Autopsy Round 1 v Richmond - Blues go down by 43

[El Topo]

We could play to protect ourselves from turnovers, or we can learn how we want to play and back ourselves in with that, knowing that it can burn us but that it will hold us in good stead down the track. I'm all for learning how to play how we want to play when we're charging to finals.

Very reminiscent of Hawthorn 05, playing a brand of footy most of the side aren't ready/capable of executing.

 

[SkyhorseTamer]

God we missed Tuohy... I think our defense struggled with their smalls like Martin, Caddy, Rioli etc. Think we just saw how important Tuohy has been for us. Can't wait for Byrne to get back... I know he had a stinker but how good was Cripps tackle on two richmond players at the same time. Just held them both down.

 

[Soapy V]

The absolute best we can do is 10 or 11 wins, but realistically we should win 5 or 6.

I've gone through the draw and I reckon 3-4 max. Fighting w Lions for bottom. Last night was one of our more winnable games

 

[SkyhorseTamer]

I've gone through the draw and I reckon 3-4 max. Fighting w Lions for bottom. Last night was one of our more winnable games

You might be right, I'll watch all the games this weekend first and I reckon we'll see a team come out and stink it up. There is always one team who just falls.

 

[Soapy V]

Okay here is my evaluation from a toilet break at work.

We were killed by three things.

1. Skill Errors
2. Lack of outside run
3. Overwhelmed defence


1. Skill Errors
There were constant skill errors last night. Even from players like Docherty missing a pass by a metre and sending it out of bounds. The worst errors were the fumbles. Running over the ball, not picking it up clearly, dropping the ball from the hand. Some of these led to clear goals by Richmond.

How can we fix this? Composure experience and picking the right players. Armfield and Daisy have to be dropped. Made too many errors and dont have the composure necessary. Once we get more talented individuals like Cuningham and Fisher in we can build THEIR experience. The rest of the team should settle, i think we had a very poor preseason and got found out because of it. But we can build throughout this year.

2. Lack of outside run
We were too slow and let richmond run in waves outside the packs last night. We never got the ball when it spilled outside.

How do we fix this? Personell and effort. Again, Cuningham needs to play, Fisher or Sumner or Kerridge as well need to come in. We were too slow, Cripps will build as the season goes so we can get better if we try. We do need to hit midfield runners at the draft though.

3. Overwhelmed defence
I think our defence was a little tall and there were too many entries by Richmond

How do we fix this - Macreadie whilst he did okay should be subbed for a smaller player and we need to fix the turnover issue in the middle.

Loved Weities, Marchy, Plowman, Murph, Kreuze and a few others last night

Agree plus add having a few passengers. Have 2-3 non contributors and everything falls apart quickly

 

[blue healer]

Okay here is my evaluation from a toilet break at work.

We were killed by three things.

1. Skill Errors
2. Lack of outside run
3. Overwhelmed defence

There was a 4th thing.......Dustin Martin

 

[jj1978]

We got smashed at the clearances and spreading from them.
I don't know what Diesel is up to, but we need to get him back to the club asap to teach our players how to handball under pressure.
It was a glaring difference between the 2 sides last night. Richmond set up so many attacks with clean hands in congestion, we turned it over.

Weitering must stay forward, and Marchy and Plowman worked well down back.
White and Armfield must show some physical presence in the side or be gone.
We need mids, mids and more mids.....Fyffe anyone???

Oh and special mention for Kreuz.....thought he was fantastic

Diesel is coaching at *

 

[Cutz]

A lot to like from our young players... but, our midfield just had no real presence
We need Fyfe & another year of quality draft

Sorry Fyfe is not what we need.

Fyfe is probably what we need in two years.

Need another two drafts..if not more. Once we start see noticeable improvement, and knocking on a door to a finals campaign..we should start thinking about a free agent to round off the edges. Now, next year or the year after that is not the time.

 

[blue healer]

Sorry Fyfe is not what we need.

Fyfe is probably what we need in two years.

Need another two drafts..if not more. Once we start see noticeable improvement, and knocking on a door to a finals campaign..we should start thinking about a free agent to round off the edges. Now, next year or the year after that is not the time.

Don't see a lot of point in taking him in his RFA year if we're going to sit him on the sideline for a season.

 

[MC_Doggy_Frog18]

We "should" get better with every game, so we could beat the tigers later in the year.

 

[viking12]

Sorry Fyfe is not what we need.

Fyfe is probably what we need in two years.

Fyfe is a free Agent. so we only offer a contract to him. no trade with freo.

 

[ItsAllAboutMe]

If they come back for him, how is the price lower?

a year older, a year less on his contract.

 

[RudyBlue]

Disagree completely.

Other than showing a glimpse here or there in the JLT matches and the VFL last year, Harry hasn't really done much. Seems like yesterday was his first really solid performance. Would like to see him do that for 3-4 weeks like SOS last year before getting a game in the 1s. Although if Cas gets rubbed out, the cupboard is a bit bare.

 

[Blue__Balls]

Price stays the same for me. They want him, they come back for him, they don't save 'money,' they pay full retail.

Depends what we reckon we can get with that first round pick. The value of a single pick can change drastically depending on the draft pool. Also depends on whether we can use the return for Gibbs (if we opt to trade him) to secure something else. We made our stand last year, no need to be blindly stubborn this year just because it makes us feel tough. Make a decision at the time that benefits us.

 

[MC_Doggy_Frog18]

who are the main free agents in two years?

 

[COBALT BLUE]

Very happy with last nights effort.

• Marchbank had a great game, disposal was iffy at times but overall very good.

• I don't know if I want Weitering forward or back now. I'd love to see Marchbank and Weiters in the same defense, but he looked good up forward and gave Rance a little touch up, although he didn't complete it by taking the marks on 2 or 3 occasions after beating Rance 1 on 1 (1 on 2 at times, whilst injured!)

• SPS looked composed and aggressive. Drifted in and out but to be expected.

• Plowman surprised me with his marking. I was a little critical of him last year for no taking those marks and instead spoiling or dropping them.

• It looked as though we made a conscious effort to spoil more and try to take less contested/pack marks in defense. We were always climbing high and looking for a punch.

• A few times we over-possessed the ball when she really should have just kicked it long. I get the idea - trying to break the lines instead of bombing to a pack - but a few times we really just needed to boot it but kept handballing and then turned it over. It will come with experience as to when and when not to overuse the handball.
  
• Casboults kicking looked better! Although he dropped a couple he should take, and was essentially none existent aside from that. If he isn't clunking those marks he will be out very quick, as that's almost all he brings.
• Murphy looked great. Kreuzer looked great, started taking marks and moved really well. Gibbs looked good, started awesome and sort of drifted late. Thomas started well but quickly faded.
• Cripps was quiet. You could see him really trying to assert himself in the 3rd, but it just wasn't happening for him. Probably a result of being underdone. Although... 10 kicks 9 handballs. First time in his career with a higher kick-handball ratio?

Would Jaksch or Jones produce less than Levi? I don't see how that'd be possible.

just having their UNCO presence on the field is upsetting to the rest of the team......Levi was injured last year,he might hang around a bit this year ....with less pressure on him with Weitering and Jack contributing
Marchbank took good marks and run all night but he conceded 3 goals which makes him average..has to tidy up
SPS-looked promising but needs to bulk up and get a tank
Pickett needs a tank
Plowman-excellent......Simmo -just dam great.....Doc-just great
Most of our players looked in the need of conditioning-who is training these guys.maybe they were having tea breaks?

 

[passmark]

We "should" get better with every game, so we could beat the tigers later in the year.

If we don't get too bashed up during the next 93 days I think you might be right.

 

[Mezzoculo]

Watched a replay this morning...Reckon the signs are much better than the scorecard suggested. Turnovers and Dusty were the real difference. We found a lot of it, reasonable tackling pressure and didn't give up. Disposal killed us.

I think our back line is set for a decade between Macreadie, Plow, Marchbank, Doch and Byrne. Weits as well obviously. If McKay comes on, same came be said for our forward line between him, Weits, Jack and Charlie. Jack is the real deal, really excited about him. Pretty amazing the turn around in our tall stocks over the past few years.

Now for the bad. We aren't going to go anywhere while we are relying on Murphy and Gibbs as our premier midfielders. It's year 10 of that era and we know exactly what they are now. Murphy is consistent but will never drastically alter the course of a game in my opinion. Gibbs can alter the course of a game but doesn't do it consistently. I love the both of them but if we're to rise up the ladder over the next 2-3 years, we'll need to see them moving out to more peripheral roles (which better suits their talents anyway frankly). Cripps is obviously the main guy. SPS has me extremely excited. But we need to be drafting some seriously top line midfield talent over the next couple of years, particularly those with run and disposal. If this Fyfe as a free agent thing comes off, it would drastically accelerate things but we need to focus on the draft too.

Anyhoo, last night was maybe the first time I really saw the rebuild taking shape...It's going to be a long season results wise but I think everything suggests we are heading in the right direction. Crucially, everything is also suggesting that SOS is the real deal on the list front.

Green shoots.

Liked your comment for the first sentence alone. Disagree on Gibbs and Murphy though - both are critical to us in the midfield - Murph especially was a key reason we stayed with the Tiggers in the third term. IMO, these two get unfairly singled out because they are always involved - some of Murphy's handballs didn't hit targets but that had a lot to do with our players not being in the right place to receive them. Gibbs OTOH rushed some kicks because he had little support when he had the ball. Both were constantly outnumbered by yellow and black sashes when in possession - it looked like a specific strategy the Tiggers employed and it worked.

 

[Blue__Balls]

who are the main free agents in two years?

Dylan Shiel at the end of 2019, though if the AFLPA have their way the FA trigger could be reduced which might see him become a RFA at the end of 2018.

I'd be telling him to stay with GWS for a couple more years, chase a flag or two, then come home to Carlton to play out the last 6-7 years of his career.

 

[BrianSetzer]

I'm pretty relaxed & cool with everything.

Picked a few green shoots, dried them & now sitting back and enjoying them

Yeahhhhhhhhh mannnnn, sounds good

I'm pretty relaxed & cool with everything.

Picked a few green shoots, dried them & now sitting back and enjoying them

Yeahhhhh mannn sounds good

 

[Cutz]

If either of these two are playing this year then something has gone horribly wrong.

Hmmm dont know about that !!

If their showing the form in the seconds...and pushing...they have to be played..Thats called a high performance culture not a failure !!!

Just sayin !!

 

[Prem17]

Another year, another Tigers game, another team that's too tall. Good times.

As much as Macreadie was solid at times, the defensive unit has to go smaller, and we looked better when we had some pace from Thomas in the mix, as opposed to the nightmare run of goals Richmond were getting just for kicking it to the top of the square because no one for us was covering the inevitable ground ball contest (yes tactics need to be addressed to, but how they structure is a big component of that).

White got to stay in the team for a matchup idea that really was never on. He was below par, and Plowman is now his footballing better.

Similarly, Levi took over 2 quarters to get going, and then still ultimately wasn't damaging once he got the football, nor did he generate a great deal of opporunities for others, even when he did manage to draw a 2nd defender. In fact, his best work for the night came in the form of his ruck work and getting a grab by sneaking in underneath the zone (ala an NFL tight end).

I'm confident that McKay could take over most of that statistically, and that Weitering and Charlie could fill the breach a bit in terms of some of the contested work, particularly Charlie on the wing. Let's not forget it was Weitering and SOS who were setting the standards up forward, not Levi: he was cannon fodder, and budget cannon fodder at that.

Everyone else can be proud of their work rate, often under duress, and I can only assume the 4 other underdone players we took into the game are expected to significantly improve their performances next week.

OUT: Casboult, White, Macreadie
IN: McKay, Kerridge, Buckley

If Macreadie gets dropped after one game then we may as well throw the rebuild process in the bin right now.

 

[Mezzoculo]

Although there'll be changes I don't think the MC will be too concerned with individual efforts.

I would think their main focus will be on the way the team played. We looked outnumbered in many passages always kicking under pressure whereas they seemed to be have more numbers and time.

This. It happened in most of our preseason games and continued lat night. Was responsible for a large proportion of our turnovers (which led to simple Richmond goals because our defenders were out of place). What benefits are there in not at least matching numbers at contests?

 

[jezzzza]

Probably yes.. But either way Liam Jones is finished as an AFL player.. he is not getting any better and should have been cut last year. Would rather give Harry a go, even if he does nothing at least its experience than waste another game on Liam Jones.

Harry is not really ready for mine, give him a few weeks in the 2s with solid performances every week and I'd be happy to put him in the 22.

Jones is much maligned on this board... He showed a fair amount of improvement in the JLT game that he played but there really isnt much he can do when our mids are getting slaughtered as they did.

Jones is a solid bodied forward who can mark, kick and is ok around his knees. Conversly we have Levi who can mark it and is good at...... I pull a blank here.

Levi is ok as a backup ruck, but no better than Jones, Rowe or KJ could do.

For mine Jones appears to have worked harder than KJ in the preseason and can fill the hole until Harry is ready

 

[MileHigh]

Didnt watch all of the game but surprised we played Macreadie. 196cm first year player... typically these guys need to do an education in the VFL and get bigger before playing in the seniors. Only very rare exceptions such as Weitering where they are ready to go round 1. When we fielded a team with 3 first game players and 3 players who have under 10 games experience, plus the fact we already had plenty of talls, it struck me as a very peculiar inclusion. Anyone able to shed some logic on this one? Seems to me we would have been better playing a small, especially in hindsight considering we got run off our feet from what I saw.

Also, welcome back Murphy and Kreuzer to full fitness.