Review Rd 1, 2019: Freo destroy the Roos

[Cesoir]

Could it be we were lacking the personnel required last year to play like this? Our KPF depth means when Cox / Hogan / Dixon were unavailablewe still had Tabs / McCarthy / Lobb as KPF options. Makes a big difference having that depth.

I'll take that a step further and say is it possible we knew we didn't have the personnel for the past two years, so we spent that time developing and teaching our existing players while recruiting ad drafting to fill gaps?

Maybe there was a reason Ross Lyon was given a long contract, knowing the way the football (and particularly Fremantle) public would turn on him while this happened. These things do not happen in one season.

For those haters who were hoping we would lose so Lyon would be sacked - unlucky!

 

[Taylor]

I'll take that a step further and say is it possible we knew we didn't have the personnel for the past two years

..did you notice how last season and the season before we didn't score from stoppages then yesterday we put on nearly ten goals from stoppages?

That isn't simply because of that 6-6-6 rule. If you want to teach ball movement and add high draft picks, that would be how I'd do it.

 

[Wally Walpamur]

One thing I was really happy with yesterday was when we were on the fast break and we marked it on our half forward, instead of instinctively bombing to the top of the square, we actually took the extra 5 seconds to wait for players to get there or waited for a lead or loose man to pop up. It was refreshing to see.

 

[go_the_dockers]

One thing I was really happy with yesterday was when we were on the fast break and we marked it on our half forward, instead of instinctively bombing to the top of the square, we actually took the extra 5 seconds to wait for players to get there or waited for a lead or loose man to pop up. It was refreshing to see.

Kicking to a forwards advantage was such a pleasant change.

I hope we can do this against the top teams when under a bit more pressure.

 

[Taylor]

I thought our biggest weapon was that near blind handball that had a team mate right there running forward who could kick forward to a one on one or to that forward who had found a heap of space on the offchance we won the ball.

This is what I was referring to when I said it tips really, really fast when you start trusting your team will win the ball and attacking running before being sure you've got the ball but you aren't in a position to influence either the contest or the defense if the ball is lost.

 

[dockerfemme]

A couple of things to add.

We nearly always had structure forward of the ball - so refreshing. Of course if our defence was under pressure it might be different.

Lobb had a less than stellar first half, but was still very important structurally. His second half was good.

I was really concerned going in about Goldstein’s influence. Well, Darcy and Lobb put paid to that. Darcy had a few less ruck knocks and possessions on less game time, but 6 clearances to Goldy’s 1, and 6 1%s to Goldy’s 3. A really hard working performance.

 

[sherrif]

If Darcy Trucker and Brad Hill keep playing like that anything is possible this year.
Our biggest weakness appeared to be a lack of support for Fyfe coming into the season after losing Neale. Tucker looks like he's capable of the same leap in output that Langdon had last year. Ed was also only in his fourth year on a list coming into last season like Tucker is this year. I love Neale, but he missed a lot of tackles last year playing on players nearly always bigger than him. If Tucker can lay 7 tackles (like he did yesterday) regularly and keep his man quiet, then all of a sudden there is a bit of a similarity to what happened at West Coast with their midfield last year with the fact they lost Pridis and Mitchel turning into a positive as it allowed Yeo and Redden to excel. B.Hill really could offer a lot more then he was able to produce in 2018 thats for sure. It only takes a few players to step up and teams can leap up the ladder like Collingwood did last year.

Competition for spots could be great this year:
Cox vesus Tabs
Sandy versus Darcy
Two of Shultz/Swita/Banfiled/Ballaz/Matera competing for a spot each week. Perhaps only one if Bennell gets back.
Logue versus Hughes could also be close. Hughes dominated Wood I thought, while also spending time on Ziebell and having a couple of fumbles. Good overall with room for improvement.

Also good to see Conca, Shultz and Colyer looking like good value recruits considering we recruited them by using only two fourth round draft picks basically. I know Colyer made some blues, but he added to our overall pressure with his speed on the ground and was also able to spend time at half back. Very versatile. Conca had a pretty good first game and Shultz was terrific after quarter time.

It will be interesting to see what happens when Hogan's fit. If Cam can keep this up then we could go with Lobb/Hogan/McCarthy and one of Tabs or Cox (depending on form). It could work because Lobb seems likely to spend more time in the ruck than I first thought. If he spends 30% of game time in ruck and 15% on the interchange then we would be able to have only three of the talls (if you cont mccarthy as one) on the ground for all of the game, but rarely 4 if that makes sense as Hogan and Tabs or Cox would also spend time on the interchange bench. Yesterday Darcy went forward a fair bit when Lobb rucked. A bit more time on the interchange would help him run out games better.

 

[theGav56]

I was really concerned going in about Goldstein’s influence. Well, Darcy and Lobb put paid to that. Darcy had a few less ruck knocks and possessions on less game time, but 6 clearances to Goldy’s 1, and 6 1%s to Goldy’s 3. A really hard working performance.

Darcy's performance and his development is nothing short of amazing. We can win or lose the game from that position. Like you, I had him just under break even with Goldstein, and then with the added upside of having Lobb as our #2, we win the ruck duel. Darcy has clearly trained really hard and has marked his game with professionalism. Nothing flakey, and really nothing flashy. A workhorse for sure, but consistently putting up battles and doing well.

 

[wild side]

Has to be said, don't know if it has already but Colyer was ok!!!

 

[theGav56]

Has to be said, don't know if it has already but Colyer was ok!!!

All of our recruits were fine. If anyone is expecting Colyer to be a star they will be disappointed, but he was ok. I liked what Conca contributed.

 

[Taylor]

Colyer, Conca - both running mature bodies.

I want to say this shows the benefit of mature bodies in a running game plan over playing the younger players, but North had even more included mature bodies, nearly 450 games worth of experience.

 

[dropbear101]

Our future half forward line has me exited walters Hogan mccarthor are all good users of the ball and that makes a world of difference to scoring.

 

[schnoods]

Everything was systematic, no long high hurried kicks out of defence.

Very promising

 

[M_rash]

Has to be said, don't know if it has already but Colyer was ok!!!

Whoa whoa whoa!!! Settle down would ya! I’ld say Colyer wasn’t bad! Not sure he’s earned the kudos of “ok” level just yet.

 

[blue shark]

Colyer, Conca - both running mature bodies.

I want to say this shows the benefit of mature bodies in a running game plan over playing the younger players, but North had even more included mature bodies, nearly 450 games worth of experience.

It also helps when you control the air, we have some serious talent over 195cm, I have never seen a Freo spine that good and it can only
get better.

 

[Taylor]

It also helps when you control the air, we have some serious talent over 195cm, I have never seen a Freo spine that good and it can only
get better.

Not just the talls. Ed Langdon was working very hard into free space, it doesn't matter how tall you are if you're standing by yourself.

 

[theGav56]

It also helps when you control the air, we have some serious talent over 195cm, I have never seen a Freo spine that good and it can only
get better.

Taberner, Pavlich, MJ, MacPharlin would be the comparison (although Dawson is probably more the "spine" player than MJ).

 

[SiempreFreo]

Hey Man, preaching to the choir here, I'm his Buddy so I probably need to do a better job and I've been spruiking him all pre-season and how he is a mile in front of Tabs. BUT, you cant drop players if they are playing well, its not really fair. Tabs in the team so Cox has to displace him and if he's playing well that will be hard to do.

I don't have the football knowledge, so serious Q: couldn't you for now put him in (defensive) place of Ethan Hughes? Ethan a gallant character but not in the same league as Cox.

 

[Snuffaluphagus]

After Cam, the guy I'm most excited about is Tucker.

He's now shown he could be ready to step up through 3 consecutive games, that's starting to build a body of evidence even if two of them are JLT.

His disposal and decision making has always been so good and a real strength but he just didnt get enough of the ball. Becoming a 20-25 touch per game lockdown midfield for someone of his disposal calibre would be an incredible asset

 

[arsesmart]

Havi

It also helps when you control the air, we have some serious talent over 195cm, I have never seen a Freo spine that good and it can only
get better.

Having premium tall forward talent is huge. It adds a new avenue to put pressure on the opposition via the scoreboard/contested marking and increases options and likelihood of being able to snatch a goal or two when momentum's against you and/or shift that momentum back in your favour.

Likewise having that tall talent down back helps water down that same advantage for the opposition.

 

[theGav56]

I don't have the football knowledge, so serious Q: couldn't you for now put him in (defensive) place of Ethan Hughes? Ethan a gallant character but not in the same league as Cox.

My answer to that is ... maybe, but getting as much run from defence as possible is a clear team strategy, and that is where Hughes, Logue and Duman are ahead of Cox. Even after those boys I think most on here would be excited to see Watson and Carter debut.

The other thing is that defence needs to work as a cohesive unit, so I prefer not to see too much chopping and changing, especially if it looks like trying to include a player who is not for the position long term.

 

[Taylor]

His disposal and decision making has always been so good and a real strength but he just didnt get enough of the ball.

There was a passage of play where Banfield tackled the Roo and Tucker came in to lock the ball in, umpire calls holding the ball and as soon as the whistle blows Banfield is gone, running away leaving Tucker to take the kick.

I think the team is playing smarter.

 

[MadEyeEmmy]

How many times last year did we hear "Fremantle move forward but there's no one to kick it to"?

Never happened yesterday!

 

[theGav56]

How many times last year did we hear "Fremantle move forward but there's no one to kick it to"?

Never happened yesterday!

We saw in the JLT that the defensive switch and kicking backwards was virtually gone, which makes a fundamental difference. The club rebuilding from the backline, to the midfield then forward seems on track. One game in that is. Long season coming up. Maybe the Roos just assumed they would win it in the midfield?

 

[Snuffaluphagus]

I don't have the football knowledge, so serious Q: couldn't you for now put him in (defensive) place of Ethan Hughes? Ethan a gallant character but not in the same league as Cox.

Personally I think that makes us too tall down there and I've seen nothing to suggest he could be a defender. My opinion is that to be a defender you have to be as fast or quicker than a forward because your naturally normally trailing. While he reads the play well, its not well enough to make up for his speed (which while he's not slow, he's slow for a defender). McGovern gets away with it because he is the best reader of the play in the game and has the sticky hands to boot.

He would best as a 3rd tall that I think we have Logue for and given he has shown so much up forward, I dont see why we should shoe-horn him into the backline when it doesnt make best use of our players.

This is going to sound harsh but Tabs will make way for him at some point this year. Conditions couldnt have been any easier for Tabs on the weekend given the KPD stocks of the Roos and from JLT Cox was clearly the preferred (and better) player. I predict Tabs will have a few average games and be back in Peel but like I've said in other posts, its his to lose now. Keep performing and he cant be replaced