AFL Autopsy RND 15: Loss to the Dockers

[Call Me Cake]

Reckon we'll be better in the long-term for this loss.

There were quite a few mistakes made in-house and during the match from both the coaches and players which should come in the form of a wake up call.

 

[ghostdog]

Give Baldwin a run in Weeds position

At this stage I'd be happy if we gave Harvey a run in Weid's position.

 

[Call Me Cake]

Interested how you guys viewed McGraths game tonight?

Was serviceable early, no real clangers and was huge in the last 2 quarters. Margin would have been worse without his involvement.

 

[ghostdog]

Also, Parish was far from our worst on.

Laverde, BZT, Kelly and McGrath all beaten defensively all night.

Wright and Weed couldn't get near it. Need to play one of them through the ruck to bring them into the game if it's not working.
Perkins, Langford, Snelling and Durham were mia.

Our whole midfield was well down, and includes Zac who lifted in the second half a bit.

Only players that should be happy with their performance tonight would be Ridley, Hobbs, Menzie and Philips (some bad moments, but competed as well as could be hoped)

All of those defenders incurred the heat that comes from a lack of defensive accountability up the ground.

 

[ScrappyCoCo]

Was serviceable, no real clangers and was huge in the last 2 quarters. Margin would have more worse without his involvement.

He got a lot of it in the 1st as well. Just not a really damaging player but gives his all.

 

[Jobe Watson]

I've said what I wanted to say about Parish tonight and don't want to get stuck into one player in particular, especially given Draper, Shiel and Setterfield were also missing. I will say though, that scores from CBs have been one of our strengths and tonight we got smashed out of the middle. I didn't see any evidence of any change of tact or thinking in there to turn the centre into the scrap it should have been. That should have been led by 5th and 6th year players. Merrett was great.

Yet once again it's Parish leading the team for pressure acts. Parish cops all the blame but let's not pretend Merrett, Stringer and Perkins were defensive animals tonight. Go watch the last Freo clearance where Serong and Brayshaw walked the ball out of the CB with Merrett standing right there.

Darcy was a huge in for them, and Draper a huge loss for us.

 

[supportyourteam]

All the best Freo. Good win.

 

[BOMBERROB2000]

Yet once again it's Parish leading the team for pressure acts. Parish cops all the blame but let's not pretend Merrett, Stringer and Perkins were defensive animals tonight. Go watch the last Freo clearance where Serong and Brayshaw walked the ball out of the CB with Merrett standing right there.

Darcy was a huge in for them, and Draper a huge loss for us.

same old same old mate we still can't defend as a team for long enough and until that changes we will never be a top 4 side and challenging for Premierships..!!!

 

[ghostdog]

Yet once again it's Parish leading the team for pressure acts. Parish cops all the blame but let's not pretend Merrett, Stringer and Perkins were defensive animals tonight. Go watch the last Freo clearance where Serong and Brayshaw played hot potato with the ball with Merrett standing right there.

Darcy was a huge in for them, and Draper a huge loss for us.

I never said it was all on Parish at all, but there were plenty of CBs where Stringer played the blocking role and would engage his opponent while Parish either refused to play defensive side of his man or allowed him to go without being checked, hoping to get clean ball forward of the contest. I've acknowledged that Draper was out and that was a factor.

I've defended Parish before as well. All I'm saying is that in the absence of a few key pieces in the CBs, where he's usually one of our main drivers, it's not unreasonable to expect that a senior player might adjust how he goes about things. He played as though Setters was out there. It wasn't working.

But sure, Durham, Perkins, Kelly, Laverde, Snelling, Guelfi, Weideman, all pretty ordinary.

 

[Jobe Watson]

I never said it was all on Parish at all, but there were plenty of CBs where Stringer played the blocking role and would engage his opponent while Parish either refused to play defensive side of his man or allowed him to go without being checked, hoping to get clean ball forward of the contest. I've acknowledged that Draper was out and that was a factor.

I've defended Parish before as well. All I'm saying is that in the absence of a few key pieces in the CBs, where he's usually one of our main drivers, it's not unreasonable to expect that a senior player might adjust how he goes about things. He played as though Setters was out there. It wasn't working.

Parish definitely plays a risky game but the first half shows why he does it. He was the one burning Freo's mids and getting us going out of stoppage. We've struggled to get the midfield mix right all season, with and without Parish. Caldwell needed more of a role tonight as a defensive midfielder.

 

[emblurr]

This

Sent from my SM-F936B using Tapatalk

 

[ghostdog]

Parish definitely plays a risky game but the first half shows why he does it. He was the one burning Freo's mids and getting us going out of stoppage. We've struggled to get the midfield mix right all season, with and without Parish. Caldwell needed more of a role tonight.

First quarter. Once they intensified he needed to stand up and lead the way with his responsiveness. At one point I hoped Scott would send him forward and put Caldwell and Hobbs in the middle. Parish does provide some good pressure in general play compared to last year and could have been creative in the forwardline given we weren't taking any marks. I just think Caldwell and Hobbs are more defensively minded and we needed that.

 

[Westlo]

It's hilarious it's Darcy's fault that the two best freo mids tore us apart.

 

[Yoda_]

Leading and marking players across half forward continue to cost this group

 

[quotemokc]

Leading and marking players across half forward continue to cost this group

Yep, we completely fail to gain and hold possession in this part of the ground. Constant long kicks to a contest that result in an easy rebound or we take too long and can't hit a pin point pass.

Too many times Freo went down the ground fast with uncontested marks yet whenever we got possession we couldn't find a spare target to save ourselves up forward.

 

[Mootsy]

Dockers taught us a lesson in contested and intercept marking last night. Our players just fumbled it instead overhead. You won’t win games playing like that, without knowing the basics and playing well. Ridley and Stringer were the only ones matching them overhead, the rest come undone because they aren’t natural at it or are small running types instead.

 

[Run and carry]

Tonight was again proof that there is not a lot between most of the teams.

 

[andleanback]

Draper is an absolute weapon at the centre clearance and our scores from Centre bounce are one of the highest the league. We got thrashed in there tonight.

 

[citizen-erased]

It's hilarious it's Darcy's fault that the two best freo mids tore us apart.

He's part of our best 2 mids setup. And when the game blew open from the centre bounce (where i think they scored 6 or 7 from) it was Darcy's man free fwd of the ball as he went hunting.

Needed to adjust and defend, but didn't
He wasnt solely responsible but as a leader who's likely going to cost us a lot to re-sign, it was disappointing....first game back or not

 

[windyhill]

Tonight was again proof that there is not a lot between most of the teams.

Agreed. They were shocking last week and were always going to hit back whoever they played. I’m expecting Essendon to respond hard next week.

 

[ant555]

Let me preface this by saying I like Parish and hope he re-signs because he offers alot around the ground.
The good of Parish at stoppage however, does not necessarily outweigh the bad.
Sure he wins alot of clearances, but he gambles and cheats early. When it doesn't work, opposition can freely use his man out the front every time.
And when he does win it, it is often a high kick to nobodies advantage.
A shame because his first two clearances were sublime. And then he forgot to lower his eyes for the rest of the night.

It is a good point which is why we need someone like Setterfield in the side to do the basic blocking and cover the defensive side of things.

 

[ghostdog]

Gonna be tough to hold our top 8 spot now. Tough games against Port, Adelaide and Geelong coming up. That was a must-win and we didn't turn up.

Our forward line stinks. Menzie should've played a full game, Kelly should not have.

In the light of day this morning, not so bad. We've beaten one top 8 side all year. Unless we show we can win against top 8 teams we shouldn't be there IMO. We've overachieved this year already. I think Squeaky said it, we're a middling team.

 

[WABomber]

Few takeaways for me, Draper is so important to our structure and we either need Bryan to improve and regularly push for selection or look at drafting/trading in that area to prepare for the next few years. Phillips is over 30 and he is playing a role atm but it would have been pretty bad if he wasn't playing.

I don't know what to make of Parish's game, running head to head failed miserably. His offensive efforts weren't enough to counter his lack of accountability and not putting the blame solely on him but it stood out. Needed to lower the eyes but the forward entries in general were pretty shithouse, there was too much focus on 2MP and with Weideman having zero impact it was a disaster. Menzies should be a lock for best 22 too.

A lot of players were missing last night, how on earth did Liam Henry have the best game of his career on us? I feel like i could keep going but I don't want to rant. Freo without Darcy played like the bombers without Draper, massive in for them. Hopefully Draper will play for the port game.

 

[ant555]

The last two games our team defense has been average . We have given up too much of the middle of the ground.

Obviously scores from clearance / stoppage was the big difference. Our midfielders where in general our best players but we got spanked in scores from stoppage and IMO it was due to the fall down in the team defense . Fremantle took their chances and used the footy well. Last week the Blues could not and let us back in the game.

As mentioned by andleanback Draper has a presence at the center bounce. He may not win the hit outs but his physical nature puts enough pressure on to have an impact on the opposition ruck effectiveness .

The forward until did not work at all. I thought Wright , Weideman and Langford where all as bad as each other overall and it was just plain stupid that Phillips was drifting in in front of Wright as well.

Not going to bash the back 6 too much. Yes they made some mistakes and had some ordinary moments but the pressure up the ground was poor so they where under the pump for 3/4 .

My old chestnut still applies. Do not take enough contested marks in front of the footy and when we have to kick down the line we can not control the footy.

It is the reality check as to where we are at. Forget easy draws. We are a side that are trying to build a system and are still well short of where we need to be. That is what we are. We can bounce back but it is also a reflection of where we are at. We are not a consistent footy side that has a solid defensive system week in and week out. We have a few very clear gaps in the list and we have players who have worked on improving their defensive side but still have a long way to go.

 

[ghostdog]

Weed, Kelly & Bryan straight out with Guelfi & Snelling borderline.

Perkins forward with weed out.

If Draper's still out I reckon Bryan will play, given Scott has wanted to play him. I'm done with Weid - seemed unaccountable and disorganised.
Kelly, Guelfi and Snelling probably have enough credits in the bank to get another run, although Snello would have to be under pressure now.
Perkins and Durham need to lift.