Autopsy Roast, Toast & Changes for Round 5 Vs. West Coast

[SouthernStripes]

Sonz made a couple of errors in the last quarter but also kicked a brilliant goal to keep us right in the game. Keep him in

 

[STRUGGLETOWN EST1885]

Dow and Macauliffe just rolled ankles (on the very mild side) and both should be right according to Yze. Macauliffe also came back on in last few mins. Thank fugg!

That's great news. Just keep em both away from Louie Meehan this week.

 

[Growapair]

Effort and intent was there, but the polish was not. This is exactly what to expect with a young side filling holes for seasoned senior players. Even with Lynch and Balta, we easily put this game to bed at 3/4 time. Getting games into Lefau, Sonsie, Young, Brown, Campbell, Mcauliffe etc is going to give us results like today. We just have had the worst luck with injuries, and we could easily have 2 more wins... We are not going to play finals as we are dropping too many games, but as the season progresses, we will have our future stars have more experience and games like this one won't happen regularly.

Like the Port game, St Kilda are very meh and won't be winning a premiership in the near future, and we might even be closer as we embrace the change.

We need to address the mounting injuries - no other club is having any similar issues.
I usually have a dig at the umpires, but they were FAR better than the last 7 years attending to OUR matches. We lost this game.

In - Baker, Naismith
Out - Dow (Inj), Kosi

The polish was lacking from senior players ... Graham ... Short ... McIntosh ... don't come this young side rubbish ... it's about talent not age

Drop Kosi and Dow ... what a load of bull ... set some standards ... drop the senior players that didn't stand up to win that game

IN Smith, Coulthard, Ralphsmith
OUT Graham, McIntosh Short

 

[Rocco sifreddi]

Mcintosh, pickett , Graham, ,Grimes , Prestia
Wonderful contribution from all towards the 3 flags but seriously this has to be their last year
We really need to get games into the kids
They are simply done and can't take this side any further

 

[chriso11]

In his 3rd game of footy Lefau had 7 score involvements, including a goal and a goal assist….have a look at what Cadman was doing in his first season in 2023. Lefau is doing an excellent job given his inexperience and lack of help around him. No way he gets dropped IMO.


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Problem is that Lefau is 25… he doesn’t have the time or natural growth from a maturing body that Cadman has. Imho best case for Lefau is handy depth to occasionally cover injury

 

[yokobarron]

Wouldn’t want to touch the back 6; but what about bringing Grimes back in to play on McGovern in our forward line. Not sure what else to do up forward. Pretty grim.

Kosi out for Naismith.

 

[Growapair]

Potting 2 kids and a guy playing his second game for us. Hmm...

What a stupid comment.

Let's just drop all our senior players and at once and do what Melbourne did under Mark Neeld. That turned out well.

Sonsie got in the right position a lot in the last quarter and made some mistakes. It happens and will happen again. By the way, second in pressure acts for us. Tried his heart out.

Literally potting all of our kids, most of which weren't even bad. Maurice and Mansell good. Campbell and Sonsie made errors but were in the right places. Lefau is out of his depth but competing hard and wouldn't be getting games if we had our full complement.

Strange comment, he has shown exceptional poise through his first 5 games. Had a down game today disposal wise and it's no surprise it came on a ground the size of 10c piece.

Ross is most certainly up to the level. Dow jury out but has showed promise.

Agree. Mansell has been important for our connection between the arcs and is tough as nails.

Yeah I'm sure your daughter could've put one through from 52m against the wind. And tackled like she was shot out of a cannon for the entire game. Maurice is growing game on game.

Equal high in tackles and in our top third for pressure acts. I'm not a fan boy but that's why he is in the team.

In other words, you know nothing about football.

Oh, we conceded 3 goals in a row at the start of the 3rd quarter, 5 games into a rebuild. Boohoo. Maybe the opposition coach, known for making great in game adjustments, made some great in game adjustments? Nah it's all Yze's fault and he's stinking the joint up. We actually rallied well after that and probably got the game even with spurts of momentum. We almost ran over them in the last quarter and if it wasn't for a couple of St Kilda blokes long fingernails we may well be celebrating a win.

If Yze delivered an address at half time that resembled anything like your dog's breakfast of a response it would completely explain how pathetic we were after half time

 

[Cdog71]

Really enjoyed watching the game today. Not really concerned with the result as I didn't expect us to get the win over the Saints. What I did enjoy though was the continued good signs from the kids. Brown looked even better again as he settles into his role. Campbell continued his fine form and while he had a couple of errors good things happen more often than not, Maurice laid some crucial tackles that resulted in goals when we shouldn't have got them. Dow made a good start to the game before rolling his ankle when stepping on the footy, what was pleasing was that he got it re-strapped and returned to the game and still had some important touches before eventually being subbed out. Mansell didn't quite have the game that he had last week, but he showed some real strength over the footy and won contested footy that kept us in possession. McAuliffe in his limited appearance showed that he won't be overawed at the level with 4 disposals and 3 tackles, looking forward to seeing him getting more opportunities in the coming weeks.

Of the experienced guys, how good was it to see a fully fit Martin rolling around doing as he pleased, while Bolton played the type of game that we used to see Martin play at his peak. Nankervis was very strong again in the contest against Marshall and probably just won their battle overall. Taranto seems to have found his groove again and worked well in the middle alongside Ross who seems to be flourishing back in the middle of the ground like he did very early on in his career.

As for next week Baker will be welcomed back, but it will be a bit of a nervous wait for Vlastuin after his dangerous tackle against Butler in the 3rd quarter, it should only be a fine, but you just never know with the MRO. Dow may make way depending on how his ankle is after rolling it and with the bye the following week, giving him a couple of weeks to get it right may not be a bad thing. You'd have to wonder how much credits McIntosh has left before he gets the tap, while the Pickett roller coaster ride continues to frustrate as he goes from doing something good to doing something head scratching. I can also see a lot of discussion happening around the make up of the forward line. Koschitzke while not playing a great game certainly did what was asked of him in terms of competing inside F50 and giving Nankervis a break in the ruck. Would we be better off giving Ryan or Naismith a run alongside Koschitzke up forward and allowing them to be the back up to Nankervis while leaving Koschitzke forward permanently as it was quite obvious that we lost structure up forward when Koschitzke was up the ground and Lefau was left as the lone marking target.

FWIW I'd go with:

Out: Lefau Dow McIntosh
In: Ryan Baker Ralphsmith

B: Miller Young Broad
HB: Brown Vlastuin D.Rioli
C: Campbell Taranto Pickett
HF: Sonsie Mansell M.Rioli
F: Bolton Koschitzke Martin
R: Nankervis Ross Baker
INT: Short Graham McAuliffe Ryan Ralphsmith

We took 6 fwd 50 marks in the first quarter and four for the rest of the game.
We lost contested possession by a sh.t load in the third and couldn’t get our game going and still only lost by two kicks.
I’ve said it before, a tall marking fwd to be thought of as good needs to be a really bloody good player and I don’t think Koz is an exceptional talent as FFwd ( AA as a FB U/18) but 0 tackles and 2 marks just isnt hungry enough.
Yze said in his presser he’s holding his spot.
I hope they bring in Naismith for Optus Oval, give Sonsie a run in the middle and rest Dow.
Did ok Dow, more tackles and contested work but he can’t kick over a jam jar and that’ll always be the problem.
Sonsie was touted as a first rnder inside mid as a 15 yr old and needs to get in and show it. There’s a little too much Hollywood , plus the king hit last year behind the play.
He needs to go and get it.

Out
Dow, Graham

In
Naismith, Baker

Pickett and Kmac weren’t great but that ground looked like an old athletics track, 5mtr’s skinnier than the Geelong ground, hard to judge em on that.

 

[aislegi]

Unfortunately, not many of our games have been on up here but this season, so far, is reminding me of 2008: A good quarter here and there but generally not getting the job done. Mind you, if we’re only nine years away from another premiership, maybe it’s not a bad position to be in.

 

[Tigeral]

Time to throw caution to the wind and give two rucks a spin. Nank and Naismith could do a real number on the eagles ruck I reckon. We also need some big targets to combat McGovern who is absolutely cooking this year, I’d be super worried if we only had Lefau and Kosi taking him on, having one of Naismith or Nank down there at all times would at least keep him
Honest.

Provided he’s ok, McAuliffe to be given a full game.

Brown to be given kick in duties, perhaps look at playing Short off a wing and drop one of KMac/Pickett.

Baker in for Graham, who can be sub.

And Nank was brilliant down back so no problem finding a spot for him to rest - front or back half

 

[Noidnadroj]

People need to slow down, stop and think (and breath). We can’t drop every senior player. We need some experienced blokes around the kids. And in return, they will be better. For those calling for Pickett and K Mac to be dropped while we got 14 out, i ask them, how did it wirk out for Melbourne when they delisted and traded out all the experience and went with kids? They were hopeless and it stifled the kids development. The kids look good, but they need some big bodies around them.

Such an exaggeration. Nobody is saying drop all the senior players … just drop the crappy ones like Macca and Pickett. Let’s say Macca and Pickett are out this week and Baker and Clarke/Bank come in.

Here are the ‘senior bodies’ we’d still have on the field against Eagles:

Bolton
Nank
D Rioli
Taranto
Martin
Graham
Broad
Vlastuin
Short
Baker

then there’s the following players who’ve been in the system for 3+ years:

Ross
Miller
Kosi
Mansell
Dow
Sonsie
Banks/Clarke
Brown
MRJ
Young

Sure, most are inexperienced, but they’re not first year players and majority have shown good signs at the level.

The only genuinely ‘raw’ players would be McCauliffe, Lefau and Campbell. And body size isn’t an issue for McAuliffe and Lefau, and Campbell isn’t a first year player.

Melbourne screwed the pooch as they made Jack and Jack captain and had a psycho for a coach. On what planet is 10 x highly experienced players 25yo+ not enough?


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[copthat]

If Yze delivered an address at half time that resembled anything like your dog's breakfast of a response it would completely explain how pathetic we were after half time

Mate, we conceded 3 goals and then got the game back into an arm wrestle. If you think that's "pathetic" then you've got a lot to learn.

 

[SpineDr]

K Mac clearly AFL standard. Kane McAuliffe that is

Please call him Sugar after Kane Johnson. Not after Kane Mac.

 

[tigersnag]

Kozi is garbage.
Brown is v good.
Kmac is finished
Nank needs ruck support.
Dow/Sonsie/Lefau - could go either way as to whether they make it.

We really didn't learn anything today that we already didn't know. Just hope the match committee wake the heck up and see the obvious. Woeful effort from them. Massive fail again. That's on Yze. Definitely stubborn and a slow learner.

 

[prodigy1311]

This one slipped away! We should’ve won with a bit more composure.
No blaming kids. Good effort and must be in the side
Naismith should’ve been picked over kosi.
Dow should’ve been subbed halftime.
Kmac should be rested or omitted
Sadly Ross out coached yze today

Not certain of a win next week but 2-4 would not be a bad result considering our list, rebuild and injuries!

 

[DustinsGuns]

Sonsie is in his third year. Not sure what people are expecting

 

[Tigeral]

Bit Harsh. Sonsie tackled immediately

Also an excellent clean pickup. He was just unlucky, that guy did a Rioli on him

 

[STRUGGLETOWN EST1885]

Reckon it's time we finally play 2 genuine rucks next week for the 1st time this year. Nank and Naismith. We need the extra big body as a chopout in the forward line and it will help the younger kids being around them not having to do all the heavy lifting constantly playing against much bigger bodied defenders. Our kids are really good but they need more protection.

 

[Bojangles17]

Wouldn’t want to touch the back 6; but what about bringing Grimes back in to play on McGovern in our forward line. Not sure what else to do up forward. Pretty grim.

Kosi out for Naismith.

Ooze has already said kozi playing again , I wouldn’t mind seeing crayfish come in

 

[AstuteTiger]

Literally potting all of our kids, most of which weren't even bad. Maurice and Mansell good. Campbell and Sonsie made errors but were in the right places. Lefau is out of his depth but competing hard and wouldn't be getting games if we had our full complement.

No I critique honestly but it seems you agreed with some of my assertions re Campbell and Sonsie making some real blunders, they'll learn. Lefau correct out of his depth Id have Cumbo in ahead of him, just a natural footballer, quicker, smarter and runs to the right spots. Just on Lefau no real pressure, where is his high marking pretty non existent, where is his speed that we keep hearing.

Also I said that Short, Pickett, Macca to name a few did not use the ball well hurt us on transition. Graham was running like he had lead in his legs.

Mansell was not good and decision making was bad. Junior tried and was ok I didn't say anything bad about his game
Kosi he just doesnt work hard enough man he has been given a chance take it with both hands don't just float through a game.

 

[aislegi]

Please call him Sugar after Kane Johnson. Not after Kane Mac.

Surely McAuliffe’s nickname has to be Terry (after the racecaller)!

 

[Tigeral]

It was holding the ball. It was also holding the ball when Butler dropped it red hot 3mins earlier. But they called play on then. Its always the ones we don't get.

Agree. The Sonsie tackle was incorrect disposal. I’m just not sure if the rule still exists without prior opportunity. Commentators are always saying now that the ball can spill free in the tackle…sure as unreliable source as you can get. Anyone actually know for 100% what the current rule/ interpretation is.

 

[STRUGGLETOWN EST1885]

When's Groupie allowed to come back ? We're missing him.

 

[_RT_]

We took 6 fwd 50 marks in the first quarter and four for the rest of the game.
We lost contested possession by a sh.t load in the third and couldn’t get our game going and still only lost by two kicks.
I’ve said it before, a tall marking fwd to be thought of as good needs to be a really bloody good player and I don’t think Koz is an exceptional talent as FFwd ( AA as a FB U/18) but 0 tackles and 2 marks just isnt hungry enough.
Yze said in his presser he’s holding his spot.
I hope they bring in Naismith for Optus Oval, give Sonsie a run in the middle and rest Dow.
Did ok Dow, more tackles and contested work but he can’t kick over a jam jar and that’ll always be the problem.
Sonsie was touted as a first rnder inside mid as a 15 yr old and needs to get in and show it. There’s a little too much Hollywood , plus the king hit last year behind the play.
He needs to go and get it.

Out
Dow, Graham

In
Naismith, Baker

Pickett and Kmac weren’t great but that ground looked like an old athletics track, 5mtr’s skinnier than the Geelong ground, hard to judge em on that.

The 6 marks we took in the F50 in the first quarter were mainly from us getting quick ball in and finding the open player to take the grab. Once the Saints tightened up through the middle of the ground and forced us into bombing the ball in they were always going to make it hard for us as our 2 KPFs aren't genuine contested marking options. Koschitzke is someone who I believe needs to lead and mark rather than contest in packs, while Lefau maybe a powerful athlete he is too raw to know how to genuinely impact as strong contested marking target.

Given we're playing on bigger grounds in the next few weeks I'd like to see us bringing in Ryan to play alongside Koschitzke and Lefau up forward. I believe it would give us better structure up forward as we'd have at least 2 talls up forward at all times, while Ryan can go into the ruck to give Nankervis a breather. I know some have called for Naismith to come in and play forward or ruck, but for mine Nankervis and Naismith are players that need to play majority of the game in the ruck to have a real influence on games. I don't see either being particularly dangerous as full time forwards.

 

[tiger_tough]

The Nankervis haters have been bloody quiet so far this season.