - 23 point run (30-7)
Round 16 - Brisbane - 57 point run (77-20) OR 39 (44-5)
Round 17 - Sydney - 34 point run (41-7) and 28 point run (40-12)
Round 18 - St Kilda - 28 point run (29-1)
Round 19 - Melbourne - 30 point run (30-0) and 24 point run (24-0)
Round 20 - Geelong - 3rd qtr, 47 point loss (50-3)
Round 21 - Fremantle - 32 point run (39-7)
Round 22 - GWS - none
Round 23 - Hawthorn - 25 point run (25-0)
EF - Fremantle - 54 point turnaround (72-18)

Lack of on field leadership? No plan B? I dont know but something is seriously wrong in the kennel.

I new it was bad, now I actually see it in writing it is deplorable.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Doing a deeper dive into our last 3 finals losses, all of them can be referenced back to our failures at stoppage/clearances in key moments. We were obliterated in this area on the weekend by Freo for 2.5 qtrs, and likewise by the Demons for 1.5 qtrs in the 2021 GF. Prior to that, Paddy Ryder put it on a silver platter for the St Kilda mids in the 2020 EF, that we ultimately lost by less than a kick after conceding 4 costly goals directly from clean stoppages in a low scoring game.

I don't want us tinkering around the edges this off-season. I hope we are courageous enough to have a proper review and rectify a critical and obvious area of weakness, one that has already been clinically exploited by opposition in the games that truly matter. Is there much point smashing weaker opposition in clearances/stoppages in H&A and repeatedly coming up short in the same area in finals?

Geelong will be an interesting watch in the PF. Will they pull the trigger on the tougher more bash and crash type in Ceglar, or will they keep the faith with the more athletic Stanley, who was really poor on Saturday? Geelong have cost themselves premierships the last few years not adequately addressing their ruck/stoppage situation, opting for the Stanley/Esava/Blicavs athletic types. It seems we have done the same in the last few seasons.

We were really bemoaning the EF loss to St. Kilda where English was absolutely torched. Not a lot has changed since, except the (false) narrative that English is a great ruck. He isn't.

Sedat, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on what we should do this off-season. If you've got time, would love to see a post relating to it.

[SonofScray]

10 minutes of good footy can undo 1/2 hr of our best footy.

[F'scary]

I have been thinking about this and was wondering have we gone too tall in the forward line??

I like this theory, I say yes. Add to that forwards who only pretend to chase and tackle. Big contrast between the current lot and Tory, Clay, Dahl and Picken.

[merantau]

How many times can I re-call English delivering, at the centre bounce, a clean tap to one of our mids who then runs into space? Not many. Same for stoppages and throw ins.

In fact throw ins are Tim's Achilles Heel, IMO. He gives up front position too easily, he gets pushed around too easily. Further, I often see him mis-timing his leap. How many times have you seen him grab the ballout of a ruck contest and shoot off a handball? My guess is not many.
To sum up. He has elite ground ball skills, agility, pace, endurance and can take a contested mark. Is he a ruckman? Or is he a Clayton's? I have not seen his game progress very much in the last two seasons. Concussions haven't helped. We need a No.1 ruck. Tim is a forward/2nd ruck. That's the reality for me.

[G-Mo77]

It's been bugging me for a while our inability to stop other teams runs but never really saw it mentioned by the media. Decided today to look into it and the results shocked even me. Really tried to limit this to teams scoring 4+ goals without us kicking one but included some 5+ goals to 1. This season that occurred 19 times with 2 other shocking runs included. I'm also pretending the GF didnt happen last year.

Round 1 - Melbourne - 27 point run (29-2), 38 point run (40-2) and 24 point run (24-0)
Round 2 - Carlton - 30 point run (37-7)
Round 3 - Sydney - none
Round 4 - Richmond - 23 point run (31-8) & 42 point run (47-5)
Round 5 - North Melbourn - 32 point run (32-0)
Round 6 - Adelaide - none
Round 7 - Essendon - none
Round 8 - Port Adelaide - 24 point run (24-0)
Round 9 - Collingwood - none
Round 10 - Gold Coast - none but outscored 39-14 at one point
Round 11 - West Coast - none
Round 12 - Geelong - 34 point run (38-4)
Round 14 - GWS - none
Round 15 - Hawthorn - 23 point run (30-7)
Round 16 - Brisbane - 57 point run (77-20) OR 39 (44-5)
Round 17 - Sydney - 34 point run (41-7) and 28 point run (40-12)
Round 18 - St Kilda - 28 point run (29-1)
Round 19 - Melbourne - 30 point run (30-0) and 24 point run (24-0)
Round 20 - Geelong - 3rd qtr, 47 point loss (50-3)
Round 21 - Fremantle - 32 point run (39-7)
Round 22 - GWS - none
Round 23 - Hawthorn - 25 point run (25-0)
EF - Fremantle - 54 point turnaround (72-18)

Lack of on field leadership? No plan B? I dont know but something is seriously wrong in the kennel.

This is some really fantastic research TD. Thank you so much for posting!

Even though it's horrible reading.

[jeemak]

I think that's a pretty lame excuse... sit down and watch it as a team, pick out the things we could've done better as individuals & as a team and we move on.

Every business I've been involved in investigates major incidents including workplace fatalities. It determines root causes, changes procedures & policies, assigns corrective actions and then communicates it's findings to the key stakeholders. That's what the corporate world does so why is a multi-million dollar footy club any different?

To think our players can't sit through a game of footy because they're mentally damaged is a rather piss poor excuse in the real world.

I understand the logic behind the comparison, but you don't make the employees involved in the fatal accident watch the accident to learn from it, right?

And I get that we're talking about a game of footy, and not a work place fatality etc., but I have very little doubt that the fatigue physically and mentally after the final five weeks of our season last year would have been substantial and the decision to avoid the players watching the game would have been a considered one.

Whether that's right or wrong I don't know, but again, I don't think it would have been a decision made lightly.