Autopsy 2024 Rd 18 Blues fail to fire for their skipper

[Beyond Blue]

Hewett looked pretty good in the VFL today … the extra day must have really helped his conditioning.

Probably did. The coaches are around the players 24/7. We should trust their judgement.

 

[Benaly28]

Noticed Cripps talking to the players as they left the field hopefully gave them an earful.


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[blues4flag]

Maybe I’m just a fan of entertainers but I love seeing Charlie have a shot from 60m

Harry would never, even though he is more than capable

However, burning Cripps was a strange one

Think Charles just needs to find the balance between expressing himself and being selfless - in recent weeks he had been too selfless and this week he was a bit selfish

I’m never going to worry about a player who has shown on multiple times they can have 10 shots on goal (with four in the last quarter alone)

Yep. Perhaps a couple that he should have reconsidered but on the whole probably his most dominant display of the season. Looked like the Charlie of last year.

 

[Benaly28]

Interesting after visiting the giants and dogs forums both said it was their best win of the year,clearly backs against the wall type wins,Pitty we couldn’t match it considering were going for a top 4 spot.


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[agro]

Interesting after visiting the giants and dogs forums both said it was their best win of the year,clearly backs against the wall type wins,Pitty we couldn’t match it considering were going for a top 4 spot.


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We’re back to “flaky” - all these mid ranked teams reckon they’re a chance.

 

[Bundy Bear Bogan]

Tonight’s poor players who should not be getting a game.

Marchbank - irrelevant
Boyd - missed EVERY target
Hollands - the younger one has no vision
Newman - went missing for anyone half
Owies - did he even play after the first 10 minutes

Bit harsh on Newman and Owies. Yep didn't have great games but bith have had fantastic seasons

 

[bigblueboy]

Probably did. The coaches are around the players 24/7. We should trust their judgement.

People make mistakes and our coaches are not immune. Will be fascinating to see if Hewett plays AFL next week.

 

[4flagsin5yrs]

Gibbs is far better than Cerra.

Really embarrassing loss tho.

it had nothing to do with who was the better player....

 

[Accidental genius]

Tonight’s poor players who should not be getting a game.

Marchbank - irrelevant
Boyd - missed EVERY target
Hollands - the younger one has no vision
Newman - went missing for anyone half
Owies - did he even play after the first 10 minutes

Owies started on fire - 2 goals early in the game

Gradually dogs got on top and we played catch up - our midfield got beaten didnt they?

Bit hard for the smalls when our ball movement is poor.

 

[DangerousD]

Watching First crack on Kayo, Montagna is highlighting our defensive issues, we are bottom 4 in the comp for points against, i knew we had struggled but that’s garbage, I’ve been critical of the MC this week and last about team selection and the affect its had on team balance but this is our biggest issue.

This is a coaching issue, to be sitting second on the ladder with the 15th best defence is mind boggling, whilst we are a strong stoppage team, we concede the most points from stoppage.

The Dogs this week, GWS last week and so many times this year, we let the opposition pile on the goals, this is a bigger issue than any team selection.

 

[4flagsin5yrs]

Just got home from the game after a decent meal…(hard to enjoy after witnessing that effort but my steak was actually rather good)

So right from the first bounce you could see the balance was waaaay off. We were lucky not be 3 goals down after 15 minutes and somehow we managed to hit the scoreboard on turnover until the dogs shut that down.

Pitto and TKD…..Never again at Marvel, it was totally unnecessary and we looked extremely slow as a result

Ollie and Cotts….Never again either, pick one and play one (Cotts can be sub)

Defence…my God we are all at sea….Boyd has been living off that one champion data stat the entire season…he adds absolutely nothing to the side in the form he is in…(I would drop him before Ollie) Marchy thanks mate but your done

Midfield….Ok so teams have stopped our forward handball out of stoppage in the last 2 weeks but my God our centre square work is putrid.

Cerra and Walsh…..Never again to play together in the centre square….neither of them have a defensive bone in their bodies…(George Hewitt does tho.) Play Cerra as a high HFF or wing

Forward line…..Charlie is draining our mojo down there. 3.7 and all reasonably getable shots as well. His set shot routine has gone to shit

Fog….has had 2 poor games now and isn’t hitting the scoreboard nor is he providing the pressure required to lock the ball in. Smalls forwards in general have gone from a strength to a weakness in the space of 2 weeks

We need to go smaller and more mobile…1 ruck and H to chop out…bring Jack Martin back in as he plays taller than he is and takes the heat off the KPFs….Motts to take Williams spot for now

I’m absolutely gutted for the skipper


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Reckon Martin might be the guy to get us humming again....

 

[JJBagger]

Watching First crack on Kayo, Montagna is highlighting our defensive issues, we are bottom 4 in the comp for points against, i knew we had struggled but that’s garbage, I’ve been critical of the MC this week and last about team selection and the affect its had on team balance but this is our biggest issue.

This is a coaching issue, to be sitting second on the ladder with the 15th best defence is mind boggling, whilst we are a strong stoppage team, we concede the most points from stoppage.

The Dogs this week, GWS last week and so many times this year, we let the opposition pile on the goals, this is a bigger issue than any team selection.

We are the second highest scoring team by a distance. We also have the second lowest average losing margin behind Sydney. We aren’t the “15th ranked defense”, we’ve just conceded the 15th least amount of points. Says nothing about our abilities to perform and win games. We could concede 100 points a game, but if we score 140 a game, who cares! Also, our game style unfortunately can leave us vulnerable defensively at times, which is just the nature of it

 

[Benaly28]

Let’s just wait for champion data on Tuesday……..


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[DangerousD]

We are the second highest scoring team by a distance. We also have the second lowest average losing margin behind Sydney. We aren’t the “15th ranked defense”, we’ve just conceded the 15th least amount of points. Says nothing about our abilities to perform and win games. We could concede 100 points a game, but if we score 140 a game, who cares! Also, our game style unfortunately can leave us vulnerable defensively at times, which is just the nature of it

I think you need to go check how teams who concede a lot of points go in grand finals.

They don’t make them and if by chance they do, they don’t win.

How else do you rank a teams defence if not against points against?

The last 20 premiers at least have had a top 6 defence, as in top 6 for points against, how many years will you have to go back to find a premier who was 15th?

For a good side, our team defence is a joke

 

[Santo the king]

Points Against looks horrible on the ladder. Been that way for most of the year, except in the earlier rounds when our defence held us in games. We have been tinkering all year with the right blend of offence and defence and we need to recalibrate again.

Scores from stoppages is a real issue.

Our back six have not been great for the last few weeks either.

And to the eye we have not tackled or trapped ball in forward 50 as effectively.

Essentially we have fallen away defensively in all parts of the ground.

Motlop in for Williams will help forward 50 pressure.

Might be time to add an extra big defender to release Kemp and help Weitering. That allows us to drop boyd who is struggling and bring in an extra mid.

Think hewitt comes in, and we try and move cerra back out to the wing, omitting Hollands or Cottrell. This likely squeeze Pitto out due to rotation demands, but with and extra big say young, we have more options as second ruck.

 

[JJBagger]

I think you need to go check how teams who concede a lot of points go in grand finals.

They don’t make them and if by chance they do, they don’t win.

How else do you rank a teams defence if not against points against?

The last 20 premiers at least have had a top 6 defence, as in top 6 for points against, how many years will you have to go back to find a premier who was 15th?

For a good side, our team defence is a joke

We’d conceded less than 75 points in the 5 weeks before the giants game. We’ve only conceded 40 more points than Geelong who are apparently the second favourite for the flag now.

 

[JustOneTime]

We are the second highest scoring team by a distance. We also have the second lowest average losing margin behind Sydney. We aren’t the “15th ranked defense”, we’ve just conceded the 15th least amount of points. Says nothing about our abilities to perform and win games. We could concede 100 points a game, but if we score 140 a game, who cares! Also, our game style unfortunately can leave us vulnerable defensively at times, which is just the nature of it

The last two weeks has nothing to do with leaving the defence vulnerable. It has literally been about defenders simply losing contests, one-on-ones and panicking.

In other games of 2024 and more in 2023 I'd agree the defence has been left vulnerable by our slow mids; but our weaknesses in the last two weeks have been more an indicator of horrible defensive skills.

You are denying a theme. It's an area we are weak on and its an area other teams are focusing on. We need to face it head on. In fact, its escaping the exposure it needs because our 2 fwd talls are elite; and sometimes our stoppage play is elite...so they get us us out of jail. But we have a defensive hole the side of the grand canyon!

Imagine this basic point. We have the number 1 and 3 key forwards in the game for goals. The best combo 2 in the entire league right. One of them can be a freak in Charlie. Yet in the game the last two weeks, the opposition went in and scored almost every time and neither of those two teams have our KPP weapons. The opponents are scoring faster than us from inside 50s even though we have the talent and they don't. That's how weak our defensive 7 are at stopping scores from inside their 50.

 

[JJBagger]

The last two weeks has nothing to do with leaving the defence vulnerable. It has literally been about defenders simply losing contests, one-on-ones and panicking.

In other games of 2024 and more in 2023 I'd agree the defence has been left vulnerable by our slow mids; but our weaknesses in the last two weeks have been more an indicator of horrible defensive skills.

You are denying a theme. It's an area we are weak on and its an area other teams are focusing on. We need to face it head on. In fact, its escaping the exposure it needs because our 2 fwd talls are elite; and sometimes our stoppage play is elite...so they get us us out of jail. But we have a defensive hole the side of the grand canyon!

Imagine this basic point. We have the number 1 and 3 key forwards in the game for goals. The best combo 2 in the entire league right. One of them can be a freak in Charlie. Yet in the game the last two weeks, the opposition went in and scored almost every time and neither of those two teams have our KPP weapons. The opponents are scoring faster than us from inside 50s even though we have the talent and they don't. That's how weak our defensive 7 are at stopping scores from inside their 50.

So where was our weak defense during the 5 game winning streak? Or when we made a prelim last year with almost the exact same group?

 

[JustOneTime]

So where was our weak defense during the 5 game winning streak? Or when we made a prelim last year with almost the exact same group?

Like i said; our incredible midfield and forwards covered up their weaknesses. The players going def con5 during those games always hides the issues that are there. It's when we cant maintain that brutal level in games 6/7/8 that the defenders have to carry their own weight.

You been paying attention to Cripps carrying us on his shoulders late in games.

 

[lethalburns]

hard to see you guys losing another H&A game this year given the run
The QF will probably be your next test from here?

 

[BeijingBlue]

Like i said; our incredible midfield and forwards covered up their weaknesses. The players going def con5 during those games always hides the issues that are there. It's when we cant maintain that brutal level in games 6/7/8 that the defenders have to carry their own weight.

You been paying attention to Cripps carrying us on his shoulders late in games.

The facts are that teams score too easily against us. I don't believe we defend well enough from our forwards and mids. Walsh is a relatively poor defender. A fit McGovern and Weitering are crucial to our future success.

 

[RAPPA]

The facts are that teams score too easily against us. I don't believe we defend well enough from our forwards and mids. Walsh is a relatively poor defender. A fit McGovern and Weitering are crucial to our future success.

Weitering is our most important player given how weak our defence is. If Voss was "experimenting" or has any further desire to experiment with some magnet shifts between now and the end of the H&A season, it should be to hopefully unearth a KPD prospect - S Durdin should be given a game.

 

[JJBagger]

Weitering is our most important player given how weak our defence is. If Voss was "experimenting" or has any further desire to experiment with some magnet shifts between now and the end of the H&A season, it should be to hopefully unearth a KPD prospect - S Durdin should be given a game.

You could have prime SOS as our second KPD and it would do stuff all when you defend stoppage the way we have the last 2 weeks

 

[RAPPA]

You could have prime SOS as our second KPD and it would do stuff all when you defend stoppage the way we have the last 2 weeks

But we've been the worst stoppage defence team all year, haven't we? If not the worst, pretty sure the footy analysis shows keep stating that we're up there with the worst.

 

[gbatman]

Re Cotts, he’s handy and because he came to footy a little late there maybe some upside the MC sees, but he was in the team when the likes of Zac, Cincotta, Elijah and Fog were either unavailable or playing in different positions. He’s not best 22 otherwise. Astounded he came straight back in.

Bit harsh on Fog though Gbat, his footy smarts and tackling compensate for his kicking limitations

We need to find someone who applies the same level of pressure but can also win the footy and kick. I don't think Sydney are carrying too many forwards who don't get the ball and are mostly ignored by teammates because they can't kick.

Fogarty is what I call a temp. Getting a game because we are weak in this area and he's just filling in until we find someone, that's up to our list management and development crew. A good example is Plowman although he was a lot better footballer than Fogarty.

We went in with too many defensive forwards. Fogarty, Cottrell, Cincotta. It's not a very threatening forward line. They don't get the ball, they don't create strong options forward of the ball and they don't kick goals.

Relying on 3 forwards to do the bulk of the scoring and ball movement is crazy.

If we want to rewatch the game, we will see that the bulldogs were really good at getting numbers front and centre to contests. Whenever someone kicked the ball long, it was not uncommon to see at least three Bulldogs front and centre at ground level, particularly in the midfield coming out of defence. If we look at our numbers it was much less. This is an area we got killed in. I think that has a lot to do with our forwards, particularly our high forwards not having much footy IQ. I wouldn't say Fogarty has fantastic footy IQ, it's about average.

Motlop last week in the VFL was sensational at getting front and centre. I hope he was this week as well. Cottrell and Cincotta never do it. Our mids are really poor in this regard as well. The part of Elijah's game that could grow is making more front and centre contests, he's more of a peripheral player in that rather than going to a marking contest, he positions for the next kick which is the case with a lot of our mids.

This was an area where we fell down positional wise and where our pressure went missing. If we aren't getting to the contests front and centre, there will be no pressure or tackling.