Review Round 1 Autopsy - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

[HoneyBadger35]

Jack Darling continues to be incredibly smart off the ball and happy to facilitate. Excellent game from him, one passage where he held his front position and soccered/knocked the ball on from the wing to inside 50 one on one stands out. Ended with a goal (LeCras maybe?) but he made it happen

 

[fomoco04]

Negatives:
- Last quarter fade out which saw us leak 6 easy goals, although to be fair we did kick 8 goals ourselves in the final quarter. We easily could of won by over 100 points
.

To be fair both teams were probably rooted by then. So as soon as there was a turnover there was no defence going back the other way.

 

[fidstar]

Positives
- good pressure
- very even spread of good players on the day (at least 10 players could argue of being in the top 5 players)
- Forward line worked well
- Our run was good. Some of the new guys showed the traits of why we recruited them - RUN!
- Nic Nat got through the game and while he was relatively quiet, showed exactly how important he is.
- Bennell showed potential to be that small half back we need

Negatives
- our skills still weren't great. We had a few turnovers a good opposition team would have kicked goals with.
- after a good preseason Masto was quiet. Shuey was also quiet (though apparently he had an injury)
- delivery to Kennedy was ordinary

It was a good solid win and we should be happy. I hope people don't get carried away with it though, as all we did was beat a below average team when we are basically at full strength at home.

 

[HoneyBadger35]

Oh another pro, Simmo made an in game adjustment which I thought was illegal. Dogs dropped the loose one 30 m in front of JK and then once it went into WB forward line they'd drop it 15m in front of the kick down the wing, worked excellently in the first quarter. Resulted in us being bottled up at the HBF and just kicking to a huge pack on the wing to escape.

2nd and 3rd suddenly we were switching at every opportunity and absolute broke through the loose man. Great call from Simpson.

 

[Chris_6678]

Good:

- Lecra is back to his 2011 form! He was pretty good in the midfield with excellent disposal and kicked 5 goals up front.
- Even though Ellis and Yeo didn't have much of the ball but when they did they used it pretty well and this allowed Hurn to be more free and attacking.
- Darling was awesome up front..was he playing mid as well?
- JK even though he struggled to take a mark he was tackling like a mad man and its impressive how someone his size does it.
- Was good to see all our mids kicking goals.
- Bennell was better than i expected and if he can tidy it up a bit he will be a very handy inclusion to out our backline. He really does add some pace through the backline we have sorely lacked.


Bad:

- Wellinghams brain fart and same with Lecra stupid act that cost JK a goal

 

[Underdog]

Also was Nic Nat on reduced game time between Sinclair and Cox playing?

Nic played 70% game time. To put that in perspective, it was the lowest of any player on the ground that wasn't involved in substitutions.

 

[Hap Hapablap]

the good:

win

our best players werent playing 100% yet we still beat them by 10 goals.

bad:

Wellinghams attempt to trip

ugly

nothing

 

[flyinghi64]

Good - Bennell. Was so surprised to see him named, never mind starting on the ground. Wow what a great intro to the team. Went when it was his turn to go and provided defensive run.
- Midfield goal's, much missed last year.
- Gaff going in hard and getting more possessions.
- Lecras...........may be back.
- Sinclair, if one of our top 2 rucks go down we are well prepared.

Bad - Masto, kept trying but my he was playing butcher ball.
- Lecras, get's on both lists due to his brain fade getting JK's well earned shot at goal reversed.
- We have some great tall marking forwards.......deliver.....the......ball.......better.......to........them.

Ugly - Sharrod.....really......really. What the hell were you thinking. Go take a week off and think about what you did.

 

[flyinghi64]

Sharrod aarrghh man what a stupid stupid thing to do.

Oh
My
God

You could have hurt your ankle again.

 

[The Falcon Strike]

- We still had a tendency to just bomb it inside 50 and hope for a mark, particularly in the first quarter when the Bulldogs had all 18 players, a couple of runners and a few stragglers from their cheer squad flooding back into their defensive 50.

ANyone else notice - though we did get sucked into the ole bomb long to the talls routine (which doesn't work against quality defences) - there did appear to be a slight strategy change where we'd chip it forward 20m to the open man who would then bomb long. It seemed to me this was designed to clear the cluster of players and get out the back.

On the game - the good was definitely the tackling in the first 3 quarters. Yeo in particular laid some rib crackers.

 

[Chris_6678]

One other thing i was happy with was Gaff and Rosa looking stronger and taking the game on.

 

[Adzam]

Good:
• dem midfield goals
• Yeo is going to be a superstar
• EMac just gets better and better
• Lecras. I forgot about this guy. So easy to get wrapped up in all the Nic Nat stuff and new draft picks ect over the offseason that you can forget about blokes like this. 5 goals. Awesome effort.
Bad:
• Last quarter fade out.
• still just bombing into the forward line.

 

[Arthaus]

good
--------
the opening tapdown and goal
new gameplan
improved kicking skills and hit ups
run, switch, and link
yeo, bennell, cripps
priddis, selwood, rosa, gaff goals! Lol.(mids kicking goals finally and surprisingly)
leccas back and his pants are on fire?
how good is our ruck brigade now
this will be good-when masten, ellis, shuey, JK and sheed also have good days (they were mostly solid)
shueys soccer ball.
nicoski doing the board on the bench

good,bad and ugly all at same time
------------------------------------------
sharrods pink shoes.
doms first appearance

bad
------
bombing
some selfish play around/towards goal

ugly
-----
sharrods attempted trip (instinctive or otherwise)
leccas turnover

 

[Pottering]

Good was the run and tackling, but after a virtually free trouble free pre-season that should be a given. Bennell, Yeo and Ellis all looked good. Out talls are mobile which means we can play them all on dry tracks.

Not so good was the forward delivery. Many posters here have called it bombing into the forwards but to my mind it was only bombing because the kicks were poor. We gave a lesson in flour bag punts; I recall Glass doing 3 floaters in the forward 50, Ellis, Yeo and Priddis a couple each. They were real finger breakers when a half decent kick would have given our forward a great chance of marking. Even Hurn's kicking wasn't flash either, he missed a few easy targets.

 

[Underdog]

Gaff actually looked like a genuine midfielder rather than an outside runner - very impressive.

 

[Xsess]

Its all positive;
Lecras is definately back.. looks bigger too. Possibly the classiest player on our list and could be anything this year. Kennedy played a colossal defensive game - I loved that as much as if he'd kicked 8 goals himself. Speed and skill out of our backline, clearing HB has been our problem for years but hopefully no longer. Rosa.

 

[Kaboodleer]

The good:

Gaff's physicality - I've been worried that he has a tendency to corral his opponents instead of putting on the jets and looking for a tackle, which can hurt our overall defense. Some great bumps and tackles in this game and a generally willingness to chase and tackle.

Bennell - Not much buzz about this guy coming into the season from West Coast fans. Perhaps that poor effort to stop Walters marking in the pocket during the nab challenge stuck with people. He played well though particularly with his ability to take the ball cleanly on the first touch - something that Sheppard has really never been able to provide playing in the same position. Also showed some genuine athleticism which we should see more of as he gets more comfortable and settles into the side.

Eric Mackenzie (Future hall of Famer) - OK I'm probably going overboard here but there is a not a single KPD in the league I would have in the side before this guy. Remember when we were all worried about his kicking? Now a fantastic attacking option out of the back line AND he never gets beaten by his opponent.

Those slow mids with no skills - Without prompting an argument I'd just like to point out that these guys were great again and we miss them both (for different reasons) when they are out of the side.

LeCras is BACK - I think we were all hoping last year was an anomaly due to the brutal combination of coming back from an LTI and then being hit with injuries. Looks like it was.

Our biggest problem has been fixed in the offseason - No more need to worry about getting run out of the back line.

The not so good:

Shuey - Looked great when he got the ball but only 14 disposals and of those only 6 were kicks. This continues a somewhat disturbing trend of our best player with the ball in his hand just not getting that much of it. Either he needs to work harder or the coaching staff need to find ways of getting him open.

Masten AKA victim of my high expectations - He was OK but I was expecting him to really accumulate and push for at least AA squad this year. Still might but was expecting a bit more.

Kennedy AKA Medusa - Apparently when you look at him on a lead you lose the ability to kick the ball. Hopefully this fixes itself next week otherwise we need to apply to the AFL to let the rest of the team play in sunglasses.

 

[Marlin01]

Got to remember Gaff is only 21. I think he was judged very harshly last year as a 20 year-old who was copping a lot of defensive attention.

 

[Coaster2012]

The Good: our midfield kicking goals!!! It seems our mids have worked out how to kick a goal on the run in the off season, it was the missing piece of the puzzle. The speed of our mids was the biggest surprise. Oh and Lecras looking like a gun again. Let's hope he stays fit as 27 disposals and 5 goals is Brownlow quality.

The bad:
NN needs to start taking normal grabs more then twice a game, he goes missing far too often, there's too much potential there to be wasted on a few occasions during the game.

The ugly
When the dogs scored they scored easily, they found open space more then they should have and against the better teams we could be punished.

 

[Matera LeNui]

The good:

Eric Mackenzie (Future hall of Famer) - OK I'm probably going overboard here but there is a not a single KPD in the league I would have in the side before this guy. Remember when we were all worried about his kicking? Now a fantastic attacking option out of the back line AND he never gets beaten by his opponent.

He was attacking like a mad man, I enjoyed it. (Id like to see him do it a little less against top 8 sides though) Looks like hes backing up his claims of working over the summer on being offensive but...................kicking was still really ordinary

 

[Marlin01]

The Ugly:

With all the rule changes designed to make the game safer for players, it's staggering that play continues as a groggy player is escorted of the ground by two trainers. It's a disaster waiting to happen.

 

[Miguel Sanchez]

Shuey - Looked great when he got the ball but only 14 disposals and of those only 6 were kicks. This continues a somewhat disturbing trend of our best player with the ball in his hand just not getting that much of it. Either he needs to work harder or the coaching staff need to find ways of getting him open.

Bear in mind he only played 3 quarters and apparently went into the game under an injury cloud.

 

[Gracie_wce]

The beautiful:
Shueys goal

The good:
Whole team effort

The bad:
Drop off last quarter

The ugly:
Whoever in the afl picks the three goals of the round...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Kaboodleer]

Bear in mind he only played 3 quarters and apparently went into the game under an injury cloud.

Yeah certainly the possession total would have looked a bit better if he had played the last. As I said I'm just a little worried about how often he is held to low possession counts.

 

[JEagle]

The Very Good:

- Darling being held and wrestled to death 24/7 was actually noticed by the umpires and he got some frees. I felt that last year he was perhaps the most hard done by player by the umpires in the entire league. Let's hope the umpires continue to notice the illegal tactics employed against The King week in week out.

- The tackling by virtually every player. We tackled ferociously and with bad intentions. I recall a host of players laying some great tackles. Yeo with 10!!!

- We won handsomely and Shuey, NN, Kennedy and Masto weren't hugely influential by their standards.

The Good:

- Emac, despite one very poor kick that resulted in a goal and turnover looks like he's in the same form he finished at last year. DE was very high and some 80m plays with his run and carry.

- The backline balance improves and it's easier to be more attacking with Yeo and Ellis as options down there. Also means Waters can build some form and match fitness in the WAFL before we consider him an inclusion.

- LeCras and The King, nuff said.

- Bennell and Cripps really impressed.

- Sheed, despite not touching it (bad luck and Lecras stealing it off him) got into the right spots and took a strong hit in his stride.

The Ugly:

- Wellingham will be having a week off.

- Some poor decision making at times forward of center.