Sharp Axes

[Go_Dogs]

You mean, by moving Naughton back, dropping McNeil and putting West in the centre square right?

You brilliant SOB

[hujsh]

And who replaces Naughton at FF? Darcy? Wrong. Sweet. In a miraculous turnaround the AFL approves just for the drama, Sweet transfers back to FFC the Friday before

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

And who replaces Naughton at FF? Darcy? Wrong. Sweet. In a miraculous turnaround the AFL approves just for the drama, Sweet transfers back to FFC the Friday before

If I was better tech inclined I'd insert that meme of Vince McMahon increasingly having his mind blown orgasmically by the thought of this full sequence of events coming to be....

[mjp]

And who replaces Naughton at FF? Darcy? Wrong. Sweet. In a miraculous turnaround the AFL approves just for the drama, Sweet transfers back to FFC the Friday before

Get Young back whilst you're at it. If you're gonna go for gold, go hard.

[Grantysghost]

If I was better tech inclined I'd insert that meme of Vince McMahon increasingly having his mind blown orgasmically by the thought of this full sequence of events coming to be....

[mjp]

Good to see we've resumed normal processing around here. :-)

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Good to see we've resumed normal processing around here. :-)

Yeah that was a scary off-season.

[Rocket Science]

It's easy to sympathise with the idea this group just needs the air cleared and a fresh voice but must confess I'm also sympathetic to the coach whose job prospects are wedded to a playing list that's a disjointed work in progress, wracked with structural defects and carries half a dozen sub-standard types who struggle at the level more weeks than not.

We're the poster boys for bipolarity and perhaps another coach can wring more out of what we have but there's a sobering argument to be made we're just not equipped to trouble the competition's elite unless a handful of usual suspects plonk the rest on their backs and I'm unconvinced a different bloke blowing the whistle fixes that.

I mean fine, pick your ideal Bevo replacement then digest the fact he's still going to be stuffed for competent wingers, reliable key defenders and 2nd rotation mids.

----

For clarity, none of that's intended as a defence for retaining the current coach. I'm frankly at pussy's bow and would've thanked him sincerely for his services by this point but given the off-season restructure we'd look like 24 carat chumps if we flinch before giving the new processes sufficient time to bear fruit. I don't know how long that is but it's not a month.

What shits me about the wholly understandable focus on the coach is its tendency to shield large swathes of a playing group who've proven themselves deeply unserious and whose reputation for shrinking in the moment is now their most prominent character trait until they can demonstrate it's not.

None of this is helped by the prevailing theory they're somehow 'better' than they are which I'm sure some of them comfort themselves with at night.

This collective reliably pisses their pants when the stakes are high and there's nothing to suggest it'll be any different with their coach's neck on the chopping block.

[bornadog]

----

For clarity, none of that's intended as a defence for retaining the current coach. I'm frankly at pussy's bow and would've thanked him sincerely for his services by this point but given the off-season restructure we'd look like 24 carat chumps if we flinch before giving the new processes sufficient time to bear fruit. I don't know how long that is but it's not a month.

What shits me about the wholly understandable focus on the coach is its tendency to shield large swathes of a playing group who've proven themselves deeply unserious and whose reputation for shrinking in the moment is now their most prominent character trait until they can demonstrate it's not.

None of this is helped by the prevailing theory they're somehow 'better' than they are which I'm sure some of them comfort themselves with at night.

This collective reliably pisses their pants when the stakes are high and there's nothing to suggest it'll be any different with their coach's neck on the chopping block.

Good post RC, best one in this whole thread.

[Grantysghost]

Good post RC, best one in this whole thread.

Did you see ​the Vince meme?!

[bornadog]

Did you see ​the Vince meme?!

NO. I will admit I don't read everything in this thread, especially after one round

[The Bulldogs Bite]

----

For clarity, none of that's intended as a defence for retaining the current coach. I'm frankly at pussy's bow and would've thanked him sincerely for his services by this point but given the off-season restructure we'd look like 24 carat chumps if we flinch before giving the new processes sufficient time to bear fruit. I don't know how long that is but it's not a month.

What shits me about the wholly understandable focus on the coach is its tendency to shield large swathes of a playing group who've proven themselves deeply unserious and whose reputation for shrinking in the moment is now their most prominent character trait until they can demonstrate it's not.

None of this is helped by the prevailing theory they're somehow 'better' than they are which I'm sure some of them comfort themselves with at night.

This collective reliably pisses their pants when the stakes are high and there's nothing to suggest it'll be any different with their coach's neck on the chopping block.

This is undisputed.

It's impossible to like let alone trust this group.

My take is that despite this, it's Bevo's team. It's what he's put together. There's no flavour from B-Mac, Rocket, or any past coach. This is HIS influence, his choosing, his list.

And if his list - as insipid, lazy and as fragile as they are - continue to fail, ultimately so does he.

[jeemak]

I think we're giving the recruiting and list management personnel a bit of a free pass by saying this is solely Bevo's team. Same with Chris Grant and Ameet Baines who play a huge part in rubber stamping list management strategies.

We have no wings, no genuine mid-size or small forwards who are reliable outside of Weightman, and no quality defensive talls capable of consistently intercepting. Major structural deficiencies to cope with the modern game and this is all on Bevo?

It's simpler to point the finger at Bevo instead of the players, it's simpler to point the finger at Bevo instead of the football department structure. But it's the simplicity in how many are looking at our current situation that I find frustrating.

Imagine if the strong message from the club in the face of media scrutiny that focuses overly on the coach was we need to be better across the board. Imagine if the strong message from the likes of Bont, Libba and Treloar was we decide if we want to chase, we decide if we want to follow instructions, and it's up to us to make sure we do that more consistently. We are accountable for what we dish up, no excuses.

Not sure I heard much of that this past week, nor the second half of last year. We're just letting our coach cop it, and maybe that's the plan.

[bornadog]

I think we're giving the recruiting and list management personnel a bit of a free pass by saying this is solely Bevo's team. Same with Chris Grant and Ameet Baines who play a huge part in rubber stamping list management strategies.

We have no wings, no genuine mid-size or small forwards who are reliable outside of Weightman, and no quality defensive talls capable of consistently intercepting. Major structural deficiencies to cope with the modern game and this is all on Bevo?

It's simpler to point the finger at Bevo instead of the players, it's simpler to point the finger at Bevo instead of the football department structure. But it's the simplicity in how many are looking at our current situation that I find frustrating.

Imagine if the strong message from the club in the face of media scrutiny that focuses overly on the coach was we need to be better across the board. Imagine if the strong message from the likes of Bont, Libba and Treloar was we decide if we want to chase, we decide if we want to follow instructions, and it's up to us to make sure we do that more consistently. We are accountable for what we dish up, no excuses.

Not sure I heard much of that this past week, nor the second half of last year. We're just letting our coach cop it, and maybe that's the plan.

It was only a couple of years ago, we made a GF, so the list was pretty good. All lists have holes in them, and depth is always a problem. Players come and go, which changes the list - balancing the list is not easy.

The players need to take ownership of their own performance.

22 Rounds to go for 2024 - and I continue to look forward to the season.

[Go_Dogs]

I think we're giving the recruiting and list management personnel a bit of a free pass by saying this is solely Bevo's team. Same with Chris Grant and Ameet Baines who play a huge part in rubber stamping list management strategies.

We have no wings, no genuine mid-size or small forwards who are reliable outside of Weightman, and no quality defensive talls capable of consistently intercepting. Major structural deficiencies to cope with the modern game and this is all on Bevo?

It's simpler to point the finger at Bevo instead of the players, it's simpler to point the finger at Bevo instead of the football department structure. But it's the simplicity in how many are looking at our current situation that I find frustrating.

Imagine if the strong message from the club in the face of media scrutiny that focuses overly on the coach was we need to be better across the board. Imagine if the strong message from the likes of Bont, Libba and Treloar was we decide if we want to chase, we decide if we want to follow instructions, and it's up to us to make sure we do that more consistently. We are accountable for what we dish up, no excuses.

Not sure I heard much of that this past week, nor the second half of last year. We're just letting our coach cop it, and maybe that's the plan.

But what club has those pieces consistently in place? And what smaller club like ours without the benefit of being able to recruit those elite players to top up a list does?

All lists have deficiencies and gaps, either through design, misses, injuries etc. it’s really about making the most of what we’ve got more consistently and finding the right players the right roles. 2016 was cobbled together in many ways but the sum of the parts managed to be greater than anyone dares dream over a four week period. 2021 was very nearly the same.