Game Day Round 1: Freo vs Geelong @ subi 4.40pm

[smokingjacket]

Obviously a thoroughly disappointing result but a few things which standout.

- Geelong kicked 13 goals from turnovers. Now the turnovers could be due to adapting to a new style of ball movement but either way - if we can close this down than we cut of over half of Geelong's score.
- McCarthy will get better each week and the forward group gel together over time, hopefully just soon!

That said, we've got a lot to improve on and some players need to go back to Peel.

Turnovers were particularly high in the first half because Geelong went toe to toe with us, pushed their defenders up and aggressively closed down passing lanes and cut down our defenders time on the ball, gambling that we didn't have the skill to pick our way through their press. The players we have distributing the ball out for D50 aren't good enough at theirs jobs under zero pressure let alone under the high press Geelong put on in the first half. Old news story but it keeps happening.

 

[Lach72]

Turnovers were particularly high in the first half because Geelong went toe to toe with us, pushed their defenders up and aggressively closed down passing lanes and cut down our defenders time on the ball, gambling that we didn't have the skill to pick our way through their press. The players we have distributing the ball out for D50 aren't good enough at theirs jobs under zero pressure let alone under the high press Geelong put on in the first half. Old news story but it keeps happening.

Yes and we play our forwards too far up, so we have no space, and the backs bomb the shit out of it


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[meima]

I thought hawthorn where ahead in rebuild after today game , yes they don't have pick but will be willing to take risk looking for mature age all over the country league.

 

[Sully90]

If ever game showcased how strengths and weaknesses so clearly it was this one. Easily win the clearance and stoppage numbers, fail abysmally at effective inside 50 entries from them. The absolute contempt the players have for the corridor is also alarming, today it was avoided like the plague, whether it was carrying, kicking, or leading through the middle. As a defensive unit, Sutcliffe, Johnson, Spurr, Ibbotson, Dawson, Hamling should be embarrassed by their performance with the ball in hand today

 

[freo_leo29]

I think the forwards are too high up because they just aren't smart footballers, barring Walters and Ballas who are too small, they seem to be the only ones with a clue to stay closer to home when possible but it obviously doesn't work as well for a small, McCarthy does seem pretty natural though so hopefully he stays home a bit more too

 

[smokingjacket]

Yes and we play our forwards too far up, so we have no space, and the backs bomb the shit out of it


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My understanding is that it's about condensing the field of play to create more stoppages and more physical contests, it also slows the ball down both ways which is good for a defensive team. Also leaves space out the back for forwards with pace to run in to on the counter.

Teams have become too good with the ball for it work any more in that particular system IMO

 

[IAMJUNGLEMUFFIN]

Why is Johnson playing forward? was he getting creamed down back in the first half? missed it due to work

Was the leading goal scorer on the ground...

 

[_007_]

I think the forwards are too high up because they just aren't smart footballers, barring Walters and Ballas who are too small, they seem to be the only ones with a clue to stay closer to home when possible but it obviously doesn't work as well for a small, McCarthy does seem pretty natural though so hopefully he stays home a bit more too

A forward plays exactly as high as they are instructed to play. We play a stoppage based game that relies on congestion. The higher they are the easier it is to create a stoppage. The downside is averaging 70 points a game

It is obsolete.

 

[igon value]

A forward plays exactly as high as they are instructed to play. We play a stoppage based game that relies on congestion. The higher they are the easier it is to create a stoppage. The downside is averaging 70 points a game

It is obsolete.

Apparently this was the first time more than 17 teams kicked more than 80 points in a round.

Only one team didn't.

 

[Bradesmaen]

Bradesmaen and others. Langdon ****** more kicks than he should've. It's a known fault of his. He needs to be the last player in the chain rather than one of the first, ideally kicking for goal imo. That he is not, isn't his fault. Rather significantly for me, he stood up when there was no one else.

Well, it is his fault if he can't identify it and get in better positions/do shorter kicks. He tries to bite off more than he can chew. Could learn from Neale.

 

[AAACockburn]

There was one good passage in the last where we had a chain of possessions

Is that when Geelong gave up and the Junktime dogs were hard at it padding their stats?

 

[Purpletown]

That was embarrassing to say the least. Griff is a liability and there is no way we can have him and Sandi in the same side ever again. He is an emergency only option going forward and we are better served looking to more mobile players to play his role. In the longer term lets hope Dacy can develop sooner rather than later.

 

[_007_]

Well, it is his fault if he can't identify it and get in better positions/do shorter kicks. He tries to bite off more than he can chew. Could learn from Neale.

What I'm getting at is that coach flawless the omnipotent plays our half forwards so high they're not actually kicking at goals, they're trying to hit a player. I agree with the portion size comment. Should be looking to handball to a skilled kicker as should all our players outside our forward 50.

 

[Bradesmaen]

What I'm getting at is that coach flawless the omnipotent plays our half forwards so high they're not actually kicking at goals, they're trying to hit a player. I agree with the portion size comment. Should be looking to handball to a skilled kicker as should all our players outside our forward 50.

That's how all teams play... There was one time he was running and had a guy wide, tried to hit Suban in between 3 people and dropped it short for an easy Geelong mark. He tried hard, yada yada... trying hard doesn't make you an AFL player. I can find 20 guys in the local league near me that can give as much as Langdon gave, doesn't mean they are any good. The old adage of skills pays the bills is never more correct.

 

[igon value]

Is that when Geelong gave up and the Junktime dogs were hard at it padding their stats?

It was from a centre clearance and early in the quarter. It may have been junk time, but the point is it was essentially a set play that saw Sutcliffe end up delivering the kick. Part of the problem is we're putting the ball in the hands of poor users and this affects every chain of possession afterwards.

We were going OK until MJ gave the ball up in the first and then every just got sloppier and sloppier. You could gradually see every player lose faith in how they were playing until the third quarter when it was just a complete clown show.

 

[meima]

That's how all teams play... There was one time he was running and had a guy wide, tried to hit Suban in between 3 people and dropped it short for an easy Geelong mark. He tried hard, yada yada... trying hard doesn't make you an AFL player. I can find 20 guys in the local league near me that can give as much as Langdon gave, doesn't mean they are any good. The old adage of skills pays the bills is never more correct.

Who can replace him ? if nobody no point

 

[Bradesmaen]

Who can replace him ? if nobody no point

Crozier, Sheridan. Both better kicks, sure they might go missing a bit.. but would rather see a target hit.

 

[meima]

Crozier, Sheridan. Both better kicks, sure they might go missing a bit.. but would rather see a target hit.

Iok enjoy port Adelaide next week.

 

[Bradesmaen]

Iok enjoy port Adelaide next week.

Port Adelaide just beat Sydney, so in normal Port Adelaide terms that means they are ripe for a loss.

 

[FreoRicci]

Play Tabs as second ruck an and drop Griffin. At least he's a natural forward and leads with intent. Griffin was useless up forward today and Geelong played off his so well.
Kersten is dropped immediately. Embarrassing that he wasn't damaging up forward that he needed to play in defence.

 

[IAMJUNGLEMUFFIN]

My understanding is that it's about condensing the field of play to create more stoppages and more physical contests, it also slows the ball down both ways which is good for a defensive team. Also leaves space out the back for forwards with pace to run in to on the counter.

Teams have become too good with the ball for it work any more in that particular system IMO

The problem is it forces the contest further up the field, so when there is a ballup/ground ball it's in a sort of twilight zone where we're too far out to hit the goals directly, meaning we need extra touches to get in range of goal and increasing the chance of a turnover, and also not compact enough for our forward press to be effective.

Part of being a forward is sitting back, biding your time and leaving space for the mids to kick in to. There's nothing wrong with leaving space and taking the ball on the half volley.

 

[Dockernut]

It was from a centre clearance and early in the quarter. It may have been junk time, but the point is it was essentially a set play that saw Sutcliffe end up delivering the kick. Part of the problem is we're putting the ball in the hands of poor users and this affects every chain of possession afterwards.

We were going OK until MJ gave the ball up in the first and then every just got sloppier and sloppier. You could gradually see every player lose faith in how they were playing until the third quarter when it was just a complete clown show.

Even elite ball users would struggle with our forward line. With the exception of Fyfe we are completely bereft of players that are consistently good marks overhead. Geebung players knew they could just drop in on Danger's head 10m out and even with Ibbo climbing all over him, Danger just took the mark.

Same old story for Freo, no decent marking forwards. As for Kersten; very poor tonight.

It's Strnadica time.

 

[smokingjacket]

The problem is it forces the contest further up the field, so when there is a ballup/ground ball it's in a sort of twilight zone where we're too far out to hit the goals directly, meaning we need extra touches to get in range of goal and increasing the chance of a turnover, and also not compact enough for our forward press to be effective.

Part of being a forward is sitting back, biding your time and leaving space for the mids to kick in to. There's nothing wrong with leaving space and taking the ball on the half volley.

I think that's more the problem. If we aren't scoring off repeat entry and we can't move the ball out of D50 then our system is dead.

 

[wayToGo_]

I just got back from the game. I haven't had a chance to read the various analyses from those that watched on TV yet but it was a whole of team problem tonight more than anything else. The intensity was terrible, the spread was terrible and it was no wonder the ball carrier was always nervous because they had zero options presenting most of the time.

The forward line was completely disorganised. You can't play a small forward line and then use a bomb it in strategy further up field. But the forwards weren't leading - they weren't even moving most of the time. Not sure I'd give a single forward a pass mark tonight. McCarthy worked hard in the last but it was too little too late.

The midfield were fine winning the ball but were hopeless with their pressure and didn't work the outside at all. At one point Tucker came off interchange lined up completely by himself on the left wing and was ignored by whoever won the ball and instead they just blazed away inside 50. If we are going to have classy runners and i50 deliverers on the outside and a small forward line then surely we need to work it around for pin point entries rather than just try and make ground by banging it on the boot?

The back line was a mixed bag. Johnson had 6 clangers - mare!, Hamling was defending against 2 players at times, and Dawson was typical Dawson. Often I'm not even sure the players knew who they were supposed to be matching up on. Having said all that, Geelong were generally precise with their ball movement and their goal kicking was pretty phenomenal in comparison to ours. I thought Spurr played a good game and Sutcliffe and Ibbotson were ok also.

But... I don't think it is all doom and gloom. It's going to take time for this team to gel - all 4 recruits were pretty bad tonight. We still have some clear gaps with our list so we can't expect to be challenging top sides yet. But I thought our youngsters were all pretty good considering. Neale still doesn't seem 100% and I'm not sure Sandi and Fyfe are either. I think it puts a line in the sand for Ross that his old brigade aren't good enough to get the job done anymore and he needs to invest fully in the rebuild. He should have a licence to make some strong changes for next week after such a big loss.

 

[Scham]

Even elite ball users would struggle with our forward line. With the exception of Fyfe we are completely bereft of players that are consistently good marks overhead. Geebung players knew they could just drop in on Danger's head 10m out and even with Ibbo climbing all over him, Danger just took the mark.

Same old story for Freo, no decent marking forwards. As for Kersten; very poor tonight.

It's Strnadica time.

The whole forward line were poor tonight, Kerstin did take poor to new levels but we didn't have 1 winner in the forward line. They were totally outplayed and saying that the kicking inside 50 was terrible is somewhat of a cop out.

Sandi and Griff both had height advantage when the ball was put on their heads but they couldn't mark. We were beaten in almost every 1 v 1 contest in the air and on the ground. McCarthy dropped 2 marks out on his own that he got his hands to, and so did Kerstin. Griff dropped one. When we did get to have a shot we botched most of them up too. We only had 2 scoring shots less that Geelong. At one point we had the same but they lead by 36 pts!!!

The most depressing thing about it is that there isn't any quick fix. Maybe McCarthy and Kerstin were nervous or just had an off night and may improve a bit but Suban will continue to stink, Walters will have to shoulder all of the small forward work as well as fly for marks whilst manned up by the oppositions best small/Med defender. Griff and Sandi are useless up there, Blakely will give us a bit. Tabs won't help much, Balic might add something but unfair to expect too much from him. The only way our forward line will improve enough to be competitive against decent sides this year is if we have our first choice forwards including Bennell fit and firing all at once.