Harris1991
Team Captain
- Apr 6, 2024
- 387
- 778
- AFL Club
- Adelaide
- Banned
- #726
Amazing post.Well, 3 of our 4 games so far have been against sides who missed the 8 last year, and the other game was a home game against a team who had one of the most horrendous offseasons in living memory after being bundled out the finals in straight sets for the 2nd consecutive year, and we didn’t win any of those, so call me a pessimist but saying that 13 of our remaining games are winnable, and that we’ll win 7-9 of them seems like a case of ignoring the evidence in front of you to me.
As for the improvements since 2021 - we aren’t still in 2023 here when Tex and Hinge were playing out of their skins, Thilthorpe was fully fit, Smith and Laird were less cooked than they now are, and we were moving the ball quickly at all costs - all we can focus on is the here and now, and what this side has shown in the first 4 games of 2024 is the following:
1) a completely new, slow, chip-chiparoo game plan that has led to us being the lowest scoring team in the afl thus far, despite not playing any of the 4 prelim finalists from 2023 yet which you’d think would be the toughest tests most of the time on average. In 2023 we were 1st in points scored. Top of the tree. We are now 18th. The most unbelievable part about implementing such a drastic change in game style which has killed our one and only strength is that we have arguably the worst skill level by foot in the entire league, so this particular type of gameplan could not possibly suit any team less than it suits us. Turnovers in dangerous parts of the ground are inevitable when you combine that plan with our playing list, and the scores against from turnovers will tell you all you need to know about how that’s going.
2) We haven’t played either of the 2 form teams of the comp yet (GWS and Sydney, who are absolute locks to go through to prelims) or either of last year’s grand finalists. We have 6 games remaining against those 4 sides. We are no chance of winning any of those 6 games. Zero. We also have 2 games remaining against Port who look a genuine top 4-6 side, who unlike us have clearly improved since last year. The upcoming away game against Carlton (who look poised to play another prelim this year), and the games later in the season against the Pies at the G and Cats at Kardinia Park are going to be truly painful to watch. We can’t beat GWS at Adelaide oval when we’re going well - imagine what they’ll do to us this year when we are going like this and they are rightly premiership favourites. We couldn’t beat the Bombers at Marvel last year - why on earth would we reverse that this year? Etc etc.
3) Tex has maybe a dozen afl games left in him. Smith has 0 and is a panicked mess. Sloane has 0. Laird looks completely done as an AFL quality midfielder, and where else on the ground can you hide a 173cm player who is slow and can’t kick in 2024? Berry looks like never evolving into an AFL quality midfielder. Sholl, McHenry, Murphy, Smith and Jones are an embarrassment to the jumper - two of them were first round picks which could’ve been Butters and Rowbottom. Milera’s career could now be over. Thilthorpe is injury-prone. Hinge is a headless chook whose very strong 2nd half of 2023 was clearly the exception rather than the rule. Rachele looks like he’s about to throw a tantrum and has the intensity of a sloth. The general delivery to the forwards is atrocious. Our leadership group is littered with players who shouldn’t even be in the AFL. You look at the SANFL side and besides Curtin, Taylor and Dowling, the cupboard is pretty bare. None of those 3 have ever played an AFL game, so who knows if they’ll actually make a difference at all. Point of my story - the playing list is absolutely ****ed.
4) We’ve managed to bounce the ball 4 times in 4 games. Yes, our entire team has a total of 4 running bounces of the football in 4 games - you’ll be shocked to learn that is less than any other team, and that there are multiple teams who have exceeded 40. At least one of those bounces was Milera who is now finished. This outlines the completely stagnant, boring, stale gameplan, and the lack of players we have who are willing or mentally able to take the game on.
5) Our coach is now a proven idiot and unlike previous years, there are now clearly players who aren’t playing for him. His assistants have been shown up as the worst group of assistants in the entire league. Seriously, Mick Godden and Van Berlo is the best we can do? Is this club taking the piss out of us? I suppose when 5 of your 8 “leaders” are Lachie Murphy, Wayne Milera, Ben Keays, Mitch Hinge and Brodie Smith, we should already know the answer to that. They would be the leaders of a SANFL side if we hadn’t botched countless drafts with selections based on how nice players’ families are. Losing Rahilly back to Geelong has clearly been a massive loss - would be the equivalent of Port losing Josh Carr and let’s face it, Josh Carr coaches Port while Kenny rubs their knees and tells them he loves them on the bench.
6) the midfield has regressed to literally being the worst in the league. Stats don’t lie. The numbers of EFFECTIVE clearances that lead to scores are historically low - we are again ranked 18th in the league for this. And that’s because we don’t have enough talent. And that’s because we’ve recruited a black hole in there. Hat tip to Hamish who has literally never drafted an afl quality midfielder with a top 20 draft pick in his entire reign of terror as head recruiter. Not one. Jack MacRae would walk in to our best 18 and come close to winning a club champion award. He can’t make the starting midfield of a non-finals team. Port’s 4th best mid is better than our 2nd best mid. GWS have players in their reserves who would be top 10 players for us. Etc
7) Other clubs have completely worked us out. Apply pressure to the ball carrier and the honest triers with little talent wilt and cough it up. Has worked in 4 of 4 games so far. Will the super coaches and super leaders and super midfield overcome this moving forward? I’m betting on no.
The only positives so far this year for me are the ongoing improvement of Soligo, the fact that we FINALLY selected Nankervis in Rd 4 (just imagine the level of stupidity involved in thinking BOTH of Sholl and Jones were better options in the first 3 games), the promising signs from Keane and the fact that maybe us being THIS bad will result in some of the cancers at the club being fired.
We are never returning to finals as long as any of Nicks, Van Berlo, Godden, Ricciuto, Hamish Ogilvie, Brodie Smith, Lachie Murphy, Ned McHenry, Lachie Sholl or Rory Laird have anything to do with the AFL team, so the sooner we clear out this trash, the better. Not to mention the garbage we have at the bottom of our list such as Himmelberg, Bond, Hamill, Parnell and Strachan. And that still doesn’t address the lack of midfield talent on the list outside of Dawson and Soligo. Rachele will never be a mid. Rankine will only ever be a part-time mid. Everyone else is either proven trash, or a flanker.
Feel free to bump this post when we win our 7th game this season though, I’ll cop that if it happens and maybe there’ll be some significant form reversals and fairytale stories that drive it. Murray and Thilthorpe returning should provide something, but neither of them are going to help the midfield chasm of talent. Even in 2020-21, I could see more positives than this, and the rebuild was taking shape. There is nothing taking shape at the moment other than a complete disaster.
