There's no reason we can't play attacking/running/ style of game plan AND be acountable. The two are not mutually exclusive.

I think I'd like to see us play man on man all over the ground. If we lose we lose, but at least we won't lose because a lack or a forward structure.

Surely we could have a forward line structure!

Why don't we go one on one? Give our forwards a chance!

The key forwards for the opposition still kick goals even when we flood back, so why don't we just let them play one on one and try to win the game ourselves rather than minimizing the losses

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"You are being watched. The government has a secret system. A machine that spies on you every hour of every day. I know because I built it." - Finch

Agree with that.

The most frustrating thing for me about the lack of forward line structure is that WE ACTUALLY HAVE DECENT FORWARDS to fit into a structure! Fev, Waite, Fisher, Betts, Whitnall etc, there are enough good forwards so it's incredible to see such a lack of structure because if we did I have no doubt that we could kick some decent scores.

As for the flooding, agree that there's just no point in us continuing with it, the opposition scores anyway and even if they don't if we get the footy we have nothing up the field to kick to because there is no forward line structure!

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Formerly Blues-Back2003.

From all evidence, there's no way in the known universe we're playing flamboyant footy.

Let them try it for 10 minutes a qtr. How could it hurt? We might lose? At least we'll lose and look like we're trying to win, rather than trying to defend a losing total.

And here's a newsflash: We lose matches anyway at the moment! We're in a negative mindset rut, and SOMETHING has to be done to snap out of it.

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And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

Collingwood overcame the flood today because they attack the goal square. They deliver the ball long and direct to Rocca in the goal square who either marks it or brings in to ground. I mean how many bloody goals did they kick from inside 20 metres?!

We, on the other hand, carry the ball slowly to CHF and it all goes to sh!t because our forwards are either outnumbered or not there at all.

Surely we could have an accountable midfield so this is all possible.

Have you seen our forward line structure at all this year? You don't need an accountable midfield to have a forward line structure

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"You are being watched. The government has a secret system. A machine that spies on you every hour of every day. I know because I built it." - Finch

Unaccountable midfield = up shit creek when a turnover comes around.

So if the team loses the ball, isn't accounting for their man where possible and the opposition run the ball down without a contest, what do you expect to happen with a one on one back half?

The opposition forwards create space for whichever forward they want to mark and goal, keep the hell away from him so other defenders can't zone off their opponent onto him, then he makes a simple lead, the midfielder without pressure on him slots a simple pass then the forward turns around and slots a simple goal.

So what do you do in that situation as coach? You flood the back half because the mids either need a swift kick in the pants or aren't ready to compete at the level required for four quarters (combonation of both in our team IMO).

Result - fairly empty forward line.

Now that's not where it ends. A player gets the ball, fantastic! He moves out of the defensive 50, and looks up to see no blokes running forward, looks back to see a lot of blokes just sitting around as their opponents stream back to flood our 50.

Suddenly you have 8 or 9 team mates behind you with about 4 or 5 opponents with them. That is pathetic. Sure some of them are tired, some of them should have been rotated, but some of them are just plain lazy or incapable due to them still developing the physical fitness for four quarters of AFL footy.

Net result - forward structure destroyed due to immense pressure placed on the passer and a floating ball to a pack or stab pass to a good lead (usually Fevola, which makes it even more predictable for the defense) being swarmed by countless opposition players both in the air and sitting at ground level should it go to ground. They then stream back the other way, only having to run from their defensive 50 arc, meanwhile we let the ball get about 30 to 35 metres in the other way more often than not.

There is a distinct lack of accountability by our players as a unit in the midfield for a large variety of reasons, including fitness, rotations, limitations, lack of discipline, lack of awareness and so forth.

You can try and blame the coach for maybe the awareness, discipline and rotations but it's equally likely that a couple of senior players might not follow what's going on (as preacher has suggested) and think that the coach is incompetent, rather than attempting to cover for an overly large amount of younger players who cannot compete at the level required for four quarters (I've said that at least three times in this piece).