If anyone knows what happened to the Jets, can they please tell Ernie Merrick?

At Victory and Wellington, Ernie had a good start then flamed out. Same thing seems to be happening here.

A relaunched sugar hit. I like it Waz, and expect some if that to come our way next season, if we ever get a coach in time to put a team together.

As Waz said above, teams that try to, or end up standing still will always go backwards in this league. Merrick hoped his loyal band of reliable "men" could play above their ability for a second season in a row. Unfortunately he didn't factor in missing their best goal outlet for a 3rd of the season, or the loss of much of their width, speed and creative talent. Which is strange, because most Jets and A-league fans could see it was going to be a problem before the season began

Hard to argue ;-) Hoffman was good for a handful of goals last season but is no striker which is what I think Merrick was hoping for while ROD was out. So were Dimi, Nabbout, even Kanta - none of those goals materialised to any great degree. Jair was out of sorts early on and got some stick in the press from Merrick; Georgievski as well but without the comments but has returned to form (contract?). I can only assume Jackson is being groomed as Boogs replacement at CB - they are both not quick but Jackson doesn't have the passing range or game read ability - but he shouldn't have had anywhere near the amount of starts he has. Miss Vujica's attack but back from Olyroos and he's back on the bench. I wonder if McGree could be enticed back on loan from Brugge? I don't think Ridenton is a good replacement but as you say could be a confidence thing. Much was made of stability but other teams recruited well where we didn't match like-for-like. In the end a different team than previous season.

jb All the reasons why they’ve underperformed could be anticipated preseason. You bring up Petratos as well and even he could have been predicted - he rarely has two good seasons in a row. Jets were effectively “relaunched” last year and that gave the entire club a new energy level as everything from fans to players got a feel good “sugar hit”. That never lasts and Merrick is not really know for filling that kind of gap It will be interesting to see if they can change that over the winter.

Naboutt has been a big loss and Petratos hasn't been up to standard, whether because of the loss of Naboutt and McGree (who is being stifled by Warren Joyce) who offered some quality around him is the reason, or it's just an off season, who knows.

Waz- As you are aware I very seldom miss an HAL game and this point being made by Stuart is a bit tongue in cheek for as you well know it is difficult to pass judgement on a player, any player. without being part and parcel of his weekly preparation. Jets are a quandey,they don't fit well into the normal HAL configuration,5 foreigners made up with local talent and in fact they moved into a good position last year when they signed "discards " from other HAL clubs and by season's end were showing that these lads did have some talent,Petratos, and Nabbout good examples. Actually I witnessed a game in which the Jets midfield,through hard work and physical aggression totally dominated the middle of the park and surprisingly the "midfield" that day appeared to be four in number with Hoffman,Kanterovski,Ugarovic and Koutsomis all "playing for each other" and their superiority was such that Petratos,given a complete pardon from defensive duty, wreaked havoc all across the front third linking up with attacking fullbacks and O'Donovan as well as presenting huge opportunity for his own shooting prowess. The 4-4-1-1 formation appeared to be working to perfection that day but to be honest I don't think I've seen it used again. Hoffman has been a big loss to this year's team ,he is such a dependable player in any position, and Petratos has gone back into his "Roar shell", trying hard to be a complete midfielder instead of an always dangerous threat just outside the front third. However,armchair critics are at a disadvantage when "picking " teams for as I said you have to "know" a player before you can assess his true potential. Cheers jb.

He comes across as cool and emotionless, but that hides an inflexibility, reactive and "it's someone else's fault" personality. Look at how often he criticises officials but is riled by questions around his decisions. Personally I can't stand his love of a big physical ball winner (NTS, Boogard, Jackson, Kanta) and turning a blind eye to overly aggressive players (ROD, Georgevski, Kanta, Boogs). He admitted himself last week he'd love to play youth but feels he needs "men" to win games ie big, physical hackers. I wonder how much of the above paragraph rings true with MV fans looking back on the latter Merrick years? There's also an argument that he is now good for a one season bounce before opponents work him out (see Nix)

Interesting, Fad, that some of this stuff was coming to the fore in his last two years at Victory. Merrick was completely unable to rebuild the squad when key players left or passed their use by date. And I must confess that the po faced schtick may have played as confident inscrutability at his peak with Victory, but now it simply plays as disconnectedness.

As Waz says, no surprise, the Jets were heavily tipped to end up 7-9th, mainly by Jets fans. There is no doubt that the owner's forced belt tightening played a part. The rest though comes down squarely on Merrick's lack of tactical acumen and poor team selections, and the football department. Why the football department? Merrick publicly stated pre season they could cover the loss of a striker known in advance to be suspended for the first 10 games, and they weren't looking for any cover. The losses in round 1,3,6,8, and then 10 and 11 as ROD tried to gets up to match fitness meant the Jets were effectively gone 1/3 into the season, and it was totally foreseeable. And preventable. When your only fit striking option is Hoffman, best suited to fullback, and at a stretch a wide attackers, you are asking for trouble. They got it. Actually, they had Jair, but he was in an unfamiliar left attacking role (and terrible) while Hoffman (I know he once tried to be a striker) who had played in wide attacking positions with some success, was played out of position. JAIR Ernie, JAIR! It wasn't "bad luck" they couldn't buy a goal. They lacked the quality, had half the team out of position, and it was a Jets decision. Other Merrick issues; -playing a high line with a very slow back 4 - playing Jackson, a lumbering centre back at left back, ahead of the much superior Vujica (which destroyed Vujica's confidence) -subbing off one, or both fullbacks every game. Every game. Chasing the season v PG for example, do you a)bring in Thurgate, an attacking player, match winner in his last start, or b) swap a left back for a lumbering centre back who is totally unsuited fit fullback? B), apparently Against the CCM the same thing, 3 down 25 to play, a)swaps FB for a FB, B)bring on a striker who's been making an impact from the bench? A) if you're Ernie - having one attacking FB, Georgevski, and one who sat back with the CB's, Jackson. This isolated Jair (a second striker remember) on the left. This tactic was the same, no matter the game situation . The CCM had one player up front, the Jets 5-6 players back. The only problem was the Jets were 2-0 down. - playing Shephard at right midfield, a promising but immobile target man -stockpiling and packing the team with central mids and attackers; Ugarkovic, Kanta, Cowburn, Ridenton, Petratos, Vargas, Jair, Thurgate,. RoD, Shephard. All central players, all unsuited to playing wide. That leaves Hoffman, who started as the central striker, and Champness, who was injured from the pre season. Awful squad management, and again not hard to foresee what would happen (which is why Jets fans expected a poor season ). Narrow teams are an Ernie speciality, for those who remember his latter MV days - he killed players confidence; Jair, Vujica, Ridenton etc by either not playing the or playing them out of position, dropping them, recalling them to start and then out of the squad next week - the best performance was arguably City at home, with the underachievers like Dimi left out, young energetic players included. The reward was to be dropped for the next game - I don't think Merrick ever learnt from his errors. Is match analysis too "trendy" for the old boy? I won't go on, though I could. It wasn't bad luck, it was having chances falling to players with no history of scoring goals. If you have a team in which only ROD, Champness and Petratos are any chance of scoring you won't. Ernie assembled that side. He could have chosen another wide player rather than Ridenton, but didn't.

When there is strong competition or a fairly even spread of talent it is always difficult to repeat successes in consecutive seasons. When it does happen, you really should sit back and applaud and extract some enjoyment even if the dominant force is your arch rival. Why? Because you have witnessed something pretty special that may well become a part of the sporting history of the code you follow. If you happen to be a supporter of the winning side, then make sure you savor the moment, make the most of it because all too often it becomes just a fleeting memory, warm and happy it may be but ultimately just another set of statistics as the years tick by. I am not referring here to leagues that are dominated by one or two teams year in and year out, this is about competing in a league where everyone feels they have a chance, everyone wants to beat you and prove the bookies, the journalists and the armchair critics wrong. The article covered the salient points as to why the Jets are not competing for a finals berth this season; what wasn’t said was that other teams, as well as making improvements to their squads, did their collective homework and worked out much better tactics and game plans for their encounters with Ernie and co. I fully expect teams to give PG a much harder time next season for similar reasons although there will be a Fornaroli in there to contend with. Teams change, line ups are tweaked and if there are a few relatively unknowns or prodigious talents on show, then the team is much harder to play against, or at least to make set plans. Predictability as well as complacency is forever the enemy. MV have re-invented themselves on numerous occasions on the back of significant departures and this season was a test for SFC. Were we going to see more of the same under Steve Corica or could he keep the strength of the last two seasons and add something to it that would keep the light shining brightly? With two rounds to go, many of us still are not sure how to answer that question. There is one more holy grail that most of us seek both in footballing terms, and in officiating and that is consistency, week in and week out and at a level that we crave, not a level we sink to which has been the story at a few clubs this season. The WSW defence are a fine example of a group of players that consistently make schoolboy errors and “gift goals” to the opposition as well as turning the ball over in their own half when pressure is applied. By contrast I have watched PG and MV manage to escape when playing “fox and geese” playing out from the back and the consistency in not turning over possession must help grow confidence in the team and supporters even when they become frustrated in front of goal. I wonder though, how many of us would continue to watch if we were served up with the “same old, same old” year in and year out? Was the threat of SFC dominating for a third season enough to drive people away rather than attract more? When you look around, almost everyone is very happy that PG has finished on top this year......//

Unless the owners fortunes change don’t expect any great expenditure in the offseason. Case in point Merrick would love to sign Krishna but ‘we can’t afford him’. This is why last off season we appeared quiet and propped up the team and will be why with 17 of 23 already signed a similar scenario will occur with a few youth contracts pending. Ideally there is a need to replace Georgievski and Jackson as the back line has regressed. Possibility also of taking Vargas off marquee contract and getting Jair replaced. Nabbout is not coming home any time soon. We have also played differently this year: attack has slowed in transition making those many chances harder giving defences time to set. Merrick will need that ability to find that under appreciated gem (ie: good but cheap) and play to greater attacking strength even if that means leaving some to start on the bench. As Waz alludes to it will be a busy off season while you would expect the likes of Roar, WSW and Adelaide to improve. The Jets may not move higher next year and may jostle for 8th and 9th if others improve.

I’m surprised anyone is surprised by Jets this season. No one knows for sure in pre-season what will happen all than can be analysed is reasons why a team might succeed or fail. Several (on these pages in fact) predicted this very outcome so it’s not a total shock to everyone as it is you Stuart. Last seasons run was built on a platform of a “Jets resurgence” and a unity of purpose under a new owner. Clearly Jets were motivated last year but that’s not a platform that can run a second season. And it didn’t (Rudan would have had the same problem at Nix next season - he’s smart to leave now imo). Then there’s the quality of players that left vs. those that arrived, Jets signed nobody of significant quality but had lost plenty. And plenty of players had the potential to be good, but they’re not. Jair and Vargas spring to mind. And losing O’Donnovon for the first third of the season was always likely to be a tough handicap to overcome. So in a season where the teams in positions 3-6 are at best “average” Jets find themselves below average and with a bit of a rebuild on their hands, that’s a tough gig with so many clubs looking for new players (Roar, WSW, and WU looking for 30-40 players between them will make it tough for everyone this winter). Finally there’s the owners financial woes, had the purse strings been loosened instead of tightened and Jets signed 2-3 quality players this season might have been very different. And it’s unlikely that investment will occur this winter, so Merrick has to figure out how to do things on the cheap next season - not an impossible task but what’s Jets goal? To be competitive or to just make finals?? The statement “The astonishing rise seemed likely to parlay into the following season. Why wouldn’t it?” is telling. Teams who stand still rarely if ever carry form in to next season, it’s a tough league and you only need to be slightly off to end up down the bottom of the ladder.