Injuries in finals

[Robroy22]

Anyone else notice how important injuries have been in this year's finals?
Geelong have no ruck men due to injury, Freo hamstrung due to injuries to KPD's and Ballantyne.

How come injuries are so important to finals teams and yet are no excuse during the home and away?
(tongue firmly planted in cheek)

 

[Bring_Back_Brad]

Anyone else notice how important injuries have been in this year's finals?
Geelong have no ruck men due to injury, Freo hamstrung due to injuries to KPD's and Ballantyne.

How come injuries are so important to finals teams and yet are no excuse during the home and away?
(tongue firmly planted in cheek)

Shows how important it is to have quality fitness staff in this era.
Just as important as a good list and coach.
Our biggest fail this year by far, worse than our forward line even

 

[DinoSoar]

Depends on which guernsey you're wearing. Brings to mind 2 consecutive finals series where a certain team who shall remain nameless () was carrying a few significant injuries but that never figured in discussion in any meaningful way. C'est la vie ........ winners are grinners

 

[Robroy22]

Depends on which guernsey you're wearing. Brings to mind 2 consecutive finals series where a certain team who shall remain nameless () was carrying a few significant injuries but that never figured in discussion in any meaningful way. C'est la vie ........ winners are grinners

Yep mate....winners are grinners and the media can just please itself...lol

 

[mattys123]

Good thing we didn't make finals then, we would have had to call up VFL listed players.

It is interesting though that it took 7 years for a team to go out in straight sets, and that last team was the Eagles (against us) without Judd and Kerr in the side.

To knock a team out in straight sets you need some luck, and both Port and North got that luck.

 

[Chief Ten Beers]

worse than our forward line even

Not possible. The only thing worse than the Collingwood forward line this year was St Kilda.

 

[Robroy22]

Good thing we didn't make finals then, we would have had to call up VFL listed players.

It is interesting though that it took 7 years for a team to go out in straight sets, and that last team was the Eagles (against us) without Judd and Kerr in the side.

To knock a team out in straight sets you need some luck, and both Port and North got that luck.

Yep, despite all the coaches mistakes, all the poor recruiting, all the "spud players" and the poor injury management...at the end of the day a final can just come down to luck. Gotta love sport for showing you the meaning of life hey?

 

[Scodog10]

Not possible. The only thing worse than the Collingwood forward line this year was St Kilda.

Our forward half was impotent for much of the year with only Elliott and Cloke as reliable targets, however I would also throw Melbourne into that mix.

I tend to take the injuries as an excuse view because all teams get them and it's how you adapt to them that really matters.

For instance injuries didn't lose Fremantle that match last night their pressure on the ball carrier dropping and not taking their chances in the first half (should have been 40+ up at half time) were the main differences. Geelong on the other hand just aren't that good and carried too many passengers on the night with their runners in Bartel, Kelly, Motlop, Murdoch, Hornlin-Smith, Stokes and Guthrie all having 14 disposals or less.

 

[Chief Ten Beers]

...at the end of the day a final can just come down to luck. Gotta love sport for showing you the meaning of life hey?

Hahahahahahahahahahahaa

 

[Robroy22]

Our forward half was impotent for much of the year with only Elliott and Cloke as reliable targets, however I would also throw Melbourne into that mix.

I tend to take the injuries as an excuse view because all teams get them and it's how you adapt to them that really matters.

For instance injuries didn't lose Fremantle that match last night their pressure on the ball carrier dropping and not taking their chances in the first half (should have been 40+ up at half time) were the main differences. Geelong on the other hand just aren't that good and carried too many passengers on the night with their runners in Bartel, Kelly, Motlop, Murdoch, Hornlin-Smith, Stokes and Guthrie all having 14 disposals or less.

Maybe their runners didn't get their usual quotas because they had NO RUCKMEN against the AA ruck man?
Just a thought?
injuries to key personel strike again.

 

[Scodog10]

Maybe their runners didn't get their usual quotas because they had NO RUCKMEN against the AA ruck man?
Just a thought?
injuries to key personel strike again.

Or maybe they just flopped in finals because they aren't up to it or are too old? Despite Goldstein's dominance Geelong had the clearance edge anyway AND outscored the Roos 34-22 from stoppages.

Injuries are just an excuse and no club ever blames injuries for a poor performance or trends and nor should they! If you want to hang your hat on injuries more power to you I'd just be more proactive and say look at what can be done to mitigate the loss of so and so and how can we adapt to ensure it doesn't derail a season or any particular match.

Geelong knew they would get mauled in the ruck and altered there gameplan accordingly, however they still let themselves down in other areas and lost.

 

[Robroy22]

Or maybe they just flopped in finals because they aren't up to it or are too old? Despite Goldstein's dominance Geelong had the clearance edge anyway AND outscored the Roos 34-22 from stoppages.

Injuries are just an excuse and no club ever blames injuries for a poor performance or trends and nor should they! If you want to hang your hat on injuries more power to you I'd just be more proactive and say look at what can be done to mitigate the loss of so and so and how can we adapt to ensure it doesn't derail a season or any particular match.

Geelong knew they would get mauled in the ruck and altered there gameplan accordingly, however they still let themselves down in other areas and lost.

 

[Robroy22]

Sorry bout that Sco...pushed the wrong button!
I was going to say

I loved the positivity of that bolded bit, but as my grandfather used to say "you can't pull your socks up if you're not wearing any"....

 

[THATSGOLD]

Good teams find a way to win injuries or not.

 

[THATSGOLD]

Hahahahahahahahahahahaa

Here's an interesting one. Everyone says if Milne goals St Kilda win the GF. Not true. They would've been 5 points up with 1.30 on the clock. The ball goes back to centre. Are Pendlebury Thomas Sidebottom Beams Swan Wellingham not capable of breaking away from the centre and kicking an answer? Pies win by 1 point. No replay.

 

[Robroy22]

Here's an interesting one. Everyone says if Milne goals St Kilda win the GF. Not true. They would've been 5 points up with 1.30 on the clock. The ball goes back to centre. Are Pendlebury Thomas Sidebottom Beams Swan Wellingham not capable of breaking away from the centre and kicking an answer? Pies win by 1 point. No replay.

Wow....a double what if....superb effort there sir.

 

[PTpie]

Or maybe they just flopped in finals because they aren't up to it or are too old? Despite Goldstein's dominance Geelong had the clearance edge anyway AND outscored the Roos 34-22 from stoppages.

Injuries are just an excuse and no club ever blames injuries for a poor performance or trends and nor should they! If you want to hang your hat on injuries more power to you I'd just be more proactive and say look at what can be done to mitigate the loss of so and so and how can we adapt to ensure it doesn't derail a season or any particular match.

Geelong knew they would get mauled in the ruck and altered there gameplan accordingly, however they still let themselves down in other areas and lost.

You are right in that no club blames injuries. Doing so would undermine everything they preach to all the players on their list and discourage supporters. The other side of that is every club has a list of 47 players and a salary cap to pay them all with. Now we all know not everyone gets payed the same because some guys are S Pendlebury and others are K Martin. These guys might play roughly the same position but they are miles apart in terms of talent. You can't replace S Pendlebury with K Martin and expect the same results.

So to get back into the meat of the matter. No one will ever come out and say "injuries cost us this game, it meant we had to play a less skilled player(s) and we lost because of that" but that is what actually happens when you lose top end talent or you just have so many damn injuries throughout your list.

You can have the best coach with the best plan, but if you don't have the cattle to implement it you will lose.

 

[Robroy22]

You are right in that no club blames injuries. Doing so would undermine everything they preach to all the players on their list and discourage supporters. The other side of that is every club has a list of 47 players and a salary cap to pay them all with. Now we all know not everyone gets payed the same because some guys are S Pendlebury and others are K Martin. These guys might play roughly the same position but they are miles apart in terms of talent. You can't replace S Pendlebury with K Martin and expect the same results.

So to get back into the meat of the matter. No one will ever come out and say "injuries cost us this game, it meant we had to play a less skilled player(s) and we lost because of that" but that is what actually happens when you lose top end talent or you just have so many damn injuries throughout your list.

You can have the best coach with the best plan, but if you don't have the cattle to implement it you will lose.

Bravo.

 

[Scodog10]

You are right in that no club blames injuries. Doing so would undermine everything they preach to all the players on their list and discourage supporters. The other side of that is every club has a list of 47 players and a salary cap to pay them all with. Now we all know not everyone gets payed the same because some guys are S Pendlebury and others are K Martin. These guys might play roughly the same position but they are miles apart in terms of talent. You can't replace S Pendlebury with K Martin and expect the same results.

So to get back into the meat of the matter. No one will ever come out and say "injuries cost us this game, it meant we had to play a less skilled player(s) and we lost because of that" but that is what actually happens when you lose top end talent or you just have so many damn injuries throughout your list.

You can have the best coach with the best plan, but if you don't have the cattle to implement it you will lose.

I guess the best and most succinct way I can extrapolate on my point is that when Chris Scott does his review of Friday night's loss injuries will not be mentioned and the onus will fall back onto the players I listed who had poor games.

Replacing injured players with lower end talents will obviously have an impact, but does that mitigate Blair from having no impact on the scoreboard? Or White drifting in and out of games and largely providing no presence? Caff becoming too defensive as the season progressed meaning we were effectively a mid down if he lost his matchup? Lamumba running around like a headless chook and bombing the ball into our forward 50 with absolutely no purpose? Or Frost exiting the back half with no conviction and skill? Keeffe running like a man possessed to retrieve the ball for a kick in when at 204cm he should be the target we kick to? These were all major contributing factors to our poor second half of the year and all will be processed throughout reviews with a separate column to be used for injuries, but that column will be more about how we can improve on that area than an excuse for poor outcomes.

We need to get better by getting more out of the players we have on the field and not focussing on the guys we didn't. I love Lyon's attitude of any place any time and it's why he won't accept excuses for their loss. Again that isn't to deny injuries playing a part I just think they've become too much of an excuse for us as supporters. Already I'm reading the great big IF caveat for 2015 in regards to injuries and our future prospects, but it just isn't for me...

 

[danielnajdek]

Of course injuries can decide finals. Just gotta look at 2011 GF. Still depressing thinking what coulda been.

 

[Robroy22]

I guess the best and most succinct way I can extrapolate on my point is that when Chris Scott does his review of Friday night's loss injuries will not be mentioned and the onus will fall back onto the players I listed who had poor games.

Replacing injured players with lower end talents will obviously have an impact, but does that mitigate Blair from having no impact on the scoreboard? Or White drifting in and out of games and largely providing no presence? Caff becoming too defensive as the season progressed meaning we were effectively a mid down if he lost his matchup? Lamumba running around like a headless chook and bombing the ball into our forward 50 with absolutely no purpose? Or Frost exiting the back half with no conviction and skill? Keeffe running like a man possessed to retrieve the ball for a kick in when at 204cm he should be the target we kick to? These were all major contributing factors to our poor second half of the year and all will be processed throughout reviews with a separate column to be used for injuries, but that column will be more about how we can improve on that area than an excuse for poor outcomes.

We need to get better by getting more out of the players we have on the field and not focussing on the guys we didn't. I love Lyon's attitude of any place any time and it's why he won't accept excuses for their loss. Again that isn't to deny injuries playing a part I just think they've become too much of an excuse for us as supporters. Already I'm reading the great big IF caveat for 2015 in regards to injuries and our future prospects, but it just isn't for me...

Re the bolded: I think Chris Scott will be fairly scathing of why his supposed "brilliant recruiter" Stephen Wells got him in another injury riddled ruck man (Hamish McIntosh) to go with the walking wounded Vardy and Simpson? Since Ottens left the cats have struggled to play a dominant ruck man and have relied on their mids and half backs to turn possessions around in order to attack. On Friday night they won clearances using third man up tactics but Goldstein was clearly the dominant ruck man in the game. I'd say Chris Scott will try and remedy this as soon as possible.

 

[grokq]

I guess the best and most succinct way I can extrapolate on my point is that when Chris Scott does his review of Friday night's loss injuries will not be mentioned and the onus will fall back onto the players I listed who had poor games.

Replacing injured players with lower end talents will obviously have an impact, but does that mitigate Blair from having no impact on the scoreboard? Or White drifting in and out of games and largely providing no presence? Caff becoming too defensive as the season progressed meaning we were effectively a mid down if he lost his matchup? Lamumba running around like a headless chook and bombing the ball into our forward 50 with absolutely no purpose? Or Frost exiting the back half with no conviction and skill? Keeffe running like a man possessed to retrieve the ball for a kick in when at 204cm he should be the target we kick to? These were all major contributing factors to our poor second half of the year and all will be processed throughout reviews with a separate column to be used for injuries, but that column will be more about how we can improve on that area than an excuse for poor outcomes.

We need to get better by getting more out of the players we have on the field and not focussing on the guys we didn't. I love Lyon's attitude of any place any time and it's why he won't accept excuses for their loss. Again that isn't to deny injuries playing a part I just think they've become too much of an excuse for us as supporters. Already I'm reading the great big IF caveat for 2015 in regards to injuries and our future prospects, but it just isn't for me...

Injuries have the effect of weakening the core structure. The replacements aren't as good as who they replace. It may start with a dropped mark, a missed tackle, a misdirected handball. It can end up spiralling downwards into indecision and further erosion of skills and fluency. A side with few injury problems or great depth builds systems through continuity and you can look at our 2010 as a prime example; we really did have a blessed run with injuries. Without Reid in the starting line-up and a lack of defensive running from our midfield, our backline this year was always vulnerable. The injuries to Maxwell and Brown were more damaging to confidence and systems than they should have been. Everything else was a chain reaction.