Coach Justin Longmuir

[Lach72]

I hate to reinforce David King, but I think I agree. We are over coached.

‘Worst system in the AFL’: Freo shockers ‘miles off’ with coaches who ‘don’t trust the players’

‘Worst system in the AFL’: Freo shockers ‘miles off’ with coaches who ‘don’t trust the players’

www.foxsports.com.au

“I’d love to be proven wrong”

No he wouldn’t. Over stuffed bag of piss and wind.

Even a knock off Chinese watch is right twice a day.

Arrogant w***er

 

[Grape Bear]

“I’d love to be proven wrong”

No he wouldn’t. Over stuffed bag of piss and wind.

Even a knock off Chinese watch is right twice a day.

Arrogant w***er

Love it, but he makes good points. Eshed spoke about young saying he’s trying to get risky kicking out of his game - I didn’t see that interview but if that happened and is in context, i would be very worried.

 

[Unique Name]

"Hey team, you know the game plan that we've been practising all preseason. Yeah let's scrap it and start playing like Collingwood. I got the Pies last two games saved on my foxtel IQ box. Everybody round my house tonight."

JLo will live and die by his gameplan.

 

[freo1997]

Could Serong and Brayshaw move to the wings.

Throw Brodie in the guts with X factor Switta and another in Walker.

Try something. Throw some speed in there.

 

[deputy]

He spoke about that in 'First crack'. Can't say i disagreed with anything he said about us.

He's spot on ,After watching Collinwood in the first game i thought we can't play like that ,we just have a boring game plan that is predictable.Sundays game was boring as F*(*.A player was interviewed from Collingwood and he said Macrae wants us to play fun football to watch ,we even have fun playing so win win.The comment about JLo's style protecting the defenders is a good one , they get cheap kicks and are made out to be better than they are .Lazy footballers we are seeing at the moment

 

[G Mus]

Could Serong and Brayshaw move to the wings.

Throw Brodie in the guts with X factor Switta and another in Walker.

Try something. Throw some speed in there.

Brayshaw really should, his strengths are running repeat efforts and link up, his weaknesses are clearances and contested ball

It makes too much sense

 

[freo1997]

Brayshaw really should, his strengths are running repeat efforts and link up, his weaknesses are clearances and contested ball

It makes too much sense

Serong stays in the guts? What about Walker/Switta in for X factor. Bit of speed and pressure in there.

 

[vidwhal]

its about how fast you get it there. If you take an age you give the defender time to setup in their preferred zones and positions.
If you get it in there ASAP you have more chance of catching them out of position and creating chaos.
Collingwood just move it at all costs. Sydney monstered the Hawks today just getting the ball inside 50 as fast as possible.
We're trying to be too cute and create ideal entries, the actual kick inside 50 comes after several minutes of chipping it side to side by which time all the marking players are double teamed and they have their zone in place for exits and the drop points covered.

Yep, really good post. It is that isn't it. Regardless of how good the I50 kick is, we do take too much care in getting it there without turnover and kick into a packed 50. We end up kicking to a pack contest as the defenders try and intercept all over the field.
Is that us sucking at executing or the actual game plan itself tho. There were still plenty of grabable marks not taken and those fumbly hands. A result of the pressure or our own current ineptitude.

I also recall seeing space where we could have kick marked it up the line but our player didn't take it so are we also simply not taking the opportunity in the moment? JLo may very well want our players to do that and take the first oppo but maybe our players are still unseasoned enough to mentally be able to think in the moment that way. Too risk-adverse in their own internal confidence in their decision making as opposed to JLo wanting them to be conservative.

It's funny tho, unless my memory is in error, I also recall the days where lesser teams would be trying to move it quickly but it was the better teams of the times like the Beagles would shut that down with their structure and ball control. Felt like the reverse happened before the rule changes of the last 2/3 years so maybe that's where the change in gameplan effectiveness started switching.

 

[GingerDocker]

There was a Brayshaw F50 entry mid way through the last quarter right in front of me. Amiss had his man beat by about 3m, screaming for the ball on the lead, about 40m out. Andy bombed long to a congested pack about 15m out...it summed up our night for me.

Don't think I've ever screamed my disgust as loud as I did after this moment. I apologise to all around me.

 

[poshman]

I agree with this bit. JL has his own character arc in this hero story and we‘ll see now if he can make the changes to be the one.

I don't think after a decade as an assistant and in his fourth year as a head coach he can be called a young coach.

That would be inconceivable in almost any profession let alone coaching. If he is the head coach he gets a years grace. And that is in building the gameplan with the team. He got two because of Covid. Last year the team made finals and he was younger than he is now. Fourth year he is no longer a young coach.

I could never imagine hiring a CEO (even a first time CEO) and in the fourth year calling them a young CEO. If I was in a board meeting and that was the case there would be specific management plans in place or there would be a massive problem.

 

[wakojako]

There was a Brayshaw F50 entry mid way through the last quarter right in front of me. Amiss had his man beat by about 3m, screaming for the ball on the lead, about 40m out. Andy bombed long to a congested pack about 15m out...it summed up our night for me.

Don't think I've ever screamed my disgust as loud as I did after this moment. I apologise to all around me.

Andy's delivery into the F50 has never been flash.

 

[Frigate]

It is a disaster. Both games, the opposition allow us to sideways kick to the back flank on the boundary then they flood the corridor and the forward line. We kick 2 more times to get to 70 out and then kick a 55m ball to the nearside pocket. Even in the unlikely event we take a contested grab here the percentage of scoring a goal is low. That summed up Rd1 for us against St Kilda.

Rd 2, similar thing happened on most occasions. To make matters worse though, we created enough opportunities in the forward 50, but nobody could take a mark. Jackson had a number of chances and was not clean, attempting 2 or 3 marks. Darcy dropped a couple of non contested marks. Taberner was lost at sea.

The Eagles will tear us apart this week unless we go head to head in fast corridor footy. If we start the game next week by playing out the back right flank I think I will leave at half time, and take up lawn bowls, because if want to watch a ball start hard right and slowly trickle back to the middle at the end of the pitch then that game might be a less frustrating answer than watching Freo.

 

[Alfonz]

There was a Brayshaw F50 entry mid way through the last quarter right in front of me. Amiss had his man beat by about 3m, screaming for the ball on the lead, about 40m out. Andy bombed long to a congested pack about 15m out...it summed up our night for me.

Don't think I've ever screamed my disgust as loud as I did after this moment. I apologise to all around me.

He also did it earlier on the wing in front of me where Amiss had good separation on a lead from outside the 50. It was only a 30m pass required. Brayshaw clearly saw it, but went for a short chip inboard. That player then kicked it to Amiss who was now covered, but luckily got a free kick for holding. Took up a minute or two extra on the clock to get the ball to the same spot, but with a more crowded forward line ahead of Amiss.

 

[poshman]

It is a disaster. Both games, the opposition allow us to sideways kick to the back flank on the boundary then they flood the corridor and the forward line. We kick 2 more times to get to 70 out and then kick a 55m ball to the nearside pocket. Even in the unlikely event we take a contested grab here the percentage of scoring a goal is low. That summed up Rd1 for us against St Kilda.

Rd 2, similar thing happened on most occasions. To make matters worse though, we created enough opportunities in the forward 50, but nobody could take a mark. Jackson had a number of chances and was not clean, attempting 2 or 3 marks. Darcy dropped a couple of non contested marks. Taberner was lost at sea.

The Eagles will tear us apart this week unless we go head to head in fast corridor footy. If we start the game next week by playing out the back right flank I think I will leave at half time, and take up lawn bowls, because if want to watch a ball start hard right and slowly trickle back to the middle at the end of the pitch then that game might be a less frustrating answer than watching Freo.

And the drinks are way cheaper! Nice social event the lawn bowls.

 

[millsy]

Serong stays in the guts? What about Walker/Switta in for X factor. Bit of speed and pressure in there.

Switta took more CBAs than Brodie on the weekend so it's fair to say the coaching staff already have Switta as a go to if it's not working.

I think the issue with moving Brayshaw out of the centre square combos is we lose ability to run both ways with the opposition on transition. He's not a great clearance player, but he can at least spread with the opp if we lose the hit. We lose his tackle pressure on the other side of the ball with him holding width on a wing. Just going off memory but he ran down a couple in Q1 last week, and a smother that might have fallen to Henry who then set up a goal (I'll stand corrected).

 

[kingswood71]

I hate to reinforce David King, but I think I agree. We are over coached.

‘Worst system in the AFL’: Freo shockers ‘miles off’ with coaches who ‘don’t trust the players’

‘Worst system in the AFL’: Freo shockers ‘miles off’ with coaches who ‘don’t trust the players’

www.foxsports.com.au

We are as boring as bat shit.
Same as last season and the season before.
We dont score. Our whole game is built around very good defense.
The exception to this is last years wins against melbourne and geelong where we played attacking (dare i say exciting) second halves.
We can do it, just it seems we are scared to do it
Take the game on!!

 

[royale with cheese]

I came to the conclusion today that the major mistake JL has made is to refuse to move on from the game style that was working for us for a lot of last year in terms of adjusting to new personnel.

We lost Mundy, Lobb, Acres, all of who played critical roles in some key moments last year.
Mundy by throwing his weight around in centre clearances and taking it on himself to exit stoppages and kick the ball straight inside 50 to leading forwards.gi
Lobb got us back into several key matches with his contested marking and booming goals. During the final against the Dogs and there was one other game where he took several strong marks and converted from long range several times in one quarter.
Acres was crucial during some of our better wins, against Carlton at Optus and against Geelong he took defensive marks and was key in transition.

JL has basically brought in O'Meara for Mundy, Jackson for Lobb and Hughes for Acres and tried to play exactly the same game when its obvious that these 3 players are not capable of providing the same output. O'Meara is slow, can't bully stoppages with size and isn't a patch on Mundy for kicking. Jackson can't take contested marks or kick long goals and Hughes (I can't believe I'm saying this) doesn't have Acres ability to play transition footy like Acres.

He is being extremely conservative with selection and doesn't seem to get that its the aggressive, no fear footy provided by the likes of Walker and N'OD that affects the synergy of the group and gets us attacking. Players like Banfield and Hughes are mediocre and provide no spark.

He also doesn't seem to comprehend that our possession game doesn't work against rthe newer, fast ball movement style more and more teams are playing.

He does't get that having a few young inexperienced players can provide a spark in a group that has become moribund.

He seems to be over coaching and we never see Clark, Young, Wilson or in fact anyone running straight at the goals and having a ping from outside 50. Literally no one wants to have a shot and we see dinky kicks to players wide on the flanks or pockets.

He is in fact coaching like all the worst aspects of what Lyon was doing when we sacked him.

Coaches live in a bubble and are prone to developing a siege/bunker mentality leading to them doubling down with what they believe "should"work rather than accept the plain evidence that it isn't and making changes.

What needs to happen is beginning to blood youngsters and tweaking the game plan to we play to their strengths.

Walker and N'OD need to be reinstated and all of Johnson, Erasmus, Sturt must be given opportunity in the coming weeks. We need to be unafraid to drop the likes of Hughes, Banfield, O'Meara, Taberner and even one of Darcy or Jackson. Neither of the are taking any marks and Darcy is as good as useless around the ground as his tap work is terrible at the moment.

Most of all we somehow need to get risk and flair back on the menu. Clark should be given license to kick at goal from outside 50, Young & Chapman needs to go back to high risk attack the corridor kicks (Young recently admitted he's trying to take the risky kicking out his game for Gods sake). Freddy needs to be having pings from on the run outside 50 and everyone should be attacking the goals at every opportunity.

We need to let go of this mentality of possessing the ball at all costs and get with the current game.

Lets face it, more of the same will result in more of the same. As it is if we select basically the same team and play the same style we'll get rolled baby the Eagles this week and the season will be starting to look like a write off.

TLDR. JL has to show he's got it in him to change and take risks across all areas of the board.

Yep. The exodus from last year + the fact we got figured out in the backend of the season necessitated things being shaken up a little. Eg Logue wasn’t much chop as a forward in the air when taking marks but he was more nimble than Treacy/Amiss once the ball hit the ground, which made it harder for opposition defenders to clear. So if we’re going to bomb it in we either need forwards who can guarantee a contested mark, or we need to stop bombing it in.

 

[Patty_Moz]

its about how fast you get it there. If you take an age you give the defender time to setup in their preferred zones and positions.
If you get it in there ASAP you have more chance of catching them out of position and creating chaos.
Collingwood just move it at all costs. Sydney monstered the Hawks today just getting the ball inside 50 as fast as possible.
We're trying to be too cute and create ideal entries, the actual kick inside 50 comes after several minutes of chipping it side to side by which time all the marking players are double teamed and they have their zone in place for exits and the drop points covered.

While I do agree with you the problem with getting it in there quickly is we need players that win contests in the fwd half.

None of Tabs, Treacy, Darcy, Jackson, Fyfe have the speed/ability to get any sort of separation on the lead in the fwd half. On the rare occasion they do, they drop marks, simple ****ing marks. None of them take contested marks. Our other options are basically sub 180cm.

Our fwd 6-7 players would be the worst collective in the league by a fair margin which makes it so difficult to move it in there quickly. So there’s multiple issues at play.

 

[Quazar]

We are as boring as bat s**t.
Same as last season and the season before.
We dont score. Our whole game is built around very good defense.
The exception to this is last years wins against melbourne and geelong where we played attacking (dare i say exciting) second halves.
We can do it, just it seems we are scared to do it
Take the game on!!

well, if we are always this soft under-bellied and risk-averse, we'll simply never win a Premiership. You can't stand still in this sport and watch the other teams around improve and embrace the competition's modern day ethic and expect to be as good. That's already been proven - we see the likes of Collingwood embrace fast, attacking footy and they're racking up the goals. With a makeshift forward line you could argue too! Had we played them last round we would have had a 10 goal smacking, possibly minimum!

It's been the elephant in the room for too long this "fix the forward line" issue, and every year we tinker and shoehorn and faff around trying to gloss over it, or out-defend teams to a victory. We draft high(ish) pick forwards in Sturt and Amiss and don't immediately start getting them melded into the forward line. Alright, some concessions with Sturt because of his nullifying injuries, but still....no excuses this year! Boring alright....

Longmuir might have to be renamed Quagmuir, because he'll be stuck it in unless he changes his psychology....right effing now!! Enough is enough, if he doesn't have the bottle....ship him off, but for god's sake....replace him with someone that does!

The club showed ruthless ambition before, in ensnaring Ross and propelling the club forward.....but it was shortlived and ultimately, without attaining the Big Prize. If they do it again, they have to make sure it's someone in for the long-haul who is not so entrenched in defensively-minded philosophies that we get scared of the very notion of attack. It's ludicrous it's 2023 and we're even having these debates. Separate the wheat from the chaff!

The club wants to be taken seriously...?!?! Show some f***ing mettle then!!

 

[greatgatsby]

The senior coach faces a crunch year. He's been impressive but was outcoached at times last year (no disgrace, although a couple of times it was against a senior coach with less experience at the level). The ball movement/forward line efficiency are clearly the major issues. I'm confident he's up to the challenge.

I'm less confident now.

 

[Freomaniac]

If we did this and lost a load of games, well at least it would be fun to watch at times.
Now, we are still losing and it’s like watching paint dry it’s so boring.

Sounds like Freo under Ross Lyon from 2016-2019.

Yeah Freo played boring footy from 2012-5, but at least we were playing and winning finals.

Saying that.....

Again... I don't expect Justin Longmuir to win a flag or make a grand final with this side.

I do expect a 2 or 3 year run of finals

 

[Freomaniac]

While I do agree with you the problem with getting it in there quickly is we need players that win contests in the fwd half.

None of Tabs, Treacy, Darcy, Jackson, Fyfe have the speed/ability to get any sort of separation on the lead in the fwd half. On the rare occasion they do, they drop marks, simple ****ing marks. None of them take contested marks. Our other options are basically sub 180cm.

Our fwd 6-7 players would be the worst collective in the league by a fair margin which makes it so difficult to move it in there quickly. So there’s multiple issues at play.

I'm not denying freos forward structure overall isn't great.

Yet Freo made finals last season. So something was working.

Rory Lobb kicked 36 goals, tabs kicked 23 goals from 13 games.

The smaller guys goal kicking was well spread. Schultz kicked 30 goals, Frederick kicked 28 goals. Walters kicked 25 goals and 15 behinds.

So it wasn't relied on one bloke kicking a bag to win. It was a spread of players

 

[Wilksyy]

Got us to finals last year so he still gets my vote.

The next five games are going to be an interesting watch from a structure/method perspective.

 

[Nothing]

It feels like 2007 all over again. We finished 2006 with success in the finals and it was shaping that 2007 was going to be a better year. We played Port (Saints) in round 1 in a game we were expected to win. Port (Saints) played very well and eventually pulled away, leaving a few heads to be scratched at what went wrong. The next week we played the (equal) wooden spooners in Essendon (NM) and lost again. Week 3 derby and after another loss we're 0/3 and basically out of finals contention. That year, Port finished second (only to be 117d in the GF - perhaps some money on Saints reaching the GF?).

We junked Connolly that year even with a recent extension to his contract.

 

[Square Peg]

It feels like 2007 all over again. We finished 2006 with success in the finals and it was shaping that 2007 was going to be a better year. We played Port (Saints) in round 1 in a game we were expected to win. Port (Saints) played very well and eventually pulled away, leaving a few heads to be scratched at what went wrong. The next week we played the (equal) wooden spooners in Essendon (NM) and lost again. Week 3 derby and after another loss we're 0/3 and basically out of finals contention. That year, Port finished second (only to be 117d in the GF - perhaps some money on Saints reaching the GF?).

We junked Connolly that year even with a recent extension to his contract.

Great observation. It might go that way. If so, let's hope Alcock doesn't come out publicly midseason and throw JLo under the bus by saying his future is dependent on making finals this year, like Hart did to CC during the 2007 season. That was a pretty low point in club governance history.