Analysis The Coach – Simon 'Standard Practice' Goodwin: It's time to go (for real this time)

[Topkent]

To be fair, I don't think Hogan can really be seen as indicative of any club-wide arrogance. After what he's been through, it seems like he takes footy a little less intensely than he did. His body language is way better and he's been great whenever he's on the radio.

Mate I loved it, I wish he would do it more often. I wish we saw it for 4 quarters and not just when things are going well and that goes for everyone in the side.

 

[TheCount]

you do wonder if these guys just think it's gonna happen for them.

This is exactly it for mine. They know the talent that is in the team, and they see what happens when they get their game going, and too often they just assume it'll happen without any effort. I think that's what is to blame for the lapses, it all worked that qrt, so it'll just work like that again ... It's a mental weakness that's been prevalent for years now, and its not one that would have been fixed by the bloody military camp because it's not a mental toughness thing, it's a concentration and mindset thing, and its very clear that absolutely nothing has been done about it.

 

[mrmonkey]

we have gone backwards this year. haven't been impressed at all by our first 4 games. Goodwin better be addressing our concerns in house, because he's not even acknowledging them publicly. I have serious concerns over him, I don't think he can coach. Lever has destroyed our backline. So many players down on form. Our ball use forward of centre and forward structure is deplorable. People everywhere potting St Kilda but we haven't been much better.

I fear not. Was just listening to sen1116 with rohco and david king. Love or hate king he mentioned Melbourne midfielders getting sucked into the contest whilst Hawthorn stayed out, which was the exact same problem he highlighted in round one. I know it's just one problem but it sounds like nothing has been done to fix this, so what else needs fixing and why?

 

[demondavey]

This is exactly it for mine. They know the talent that is in the team, and they see what happens when they get their game going, and too often they just assume it'll happen without any effort. I think that's what is to blame for the lapses, it all worked that qrt, so it'll just work like that again ... It's a mental weakness that's been prevalent for years now, and its not one that would have been fixed by the bloody military camp because it's not a mental toughness thing, it's a concentration and mindset thing, and its very clear that absolutely nothing has been done about it.

People talk about the ‘melts’ in this thread and say ‘let’s not get carried away’. The reality is that it’s the type of loss that is perturbing people. I could’ve accepted a 4 point loss if we played our guts out yesterday and were coached well. A 67 point drubbing in the wet whereby we kicked 13 points in 3 quarters is pretty flattening. Not to mention the B grade coaching effort.

Supporters, the real die hard types that desperately want success, hark back to the dark days when we see a pasting like that. The ‘melts’ are prevalent because it shows a shift back into the negative mindset and playing style that dragged us into the hole.

As a realist, I’ll admit that finals aren’t off the cards, but unless these guys make a monumental shift with effort and Goodwin seriously pulls his finger out in the coaches box, then we will be a 9-12 disappointment.

 

[demondavey]

Looking at it we let Roosy go atleast one season too soon. Ideally we'd like to have him on right now, but Goodwin took on a very young team and as an inexperienced coach that can't be good and we are seeing the bumpy results

Roos was excellent and development of structure. He completely redesigned our defensive structure and turned us into a finals aspirant.

Goodwin has recruited Lever which has simply degraded that defensive structure. We have prioritised his intercepting style at the expense of Hibberd and Jetta attacking and rebounding. I get the impression it’s all about Jake here. He can’t defend one on one, he needs to go back to the VFL to do that.

Lever was absolutely awful yesterday.

 

[demondavey]

I fear not. Was just listening to sen1116 with rohco and david king. Love or hate king he mentioned Melbourne midfielders getting sucked into the contest whilst Hawthorn stayed out, which was the exact same problem he highlighted in round one. I know it's just one problem but it sounds like nothing has been done to fix this, so what else needs fixing and why?

Goodwin didn’t or couldn’t react yesterday against Clarkson. It was blatantly obvious he was outdone after the first quarter.

 

[Fork n Hell]

Roos was excellent and development of structure. He completely redesigned our defensive structure and turned us into a finals aspirant.

Goodwin has recruited Lever which has simply degraded that defensive structure. We have prioritised his intercepting style at the expense of Hibberd and Jetta attacking and rebounding. I get the impression it’s all about Jake here. He can’t defend one on one, he needs to go back to the VFL to do that.

Lever was absolutely awful yesterday.

I don't think it helps when at various times we have 3 or 4 of Oscar, Lever, Frost, Wagner and Jetta all jumping up for the spoil and getting in each others way. its been a problem since r1. no one stays down and we get hurt when the ball hits the ground as the opposition set up much better around the high ball and we are slow and reactionary. yesterday was wet which makes it even worse as its hard to mark or spoil effectively anyway, and yet we still did it all game.

 

[TheCount]

People talk about the ‘melts’ in this thread and say ‘let’s not get carried away’. The reality is that it’s the type of loss that is perturbing people. I could’ve accepted a 4 point loss if we played our guts out yesterday and were coached well. A 67 point drubbing in the wet whereby we kicked 13 points in 3 quarters is pretty flattening. Not to mention the B grade coaching effort.

Supporters, the real die hard types that desperately want success, hark back to the dark days when we see a pasting like that. The ‘melts’ are prevalent because it shows a shift back into the negative mindset and playing style that dragged us into the hole.

As a realist, I’ll admit that finals aren’t off the cards, but unless these guys make a monumental shift with effort and Goodwin seriously pulls his finger out in the coaches box, then we will be a 9-12 disappointment.

Yep, I consider myself a calm, positive and realistic supporter even at the worst times, but I'm still absolutely filthy at that performance, when I would usually have processed it, extracted some positives, and be looking to next week. I would have been fine with a close loss, I would have been find with letting them get on top of us in the second, and even the 3rd when we couldn't kick a goal, as long as there were some corrections made from the coaches box, and an increase in effort and just some ****ing semblance of intelligent football at any stage. But nothing changed from the coaches box, and after playing two incredibly dumb, skill devoid qrts of football, instead of making a stand and at least making it a semi competitive contest, we ****ing rolled over and let them pile on.

However, it is far from season over, it's a marathon not a sprint, and when it comes down to it, it's a 50/50 game that we missed out on the points for. It could very well be the catalyst that leads to this group clicking into gear. But based on yesterday, it's a big IF ... and thats before you get into how absurd that it was even needed after the way things went down last year.

 

[PerfectFooty]

Getting whipped by Hawthorn doesn't really seem to be "changing the narrative" does it?

 

[demondavey]

Yep, I consider myself a calm, positive and realistic supporter even at the worst times, but I'm still absolutely filthy at that performance, when I would usually have processed it, extracted some positives, and be looking to next week. I would have been fine with a close loss, I would have been find with letting them get on top of us in the second, and even the 3rd when we couldn't kick a goal, as long as there were some corrections made from the coaches box, and an increase in effort and just some ******* semblance of intelligent football at any stage. But nothing changed from the coaches box, and after playing two incredibly dumb, skill devoid qrts of football, instead of making a stand and at least making it a semi competitive contest, we ******* rolled over and let them pile on.

However, it is far from season over, it's a marathon not a sprint, and when it comes down to it, it's a 50/50 game that we missed out on the points for. It could very well be the catalyst that leads to this group clicking into gear. But based on yesterday, it's a big IF ... and thats before you get into how absurd that it was even needed after the way things went down last year.

What concerns me is selection. How do we fix a backline that leaks goals? Sure we can drop Lever (which is a good idea) but we bring in Hunt and hope that Frost can hold CHB without making dumb decisions? His football nous is poor. The Lever experiment isn’t working.

Up forward we were more concerned with looking tough than being tough. Melksham and Harmes are show ponies at the moment. At least Pedersen will provide a contest and just focus on playing football.

Yeah nothing positive from yesterday, and whether or not we respond this week and the next is a toss of the coin. If Nathan Jones is any sort of leader he will sit our group down and lay it straight. But I fear he just isn’t, he is a great footballer in his own right but just can’t motivate or get our group up.

We desperately need Viney.

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

What concerns me is selection. How do we fix a backline that leaks goals? Sure we can drop Lever (which is a good idea) but we bring in Hunt and hope that Frost can hold CHB without making dumb decisions? His football nous is poor. The Lever experiment isn’t working.

Up forward we were more concerned with looking tough than being tough. Melksham and Harmes are show ponies at the moment. At least Pedersen will provide a contest and just focus on playing football.

Yeah nothing positive from yesterday, and whether or not we respond this week and the next is a toss of the coin. If Nathan Jones is any sort of leader he will sit our group down and lay it straight. But I fear he just isn’t, he is a great footballer in his own right but just can’t motivate or get our group up.

We desperately need Viney.

Yeah Melksham is due for a spell IMO, he's looked hapless and he isn't going to find form at AFL level. Might as well bring Balic in and let him have a run at it. I want to see Hunt up forward too, or at least further up the ground than half back

 

[demondavey]

I don't think it helps when at various times we have 3 or 4 of Oscar, Lever, Frost, Wagner and Jetta all jumping up for the spoil and getting in each others way. its been a problem since r1. no one stays down and we get hurt when the ball hits the ground as the opposition set up much better around the high ball and we are slow and reactionary. yesterday was wet which makes it even worse as its hard to mark or spoil effectively anyway, and yet we still did it all game.

It comes down to some thinking though. Let your better contested marks go up, leave one behind and one at the drop, then another two with their opponent boundary side. Fill gaps and use space.

It’s basic football. I played FB and CHB at local level (about 100 senior games), the one thing you always did was push into space if there is some, push into the goal square to be the last man standing, and for ****s sake don’t try and mark if your behind! Just punch the bloody football! If you can’t win it kill it! These defenders getting caught in front that get shifted aside, or behind that won’t punch just infuriate me. You stay side by side on your strong side (for me my opponent on my left), one leg between his legs, and push him away from you!

There’s too much focus on zoning and trying to get a mark in every contest. You’ve got to be dour as a defender. It’s something we can’t and won’t do.

 

[demondavey]

Yeah Melksham is due for a spell IMO, he's looked hapless and he isn't going to find form at AFL level. Might as well bring Balic in and let him have a run at it. I want to see Hunt up forward too, or at least further up the ground than half back

He needs to go. Between him and Harmes the pressure has been rubbish without the goals. I don’t know what Balic is like but he can’t be worse than those two. I’d like Jones at HF as well. I am sorry, he isn’t up to it in the middle anymore.

 

[demondavey]

And I am telling you this, and I doubt it’ll happen, but Jake Lever needs to be dropped. TopKent identified this and I saw it watching the first half, his skills are poor and he fumbles the ball and looks troubled by the intensity. I get he is an intercept defender, but think through this, what happens to his opponent when he zones off? And if you can’t one on one defend then you can’t go the next step. Lever is trying to walk but he can’t crawl.

 

[Demonkings]

I think the melts are the culmination of all the flaws everyone has noticed this season and last season becoming abundantly clear. All of our bad habits were definitely magnified today.

I was willing to cut Goodwin some slack last year because the injury toll was enormous but this year we are fine. Considering the Hawks had several mid game injuries our performance looks worse.

The from the contest out philosophy is what i am most frustrated about because it relies on absolute contested dominance, which isn't achievable week to week or even throughout a whole game. The inside mid battle was not our biggest weakness against Hawthorn it was every other aspect of the game, we actually won contested possessions and were even on inside 50's yet it meant absolutely nothing because we had no structure to do anything with it.

IMO personnel is not a problem, it is overwhelming the gameplan and positioning of players, which isn't being helped by bad team selection, which is our biggest problem at the moment. Terrible football habits have crept into our team and i put the blame on the coaching group. Either they aren't giving the right message or it is not being communicated well at all.

On the injury front, I respectfully disagree. I don’t think our situation is that different to last season. We are scrambling to cover injuries to two of our best 5 players that has set us right back into the pack and we are scrapping it out for wins every week. Last year was Gawn/Hogan. This year Viney/Tmac. We are 2-2 and our season is still alive. Yesterday it got ugly, but Hawthorn are a good team and will be thereabouts this year.

I agree with you that team selection was woeful this week, and has been off all season. Obviously, our inability to cover two players of the quality/importance of Tmac and Viney is a major part of the equation, but I also think the process to team selection has been over-complicated by Goodwin wanting to instill a culture amongst the group of rewarding form and standards in training over long term proven ability. You need to have a balance in weighing these things and I think Goody’s been a bit off so far this season. Maynard playing round 1 for example was an absolute howler. No Pedo this week was similarly bad. I think this week presents an opportunity to reset and just get the best available players in the 22, especially since Hunt, Pedo etc played well for Casey.

I’m not prepared to write off Goody’s ideas about the game plan just yet. Yesterday he got taken to the cleaners, but no team can be at their best every week. Fixing something as simple as team selection could have a ripple on effect toward fixing players’ confidence in each other and the game plan. Right now I doubt the players know who in Goody’s mind is a best 22 player. Hopefully through the next 5 or 6 rounds the team gets a better picture of this because a continually changing team can only be bad for morale and players’ confidence. To me I think yesterday was just a culmination of that and the team just collectively lost all confidence.

 

[demondavey]

On the injury front, I respectfully disagree. I don’t think our situation is that different to last season. We are scrambling to cover injuries to two of our best 5 players that has set us right back into the pack and we are scrapping it out for wins every week. Last year was Gawn/Hogan. This year Viney/Tmac. We are 2-2 and our season is still alive. Yesterday it got ugly, but Hawthorn are a good team and will be thereabouts this year.

I agree with you that team selection was woeful this week, and has been off all season. Obviously, our inability to cover two players of the quality/importance of Tmac and Viney is a major part of the equation, but I also think the process to team selection has been over-complicated by Goodwin wanting to instill a culture amongst the group of rewarding form and standards in training over long term proven ability. You need to have a balance in weighing these things and I think Goody’s been a bit off so far this season. Maynard playing round 1 for example was an absolute howler. No Pedo this week was similarly bad. I think this week presents an opportunity to reset and just get the best available players in the 22, especially since Hunt, Pedo etc played well for Casey.

I’m not prepared to write off Goody’s ideas about the game plan just yet. Yesterday he got taken to the cleaners, but no team can be at their best every week. Fixing something as simple as team selection could have a ripple on effect toward fixing players’ confidence in each other and the game plan. Right now I doubt the players know who in Goody’s mind is a best 22 player. Hopefully through the next 5 or 6 rounds the team gets a better picture of this because a continually changing team can only be bad for morale and players’ confidence. To me I think yesterday was just a culmination of that and the team just collectively lost all confidence.

I agree that a changing team is bad, but that loss was coming yesterday and it’s exposed 4-5 players as being well and truly out of form.

Heads have to roll.

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

On the injury front, I respectfully disagree. I don’t think our situation is that different to last season. We are scrambling to cover injuries to two of our best 5 players that has set us right back into the pack and we are scrapping it out for wins every week. Last year was Gawn/Hogan. This year Viney/Tmac. We are 2-2 and our season is still alive. Yesterday it got ugly, but Hawthorn are a good team and will be thereabouts this year.

I agree with you that team selection was woeful this week, and has been off all season. Obviously, our inability to cover two players of the quality/importance of Tmac and Viney is a major part of the equation, but I also think the process to team selection has been over-complicated by Goodwin wanting to instill a culture amongst the group of rewarding form and standards in training over long term proven ability. You need to have a balance in weighing these things and I think Goody’s been a bit off so far this season. Maynard playing round 1 for example was an absolute howler. No Pedo this week was similarly bad. I think this week presents an opportunity to reset and just get the best available players in the 22, especially since Hunt, Pedo etc played well for Casey.

I’m not prepared to write off Goody’s ideas about the game plan just yet. Yesterday he got taken to the cleaners, but no team can be at their best every week. Fixing something as simple as team selection could have a ripple on effect toward fixing players’ confidence in each other and the game plan. Right now I doubt the players know who in Goody’s mind is a best 22 player. Hopefully through the next 5 or 6 rounds the team gets a better picture of this because a continually changing team can only be bad for morale and players’ confidence. To me I think yesterday was just a culmination of that and the team just collectively lost all confidence.

Agree. Two simple changes required: Tyson and Pedersen in - Melksham and Harmes out. Would drop Frost for Hunt but I think Frost will actually be quite useful against the Tigers quick small forwards.

Our midfield depth is clearly not good enough at this stage to cover Viney and Tyson both being out with Jones not at his best there anymore. Oliver can't carry us on his own back, ANB is too inconsistent (needs more experience in the middle, same with Gus), and Salem is showing quick improvement but still raw as a mid. It's time to commit Petracca to being there full time IMO. His intensity wavers when he floats out of the midfield IMO.

 

[Demonkings]

I agree that a changing team is bad, but that loss was coming yesterday and it’s exposed 4-5 players as being well and truly out of form.

Heads have to roll.

Yeah I agree, see my post in the changes thread. I want 4! Lol. I was more just saying I hope by about round 10 the team can be more settled and we’re through with the head scratching team selections that have been pretty consistent so far this season.

 

[TheCount]

And I am telling you this, and I doubt it’ll happen, but Jake Lever needs to be dropped. TopKent identified this and I saw it watching the first half, his skills are poor and he fumbles the ball and looks troubled by the intensity. I get he is an intercept defender, but think through this, what happens to his opponent when he zones off? And if you can’t one on one defend then you can’t go the next step. Lever is trying to walk but he can’t crawl.

Its definitely not going to happen ... but another game like that, and bring in Joel Smith to play the same 3rd man role. He's not as tall, but he's lightning quick, and couldn't be any worse when the ball is around him.

 

[schmuttt]

Had some time to gather my thoughts and here is what I think about the current state of the team and specifically what we're doing wrong in the box.

Selection:

The MC (Match committee) has quite simply gotten it wrong and cost us in both losses. Round 1 we pick Maynard over Tyson which I'd argue cost us the game (We really missed midfield depth in that game and Tyson is about 3x as good as Maynard. Unless Tyson was injured I don't buy the match fitness excuse when he already played JLT 2 and a VFL practice match). Round 4 we go in with a crab forwardline and no 2nd ruck/KPF (I really like Fritsch but wouldn't have played him in the wet).

Defence:

Our back 6 is ****ed atm, the only guy who looks like he has a clue what is going on down there is OMac. Want to know why? Because he plays the percentages and doesn't come flying off his man at every opportunity. Not sure whether it is on Goody or Chaplin or Jennings (Or a combination) but they need to be coached to DEFEND first. How often do we concede goals over the back and/or 0/15m from goal? How often do we have Vince and Lewis inexplicably being the last two guys at the back trying to outrun players like Poppy and Cyril? We need to go back to a much more defensive setup down back, and stick to the 7 man defence. I know we play one now but it doesn't really function like that because all our players get sucked up into a ridiculously high forward press, which I'll elaborate on further in the forward section.

Midfield:

Someone needs to tell Goody that purely flooding the contest doesn't make us a good clearance team, nor does it help our ball movement going forward. I'm so sick of us having a rolling maul around the ball and thinking we are a good contested ball side (Because guess ****ing what, when you turn the ball over like we do but flood the area the ball is in you will win a lot of contested ball without it being impactful). Gawns ruckwork also needs to get in sync with our mids, and whilst Jones did hold Mitchell yesterday with no Tyson or Viney who else was going to win clearances aside from Oliver? The tag should have been released at half time to enable us to try and be proactive in the middle but the coaching box sat on their hands.

Forwardline:

This is our biggest problem atm. Winning extreme amounts of inside 50s is pointless when we're flooding our own F50 because of this stupid forward press, and our refusal to play a secondary tall target on the weekend was mind boggling (Especially when you consider we are playing Hogan in the midfield for 20-30% of the game!). I know we miss TMacs ability to bring the ball to ground in a 1on2 but god you'd think since we know we don't have him till at least round 8-9 we'd try something different. The long kicks in there are atrocious and teams are reading us like a book. Yes Bugg is a crab and Melksham isn't much better atm but the way we're setting up is giving us zero chance to score efficiently enough to beat anyone who isn't a bottom 6 side.

The whole team also needs to learn to deal with oppo teams getting momentum, we did slow it down against North which put us back in the game but back to the same old habits yesterday. I'm really worried that since most of this stuff has been part of Goodwins 'mantra' we won't change anything, but if we're to be any chance of making September let alone having an impact he needs to change it now.

You've got 18 games left to get it right Goody, otherwise it won't just be a couple BF nuffies like me calling for your head.

 

[djpaulydemon]

Had some time to gather my thoughts and here is what I think about the current state of the team and specifically what we're doing wrong in the box.

Selection:

The MC (Match committee) has quite simply gotten it wrong and cost us in both losses. Round 1 we pick Maynard over Tyson which I'd argue cost us the game (We really missed midfield depth in that game and Tyson is about 3x as good as Maynard. Unless Tyson was injured I don't buy the match fitness excuse when he already played JLT 2 and a VFL practice match). Round 4 we go in with a crab forwardline and no 2nd ruck/KPF (I really like Fritsch but wouldn't have played him in the wet).

Defence:

Our back 6 is ****** atm, the only guy who looks like he has a clue what is going on down there is OMac. Want to know why? Because he plays the percentages and doesn't come flying off his man at every opportunity. Not sure whether it is on Goody or Chaplin or Jennings (Or a combination) but they need to be coached to DEFEND first. How often do we concede goals over the back and/or 0/15m from goal? How often do we have Vince and Lewis inexplicably being the last two guys at the back trying to outrun players like Poppy and Cyril? We need to go back to a much more defensive setup down back, and stick to the 7 man defence. I know we play one now but it doesn't really function like that because all our players get sucked up into a ridiculously high forward press, which I'll elaborate on further in the forward section.

Midfield:

Someone needs to tell Goody that purely flooding the contest doesn't make us a good clearance team, nor does it help our ball movement going forward. I'm so sick of us having a rolling maul around the ball and thinking we are a good contested ball side (Because guess ******* what, when you turn the ball over like we do but flood the area the ball is in you will win a lot of contested ball without it being impactful). Gawns ruckwork also needs to get in sync with our mids, and whilst Jones did hold Mitchell yesterday with no Tyson or Viney who else was going to win clearances aside from Oliver? The tag should have been released at half time to enable us to try and be proactive in the middle but the coaching box sat on their hands.

Forwardline:

This is our biggest problem atm. Winning extreme amounts of inside 50s is pointless when we're flooding our own F50 because of this stupid forward press, and our refusal to play a secondary tall target on the weekend was mind boggling (Especially when you consider we are playing Hogan in the midfield for 20-30% of the game!). I know we miss TMacs ability to bring the ball to ground in a 1on2 but god you'd think since we know we don't have him till at least round 8-9 we'd try something different. The long kicks in there are atrocious and teams are reading us like a book. Yes Bugg is a crab and Melksham isn't much better atm but the way we're setting up is giving us zero chance to score efficiently enough to beat anyone who isn't a bottom 6 side.

The whole team also needs to learn to deal with oppo teams getting momentum, we did slow it down against North which put us back in the game but back to the same old habits yesterday. I'm really worried that since most of this stuff has been part of Goodwins 'mantra' we won't change anything, but if we're to be any chance of making September let alone having an impact he needs to change it now.

You've got 18 games left to get it right Goody, otherwise it won't just be a couple BF nuffies like me calling for your head.

Brilliant summary.

We are playing a deeply flawed game style, there is no way we aren't executing our proper game plan, our game plan just doesn't work against good sides because it is stupid. Forwards don't want crowded forward lines and Backs don't want to to be alone in a 1 on 1 with half the MCG in front of them.

 

[Fork n Hell]

Had some time to gather my thoughts and here is what I think about the current state of the team and specifically what we're doing wrong in the box.

Selection:

The MC (Match committee) has quite simply gotten it wrong and cost us in both losses. Round 1 we pick Maynard over Tyson which I'd argue cost us the game (We really missed midfield depth in that game and Tyson is about 3x as good as Maynard. Unless Tyson was injured I don't buy the match fitness excuse when he already played JLT 2 and a VFL practice match). Round 4 we go in with a crab forwardline and no 2nd ruck/KPF (I really like Fritsch but wouldn't have played him in the wet).

Defence:

Our back 6 is ****** atm, the only guy who looks like he has a clue what is going on down there is OMac. Want to know why? Because he plays the percentages and doesn't come flying off his man at every opportunity. Not sure whether it is on Goody or Chaplin or Jennings (Or a combination) but they need to be coached to DEFEND first. How often do we concede goals over the back and/or 0/15m from goal? How often do we have Vince and Lewis inexplicably being the last two guys at the back trying to outrun players like Poppy and Cyril? We need to go back to a much more defensive setup down back, and stick to the 7 man defence. I know we play one now but it doesn't really function like that because all our players get sucked up into a ridiculously high forward press, which I'll elaborate on further in the forward section.

Midfield:

Someone needs to tell Goody that purely flooding the contest doesn't make us a good clearance team, nor does it help our ball movement going forward. I'm so sick of us having a rolling maul around the ball and thinking we are a good contested ball side (Because guess ******* what, when you turn the ball over like we do but flood the area the ball is in you will win a lot of contested ball without it being impactful). Gawns ruckwork also needs to get in sync with our mids, and whilst Jones did hold Mitchell yesterday with no Tyson or Viney who else was going to win clearances aside from Oliver? The tag should have been released at half time to enable us to try and be proactive in the middle but the coaching box sat on their hands.

Forwardline:

This is our biggest problem atm. Winning extreme amounts of inside 50s is pointless when we're flooding our own F50 because of this stupid forward press, and our refusal to play a secondary tall target on the weekend was mind boggling (Especially when you consider we are playing Hogan in the midfield for 20-30% of the game!). I know we miss TMacs ability to bring the ball to ground in a 1on2 but god you'd think since we know we don't have him till at least round 8-9 we'd try something different. The long kicks in there are atrocious and teams are reading us like a book. Yes Bugg is a crab and Melksham isn't much better atm but the way we're setting up is giving us zero chance to score efficiently enough to beat anyone who isn't a bottom 6 side.

The whole team also needs to learn to deal with oppo teams getting momentum, we did slow it down against North which put us back in the game but back to the same old habits yesterday. I'm really worried that since most of this stuff has been part of Goodwins 'mantra' we won't change anything, but if we're to be any chance of making September let alone having an impact he needs to change it now.

You've got 18 games left to get it right Goody, otherwise it won't just be a couple BF nuffies like me calling for your head.

I totally agree. Goodwin has to stop with the w***erish coaching and selections and get a real football style happening and choose a team that can work in any conditions.
Harmes in the ruck. playing with no wingers for periods of the game. no 2nd tall forward when Hogans up the ground and having a bunch of fwd flankers running around like chooks with no heads instead. Jones tagging Mitchell leaving us light on for ball winners when Viney and Tyson are already out of the side. trying to turn experienced mids into defenders when they're too old and cant sprint or jump anymore. all pure w***erish displays of coaching imo.

 

[demondavey]

Had some time to gather my thoughts and here is what I think about the current state of the team and specifically what we're doing wrong in the box.

Selection:

The MC (Match committee) has quite simply gotten it wrong and cost us in both losses. Round 1 we pick Maynard over Tyson which I'd argue cost us the game (We really missed midfield depth in that game and Tyson is about 3x as good as Maynard. Unless Tyson was injured I don't buy the match fitness excuse when he already played JLT 2 and a VFL practice match). Round 4 we go in with a crab forwardline and no 2nd ruck/KPF (I really like Fritsch but wouldn't have played him in the wet).

Defence:

Our back 6 is ****** atm, the only guy who looks like he has a clue what is going on down there is OMac. Want to know why? Because he plays the percentages and doesn't come flying off his man at every opportunity. Not sure whether it is on Goody or Chaplin or Jennings (Or a combination) but they need to be coached to DEFEND first. How often do we concede goals over the back and/or 0/15m from goal? How often do we have Vince and Lewis inexplicably being the last two guys at the back trying to outrun players like Poppy and Cyril? We need to go back to a much more defensive setup down back, and stick to the 7 man defence. I know we play one now but it doesn't really function like that because all our players get sucked up into a ridiculously high forward press, which I'll elaborate on further in the forward section.

Midfield:

Someone needs to tell Goody that purely flooding the contest doesn't make us a good clearance team, nor does it help our ball movement going forward. I'm so sick of us having a rolling maul around the ball and thinking we are a good contested ball side (Because guess ******* what, when you turn the ball over like we do but flood the area the ball is in you will win a lot of contested ball without it being impactful). Gawns ruckwork also needs to get in sync with our mids, and whilst Jones did hold Mitchell yesterday with no Tyson or Viney who else was going to win clearances aside from Oliver? The tag should have been released at half time to enable us to try and be proactive in the middle but the coaching box sat on their hands.

Forwardline:

This is our biggest problem atm. Winning extreme amounts of inside 50s is pointless when we're flooding our own F50 because of this stupid forward press, and our refusal to play a secondary tall target on the weekend was mind boggling (Especially when you consider we are playing Hogan in the midfield for 20-30% of the game!). I know we miss TMacs ability to bring the ball to ground in a 1on2 but god you'd think since we know we don't have him till at least round 8-9 we'd try something different. The long kicks in there are atrocious and teams are reading us like a book. Yes Bugg is a crab and Melksham isn't much better atm but the way we're setting up is giving us zero chance to score efficiently enough to beat anyone who isn't a bottom 6 side.

The whole team also needs to learn to deal with oppo teams getting momentum, we did slow it down against North which put us back in the game but back to the same old habits yesterday. I'm really worried that since most of this stuff has been part of Goodwins 'mantra' we won't change anything, but if we're to be any chance of making September let alone having an impact he needs to change it now.

You've got 18 games left to get it right Goody, otherwise it won't just be a couple BF nuffies like me calling for your head.

I think this nails it.

Excellent post.

 

[demondavey]

I totally agree. Goodwin has to stop with the w***erish coaching and selections and get a real football style happening and choose a team that can work in any conditions.
Harmes in the ruck. playing with no wingers for periods of the game. no 2nd tall forward when Hogans up the ground and having a bunch of fwd flankers running around like chooks with no heads instead. Jones tagging Mitchell leaving us light on for ball winners when Viney and Tyson are already out of the side. trying to turn experienced mids into defenders when they're too old and cant sprint or jump anymore. all pure w***erish displays of coaching imo.

Far far too creative for what needs simplicity right now.

 

[TheCount]

Forwards don't want crowded forward lines and Backs don't want to to be alone in a 1 on 1 with half the MCG in front of them.

That is probably the simplest way to put the biggest problem with our game plan at the moment ... we're making it incredibly difficult on our forward line at the same time as making it incredibly easy for theirs.

The worst thing is, we did the same thing last year, so apparently it's perfectly ok to do it.