Autopsy Mid Table Freo beats Mid Table Bulldogs 95-71

[Anja_Nees]

Agree with the rest of your post, and all these...bar Harmes. I'd like to see him played in the role it appears we recruited him for, tagging. At least to see if he can be more effective in that role. Last night was the perfect opportunity, especially after the first quarter. Or after the first half... or sometime.

Don’t have a problem with him getting some games in isolation to see if he can play a role. I just don’t want 4-5 list cloggers getting a go while emerging young players bide their time in the VFL.

Garcia and West have both looked likely players a long time but have both probably played way more VFL than they needed to. Buku probably too. Meanwhile we’ve given games to middling fringe types like O’Brien, Scott, Baker, Poulter etc.

Time to draw a line and prioritise the future a little.

 

[Next Waiting]

Caleb Daniel playing on Serong

Daniel on Serong.....so wrong. As DRU noted, never has Daniel looked so tiny in this company. I just don't see a best 23 place for him anywhere in a fit squad.

 

[Sheikh from Boggy Creek]

I've got a beef with something I've seen over the past two weeks.
In both cases a player was streaming forward to the 50m line and either kicked for goal and missed, or kicked to the hotspot pack and no mark.
Both times, Ryhlee West was alone in the pocket screaming for the ball.
All options were low probability goals (running shot from 50, pack mark and goal or tight angle set shot), but giving the ball to West gives us time to set up and keep the ball in F50 if he misses.
In the case of Bailey Williams against the Saints, he missed and they went coast to coast for a goal.
It sums up what an unprofessional team we are at times.
Geelong would never do that, Richmond of glory years the same.

On Pixel 7a using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[maddog37]

The worst part about last nights result was the sheer banal predictability of the result.

We all hoped for a different outcome but you didn’t even need to watch to know how it would play out.

It was a fait accompli

 

[Libba39]

I don’t get the Richards into the midfield move. Why lose your best running defender to gain a fourth best midfielder?

This where having Duryea in the side, despite him still being a very experienced player, is actually more of a hindrance, especially on a large fast track like optus.

On SM-A505YN using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[_Mike_]

Suggest you get your vision checked. No way was Darcy better than English last night.

However our Darcy was better than both

 

[_Mike_]

Even without Marra on the forward line Darcy made up for his absence last night. Lobb had minimal impact and Astro was all over the place.

I’m being a little more pragmatic about the side’s fortunes this season and as much as I like to think playing finals is a chance, with the current team selection and strategy they’re not even close to contending

 

[Struggle]

The refusal to rotate through the midfield is killing us. Bont and Treloar can influence games from a half forward flank more than Macrae and Harmes can.

In what world does rolling out the same 3 mids for the entire game make sense. Richards has never been in there in his life but now gets every bounce that he's on the ground for. West and Garcia don't get a sniff

Whoever our midfield coach is may be worse than Spangher

 

[Al dente]

I thought English was outstanding and covered the ground miles better than Darcy, influencing the game. He was marginally (not wholly) defeated in ruck contests and his goalkicking accuracy let him down a little, but he was one of our best.

6 clearances (2nd most for the team)
4 intercept possessions (equal 5th team)
372 metres gained (4th most in team, only the 3 running half backs had more)
Only 2 turnovers from 23 touches
11 contested ball
4FF vs 1FA
23 touches @ 74%


Sean Darcy was absolutely not best on ground for his inability to prevent English's influence on the game in general transition play like I outline above - English spent most of the game getting to the ball before Darcy could/did.

English getting out tapped marginally against the bloke who was probably the best pure tap ruckman over the last two years (even better than Gawn) is hard to win but not entirely unexpected.

English has become a whipping bou around here and I'm really not sure, given we all know the type of player he is by now, why the expectations are so unrealistic? He had an outstanding game if he was a midfielder with those stats. He competed as well as can be expected and probably better against a good tap ruck that has outtapped most the league.

the Darcy Vs Darcy ones hurt us a few times, 2 in the last quarter resulted in scores

 

[_Mike_]

Suggest you get your vision checked. No way was Darcy better than English last night.

I think the point that DW is making is that don’t use stats alone to make an assessment of how good a player played. Whilst I agree that Sean Darcy wasn’t that good in context, English’s stats weren’t as influential as they appear on paper.

It’s not about the # of kicks/hb/marks a player racks up, it’s what happens as a result of those stats that is far more important

 

[grassman75]

Caleb Daniel playing on Serong

You mean Caleb Daniel running around and Sering doing as he pleases

 

[Next Waiting]

I think the point that DW is making is that don’t use stats alone to make an assessment of how good a player played. Whilst I agree that Sean Darcy wasn’t that good in context, English’s stats weren’t as influential as they appear on paper.

It’s not about the # of kicks/hb/marks a player racks up, it’s what happens as a result of those stats that is far more important

It's just not a game that can be reduced to statistical analysis alone to indicate a definitive result, one way or the other. Not on the weighting of the current stats at least.

They don't measure moments and the opportunity cost of one decision over another for a start.

The eye test does, in a narrative and intuitive sort of way.

 

[Charlie Bucket]

English was one of, if not our best. Anyone that can’t see it is blinded by the fact our midfield were shit and let him down anytime he got his hand to a hitout.

23 disposals
7 marks
6 Tackles
11 Contested disposals
6 Clearances
28 hitouts
1.2 (3 shots on goal)

No sane person gives the chocolates to Darcy.

 

[olimauldon]

Surely the board can't be happy with Bevo. I just can't understand how they could be behind him

 

[yebach]

The refusal to rotate through the midfield is killing us. Bont and Treloar can influence games from a half forward flank more than Macrae and Harmes can.

In what world does rolling out the same 3 mids for the entire game make sense. Richards has never been in there in his life but now gets every bounce that he's on the ground for. West and Garcia don't get a sniff

Whoever our midfield coach is may be worse than Spangher

It's not the midfielder coach though. This sh*t has been happening for years.
The only constant has been Bevo.

 

[Zeno The Great]

You mean Caleb Daniel running around and Sering doing as he pleases

Geez he looked disinterested last night, was almost running around at 1/2 pace the whole night. His kicking is normally elite and he looked way off last night in decision making and execution. Was very disappointing, only has himself to blame if he is dropped off that.

 

[St 07]

There is very little chance Libba actually had food poisoning. If there was illness potent enough to prevent Libba from playing, it probably spread through the team

 

[Next Waiting]

We've beaten both Gold Coast and West coast convincingly. Gold Coast are currently handing it to West Coast who beat Freo last week, who then beat us yesterday.

For all the gnashing of teeth, I love the fact that anybody can beat anybody on their day. Of course, we always want our team to win, but in the bigger scheme of things, an even competition.

It would be mind numbingly boring to win or lose all the time. We're about 50/50 with percentage on our side so far this season. A couple of green shoots, a couple that are withering on the vine and maybe some potential amongst the VFL side.

All things being equal, a premiership and another grand final appearance in the last 8 years is not terrible and probably above what should be reasonably expected. And it's not over ..... yet. If we could somehow get to 7 and 6 preferably, or 6 and 7 at the bye, there's a chance of September action.

There are still a couple of evolutions to play out before season's end in my view. There are a few players we might want to have a look at for either the first time or again in the VFL (Sanders, Clarke, Freijah and Cleary), there's the Libba, Bont, Macrae, Richards and Treloar midfield combo to tinker with and the JUH, Naughts, Darcy and Lobb mix to sort.

Time, currently, is on our side.

 

[Proffessor]

Even without Marra on the forward line Darcy made up for his absence last night. Lobb had minimal impact and Astro was all over the place.

I’m being a little more pragmatic about the side’s fortunes this season and as much as I like to think playing finals is a chance, with the current team selection and strategy they’re not even close to contending

I love the way Sam Darcy is playing and developing.

However I really don’t think you can look at the performances of our forwards too individualistically.
Lobb didn’t get much of it but attracted a lot of attention, which opened up opportunities for Sam. Besides if the umpiring was any where close to fair Rory would have been given a heap of free kicks and probably kicked enough goals to get us across the line.

 

[Erect]

I can't understand the thought process of playing Caleb Daniel

5

Caleb Daniel

Age

28

Ht

171cm

Wt

72kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

21.3

5star

K

11.5

4star

HB

9.8

5star

M

3.5

4star

T

2.9

4star

CL

1.4

4star

D

19.5

4star

K

11.1

4star

HB

8.4

4star

M

3.6

4star

T

2.0

3star

CL

1.0

3star

D

16.4

4star

K

7.2

3star

HB

9.2

5star

M

3.4

4star

T

2.6

4star

CL

0.2

2star

in a run-with role on Serong would be better than playing Harmes in that role. Harmes is a very average half-forward.

 

[Bald]

There is very little chance Libba actually had food poisoning. If there was illness potent enough to prevent Libba from playing, it probably spread through the team

Food poisoning isn’t contagious mate.

 

[JTCWBFC]

Food poisoning isn’t contagious mate.

If shit goal kicking is every chance food poisoning is too

 

[GingerDocker]

Hoo boy, I can’t stand his old man in the commentary box but that Darcy jnr is a Sherrin hoover.

I’m really going to enjoy watching him as he starts to put some meat on that preying mantis frame.

I can easily see him being a top 5 player in the comp.

 

[LondonBulldog]

That’s what happens when you’re missing your main inside mid, and replace him with a half backer.

Bullshit, if you think we lost because Richards played in the middle, that’s the future, you literally have no clue, try looking at senior players like Daniel, Mcrae and Lobb who are finished at the top level.

 

[dogwatch]

English was one of, if not our best. Anyone that can’t see it is blinded by the fact our midfield were s**t and let him down anytime he got his hand to a hitout.

23 disposals
7 marks
6 Tackles
11 Contested disposals
6 Clearances
28 hitouts
1.2 (3 shots on goal)

No sane person gives the chocolates to Darcy.

Just after I read this there was a loud banging at the door. When I opened it up there were these men in white coats. Before I could say anything they had put me in a straitjacket and sedated me. I woke up in the lunatic asylum in a padded cell with this other bloke who looked a bit familiar. Well, a lot familiar really.

He said "dogwatch! what are YOU doing here? You're not a nut case!" I nodded "yeah I know, but I said Sean Darcy had been better in the ruck contests than English despite English being better around the ground. I should have realised nobody reads past the first few words. Nobody does nuance. The coup de grace was Charlie B declaring in his I-will-not-be-contradicted sort of way 'No sane person gives the chocolates to Darcy'. Next thing I know there's this loud banging at the door and ... well, here I am."

"How about you?" I said. "I know you divide opinion at times but I definitely wouldn't have called you a nutter."

He gave me one of those familiar withering looks that he usually saves for journos. "The bastards pinged me on a technicality. Something about doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Why do they have to be so f******g literal? Don't they understand figures of speech?"

We both nodded sadly and sat pondering the floor for a couple of minutes.

Then we looked up at each other, stood and took a couple of awkward steps toward each other and embraced.