Dismal

There is nothing like hard work and there was nothing like it today from our lads. You may not win every week but the effort was dismal and Woody Oval is no fortress this year

Obviously missed Jade Sheedy. The assistant coach didn't get his message through and it looked like back to the Sam Lonergan days.
Worst the team has played for a long time and to top it off we suffer bad injuries to key players. 3 peat is history

Perhaps I'm wrong but I dont think the message
would be that different if the club is consistent over all grades. I just thought I saw our worst effort for a long time at home and a chance to ensure top 3. Still a way to go so go Eags

I expect the way we feel about today's game would be how the Bays would have felt after the Grand Final.
Centrals have nothing to lose in the second half of the season and everything they touched today turned to gold but you make your own luck and they were the better team on the day without doubt. First goal in 17 seconds and they were up and about for the rest of the day.

Not sure we need to pull the panic button based on one poor game.

To be sure we played woefully but one must consider a few factors

1. We played in horrific taxing conditions in our last match which would have taken a toll. You'd think the players would have recovered but still.....

2. The bye last week does funny things to teams in their next match. For some teams it has no effect but for other teams they temporarily lose focus. And all you have to be is 10% off your game for your opponent to cause an upset.

3. A different coach with Sheeds in isolation.

4. Injuries to key players early in the match.

That said, it is disappointing to once again lose to a Centrals team when they are near the bottom when we are pushing for a top 3 spot (if not already there). This happened to us in the last match in 2020. We recovered to go on and win the premiership so hopefully we this will lead to a similar uptick in performances.

I missed the start of the match. What type of injury did Ballenden do and how long will he be out for? Arguably our most critical player will make it so much tougher for us this year so the players need to dig deep.

One thing I do question with our selection is how Mitch Mead holds his place ahead of Allmond, Pudney and Beecken and even Buck in the reserves?

Titan2 wrote:Not sure we need to pull the panic button based on one poor game.

To be sure we played woefully but one must consider a few factors

1. We played in horrific taxing conditions in our last match which would have taken a toll. You'd think the players would have recovered but still.....

2. The bye last week does funny things to teams in their next match. For some teams it has no effect but for other teams they temporarily  lose focus. And all you have to be is 10% off your game for your opponent to cause an upset.

3. A different coach with Sheeds in isolation.

4. Injuries to key players early in the match.

That said, it is disappointing to once again lose to a Centrals team when they are near the bottom when we are pushing for a top 3 spot (if not already there). This happened to us in the last match in 2020. We recovered to go on and win the premiership so hopefully we this will lead to a similar uptick in performances.

I missed the start of the match. What type of injury did Ballenden do and how long will he be out for? Arguably our most critical player will make it so much tougher for us this year so the players need to dig deep.

One thing I do question with our selection is how Mitch Mead holds his place ahead of Allmond, Pudney and Beecken and even Buck in the reserves?

Didn't affect South against North after the mud bath. We do have a record of poor performanced after a bye though. The injuries to Ballenden and Cameron will damage our efforts though

Reddeer wrote:

Titan2 wrote:Not sure we need to pull the panic button based on one poor game.

To be sure we played woefully but one must consider a few factors

1. We played in horrific taxing conditions in our last match which would have taken a toll. You'd think the players would have recovered but still.....

2. The bye last week does funny things to teams in their next match. For some teams it has no effect but for other teams they temporarily  lose focus. And all you have to be is 10% off your game for your opponent to cause an upset.

3. A different coach with Sheeds in isolation.

4. Injuries to key players early in the match.

That said, it is disappointing to once again lose to a Centrals team when they are near the bottom when we are pushing for a top 3 spot (if not already there). This happened to us in the last match in 2020. We recovered to go on and win the premiership so hopefully we this will lead to a similar uptick in performances.

I missed the start of the match. What type of injury did Ballenden do and how long will he be out for? Arguably our most critical player will make it so much tougher for us this year so the players need to dig deep.

One thing I do question with our selection is how Mitch Mead holds his place ahead of Allmond, Pudney and Beecken and even Buck in the reserves?

Didn't affect South against North after the mud bath. We do have a record of poor performanced after a bye though. The injuries to Ballenden and Cameron will damage our efforts though

What happened to Ballenden? Broken bone? Knee? Hamstring?

Cameron unfortunately hasn't been able to string together more than about 3 consecutive games in a row for us. His body just seems to continuously let him down. Would love to see what he could do otherwise

Titan2 wrote:

Reddeer wrote:

Titan2 wrote:Not sure we need to pull the panic button based on one poor game.

To be sure we played woefully but one must consider a few factors

1. We played in horrific taxing conditions in our last match which would have taken a toll. You'd think the players would have recovered but still.....

2. The bye last week does funny things to teams in their next match. For some teams it has no effect but for other teams they temporarily  lose focus. And all you have to be is 10% off your game for your opponent to cause an upset.

3. A different coach with Sheeds in isolation.

4. Injuries to key players early in the match.

That said, it is disappointing to once again lose to a Centrals team when they are near the bottom when we are pushing for a top 3 spot (if not already there). This happened to us in the last match in 2020. We recovered to go on and win the premiership so hopefully we this will lead to a similar uptick in performances.

I missed the start of the match. What type of injury did Ballenden do and how long will he be out for? Arguably our most critical player will make it so much tougher for us this year so the players need to dig deep.

One thing I do question with our selection is how Mitch Mead holds his place ahead of Allmond, Pudney and Beecken and even Buck in the reserves?

Didn't affect South against North after the mud bath. We do have a record of poor performanced after a bye though. The injuries to Ballenden and Cameron will damage our efforts though

What happened to Ballenden? Broken bone? Knee? Hamstring?

Cameron unfortunately hasn't been able to string together more than about 3 consecutive games in a row for us. His body just seems to continuously let him down. Would love to see what he could do otherwise

Ballenden didn't look to good. In moon boot and on Crutches due do what looks like a pretty severe ankle injury. Wouldn't expect him back in a hurry. Cameron did something to his thigh and hobbled off. We will have to wait and see what tghe prognosis is

Titan2 "Not sure we need to pull the panic button based on one poor game'"

Last 4 games:
Shocker against Adelaide Crows (even accounting for a full AFL list with O'Brien). Good win against Sturt. Poor game against under-strength South - lucky to win. Shocker against Centrals yesterday.

Not "panic stations" - just resignation. It's no disgrace, we've just run out of quality players after 2 Premierships and inevitable raiding and retirements. As an example, our forward line has been stripped back to only the Menzel boys to offer any menace to opposition with the remaining forwards being only workhorses; compare that to the forward lines of 2020, 2021.
Relax and enjoy the Eagles without any expectations (possibly finishing 5th or 6th) and hope to see some maturing of our few younger players for 2023 plus some key off-season signings of "talls".

hawke wrote:Titan2 "Not sure we need to pull the panic button based on one poor game'"

Last 4 games:
Shocker against Adelaide Crows (even accounting for a full AFL list with O'Brien). Good win against Sturt. Poor game against under-strength South - lucky to win. Shocker against Centrals yesterday.

Not "panic stations" - just resignation. It's no disgrace, we've just run out of quality players after 2 Premierships and inevitable raiding and retirements. As an example, our forward line has been stripped back to only the Menzel boys to offer any menace to opposition with the remaining forwards being only workhorses; compare that to the forward lines of 2020, 2021.
Relax and  enjoy the Eagles without any expectations (possibly finishing 5th or 6th) and hope to see some maturing of our few younger players for 2023 plus some key off-season signings of "talls".

Point taken Hawke. I don't think we have the side of 2020/21 but I do think we have the ability to finish top 3 and if things fall our way knock off any of the teams.

On four games you mention I still believe there has only been 1 shocker in there i.e. yesterday's game against Centrals

vs Crows - a stacked Crows team which will not happen again. In any case, we were with them for most of the game.
vs Sturt - an extremely impressive effort against an in form team (at that point) with a near full strength side.
vs South - no team was going to look impressive in those conditions - not even a stacked Crows side. In mud baths like that it is always going to be a genuine 50-50 match no matter where the teams are ranked on the ladder. Very happy we came out with the win.

Let's just see how we go in the next few weeks.

Titan2 wrote:

hawke wrote:Titan2 "Not sure we need to pull the panic button based on one poor game'"

Last 4 games:
Shocker against Adelaide Crows (even accounting for a full AFL list with O'Brien). Good win against Sturt. Poor game against under-strength South - lucky to win. Shocker against Centrals yesterday.

Not "panic stations" - just resignation. It's no disgrace, we've just run out of quality players after 2 Premierships and inevitable raiding and retirements. As an example, our forward line has been stripped back to only the Menzel boys to offer any menace to opposition with the remaining forwards being only workhorses; compare that to the forward lines of 2020, 2021.
Relax and  enjoy the Eagles without any expectations (possibly finishing 5th or 6th) and hope to see some maturing of our few younger players for 2023 plus some key off-season signings of "talls".

Point taken Hawke. I don't think we have the side of 2020/21 but I do think we have the ability to finish top 3 and if things fall our way knock off any of the teams.

On four games you mention I still believe there has only been 1 shocker in there i.e. yesterday's game against Centrals

vs Crows - a stacked Crows team which will not happen again. In any case, we were with them for most of the game.
vs Sturt - an extremely impressive effort against an in form team (at that point) with a near full strength side.
vs South - no team was going to look impressive in those conditions - not even a stacked Crows side. In mud baths like that it is always going to be a genuine 50-50 match no matter where the teams are ranked on the ladder. Very happy we came out with the win.

Let's just see how we go in the next few weeks.

I agree with everything you have said Titan,
the game against the Crows was an interesting one, that night was probably one of the best games Riley O'Brien had ever played, he had a point to prove and was basically the difference between the 2 teams.

Yesterday nothing went right, it was a dirty day but thats the nature of competitive sport.
After a game like the previous one against South it wouldn't be out of the question for some players to be under the weather, (i read on another forum that there were some South players who were unwell in the following week), I think the messages yesterday would have been no different to anything from Sheeds but it meant changes to the structure in the box and at breaks, we have had a system over the past 2 1/2 seasons that has just worked because everyone plays their role, yesterday the driver of all of it all was missing. Then there are the injuries, we have been fairly lucky in the last 2 years, this year not so much, again thats just the nature of sport as is coming up against teams every week who want to beat us, we are the hunted not the hunters this year.
8 games to go, who knows what things will look like by late August.