Autopsy Rd 3 - Lacklustre Blues go down by 24

[GapInIkonPark]

We are two class midfielders short really and not sure where we find them this season. After starting midfield of Cripps, Kennedy and Murphy we have Ed, SPS and Thomas with pinch hits from Fisher, Dow and whoever ...

Some run from Williamson, Pickett, Lang and I guess Byrne sorely needed.

Marchbank injured FFS.

Thought Weiters found a bit of the ball in the second half which was a positive. Casboult was solid. Cripps had a lot of the ball. Charlie strong all night.

Saw some more glimpses from Fisher and SPS.

Looking to our VFL boys to claim a spot in the 22 ... McKay, O’Brien, Schumacher, Jack, Macreadie, Kerr ..,

 

[Ald Gardiner]

When I say for the boys to find their skill, I don't mean that they trade their effort in to find it.

So many disinterested players out there tonight.

Weitering needs to go back to the VFL. Same with Polson and Dow. Mullett was practically invisible tonight. Jones with too many errors and Lamb was simply disappointing.

Ok..so Weits, Jones dropped, Marchbank injured, ASOS and Byrne both injured next few weeks. Backline for next week?

 

[DangerousD]

Casboult playing the way he did tonight pisses me off so much.

He's that player we can't afford to let go. But his mediocrity and patchiness would have anyone ripping their hair out.

Mate the guy is a limited footballer, playing in a poor side with a poor defence and midfield, he kicks 4.2 and plays back up ruck.

How he is copping flack is beyond me, he always tries and would be better if we were better.

 

[Arr0w]

It is an interesting team mix. It is clear that the focus is playing the young guys at the expense of some senior bodies such as Kerridge.

This year will certainly be ground zero, which will be hard to cop, when considering where do our wins come from.

Poor 2nd quarter, thought if we were within a goal or 2 at half time, we may have come over he top of them.

Not a lot of from our kids, but still some signs. Charlie worked damn hard, Fish was better in the second half

 

[Osc1]

Thought they fought it out after a shocking first half. Collingwood will never kick that straight again. ...ever.

If you let them spread that easily the result will be easy forward entries. More accurate as a result.

 

[Drexl 31]

We are a bottom two side. FACT.

Anybody who thinks otherwise is deluded and probably also believes in Scientology.

We are slow around the ground, have no midfield depth and this new ‘attacking’ game plan exposes the average players in our backline that were camouflaged last year with our ultra defensive style.

Yes. 2019/2020 are the years to look forward to.

 

[gandaal]

So who do we send back to the twos? I think some pretty drastic changes need to be made because the current mix isn't working.

Changes:
Out: Marchbank (inj)/ Jones
In: Macreadie

Hopefully March is OK, but if he isn't Jones gets a stay of execution. Regardless if he's fit Macreadie needs to come in. He's talented, he's the future, and most importantly his form actually demands a spot in the seniors. Jones needs people around to clean up his brain farts. Our young defense has enough to deal with as it is.

Out: Polson
In: Kerridge
I'm not critical of Polson. I can't fault his effort. But I have no idea why he was selected in the first place. Talk about setting him up to fail.
As for Kerridge, I said it last week and I'll say it again, we need midfield support. Bring him in. I don't care if he's flawed, we need him.

Out: Mullet
In: Graham?
Mullet was useless. Pointless playing someone old and useless. Bring in Graham or Schumacher. Whoever stands up in the twos.

Out: Lamb
In: SOJ
No idea why hacks like Lamb get a game while SOJ is stuck playing in the VFL. Bizarre.

 

[Dadda Dave]

I found a positive , How good was SPS around traffic tonight ? Silk or what .

 

[zucchini]

Bolton seems to have an unwritten pass just because he was under Clarkson, well he really needs to prove he can coach because at the moment he is rubbish.

 

[Big_Luch]

Cunningham looks really good down back.

Hope he gets more games.

 

[Ald Gardiner]

We are two class midfielders short really and not sure where we find them this season. After starting midfield of Cripps, Kennedy and Murphy we have Ed, SPS and Thomas with pinch hits from Fisher, Dow and whoever ...

Some run from Williamson, Pickett, Lang and I guess Byrne sorely needed.

Marchbank injured FFS.

Thought Weiters found a bit of the ball in the second half which was a positive. Casboult was solid. Cripps had a lot of the ball. Charlie strong all night.

Saw some more glimpses from Fisher and SPS.

Looking to our VFL boys to claim a spot in the 22 ... McKay, O’Brien, Schumacher, Jack, Macreadie, Kerr ..,

Schu, Jack and Macreadie in next week would be a positive thing. No more Lamb please!!

 

[MitchRobinson12]

We are still such a young team, need games into almost every line. Gibbs and Docherty our 2 best and that was always going to hurt.

Polson not up to it yet, Lamb offers little to nothing, Mullett is useless. Add in Gibbs for Polson and Docherty for Mullett and we just about win that game. We have to be patient.

Kerridge needs to come in over Polson just to compete and get the ball out of the stoppage. Play Silvagni over Lamb in the forward line for development and just get Mullett the F out, he can hang with O'Shea in the 2's all year.

Weitering missing kicks and just looking flat out there, Jones has a lot of work to do. I say we keep them both in.

 

[ITCHY EYEBALLS]

Starts at the top
No more to say

 

[LemmingMaster]

Everyone has to put our season into perspective.

1. We were always going to be in the bottom 4 teams
2. We lost Docherty and Gibbs from last season
3. We have close to the worst midfield in the league

 

[OldCarltonKnows]

Not optimism. I deal in facts. If I thought it was wrong I would say so.

Facts are we are terrible. Simple really.

 

[Blue_Fusion]

Put your house on Norf to beat us.

No doubt we'll be getting carried away by having more scoring shots than the opponents...

 

[RudyBlue]

Im happy with Cunningham.. I thought he played a good game

Looks like we've found a nice small-medium defender.

Excellent work in traffic, great pace and agility, and a more than decent field kick.

 

[PP34]

Honestly almost done with this joke of a club. For 21 years I’ve known nothing but pathetic football like this.

I don’t care that we have a handful of really promising players. Our midfield is deplorable. You all kept crapping on about trading Gibbs for years. Well here’s what ****ing happens when you trade blokes like that and don’t replace them with anybody. I said it last off season and it looks pretty spot on so far. We are going backwards.

We are going backwards. You cannot expect to challenge for a flag with a midfield as deplorable and woefully inexperienced as ours is.

We just got pantsed by the likes of Josh Thomas for ****s sakes. I almost felt like I was back watching Mick’s coaching record game tonight.

 

[Blue_Fusion]

Everyone has to put our season into perspective.

1. We were always going to be in the bottom 4 teams
2. We lost Docherty and Gibbs from last season
3. We have close to the worst midfield in the league

Which midfield is worse than ours?

 

[prisoner777]

Ha! One more scoring shot! Suck that, Bucks!

I so much look forward to the time we down the Pies. It seems so long ago.

 

[GiantSkwid]

Dow and Polson aren't ready. I'm not potting them, Dow is obviously going to be huge for us in the future. But neither have the composure or the disposal efficiency for this level. I'd rather see Kerridge play. At least he has the body size and can handle the pace of the game. We can't afford to play kids who aren't ready. Mullett can go as well. I don't care what his job was, 6 touches off half back isn't good enough.
Murphy - another mixed bag. Gets plenty but misses too many targets. Fisher is already more reliable with ball in hand.
Kennedy - meh. Has a crack but never seems to get a clean disposal away like Cripps does. Plenty of improvement in him I hope.
Jones and Weitering - similar games. Started strong, had a nightmare second quarter and then recovered somewhat late (when the game was over)
Not many positives but I like Cuninghams game, he was clean and looked to go on the attack.
Levi took his chances when he got them.
Charlie didn't have a great game but still ended with 2 goals and 20 touches. Shows his class.
2 stinkers in a row. Let's not over react though. We actually had more scoring shots. If we had some cleaner entries inside 50 and the pies had missed a few more shots it may have been a different story. The boys will put it together. Everyone relax. We were never playing finals this year.
Don't over react.

 

[Pafloyul]

Once again we see players laughing and having a joke after a loss like that. At least pretend like it matters while on the ground and show your supporters it hurts!!!


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

Who else on here remembers Hampsongate.

 

[Wily trout]

Reading some of the game day discussion amazes me. Where do people actually think we are at?

Still early days of the rebuild. If anything, this year will be tougher as we transition a group of very average players out and try and bring in a heap of kids and fast track them. No group of kids will be effective and consistent players until they reach a minimum of 30 games. We are a long way from this.

People thinking we were going to win 8 plus games etc this year really haven't looked at the facts. It doesn't work that way and results wise it will get worse before it gets better. IMO this year was always going to be harder.

Nothing has changed for me. The young talent coming through is impressive but very raw and as a group it will make results worse. It's just so important we get games into kids this year as much as possible.

We are still on the right track and doing most things well. SOS is doing the right thing for the list and IMO Bolton is still the right coach.

Bottom line is it was always going to take 5-6 years before we are a genuine threat and there will be many ups and downs in the meantime. Reality but the hope is very much there

Jumped on the site feeling pretty bloody down about the result after a night out at a 21st dinner and not seeing the game. I am glad yours was the first post I read, as it you are always a very balanced poster and I always respect what you have to say. I don't for a minute claim to have as in depth a knowledge as some, of what is going on with our club as a long distance supporter, so hearing a your 'glass half full' summary is always reassuring.

 

[BeligerentBlue]

I think this thread is going to be awful, but to be honest, that was a solid result. We're a long way off right now, heading for a wooden spoon, and attacking the whipping boys isn't going to help.

To be honest, our issue is simply we don't have enough good players in their prime.

Our midfield is Cripps, Murphy, Curnow and then... Kennedy, Dow, Fisher, Petrevski-Seton, Cuningham. 5 out of 8 have played less than 20 games, and at this stage, their all 15 possession games (in fact they all had 13-18 today), not 25+. You need more than 3 midfielders to compete at this level, and they are just a year or two off.

So then we have another bad balance issue. We have a choice between players in their prime who have severe limitations, and players who are too young and don't contribute all-round. We get very little from Garlett (3 games) and Polson (3 games), which is ok - you can roll a few guys who aren't quite ready yet. But the older players we have in the team who are there to contribute are also giving us very little. Lamb, Wright, Mullett, Jones, Casboult - we all know they aren't superstars, but they are there as placeholders until the young kids are ready. But it seems each week only 1 of them actually plays that role. Wright was great vs Richmond, totally missing today. Casboult was good today, but not previously. Mullett was solid last week, MIA today.

The only fringe players who just 'do their job' each week for us seem to be Simpson (due to age) and Thomas. That's our problem right now, and we can't win uless we fix this.

But what choices do we have? It's either the inconsistent fringe players, or kids who aren't playing well at VFL level...
Casboult or McKay? Casboult is in his prime, kicked 4 goals, contributes in the ruck... and has his weaknesses.
Lamb, Wright or Silvagni? SOS probably better than Lamb at least for experience.
Mullet or O'Brien/Schumacher? Will happen within weeks.
The only real change that makes sense for next week (injuries aside) is Kerridge in for Polson. I just think we need that extra mid who can go all game, tackle, and get 20+ possessions (even if he does butcher a few of them).

Some big positives from tonight though:
- I thought Murphy was great. Highest rated player on the ground, led the team in possessions, contested possessions and tackles. He's not a bruising mid, should be playing out his gravy years as a wing like Boomer Harvey did, but that's the best we can hope from him
- Weitering was much better, and grew in confidence as the game went on. He got to the right spots all game, and by the end was taking intercept marks. He'll cop flack from idiots who don't know what they are watching, but that's how it goes.
- We started with fantastic intensity, and kept bringing it back after half time. Finished with a huge effort in the last quarter. I think those last 2 goals mean a lot. We ended up with more inside 50s, more scoring shots, and a 4-goal loss, which was probably par.

The negatives:
- Injuries to Marchbank and Kennedy. Two guys who we just can't afford to lose
- Our tackling was sub-par. To have 14 players with 1 tackle or less (and 10 with 0) at 3/4 time was putrid
- We seemed to have no way of stopping that 10 goal run. Maybe Bolts wanted to let them run it out, but I'd like to see more. Cut that to a 6 goal run and the game would have been a lot more interesting at the end...

Your quiet contemplation and even mindedness has no place here.

 

[Dadda Dave]

We are a bottom two side. FACT.

Anybody who thinks otherwise is deluded and probably also believes in Scientology.

We are slow around the ground, have no midfield depth and this new ‘attacking’ game plan exposes the average players in our backline that were camouflaged last year with our ultra defensive style.

Nek minnut we win 3 in a row and it's all even .