Autopsy Round 12, 2024: Positives and Negatives vs St Kilda

[GeelongEagle]

As hard as Yeo tries, his disposal is woeful. Just tries to kick it as far as he can. Even Gaff and Sheed's disposal efficiency was better than his.

Reid has been dropping opposition players too often. Time to reign that behaviour in.

Another week where we make an ordinary player look like a superstar. Mason Wood

32

Mason Wood

Age

31

Ht

192cm

Wt

86kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

13.2

3star

K

7.8

3star

HB

5.4

4star

M

4.0

4star

T

2.2

4star

CL

0.3

2star

D

8.3

2star

K

2.7

1star

HB

5.7

3star

M

1.7

2star

T

1.3

2star

CL

0.0

1star

D

15.8

4star

K

8.6

4star

HB

7.2

5star

M

4.6

5star

T

2.6

4star

CL

0.6

3star

, step on up.

And finally, as much as it sucked watching it, what I would give to have a Windhager in our team.

 

[random260]

As hard as Yeo tries, his disposal is woeful. Just tries to kick it as far as he can. Even Gaff and Sheed's disposal efficiency was better than his.

Reid has been dropping opposition players too often. Time to reign that behaviour in.

Another week where we make an ordinary player look like a superstar. Mason Wood, step on up.

And finally, as much as it sucked watching it, what I would give to have a Windhager in our team.

He got pinged once for dropping an opposition player. And that didn't even count.

I think not. Him dropping players leaves us one up on the field. When a player is down we have a loose player. That's a benefit beside from the other obvious benfits.

We drafted reid to be a aggressive and flamboyant player.

I don't want us school boying Harley reid like we did with Hewitt who obviously was a massive campaigner only for him to turn into a choir boy.

Simmo even agrees in that he didn't even cross the line. We can't have opposition bullying Harley around the contest and Harley eating it and not giving it back.

 

[Shueygod]

As hard as Yeo tries, his disposal is woeful. Just tries to kick it as far as he can. Even Gaff and Sheed's disposal efficiency was better than his.

Reid has been dropping opposition players too often. Time to reign that behaviour in.

Another week where we make an ordinary player look like a superstar. Mason Wood, step on up.

And finally, as much as it sucked watching it, what I would give to have a Windhager in our team.

Some one hasn’t been paying attention, Mason Wood has been a quality wingman since the start of last season.

 

[UseR2006]

Also on the plus side it looks like from the presser that Kelly and Waterman injuries were 1 week so should be back for the Roos.

 

[Westend]

gutted so frustrated atm

 

[DickDunn]

God I hated watching that game, especially when it got to about halfway through the last quarter and it was obvious we were cooked. **** the Saints, hate seeing us lose to such a talentless side (Wanganeen-Milera aside).

We already look like a better side with Flynn in the ruck, albeit it seemed like he had relatively low TOG. The BBW v JWilliams debate is interesting- Jack certainly has him covered for raw talent but needs to start imposing himself more. At least you know Bailey is a competitor who will always give his all.

Yeo had some brainless moments and went missing in patches, one of his least impactful games this season.

Gaff deserves credit for coming in and playing a decent game, used the ball well and relieved pressure on the defence which is the role that suits him best. Also thought Sheed had some nice moments even if he’s no longer best 22.

Barrass just outstanding, clear best for us

 

[Bacchus]

We forget that Gaff is a player that averaged 30 touches for like five seasons in a row. He has always been elite at finding the ball. He SHOULD still be better than guys like chesser. Hunt just isnt the same level of player.

Hunt is much better on the hbf than wing. His impact on games has gone downhill heaps since he has been playing wing.

 

[BrotherDodge]

Just finished the replay after work. My main takeaways are St Kilda are filth and I'd much rather be us than them, Windhager's ability to suck the beauty from the sport must make him Ross Lyon's honorary son, we win that with Waterman, and the haters and losers are out to destroy our boy Harley because he's too powerful. Stay strong, king!

 

[Bacchus]

Should have changed my tip when the team went full 2023 during the week breaking down, and Simmo went full 2023 at the selection table.

Was excited to tip us for the first time all year. Lesson learned.

I changed my tip and was glad I did.

The talent level in our team is thin and when two of our prime movers in Waterman and Kelly were out then our chances of winning were less than 50%.

SK at full strength and desperate for a win, so we were there for the taking.

 

[Bacchus]

+ Barrass, Ryan and Cripps did their jobs.
Gov was good in the last when everyone else had stopped
Harley had a good qtr, looked like the umps went out of their way t bring him down a peg or two, probably needs to zip it a bit more.
Tommy Cole would be a solid player in a functioning team.
Flyyn was passable, Gaff and Sheed weren't the worst but .....whatever can't be bothered.

- Boring game, didn't care who won by the end of it. Looked like 2 bottom teams playing and it was.
Maric and Petch were unsighted and Chesser was ineffectual, always does a little wee when under pressure and panic handballs.
Hough didn't have a great day.
All in all we are miles off it and as we saw today if one of our starting midfielders doesn't play we are cactus. I hope Hewitt actually plays again otherwise that's another year added trying to draft a decent midfielder.

Like the bit about Chesser and the little wee. He’s a really slow burn. Harley set him up with a long low pass across the ground on the wing and instead of playing on quickly he waited for the SK cavalry to arrive and then kicked it straight to one of them.

 

[amazingjoshy]

People keep harping on about a talent issue. I don't dispute we need more talent but we did not lose that game today because we were less talented than the Saints.

Lost that game at selection. An underdone ruck (who admittedly played very well for the time when he was on) and run off our feet like we always are when we have slow mids that can't cover the ground and rely on team mates to cover for them

 

[eaglesfan84]

Was at the game today, umpires were the biggest influential factor against us.

Second was our inability to defend against a small forward line.

Third was our inability to create up forward with movement off the ball (Simmo needs to take blame for this, poor structure, selections), still lots of long kicks in hope.

 

[eaglesfan84]

Can I also say that although Cripps (and Ryan
for that matter) bagged 3 goals, he was pretty poor around the ground.

 

[Bacchus]

Interesting seeing everyone put Bailey in the spotlight after only 1 game with Flynn in the side.

I said it'd happen. Do I want a medal? Maybe I do . I'm adamant this was the 2nd nail in Bailey's coffin at the club, the first being the acquisition of Flynn.

The only reason anyone even remotely rates Williams, is because he was forced into that sole ruck role and played career best footy, surprising everyone.. Up till that point your average Eagles punter, which includes many on here had totally lost patience and put a line through him thinking he didn't have it.

Take that sole ruck gig away and we're straight back to square 1 with him. He can still ruck adhoc and get involved at stoppages, but he's not a forwards anus, and that's unfortunately his actual role now, a forward.

I know it's only very early days, but it's not like we didn't see him as a forward in his first 3-4 seasons at the club.

Meanwhile the bloke would legitimately fetch something on the open market come trade week. Strung together a couple reasonable years and would have a very tasty highlights package. If Flynn's here to stay, I think it has to happen.

Got a feeling it's going to come up on discussion a fair bit.



Fold the club.

Yes I agree about trading BW.

Our genius list managers have about 10 players in a squad of 43 for two positions on the field.

BW is one of the 10, I would trade him to Richmond for Liam Baker if they were interested.
Bailey does presently have trade value.

 

[amazingjoshy]

Interesting seeing everyone put Bailey in the spotlight after only 1 game with Flynn in the side.

I said it'd happen. Do I want a medal? Maybe I do . I'm adamant this was the 2nd nail in Bailey's coffin at the club, the first being the acquisition of Flynn.

The only reason anyone even remotely rates Williams, is because he was forced into that sole ruck role and played career best footy, surprising everyone.. Up till that point your average Eagles punter, which includes many on here had totally lost patience and put a line through him thinking he didn't have it.

Take that sole ruck gig away and we're straight back to square 1 with him. He can still ruck adhoc and get involved at stoppages, but he's not a forwards anus, and that's unfortunately his actual role now, a forward.

I know it's only very early days, but it's not like we didn't see him as a forward in his first 3-4 seasons at the club.

Meanwhile the bloke would legitimately fetch something on the open market come trade week. Strung together a couple reasonable years and would have a very tasty highlights package. If Flynn's here to stay, I think it has to happen.

Got a feeling it's going to come up on discussion a fair bit.



Fold the club.

Flynn was clearly underdone and shouldve spent more time in the WAFL but for some reason was rushed back

Apart from that I thought the combo actually show alot of potential. There's far greater issues, let's give it more than one game where they looked ok.

 

[HoneyBadger35]

Yes I agree about trading BW.

Our genius list managers have about 10 players in a squad of 43 for two positions on the field.

BW is one of the 10, I would trade him to Richmond for Liam Baker if they were interested.
Bailey does have trade value.

I’d also dangle Tyrell Dewar in front of Sydney and see if they’d part ways with Chad Warner.

 

[eaglesfan84]

I'm thinking if Yeo wants one of those massive contracts we should let him go and aim for a high pick reward, he wasn't that good today, weird game from him.

 

[Bacchus]

Positives +

• Team was at least competitive.
• Still in contention for pick 3.
• Yeo was our best throughout the game and still tried when everyone didn't care at times. Pretty much the only one asides Reid carrying our midfield.
• Reid was really good in the first half. Played like a god until getting tagged.
• Cripps was quiet early on but got into the game more and kicked three goals from tough angles, was decent with his pressure.
• Ryan getting back to full fitness and it showed. Chased better with intent and used his smarts to score goals, was also a solid target in the air despite being marked against bigger key defenders.
• Darling tried and gave it his all.
• Ginbey good all game. Held his ground and took more intercept marks. As I said many times, he needs to be the primary extractor and have a see ball get ball mindset at all times when at the stoppages and middle so it can help free up Reid more who can get separation from his tagger. Was also good down back. Seems too one footed though, hopefully he can develop a consistent right foot.
• Hough doing his job week in week out. Clamped Higgins for most of the game.
• Gov and Barrass kept us in it with their intercepting abilities. Was decently supported by H.Edwards who is a better matchup on the Saints big forwards than Rotham is. I do think Gov and Barrass play even better if we have a genuine third tall KPD playing alongside them (no not Rotham).
• Flynn building nicely, played just 64% TOG compared to Marshall's 87% TOG and was really good when in the ruck against Marshall who to be fair is not a hitout machine like Gawn, Grundy, Witts, Goldstein and ROB. Hopefully he plays more TOG soon as he gets fitter and doesn't permanently play Nic Nat levels of TOG.
• Duggan gave it his all and was also one of our bests.
• Jones pressured well and looked to run the ball out. Didn't turn the ball over with his disposals thankfully.
• Cole was decent and one of our better performers.

Meh =
= Quiet game from Chesser but had his moments with his pace.
= Petch looked like someone who's building but was ok for me.
= Credits gang Sheed and Gaff were actually pretty decent but badly affected the team structure with their lack of pace and poor contested ability as the team's gameplan is fast contested ball movement.
= Big Bailey looked decent in the ruck and at ground level against Marshall. But forward craft still needs more work.

Negatives -

• Harley potentially getting suspended.
• Some horrible non umpiring calls especially non high tackle calls and pushes without the ball on Reid.
• No support asides from Yeo when Reid was getting hard tagged.
• Stagnant ball movement. Too many long down the line where the Saints have plenty of crumbers whereas we had plenty of flyers but not enough crumbers.
• Typical boring Ross Lyon game.
• We never looked right in it. This is a team who just didn't look right especially in the second half.
• Forward line was too tall with J.Williams, Darling (who moves like a lumbering ruck nowadays despite being in the smaller end for a KPF), Maric, B.Williams and Flynn. And yes having three KPDs with H.Edwards is fine with Gov and Barrass. Should've played Dewar instead of J.Williams once Waterman was ruled out.
• Maric very quiet, didn't do much.
• Since Sheed and Gaff did decently, they'll get more games ahead of quicker more deserving younger players even with a fit team. They certainly filled up their credits in Simmo's eyes.

Final thoughts.

Well the team did its best considering the late outs to crucial players in Kelly and Waterman. Had Kelly and Waterman been fit then there was a good chance the team can win the game as Waterman is a genuine marking threat and the team had a decent amount of entries and Kelly's consistency would've reduced Reid getting shutdown as they wouldn't purely focus on him as Kelly would've been a contested ball threat.

Reid is still a first year player who will learn the lessons of a hard tag. Now oppo coaches who watched this game will be sure to have a designated tagger who will hard tag Reid right from the start of the match since Reid's impact on the game when he has the ball is immense since he can also carve up the opposition with his disposals. Both Williams are not Waterman marking level threat despite their taller height but that may come soon.

Once we get a fit and firing Hewitt (Hopefully late in the season) and Kelly plus Ginbey and Yeo perform at an elite level consistently plus the team's 2024 gun mid draftee and Reid improves on his tank to monster levels next preseason, then the opposition tagging Reid will no longer become viable since Reid will be stronger and fitter in his second year and he'll be able to break the taggers tackles and burn them with immense support from his teammates.

Team is unfortunately too tall and as a result the Saints were able to rebound it out at will as there was not enough pressure on the ball carrier. Not sure who to leave out in future once Allen and Waterman returns. IMO, three key talls with one of the three key talls being a genuine ruck chop out to Flynn who should be a starter ruck as he's a better tap ruck than B.Williams. Darling these days as I mentioned moves like a lumbering ruck in a small KPF body but he still has experience and smarts plus name recognition. I may make a thread about team's too many tall forwards conundrum.

Great comprehensive summary, I agree with nearly all of it.
Maric I think is a player who is suffering from not having a defined position. I think he is a very promising player but is being played out of position.
He’s not quite big enough for a kpf although he may grow into that so his position is third tall forward.
That gets back to your point about tall forwards where there is a real traffic jam with 4 or 5 in the team currently.
I don’t know what his current position is - is it some sort of wing or high half forward?
I hope we don’t ruin him.

 

[dinnaz]

Simmo was pissed off - but it was all on you Simmo. Select Sheed and Gaff, what did you expect. For Christ's sake, get rid of them, and get some speed into the team, even if they are not quite ready yet - get experience into them - into those who may take us to the promised land. Gaff and Sheed won't.

I disagree with the constant rhetoric of "play the kids". Why not go for the strongest team on game day and jag a few wins.

Gaff and Sheed were both fine, its guys like Jones & Pettrucelle who should be better.

We have already played Johnston & Rawlinson for zero effect. Literally playing 17 on the field type of stuff.

In all likelihood they get delisted after 2 years and a handful of games. Whats the point in gifting games that we see no value from later?


Its the guys like Chesser, Maric & Williams who actually seem like they could be 100+ gamers that are the bottom of the barrel game day

 

[Bacchus]

Also on the plus side it looks like from the presser that Kelly and Waterman injuries were 1 week so should be back for the Roos.

Tanking?

 

[CursoryMercenary]

The over reliance on Reid already is concerning.

 

[Bacchus]

The over reliance on Reid already is concerning.

We don’t have a midfield.
The neglect in recruiting for this most critical part of the team for years is shameful.

Also Harley is a big character and a big leader as well as an extraordinarily gifted player.

I remember when a young Ben Cousins used to carry the team on his back.

 

[Winky]

I'm thinking if Yeo wants one of those massive contracts we should let him go and aim for a high pick reward, he wasn't that good today, weird game from him.

If Yeo takes one of those offers it will be as an unrestricted free agent so we won’t get a trade pick. We would have to rely on the AFL for a compensation pick and you can bet we wouldn’t get the deal NM and other sides have got in recent years. If fact the AFL is on record saying they are looking at basically watering down the formula for compensation picks

 

[Fatty rules]

I'm thinking if Yeo wants one of those massive contracts we should let him go and aim for a high pick reward, he wasn't that good today, weird game from him.

Groins can be really hard to overcome.

 

[EdCurnowRules]

**** me there are some piss weak supporters on here