Autopsy Freo Lose To North at Home

[arsesmart]

We can’t be looking to a Hail Mary kick after the siren to steal a point as the takeaway from this.

People might offer the argument that it is only week 2 but there’s a pretty strong cadre of teams from last year who look 8 bound again, and now we have the likes of saints, port, GWS, Bombers, Blues all looking pretty potent and are one or two games on us already. We would need to go on a big winning streak and hope a bunch of them fall over in a heap to perhaps sneak into 8th. The second part might happen but def not the first. Our miss and rucks are getting smashed by no names.

Our broader form and structural issues can be separated from the discussion around that umpiring decision though.

It does highlight how fine a line a match (maybe even season's) can pivot on.

 

[go_the_dockers]

How do we counter the flood?

What options do we have?

Who can kick from 50?
Who can take a pack marks?
If we get a forward 50 stoppage how do we turn them into goals.

 

[StingBitten]

Where can I see Duffield's analysis these days? Seeing as he's gone from the West.

 

[Lach72]

Where can I see Duffield's analysis these days? Seeing as he's gone from the West.

SEN…perhaps Code sports too

 

[SPEEDWAGON]

Small minded victim syndrome - we drew with Richmond as they were called to play on for a game winning shot at goal last year - Frederick smother

Yeah this seemed to me like an example of a rule that's only applied to Freo. Like that time Michael Johnson got 4 weeks for accidentally bumping into an umpire. It didn't seem like Taberner took especially long.

 

[royale with cheese]

We lost to last years wooden spooners at home. The umpires had nothing to do with it

 

[royale with cheese]

Small minded victim syndrome - we drew with Richmond as they were called to play on for a game winning shot at goal last year - Frederick smother

Richmond lost a game to Sydney last year in similar circumstances to us last night.

 

[s_wd6]

We lost to last years wooden spooners at home. The umpires had nothing to do with it

Well they clearly had some part to do with it. No matter how badly we played we still should have had the chance to win the game at the end.

 

[Scham]

We didn't learn enough from last week re forward structure. I said after last week that we cannot successfully play all 3 of Tabs, Darcy and Jackson in the one side. We again, went with those 3 PLUS another KF! Stupid.

 

[hoss]

How about you do that mate

Why? He made a good and valid point.

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[Boppo]

Our broader form and structural issues can be separated from the discussion around that umpiring decision though.

It does highlight how fine a line a match (maybe even season's) can pivot on.

I’m not convinced. Pretty soundly beaten at home except for the last 2 mins, looks like they got the call right in any event. Physically, our players are slow and unfit. Opposition last week could barely stand up at siren time with their gut running, we look like we could have gone another quarter such is the lack of desperation in the game of chess we play. The tactic of manning space instead of opposing players turns us into witches hats.

 

[Superkoops]

We should absolutely drop Schulz. Along with Switta and Henry. What they provide does not outweigh the liabilities from being so small. We need more 185cm plus mids/flankers/wings. North had 14 and we had 8. Five in defence, Banfield and Hughes are WAFL level, and Brodie struggles to play 65% TOG (the lowest number for any midfielder in the league).

Need to bring all of Walker, O'Driscoll, Erasmus, Johnson, Sturt into the side and some shorter players have to make way. It might not help our physicality issue straight away, but is the only hope for the future.

Schultz and Switta are incredibly overrated by the coach and supporters. They might scrounge the odd goal by being little Aussie battlers, but they have no natural forward craft and are useless in the air.

Switta in the midfield can look exciting, but for the few times he can use his pace/sidestep, there are far more times he is physically dominated.

Watch the game closely and see how Cunnington and LDU just bullied guys like Serong and Switta in the centre bounce. They push them under or away from the ball with ease, swallow them in tackles, stand up in tackles and/or break them. Lining up with all of Brayshaw, Serong, Switta (like we did many times) is complete insanity.

I agree with the majority of your opinion. Schultz is a small forward though who 15 pressure acts. Needs more tackles but it isn’t an easy caper playing small forward even more so when there are 30 players crowding the forward line.

Midfield / half forward is our problem at the moment. We have been smashed in the middle. Our deep forwards have no idea where to lead and when to lead because we fiddle fart around with the ball when we have it. No quick centre clearances and no dare with the ball from half back. The one time I remember seeing it was the Q3 play where Brayshaw kicked long and Walters marked in the deep forward pocket.

We need to play more of the younger crew whilst not completely giving up the ghost on this year. A few more losses and our season is done though. The first two games have played out very similar to 2022 except on this occasion out backline saved us from a draw and North’s desperate avoidance of point saved them late as well.

I would stick with Henry but play him off the bench. He needs a decent run of games and is showing improvement. His set-shot goal kicking is woeful. That miss on the 3Qtr siren last week and another this week. I reckon if he kicked it last week it could have been a different result.

Amiss struggled and probably just isn’t ready just yet needing more WAFL games (had some injuries/illness pre-season). I’d be playing Sturt who can also roost the ball. If he marks on 50 he can kick the distance. Tabs boy is he out of form. You would likely stick with him or Amiss. Jackson I’d move up to HFF. He needs some confidence with his marking and is learning our game.

Brodie is struggling. I’d actually send him to peel or the sub. Johnson to get a game. NOD in for Hughes. I don’t even care how he played yesterday. He goes onto Wing for slow decision maker Hughes. Blacres is massive loss when replaced with Hughes. Aish to the other wing. Henry to bench to rotate between HFF and Wing.

NOD> Hughes
Johnson > Brodie (sub)
Sturt > Banfield (or sub if not Brodie)
Walters > Tabs/Amiss

I’d like to see Erasmus and Walker play an actual game of WAFL first. Which is a couple of weeks away. Give Johnson a taste as he had a ripping pre-season.

 

[royale with cheese]

Why? He made a good and valid point.

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What’s his point? Taberner is slightly better than a 20 year old and 19 year old? You’d hope so! The point is he’s well below average for his age and experience.

 

[what a game]

I think Clark needs to go back to the flank with walker behind him
It allows his speed and run to be utilised
I’m sorry Wilson just doesn’t have the speed or the delivery or the ability to switch angles to be dangerous.
Last year Clark ,young and walker constantly got passed cox for a fast handball
Atm cox is to slow with his decision making when kicking behind a mark hence he goes sideways
People keep talking about the midfield
When did Darcy decided to use a fist instead of a palm at the centre ( this week and last week )
No control means you have taken any plans out of play.
Jackson uses a palm and has at least given us a chance at a clearance.
And why is Darcy pushing forward when the forward line already has 3 talls in it.
Twice last night in the first 45 mins he spoilt Jackson and Taberner
I thought the whole idea would be to play a kick and a half behind the ball
I think that’s why we get rebounded
I’ll stick my neck out to get it chopped off.
All summer the forward line functioned at its best with treacy Fyfe Sturt together
Especially Fyfe and treacy
They made room for each other
If tabs is the player his upporters think he is let him get some form in wafl to force his way back in
His preseason form didn’t warrant selection.
Personally find our speed out of the backline and speed of ball movement freo will be fine
We just have to wait and see
It’s only round 2

 

[jonesy233]

Ok…my thoughts are as follows:

(1) when Fyfe is ready to go, either play him as a midfielder or not at all. His pay is linked to his past dominance as a midfielder and he has won 2 Brownlow medals as a midfielder;

(2) Jackson has amazing mobility for a man of his size and could be developed as a stoppage player. Would give us more physicality at stoppages, which seems to be an issue at present;

(3) develop Erasmus and Johnson and play them more often. They are highly touted and both seem to have good size;

(3) it sounds archaic and a bit basic, but we need to go long into the forward line more. Last night we played our best at the end when we threw caution to the wind;

(4) throw an athletic tall in our forward line like a Sebit Kuek or a Josh Draper. I must admit I have not seen a lot of them at WAFL level but they could provide a bit more X factor;

(5) play Jaeger O’Meara as a mid-sized forward. He was great last night with those two set shots. So clutch! We should not overlook that; the guy almost got us a draw;

(6) not sure if this would work, but maybe we could try develop Switzkowski into a long term midfielder. He is fast, low centre of gravity, good decision maker, evasive and a great finisher; and

(7) we were terrible last night in the midfield and with our forward entries. If we are not going long, then the tall forwards need to be leading to keep the defenders honest. Too many times our tall forwards were just standing there. If you look at other teams (e.g. Richmond) their talls are always offering leads.

Anyways, just my random thoughts. Not sure there is genuine merit in everything above, but my feeling is we can look to try a few different things.

 

[Footskill]

In a way it might be a blessing we lost first two games to lower level competition. This way the deficiencies is glaringly obvious and its not bandaid over when we beat them or if we win few games but drop some.

Still saying it, the middield is a real issue for me. Constantly getting bullied and very poor disposals. The defense always heralded but their decision making and disposal skills are lacking.. Eg Chapman and Cox. Do not let Ryan take the kickins. Way to predictable. I don't see him playing on, just kicking it to the side to Darcy who can't take a mark. Also can Darcy stop giving away free kicks. Thank you.

 

[theGav56]

I don’t think he’s good enough, kind of like a poor man’s stringer

Looks more like a potential shock tactic than a positiinal move.

I agree with your previous suggestion and would bring in Johnson.

 

[Tonga Bob]

If only Chief pulled the pin on BF during the game last night.

 

[arsesmart]

I’m not convinced. Pretty soundly beaten at home except for the last 2 mins, looks like they got the call right in any event. Physically, our players are slow and unfit. Opposition last week could barely stand up at siren time with their gut running, we look like we could have gone another quarter such is the lack of desperation in the game of chess we play. The tactic of manning space instead of opposing players turns us into witches hats.

It'd be just as compelling a case to say they got the call wrong.

It's a worthy debate to have, even just to create some impression they owe us one.

 

[Boppo]

It'd be just as compelling a case to say they got the call wrong.

It's a worthy debate to have, even just to create some impression they owe us one.

I was going with the AFL website commentary, apparently the siren went before the boundary ump called out of bounds.

 

[arsesmart]

I would stick with Henry but play him off the bench. He needs a decent run of games and is showing improvement. His set-shot goal kicking is woeful. That miss on the 3Qtr siren last week and another this week. I reckon if he kicked it last week it could have been a different result.

Weren't both those shots of Henry's from the boundary and fair distances out?

 

[arsesmart]

I was going with the AFL website commentary, apparently the siren went before the boundary ump called out of bounds.

People are going fairly forensic on here. You can have a look yourself.

Definitely the boundary umpire's signal is there as the sirens sounding, which suggests it was out before. Either way, they're not going to reverse it, but as I say if we can get some sense of being owed by the officials it's something.

 

[Superkoops]

Ok…my thoughts are as follows:

(1) when Fyfe is ready to go, either play him as a midfielder or not at all. His pay is linked to his past dominance as a midfielder and he has won 2 Brownlow medals as a midfielder;

(2) Jackson has amazing mobility for a man of his size and could be developed as a stoppage player. Would give us more physicality at stoppages, which seems to be an issue at present;

(3) develop Erasmus and Johnson and play them more often. They are highly touted and both seem to have good size;

(3) it sounds archaic and a bit basic, but we need to go long into the forward line more. Last night we played our best at the end when we threw caution to the wind;

(4) throw an athletic tall in our forward line like a Sebit Kuek or a Josh Draper. I must admit I have not seen a lot of them at WAFL level but they could provide a bit more X factor;

(5) play Jaeger O’Meara as a mid-sized forward. He was great last night with those two set shots. So clutch! We should not overlook that; the guy almost got us a draw;

(6) not sure if this would work, but maybe we could try develop Switzkowski into a long term midfielder. He is fast, low centre of gravity, good decision maker, evasive and a great finisher; and

(7) we were terrible last night in the midfield and with our forward entries. If we are not going long, then the tall forwards need to be leading to keep the defenders honest. Too many times our tall forwards were just standing there. If you look at other teams (e.g. Richmond) their talls are always offering leads.

Anyways, just my random thoughts. Not sure there is genuine merit in everything above, but my feeling is we can look to try a few different things.

Some good thoughts. I’m sure if Fyfe was playing he would have been chucked in the middle such was the flogging we were copping. I wouldn’t abandon the forward thing just yet. He did look a bit proppy and confused against Saints. Turns out he is dealing with plantar fasciitis, which from personal experience takes away all ability really push off with power and jump.

As per my post above - I’d start with Johnson straight in and see how Erasmus is going in two’s once the WAFL season starts. I’d be getting other fast runners like NOD and Walker into the mix ASAP, starting with NOD next week.

 

[Superkoops]

Weren't both those shots of Henry's from the boundary and fair distances out?

On the boundary but not that far out. Certainly the 3Qtr time effort against saints was around 35metres at most. Switta marked about 40odd out closer to the middle and then chipped at least 15metres to Henry who had a shot after the siren.

 

[arsesmart]

Speaking of being owed by the officials, we need to start some enquiries about how Darcy gets adjudicated.

Just watching the early stages of yesterday and man he gets ripped off. Both in the second against him and the ones he misses out on.