Review Round 1, 2016 - West Coast vs Brisbane Lions

[BRAB]

Really liked that second video, the angle they had which we couldn't see on TV showed just how far the west coast players sat back.

Makes me take even more of the blame off our young defenders. That video also shows a lot of the good stuff Mcstay did. It's a great watch.

 

[rusty08]

We moved the ball well and got murdered by turnovers. Clearance and contested numbers much better and we played a team that on history as aguide are better positioned to win the premiership than the team that won last year.

Yeah we got found out in the back half mostly by the Eagles slickness on the break. Poor turnovers kill all sides not just us. At least the backs kept having a go.

We still need more polish to our kicking and need to substantially reduce poor turnovers.

But please, we will have our days and from what I saw over the weekend we moved the ball pretty well and had opened up the Eagles on quite a few occasions.

We are probably a week or two behind due to the shortage of game time during NAB.

Give me this style of play over last year any day of the week. At least we can get better and will have a chance to win games. Rd 23 2015, some days it will all come together.

Nice post mate. Well put.

 

[xplo]

We may have slightly improved our contested possessions over last year but our non-contested possessions are still very low based on the first game. Hard to see our run and gun style being truly effective unless more players get more of the ball

That's really just a symptom of disposal efficiency. West Coast kick to space on that ground really well. For every contested possession they get, they turn it into the next 5 uncontested possessions. We get two, before a badly-weighted kick or mis-timed handball creates a contest we're forced to win again.

West Coast only had 4 player with disposal efficiency under 70% - and none under 60%. 13 blokes went at 80 or better. That's high!

We had 3 blokes in the 50s and 3 in the 60s. That's where you bleed. (Interestingly Lester went at 100%). I think we had 7 blokes going at 80% DE or better.

It looks like we can win enough contests to feed a run-and-gun game. We just have to kick it good enough to hold on to it. If that happens, UP automatically spikes.

 

[Last of the Roys]

I'm not sure how people can say we have improved in terms of contested possessions when we just got smashed by 32 in that stat. That is a huge difference for contested possessions. We did seem a lot more aggressive in tackling and did well in clearances with -5 despite Nic Nat's dominance.

The other thing I don't agree with is posters and the coaching wrap for that matter blaming our defensive problems on turnovers. Yeah they were / are one of our big problems, but I would guess more than half of the over the back goals the Eagles scored weren't directly related to turnovers.

Obviously we desperately need to improve our skills. But my biggest concern with our defence is that when the opposition have a free kick or kick in in the back half, or indeed it's a contested situation, we are getting too many defenders sucked up into no mans land - not close enough to impact the contest, but too close to cut off the next kick.

 

[Milux]

I'm not sure how people can say we have improved in terms of contested possessions when we just got smashed by 32 in that stat. That is a huge difference for contested possessions. We did seem a lot more aggressive in tackling and did well in clearances with -5 despite Nic Nat's dominance.

The other thing I don't agree with is posters and the coaching wrap for that matter blaming our defensive problems on turnovers. Yeah they were / are one of our big problems, but I would guess more than half of the over the back goals the Eagles scored weren't directly related to turnovers.

Obviously we desperately need to improve our skills. But my biggest concern with our defence is that when the opposition have a free kick or kick in in the back half, or indeed it's a contested situation, we are getting too many defenders sucked up into no mans land - not close enough to impact the contest, but too close to cut off the next kick.

Cant say i agree there. Our defenders are getting sucked up because we are trying to play and extremely attacking style of play. You turn that ball over and they score 60 points from turnovers surely thats more to do with disposal efficiency then actual defending.

Cant wait to get to the gabba to see the full extent of leppas press up.

 

[jackess]

Cant say i agree there. Our defenders are getting sucked up because we are trying to play and extremely attacking style of play. You turn that ball over and they score 60 points from turnovers surely thats more to do with disposal efficiency then actual defending.

Cant wait to get to the gabba to see the full extent of leppas press up.

I wonder if we press up more than other teams or if it's just a case of not doing it as well.

 

[rusty08]

I wonder if we press up more than other teams or if it's just a case of not doing it as well.

Or other sides don't turn it over as much as us?

 

[Ray Button]

A question:

Did anyone notice if any of the young defenders took on a leadership/organising role in the backline?

In the past we've had Adcock, Merrett & Clarke do the job, but just curious if any of the inexperienced players stepped up. I can't say I noticed anyone in particular, but I didn't think about it 'till after the game.

 

[rusty08]

In all seriousness, one of the easiest grounds to get exposed on. I see what we are trying to do. Hopefully seeing the damage a simple turn over can produce, playing this style might rectify our skill errors quicker.If I was a backman, I'd be dirty on the boys up the ground and letting them know about it. After all, it's generally the backs man on the end of an easy goal. All backs hate having goals kicked on them, especially uncontested ones due to turnovers up the ground.

 

[L Dizz]

I'm not sure how people can say we have improved in terms of contested possessions when we just got smashed by 32 in that stat. That is a huge difference for contested possessions. We did seem a lot more aggressive in tackling and did well in clearances with -5 despite Nic Nat's dominance.

The other thing I don't agree with is posters and the coaching wrap for that matter blaming our defensive problems on turnovers. Yeah they were / are one of our big problems, but I would guess more than half of the over the back goals the Eagles scored weren't directly related to turnovers.

Obviously we desperately need to improve our skills. But my biggest concern with our defence is that when the opposition have a free kick or kick in in the back half, or indeed it's a contested situation, we are getting too many defenders sucked up into no mans land - not close enough to impact the contest, but too close to cut off the next kick.

I don't think anyone is saying the defence was completely blameless, more so trying to point out that it's more complicated than "West Coast scored lots of goals, so our defenders were rubbish".

And you're right, there probably were times that the defenders did push too far forward, but this attacking style of play is completely different to how we've played the previous couple of years. It will probably take a bit of time to find the balance between all out attack and stifling defence. Maybe having a more experienced head back there in Merrett will help, but he's new to this game plan too, so I'm sure we'll see a few more mistakes like this before the year is out.

 

[Len S]

McStay did some things that reminded me a little of Joel Patful running out of defence. We can only hope he develops a defence game to match!

A lot more class than Joel...very like a young P5aul Roos. Roos also incidentally started forward, went to the wing, and was moved during a game, to centre half back, the rest is history a sensational history.

 

[_bonza_]

Best part of the game was someone from the cheer squad yelling out 'how's ya mum' to elliot yeo when he was in the goal square - made my night