Portology
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You know, we slot one more easy shot or make one less error in defence or we pick O'Shea (or a fit Young) to match up on Walters instead of Moore or Monfries instead (to be fair Monfries didn't really get a chance to impact), we do just *one* more of these things right - and Westhoff is most likely shooting for the game after the siren, a game we certainly didn't "control" but had juggling through in our hands for a long time.
It seemed to me that when Freo got their run on in the 3rd their bigger bodied midfielders - Mayne, Mzungu and Mundy - just managed to shrug off our pressure a little better than we did going back the other way when the momentum swung our way in the 4th. Some of that is mental (the Westhoff thing) but some is just a bigger body taking it on and crashing through, as their bigger mids did in the 3rd, as whoever crashed into Schulz and saved a goal for them did - exactly the way Moore doesn't do (at this time). White Polec Hartlett Wingard for us rely on extreme skill and/or speed to create a goal (or to deliver to the human battering ram and sharpshooting machine that is Schulz). But for them, that little bit of extra strength made it possible to get good enough delivery to Ballantyne where going the other way struggled more to pick any option other than Schulz (if one was even there). And it got them that slight differential in centre clearances that is critical for keeping "a momentum" going. They rolled the dice spectacularly in running at us and using up all their interchanges and trusted themselves to do enough damage to be able to weather the inevitable blowback. And we still were within one clanger plus one straight shot of winning it.
Missing our opportunities early made it just too difficult in the end. I know we can beat anybody, we've all seen that this year, but I don't think we are likely to beat four of the best "anybodies" in a row one after the other. Not this year. Too many things have to go "right" one after the other. It's not a wasted year or opportunity (not unless we crash out spectacularly against the Tigers of all teams) if it leaves the coaching staff in no doubt as to what little bit of balance we're missing out there. Win, lose or jag the flag, I believe we'll see during trade week, rather than in the next few weeks, IMO.
It seemed to me that when Freo got their run on in the 3rd their bigger bodied midfielders - Mayne, Mzungu and Mundy - just managed to shrug off our pressure a little better than we did going back the other way when the momentum swung our way in the 4th. Some of that is mental (the Westhoff thing) but some is just a bigger body taking it on and crashing through, as their bigger mids did in the 3rd, as whoever crashed into Schulz and saved a goal for them did - exactly the way Moore doesn't do (at this time). White Polec Hartlett Wingard for us rely on extreme skill and/or speed to create a goal (or to deliver to the human battering ram and sharpshooting machine that is Schulz). But for them, that little bit of extra strength made it possible to get good enough delivery to Ballantyne where going the other way struggled more to pick any option other than Schulz (if one was even there). And it got them that slight differential in centre clearances that is critical for keeping "a momentum" going. They rolled the dice spectacularly in running at us and using up all their interchanges and trusted themselves to do enough damage to be able to weather the inevitable blowback. And we still were within one clanger plus one straight shot of winning it.
Missing our opportunities early made it just too difficult in the end. I know we can beat anybody, we've all seen that this year, but I don't think we are likely to beat four of the best "anybodies" in a row one after the other. Not this year. Too many things have to go "right" one after the other. It's not a wasted year or opportunity (not unless we crash out spectacularly against the Tigers of all teams) if it leaves the coaching staff in no doubt as to what little bit of balance we're missing out there. Win, lose or jag the flag, I believe we'll see during trade week, rather than in the next few weeks, IMO.
