Autopsy Rd 15 Inspired Blues win a thriller

[RedFury]

I'm going to encode the entire second quarter into a gif and make it my screensaver.

 

[Judds Junk]

So much to like about tonight; Dow takes a huge step, Kennedy maybe saving his career with these last two weeks... and Walsh just keeps on keeping on.

I have some concerns about Harry that I felt were on display tonight... and this is not to diminish a great season he's had so far.

1 - Obvious goal kicking flaws. I get that he prefers to snap around the corner, but that he would try one from 45m tells us his drop punt confidence is very very low. The club have to put some time and resources into this. Me thinking Sav might need a recall in the off season?

2 - Harry is becoming increasingly umpire conscious. I think there are a few free's he should get, that he's not getting. That said, as soon as the ball hits the ground you see Harry's eyes look to the umpire asking for / expecting a free. I feel like it's getting into his head and it's having an effect on his overall game, especially his ground game. Which leads me to point 3.

3 - I know Harry is a tall, he lopes, I'm not expecting a manic type of pressure from him. BUT. He has to deliver more intensity when the ball hits the ground, there are so many instances when the ball hits the ground and he walks behind the play, quickly goes to hands on knees... I want to see that big body thrown into the contest, yes in the air, but also on the ground as much as he is able.

All that said... what we've been saying for years I believe can be true. Harry & Charlie together is going to be really dangerous.

 

[blues4flag]

Plowman makes us much better. Very unselfish footballer who let's the other defenders play to their strength. The back 6 is much more assured with him there (especially in comparison to Parks). He'll run off his man to cover teammates, often to his own detriment. Kudos.

I've been very hard on Saad but finally saw some ownership today. He demanded the footy, took on the game and had real impact.

For all of the caning he took in the media, Williams has played 3 very good games now in the last 5. He's building after a slow start. Was terrible last week but responded with probably his best game for the club.

Stocker's a half back flanker for mine, and he can develop into one of the game's best. He's strong, tenacious, takes pride in his performance and hates being beaten. Lacks agility but is an excellent straight line player. Breaks lines with his kicking. Not sure why fans are so keen to see him moved to the middle.

Doc is a concern. Struggling. Don't really see a position for him in the side other than wing, and he's struggling to impact there.

Dow, loved it. He's been building week by week, and he finally delivered a 4 quarter performance. You can see the confidence growing. He's improving defensively week on week, and looking more dangerous with ball in hand. Much better presence when he doesn't win the Sherrin.

 

[footyfan1978]

one week at a time JJ

For us it needs to be one quarter at a time, when we qualify for that aim, but for now it is one stoppage at a time. Crawl, before you walk, walk before we run. We just had a successful crawl, let's not get ahead of ourselves. We were not far off being back in cellar dwelling territory.

 

[Abyss]

Can only see a few sporadic highlights. The Weitering hit was featured, kudos to I think it was our little no.20 and no.13 (I cant find the names) went into bat for the big man. Great to see that spirit.

 

[Abyss]

From the numbers on our poll up top I see its Plow and Stocker. Respect.

 

[djw1952]

Corker? Put a win aside, we lost 3/4s.

Nothing has changed after a good quarter for me.


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I just cannot understand how a team capable of kicking 8 goals in one quarter, can just go back into their cave like a slumbering giant and only kick another 2 goals for the rest of the match!!! It almost seems like someone has to do something really inspiring like Saad did, to bring out an adrenalin rush and ignite the rest of the team?!!! I am not anti-Teague, but maybe it would take a harder task master than he appears to be, to keep the players switched on for the whole match, but it certainly is a problem we need to solve soon if we are to improve as a club....

 

[juzz88]

damn shame eddie couldnt hang onto that mark...would easily have been MOTY

Best ever, I reckon.

Would've had Jezza and Tex covered had he held on.

 

[Poorman53]

I think the club is conscious of the toll this season and some personal stuff is having on Teague and providing him all possible support and consistently backing him in publicly.

Reckon there’s little to gain from sacking him, but a whole lot to lose. Players regressing, flatlining performances and maybe deterring someone like Cerra from wanting to join.

Stability, or at least the impression of stability, is pretty crucial. We’re already one coach down, the last thing we want is to damage control the back half of the year. No doubt we are looking at other candidates, but our focus still needs to be winning games and we know that despite a poor 1st half of the season we’re still good enough to manufacture wins.

I reckon the memo would be to fix up as much as we can, keep the players onside by retaining Teague and attempt to address what is a failing gameplan piece by piece. Effort can only get us so far.

Oh god... Being able to entice Cerra should not come into any decision making in regards to football department decisions. Let the review run its course and make the decisions that need to be made without compromise or favour to public or outside distractions.

I'm not one that is set on removing Teague at all but we need to go through this process and make the right decisions to set us up for the next 5 years. Not if some B grade midfielder on ridiculous coin wants to come or not.

 

[Benga]

It’s not pace. He’s a terrific endurance runner (based on my preseason prior obs) when not injured. He’s clearly in super shape now which is allowing him to run close to his top speed a lot.

I understand he’s always been a good endurance athlete. He’s been fit and healthy before, but still not shown the mobility (not saying he’s lightning quick, but it’s all relative) he has in the last two weeks.

 

[Benga]

Nice game and happy for him. Saw him beaten for pace in the midfield often though. Seems to need 5 to 10 to get going, which puts him behind regularly. Not biomechanical, In sorry, just not as flowery about his pace. I'more impressed with his hands, marking and endurance. Kept turning up all game.

He’s always had great hands, marking and endurance though. I’m not saying he’s quick bu any stretch, but he’s never shown to be even acceptable imo

 

[bleednavyblue]

Both my Blues won, very happy!

 

[Manhattanite]

I just cannot understand how a team capable of kicking 8 goals in one quarter, can just go back into their cave like a slumbering giant and only kick another 2 goals for the rest of the match!!! It almost seems like someone has to do something really inspiring like Saad did, to bring out an adrenalin rush and ignite the rest of the team?!!! I am not anti-Teague, but maybe it would take a harder task master than he appears to be, to keep the players switched on for the whole match, but it certainly is a problem we need to solve soon if we are to improve as a club....

Well a significant reason we only kicked two goals in the second half is we kicked 2.7 and probably missed another two shots completely or didn’t get the shot off (eg Betts to Martin)

That 2.7 should really have been at least 5.4 - and a 25 point margin would have been a truer reflection of the difference between the teams over the four quarters




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[blue healer]

Would he have gone with that forward line / ruck set up if his hand wasn’t forced? Will he go back to what hasn’t worked the second he has a chance to (ie this week).

ie - is he going to learn and adjust from these glimpses or does he go back to ‘his system’.

The win hopefully takes pressure off him getting through the week just as it hopefully will the players. But it’s just one win vs a fellow battler, at home.

Neither that forward line or ruck set up won us yesterdays game and TBH a fit Levi coming into the team would help both areas.

Yesterday's game was won because we were able to focus and maintain our efforts throughout, something we have been unable to do in earlier games.

I'm not sure the coach did anything earth shattering either, I just think the players had a red hot go for once and showed that there is some truth in what Teague has been saying. We did get better and maybe he'll see his often stated faith in the playing group rewarded.

That was a team effort, we haven't seen many of those all year, all I can say is that I hope this is the corner we have been looking for.

 

[Coops93]

Well a significant reason we only kicked two goals in the second half is we kicked 2.7 and probably missed another two shots completely or didn’t get the shot off (eg Betts to Martin)

That 2.7 should really have been at least 5.4 - and a 25 point margin would have been a truer reflection of the difference between the teams over the four quarters




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Adelaide kicked 0.6 in the first qtr and also kicked 5.7 in the second half to our 2.7. 25 points would not have been accurate.

 

[blue healer]

Anyone have anything to say about Teague over ruling Russell when playing an underdone Plow?

 

[OnceWeWereKings]

"No Kryponite for Cripps-Tonight"

Jeez how long as Derr-Wayne been sitting on that one?

You could just picture the smug prick turning off his mic after that thinking how clever he was, waiting for one of his co-commentators to tell him he’s on fire. Woeful.

 

[Coops93]

Not sure what to make of this game. We lost 3 of 4 qtrs and outside of one 10 minute period of unbelievable football it was an arm wrestle that Adelaide were probably slightly ahead of, kicking 5.7 to our 2.7 aside from that qtr - including a 0.6 run. If they kick accurate early the rest of the game probably looks a bit different.

 

[sosos]

I'm not bemoaning that we lost three of four quarters.

Their set shot accuracy was sublime in the 2nd half, and ours was woeful. Bad kicking is bad football, but I thought we won, or drew the last two quarters in terms of general play.

Sav's wage would pay for itself in no time.

I'd personally prefer we get Fev to do it. Would be so nice to see him back at club.

 

[Accidental genius]

Agree ..our win was mostly based effort throughout match. The players took ownership and came out to play. Whatever was discussed during week (on top of media bashing us around) worked. It was like a wake up call. I can imagine DT telling the players that it is all about them. Coaches come and go but team is mostly there each year and their careers aren’t that long so make the most of it.

 

[BringFevBack2021]

From the numbers on our poll up top I see its Plow and Stocker. Respect.

How tough is Stocker? He's a genuine rooster that bloke, wait until he sheds his puppy fat! Or, he can keep it! He throws the weight around so well. He has more presence that half of our senior players.

 

[le dominateur]

Whole team showed some ticker for a change, would have been a 6 to 8 goal win without the reaming by the maggots.

 

[Accidental genius]

I'm not bemoaning that we lost three of four quarters.

Their set shot accuracy was sublime in the 2nd half, and ours was woeful. Bad kicking is bad football, but I thought we won, or drew the last two quarters in terms of general play.

Sav's wage would pay for itself in no time.

I'd personally prefer we get Fev to do it. Would be so nice to see him back at club.

Some won’t like to see it but I believe Fev back at blues would be huge. He looks way more mature/sensible now and he loves the blues.

 

[Iamcarlton]

Neither that forward line or ruck set up won us yesterdays game and TBH a fit Levi coming into the team would help both areas.

Yesterday's game was won because we were able to focus and maintain our efforts throughout, something we have been unable to do in earlier games.

I'm not sure the coach did anything earth shattering either, I just think the players had a red hot go for once and showed that there is some truth in what Teague has been saying. We did get better and maybe he'll see his often stated faith in the playing group rewarded.

That was a team effort, we haven't seen many of those all year, all I can say is that I hope this is the corner we have been looking for.

Look it may not have won the game but imo it certainly contributed .
Being able maintain the effort defensively as you said certainly helps if their arent many weak links defensively in the side .
We are at the best of times a slowish side imo when you take out 2 players such as Cas and Pitto whilst also adding Murph going off early thats 3 defensive liabilities not in the side .
That can make a difference to not only our efforts in defending each and every contest when we dont have possession but also the perception .
I certainly dont think its a coincidence we kept them to just 73 points when struggling to keep teams under 100 for all of the season .

Didnt come out in higher tackle numbers our fwd 50 tackles where a bit better but to me we looked like we where closing space and pressuring a bit better .
Less easier outlets on occasions maybe for the opposition , less time to execute , more time for us to get our defensive positioning in order .
But i think you have a point the intent seemed to be better also .

 

[The Dog]

My top five moments in no particular order:

- Saad’s running goal through the centre
- Saad’s chase down goal saving tackle
- the teams aggressive response to the Weiters hit (and general assertive style all day!)
- Stocker’s hard intercept sideways bump/spoil on the wing
- Cripps 30m running goal!

Go blues!!!