Why we are in a mess

[RudeBoy]

With so much angst in the air about our current plight, it seems to me we all need to take a breath and try to objectively assess why our team is under-performing against most of our expectations.

Clearly, a lot of people, maybe most, on Nicks have already decided that it's primarily Bucks fault. Hence, the calls for his sacking. Let me make it clear, Bucks is a footy hero of mine and having met him on a few occasions, he is a supremely intelligent and impressive person. Of course, that doesn't mean he can coach. Maybe he can, maybe he can't, but one thing's clear to me, none of us on the outside have a clue about his coaching strengths or weaknesses. Only the players, assistants and our football department have the FACTS to make a judgement call on Bucks as a coach. So let's put the coaching position to one side and explore what other reasons there are for our form slump, based on the EVIDENCE. I suggest there are 3 key reasons, which have nothing to do with coaching.

Firstly, for the 3rd year in a row we've been decimated by injuries, forcing us to play too many young players, before they are ready. Just imagine how our team would have played against Carlton if we'd had Swanny, Elliott, Adams, Varcoe, Scharenberg and Ramsay in our team. Remember, we've also had to cope with Pendles playing injured all year.

Secondly, we do not have a competent ruckman. All top sides have a ruckman who, at the very least, makes it a 50/50 contest at hitouts. This is a major weakness of ours, which I had hoped would have been overcome by the development of Grundy and Witts. Sadly, it remains our biggest on field weakness.

Finally, the loss of form of Cloke has been debilitating to our otherwise, young and inexperienced forward line. Already too much is being asked of Darcy Moore and now we are pinning many of our hopes on an American with 3 senior games experience.

So let me say once again, I'm not defending Bucks as a coach. In truth, I haven't got a clue if he can or can't coach. What I do know, however, is that the 3 factors I've listed above would make it almost impossible for any coach to do much better.

[jackcass]

Fully agree and I realise that wasn't your intention but that would be how I'd rank them in terms of impact on playing performance.

[Culprit]

Seriously let's focus on winning.

[John Wren]

facta non verba.

[RickyWatt23]

Good logical post - good to read something better than the heap of pessimistic crap that seems to be dominating these pages now.

[Jez07]

You can't use injury as an excuse anymore. If you've had 3 straight years of injury and you haven't changed the staff, Bill Davoren has been in charge all those years and only Bradshaw has been a new appointment, it isn't an excuse.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and hoping to get a different result.

[qldmagpie67]

[qldmagpie67]

[HAL]

How do you assume this statement holds true for me?

[Jez07]

Injury is not a valid excuse.

Football is now a systems based process.

Park the wins and losses to the side.

In 3 years we haven't seen a sustainable and clear system of play employed by the coach.

You can have injuries but at the same time you can see a clear, concise and unique brand of football and system of play.

This hasn't been in evidence for years.

[Skids]

The injury toll is the precise reason we're where we're at.

Taylor Adams Knee Test
Tim Broomhead Ankle 3-4 weeks
Nathan Brown Hamstring Test
Travis Cloke Back Test
Jamie Elliott Back 4-6 weeks
Corey Gault Concussion Test
Tyson Goldsack Fractured thumb 1-2 weeks
Tom Langdon Ankle 1-2 weeks
Jackson Ramsay Knee Season
Ben Reid Shoulder Test
Matt Scharenberg* Knee Season
Ben Sinclair Concussion Test
Dane Swan* Broken leg/foot Season
Travis Varcoe Hamstring Test
Marley Williams Mid-foot strain Test

More than half of that list are walk up starts in most teams first 22. 7 of them were top 10 finishers in the Copeland last year & 0ne our leading goalscorer.

A side simply can't perform with that many of the core group in the stands.

[John Wren]

^ when was the last time we had our preferred 22 playing for an extended period of time? most teams can cope with 3-4 injuries but to have up to half your team not available is impossible to cover. we also lose the luxury to develop our youngsters in the vfl.

[Member 7167]

[Pies4shaw]

IMO, we started to look shaky from the moment Langdon had an interrupted pre-season.

[Jez07]

To Member 7167.

Travis Varcoe is now Collingwood's most important player. He is one of the few players that runs and carries the ball.

He has played 1 full game and 1/2 in 7 games. He did his hamstring before the Sydney game, he re-injured his hamstring in the Essendon game. A re-injury of a soft tissue injury is a sure sign there is a conditioning failure.

Marsh also did his hamstring against Port. This is after he ripped his hamstring from the bone in 2014 & 2015.

Other examples like Sinclair. He got knocked out against Melbourne. He missed the next week.

He got knocked out again West Coast and they put him back on the field when concussed. He again missed the next week. This is sheer failure.

Another one is Broomhead. He did his shoulder against Geel. After doing his shoulder, he went back on the field at the direction of the medical staff and then missed weeks as a result.

He did his ankle seriously against Carlton. They put him back on the field when he was clearly injured and now will miss 4 weeks due to this incomptence.

I could go on and on.