AFL Autopsy Round 15 vs St Kilda

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Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

I thought our performance was bad enough, but I took a free ticket off a Saints member, pumped and all to be level one on the wing, and I was literally sitting in the middle of the St.Kilda cheersquad. Literally in the shit. I got heckled leaving my seat to go to the bathroom. Luckily at that stage it was late in the fourth and Id copped enough by that point to just not care.

I suppose you just have to forget a game like this. It really was as if the entire team was just switched off. Its a shame it was so important in relation to the top four and our run home. And Hurley doing another hamstring is just a kick in the balls. The lord is vengeful.
 
I am amazed how little criticism Hooker has received so far in this thread. He was absolutely shocking tonight, and to be honest, I think he has been very poor for a while. Consistently getting outmarked in contested situations. HE IS SSSOOOOOOOOOOO SLOW. To be turned and scored against by that dinosaur Riewoldt is a perfect example.

He is playing on the best forward every week and it is hurting us big time. He has no positional sense. His kicking is TERRIBLE. At one stage in the second quarter, the ball was kicked to Milne in the pocket who picked up the ball on the bounce, had Hibberd on his tail, baulked a couple of times, then centred it to Riewoldt. Where was Hooker you ask? Well for some peculiar reason, he was charging towards Milne in the pocket when we already had a player chasing him, and had left HIS man Riewoldt. Riewoldt took an uncontested mark 25m out.

He makes really poor decisions. He is being exposed at the moment and it is a big worry considering where Pears is at. His confidence looks completely shot and I think opposition teams are targeting him now. When the ball is in his hands from defence, I am supremely worried. The guy needs to lift big time.

In general, the most glaring facet of the game was handling below the knees. None of our players looked sure with their hands when the ball was on the deck. Felt like they were rattled by the pressure, and then by the perceived pressure.

Obviously losing our main forward targets was a massive difference, but it feels like that when we are constricted like that, like we were against Sydney, we seem to really drop in our intensity levels. We are not fighting back when on the back foot.

That was a really bad loss tonight. Apologies for my doom and gloom, I hate being this negative generally, but we should have won that game.
 
I am amazed how little criticism Hooker has received so far in this thread. He was absolutely shocking tonight, and to be honest, I think he has been very poor for a while. Consistently getting outmarked in contested situations. HE IS SSSOOOOOOOOOOO SLOW. To be turned and scored against by that dinosaur Riewoldt is a perfect example.

He is playing on the best forward every week and it is hurting us big time. He has no positional sense. His kicking is TERRIBLE. At one stage in the second quarter, the ball was kicked to Milne in the pocket who picked up the ball on the bounce, had Hibberd on his tail, baulked a couple of times, then centred it to Riewoldt. Where was Hooker you ask? Well for some peculiar reason, he was charging towards Milne in the pocket when we already had a player chasing him, and had left HIS man Riewoldt. Riewoldt took an uncontested mark 25m out.

He makes really poor decisions. He is being exposed at the moment and it is a big worry considering where Pears is at. His confidence looks completely shot and I think opposition teams are targeting him now. When the ball is in his hands from defence, I am supremely worried. The guy needs to lift big time.

In general, the most glaring facet of the game was handling below the knees. None of our players looked sure with their hands when the ball was on the deck. Felt like they were rattled by the pressure, and then by the perceived pressure.

Obviously losing our main forward targets was a massive difference, but it feels like that when we are constricted like that, like we were against Sydney, we seem to really drop in our intensity levels. We are not fighting back when on the back foot.

That was a really bad loss tonight. Apologies for my doom and gloom, I hate being this negative generally, but we should have won that game.

Your right about Hooker every time he gets the ball i close my eyes and think "Please don't turn it over" hasn't been the same player since he farked his hamstrings he's slow and always plays on after a mark even with an opponent up his ass needs to be more composed when he gets the ball i think he plays better as a lose man.
 
Hooker has hit a flat spot the last 3 weeks.

Disappointing effort tonight considering that Riewoldt has struggled the last 2 weeks.

I suggested that the STKilda defensive talls were OK - Some underating on this board.
 
Your right about Hooker every time he gets the ball i close my eyes and think "Please don't turn it over" hasn't been the same player since he farked his hamstrings he's slow and always plays on after a mark even with an opponent up his arse needs to be more composed when he gets the ball i think he plays better as a lose man.

He is unfortunately becoming a liability. Have been a big fan of his previously, but his performance has dropped considerably. I think he needs to get back to basics and revert to the most simple disposal available. Opposition teams are clearly happy to give him space to run with the ball out of defence. We need numbers back there to alleviate him of that responsibility.

I think Riewoldt blew him up tonight, as he has done to a lot of defenders. It is those possessions closer to goal that Hooker is starting to concede too easily. Having said that, the free kick paid against him in the first quarter near the boundary, when Riewoldt hit the pos,t was an absolute disgrace.
 
He is unfortunately becoming a liability. Have been a big fan of his previously, but his performance has dropped considerably. I think he needs to get back to basics and revert to the most simple disposal available. Opposition teams are clearly happy to give him space to run with the ball out of defence. We need numbers back there to alleviate him of that responsibility.

I think Riewoldt blew him up tonight, as he has done to a lot of defenders. It is those possessions closer to goal that Hooker is starting to concede too easily. Having said that, the free kick paid against him in the first quarter near the boundary, when Riewoldt hit the pos,t was an absolute disgrace.

Like you said needs to do the simple things and not play beyond his limitations.
 
excluding Dempsey everyone had a terrible night even the coaches. We just seemed completely powerless to stop the blood flow.

It amazes me how we just expected Stkilda to play the same way as the doggies. Anyone watching last weeks games would have noted A. Don't take Essendon on in a free flowing game B. Don;t let Essendon have any space in the forward line. St Kilda's match plan was terrific and it's probably going to be a blue print for our opposition for the rest of the year. Let's hope we have a backup plan.
 

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We won two flags with Kevin Walsh at chb who was apparently, to some, not much good... Hooker ain't no Kevin Walsh..
 
we were continually playing on after taking a mark and then putting oureselves under pressure, and then not having the vision to look down the ground 50metres so we handball it to a player wih a opponent up there clunker who is already under pressure. sometimes you just have to kick the bloody thing
 
well that was an abortion.

Anyway, it is now clear that 'slingshot' football is our achillies heel and we must do something about it. Think Melbourne, think Richmond over the past couple years, Sydney, last night etc.

They get numbers back, wait for us to turn it over then go bang, and rebound. Often this rebound is done on the fat side, opening us up and making us look horrible.

Why? I am trying to work it out, but it dawned on my last night we handball too much into this style.

We play on, get it going which is fine, but all we are doing is playing ourselves into trouble as eventually we are kicking to hopeless situations.

We should be kicking more, slowing it down and look for the 40m plus shot at goal. Keep doing this and it will bring out the opposition teams. Noticed Jobe absolutely burned Reimers in the first, a clear hit up and clear shot at goal which Jobe totally ignored, eventually turning it over and was a recipe seemingly done a million times on the night.

Onto of this they had one of those nights, even kicks which didnt want to be goals, the sherrin wouldnt not go through. Quick blind kicks, perfectly placed etc. And we couldnt be more off if we tried.

Next week, the mindset is huge.
 
we were continually playing on after taking a mark and then putting oureselves under pressure, and then not having the vision to look down the ground 50metres so we handball it to a player wih a opponent up there clunker who is already under pressure. sometimes you just have to kick the bloody thing

Kick it to what? Alwyn Davey at CHF?
 
One final note, the clash strip was terrible and ineffective. That was the first time I've ever actually struggled to tell the teams apart.

It's quite ironic really as I agree. Never had an issue telling St Kilda and Essendon apart until last night.

I actually think the jumper looks quite good up close, but **** from afar and as a whole uniform.
 
Things from last nights game:

- Don't think I saw a section of the game where we were actually on top.
- Can't recall a part in the game where we out worked them.
- Can't recall a contest where we had more players.
- I can recall them going %100 at every contest.
- They were hungrier and more fierce at the ball. So obvious it was not funny.
- Can't recall so much fumbling and missed marks and soft frees.

Reminded me of last years Richmond loss. It was clear as day at how more aggressive they were at the contest.

It's happened once this year with Melbourne and now it's happened again. Once can be written off as an anomaly but to happen twice in a year and twice in 5 weeks is a cause for concern. Our mental application for games is not right. We have too many players with feeble minds. You can only carry so much in the 22. Collingwood and Geelong have maybe 1 or 2. We have 5 or 6.

Huge game next week against Port. Won't be easy. They will get a rocket after a loss and come out breathing fire. We won't' have a forward line and if they build a wall at half back then we might have to go in 80 times to kick a winning score.
 
I am amazed how little criticism Hooker has received so far in this thread. He was absolutely shocking tonight, and to be honest, I think he has been very poor for a while. Consistently getting outmarked in contested situations. HE IS SSSOOOOOOOOOOO SLOW. To be turned and scored against by that dinosaur Riewoldt is a perfect example.

He is playing on the best forward every week and it is hurting us big time. He has no positional sense. His kicking is TERRIBLE. At one stage in the second quarter, the ball was kicked to Milne in the pocket who picked up the ball on the bounce, had Hibberd on his tail, baulked a couple of times, then centred it to Riewoldt. Where was Hooker you ask? Well for some peculiar reason, he was charging towards Milne in the pocket when we already had a player chasing him, and had left HIS man Riewoldt. Riewoldt took an uncontested mark 25m out.

He makes really poor decisions. He is being exposed at the moment and it is a big worry considering where Pears is at. His confidence looks completely shot and I think opposition teams are targeting him now. When the ball is in his hands from defence, I am supremely worried. The guy needs to lift big time.


I like this because you've obviously been waiting all year (for the genuine defeat to finally come) to get on here and can Hooker. It is great that you've chosen to make your move on a night where the defenders were put to the sword by the rest of the side. Did you notice that Fletcher played his worst game in recent memory? Hardingham and Hibberd were both also well below par.

You'd have to be ******* kidding about everything you have said except for the fact that Hooker was finally poor last night and he was disturbingly slow.
 
Very Harsh on Hooker IMO-hes taken the opostion's best forward week in week out and pretty sure thats the first time hes conceded over 3 goals-his pace and disposal is often a worry though
 
Everyone who is saying Hooker is slow is pretty harsh.

He actually ran Riewoldt down last night and forced him to kick a grubber off the side of the boot that somehow managed to bounce 15m through for a goal. Don't underestimate how much Riewoldt would have been running Hooker before that as well.

Yes, Riewoldt blew Hooker up, but we can now add Hooker to the list of defenders that a 100% fit Riewoldt has blown up, everyone one he has played on. Even during the Geelong/St Kilda peak Harry Taylor would regularly swap with Lonergan to have a rest. Expecting Hooker to go with him all game is stupidity, and gifting his biggest advantage. This was poor team selection, blame the coaches not Hooker.

Anyone getting stuck into Hooker and saying he has been terrible this year knows little about football, has been a top 3 or 4 CHB in the comp.
 
I think they also had a pretty clear "demolish Jobe" strategy. He was just mauled last night.
(Even saw Armitage having a bit of a wrestle with him when Jobe didn't want any of it.)

If that's going to keep happening, the rest of the midfield needs to step up in his absence and fire up for the captain. We can't just let him get double and triple teamed all night.
 

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AFL Autopsy Round 15 vs St Kilda

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