RM, I read these posts TOO well and I think you confuse supposed changes in game plan (which sort of contradicts those who claim Roly has no Plan B) to changes in execution efficiency, fitness and confidence.
So either Roly does have several game plans at his disposal that he can apparently switch around at will - or the team is unable to execute the same plan across a entire game. Which one is it??
We have been playing heaps of kids the past two seasons (which sort of contradicts those that claim Roly has never developed a list) and you cannot build an AFL-standard tank & physique overnight.
There is a reason why Premiership-contending teams have a games-played average of over 100 as that translates into 4-6 preseasons.
With less strength & stamina, younger players fall away the longer the game goes. Look at GWS in their early years. All the talented kids in the world couldn’t win games of footy and they copped some absolute floggings along the way. Sound familiar??
We have never been a team that scores heavily - we’ve only exceeded 150 points 11 times in our history. That’s an average of once every 49 games or every 2 and a 1/3 seasons.
So the free-flowing, high scoring ‘style’ of which many speak of is a foreign concept to this club - and dare I say it - to the more successful teams. Didn’t do Adelaide much good last year when it counted.
The last two Premiers played a high-pressure, fast-moving, end-to-end style of footy. An updated version of Roly-ball, if you will.
That style requires mature bodies, with big tanks and plenty of confidence. We have about 5-6 regular players that would have all of those attributes. Fyfe, Barra, Lachie, both Hills, Walters, ?? Blakely and Langdon are getting there.
We also do not play the same style of footy we did circa 2011-16 - mainly because we haven’t got the players to execute it. Plus changes to rotations has made it harder to maintain that across a season.
I can only deduce from when the current ‘style’ is working (i.e. we have 25+ scoring shots) that it is based around roll-off defence, quick spreading, accurate passing and pushing through the middle when possible.
Where we have come unstuck a lot is our delivery inside 50 - which usually ends up becoming a score against for all the reasons mentioned above.
My point is, it’s the same ol’ same ol’ from the same ol’ same ol’. That is, no matter what - all the problems of the playing group and their performances will be solved by sacking the coach/admin/board. Guess what? They won’t and more than likely, based on our history and other such current basket cases, it’ll make matters worse.
Elite players tend to leave disorganised, coaching-merry-go-round clubs. We’ve been there before and I do not want to go there again.
Considered decision-making & long-term planning tends to end in better outcomes than rash, knee-jerk calls made in the heat of the moment to appease a few.
I have every confidence that the club, as a whole, will keep everyone accountable and that the rebuild plan they have publicly committed to will be executed successfully.
So RM, should I put you down for a stroke then?
