Round 1 West v Eagles

Our footy season apparently starts in 4 days, not that you'd know it from the SANFL site or our website.
Without knowing our injury list it's hard to know what our best available side will look like, but it seems we won't have Park, Squire, Gore or Corbett.
I'd expect Patton and Williams to debut, and Searle to play his first game for us. And hopefully Kobe Ryan and Bramich are right to go. It's also hard to know what to expect from the Eagles.
We haven't won our first game of the season for 9 years, so it'd be a real filip to get over the line on Friday. I know our endeavour will be there, it'll be a matter of whether we can be skilful enough. Go Bloods.

Our away record against the Eagles is very poor.
The website is yet to have the League and Reserves Playing list
for 2024 which is totally Unacceptable

Seems each season gets more low key to start the season, very under promoted that it is rd 1 this weeked.
As for our playing list, I dont even bother wth the WAFC website anymore, its a hotch potch of out of date info mixed in with some new stuff, but often just confusing.
Pretty poor we dont have a current list of the squad up, guess I'll need to buy a record on Friday to work out who is who!

Given that our squad is not very strong, we have a lot of first choice players who will miss round 1.
Park, Gore, Squire, Corbett and Delahunty.
Have a look at our spine:
Bramich, Sinderberry, Morrish and Patton.

Eagles to win and win easily.

It's a team of battlers, big on spirit but lacking in top level talent. Which doesn't necessarily mean we won't win, but it does make it harder.
Disappointed that Obst isn't in the side ahead of about 3 others.

We kicked 7 goals in 15 minutes in the second qtr to get back in the game.
We lost by 10 goals………
We have a problem up forward.
We don’t have one!!!!

another year and another wooden spoon..at least we are consistent.

the club is going nowhere while we continue with a restricted salary cap

We are missing a couple of handy players but from what I saw today, it’s going to be another long year.

I thought some of the selections were wrong too. There are 3  or 4 players that simply don’t do enough and should not be in the side.

We desperately need another defender to help Josh Ryan. Why can’t Cooper Patterson get a run at it??


White, Obst and May should also be in the side.

Went down and thought we were about done into the 2nd before we piled on a few and got right back into the game. And that was about it, very ordinary to get blown out by 10 goals but what can you expect with the cattle on the park.

Some signs and it’s only rd 1, but I looks like we are up against it yet again.

When you recruit no one and you have 5 first choice players out then it was a predictable result.
Secondly when you recruit no one and lose Mattingly and Beech and you have finished bottom for the past 5 years it’s a predictable result.

I agree that Patterson should be given more of an opportunity.
Young Minchella has been gifted all his games and he needs to play some good ressies footy b4 being promoted.

We don’t have any Key Position Players who can mark the ball, they aren’t physically stong or good enough to do so

I have complete confidence in the people that rolled Westies over 6 years ago and gave us ..... absolutely nothing, except abject failure. A bit early in the season and the Coach and players give their all, it's not them, but a spade is a spade. Used to watch Colin Brown, 'Boof 'A'Court go around in the late '50's, many others, you think some people would have respect for the club and get out now. Such a shame. And ready to eat my words, too, so frustrating.

Apart from a 5 goal burst in 5 minutes late in the second Q we were comprehensively out-played, out-tackled, out-muscled, out-run and out-classed by a much better prepared Eagles outfit. Simply put, we were crucified!
Our half back line comprised 3 first gamers and provided little defensive effort as the Eags ran through them with ease. Sam May and Patterson prominent in the Ressies close win so they may feature when we get back on the park in a fortnight.
We couldn’t get around Redden in ruck although Bramich battled hard all day. Kobe Ryan our best despite a limited preseason. Josh Ryan solid on the last line.
Today’s team seemed ill equipped and poorly prepared for league footy.

Dylan White best in the Ressies should play ahead of Finn Highman next week.
I wouldn’t promote Sam May he needs to play 4 ressies games before he plays league footy.
He’s been injury prone for the past 5 years and he needs to prove he can put 4 games together.

We had only 1 player who reached 20 disposals and that was Kobe Ryan who was very good.Josh Ryan, Morrish and Frost were solid.
I thought the Captain had a poor game and the Stevens brothers both had shockers. Was Joel Stevens right to play???
Redfern, Laudato and Highman back to the 2s…..

We really missed Callum Park off half back. Apparently he is still a few weeks away.

Joel Stevens has played permanent half forward in all the trials and also today why I have no idea, he’s a midfielder

Ned Stevens is very young and we did miss Corbett and Delahunty which would have helped him. It wouldn’t have changed the result

After 5 wooden spoons in a row the statement we come out and make in Round 1 is that we are 10 goals worse than the side that finished 8th last year. It's just not good enough. And we can't hide behind the playing of young players. Young players who aren't up to it shouldn't be playing because there should be better experienced players ahead of them.
We didn't take a contested mark in the first half. (and only took 4 for the game.) We are also slow. It's hard to think of one player who is genuinely quick. Many of our small players are slow - Laudato, Maguire, Redfern, McCormick.
It was also concerning that at least 4 players cramped during the game, 3 of them in the first half of the 3rd quarter.
Kobe Ryan best again, with honourable mentions to Josh Ryan and Oscar Kregar.
It's only round 1 but it's hard to see where there has been any improvement, as a team or in terms of players' individual weaknesses. We hoped for and deserved much better than what we got today.

Lachlan wrote:Joel Stevens has played permanent half forward in all the trials and also today why I have no idea, he’s a midfielder

Ned Stevens is very young and we did miss Corbett and Delahunty which would have helped him. It wouldn’t have changed the result

I don't think we can afford not to play Joel Stevens on ball. He's one of the few players we have who can take the ball from the centre square and kick long inside 50. I also don't think we can afford to play Morrish up field, our defence is too shaky.

I stayed and watched the first quarter of the reserves . Number 51 Wyatt Ryan is a strongly built player and of what i saw rucked well .He finished with 17 disposals and 31 hit outs . Has just finished the season playing in Darwin .

Aldo,

I agree Morrish sets up play from our back half and that’s his best position

Some good observations Aldo!
We are really poor in the air apart from Josh Ryan really.
We have no forwards with any real pace. Josh Gore is one small forward who has a bit and some goal sense.
Maybe things will look a bit better with Gore, Corbett and Delahunty in the forward line…
11 goals to 2 after half time was a really bad capitulation from our boys.
No doubt the Coach would be disappointed with the poor last quarter.

Since this forum started, blackandred has given a well-considered review of almost every game.  It's been something I've always regarded well. This is the first time I can recall him saying we are ill-equipped for league footy.

He is right.

I start by saying that Adam Hartlett is a good coach.  Last season he worked miracles with a poor team and turned them into a competitive and sometimes winning team.  At the end of the season, we lost key players.  Our recruiting concentrated reasonably on Will Snelling, but we needed more than Will.  We didn't get him and it seems there was no plan B.  Our star recruit was a player (a good player) who couldn't make Glenelg's best 21.  Our other recruits were heralded and are playing Reserves, or are injured and not playing.

We know why we're in this position and the unelected power-brokers who insisted on taking the Club out of the control of the members have never taken responsibility.  It's now been left to the current Board and CEO to pick up the pieces and try to work miracles.  They have my total support for that and we should all back them in.

The first change needs to be honesty.  The days of gilding the lily need to be consigned to the dustbin.  The days of 'green shoots' need to end. Finding silver linings in disasters must stop. Resisting proven correct criticism with ostracism and false rumours is a loser's mentality.

In our 6th year since the change of Constitution from a members' vote to a 'closed shop' Niominations Committee', we have gone from financial health to insolvency.  We've gone from 8 wins in 2018 to barely more than that in 5 years.  After 5 years of wooden spoons, we're facing a 6th and bleaker future than ever.

So much for the facts and the negatives, where are we headed?  Off field everything depends on surviving the next few years to the redevelopment and finding an alternative gaming venue.  On field depends on changing the entrenched attitude that football spending is the first port of call for cuts when we're paying a fortune in non-football administration.

Positives?

We at last have an excellent CEO who understands the issues and is willing to talk to members at any time.  We have a new President who is strong enough to forge her own agenda to return us to health.  I am heartened by her message to engage with and find volunteers from the membership to perhaps serve on committees. We have supporters (dwindling) who bleed for our Club. We have potential new supporters through our women's teams, something I will always be proud of bringing under the umbrella of the WAFC.

I'll give my review of yesterday in another post, but I would ask this:  let's face reality and deal with it.  Given that, let's park the criticism and realise we all need to find solutions and work together to do that.

I shudder to contemplate the consequences of filure.

To the game.

When the teams ran out, the difference in physique was obvious. We had several first-gamers or less than 10 game players and it showed in body strength. Added to that, the Eagles had Redden, a man-mountain, in ruck. In the first quarter, I thought Bramich was our best player, though. He gives everything, even though he cost us a goal. Then difference in class was apparent, as the Eagles led by 4 goals at the break and extended that without much trouble to nraly 7 goals 20 minutes into the second term.

Adam Hartlett will look at the video of the next 7 minutes as the basis of future planning. Our midfield clicked, with Frost (a very good player), Searle and Kobe Ryan managed 5 or 6 quick and clean centre clearances and we capitalised and kicked straight. The Eagles were shell-shocked, nearly as much as we disbelieving Blood;s fans, whose hopes werre raised going into half-time. It was the best 6 minutes of footy we'd seen for a very, very long time, including our better years.

Half-time returned the world to normaiity, unfortunately. We fought hard for most of the third term, without ever looking very dangerous, but the effort of pressuring a classier opponent eventually told and we dropped off alarmingly in the last and the margin blew out.

An analysis of the game could omit our great 5 minutes and the Eagles last quarter, meaning it would have still been about the same 10 goal margin if the game had followed the pattern of the rest. That is the worry.

Our best? Probably Kobe Ryan, a quiet first quarter, but he's one of the few we have who can create and look dangerous. Josh Ryan kept Ballenden quiet and took many defeensive marks. Frost is a good player and Bramich always gives 100% and can play. I like Kregar, not so much on yesterday's agme, but for the future.

I woukd play Morrish back, where he was so effective last year and definitely have Joel Stevens on ball, but realise Harts has to find answers to difficult questions.

Summing up, we failed to recruit, our spend on players and coaches is proportionately the lowest ever and it's inevitably showing up. We have too many players not (yet?) at league standard.

We need to face reality, but we love the club and let's all do what we can to support it.

Centrals employed Mark Ross a couple of years ago.
He’s recruited very well and most of those players aren’t high profile.
He has an eye for talent.

What have we done ZERO POINT ZERO. and that is the biggest problem.
Our Recruiting committee went after one player Will Snelling and even if we signed him he wasn’t going to be our saviour.
Why there was no Plan B is beyond belief and secondly we didn’t even spend our reduced salary cap.

Hartlett can coach but he needs the cattle and we simply must help him.
We should be recruiting for next year from April.

I don’t think there is any point talking about Recruiting anymore.
We have a reduced Salary Cap and we can’t afford to offer players payments and ‘other opportunities’ that the other clubs can.
Until this is rectified, we will remain at the bottom.

Over to you President, CEO and Board Members.