Autopsy Round 4, 2023: Positives and Negatives vs Melbourne

[HoneyBadger35]

They showed a hit out to advantage stat online and it wasn't very far apart. Grundy can touch the ball but doesnt do much with it

Didn’t see final stats but it was 3-8 at 3QT.

 

[Godfather32]

Positives - Effort was still there, Oscar, Kelly (kicking aside), Gaff played hard but should be playing hard on the wing, most of the younger guys showed glimpes, Edwards was good early.

Negative - Senior guys shitting the bed cost us momentum several times throughout the game. Darling missing fairly easy shots on goal hurt.

Wish Simpson would give Clark and West a decent run in the guts for several games in a row. They probably aren't up to AFL level long term but we've done them no favours playing them on the wing and HFF.

 

[Quinz]

A hell of a lot of effort and a lot of rusty players. On pure territory and chances we should have been close to even at the half. Dees put their foot down after that and cruised but there were a lot of positives.

It's very tough for players without much football lately (Hough, Culley, Yeo, LEdwards) to come in and play well in those conditions.

Oscar Allen

12

Oscar Allen

Age

25

Ht

196cm

Wt

96kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

9.8

2star

K

6.6

3star

HB

3.2

3star

M

3.8

4star

T

2.4

4star

G

1.1

4star

No current season stats available

D

8.6

3star

K

5.8

3star

HB

2.8

3star

M

3.8

4star

T

2.0

4star

G

1.2

4star

is going to be a superstar. Kelly burnt the ball a few times today but he's been leading the midfield admirably this season. Gaff feels like he's peeled himself off the canvas from half time of the Freo game and actually looks to crack in, big plus.

Negatives
Team selection. Can't have Clark and West and Culley in the side together, not enough leg speed. One of them should have been the sub and Petch should have played. Rotham should have started, Yeo shouldn't get thrown back in at KPD.

Barrass feels like he's playing on lithium this year, he's barely awake out there.

Fumbled our way out of about 5 goals. I think the Darling injury rumours are true because he's all over the shop.

 

[WCEswift]

I think we will upset a few teams this year, Im also blown away with the amount of bullshit melbourne get away with, holding,highs, incorrect disposal, more holding

 

[Nigellathechook]

Positive….the youth

Negative…a disappointing Darling who should be leading the forward line

 

[Quinz]

Also LEdwards second in our team for CPs. Reckon he's earned an extended stay in the team to see what he can give

 

[WCErevival]

Didn’t see final stats but it was 3-8 at 3QT.

Interesting. They posted this at the start of the 4th

 

[Monocle]

Positive….the youth

Negative…a disappointing Darling who should be leading the forward line

Darling is playing injured so you need to cut him some slack, he drew a quality Melbourne defender and its also hard to be effective as a forward when so often our supply chain go to our default setting, which is : Just bomb it long on the forwards heads, cross your fingers , say a Hail Mary and hope for the best.

 

[Alesana]

Negative: One of the more frustrating games to watch because of the simplicity in the errors. Dropping uncontested marks, unorganized defense, fumbling, missing easy set shots, missed kicks under minimal pressure.

Positive: The stuff mentioned above can turn around pretty easily. We basically broke even on the scoreboard from quarter time until 10 mins into the third quarter and were always going to be run over with our lack of seasoned players and Melbourne being a contender.

Negative: To cut up the player footage I have to watch it all over again.

 

[HoneyBadger35]

Interesting. They posted this at the start of the 4th

View attachment 1655102

Hmm. Must have been half time.

 

[LewyBroome]

+
-Oscar Allen

12

Oscar Allen

Age

25

Ht

196cm

Wt

96kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

9.8

2star

K

6.6

3star

HB

3.2

3star

M

3.8

4star

T

2.4

4star

G

1.1

4star

No current season stats available

D

8.6

3star

K

5.8

3star

HB

2.8

3star

M

3.8

4star

T

2.0

4star

G

1.2

4star

still able to hit the scoreboard and get a good amount of footy with all that mess that occurred in front of him.
-Intensity and contested footy for almost two quarters of footy.
-Bailey not lowering his colours against Grundy
- Kelly/Gaff tried all day, the latter is holding his tackles throughout the whole action.


-

• The S&C of our kids is setting them up to fail. Don't think I've seen a team look so out of depth. We just don't look up to it physically, nothing new though.
• Our disposal chains are hard to watch, too many fumbles and possessions that don't free-up players, just sends them back into trouble.
• Jack needs to assert himself more in games, he's a leader of the club. He doesn't carry himself on the field as player with that amount of games should.
• We are at a really hopeless state of affairs as a club at the moment. Don't know If I belief/trust the club to able to steer the ship to a brighter future.

--------
Josh Kennedy is still in the promotional video for the countdown at the start of the game. Really??? Good metaphor for the club at the moment.

 

[Godfather32]

Hmm. Must have been half time.

This is how the two main rucks ended up

 

[Dylan82]

Today the club took on the best the competition has to offer with a young and inexperienced squad and for the better part held them for a half before dropping away.

Next year it will be three quarters.

The year after that, four quarters.

And the year after that the club will no longer be described anymore as in a rebuild.


Everything is on schedule. This is how development goes.

 

[bzparkes]

Cole has regressed in the past 3 years.

Yep, completely invisible last year.

 

[Cornelius Roy]

Unfortunately everything good has a caveat. Most positive is were turning up and playing with heart and working as hard as possible. Realistically this team needs alot of AFL talent to replace the players that just aren't up to it. We don't run out games because we've got 3-4 too old, 3-4 too young and 4-5 genuine WAFL players with a handful trying to offset this.

Somewhat Pros

1. I thought Oscar played well. He's intelligent enough to know if he's out of the contest to half it and bring it to ground and wins some he realistically shouldn't.
2. Early on I thought we halved alot more CBAs with 3 players willing to put in without Sheed in there offering no defensive effort.
3. Gaff - Work rate for the contest is far better but 53% DE is pretty much dampening all impact
4. Kelly - Probably our best today but 63% DE. both he and gaff earning circa $800k just shouldn't be missing easy targets by foot when unpressured.
5. Bailey rucked all day and thought he worked hard and made some impact around the ground. Approaching serviceable chop out territory, don't think he'll ever be R1 but after the hate after round 1 he's definitely improved.

Cons

1. Disposal and handling of the ball was amateur level today. Really bad, not meeting expectations of AFL footballers.
2. Our defensive accountability needs review, dangerous forwards get given far too much space by our defenders who then look like they're working hard when they try and desperately close the 10m of space they've given the opponent. We miss Brad Shephard really badly.
3. Cole needs to go back to WAFL based on today to show selection is performance based. Just terrible today and mostly because of his desire to play free off the back of the pack without offering the offensive impact to earn that right and constantly being unable to close space given to his opponent.
4. If Clark isn't played inside he's too slow for a wing and really has no place in this team. He and West WAFL footballers just not up to the speed required at the next level to play the roles required. I almost think it'd be worth trying Clark as a defender ahead of Duggan or Cole because they both are providing massive question marks.

Year is becoming a development year for the future and focus should be bringing the talent from the last two drafts up to the speed and fitness required playing to the desired structures. Would love to find another free agent like Hunt this year on top of a big draft haul.

 

[Rowan18]

I was pretty happy with the first half - the effort was there and our transition was good (though we did turnover a few times with silly errors). Given our inexperience and injury (some guys are clearly playing hampered) it was good to see.

The defence was poor all game. We seem to be lacking leadership down there and really need a tall lockdown defender. TB had another shocking first half but lifted late.

Melbourne went to another level in the second half and we couldn't match. It was disappointing to see us go into our shells and we slowed the transition up and reverted to old problems (bombing long down the line and slow ineffective switch attempts). We also let them own the HFF, so the ball kept coming straight back when we bombed out of D50.

Most players did pretty well but some were poor. West looks too small and too slow. Hewett clearly doesn't have the fitness and I'd rather he built it in the WAFL. Darling is clearly injured (couldn't bend over so the back injury is probably true).

TK played a other great game. 3 in a row now. Gaff has really surprised me - played well today. Allen is really standing up. A number of of young guys kept showing good moments (Ginbey, Edwards, Hough). B Williams has changed my mind and I now think he'll make a serviceable ruck.

The umpires were abysmal. Completely ignored holding the man and throwing the ball. Kept picking out ridiculously soft high frees. It was a really and night.

 

[BrotherDodge]

Only major negative for me was Darling's form. He's always had the occasional month where he sucks, but if he doesn't get it together soon he should do the team thing and donate his spleen to Jack Williams.

 

[TassieEagle]

+Kelly and Gaff were the best of our midfield
Allen is a star
Waterman is holding the spot bit of ruck, bit of forward... Oh crap soon you will be needed at CHB.
Hunt seems to be the injection of flare and pace we were sorely missing since Jettas departure.

-I am extremely concerned the LEdwards, Culleys, Houghs, and Clarks just won't make it. The guys on the list for 3ish years worry me.
We still don't look fit enough.
Goal kicking again. Looking at you Darling.
Waaay to many simple skill errors.

+/-We looked better in patches throughout the game but still outscored 2-1 basically every quarter.

Melbourne are good outfit but they didn't light the world on fire either.

Like it or not these are the darkest on-field days of the club. Worse than the Judge era, worse than the spoon of 2010.

 

[Barrybran]

Not unhappy with that one. Pressure was excellent in the first half but we were outworked in the second half, though not for lack of trying on our part. We're certainly on the right path with the game plan but Melbourne are one of those sides that were always going to punish us on turnovers when we made skill errors. Probably the biggest issue was our F50 entry. Darling and Allen are good enough to punish opposition defenses so we need to do better collectively to give them the ball.

Hunt had a great game. Kelly was good. Williams tried hard all day and seemed to get free a lot as as extra mid, which is promising. I though LEdwards and Clark were quietly good as well.

 

[bzparkes]

Gaff, the tackling KING.




Surely all you plebs whinging about him never sticking tackles have got something to like about his game since HT last week?

 

[Mudguts12]

+ Great to see the team not go into their shells when Melbourne were scoring so easily, and the improved culture of the team in general. This is vital to keep sharpening the edge of our young guns;

+ TK

+ Gaff playing like his career is on the line. Limitations aside, he's found some extra grunt this season and is cracking in hard, tackling and playing to win his own ball. Couldn't stand watching him the last few years, but credit where its due!

+ Oscar, always makes the most of his opportunities;

+ Yeo got through unscathed.

 

[Barrybran]

Gaff, the tackling KING.

View attachment 1655121


Surely all you plebs whinging about him never sticking tackles have got something to like about his game since HT last week?

Gaff's tackling was a highlight today

 

[MeltMan]

Sigh. Outworked by a seriously good outfit.

Positives

TK, very strong again, burst out the gates with 12 disposals. Has put the midfield on his back this season.

50% and ot felt worse at the time. When he had 11, Jhonny brown said it was at 27%
Maybe it looked better at the ground.

 

[Keys]

Viney picking up Hewitt won't last another preseason. Roles will reverse sooner than people think.

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

Should have been a free kick for a dangerous tackle but just one of many frees they missed today

Borderline reportable

Dead set if we bring that intensity every week I don't care what else happens. As it happens, I also think we will beat some teams, despite the injuries.

Cribbing from keys on the pod, our fitness overhaul is a multi-year process. If we keep recruiting well and keep getting the boys aerobically capable of this game plan, mark your calendars for about 2.5 seasons from now. A lot to like.

Our S&C guys did a good job improving our strength and fitness but it was year one of that and we’re still playing catch-up. Especially against a side that is a competition leader in that area

We spent a lot of petrol tickets last week and had a number of players on for their first game of the year who struggled to adjust to the intensity of the game

 

[Bushhopper]

Poor Greg Clarke looked pretty confused out there, looked like he was wading through molasses