Macca19
Moderator
- Moderator
- #1
Woohoo!
Go your hardest peeps!
---------------------------------------------
Well, one game over and done with, one win on the board. That's all that matters. It certainly wasn't pretty, in fact at times it was down right scary, but we got there in the end.
First thing that deserves a mention is the crowd. To get that sort of crowd on Easter Sunday is a marvellous result. I thought we would get 35k, so to get nearly 9k more than that was a huge effort.
Onto the match itself and really it should be spoken about in two parts, the first 3 quarters and then the final quarter. Just what went wrong in those opening 3 quarters? There were times when we looked good to very good, but for the most part from the stands it looked like we panicked, our decision making was poor, our structures were poor, our press was too far forward and our midfield were to be blunt, horrible.
We got found out with their defensive transition by having our press push far too far forward which allowed their players time and time again to get space over the top. All it needed was for them to win the ball in the middle and use it effectively. Whenever they did that, they scored. 9 of their 15 goals came from Joe the Goose goals over the top. That's simply ludicrous. And that's just the goals they got. There were a number of close calls where a lunging fist saved our bacon from any more damage. There was one particular moment early in the last quarter where they had 5 players goal side and the ball was only 50-55 metres away. Thankfully we laid a tackle and won the ball back but again, we would have looked silly had that come off.
The interesting thing from our press was that we seemed to allow them that room. Our defenders knew there were players 'offside', we just allowed them to be in that position. Obviously this was structural instruction and the players were positioned where they were expected, but we can't expect to win a lot of games by giving up 15 goals and 9 run in uncontested goals from the goal square every game. If we do that next week then Josh "Joe The Goose" Jenkins will kick 15.
So it sounds like i'm having a crack at the defenders. It's really not the case. I thought as a defensive group they performed really well. It was the instruction that was off. Hombsch was fantastic. Trengove put in a great days work. Broadbent was impressive. Jasper was probably best on ground. Even Jonas and Carlile won more one on ones than they lost. But we leaked like a sieve. So what was the cause of this?
The midfield. We just couldn't win the contested ball at all. I don't care what the stats say (we were +11 in CP), at stoppages we were absolutely pantsed. Now current popular whipping boy Lobbe had a large part to play in that. Armitage and Steven had a field day in the middle. Where was Boak? Where was Wines? It took Ollie till halfway through the third quarter to get his first clearance. Not good enough. It felt that for quite some time there that if Sam Gray wasn't winning a clearance, then noone was. Not good enough.
So what changed in the last quarter? I think there is no doubt fitness played a part. The Saints looked dead on their feet halfway through the quarter. I think structurally we sharpened up. We improved through the midfield and found plenty of space up forward. Charlie Dixon hey! What an enigma. At three quarter time I was ready to call it the biggest let down since finding out that Toobs had been discontinued but his last quarter made it worth it. Yes it was junk time, but overall I thought he had a shocker and still had 6 scoring shots and 9 score involvements.
Overall i'm happy we won, but there is a lot of work to do. Bassett needs to sharpen up, as does Voss. We won't have the luxury of playing that bad and winning against the Crows.
PLAYER REVIEWS
The Best
Pittard - When he plays like that, he is the best general defender in the game. Big call but i'm happy to back it up. Defensively he was rock solid, took a number of strong grabs in front of the oncoming pack. Found space to create and i thought he was as good as ever with his disposal. He is creative, he is now a strong physical player and if he can play like that all year (not just the first 2 months like 2015) then he will be All Australia this year. When we were faltering, he was the one that stood up and helped us back in the game.
R Gray - Is there a better all round player in the game right now? He just keeps performing week after week. Doesn't matter where. He goes in the midfield, he leads us with 8 clearances. He goes up forward, he leads up with 4 goals. He is as good as anyone in the game right now and this was just another first class performance. He barely wastes a disposal, thinks two steps ahead of everyone else and is a match winner.
Hombsch - Thought he was a monster down back today. Not only did he keep Riewoldt quiet for most of the time he was on him, he provided great back up run and was an absolute beast with the spoils today. Just knew when to zone off and when to go hard at the contest. It was Jack at his very best.
Wingard - Chad has kicked more goals, had more disposals and had more immediate impact than he did today. But, I don't think Chad has ever played such an all round match as he did today. He got his 20 touches, he kicked his 3 brilliant goals, but it was his 5 other score involvements and his massive 9 tackles that really impressed me today. He was maybe a bit slow in the first quarter, but after that he was everywhere and made sure he got involved as much as possible.
S Gray - It probably wasn't the best game he's played, but he was super important when we were under the pump. He was just about the only player winning the clearances and finding space to get us forward. Was his kicking up to scratch? It could have been better. He's a big culprit when it comes to blindly kicking it down the throat of an opponent. I can handle the four or five mistakes when he does 20-25 other very good things. His clearance work was great, he continued to find space on a forward flank and a wing. This is exactly what I hoped would happen. As 5th or 6th option in the midfield, he'd have the time and space to do as he wanted, just like the last 2 months of last year. Could be in for a big year!
The Rest
Boak - Well it could possibly be the worst he's played in 5-6 years. Is he carrying an injury or was it just a bad day at the office? I'm not sure but he didn't look right. He didn't have the depth in his kicking as usual and he could barely raise a gallop for much of the last half. Loved that he kicked the first goal of the match. He's a bit of a noted slow starter and it often takes him 2-3 matches to find his rhythm, lets hope he's back at his best next week.
Neade - Just the nine touches, no scoring shots, but he was incredibly important out there. Noone tackled harder on either side than Neadey today. He bobbed up right when we needed someone to do something a number of times. If I was giving out votes for Best Team Man, he'd have gotten them.
Broadbent - Played loose down back and played quite direct when he had the ball. Was a consistently good performance even if he did butn the ball a little at times. Loved his goal.
Ebert - when he gave up the ball with his first touch which was the worst error anyone made all day I sighed and thought, here we go. But, credit to him, he turned it around and had a strong performance. Yes he turned it over a few other times and maybe tried to do too much on occasion, but he was undoubtedly a very big reason why we won today. 3 goals was fantastic and they all came at important times. If he plays like that all year we will all be very happy.
Hartlett - Forgot he was playing until the start of the 2nd quarter. After that quiet start, I thought he put in a real strong shift. Was linking up well, tackled hard and just seemed to play a part in a lot of our cleaner forward movement. Surprised to see his DE so low.
Trengove - Unlucky not to make it in the votes. Thought he had a strong performance at CHB, playing on a range of players from Josh Bruce to Jade Gresham. Like Hombsch he seemed to be in the right place at the right time a lot. Made one bad spoiling error in the third but outside of that, I couldn't fault his game at all.
Wines - You look at his stat sheet and they are some impressive numbers. 24 touches, 7 clearances, 5 tackles, 1 goal. But when the heat was in the game, he really struggled. He did a lot of his best work when St Kilda started to slow down. His goal was important and just about the only goal we got direct from a stoppage all day. Was invisible at the stoppages until the last quarter. Can and will play better.
White - Unfortunate he got injured early and really had no part to play. Could be out for a while.
Polec - Didn't really do anything that stood out but was always around the place getting involved. A decent first game back.
Dixon - Well what can you say. As I said earlier, I thought he had a nightmare for three quarters. Must have dropped 6 or 7 marks he got good hands to, shanked some bad shots at goal, at times his defensive pressure was poor and he seemed a little unsettled at the attention he was getting. But his last quarter was well worth it. Yes it was junk time but who cares. If he has 6 scoring shots a week i'll be happy. That monster goal was out of this world.
Lobbe - He took not one but two marks! Unbelievable. Could have taken another 2 but had his obligatory drop. His ruckwork, could have been better. Found Armitage more than anyone else. Was worked off the ball a lot by Hickey. Provided nothing around the ground. I'm scared for next week.
Impey - Billings had a fair bit of it but was never really a genuine scoring chance for most of the game. So on that regard I think Jars did a good job, Billings had a good final NAB game playing deep forward so it was good to stop him having an impact. Just needed to do something, anything with the ball though.
Carlile - Solid as a rock down back. Not much more that needs to be said really. Did his job.
Schulz - I enjoyed his game today. It was the same roaming Schulz we've seen the last few years but without the pressure of having to be the #1 man deep forward as well. Ran hard, chased hard, took some good marks and kicked a goal.
Westhoff - Was a good battle between he and Roberton. Not sure Hoff was as great as some have said but he still had a good game. Ran everywhere, kicked 2 goals and had a real impact after half time. He should be the player that really can get off the chain with Dixon in the side, though we said that when we got Ryder as well.
Ah Chee - Really poor first half, just couldn't get involved at all. Was much better after half time but did he do enough to stay in the side? It will be a tough one. Just didn't seem all that instictive today. Held the ball for too long on 3 or 4 occasions and ended up giving off a sloppy disposal or simply getting caught. Must get quicker with his hands. That goal was all class though.
Jonas - The unassuming one today. Had a couple of opponents today, none who did anything and I thought his zoning off and providing a contest was great.
POTY VOTES
10
9 - Pittard, R Gray
8 - Hombsch, Wingard, S Gray
7 - Ebert, Trengove, Neade, Westhoff, Hartlett
6 - Schulz, Jonas, Carlile, Broadbent
5 - Dixon, Polec
4 - Impey
3 - Wines, Lobbe
2 - Boak, AhChee
1
0 - White
Go your hardest peeps!
---------------------------------------------
Well, one game over and done with, one win on the board. That's all that matters. It certainly wasn't pretty, in fact at times it was down right scary, but we got there in the end.
First thing that deserves a mention is the crowd. To get that sort of crowd on Easter Sunday is a marvellous result. I thought we would get 35k, so to get nearly 9k more than that was a huge effort.
Onto the match itself and really it should be spoken about in two parts, the first 3 quarters and then the final quarter. Just what went wrong in those opening 3 quarters? There were times when we looked good to very good, but for the most part from the stands it looked like we panicked, our decision making was poor, our structures were poor, our press was too far forward and our midfield were to be blunt, horrible.
We got found out with their defensive transition by having our press push far too far forward which allowed their players time and time again to get space over the top. All it needed was for them to win the ball in the middle and use it effectively. Whenever they did that, they scored. 9 of their 15 goals came from Joe the Goose goals over the top. That's simply ludicrous. And that's just the goals they got. There were a number of close calls where a lunging fist saved our bacon from any more damage. There was one particular moment early in the last quarter where they had 5 players goal side and the ball was only 50-55 metres away. Thankfully we laid a tackle and won the ball back but again, we would have looked silly had that come off.
The interesting thing from our press was that we seemed to allow them that room. Our defenders knew there were players 'offside', we just allowed them to be in that position. Obviously this was structural instruction and the players were positioned where they were expected, but we can't expect to win a lot of games by giving up 15 goals and 9 run in uncontested goals from the goal square every game. If we do that next week then Josh "Joe The Goose" Jenkins will kick 15.
So it sounds like i'm having a crack at the defenders. It's really not the case. I thought as a defensive group they performed really well. It was the instruction that was off. Hombsch was fantastic. Trengove put in a great days work. Broadbent was impressive. Jasper was probably best on ground. Even Jonas and Carlile won more one on ones than they lost. But we leaked like a sieve. So what was the cause of this?
The midfield. We just couldn't win the contested ball at all. I don't care what the stats say (we were +11 in CP), at stoppages we were absolutely pantsed. Now current popular whipping boy Lobbe had a large part to play in that. Armitage and Steven had a field day in the middle. Where was Boak? Where was Wines? It took Ollie till halfway through the third quarter to get his first clearance. Not good enough. It felt that for quite some time there that if Sam Gray wasn't winning a clearance, then noone was. Not good enough.
So what changed in the last quarter? I think there is no doubt fitness played a part. The Saints looked dead on their feet halfway through the quarter. I think structurally we sharpened up. We improved through the midfield and found plenty of space up forward. Charlie Dixon hey! What an enigma. At three quarter time I was ready to call it the biggest let down since finding out that Toobs had been discontinued but his last quarter made it worth it. Yes it was junk time, but overall I thought he had a shocker and still had 6 scoring shots and 9 score involvements.
Overall i'm happy we won, but there is a lot of work to do. Bassett needs to sharpen up, as does Voss. We won't have the luxury of playing that bad and winning against the Crows.
PLAYER REVIEWS
The Best
Pittard - When he plays like that, he is the best general defender in the game. Big call but i'm happy to back it up. Defensively he was rock solid, took a number of strong grabs in front of the oncoming pack. Found space to create and i thought he was as good as ever with his disposal. He is creative, he is now a strong physical player and if he can play like that all year (not just the first 2 months like 2015) then he will be All Australia this year. When we were faltering, he was the one that stood up and helped us back in the game.
R Gray - Is there a better all round player in the game right now? He just keeps performing week after week. Doesn't matter where. He goes in the midfield, he leads us with 8 clearances. He goes up forward, he leads up with 4 goals. He is as good as anyone in the game right now and this was just another first class performance. He barely wastes a disposal, thinks two steps ahead of everyone else and is a match winner.
Hombsch - Thought he was a monster down back today. Not only did he keep Riewoldt quiet for most of the time he was on him, he provided great back up run and was an absolute beast with the spoils today. Just knew when to zone off and when to go hard at the contest. It was Jack at his very best.
Wingard - Chad has kicked more goals, had more disposals and had more immediate impact than he did today. But, I don't think Chad has ever played such an all round match as he did today. He got his 20 touches, he kicked his 3 brilliant goals, but it was his 5 other score involvements and his massive 9 tackles that really impressed me today. He was maybe a bit slow in the first quarter, but after that he was everywhere and made sure he got involved as much as possible.
S Gray - It probably wasn't the best game he's played, but he was super important when we were under the pump. He was just about the only player winning the clearances and finding space to get us forward. Was his kicking up to scratch? It could have been better. He's a big culprit when it comes to blindly kicking it down the throat of an opponent. I can handle the four or five mistakes when he does 20-25 other very good things. His clearance work was great, he continued to find space on a forward flank and a wing. This is exactly what I hoped would happen. As 5th or 6th option in the midfield, he'd have the time and space to do as he wanted, just like the last 2 months of last year. Could be in for a big year!
The Rest
Boak - Well it could possibly be the worst he's played in 5-6 years. Is he carrying an injury or was it just a bad day at the office? I'm not sure but he didn't look right. He didn't have the depth in his kicking as usual and he could barely raise a gallop for much of the last half. Loved that he kicked the first goal of the match. He's a bit of a noted slow starter and it often takes him 2-3 matches to find his rhythm, lets hope he's back at his best next week.
Neade - Just the nine touches, no scoring shots, but he was incredibly important out there. Noone tackled harder on either side than Neadey today. He bobbed up right when we needed someone to do something a number of times. If I was giving out votes for Best Team Man, he'd have gotten them.
Broadbent - Played loose down back and played quite direct when he had the ball. Was a consistently good performance even if he did butn the ball a little at times. Loved his goal.
Ebert - when he gave up the ball with his first touch which was the worst error anyone made all day I sighed and thought, here we go. But, credit to him, he turned it around and had a strong performance. Yes he turned it over a few other times and maybe tried to do too much on occasion, but he was undoubtedly a very big reason why we won today. 3 goals was fantastic and they all came at important times. If he plays like that all year we will all be very happy.
Hartlett - Forgot he was playing until the start of the 2nd quarter. After that quiet start, I thought he put in a real strong shift. Was linking up well, tackled hard and just seemed to play a part in a lot of our cleaner forward movement. Surprised to see his DE so low.
Trengove - Unlucky not to make it in the votes. Thought he had a strong performance at CHB, playing on a range of players from Josh Bruce to Jade Gresham. Like Hombsch he seemed to be in the right place at the right time a lot. Made one bad spoiling error in the third but outside of that, I couldn't fault his game at all.
Wines - You look at his stat sheet and they are some impressive numbers. 24 touches, 7 clearances, 5 tackles, 1 goal. But when the heat was in the game, he really struggled. He did a lot of his best work when St Kilda started to slow down. His goal was important and just about the only goal we got direct from a stoppage all day. Was invisible at the stoppages until the last quarter. Can and will play better.
White - Unfortunate he got injured early and really had no part to play. Could be out for a while.
Polec - Didn't really do anything that stood out but was always around the place getting involved. A decent first game back.
Dixon - Well what can you say. As I said earlier, I thought he had a nightmare for three quarters. Must have dropped 6 or 7 marks he got good hands to, shanked some bad shots at goal, at times his defensive pressure was poor and he seemed a little unsettled at the attention he was getting. But his last quarter was well worth it. Yes it was junk time but who cares. If he has 6 scoring shots a week i'll be happy. That monster goal was out of this world.
Lobbe - He took not one but two marks! Unbelievable. Could have taken another 2 but had his obligatory drop. His ruckwork, could have been better. Found Armitage more than anyone else. Was worked off the ball a lot by Hickey. Provided nothing around the ground. I'm scared for next week.
Impey - Billings had a fair bit of it but was never really a genuine scoring chance for most of the game. So on that regard I think Jars did a good job, Billings had a good final NAB game playing deep forward so it was good to stop him having an impact. Just needed to do something, anything with the ball though.
Carlile - Solid as a rock down back. Not much more that needs to be said really. Did his job.
Schulz - I enjoyed his game today. It was the same roaming Schulz we've seen the last few years but without the pressure of having to be the #1 man deep forward as well. Ran hard, chased hard, took some good marks and kicked a goal.
Westhoff - Was a good battle between he and Roberton. Not sure Hoff was as great as some have said but he still had a good game. Ran everywhere, kicked 2 goals and had a real impact after half time. He should be the player that really can get off the chain with Dixon in the side, though we said that when we got Ryder as well.
Ah Chee - Really poor first half, just couldn't get involved at all. Was much better after half time but did he do enough to stay in the side? It will be a tough one. Just didn't seem all that instictive today. Held the ball for too long on 3 or 4 occasions and ended up giving off a sloppy disposal or simply getting caught. Must get quicker with his hands. That goal was all class though.
Jonas - The unassuming one today. Had a couple of opponents today, none who did anything and I thought his zoning off and providing a contest was great.
POTY VOTES
10
9 - Pittard, R Gray
8 - Hombsch, Wingard, S Gray
7 - Ebert, Trengove, Neade, Westhoff, Hartlett
6 - Schulz, Jonas, Carlile, Broadbent
5 - Dixon, Polec
4 - Impey
3 - Wines, Lobbe
2 - Boak, AhChee
1
0 - White
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