Was Jones fit to play though?With the benefit of hindsight, leaving Jones out was a mistake. Got the balance wrong in the end it would appear.
I can't believe RL would play a child in front of a senior player if the choice was there.
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Was Jones fit to play though?With the benefit of hindsight, leaving Jones out was a mistake. Got the balance wrong in the end it would appear.
Weight of expectationNot saying.
Might keep this one for a bit and let it mature like a fine wine.
Much easier to see in a game you are not emotionally invested in.Spoke to a Collingwood supporter today that really knows his footy..reckons our game was one of the worst he’s seen!
This is the issue with the situation.
Seb turned the ball over with a simple 15 metre kick for Jezza's first goalI watched the game and didn't think Seb was that bad, didn't notice him doing anything that poor and we know he has the legs to run out a game. Thought it was strange that Crouch didn't get sent off, he had no influence on the game.
Is that the one where Henry just stood there and waited for it while the Geelong player attacked the ball?Seb turned the ball over with a simple 15 metre kick for Jezza's first goal
The sky isn’t falling in and the performance from some was good. Some selections were wrong and some players had little impact.So we go down to Geelong and we are in the game until the very end.
We win the clearances, contested possessions, we have 3 less shots at goal with 19 less entries, we have a 52% I50 efficiency rate and somehow people think the sky is falling. This game was always a 50/50 game and we nearly pulled it off.
Thurday night will give us a better idea of where we are at, but I'm OK with last nights performance.
Okay I will bite...it was simple Geelong dominated the possessions that mattered. 80% of our possessions were in our defensive half. You cant win games playing the entire 120 minutes relying on 16 players in defence and quick breaks. Geelongs quality of clearances also far out weighed ours and often lead to scores. Our lack of a midfield lead to having to flood our defence constantly, thats okay for 15-20 minutes but you dont win games doing it for 120 minutes.
The club were talking up all preseason how good our leg speed is, well our midfield were all pedestrian excluding Henry when he moved in there. Even Steele is not quick in close, but wins balls through effort and grunt.
Go back and watch the game and see how poor we were at ground level. On the majority of occasions we were 2nd to the ball and when we were first we fumbled and then handballed to a team mate under as much pressure. Or quickly kicked a scrubby kick forward which Geelong often intercepted.
Yes we were able to scrap out a close loss, but even RTB conceded Geelong were by far the superior side. It’s not all tears we saw some new players show plenty, but what frustrates most is we rolled out the same inept/slow midfield and expected a different result. I know we had limited availability but great coaches dont continue to make the same errors....?
So you thought the selection of Crouch was correct?If you were a doctor would you diagnose a patient based off one symptom? No, you try and get enough information in order to exclude all other possibilities.
Did we field our best team? NO
Do we know how good the Cats will be this year? NO
Did we have players underdone? Yes
Even though we did not play at our best, did we give ouselves a chance to win the game last night. YES.
Good teams keep themselves in the game, even when the are not playing at their best. We did that.
You might be prepared to make judgement calls off the back of one perfomance, and you may be proved correct, but I want to reserve judgement until I've seen a bigger sample size.
He was underdone.Who would you have played instead?So you thought the selection of Crouch was correct?
Exceeded expectations for this lot of faux experts my friend.Weight of expectation
He was underdone and injured. Was Jones injured? No, was he underdone yes.He was underdone.Who would you have played instead?
We had 6 goals with about 5 minutes left in the game.
Good point. Although it could take a while to coach Richo and Ratten out of themAs soon as pressure is applied by the oppo we fall straight back into our old habit of blind bombing and uncontrolled ball movement.
I think our onfield leadership is lacking.
Seb has become the escape goat of rocket surgery. People can’t get it out of their head now. Whereas I’m very measured and blame Higgins for missing a sitter and then that made Geelong kick 5 in a row. Lost the game with that missed kick. It’s all his fault and delist him mid season.Is that the one where Henry just stood there and waited for it while the Geelong player attacked the ball?
Either way, we'd rather sub a guy out for a missed kick (of which there were dozens) over a guy who barely moved and was clearly under done?
IMO the fact that they chose to play an injured and underdone Crouch over Jones is telling on where they think Jones is at.He was underdone and injured. Was Jones injured? No, was he underdone yes.
Given Crouch had 15 possies it wouldn’t have been a high benchmark for Jones to go past. You don’t play guys that are suspect injury wise and with no form.
My point being he was a bad call simple as that. We move on but criticism of an ordinary call is acceptable do you not think or are we too sensitive for that.
They were getting away with holding all nightWhat about when Hawkins got pinged for a throw and had a huge sook about it. Then they show the replay and it's the most obvious throw you've ever seen. He is such a sooky unlikeable player.
Also another whinge, Atkins definitely held onto Henry in that critical last centre bounce.
All good but I also think the fact they picked Crouch who was underdone and injured and he failed tells as a great deal about decision making of selectors.IMO the fact that they chose to play an injured and underdone Crouch over Jones is telling on where they think Jones is at.
I have no problem with your criticism. You have expressed your opinion and I have expressed mine. This place would be boring if we all had the same opinions!
A Geelong mate at the ground said that Lyon had an Uber flood going. Im not sure I believe it as it’s literally the opposite of what we should be doing as a running team.Question. Do we push our forwards further up the ground than any other Club? Are we happy to play Pagans Paddock if we get a turnover in space. Sure looked like it.