Round 5 v. North

I wonder if the coach will be staggered by our fade out after 1/4 time after being right in the contest in the first quarter?
I suppose he will give full credit to North Adelaide for really getting going in the last 3 quarters.

a scoreless 2nd quarter, West 0.0 to North 5.3

after 1/4 time, West scored 2.4 in 3 quarters of football to Norths 14.11

At least the seasons done nice and early, can find something else to do as we aren’t even competitive anymore.

Our Coach has a 2 win and 21 loss record.
We are on an 18 game losing streak.
It’s a shocking record, whichever way you look at it.
I know we are short on talent but we are not making any improvement at all. The effort is just not there for long enough.
The way we are playing is really bad to watch.

Same s…t different day.
Slow ball movement all over the ground. Kick the ball sideways and backwards.
Kick to a pack along the boundary line.
Absolutely smashed in the clearances.

We give our forwards no chance with our ball movement

In the second half the coach moved Edwards from the wing to the midfield, why I have no idea. He’s the same type of player that we already have in the midfield. Why not try Couroupis.

bruce cameron wrote:Was that an anomaly, or did we get back on track?

Incredible, that's 18 consecutive anomalies.

I think I speak for most on here that this is comfortably the worst West Adelaide side I've ever seen.

Would anyone like to try to select a team which includes the players who have left or not come back to the club in the last few years?

I fear for our club and our future. It's a sad time.

If Lance Franklin was playing Full Forward for us he wouldn’t get a touch as we don’t get the ball in their enough.

The good thing is we will promote Karpany,Cleeland and P.Fairlie if he’s fit from the ressies again.

Surely now, the coaching group will have a look at some other players from the Reserves.
Kennedy, Gay, Redfern and Delahunty to name a few. There isn’t a lot to choose from at the moment…
Corbett looks like a capable player. Marks and kicks well but I don’t think he had a pre season so lacks the fitness at this stage.
It’s really depressing as a supporter going to the footy knowing that you are going to lose every week.
The future for this club looks bleak at the moment.

It has been exactly 12 months today since we last won a game…..
Pathetic really!

We have entered dangerous territory now and drastic action is required. Our mid field group which includes wingers are 7 players, and if you include  the 2 ruckman then it’s 9 are not working both ways. On top of this we have a half forward line who also don’t work both ways, and fail to round up a loose player on turn overs and push down defensively. That’s a total of 12 players that are content to be passengers. We did have one mid that worked his butt off with accountability. What’s even more astounding is the stats for possessions for the majority of our mids and it points to one thing, and that being they have stopped running. Now look at their direct opponents stats and it’s hard not to get angry. I am past disappointment now.
Unless something is done urgently this will be a further chain reaction and players mindset will be to leave the hard work to someone else which is pretty much what is happening now.
This is a huge problem for Gotch and he is limited in what he can do at this point in the season, but unless there is a reaction then things will not improve and the remainder of the season will spiral out of control. I am worried, very very worried.
I think there is only one solution and that is man V man all over the ground in an effort to force players to be accountable. This will quickly expose those players who are not accountable defensively. Those who are exposed to be replaced with players from reserves and U18s who are prepared to be accountable. A simple game plan of when we have possession to spread and kick to space, when their is a turn over or opposing team has possession  to round up and go man v man. Mids to be shoulder to shoulder on their direct opponent and no leg rope for centre bounces and stoppage ball ups.This game structure won’t be good football to watch and their will be countless stoppages but it will enforce accountability, it will expose passengers, and it will result in a better contest rather than demoralising scores kicked against us.

A supporter on Facebook says they no longer have presentations after a game I the clubrooms.

Is that true?

Supporter said 2 things actually,

Firstly, "they were in the Westonians room but for general public"

Secondly he added a correction "not for general public correction"

Simply WTF --- i am speachless

We are building nicely to our 4th consecutive wooden spoon.

I agree GoBloods that we need drastic action, perhaps even more drastic than you are suggesting. If nothing changes, our performances and results won't either. We can't just roll along through the rest of the season like this. Wonder if we'll hear anything from our Board soon?

4 1/2 seasons have been long enough for the board ,coaches, recruiting personal to improve the team this has not happened, SO ITS TIME FOR CHANGES .

Tiandra from the Board advises that presentations were held in the Sturt Pea Room.

All good.

Strongly agree with man on man.
Let’s see who can actually defend and have that team first mentality
Weed out the ones who only care about getting a kick.
Start here and get a team together who will play for each other
Cause atm it’s disgraceful.
Easy to say will play team first. But with playing zones etc people can get away with not doing it
Go man on man. And let’s see who is for real and who isn’t

100% right RedBlack as to many players do the bare minimum and their effortless hidden. Man V man will put all players on notice and those that don’t or can’t respond will be exposed.

Aldo Russian I think unlikely board to come out anytime soon? In saying that Gotch needs to come out strongly with the message that Accountability Is A Non Negotiable and as a result changes WILL be made no matter who the player is. No more sugar coating.

In years past presentations were held in the bar area which I thought was more inclusive for supporters. Perhaps it was changed due to room size? In any event the club should promote the presentations to the supporters with time and welcoming attendance.

The coach definitely needs to send a strong message to the players, support staff and supporters. So far in his reign as coach he hasn’t done so.
It’s time he held the players more accountable. He needs to tell supporters what he’s doing to try and change things around.
No more sugar coating it’s gone on long enough.

I’m sure there are plenty of honest discussions after the game behind closed doors. I know there was after the game against Norwood in Port Lincoln.
However, we still turned up yesterday and played like rubbish.
I think the frustration for members is that the Coach and those running the club ( The Board) don’t seem to see our current predicament as dire.
It’s been 12 months since we have won a game. The reports we get from the coach don’t match up with a team that has lost 18 games in a row.

I don't think lack of effort is the problem. The players look like they're working pretty hard to me. Going man on man, I think, will only further highlight the fact that we have fewer League footballers than anyone else. And we already know who's not up to it, although I'm not sure the selectors do.

Another major concern is that if, as expected, we lose Beech, Hill, Keough and Lemmey at the end of the year, I don't see that we have the core of a League side to build on. Carmichael is just about the only effective midfielder we have at the moment, and I wouldn't be surprised if he were drafted.

Moment of the game for me: 23 minute mark of the last quarter, trailing by 75 points, Nick Steele takes a mark on the wing and motions for our players to slow it down.

Don't the commentators usually say 'that's showing his experience' when that happens

If you were on the Board now, and in light of the positive talk about our team pre-season, wouldn't you be calling the coaching panel in for a 'please explain'? Wouldn't you want to hear why we haven't improved, why they think we will improve, and what they think we need in order to improve? Shouldn't there be some expression of dissatisfaction, some demands laid out and any help needed to meet those demands offered? Don't there have to be consequences to this disastrous scenario?

Well we certainly started nicely & converted on the scoreboard early to be up by 7 points at the first break & their was a lot of positivity & optimism in the group! Josh Gore the standout with 2 goals & the team were challenging North with our ball movement.

The 2nd quarter was an arm wrestle for about 15 minutes & Nick Steele misses a set shot from 40m to level the scores & misses which hurt? Kaiden Brand had just gone off after a poke in the eye as he had been dominating the aerial contests along with Keough. They get the next 3 & we are 26 points down at half time & North are back in the game & growing in confidence.

We were getting smashed at clearance so we change Ellem into the Ruck & the mix of mids & I thought we made a real fight of it in the 3rd as North were up & about then but we kept them 3 Goals to 1 by just digging in!

At 3 quarter time we make the decision to try & close the gap more on the scoreboard so move Keough who had been starring back forward & he gets a shot within about 4 minutes but misses then from the kick out they score & it opened the floodgates there for about another 4 goals in 10 minutes? Be great to have more Keough’s although Josh Ryan in the team down back would help the team too?

So in the end we go down comprehensively but North are on top of the ladder & we competed strongly for a long period of that game so we will analyze that & attempt to do it for longer as we go forward! Special mention has to go to the entire backline group who were under siege all game with North having 65 entries for the game & only just cracked the 100 points so well done to them!

We will just keep chipping away & aim to compete for longer to give ourselves a chance of winning as we go forward.

Brad Gotch

League Coach

Interesting assessment on the game……….
‘We competed strongly for a long period of that game’
They are the coaches words!
We kicked 2 goals after quarter time and lost by 70 FFS!!

It has to be said that is a disappointing and worrying report.

Sh*t, I thought we won it for a minute reading that...!!