TOPIC:

MarkOlsen wrote: Bad luck dees.
McDonald was superb.
What was the reason for playing your 2 rucks in reserves and none in league ?
Gault dominated

Because we do not rate them. I thought Delahunty did quite well, tried hard and McInness tried had but we had to move him around trying to get some system going having him on the ball even on a wing at one stage. I thought those two and McDonald were our best on the day but no support from the rest.

Gary Moss needs to be given complete control of who his assistants are next year including the reserves coaching group. Time for change. Hurry up and get rid of these donkeys on the WAFC so something can be done about our zones. We are not going to get any better while our zones are so weak. We need quality from the bottom up.

Recruits should be the cream on the cake, not the cake.

Cue the stock standard Perth meltdown

How disappointing was that, we must be scared of being on TV.....dished up absolute rubbish today!

Bazza wrote: Cue the stock standard Perth meltdown

Jog on little man.

MarkOlsen wrote: Bad luck dees.
McDonald was superb.
What was the reason for playing your 2 rucks in reserves and none in league ?
Gault dominated

Good question MO. It was a total mismatch and as you say Gault dominated. A lot of Perth supporters on here don’t like Eyres but he competes against bigger and better opposition and at least gives a contest. I can’t get my head around our lack of preparedness for these vital games. Peel game at the end of last year, asleep at the wheel. Subiaco last week but most blatant was today. Kicking with a strong breeze and yet Swans were 3 goals up before Perth knew the game had even started. Maybe Spalding should hand over to Moss next week, nothing to lose.

I thought I would calm down after a few hours but, no, I am utterly despondent. Yes, next year we hopefully get Yeo, Byrne and Masten back. Hopefully Grey and McInnes play on. But then what? I am really concerned that so many of our home grown players just haven't come on. 2-3 years back, Hendo was an effective tagger, Marlin was composed in defence, Hill was taking marks, Edmonds had some run. All those players have gone backwards and all are now 24-27 years old, so they are as good as they will ever get. Roe and Hansen have gone backwards. Burke is clearly out of favour. Johnson and Lague can't get on the park. Some people thought Langdon was going to have a break out season, but he's floundering. I accept that some second tier players would be better with quality players around them. Payne, for example, is only ever going to be a tagger. If expected to be a creative midfielder, he is not even close. Normally players will improve and be at their peak from age 23-27. Why are our guys in that bracket - the guys I named, plus Browne and Nicholas - not improving? Hopefully some of the guys who are a bit younger, like DBW, Hansen, Roe, Clarke, Peletier and McPartland, can actually get better.

Back to the game today, I can't fathom how SD kicked only 16p in the second half, but still outscored us. 1.5 in a half of football, against the second bottom team, on a perfect day, is as bad as it gets. With EP playing Peel next week, we are almost certain to finish 6th.

smokey wrote:

MarkOlsen wrote: Bad luck dees.
McDonald was superb.
What was the reason for playing your 2 rucks in reserves and none in league ?
Gault dominated

Sorry lad but how do you come to that conclusion when he didn’t tough the football in the second half?
Because we do not rate them. I thought Delahunty did quite well, tried hard and McInness tried had but we had to move him around trying to get some system going having him on the ball even on a wing at one stage. I thought those two and McDonald were our best on the day but no support from the rest.

Three chokes you’re out: Henderson, Payne, Hill, Edmonds, Davis

Dazz, the problem is, as it has been for much of the season, that there is no-one to replace these guys. From the reserves, the only guys you could bring in would be DBW or Eyres. Burke is out of favour, Roe is doing nothing, Browne can probably replace Hendo or Payne, but he's no better, Marlin too slow, Hansen too lazy. After that, there is literally no-one. What I would do is bring in DBW and have Dela at CHF. Langdon for Hill and Browne for Hendo. But it's just deckchairs on the titanic stuff, we won't get close to SF.

We probably wouldn't have made finals anyway, even beating SD. But at least we could have looked back on a season where we did what we needed to do, it just wasn't quite enough - beat the teams we were expected to beat and snatch one other good win. That would have given some confidence going into next year. But after that effort, close to half our team has been exposed as not having the necessary skill and/or commitment for league footy. I reckon we thought all we needed to do yesterday was pop the ball up to McInnes and McDonald and they would kick a winning score. No need to worry about defence or hard running.