AFL Autopsy RND 2: Loss to the Lions

[carloss]

McGrath - dropped mark gave Brisbane a goal, fumbles, kicking is poor and he's not good under pressure.
Smith - cooked.
Heppell - cooked.
Nik Cox - we've broken him.

How many non-contributing players can we carry?

 

[Albertross]

Disappointed Tex was the sub today, massive let down for the kid. If they think he is good enough to go in case of injury, then surely he was a better option to start the game instead of Smith or Guelfi.

Overall a much better effort than last week and before the game I would have taken that margin. We let ourselves down though, for many patches we were right in that game. 1st qtr was excellent, 2nd putrid and then flashes of both in the 2nd half. Goal kicking was a major issue, again.

Love Perkins, sign him up for life, Stringer will be better for the run, mids so much better than last week. Durham is exciting, plays his heart out.

Forward line is in disarray most of the time. Backs constantly under pressure, lucky for Stewart we didn't lose by less than a goal, that was a horrendous effort on the line. We are carrying too many passengers all over the ground atm.

WTF has happened to Cox? Genuine talent last year, to a complete liability this year. Need to get him sorted as we've seen he can seriously play, for now though, he should not be in the best 22.

 

[Snake Charmer]

Another year of shit. Lived through it in my teens and 20s. Now enjoying the shit in my 30s. Go dons

 

[BomberFan355]

James Stewart don’t come Monday

 

[Bjchan13]

The scoreline is flattering in my opinion. We were smashed again. It looks like something is going on behind the scenes. Ridley for one looks like he doesn't want to be out there. There is no harmony to the way we play. Its an absolute mess. Everyone looks confused when they get the ball

 

[mike14]

Missed the last, but pretty average performance overall. We came out all guns blazing but couldn't capitalise properly and then the Lions lifted and we had nothing to match it with.

McGrath and Wright started brilliantly but both drifted out of the game. Merrett was good, Parish was pretty good, Perkins was very good and Caldwell, Durham and Cutler had moments. Lav battled hard and Francis was almost there.

Don't know why Smith is getting a run if we're rebuilding (or at all). Ham's not at the required level and Guelfi is struggling. Cox has potential but needs an extended run in the 2s to work on his decision making.
Love Hepp and what he's given to the club, but the end seems to be coming rapidly.

The only thing you can fully control is your own level of commitment. Stewart deserves to sit for a couple of weeks if we are serious about a culture that demands 100% commitment.

Based on what we've seen so far this season, next week will be a blood bath... you never want to throw in the towel, but it might be worth resting Merrett if his ankle is even slightly sore, rather than having him out there to be part of a shellacking

 

[BomberTime]

Watching Carlton, Collingwood and now Hawthorn play good footy hurts even more.

 

[ant555]

The usual whipping boys copping it again.
Geulfi - limited player that has a go but when everyone is fit he generally is not in the side.
Stewart - plays right now as he is the only option for the big KPF or rucks. Francis can not do it. Reid has been injured while BZT , Brand and co have not been ready or up to it yet.

We lost because of skill errors and it was not just the fringe fill in players. Parish went at 35% disposal efficiency in the second quarter. Redman handballing to no one and dropping marks. Our skills where just too scrappy and then we have easy set shots being missed by Parish , Francis and co.
The effort was there. The contested footy was there. The team defense was much better. Kick straight and we maybe lose by under 10 points to a top 4 side without our best side on the ground.

They just have to get the skills right.

 

[MiguelM]

Disappointed Tex was the sub today, massive let down for the kid. If they think he is good enough to go in case of injury, then surely he was a better option to start the game instead of Smith or Guelfi.

Overall a much better effort than last week and before the game I would have taken that margin. We let ourselves down though, for many patches we were right in that game. 1st qtr was excellent, 2nd putrid and then flashes of both in the 2nd half. Goal kicking was a major issue, again.

Love Perkins, sign him up for life, Stringer will be better for the run, mids so much better than last week. Durham is exciting, plays his heart out.

Forward line is in disarray most of the time. Backs constantly under pressure, lucky for Stewart we didn't lose by less than a goal, that was a horrendous effort on the line. We are carrying too many passengers all over the ground atm.

WTF has happened to Cox? Genuine talent last year, to a complete liability this year. Need to get him sorted as we've seen he can seriously play, for now though, he should not be in the best 22.

Agree with most of that.

Cox was good but let himself down by his disposal by hand. Why do we insist on handballing backwards to a contest.

He needs to kick as his first option if nobody running past that are free.

TBH, I would have swapped Stewart and Francis half way through the third and put Perk in the middle with McGrath back.

 

[andleanback]

View attachment 1355286

Can someone check of Stewart was at the MCG earlier Saturday. Wouldn’t be surprised if he was responsible for the false alarm.

 

[ant555]

Agree with most of that.

Cox was good but let himself down by his disposal by hand. Why do we insist on handballing backwards to a contest.

He needs to kick as his first option if nobody running past that are free.

TBH, I would have swapped Stewart and Francis half way through the third and put Perk in the middle with McGrath back.

Francis is a worse player on the bigger forwards.

 

[Wahooti Fandango]

The usual whipping boys copping it again.
Geulfi - limited player that has a go but when everyone is fit he generally is not in the side.
Stewart - plays right now as he is the only option for the big KPF or rucks. Francis can not do it. Reid has been injured while BZT , Brand and co have not been ready or up to it yet.

We lost because of skill errors and it was not just the fringe fill in players. Parish went at 35% disposal efficiency in the second quarter. Redman handballing to no one and dropping marks. Our skills where just too scrappy and then we have easy set shots being missed by Parish , Francis and co.
The effort was there. The contested footy was there. The team defense was much better. Kick straight and we maybe lose by under 10 points to a top 4 side without our best side on the ground.

They just have to get the skills right.

Yeah totally agree. Also don't get people having a crack at Wright. Bizarre logic, he was very good for most of the game.

 

[biglaycock]

Just too much left to too few.

Wright the only real aerial threat forward, thought he played really well. Small forwards offered nothing (again)

Ham, Cutler, Cox, McGrath all suspect in the “toughness” stakes. No team can carry that many.

Smith, Hepp offer nothing

Ridley, Redman, Francis, Hind all down on form/confidence.

Stewart, you simply can’t look past that effort and a statement needs to be made

Perkins, Wright, Laverde, Zach, DP, Durham all played well

 

[MiguelM]

Francis is a worse player on the bigger forwards.

Probably more for our forward line to try and win the game.

Unfortunately would not have worked as we let another opp midfielder in Neale tear us apart. Next week Petracca.

Zero stopping power for the opposition bulls.

 

[ant555]

Probably more for our forward line to try and win the game.

Unfortunately would not have worked as we let another opp midfielder in Neale tear us apart. Next week Petracca.

Zero stopping power for the opposition bulls.

We won the contested footy. Neale was dangerous everywhere including on the outside but at the end of the day if we do not butcher the ball by hand then they do not have it on turnover. We matched them for grunt. We just did not use the ball well enough.

 

[MiguelM]

We won the contested footy. Neale was dangerous everywhere including on the outside but at the end of the day if we do not butcher the ball by hand then they do not have it on turnover. We matched them for grunt. We just did not use the ball well enough.

Fair enough. Skills were poor.

We do struggle to run with the opposition best players though. Even Zorko racked up the stats on one leg.

For all the defense structure we have lost our attacking speed game for some reason.

Definitely better but our finishing is 2nd rate.

 

[ant555]

Fair enough. Skills were poor.

We do struggle to run with the opposition best players though. Even Zorko racked up the stats on one leg.

For all the defense structure we have lost our attacking speed game for some reason.

Definitely better but our finishing is 2nd rate.

There are a few issues that effect the speed in which we play at times. We no longer have twin jets at half back and Hind has been forced to defend more often. Would look a bit different if we had another rocket on the other flank. The other issue that slows the game down is our inability to take a mark forward of the ball for long periods of games. We drop a lot of marks and the ball often rebounds back the other way so we slow down and look for short targets. If we had a reliable down the line marking target we could use as plan B then we can play faster footy.

 

[HirdsTheWord]

The Bombercast guys were talking about this too before the season even started.

Think there's going to be some shattered expectations if people think we're going to be better than last year.

i'm all for reasonable expectations beery, but when players cant kick set shots what are we supposed to do? that is not a development thing. That's just rubbish.

Lions won this by kicking accurately. We lost it by not.

Aaron Francis could not hit sand if he fell onto a beach for gods sake.

 

[MiguelM]

There are a few issues that effect the speed in which we play at times. We no longer have twin jets at half back and Hind has been forced to defend more often. Would look a bit different if we had another rocket on the other flank. The other issue that slows the game down is our inability to take a mark forward of the ball for long periods of games. We drop a lot of marks and the ball often rebounds back the other way so we slow down and look for short targets. If we had a reliable down the line marking target we could use as plan B then we can play faster footy.

Yeah, that is why I would prefer McGrath back. Heppell seems really out of sorts too, no pace at all.

Draper has been disappointing with his marking around the ground. How close is Bryan?

 

[Cold Sober]

We won the contested footy. Neale was dangerous everywhere including on the outside but at the end of the day if we do not butcher the ball by hand then they do not have it on turnover. We matched them for grunt. We just did not use the ball well enough.

Well said, we beat ourselves. Neale in the end was the difference.
Great positives out of tonights game, this side is only going to get better and better.

 

[Cold Sober]

i'm all for reasonable expectations beery, but when players cant kick set shots what are we supposed to do? that is not a development thing. That's just rubbish.

Lions won this by kicking accurately. We lost it by not.

Aaron Francis could not hit sand if he fell onto a beach for gods sake.

Don't be mislead ol mate Francis is a step ahead of most players in the league, MUST KEEP.

 

[HirdsTheWord]

Don't be mislead ol mate Francis is a step ahead of most players in the league, MUST KEEP.

at one point Lions were 8-1 set shots. We were 3-7 or something.

just not AFL level.

 

[ant555]

One thing we did do well is block for Wright when we could.

 

[ant555]

at one point Lions were 8-1 set shots. We were 3-7 or something.

just not AFL level.

Looking at your avatar . 0.2 set shots.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

Whats more depressing is looking at the VFL for anyone to come in.