TOPIC:

I don’t even think we kicked 1000 points for that entire 2019 season Lucky. So we were rubbish anyway and have stayed the same or deteriorated. I believe many of the players have lost their self belief, when this happens you are cooked as a player and must be moved on. 

We just cracked 1000 points (1004) in ROYAL 2019, at an average of almost 56 points a game.
Not real flash even allowing for it being a low-scoring season.
However, we did win 5 of 18 games in our first year free of the Eagles' chains, plus had narrow away losses to South Freo (1pt), West Perth (6pts) and East Freo (8pts).
Yes, there were some bad losses in other games, but I reckon the 2019 East Perth side performed better than the efforts served up by the current line-up (so far).

We may have gone backwards slightly if anything.  I can’t remember the last time we had a quality win as a stand alone club but probably 2013.     So it’s pretty clear some changes are on the way. 
 

I'm unsure, STT, as I'm not privy to the inner sanctum.
Whenever a team is struggling, the senior coach will always come under the spotlight.
I believe the lack of recruiting has been a major factor in East Perth going backwards. 
After a strong finish to 2020, there may have been a belief that making finals was "just going to happen".
Had the Royals beaten South Fremantle at the port after leading by 4-5 goals at three-quarter-time, we would've played finals last year.
A week later, your Demons did what we failed to do - knocked off the Bulldogs.

Recruiting players is just one part of the conundrum  but we have Robertson, Schumaker, Scott, Watts, Baldwin, Simpson, Kerr and Lynch so on any given day that is 25% of the team which is less than a few clubs but as many as others. Yes I know none of them have been on the field at the same time this year. If you add that to the return of Jones and Ramsay then we are getting upto a third.

We have recruited but what we have recruited are mostly possession/outside players and as it stands 30 plus possessions each game is not enough from at least three of them.

If you want possession players then have game plan or structure that plays to that strength.

I know for a fact that the West Perth inner sanctum were very surprised that we knocked them off so soon after the alignment and were lauding Barney as a coach.I can't keep emphasising enough the enormity of replacing 14 to 15 players from your weekly game day list and a lot of people were predicting we'd be winless and we were never going to replace those players from within our own club list.The gameplan that was used on Monday was the same one implemented in 2019 which worked fine on that particular day,but the big difference this year was the glaring lack of onfield leadership,and you also have to bear in mind how much we improved last year when Paddy McGinnitty returned from injury  we won 3 out of 4 and really made the Bulldogs look very ordinary for 3quarters,and i expect the same impact  when Ramsay and Robertson return and you only need to look at the first game against Subi to understand their value to the side as we were giving Subi a run for their money until the 2 injured players came off and sat out the game.

Alas, the dreaded alignment rumour resurfaced on this very site just a week or two ago, STT.
The way I look at it, the EPFC has played only 34 games (not even the equivalent of two full WAFL seasons) since the end of the most recent alignment.
The club spent bugger all on recruits in the just-concluded off-season, while all WAFL clubs made a profit last year due to Jobkeeper payments.
So, it's unlikely that East Perth is going down the financial gurgler.
And if the club was, you'd have to seriously question the competency of those controlling the purse strings and making decisions about the Royals' future.
If the Eagles decide to wind up their WAFL club, hopefully they allocate their surplus players evenly amongst all WAFL clubs (with the exception of Peel for obvious reasons).
But stay away from East Perth, West Coast!
   
 

Archie, not having a go at you or the EP guys who post here because I know you are all die hard EP fans. But - and this is just based on a small sample size - my experience with EP fans is that they loved the alignments when they worked for the club. So 2000-01, they were cock-a-hoop, likewise 2014, but their enthusiasm waned when success fell away. At the same time, the attitude was always, when successful, it was nothing to do with the alignment, and when not successful, solely the fault of the alignment. So my concern is that a lot of EP fans, certainly the more casual ones, will happily accept and rationalise an alignment if they think it benefits the club.

 

Ted please the 2 alignments were chalk and cheese,the first one the Eagle players were bit players the second one East Perth players were the bit players because it was a full blown alignment,and i know there's a lot of sour grapes because of the on field success of the first alignment,but they were entirely different models,and the purpose of the first one was to get Micale to the club,while the second one was a cash grab.The first interstate alignment we had on average 5 wet toasters playing weekly the second one 14 to 15 so do you really think i gave 2 hoots when we lost the 2014 GF with them making up 66% of the side????.In the first alignment only Josh Wooden finished in the top 10 fairest and best count in those 2 seasons  and Micale came in and put the finishing touches on a very good squad,which was playing finals and a grand final 3 of the previous 4 seasons, where about 10 players on our list played state football,and i'm a Royals man through and through and never liked the idea of playing ''second banana''in the the 2nd alignment but i understood the rationale behind it which was trying to secure our financial future,even though i was never happy and walked away when we got smashed on Craig Wulffs club games record day when we got pumped by 70 points and vowed not to return back till the alignment was bubbled.

Archie Duda Goal Machine wrote:

Alas, the dreaded alignment rumour resurfaced on this very site just a week or two ago, STT.
The way I look at it, the EPFC has played only 34 games (not even the equivalent of two full WAFL seasons) since the end of the most recent alignment.
The club spent bugger all on recruits in the just-concluded off-season, while all WAFL clubs made a profit last year due to Jobkeeper payments.
So, it's unlikely that East Perth is going down the financial gurgler.
And if the club was, you'd have to seriously question the competency of those controlling the purse strings and making decisions about the Royals' future.
If the Eagles decide to wind up their WAFL club, hopefully they allocate their surplus players evenly amongst all WAFL clubs (with the exception of Peel for obvious reasons).
But stay away from East Perth, West Coast!
   

 

I think these rumours Archie are chinese whispers and only surfacing because Bronte and Nisbet are drinking buddies,and with money in the bank there is absolutely no justification for re- treading down that path.