The 2024 season in review

[piffdog]

^ that’s an interesting article which raises some valid and some not valid points. Of the latter

-the scheduled time to unfurl the flag had nothing to do with our premiership defence
-surely the reigning premier doesn’t have to “stay relevant”….
- nobody would have given a crap about wright being overseas if we were playing finals so I think it’s a stretch to blame that on the season’s performance
- I think we were actually pretty adaptable up forward. That we were able to kick goals while cox, McStay, checkers were out for large chunks says something

BUT, I do think k these other points are fair

- we did play young guys but didn’t really back many in for a sustained period. Perhaps because we were chasing out tail and then when someone better was experienced we were forced to omit the young guy
- we did seem to lack imagination at times
- we did fail to shut down games where we had a good lead. We seem to be better at chasing than leading.
- we are the worst in the comp at letting other superstars run around and torch us. Meanwhile we routinely let our best player be tagged and we lose by a goal or two

But an interesting article. Thanks for posting

[npalm]

Meanwhile we routinely let our best player be tagged

Not sure that there is anything that 'we' can do about Nick being tagged. With so many cameras covering the play it's pretty difficult for the taggee or his team-mates to get away with any dissuasion tactics.
It's up to the umpires. It drives me nuts when I can clearly see a tagger continuously holding the man but not one of the four umpires calls the obvious free kick.

[RudeBoy]

All that we can do is have other midfielders blocking and bumping the tagger to allow Nick access to the ball. It has to be a collective effort. I'm sure we work on this at training.

[BazBoy]

Season start a D-
Mid season we improved to a B+
Then a period back to D
Finally the back end we moved very close to A
That finish of season gave me hope for next year

[RudeBoy]

Let's not make excuses about the early start to our season cruelling our year. After all, the Lions were in the same boat and managed a top 4 finish. The fact is, overall we performed worse than in 2023, so we need to step up big time next year if we are to avoid another mediocre season. Hopefully, our team will be hungry again and determined to improve.

[The Black and White Lion]

^
Yes and the Brions had 4 ACLs to important players and a players trip personal affair controversy to deal with (who was that player? was that Charlie Cameron or Zac Bailey because they haven't had the best of years?). Amazingly Zorko plugged their HB role and they just brought in more high draft picks into the team like Morris who was on our draft board last year.

Never mind and let's get on with it into 2025.

[Jezza]

Season start a D-
Mid season we improved to a B+
Then a period back to D
Finally the back end we moved very close to A
That finish of season gave me hope for next year

Same here, Baz.

The form in the last five weeks was very encouraging. Gives us reason to stay optimistic despite missing the 8 this year.

[Jezza]

I know Kane Cornes can be a provocative troll, but I thought this was a fair summary of our season by him.

https://www.afl.com.au/video/1207349/pi ... wsFeed:Yes

[qldmagpie67]

Player ratings 2024

Lipinski up and down season really but had more good games than bad B-
JDG injury plagued season. His best is still very good B+
Nick D super year again and showed more maturity A+
Josh D not as consistent as we would have liked but finished off well B+
Mitchell injury riddled year and showed signs of aging legs C
Pendles wasn’t up to his normal level of consistency B-
Cameron great year took massive leap to being a leader A-
Moore inconsistent year from his AA form of 2024 B-
Howe played some decent spells but tiring legs C
Maynard the heart and soul of the team has a decent year B+
Dean showed some good signs worth persevering with C
Cox injury hit him and was inconsistent in output C-
IQ up and down year on form but finished strongly on the wing B-
Noble played good games mixed with some poor games. Disposal still a issue B
McInnes didn’t come on as we would have liked C-
Crisp inconsistent at times but had a spell of very good games mid season B
Sidey apart from a couple half decent games late in the season showed time has caught him up C
Markov poor season didn’t come on at all considering his opportunities D
Elliott injury crueler big part of his season but showed some glimpses B-
Hill was electric at times and quiet at others but is a match winner B
Frampton had a few good games and a few shockers C
Krueger didn’t have the impact his size suggests he could C
McStay came back late from a knee and looked good B
Checkers injury riddled season but showed his still capable B
WHE had a good year played a variety of roles to help the team B+
Schulz patchy at times but hit his straps late and showed plenty B+
McCreery had a semi decent year we need more from him going forward B-
Macrae was given several chances and never really got going C-
Richard’s had a few good games and did some decent things B-
Harrison looked like he had something and showed glimpses B-
Johnson never looked likely at any stage D
Sullivan at best a depth player C-
Allan only 2 games but his last showed signs he’s up to AFL B-
Long big bodied battler but has some ticker C+
Parker off limited preparation showed some good signs late B-
Bytel tried hard got a bit of it at times but not a great user if it C-
TJ only 1 game but looked a likely type needs a big off season to build his body C-

Overall our season started poorly and never really hit any great heights B-

[The Black and White Lion]

^
Pretty much on the spot above QLDmagpie67.

And what about the coaches, how did you rate them this year?
If 2022 was a A- and 2023 an A+, I'd give our coaches a score in the C+/B- range out of finals but some good wins along they way in trying circumstances. That 3 week start though and the post bye patch were just awful all round.

Overall geez I'm glad the Pies celebrated well post the 23GF and long into 2024. Giving CFC a C for the flag unfurling, a D on the Wright saga, an A on all the celebrations and merch, no comment on Kelly and wishing Jeff Browne all the very best

[qldmagpie67]

@The Black and White Lion that’s a hard one
Firstly I’ve been very critical during the season the coaches (Leppa and Bolton) have been dragged away from there core duty (coaching) to cover Wright’s job
So that decision is on the board
Secondly having so much talent off the park for extended periods makes it hard
I remember a period of like 8/10 weeks in a row we couldn’t field the same 22. Continuity is important so that makes coaching more difficult

But we had some massive issues especially in our defensive structure IMO
Our game plan was picked apart several times as well and we had no real plan B
So overall I would rate the coaching about a B-

[SLORT]

Overall geez I'm glad the Pies celebrated well post the 23GF and long into 2024. Giving CFC a C for the flag unfurling, a D on the Wright saga, an A on all the celebrations and merch, no comment on Kelly and wishing Jeff Browne all the very best

We were warned early by Lee Matthews...he could smell the growing hubris. It is a reason why modern clubs with modern psychobabble and the power-of-positive-thinking will often fall into delusion and grandiosity and fail to fully capitalize on what could be a dynasty. Just look at Melbourne for what awaits our club if we don't quickly...err...Wright the ship. Hopefully we can learn something by looking at the most recent successes and failures of clubs like Richmond, Hawthorn, and Geebung. If we truly want to be the club we once were in our heyday, then one flag every 10 years is simply not enough.

[RudeBoy]

I don't think "hubris" had anything to do with our relatively dismal season. I honestly think our seasoned failed largely because we were unable to improve our list, as opposed to the previous year when we recruited Hill, Markov, Frampton and McStay, all of whom played significant roles in our Premiership success. Of the newbies we did bring in this year, really only Richards stood out, while Bytel, Long and Sullivan struck me as being only short-term depth players.

Each year we need to add 3 players to our starting 22. Hopefully we will manage that next year.

[piffdog]

^^ agree we don’t improve our list and not many in our list improved either. I’ve been asking myself “who had a better season in 24 than 23?”. Nick and Darcy Cameron and that’s probably it…

[SLORT]

STATISTICS (for what they're worth) ~

#7th in Attack
#11th in Defense

https://www.wheeloratings.com/afl_ratings.html

Disposals: 3rd last (ahead of Richmond and WC)
Marks: last (next worst being WC and GC)
Hitouts: 3rd best (behind Adelaide and GC)
Frees For: 4th most (behind GC, Adelaide, and Carlton)
Frees Against: 5th most (behind NM, Adelaide, PA, Hawthorn)
(going by averages)

https://www.afl.com.au/stats/team-ranki ... meWeeks=-1

So, looking at all that, I guess you have our gamestyle of chaos-ball (lowest in marks, low in disposals) in a nutshell.