Analysis Ricks Analysis (The Shinboner Blog)

[Rick18]

Post up for the Carlton game: Round 4, 2023 v Carlton: Zoning

Was fascinated by how heavy the zone defence was compared to previous weeks and spent all of my time focusing on that (in amongst doing the 7AFL socials for the day).

Going deep on how it worked in the first half, why it didn't in the second half, and the intricacies of both. Really enjoyed this one.

 

[sutcliffe's hotel]

Post up for the Carlton game: Round 4, 2023 v Carlton: Zoning

Was fascinated by how heavy the zone defence was compared to previous weeks and spent all of my time focusing on that (in amongst doing the 7AFL socials for the day).

Going deep on how it worked in the first half, why it didn't in the second half, and the intricacies of both. Really enjoyed this one.

Excellent as always. Would be interested in your take on Cunners off for Greenwood?

 

[Rick18]

Excellent as always. Would be interested in your take on Cunners off for Greenwood?

Didn't mind it at all to be honest, Cunners wasn't playing well and there was a fresh midfielder waiting to go.

Journos/media are going to run with it and be all 'what does this mean for his future' over the next little bit because it's an easy angle for them, but the move made sense to me.

(Although would have also understood Larkey being subbed out and Cunners as a full-time forward, personally that would have been my preference)

 

[Rick18]

Post up on things I've learned over the first month: Learning from the first month of the Alastair Clarkson era

It's a long one, but going through line by line on the field with things I've liked, things I think need to improve, where that'll come from and a few points to look out for over the next month. Felt like it could have been double the length though, every match feels like an end of year exam at the moment with the amount of things to look out for.

 

[Themanbun]

You're a King, Rick.

 

[Passmore]

Pump up your Podcast appearance too, Rick.

 

[Rick18]

Post up for the Gold Coast game: Round 6, 2023 v Gold Coast

A couple of different reasons for the loss covered, the progress of key defenders, but most importantly wanted to pay tribute to Goldy and everything he's achieved in his career.

(Now I realise I also forgot to post the Brisbane one in here. Can't win them all I guess)

 

[nicko74]

I admire your ability to write pieces like that,without letting your emotions take over

 

[krakouers]

Post up for the Gold Coast game: Round 6, 2023 v Gold Coast

A couple of different reasons for the loss covered, the progress of key defenders, but most importantly wanted to pay tribute to Goldy and everything he's achieved in his career.

(Now I realise I also forgot to post the Brisbane one in here. Can't win them all I guess)

“Because in a different world, North Melbourne v Gold Coast wouldn’t exist. Instead the Gold Coast would have a soulless shell of a 140-year-old club, playing in front of next to no-one, a Kangaroo on their jumper the only remaining nod to what came before. I’ll take the current world over that one every day of the week.”

 

[sutcliffe's hotel]

“Because in a different world, North Melbourne v Gold Coast wouldn’t exist. Instead the Gold Coast would have a soulless shell of a 140-year-old club, playing in front of next to no-one, a Kangaroo on their jumper the only remaining nod to what came before. I’ll take the current world over that one every day of the week.”

So much this.

 

[sutcliffe's hotel]

Post up for the Gold Coast game: Round 6, 2023 v Gold Coast

A couple of different reasons for the loss covered, the progress of key defenders, but most importantly wanted to pay tribute to Goldy and everything he's achieved in his career.

(Now I realise I also forgot to post the Brisbane one in here. Can't win them all I guess)

Salvation Rick, thanks.

Oddly, our beloved Roos played “home” games in all the places I lived (Sydney, Canberra & the Gold Coast) but I never wanted a Gold Kangaroo in my backyard.

Last night was meh. Our only game for the year, Goldy300 & a decent North turnout ready to erupt, yet our lads looked like they hadn’t turned up.

Love my Roos but that was tough.

 

[Rick18]

I admire your ability to write pieces like that,without letting your emotions take over

To be honest, and I think this may sound harsh to some people, a lot of that ability came from when I worked at the club and had access to Brad and the coaches. Usually (but not always, to be fair) what they were concerned about after a loss was a complete 180 to the general public.

So from that - and them explaining to me why they look at things differently - I kind of learned to detach a little bit when entering analysis mode and turn that part of my brain off and on when needed.

 

[ferball]

To be honest, and I think this may sound harsh to some people, a lot of that ability came from when I worked at the club and had access to Brad and the coaches. Usually (but not always, to be fair) what they were concerned about after a loss was a complete 180 to the general public.

So from that - and them explaining to me why they look at things differently - I kind of learned to detach a little bit when entering analysis mode and turn that part of my brain off and on when needed.

I've just started reading and you mentioned travel. At some point King Corey (I think) it was a while agodid a comparison of how much we travelled and played at geelong compared to other team and came up with a figure for the kms over several years that was so much more than other clubs. It might have been 10 thousand kms more over several years but it might have been alot more than that. Maybe it worth tracking to see if there is some underlying unfairness there.

 

[Roosurgence]

I've just started reading and you mentioned travel. At some point King Corey (I think) it was a while agodid a comparison of how much we travelled and played at geelong compared to other team and came up with a figure for the kms over several years that was so much more than other clubs. It might have been 10 thousand kms more over several years but it might have been alot more than that. Maybe it worth tracking to see if there is some underlying unfairness there.

Our travel schedule to start the year has been ridiculous compared to other Melbourne clubs and we haven’t even played a home Tassie game yet.

I said it in another thread but through 6 weeks of footy we had travelled 4 times (Perth, Launceston, Adelaide and Gold Coast) with back to backs on 2 occasions.

Compare that with other Melbourne clubs who have only travelled to Adelaide for Gather Round and it really is atrocious fixturing.

While we can’t blame yesterdays performance purely on travel, we really aren’t playing on an even playing field when the AFL not only schedules a heavy travel period to start the year, but also back to backs those games.

Perth-Launceston and now Adelaide-Gold Coast.

Anyone that thinks this is ideal for any club has rocks in their head.

 

[Ischenko]

To be honest, and I think this may sound harsh to some people, a lot of that ability came from when I worked at the club and had access to Brad and the coaches. Usually (but not always, to be fair) what they were concerned about after a loss was a complete 180 to the general public.

So from that - and them explaining to me why they look at things differently - I kind of learned to detach a little bit when entering analysis mode and turn that part of my brain off and on when needed.

Is it asking too much to ask you to speculate what Clarko and co will be most concerned about after this week? Every team has games where they don't turn up and look flat and reactive, don't get enough numbers to enough contests etc., perhaps it was simply that. Your blog gives me a lot of solace tbh.

 

[roos_fanatic08]

Post up for the Gold Coast game: Round 6, 2023 v Gold Coast

A couple of different reasons for the loss covered, the progress of key defenders, but most importantly wanted to pay tribute to Goldy and everything he's achieved in his career.

(Now I realise I also forgot to post the Brisbane one in here. Can't win them all I guess)

Nice write up Rick18 always appreciate your posts.

The defence at the moment seems a shambles, earlier in the year we were pressing up and forcing turnovers because we were allowing teams an easy outlet kick. Now it’s the complete opposite. The last 2 weeks teams are cutting us apart with ease with uncontested marks, why do you think that changed so dramatically?

Also, the balance of our defence is all out of sorts. Logue, McKay, Corr, Mcdonald, Ziebell and at stages Howe is way too one paced for the modern game. The backline looked a lot more balanced in the earlier rounds when Bergman & Goater were getting plenty of game time.

The forward structure is also lacking. My two biggest gripes at the moment is that far too often Larkey is leading to goal, rather than leading at the ball carrier. He just seems to want to get those cheap goals out the back which isn’t an effective strategy for your number 1 key forward. When we take the slow approach, the opposition flood back and far too often Comben and Larkey are dealing with 2 v 1’s and 3 v 1’s. To make matters worse, our smaller forwards aren’t all that good at pressuring leaving us open for counter attacks from half back.

I also don’t understand why we continue to go long down the line from half back when realistically we don’t have any above average contested
marking targets in our forward line.

 

[ferball]

Great write up. Easy to forget just how good Goldy was.

 

[amaz199]

Great write up. Easy to forget just how good Goldy was.

Would not be against putting another contract in front of him.

He's a player that is required until he sees fit to hang up the boots.

 

[Caracas]

Nice write up Rick18 always appreciate your posts.

The defence at the moment seems a shambles, earlier in the year we were pressing up and forcing turnovers because we were allowing teams an easy outlet kick. Now it’s the complete opposite. The last 2 weeks teams are cutting us apart with ease with uncontested marks, why do you think that changed so dramatically?

Also, the balance of our defence is all out of sorts. Logue, McKay, Corr, Mcdonald, Ziebell and at stages Howe is way too one paced for the modern game. The backline looked a lot more balanced in the earlier rounds when Bergman & Goater were getting plenty of game time.

The forward structure is also lacking. My two biggest gripes at the moment is that far too often Larkey is leading to goal, rather than leading at the ball carrier. He just seems to want to get those cheap goals out the back which isn’t an effective strategy for your number 1 key forward. When we take the slow approach, the opposition flood back and far too often Comben and Larkey are dealing with 2 v 1’s and 3 v 1’s. To make matters worse, our smaller forwards aren’t all that good at pressuring leaving us open for counter attacks from half back.

I also don’t understand why we continue to go long down the line from half back when realistically we don’t have any above average contested
marking targets in our forward line.

I think a focus yesterday might have been to curtail the “Joe the Goose” goals that destroyed us last week. No surprise, we over-compensated.


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[Ball Dont Lie]

I think a focus yesterday might have been to curtail the “Joe the Goose” goals that destroyed us last week. No surprise, we over-compensated.


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

F me. They can’t do one without conceding the other?

 

[Passmore]

F me. They can’t do one without conceding the other?

Multi tasking is not a strong point with these lads.

 

[Rick18]

Is it asking too much to ask you to speculate what Clarko and co will be most concerned about after this week? Every team has games where they don't turn up and look flat and reactive, don't get enough numbers to enough contests etc., perhaps it was simply that. Your blog gives me a lot of solace tbh.

It's on my list of things but I think it'll become more regular later in the season. At the moment I don't feel I've got a good read on what Clarko and the coaches have as top priorities each week. I'm still in the stage of learning heaps each week, and I feel I'll get a good indicator of a few things based on selection this week.

 

[Ischenko]

It's on my list of things but I think it'll become more regular later in the season. At the moment I don't feel I've got a good read on what Clarko and the coaches have as top priorities each week. I'm still in the stage of learning heaps each week, and I feel I'll get a good indicator of a few things based on selection this week.

Thanks Rick. In an AFL media-scape where just plain old mediocrity is often a blessed relief, your work is a shining light. Appreciate it

 

[Colby Cheer Squad]

I've just started reading and you mentioned travel. At some point King Corey (I think) it was a while agodid a comparison of how much we travelled and played at geelong compared to other team and came up with a figure for the kms over several years that was so much more than other clubs. It might have been 10 thousand kms more over several years but it might have been alot more than that. Maybe it worth tracking to see if there is some underlying unfairness there.

Obviously it doesn't compare with the travel of Freo or the Weagles.

 

[Roosurgence]

Obviously it doesn't compare with the travel of Freo or the Weagles.

No it doesn’t compare. West Coast and Freo have only travelled 3 times this year including Gather Round, so we have had a worse travel schedule over the first 6 weeks. We are the only side to have 2 x back to back interstate trips.

Throw in our Tassie games and we will be close to the travel schedule of an interstate side.