Autopsy Rd 8 bad kicking is bad footy = Bloods

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Some will say the intent and effort was good, signs were good and think we can turn it around, thats fine, I get it, i would like to be there

Just think the rot has set in, maybe i need a lie down and my face slapped

there's something obviously wrong ...
my theory starts at the grand final, but is more to do with what happened at geelong a few weeks back
they demoralised us in the gf but it really seemed like we started the new season fresh and ready, psychologically, to put that disaster well behind us
things were a bit streaky but we were going ok
then we came into the geelong game, and the mccartin injuries, and other problems, meant we were well down not just on personnel but on structure
and we got smashed again
it seems that defeat took us back to gf day (like going back to square one for a lot of the young blokes in particular)
and psychologically the damage may have been worse ...

i think some demons also took hold in the port loss, and that problem manifested itself late against the giants, when we had the game won and really seemed to panic in the last 5-10 minutes, unsure how to put the game away
those two defeats have left our ladder position worse than it should be, but very much indicate the mental fragility in the side at the moment

but we really have not looked the same since the geelong embarrassment (although i admit i'm not able to watch games in full, due to commitments, so i may be missing the very worst bits, and some of the few highlights)
structurally we look lost
and against collingwood we played with a timidity i've not seen for several years, and certainly not in this young side
when we threw caution to the wind in the second term we looked threatening and took control but as soon as they hit back in the third term we flinched again and played scared ... they played with assurance and confidence, we played like we were just hoping to avoid trouble

gulden and warner still seem to be playing with that carefree approach, but they need a lot more help
i think criticism of mcdonald is way off the mark and from what i saw blakey has been at least trying to tough it out against bigger bodies
heeney seems spooked in front of goal, although i thought he competed well enough upfield early on sunday
campbell is another who seems to still be improving, and far from our worst ... ladhams the same

i note a few gave parker points but i'm not sure he's going that well, and franklin ... geez, i don't want to write him off but he's really struggling to make any impact (although as usual yesterday he got nothing from the umpires, when a couple of calls early, a couple of goals, might have given him and the team a lift they sorely needed)

but overall, right now we look mentally and structurally broken, and who knows what that means for the rest of this season

the bright side, for me, is that this might be the sort of season geelong had in 2006, when so much was expected of them but they missed the finals and it almost cost thompson the coaching job
maybe this is a season that turns the heat up on longmire but also delivers some cold reality to the young playing group, and we have to be patient and wait til beyond this season to see the benefits and see the team deliver on the potential it clearly possesses
i still maintain my faith that this is potentially the best swans team since the club moved to sydney
 
Clearly we tried more run and carry. We had 186 handballs, a high not beaten by any game in 2022 or 2023 to date, for the most part well short.

It appeared obvious to me that this was something they worked on during the week but often unfortunately we went one handball too many, but something to build on.
 

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Clearly we tried more run and carry. We had 186 handballs, a high not beaten by any game in 2022 or 2023 to date, for the most part well short.

It appeared obvious to me that this was something they worked on during the week but often unfortunately we went one handball too many, but something to build on.


They over possessed it a hell of a lot to slow the tempo

lot of build ups to just bomb , turnover and get killed on overlap
 
Clearly we tried more run and carry. We had 186 handballs, a high not beaten by any game in 2022 or 2023 to date, for the most part well short.

It appeared obvious to me that this was something they worked on during the week but often unfortunately we went one handball too many, but something to build on.

Yeah the gameplan was so noticeably different to previous weeks, and in the second quarter, really successful.

Had our chances in the 3rd, too, but consistently messed up the final possession.
 
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Clearly we tried more run and carry. We had 186 handballs, a high not beaten by any game in 2022 or 2023 to date, for the most part well short.

It appeared obvious to me that this was something they worked on during the week but often unfortunately we went one handball too many, but something to build on.

Often became undone by our mindset too IMO. I watched the game from level 4 behind the goals at the G so got a great look at how the players set up and so many times the potential recipient in a handball chain was flat-footed, instead of surging forward because they weren't expecting us to win a 50-50 ball.

This became even worse as the pressure mounted. It's like a lot of our players were waiting for the chain to come undone and didn't want to overcommit. (Basically, the complete opposite of Geelong when they smashed us and the Tigers ball movement during their period of dominance).

As you said though, we tried something different and if we're sticking with it, it might take a little time to build on it and for the players to gain some confidence in it.
 
IMO the moment that killed us came in the 3rd. We were dominating possession but butchering the ball with shitty handballs and shitty kicks inside 50. Then we have probably our best play of the day, a series of handballs (!!) running through the corridor, a kick to an isolated, leading forward (!!) and a mark inside 50 (!!) It was like the skies had finally opened and we remembered how to play good, clean, attacking footy.

Then Francis takes the shot and misses.

I don't know what it was like at the ground but watching on the TV we looked sluggish from thereon. And wouldn't be surprising if the air was let out of our tyres. You have a near-perfect passage of footy and it still doesn't end in a goal.

Not blaming Francis, as by that point the rot in front of goals had already set in. To me the blame lies more with Heeney, Hayward, Papley etc. who are experienced forwards who set the tone for the day and put us under the pump with their missed shots.

i think this is symptomatic of the point i was making ... we're in that state of mental fragility where it takes very little to break our spirit, particularly when there's a run of missed shots at goal, most of which are fairly straightforward (hayward, heeney, mcdonald, francis, papley)
we might just need a couple of good wins, hopefully sooner rather than later

the other thing i've wondered about is the paddy mccartin factor, and whether him going down again, and possibly his career being over, has had a much deeper effect than anyone imagined
by all accounts he is much loved by teammates and right through the club, and maybe not just with the position/role he played, but emotionally, the players are still struggling to get past it
 
On the game: plaudits to Ryan Clarke. Muscled up, that's what's called intent.
As a club, we could use more of it. Also well done Robbie Fox, stout.

More generally:
Eddie McG. on Footy Classified, decrys the lack of an AFL game on a Sydney weekend day! ..Like he cares about Sydney football !..HeyEddie, we don't forget..

We were stripped of draft picks. For no reason. Because we recruited Buddy, who then Mike Fitzpatrick had then intended for GWS.

COLA: even a board member from an oppositrion home town club (Jimmy Bartel -Board GWS - on Footy Class) knows ..both Sydney clubs need it..for a fair national competition.

Superb new HQ facility in Moore Park. Think long term everyone..
 

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Warner looks like a tool

View attachment 1681890
He had plenty of company. Just absurd. You're 11th on the ladder, 5 minutes into the game, you've done nothing to earn the right to get in the face of a guy having a better season than literally any Swans player in 2023.
 
He had plenty of company. Just absurd. You're 11th on the ladder, 5 minutes into the game, you've done nothing to earn the right to get in the face of a guy having a better season than literally any Swans player in 2023.


The head rub like hey champ how's that feel is extra tooly
 
Clearly we tried more run and carry. We had 186 handballs, a high not beaten by any game in 2022 or 2023 to date, for the most part well short.

It appeared obvious to me that this was something they worked on during the week but often unfortunately we went one handball too many, but something to build on.
I've made a post in the Longmire thread about the way the game changed in the 2H when I thought Collingwood changed their structure and we had no counter.

I'd be very interested to see the difference in the kick/hb ratio in the 1st half compared to the second.
My sense is that we essentially tried to kick through Collingwood in the 1st half, but they took away the space in the 2H and we got completely lost and overdid the handball, which doesn't work well against the Pies as they tend to swarm.

Second half of Q2 we had Blakey taking the game on as well, but really that was about the only time we had effective run and carry.
I felt that the handballing in 2H provided little impetus and it was all done under pressure.

McRae had a Plan B that worked, we didn't.
 
Often became undone by our mindset too IMO. I watched the game from level 4 behind the goals at the G so got a great look at how the players set up and so many times the potential recipient in a handball chain was flat-footed, instead of surging forward because they weren't expecting us to win a 50-50 ball.

This became even worse as the pressure mounted. It's like a lot of our players were waiting for the chain to come undone and didn't want to overcommit. (Basically, the complete opposite of Geelong when they smashed us and the Tigers ball movement during their period of dominance).

As you said though, we tried something different and if we're sticking with it, it might take a little time to build on it and for the players to gain some confidence in it.
Absolutely! I said this a week or two ago but confidence is everything. If you have confidence that your team mate will win the contest and you feel protected even if they don’t you’ll surge forward. I think we have been hit on both factors for a variety of reasons.

You win games, and premierships only when all the players are ‘running in the same direction’.

It seems then when things are on the up, like the second quarter, we get our back up. But when it turns we struggle to turn the mindset back around and get the game back on our terms.
 
I've made a post in the Longmire thread about the way the game changed in the 2H when I thought Collingwood changed their structure and we had no counter.

I'd be very interested to see the difference in the kick/hb ratio in the 1st half compared to the second.
My sense is that we essentially tried to kick through Collingwood in the 1st half, but they took away the space in the 2H and we got completely lost and overdid the handball, which doesn't work well against the Pies as they tend to swarm.

Second half of Q2 we had Blakey taking the game on as well, but really that was about the only time we had effective run and carry.
I felt that the handballing in 2H provided little impetus and it was all done under pressure.

McRae had a Plan B that worked, we didn't.
Be good if those stats were available. I’ll have to start taking note 😆
 
I've made a post in the Longmire thread about the way the game changed in the 2H when I thought Collingwood changed their structure and we had no counter.

I'd be very interested to see the difference in the kick/hb ratio in the 1st half compared to the second.
My sense is that we essentially tried to kick through Collingwood in the 1st half, but they took away the space in the 2H and we got completely lost and overdid the handball, which doesn't work well against the Pies as they tend to swarm.

Second half of Q2 we had Blakey taking the game on as well, but really that was about the only time we had effective run and carry.
I felt that the handballing in 2H provided little impetus and it was all done under pressure.

McRae had a Plan B that worked, we didn't.
To be fair, we never have a plan b
 
Absolutely! I said this a week or two ago but confidence is everything. If you have confidence that your team mate will win the contest and you feel protected even if they don’t you’ll surge forward. I think we have been hit on both factors for a variety of reasons.

You win games, and premierships only when all the players are ‘running in the same direction’.

It seems then when things are on the up, like the second quarter, we get our back up. But when it turns we struggle to turn the mindset back around and get the game back on our terms.
Confidence is the key ingredient in victory. We had it, now adelaide and st kilda have it.

The truth is (Geelong apart) most teams are pretty even. Belief is what separates them.

The absence of confidence in goal kicking is palpable. Watching Hayward kick for goal is like watching someone who is so focussed on the preparation that he doesnt want to rush. the problem is when you do it super slowly you tend to mis the drop a little and i reckon both of his misses yesterday were due to being too determined to not miss - whereas when you go back and hit a 30m pass onto someones chest when they are moving you dont overfocus. Errol kicks the ball onto someones head between 5 different players and then misses the shot at goal by metres.
 
Confidence is the key ingredient in victory. We had it, now adelaide and st kilda have it.

The truth is (Geelong apart) most teams are pretty even. Belief is what separates them.

The absence of confidence in goal kicking is palpable. Watching Hayward kick for goal is like watching someone who is so focussed on the preparation that he doesnt want to rush. the problem is when you do it super slowly you tend to mis the drop a little and i reckon both of his misses yesterday were due to being too determined to not miss - whereas when you go back and hit a 30m pass onto someones chest when they are moving you dont overfocus. Errol kicks the ball onto someones head between 5 different players and then misses the shot at goal by metres.
There was a period when I played (not at a high level) where my set shot goal kicking went to complete crap. It became a self fulfilling prophesy as I was telling myself I was going to miss before I kicked the ball.

It wasn’t until years later when I was coaching that I realise the initial problem was so simple….. I just wasn’t watching the ball drop onto my foot! I was too focused on where the ball was going to go and how I would mess it up rather than just getting the execution right.

Once that penny dropped, due to helping other kids with their kicking, suddenly I could kick straight at goal off both feet (ok only sometimes on my left) 😂
 

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Autopsy Rd 8 bad kicking is bad footy = Bloods

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