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Negative
Still can't get over that 44 minutes of sh*t.
Not sure we are doing it right to be fair.We're obviously tanking.
Judging from Simmo's presser that was made abundantly clear. Our mids were weak when Saints lifted. Contest and ground ball shy.It really, really needs to be addressed now. Its an absolute indictment on the team (the midfield in particular) and the way we play the game.
No more hiding gutless performances behind accurate goalkicking and 3-4 goal wins. The light is being shone on the playing group and its revealing some ugly, ugly truths.
I agree, this is a good point you make - I was also surprised by Shuey's relentless tackling and aggressive attack on the ball. Like you, at first I thought we've lifted or changed our game from one week to the next, there's been a new game plan introduced or a 'hellfire+brimstone' coaches talk with the players. Shuey's involvement was awesome to watch, and everyone else played in a similar fashion, maybe feeding off his energy? But Shuey went so hard he tweaked his hammy?I saw Shuey last week laying tackles and burying Port players and was thinking we had tweaked out game plan to be a better contested ball side. Then Tim Kelly and Dom Sheed told me I was dreaming.
Will endure the replay at some point. I think. Maybe.
Some pretty interesting responses on here. In the back of my mind I was kinda feeling like this could happen - good teams respond, and woosha24 St Kilda aren’t actually a bad team, if you remember to literally 6 months ago. People seem to keep forgetting we’re missing half our goddamn midfield. I know this side is premiership quality, and I pretty much saw that the past two weeks against the Bulldogs and Port, because, according to the logic of posters on here after this loss, both those games should have been 50 point losses. It doesn’t make any sense to assume today’s match is a continuation of a trend, given the fact that, if this was true, the past 2 weeks would look very, very different.
If anything, what this thread ultimately teaches me is the fact posters on here revert to the same goddamn mindset every time a match like this happens, which can be described as a despair that tries to compensate for itself by assuming a pessimism that, while treated as ”more realistic” by the individual in question, is only a coping mechanism.
Let me save you the trouble:
Before half time - mids were allowed to roam freely and rack up uncontested possessions. We looked a million bucks.
After half time - St Kilda adopted a man-on-man strategy and forced our mids to play accountable football. We kicked 1 point to full time, they kicked 50 points.
Thats it. No masterstroke of coaching. No one sustained a game-ending injury. We didnt run out of puff and the Saints didnt suddenly turn into worldbeaters. We were forced into playing a contested form of footy, and that went about as well as we have come to expect.
In your opinion, which area of the ground do we suffer most and which players? Mids I'm assuming.
Lyon, pavlich and rucuioto should never commentateNot here to stick the boot in.
Easy to say with hindsight but I doubt any team would have beaten us once we turned it on halfway through the third. We had our 'now or never' moment and once it clicked we became untouchable. I agree with a few of you in here that before that point we were a goal or two away from dropping our heads and losing by 50+. Swings and roundabouts.
WCE are a professional and talented side and will do well this year. Even the best teams are bound to have a sh*t game and a reality check every so often, and maybe it will end up being a good thing that this one was at the start of the season, not the end. A week is a very long time in footy.
Garry Lyon is an absolute w***er.
Not here to stick the boot in.
Easy to say with hindsight but I doubt any team would have beaten us once we turned it on halfway through the third. We had our 'now or never' moment and once it clicked we became untouchable. I agree with a few of you in here that before that point we were a goal or two away from dropping our heads and losing by 50+. Swings and roundabouts.
WCE are a professional and talented side and will do well this year. Even the best teams are bound to have a sh*t game and a reality check every so often, and maybe it will end up being a good thing that this one was at the start of the season, not the end. A week is a very long time in footy.
Garry Lyon is an absolute w***er.
I think you'll be hard pressed to find anyone on this board who wouldnt say "mids".
Its a bigger problem than that though - its the way we are playing the game, or more specifically the fact that we dont want to play into any type of contested ball situation. That problem starts in the midfield, but its endemic all over the field - too many players instinctually "guarding grass" instead of applying direct pressure to the man with the ball. And dont even get me started on our tackling ability...
I would even argue that it was present during 2018. We had these sorts of shock losses back then. Adelaide came back from a similar margin and Essendon were up by some insane margin at 1/4 time. The difference is we kept finding a way to grind out the other matches (Wins against bottom 4 teams like Carlton that were less than inspiring) and put ourselves in a good spot where we then found an extra gear in the finals.While I agree to an extent (assuming a pessimism) I try to remind myself to stay positive. However, I see the same illness (as do many others) that crept in after 2018: an inability to play 4 quarters. It's crippled us since 2018 - a suspicion that we won't hold on to a well-earned lead to lose a game we by all means had dead-to-rights. It doesn't happen every time - absolutely granted, but it's a theme which occurs regularly enough to warrant pessimism.
+ve - Petch (who I usually have no time for)
+ve - first half
-ve - can't play 4 quarters disease
Anyone developed a vaccine for that yet?
Yeah, for me it's pretty much that simple. Most of the team appeared visibly disinterested to me. I'm accustomed to us losing ground ball battles, but I'm also accustomed to us at least trying.As a team I'd say we're too soft
...
I thought we applied some good pressure early on, but it massively faded 2nd half. It's hard to remember the last time we really just made an opposition team fall apart with direct pressure all game: I get what you mean.
I wouldn't piss on gary lyon if he was on fire. Just sayin'