Mr Fuller wrote:I don't reckon anyone could argue that South were the better side throughout the match. Right from the first bounce they strangled our supply and were dominant at the clearances. We were only in the game in the first half due to their poor kicking for goal. We probably should have been about 7 goals down at the final siren.
The eagles again showed they don't have a modern gameplan to counter the opposition dropping a loose defender behind the ball.
Anything short of a complete clean-out over summer is unacceptable and will see us slide further down the ladder.
A ruckman and 2 quality midfielders should be the bare pass mark for the club's recruiting given how far our coach has let our exisiting midfield degrade during his tenure. This could well be a 2-3 year process given the high probability that it won't be achieved next year.
The door needs to be shown to players who have been at the club for a while but have shown they don't have the skills to play at the level needed. Players like Hall, Sumner, Kane and potentially Allmond should be in the cross-hairs.
Other players who are on big $$ - Ainger and Boyd - have both been extremely poor and a waste of money. Once their contracts are up I'd be shipping them on to another club to free up some cash to spend on other talent.
Not too many positives from our season. Von Bertouch should be the Club Champion for mine with Jarrad runner-up. Batley continued to improve but we need to further see him step it up a notch next year. Wundke did what he was paid to do and wasn't helped by lack of delivery from a shite midfield. McGregor was fantastic in the role he was assigned. Finally, Templeton started slowly but upon his return from injury late in the season played reaonably well and looks good as a key defender.
All players in the squad ne
South just too good and deserve to move on, their run and spread was always going to tell against a team that needs f a research to plan to play.
The Eagles of 2011 had the perfect balance of quality in Cicca, Parry, Treeby & McKenzie.... some pace with Jarrad, Goldy, Grocke, Toumpas & Tiller .....
hard at it types like Rimmington, Grieger, Thompson, Powell, Cicca, Treeby, Grocke & Parry...... and some x factor types ie. Redden, Day, Allmond & Staple!
That Eagles team last night wouldn't get within 12 to 15 goals of the 2011GF side on a good day; so what we would love to know is how a group of footy men of which half were present in 2011, could seriously think the last three seasons results aren't directly due to their failure to acknowledge some very basic facts.
Leadership has been glossed over and although the Footy dept. acknowledges it as an issue, it gets put in the too hard basket with Godden dragging Powell out past his used by date as if he is the solution
Godden, with Ronnie like determination, sticks to a basic gamestyle while failing to fully understand just why he was so successful in his first two seasons...... tough seasoned players, targeted league level recruits, to form a team that could carry out Godden's tough gamestyle and grind the opposition down and crack them open. The last 3 seasons finals games have proven that without the cattle to coach, Godden can't succeed especially putting in a few AFL tweaks in his gamestyle, where we actually score less now
The Board & Footy dept. must recommit the direction of this club now to fully focus on league premiership success only.
All fans/ supporters are only really interested in that and as much as the club might want to think otherwise, anything else is of little interest.
The modern way of footy; block space, run and spread, switch backwards adnauseum, kick it 14.75m continually then turn it over etc. is a game for teams of midfield types ..... it's not Godden footy, it's not Eagles footy......
H78's solution is if Mick wants to do another year then the CEO, Trent and Mick would want to make some decisions on some deadwood tryhards like Blesing, Martyn, Schwarz, Lane etc. while actually getting serious about recruiting pacy hard at it midfielders, about 6, plus a good ruckman!
And leadership needs more then just Jarrad and Rowntree, some genuine quality on field leaders would cut down Godden's workload substantially.