Coach Sam Mitchell's direction for the club and 2024 news

[Strapping Young Lad]

If anyone wants to have a listen about what the data is saying in regards to whether we have actually gotten worse this year have a listen to this from the 9:15 mark.

I know a few people have already touched on it, but the data is also showing that our results this year have been slightly better despite actually putting out a younger team and dealing with some injuries.




And here.

 

[DogDaySonny]

Another interesting observation to me is that while offensive performance is normal-ish in distribution with about half the teams better than average and half worse, Richmond and Norf utterly destroy the defensive distribution. Only four five teams, Hawthorn unfortunately one of them, are performing worse than average. Pareto at work on the defensive numbers.

 

[HeHateMe]

Adelaide, GWS, Richmond, West coast. Win 3 of our next 4 and we will be sitting 7-8. Will make the run home interesting...

 

[VernonSpots]

Adelaide, GWS, Richmond, West coast. Win 3 of our next 4 and we will be sitting 7-8. Will make the run home interesting...

Win 3 and we are still two games out of 8 given percentage I reckon. It's a hard climb back from here given percentage as well

 

[matey]

Rewatched the very end of Sam’s post match press conference this week a few times which clearly demonstrates his/our direction as a club …… it’s music to my ears.

“From the way we have been playing probably for the last month or so don’t think that there’s any doubt from our playing group and staff that we are on the right track. But we need to continue to hold ourselves to a high enough standard to win enough games to be competitive with the best for when it comes to our time for finals and to have premiership success which is what this club is built for!”

Love it

 

[TheFourPillars]

I wouldn't worry about the ladder just like the draft picks it will take care of itself. We need to keep doing what we are doing. Improve each game keep building on what we have started

 

[HawthornHawk]

Adelaide, GWS, Richmond, West coast. Win 3 of our next 4 and we will be sitting 7-8. Will make the run home interesting...

How about we just win all four?

Think this weekend will be the toughest of those tbh

 

[grumbleguts]

Mate the excuses in here are laughable. It's like most of the fanbase is in denial.

We are terrible. We have not improved under Mitchell. The players refuse to put in a shift which is damning. The recruitment so far is looking half-arsed and we continue to burn draft picks. All of that is an indictment on the coach and club.

But yeah, the grass was apparently wet, as judged by people in here who watched it on telly...and that excuses our lack of effort apparently. Noah Anderson had more ball than our three key midfielders combined. But it was a bit humid so it's ok?

Some of the BS people spout in here.

This is aging beautifully.

 

[Roddy]

This is aging beautifully.

As all the short-sighted whiners sent themselves into frothy-mouthed hysterics about our form early in the season, I just sat there quietly, three words ringing in my mind: we'll come good.

It was only a matter of when.

All that said, we're not there yet, by a long shot. We're improving, absolutely, but it doesn't mean we're going to win every game for the rest of the season and play finals. If we finish on 9-10 wins I'll be pretty happy.

 

[Simon_Nesbit]

View attachment 2002773

Squiggle doesn't rate them. Squiggle also has us off the bottom 4 now.

Norf are off the page bad.

It's a weak, very even year. Reminds me a lot of 2016 actually (retrospectively).

Sydney the only team performing remotely like a contender/top-4 finalist.

I find it interesting we are still 15th, I would have thought we'd be up with Bombers/GC/Freo group now.

I don't know whether it's just confirmation bias, but I often find Squiggle closely correlates with my mostly superficial impression of other clubs. (I overrate Hawks and underrate Cats, but otherwise align +-1).

 

[The Cryptkeeper]

This is aging beautifully.

Do you feel tall digging that up? Maybe I'll go back through your posting history and do the same.

The fact is that we are still yet to beat a team with a winning record this season. Yes, things are starting to look up but when I posted that a few weeks ago we were a laughing stock.

Anyway, I'll put you on ignore and let you get back to your echo chamber.

 

[Leather Poisoning]

Same chart as above but with a line connecting where teams were 3 and 6 weeks ago.

View attachment 2002887

It's interesting that very few clubs have had defense and attack move in the same direction. (Sydney, Bulldogs, Richmond, North and West Coast.)


We are better defense and worse attack. (Attributable to the St Kilda game?)
St Kilda are a massive stain actually. I think they've skewed a few of these.

 

[Brishawk]

It's interesting that very few clubs have had defense and attack move in the same direction. (Sydney, Bulldogs, Richmond, North and West Coast.)


We are better defense and worse attack. (Attributable to the St Kilda game?)
St Kilda are a massive stain actually. I think they've skewed a few of these.

When we play against the saints, its not enough to simply keep them to a low score to have an upward movement in our defensive score. We have to keep them to a lower score than they would normally score. So saints ought not be a specific distorter of this measure.

 

[Leather Poisoning]

When we play against the saints, its not enough to simply keep them to a low score to have an upward movement in our defensive score. We have to keep them to a lower score than they would normally score. So saints ought not be a specific distorter of this measure.

Ah yep I see.

 

[Yardie]

First time this year we kicked the last goal in every quarter.

This year? Maybe for the last five or so........

 

[Brishawk]

Nice graph. The most intriguing insight, IMO, is how little movement there is. Norf, Richmond and Syndey are the only teams to make big moves in form. Carlton, Doggies and Geelong have done better than normal. The Saints and Fro have deteriorated almost equally, which is unexpected to me.

I'm surprised Geelong has improved in form over the last six weeks. Despite losing four in a row, they have outperformed the competition offensively by quite a bit while only conceding a little ground defensively, perhaps showing that while results are the only stat that really matters, results don't really paint the picture on performance. Essendon demonstrates that truism as well.

Richmond and north are really distorting the scale so make is look weird.

Geelong have really dropped off with their defence since round 7 but maintained their above average attack so they have right and down shift over the last six rounds. Its unusual for teams to be persistently elite attack and below average in defence. So the bottom right quadrant will likely empty out across the season with teams been in one of the top two or bottom left. Most will follow a near 45 degree line from bottom left to upper right.

 

[mustang]

Just a question how many of our current group of kids have won a NAB rising star nomination?.

I can think of

Newcombe
Ward
S. Mitchell
Weddle
Ginnivan
D’Ambrosio


Is that it has?

Mackenzie I feel he has also but not 100%.

 

[Ned Ryerson]

Maybe I'll go back through your posting history and do the same.

You don’t have to go far - just check any of his Daicos diatribes from last season.

 

[The Chad and I]

Do you feel tall digging that up? Maybe I'll go back through your posting history and do the same.

The fact is that we are still yet to beat a team with a winning record this season. Yes, things are starting to look up but when I posted that a few weeks ago we were a laughing stock.

Anyway, I'll put you on ignore and let you get back to your echo chamber.

Hardly a blinding insight you're offering here.
We are a team in the development stage, a 2-3 years away from contention.

I would've thought the honest thing to do was to own it and admit you were overly pessimistic earlier in the season.
It has proven to be the case.

Some people want to sink the boots in when things are tough and them celebrate with amnesiac gaiety when we win.
Well, you gotta take it like you give it.

 

[rei154]

Just a question how many of our current group of kids have won a NAB rising star nomination?.

I can think of

Newcombe
Ward
S. Mitchell
Weddle
Ginnivan
D’Ambrosio


Is that it has?

Mackenzie I feel he has also but not 100%.

Frenchie missed out.

 

[The Cryptkeeper]

Hardly a blinding insight you're offering here.
We are a team in the development stage, a 2-3 years away from contention.

I would've thought the honest thing to do was to own it and admit you were overly pessimistic earlier in the season.
It has proven to be the case.

Some people want to sink the boots in when things are tough and them celebrate with amnesiac gaiety when we win.
Well, you gotta take it like you give it.

I make no apologies for my opinion. And I certainly don’t walk away from it. My so called “overly” pessimistic view is far from being disproven. We have shown signs of improvement over the past month but we are not very far advanced on where we were last season.

As for your final comment, given you have no idea about me, or my history supporting the club (nor the money I have put into it) your final salvo can be dismissed without consideration.

I, like you are entitled to my opinion. I do not appreciate people dragging up posts from the past as some sort of gotcha moment. It lacks class and I certainly wouldn’t do it to anyone else.

Got it?

 

[The Cryptkeeper]

You don’t have to go far - just check any of his Daicos diatribes from last season.

Thanks mate, this is my point exactly.

I own every word I type on this forum. People who trawl through old posts trying to sink the boots in lack character in my view.

 

[KermitJagger]

I make no apologies for my opinion. And I certainly don’t walk away from it. My so called “overly” pessimistic view is far from being disproven. We have shown signs of improvement over the past month but we are not very far advanced on where we were last season.

As for your final comment, given you have no idea about me, or my history supporting the club (nor the money I have put into it) your final salvo can be dismissed without consideration.

I, like you are entitled to my opinion. I do not appreciate people dragging up posts from the past as some sort of gotcha moment. It lacks class and I certainly wouldn’t do it to anyone else.

Got it?

I'm not on GG's side here but the "yet to beat a side with a winning record" point isn't quite as telling about where we're at as you're making out. Geelong are 6th and have only beaten one team with a winning record, Essendon are 2nd and they've only beaten one, Melbourne and Collingwood have only beaten 2.

It's the nature of footy, the sides that lose are generally more likely to lose again. Sydney are the only side with a proper winning record over winning sides, and Richmond beat them.

 

[killerspud]

I think what we really need now is a gane where we belt a hapless team. Like a hammer someone by 80 plus points. For confidence, to get our percentage up. I still think we are an outside chance of finals this year but Im always optimistic.

 

[Roddy]

When I look at our current midfield, I don't see any absolute standouts. I don't see a Cripps, Daicos, Bont or Fyfe/Danger at their respective peaks. Day is probably the most likely to get to that level, but I doubt it (hope he proves me wrong). What I do see is grunt, skill and evenness (which I think is a trait worth having in a midfield). I see someone stepping up when one of the others is having a bad day, or a run of down form. I think that evenness will stand us in very good stead for the future.

If we can get them all playing well at the same time, we're well on our way to our next lot of silverware....

 

[Bedi]

Things I've noticed since Will Day has returned to the side (which I haven't verified looking at stats) Note that I'll exclude the Sydney game as an outlier now.

1. Almost NO easy centre bounce exits for the opposition. Early in the season this would be the quick reply to us busitng chops and finally getting a goal.
2. End to end movement is a thing of absolute beauty. Some of the passages of play are breathtaking from defense to shot on goal. There were 3 or 4 of these against Brisbane.
3. Red time goals (aside from one painful game) have swung around and we are the ones kicking them. Big difference
4. We are rushing at the ball receiver to tackle instead of the ball carrier. Makes a huge difference in stoppages.
5. We're not getting pushed around. Not letting nasty acts from the opposition go unnoticed. I usually hate all that huff and puff but it's been a noticeable shift.
6. Backline is back to looking rock solid. No longer am I nervous with opposition long bombs into the forward line. Pretty confident we'll kill that.
7. Opposition aren't really getting a run on. They can grind us down but they're not hitting us with 4 or 5 goals in 5 minutes. (Thank god)
8. The goals really get spread around. You never know whos going to kick them for us. Sometimes it's Chol and Gunston, sometimes it's a bunch of smalls kicking 2 each.

Regarding point 7, for me it's a worrying trend we've coughed up leads of 41 and 35 points two weeks in a row. It's a trend in modern footy i know, but still pretty unacceptable, so next step in our development is not to allow sides back into the game. Was a huge step last week however in being able to regain control.