Preview Round 1 - WCE vs Western Bulldogs @ Patterson Stadium

[Arthaus]

Not sure if it's been mentioned already, but am I the only one who is a little worried about that game?? I know we won by 11 goals, and dominated most stats, but to me it felt like the corresponding game from last year....beat up on a lowly side and we all think we are world beaters and then crumble against half decent sides. It just seemed like a better side would have punished us so much more with some of our stuff ups, and it kind of goes un-noticed when we win the footy back because the dogs stuff up. It might just be me being negative and worried about the year ahead, but to me it looked like not much had changed from last year, still kicking bombs into the forward line hoping for a mark, and still letting the opposition get out the back too regularly and score on the rebound. Pressure was much better from last year, so maybe that's all we needed to change??

you're right, and they were noticible flaws that seemed to appear more as the game progressed. but you can see the changes implemented, just takes time to adapt.
was just a good way to launch the season, i mean we couldve lost - that would be more worrying.
i'm sure simmo will address flaws, and play/gameplan will tighten up in time for big games.
the bombing is annoying, how many years have we been watching that, maybe its a panic-habit slowly broken? but definitely lowering the eyes and hitting up targets more, along with the running link ups.
geelong and freo will be the back to back litmus tests. freo especially, as we travel to geelong the week before, while they stay home for 2 weeks with an extra day to recuperate.
but from what we saw i think the positives outweigh the negatives, 'so far' with nearly a full fit squad, and both time and room to improve, its a healthy work in progress. much more than we could say about last season.

 

[pantskyle]

Not for me - the sloppiness in the last quarter for mine.

The boys switched off and allowed them 6 goals in a quarter - when we'd only allowed 5 for the first 3.

Meh they were tired and it was round one, that will be rectified. Losing Wellingham for a week or more for something so stupid is worse.

People seen desperate to find some negatives.

So you aren't unhappy that Wellers will get banned?

 

[WCEbrody]

8 goals from midfielders, 10 if you include Cripps. That's a huge positive.

 

[Toshowyouwhy]

So you aren't unhappy that Wellers will get banned?

Yeah that's annoying. But people saying we are by and large the same team as last year weren't watching the same game as me.

 

[pantskyle]

Yeah that's annoying. But people saying we are by and large the same team as last year weren't watching the same game as me.

Ah right, I thought you were directing that comment at me in part.

 

[Toshowyouwhy]

Ah right, I thought you were directing that comment at me in part.

Never

 

[bassmanx]

So there I was talking to the missus whBLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

And so that's why I have hearing damage.

Haha ... I sent an email to the club this morning.
A little bit of wee shot out every time the siren sounded. It was frightening.

 

[MIKE85]

Fair points guys, in response to my post, and I am still really happy to get a win, and very true about the new game plan taking time to impliment, I guess the real positive is we won, and our pressure and hunger looked miles ahead of last season. For me the highlight was the very first bounce of the game, was almost identical to the start we got against the dogs in 2012, just Darling kicking the goal instead of JK. Good signs but still plenty of work to be done, and the coaches would be all over that, more so than a half drunk guy squinting at the game from the 3 tier stand

 

[Oneiros]

Yeah that's annoying. But people saying we are by and large the same team as last year weren't watching the same game as me.

I matched up the team that lost to Doggies in Rnd 18 to this team.

11 changes out of 22!

 

[Quinz]

Yeah the siren was ****ing loud.

There were a lot of positives out of this game, and I think we have a lot of possible improvement still. Naitanui, JK, Shuey, Masten and Wellingham can all offer a lot more.

Pleasantly surprised with Bennell.

 

[Quinz]

People seen desperate to find some negatives.

It's like listening to Ken Judge all over again.

With regards to the bombing into the forward line some have mentioned, I completely disagree. When kicking with the wind to the three tier end we did that, but that works when the breeze is behind you. Rosa, Wellingham, Selwood, Priddis and a few others all kicked goals from 50 or outside going that way.

When kicking the other direction I thought we lowered the eyes a lot more. Gaff speared a couple of beautiful kicks in, as did Hurn, LeCras and Shuey a few times to leading forwards.

 

[The Dodger]

I thought when the congestion was up in the 1st Q we kept panicking and resorting to the bomb and it wasn't effective. It was frustrating to watch time and time again but old habits die hard and it will be the habits you think about the least that will be the hardest to stop and with the ball in congestion with repeat inside 50's the basic instinct of "get it in there" will take some time to shake but I hope Simpson is on it.

 

[Keys]

I think the fact there are a few negatives is actually something of a positive

We won by ten goals but there is still plenty of room for improvement both from individual players and the team collectively. Our kicking into the forward 50 still needs work and I'm sure that will be a focus of Simpsons as the season progresses. (Watch the hawks game from the weekend and look at the way they spotted up targets about 30-40 metres from goal and compare that to some of our indiscriminate bombs in hope)

It wasn't like everything fell into place perfectly yet we had a comfortable win. That's a positive imo

 

[MIKE85]

I think the fact there are a few negatives is actually something of a positive

We won by ten goals but there is still plenty of room for improvement both from individual players and the team collectively. Our kicking into the forward 50 still needs work and I'm sure that will be a focus of Simpsons as the season progresses. (Watch the hawks game from the weekend and look at the way they spotted up targets about 30-40 metres from goal and compare that to some of our indiscriminate bombs in hope)

It wasn't like everything fell into place perfectly yet we had a comfortable win. That's a positive imo

Yeah agree with this, maybe in years gone by the coaches would have been happy with the win and that being our game plan, bombing it in, there wouldn't be too much to disect and work on, but hopefully Simpson, being fresh and wanting to impliment a "new" game plan, he will pick it apart and get the guys to lower the eyes every now and then and hit up some targets. Still a fair few kicks into the 50 were either at the feet of the leading forward, or over their heads, causing them to halt and have their defender push up into them and spoil. All little things that can & no doubt will be worked on over the season.

 

[Xsess]

Well I didn't see any change to our playing style from 2012. The main difference from last year is the better relative fitness of our list and the addition of better, classier players (Bennel/Yeo/Ellis) in the backline. We set up a beautiful press, put fierce pressure on their ball carriers and pumped the ball to a land-of-the-giants forward line. And isn't that foward line a weapon! While it didn't dominate in the air (on this ocassion) it also isn't a liability on the ground. Kennedy was a beast, awesome in his pressure and presence. There's no easy footy coming out of our attack which made it easy picking for our midfield to just keep pumping it back in. What a luxury to have gun tall forwards who defend!!

 

[AndysAngels]

It baffled me to see some not even have him in their 22, let alone the starting 18. Rosa is a starter on the wing. He's underrated on this board by a fair few.

Rosa's occasional helicopter, lack of flair and general vanilla-ness, etc. doesn't stop him from being effective in his link-up role, providing an option on the spread, ability to find the pill and go hard when it's his turn. All clubs have and need guys who can go about their business effectively without fanfare. Rosa is such a player.

Cant remember who it was exactly, think it might have been Glass or maybe even Woosh, but a couple years ago in an interview they rated Rosa top 3 at the club in terms of structural importance; he spreads extremely well and is always available for the link up/get out of jail chip to the wing.

Good player.

 

[Bleedblueandgold]

Great win overall, kept increasing the lead every quarter, but I hope that we don't keep leaking easy goals as we did, especially in the final term, although we had already won it by then (maybe we were taking things easier in defence at that stage), but the extra percentage would've been nice.
Enjoyed seeing the mids scoring a few goals, especially the ones on the run.
In my opinion, E-Mac, LeCras, Gaff, Shuey, Rosa and Wellingham were among our best.
Out of the fringe players, Sinclair showed good attack on the ball although his kicking at goals still needs to improve a bit, Bennell fitted back into the AFL surprisingly well and Cripps did a better job than last year.
Hope that Sheed stays in the team despite not making any impact in the short time he had on the ground.
Really glad that there weren't any injuries.

 

[pantskyle]

Wellingham only got a reprimand, somehow.

 

[flamingEMBERS]

We lowered our eyes a lot which was great and we were happy to hold on to the footy a lot longer if an option wasn't there. Also when we did bomb it long the kick looked more calculated in terms of we made sure we had options on the ground so it wasn't to a 2 on 1 but a 2 on 3 or 3 on 4.

Our players look much fitter and looked to have gained some muscle this obviously will help us get to more contests. This also showed in the tackling pressure and attack on the ball.

Out of defence I noticed we were also putting an emphasis of run and carry. I think in 11-12 we were such great rebounders with Hurn, Schofield and Waters but it was a little one dimensional bar Schofield most of our rebound 50s would be kicked from the defensive 50. Yesterday we combined both options but we definitely saw a lot more running and breaking lines out of the backline. Yeo, Bennel and Mackenzie did this well and even Glass and Brown would look to run.

 

[Avalor]

Cant remember who it was exactly, think it might have been Glass or maybe even Woosh, but a couple years ago in an interview they rated Rosa top 3 at the club in terms of structural importance; he spreads extremely well and is always available for the link up/get out of jail chip to the wing.

Good player.

Yet there was some muppet on here earlier who didn't care if Rosa was lost to free trade at the end of the year - go figure. He is an essential cog of the midfield.

 

[Biggie]

The biggest disappointment out of the game was the stupid trip by Wellingham.

Very lucky to only get a reprimand I reckon!

 

[MIKE85]

Yet there was some muppet on here earlier who didn't care if Rosa was lost to free trade at the end of the year - go figure. He is an essential cog of the midfield.

Agree his is important, but he needs to be a little more consistant, he did have a pretty unlucky injury last year which probably ruined his whole year, but when he is up & going he is as good a runner as we have. If he can stay injury free he should be starting wingman every game and have a good impact throughout the season.

 

[Righteo]

Hey guys, just wondering for those who went to the game; how was the new scoreboard? Is it actually a significant improvement on the previous one?

 

[Biggie]

Hey guys, just wondering for those who went to the game; how was the new scoreboard? Is it actually a significant improvement on the previous one?

It seemed pretty good to me. A good breakdown of stats on the left too. I was on the Subi end and the picture looked good to me.

 

[Chris_6678]

Some of the players will be reverting the their old ways and that's going to happen for a while till the game plan sets in