Review R22: The Good, Bad and Ugly vs. Footscray

[Southerntakeover]

You're correct, injuries weren't the reason for the first 4 games .....however, this AFL season has seen most teams have runs of losses

BRIS the first 5 games
CARL explosive to start .....can't win a chook raffle now
ESS ...looking top 4 material ...now doing what ESS do best
PORT ....done & dusted 4-5 weeks ago .....doing a Jekyll and Hyde performance now

So, it doesn't take much for teams to have a poor run

The problem isn't that we had one bad run. It's that we haven't had any 'good' run.

 

[Scorpus]

Soligo missed half a game,
Jones and Schoenberg have been nowhere this year
Sloane was never having an impact
Walker played 3/4 of the first month
Curtin wasn’t being played as a mid.
Will give you Murray and Thilthorpe, however Keane well and truly filled Murray’s hole though in 3 out of the first 4 games.
Blaming injuries for the first month is a massive cop out.

We also lost to Richmond at home.

People seriously don't think injuries is why we lost that one do they?

 

[Southerntakeover]

We also lost to Richmond at home.

People seriously don't think injuries is why we lost that one do they?

The whole season has all just been a bit of a spot of bad luck really. Like stubbing your toe. The best thing to do is say 'oh fiddlesticks' and move on, because we cant possibly be 'unlucky' for an eight season in a row can we?

 

[Bazz_27]

We also lost to Richmond at home.

People seriously don't think injuries is why we lost that one do they?

Yeah we were only missing our first choice:

Ruck /Forward
KPF
CHB
Intercept Defender
Small forward / impact mid

Take that out of most sides and they struggle plus our lack of list depth was exposed.

Intent was disappointing still

 

[Betts are off]

Was at the game and a few things stood out from the ground.

1) FOG's mindset is now in line with his powerful body. He knew he was stronger then every KPD on him, and was ragdolling defenders like they were junior footy players. I've been confident in FOG in the past, but this is different. He's entering "Just kick it to Fog" territory, and with Riley up there taking the #1, Darcy could be in line for some big bags.

2) Rankine with ball in hand running towards F50 is a weapon. Pretty sure he had 3 goal assists in the first quarter. So excited to see him as a 65% mid or more next season (and so should our forwards).

3) Rachele was doing some nice things up and down the ground. Plus I just realised, he's snagged 29 goals this year. I was a little down on him earlier, but he's actually tracking fairly well.

4) Curtin is a BIG BOY. He looked huge next to the other mids. I feel like he's still getting his head around the game speed. But with ball in hand he's ultra comfortable. I think eventually we will stop trying to shoe-horn him into roles, and just give him the Dan Curtin role.

 

[Geoffa32]

The three I50s Rankine connected with our forwards were sublime.

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[Rory Walkerfield]

Which makes the shitty game plan at the start of the year all the more baffling
Get it in quick to these monsters.

Here’s a theory - do you reckon Nicks panicked once TT went down in the preseason? Rather than go with fast ball movement he pivoted to a slow chip chip game plan?

I can’t recall bigman mentioning a slow tempo style of play during preseason.

 

[Jarman3]

The presence of TT makes a huge difference to that structure though... and he simply wasn't available early in the season.

** I'm not using the TT injury as an excuse. There was a lot more going on in those first 4 weeks than just TT missing from the forward line. Having said that, anyone who thinks it didn't have a significant impact has rocks in their heads.

The biggest issue for me (apart from that travesty of an attempt at a defensive gameplan early in the season) has been the selections. Nicks has had to be dragged kicking and screaming into playing guys like Dowling, Taylor and Curtin. Once they finally get a run (usually only as a result of injuries to senior players) they've all showed enough to make any observer question why they had to wait so long to get a chance in a team that was underperforming with the existing players. I guess credit to Nicks for giving Bond an opportunity when many here appeared to have written him off - he's come in and not looked out of place at AFL level. But any credit Nicks gets there, he loses for the way he's used Curtin.

The injury to Thilthorpe is out of anyone's control. But Nicks has done a poor job of managing the things that he can control like gameplan, selection and use of the sub.

 

[Jarman3]

The three I50s Rankine connected with our forwards were sublime.

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Second quarter where he took possession, just waltzed out from the middle of 4 opponents then hit Fog with the pass was genuinely arousing.

 

[Rory Walkerfield]

Was at the game and a few things stood out from the ground.

1) FOG's mindset is now in line with his powerful body. He knew he was stronger then every KPD on him, and was ragdolling defenders like they were junior footy players. I've been confident in FOG in the past, but this is different. He's entering "Just kick it to Fog" territory, and with Riley up there taking the #1, Darcy could be in line for some big bags.

2) Rankine with ball in hand running towards F50 is a weapon. Pretty sure he had 3 goal assists in the first quarter. So excited to see him as a 65% mid or more next season (and so should our forwards).

3) Rachele was doing some nice things up and down the ground. Plus I just realised, he's snagged 29 goals this year. I was a little down on him earlier, but he's actually tracking fairly well.

4) Curtin is a BIG BOY. He looked huge next to the other mids. I feel like he's still getting his head around the game speed. But with ball in hand he's ultra comfortable. I think eventually we will stop trying to shoe-horn him into roles, and just give him the Dan Curtin role.

I’m not sure Nicks is capable of creating a Dan Curtin role. The bloke is paint by numbers.

 

[Scorpus]

Yeah we were only missing our first choice:

Ruck /Forward
KPF
CHB
Intercept Defender
Small forward / impact mid

Take that out of most sides and they struggle plus our lack of list depth was exposed.

Intent was disappointing still

Missing all those guys except Thilthorpe and copping injuries in game didn't seem to faze us too much against Essendon

We also absolutely flogged West Coast at home with a similar injury list

 

[beartoo]

When it came to the crunch last year we WERE poor defensively. We lost 5 games by less than a goal. I do agree with you, it was a massive overcorrection, but it did need addressing. As it turns out, we won two of those close ones this year and lost 3. I remember Blight saying that the next step on from losing close games, is winning close games… and on from there, is winning games well. I believe this will be the next step we take next year. By pointing out our run after round 4, I’m not highlighting how great we were, because clearly, we weren’t great. But we did have some great moments and saw the promise of things to come. Am I happy how our year has panned out? Hell no! I changed my vote on the Nicks page from “at this stage leaning to keep” to “must go” over the duration of this season, so I’m firmly in the sack him camp now.

A large part of losing close games is going ultra-defensive to try to protect minuscule leads. Cost us the game against Geelong and has cost other games. Even yesterday we closed up shop in the last quarter and went defensive. Scored from our gut running into to forward line as we ran Footscray off their feet. This is dumb coaching and it is a Nicks' constant.
We lost the last quarter yesterday by a couple of points in a game where we were dominant for 3 quarters.

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[FR0GGY]

Here’s a theory - do you reckon Nicks panicked once TT went down in the preseason? Rather than go with fast ball movement he pivoted to a slow chip chip game plan?

I can’t recall bigman mentioning a slow tempo style of play during preseason.

He went down in the west coast trial from memory. Not long enough to change imo

 

[Coopers]

We also lost to Richmond at home.

People seriously don't think injuries is why we lost that one do they?

They literally looked like they'd rather be anywhere else that day.

 

[Punchy Bassett]

Injuries that exposed our midfield and forward line depth.

A month of bad form, like Sydney, Carlton and Collingwood are having now and Hawthorn had then.

Every side in the league has had a month or so where they've gone off the pace. It was frustrating it happened to us so early and rattled us.

Other than TT and Murray what injuries?

 

[Betts are off]

I’m not sure Nicks is capable of creating a Dan Curtin role. The bloke is paint by numbers.

TBH I think the more he plays the more he will just create it (regardless of the coaching). Kind of like how players like Westhoff and Blicavs created their own roles in those teams.

Being that big, but that clean/skilled is a unique blend. I don't think he's going end up an explosive stoppage beast from watching how he moves. I think his value is going to be how difficult it will be to match up on him around the grounds when he's fully up to speed.

I watched him high point a mark yesterday, and that was probably the most impressive thing he did for me. 95% of AFL mids are not capable of stopping him doing that. The more he does those unique things, the more his teammates start looking for it, and before you know it, he'll be at 20+ high impact touches a game.

 

[maxlilly]

Good
Sholl halving a marking contest in the middle of the ground against Lobb for Rankine to pick up the loose ball

 

[Punchy Bassett]

It was all injuries nothing to do with the continual selections of McHenry, Jones, Schoenberg etc etc

 

[SugarShane]

16th place in 2023. A team expected to be bottom four performing as expected in the first five rounds.

Been impressive since then.

I remember chatting with a Hawthorn supporting in-law just before Round 1 about our likely finishes this year.

It was unanimously agreed that us missing finals is a fail, no matter how you slice it.

We agreed the Hawks had shown a bit to be excited about, but his expert opinion was still bottom 4 and jagging some wins against good sides.

 

[WaynesWorld19]

And whats the difference between these teams and us Wayne?

These teams also had a really good run of good form which we haven't had.

I would be less concerned about the 0-4 start if we had a stretch of quality games and were in finals contention. Our biggest win streak this year is 2 wins.

The age profile ....CARL, ESS, BRIS have mature lists, no excuse

We have a terrific list profile, evidenced by stars of the future in the SANFL this weekend .....Edwards, T.Murray, Dowling ect ......and not forgetting Pedlar.

It's just when injuries occur, we lacked the depth of experienced personnel ....even 4 rookies in a team, is way over the accepted norm of AFL teams

You don't think we've put up good performances the last 4-6 weeks .....and do you not think Rankine makes a huge diff ?

I can tell you from a Fantasy / SC perspective ....there's a distinct tailing off in performance by rookies after 3-4 games .....hence Dowling out, and Taylor as Sub

Laird is shot .....so Soligo has almost been our leading mid ....that's tough on the kid, who is also showing the wear of a long season as a mid .....IIRC he was managed with more wing time yesterday

 

[FR0GGY]

I’m not sure Nicks is capable of creating a Dan Curtin role. The bloke is paint by numbers.

He’s created a Murphy role, he can do it for anyone!

 

[WaynesWorld19]

I actually mentioned this to the guy next to me at the game yesterday. Crouch marked it in front of us out there near the wing. Hi natural reflex was to stop, slow, down, have a look around, then a fraction of a second later you could actually see him consciously check that instinct and wheel around and kick it forward quickly instead. That's where you really have to give him credit for how he's turned his game around from a year or two back. He's not just playing the way he's always played, he's put a lot of work into actually changing his game to make himself relevant as a player again.

Yep, saw that .....yesterday was how he played when he came back into the sise last year .....but in too many games this year, he regressed to the crabbing handball into trouble Crouch

 

[Danger in Texas]

Clearly we’ve had two bad runs (R1-4 and R12-14), whilst not being able to put together a genuine win streak. You can put some of it down to injuries, but a lot is due to bad form, and bad gameplan/tactics

It’s just a shame that we see we’re capable of genuinely great performances like yesterday, yet they seem to be the exception rather than the norm

 

[maxlilly]

It was all injuries nothing to do with the continual selections of McHenry, Jones, Schoenberg etc etc

I think selecting Smith was one of the biggest handbrakes on the team

 

[Haymo_of_thor]

Keays should be in the All Australian squad