Review Opening Round = GWS 114-82 Collingwood

[gouki88]

Can’t agree on Ollie - he’s 6cm smaller than AJ. He doesn’t have the size for a KPF.
AJ’s best is better than Ollie.

So at their best I’m taking AJ. He needs to get back to the form against Melb in RD 22? in 2022, where he was awesome.

I know AJ is testing our patience - but I remain hopeful.

Johnson's best is simply not better than Henry's, take the rose-tinted glasses off! Henry is a kid coming off a 40+ goal season. They have similar weaknesses, but Henry's application in leading and hitting packs is much better.

AJ dreams of having a season like Henry did at 21 years old.

 

[Mollythedolly]

All in all, it's probably not the worst sign that GWS can play an absolute blinder (18.4 from 50 inside 50's is beyond elite) fuelled by the fire of a losing prelim... and we can play fumbly, structure-less football like it's a low-intensity practice match...

...and we can still have more shots on goal and more i50's.

We were very, very bad. But even then, there’s still upside.

And for all that, we’re still in the eight.

 

[noideaatall]

THE GOOD:
•No injuries
•Pendles playing in front of twenty million spectators throughout his career
•DC, Maynard and Nick’s game

THE BAD:
•Apart from DC and Mihocek our talls were nowhere to be seen
•McStay’s absence is very significant
•Lots of fumbles and poor skill execution
•The defensive structure
•Not enough help in the midfield - this is the type of game a player like Mitchell gets exposed
•Lack of aggression when teams come at us

THE UGLY:
•Goal kicking accuracy
•Cox talking the talk but not being able to walk the walk
•AJ’s ineffectiveness without the ball
•The forward 50 connection

It's not the end of the world, we acknowledge where we went wrong and we get back to work.

Whilst we were really bad, we had more inside-50s and just as much scoring shots.

Looking forward to see how the coaching panel rectifies this.




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You should post more, great analysis. Thanks for the 1000's of likes, my counter would be at zero without you...

Another good for mine is GWS. Played excellently, pretty much everything fell into place for them. No doubt they are a great side but can't see them maintaining that level every game.

 

[Gaspard]

The concerns that abound here are real. It was very noticeable that our rucks were winning, but their midfielders were frequently getting into the best position to take the ball from the tap. Mitchell having a mediocre night in the middle may have been the main issue here, but Tom Green

12

Tom Green

Age

23

Ht

192cm

Wt

92kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.5

3star

K

4.3

2star

HB

7.3

5star

M

1.8

2star

T

2.3

4star

CL

2.8

4star

D

11.5

3star

K

4.3

2star

HB

7.3

4star

M

1.8

2star

T

2.3

3star

CL

2.8

4star

D

11.5

3star

K

4.3

2star

HB

7.3

5star

M

1.8

2star

T

2.3

4star

CL

2.8

5star

was able to set up so much run out of the middle, and I think De Goey was responsible for him most of the time. There is clearly a space for McRae.

McCreery is just too fumbly to be a midfielder. His half forward terrifier role is where he should stay. If a half forward needs to spend some time in the midfield, then Schulz is the man.

There was a lot of poor ball handling, more by us than them, as you expect when a team gets on top. It reminded me (and many others) of the Brisbane game last year. Was the ball slippery in the humidity? It looked like it.

Tactically, they kept us under control exiting defence. Cross field exits were non existent for us, but the order of the day for them. Our method for defending their exits involved little pressure until the ball was at half back (theirs). We seemed to be trying to then turn the ball over in the middle of the ground and not doing very well at it.

When we attacked, they managed to fill our forward line before an entry kick occurred. They were confident that they would turn the ball over there, and so were not so worried about defending the middle of the ground. The kicks into this clogged forward line were pretty unimaginative, and even the times when a bit of criss cross kicking was used to try and open up some space, they kept it all tight. Goals had to be scrambled, and thus many missed. This doesn't excuse the missed set shots, but explains the pressure on them.

With so much going wrong, it is surprising that we got the ball within scoring range so much, but the rushed nature of our entries compared to theirs explains the accuracy difference. All of this happened to us a couple of times last year, and the other teams will all have taken note. Our system is vulnerable if you have the right personnel and methods.

 

[Mollythedolly]

I thought our mids were beaten soundly in transition quite often, but the midfield battle specifically was won by us. The pointy ends are where we lost

The raw stats cover up the cleanness disparity between the midfield groups. They got clean exits out the front of stoppages, we were all too often just smashing the footy forward.

 

[Carringbush2010]

Here are the stats

AFL - News, Fixtures, Scores & Results - AFL.com.au

Australian Football League. All the latest AFL news, video, results and information

www.afl.com.au

Won i50's

Lost all the mark and possession metrics, might explain a bit.

Meh, we wasted ball, there were actually some good signs at times.

We might have a slow start to the season, but confident we'll be contending at the pointy end.

 

[Mollythedolly]

A week ago we had convinced ourselves that the fitter and more intense Johnson would step into McStays shoes and give us strength at the contests. He didn't and frankly, at best, he doesn't look any better than last year.

Schultz was much heralded but has sent shock waves out among supporters who thing we may have jettisoned x factor material and replaced it with a little work donkey that fumbles. That maybe, after all, 3 forward midg*ets may be one too many, particularly in the absence of quality big men to bring the ball to ground. Schultz has time on his side. Let's hope he uses it wisely.

Let's hope some of last night's apparent exposure of inadequacy is somehow can somehow be papered over, or even better, that most performances were aberrations, never to be repeated, that Johnson can stride the forward ground like a colossus, or that their best is not truly behind the likes of Elliott, Cox, and Pendlebury.

We couldn't have a better test than the Swans. The chinks in our armour will have been noted and planned for, and Grundy will be eager to show us why we were wrong in not believing he is worth a million a year. We need to win this one.

If you’re looking for a replacement McStay from within our squad then you’re always going to come up short. Whoever takes his place needs to play their game. It’ll be different but can still be a positive contribution. I think Johnson has been identified as the best option at this time and we need to give him a block of games to see what he can do before looking at change. The panicked knee jerk reactions stuff being proposed by some isn’t what I’d expect from our coaching staff.

 

[Bianconeri]

Sidebum played fwd. New roles by looks for pendles and Steele. Phasing them out of midfield.

I didn’t notice Sidebottom forward, lined up on the wing almost every cb.

 

[Daniel J]

Does anyone else get frustrated by Darcy Moore

30

Darcy Moore

Age

28

Ht

203cm

Wt

100kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.1

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

4.1

3star

M

4.8

5star

T

1.6

4star

MG

169.1

3star

D

13.9

3star

K

7.3

3star

HB

6.6

4star

M

4.9

5star

T

0.7

1star

MG

182.0

3star

D

6.8

2star

K

4.2

2star

HB

2.6

3star

M

2.6

3star

T

1.8

4star

MG

87.4

2star

. Takes a great intercept Mark. Then takes his time to head back behind the mark, then waits 20 seconds to get some TV time before bombing the ball to a contest.

Fly needs to remind him to take the game on.

He is quick and a great kick. Perhaps needs to watch the footage of the Essendon clash when he moved the ball on quickly and with purpose which eventually led to Elliott kicking the winner.

 

[Jen2310]

Fly did state that the mcstay spot would be a revolving door depending on form and prob match ups


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[gouki88]

Apples and Oranges - Ollie would never be considered a McStay replacement, at 188cm.

So? You're the one who said AJ's best was better!

Can’t agree on Ollie - he’s 6cm smaller than AJ. He doesn’t have the size for a KPF.
AJ’s best is better than Ollie.

So at their best I’m taking AJ. He needs to get back to the form against Melb in RD 22? in 2022, where he was awesome.

I know AJ is testing our patience - but I remain hopeful.

 

[No SPIN]

Smacked on defensive running. GWS ran hard to help thier defense and then blitzkrieg it back out on turn over.

Also thought many times in skirmishes for the ball in packs around the ground, they put thier heads over it and went in harder. Where as some of ours were ball watching and staying out when they probably should of cracked in.
Imo it's an area Nick Daicos needs to improve when there is no one else going in and he's there sometimes it's his turn.

It's an area Josh Daicos has come on in leaps and bounds.

We won I50’s - that suggests their running wasn’t dominant or that ours was poor.
They won CP by 11 so to that extent I agree with you.

 

[Orange crush]

Apples and Oranges - Ollie would never be considered a McStay replacement, at 188cm.

Tassie and gws?

 

[Drought Break]

The player who has gotten out of any criticism unscathed is McStay. Zero marks, zero goals and no presence whatsoever. It is like he wasn’t even out there

Still did more then Johnson

 

[TheGreatGrundy]

If you’re looking for a replacement McStay from within our squad then you’re always going to come up short. Whoever takes his place needs to play their game. It’ll be different but can still be a positive contribution. I think Johnson has been identified as the best option at this time and we need to give him a block of games to see what he can do before looking at change. The panicked knee jerk reactions stuff being proposed by some isn’t what I’d expect from our coaching staff.

It's not 'panic knee jerk' stuff. We all know AJ's deficiencies and why he was overlooked last year. The difference this year is we were told he'd trained harder and seemed intent on addressing his weaknesses and improving his strengths. Then he comes out first game and plays exactly like he has always done at his worst. What's a block of senior games going to do that a block of VFL games can't? In the meantime, give someone else a go.

 

[Mick F]

I never actually saw the team given our new policy of no one announcing it in the forum. The idea I guess is to create 2 classes of poster - those with gumption and knowledge and those without either.

I just assumed that Frampton was playing but I couldn't have been more wrong if I had wanted to be. Given the day out had by all GWS's tall forwards, it wasn't a good move. Moore started fairly demonstrably, but then faded into the obscurity that getting beaten by better opponents brings.

Jen posted it.

 

[TradeDraft]

 

[No SPIN]

It's not 'panic knee jerk' stuff. We all know AJ's deficiencies and why he was overlooked last year. The difference this year is we were told he'd trained harder and seemed intent on addressing his weaknesses and improving his strengths. Then he comes out first game and plays exactly like he has always done at his worst. What's a block of senior games going to do that a block of VFL games can't? In the meantime, give someone else a go.

It’s all about confidence- AJ needs a block of games to prove himself.
If he can’t do it - then it’s Reef turn for a block.
Dropping AJ after one game does nothing but undermine his reward for pre-season efforts to improve.

 

[JuniorB]

It’s all about confidence- AJ needs a block of games to prove himself.
If he can’t do it - then it’s Reef turn for a block.
Dropping AJ after one game does nothing but undermine his reward for pre-season efforts to improve.

That's true, but Reef was arguably one of the standouts of the preseason.
It will be interesting to see which way the selection committee go.

 

[Pie thon]

I'm not really fussed with losing this game. I'm glad we did have more scoring shots, despite not coming in with the same hunger and pressure. Its an alright sign.
Teams that win back to back, or 3rd flag dynasty. All start the first 2 months slower. Then come on and finish 2nd or 3rd on the ladder with strong momentum. Teams that finish 1st after a flag lose momentum and fail, Rich 2018, Coll 2011, Gee 2008, Ess 2001. If we are going to lose around 6 games this season. I prefer they are mostly away games against teams who will make finals.
McRae, Lepppitch and Bolton have seen this all unfold at 3 dynasty clubs.
Next week we really do need to bounce back though

 

[loki04]

Here are the stats

AFL - News, Fixtures, Scores & Results - AFL.com.au

Australian Football League. All the latest AFL news, video, results and information

www.afl.com.au

Won i50's

Lost all the mark and possession metrics, might explain a bit.

Meh, we wasted ball, there were actually some good signs at times.

We might have a slow start to the season, but confident we'll be contending at the pointy end.

We won inside 50s thanks to 50m bombs forwards to a congested f50.

 

[Apex36]

Insipid and pathetic, GWS really stuck it to us in the lead up to the game.

I disagreed on bringing AJ and Dean in, the former is can’t mark and is not AFL standard, the latter has played 1 VFL game in two years. How it was a good idea to bring him in I’ll never know. Moore was lost trying to partner him. The GWS forwards had a field day today, we lost the game at selection.

We can’t expect the older brigade to carry the load anymore. They will peak during finals, we should rotate them out of the side regularly, and in favour of playing the next generation…Finn should have played today, Reef…just play them. Cox was crazy bad.

Degoey needs to start putting together full games.

Schultz was close to worst on ground, didn’t seem to handle the big league all that well.

Out: Dean, Cox, AJ, Mitchell
In: Frampton, Reef, Finn,

Quality melt, would read again.

 

[Carringbush2010]

We won inside 50s thanks to 50m bombs forwards to a congested f50.

Which means we were getting enough footy, just not using it well.

Lots to work on, we'll be better next week.

 

[Magpies Swoop Ya]

It’s all about confidence- AJ needs a block of games to prove himself.
If he can’t do it - then it’s Reef turn for a block.
Dropping AJ after one game does nothing but undermine his reward for pre-season efforts to improve.

Agree both AJ & Reef deserve on going opportunities/ block , how many games are you suggesting in a block ?

 

[No SPIN]

Agree both AJ & Reef deserve on going opportunities/ block , how many games are you suggesting in a block ?

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