Autopsy Round 18: Adelaide Vs St Kilda

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Bonner straight swap for Hill

Jones straight out for anyone; Paton, Hotton, Garcia, Hastie, Stocker

Membrey did absolutely nothing so may as well get games into Heath instead of persisting with a finished player

Owens needs a spell at VFL level, maybe reward Allison for a week even if he's crap...who cares honestly, what's there to lose if he gets 0 disposals? Sharman Allison Heath as our forwards vs Barrass and McGovern, will probably go wrong but literally no better option

Tonight made it very clear that we need to add a front half stoppage game to our game plan. Defensive transition is extremely hard to execute in the wet, and when you have the likes of Bonner Jones etc getting the ball, its impossible. Wet weather footy is all about stoppage dominance and scoring - we can dominate but we can't score so its pointless. Need to figure that out...jeez an LDU tonight would've done wonders

Focus on the draft now. Hopefully the Eagles get on a roll with their new coach and maybe overtake us? I'm dreaming. As long as we stay below Adelaide, we are almost guaranteed Sid Draper who had 27 disposals at SANFL seniors level today. Battle compo hopefully allows us to get Jagga too, but Eagles have interest. Lalor the other option. If we miss both Jagga and Draper, we split pick and take advantage of the even crop to get 2 for 1. Either way, we get 2-3 gun mids to take us forward alongside Pou (what a fking gun), Windy, Clark (much-improved tonight, 17 contested possessions!) and hopefully Dow and Owens (who looks finished as a forward. Train him as a mid and get him in ASAP)
I’ve watched Allison for 4 years VFL level… he will not make it as an AFL player.
 

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As soon as the rain came our weak midfield was exposed. got smashed in the clearances.

Trying to do handballs and dinky kicks in the wet was tough to watch.

couldn't lock it in our front half at all
 
That was an incredibly hard watch.
Hard to take much from it in those kind of conditions.
The Poo showed again that he will be a serious talent.
Hunter Clark gives his all and with pace out of the game due to the weather he really come into his own.
Sharman was supreme in the opening qtr such a shame we couldn’t give him many looks through out the game.
Bonner and Jones are not AFL standard and the game has passed Membrey by.
Nas is pure silk and is becoming 1 of our most reliable players.
It’s hard to be critical of any skill level when you’re playing with a piece of soap but common sense would tell you don’t muck around with it and get the ball forward as quick and as far as you can and let the chaos take over.
Finally the umpires were terrible for both sides. I think we clearly had the run of the umpires in the first half.
The insufficient intent when the ball was being soccered forward was a disgrace I mean come on what are you meant to do in those conditions and holding the ball was a complete lottery.
Wish I could tune out for awhile tonight was torture but I’ll be back again next Saturday afternoon.
Go Saints.
 

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Membrey, Jones and Bonner are surely all owed a slab from Simon Dalrymple. He must be licking his lips at the prospect of a high draft pick (maybe 2) and these 3 have really helped his cause.
 
Not much to write home about from that game, it was an awful dull wet slog

I didn't even pay much attention to the score, it was almost irrelevant to me.

The Positives

Phillipou took another step forward on his way to becoming an elite midfielder.

We now have Pick 4, hopefully we use it to draft another kid as good as him,

Hunter Clark is showing why he was a Top 10 pick now he is getting a run at it.

Byrnes, I wrote him off but he has worked hard and deserves to stay on the list.

Sharman stepping up to deliver in the absence of King and becoming the Mailman.

The Negatives

Bonner an obvious one, there is a reason Port delisted him, we need to delist him too.

Jones, we got fooled by the Swans once with Hannebury, we can't get fooled again, go sell some candy elsewhere.

Membrey, I hate to say it as he has been a great servant for us but I think he is cooked, we need to move him on.


That was an incredibly hard watch.
Hard to take much from it in those kind of conditions.
The Poo showed again that he will be a serious talent.
Hunter Clark gives his all and with pace out of the game due to the weather he really come into his own.
Sharman was supreme in the opening qtr such a shame we couldn’t give him many looks through out the game.
Bonner and Jones are not AFL standard and the game has passed Membrey by.
Nas is pure silk and is becoming 1 of our most reliable players.
It’s hard to be critical of any skill level when you’re playing with a piece of soap but common sense would tell you don’t muck around with it and get the ball forward as quick and as far as you can and let the chaos take over.
Finally the umpires were terrible for both sides. I think we clearly had the run of the umpires in the first half.
The insufficient intent when the ball was being soccered forward was a disgrace I mean come on what are you meant to do in those conditions and holding the ball was a complete lottery.
Wish I could tune out for awhile tonight was torture but I’ll be back again next Saturday afternoon.
Go Saints.

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Our biggest weakness is stoppage and clearances, conditions like that just amplify.

Bonner really should not play again. He’s actually a really soft player and there’s not many playing AFL these days but he’s one of them. That deliberate in the 1st was because he didn’t want to be tackled 99% of players take possession and get tackled out of bonds.

Owens biggest issue right now is his balance when he’s collecting ground balls. You can almost guarantee he will either fumble because his to weighted over the ball or go to ground. it’s a technical issue that can be coached. He’s 21 plenty of time.

Jones just no need to play him, I’d rather play Ross if we are going for experience. Ross offers leadership at least.

Pou, he’s going to be everything we hoped for.
 
I don’t like bagging our players.

Jones tries hard however most of the time that effort is spent running around like a headless chook. A headless chook will at least run around looking for his head. Jones still has his head, despite attempts by Cotchin to remove it in 2020, and therefore his running around seems to lack the chicken’s sense of purpose, application and focus.

Sometimes he does something that makes you go “wow, that’s impressive”. More often however he does things that make you go “wow, that’s crap!”

He does try; he’s just not very good (at least at this stage of his career). I actually don’t think he’s ever got back to the better form he showed prior to his rather lengthy mental health break in 2022.

Zac will be 30 at the start of next season.

I wish him well but hope the club and the player can part ways in a fashion that is beneficial to both parties.
 
Our biggest weakness is stoppage and clearances, conditions like that just amplify.

Bonner really should not play again. He’s actually a really soft player and there’s not many playing AFL these days but he’s one of them. That deliberate in the 1st was because he didn’t want to be tackled 99% of players take possession and get tackled out of bonds.

Owens biggest issue right now is his balance when he’s collecting ground balls. You can almost guarantee he will either fumble because his to weighted over the ball or go to ground. it’s a technical issue that can be coached. He’s 21 plenty of time.

Jones just no need to play him, I’d rather play Ross if we are going for experience. Ross offers leadership at least.

Pou, he’s going to be everything we hoped for.
To be fair to chito. Everyone was fumbling today
 
PHILLIPOU - I’m just glad he continued on his good form. Felt it would be crushing if he barely got a sniff. But he was good all night and that goal was a touch of class and superstar that we dearly crave.

BYRNES - I’ve always been a fan. He’ll never be a superstar but he’s a fantastic role player and you can never question him having a dip. I’d have him in my side most weeks.

CLARK - He’s got the rare ability to make time stand still when he has the ball. But does he actually do any damage? I’d love him to be more punishing with disposal. He was clean tonight though with his hands and one of our better players I thought.

SHARMAN - We looked cooked the moment the rain came and the ability to use his leading and marking disappeared. But he presented so well in that first quarter. Have to persist with him as a leading forward. Membrey sadly looks finished.

On Clark - I'm of the opinion he's become almost too defensively focused, which limits his opportunities to use the ball efficiently. He gives us a true point of diifference with his composure and decision making but in the last few years he has become a contested inside mid first. He is also really good at winning the ground ball and getting the ball out from congestion to our advantage, so it's a tough one.

Adelaide away in a borderline dead rubber is probably the worst possible game for us to play after such a fun win last week.

Happy to see Phillipou back it up and not just have last week as a flash in the pan, this performance will do him just as much good for his self belief as last week.
 
Not much to take from that.

Pou good - looks like he's turned the corner.

Everything Jones and Bonner touch turns to crap (which we already knew)

Membrey is cooked (which we already knew)

We need Owens to train as a mid all pre season and get the Pou treatment of a run in the VFL next year if he's not up to the pace after the first handful of games. He seems to have bulked up a bit too much and lost some agility.

Let's get some games into Garcia, Heath and Keeler before the end of this season.

Next week I'd go

Out: Bonner, Jones, Membrey, Paton
In: Hill, Garcia, Heath, Stocker


B: Wilkie, Howard, Webster
HB: Sinclair, Battle, NWM
C: Hill, Steele, Henry
HF: Higgins, Sharman, Wood
F: Butler, Heath, Owens

Foll: Marshall, Clark, Pou
Int: Garcia, Schoenmaker, Byrnes, Wilson
Sub: Stocker
 
Really really tough watch...

Great to see Pou and Hunter continue their form...

I know this is contentious, however Marshall is 29 and has legit currency at present. He isn't going to be there when we're legit at our next tilt, he needs to be moved on for a couple of firsts, plus Battle, so we have 4 firsts before Tassie comes into the comp. There must be some less expensive, servicable rucks around the league.

Tough i know, but finishing 15th, and then maybe 12th and then maybe finish near the 8 and then have Marshall retire just as Tassie comes in the next year really gives us nothing...
 
Really really tough watch...

Great to see Pou and Hunter continue their form...

I know this is contentious, however Marshall is 29 and has legit currency at present. He isn't going to be there when we're legit at our next tilt, he needs to be moved on for a couple of firsts, plus Battle, so we have 4 firsts before Tassie comes into the comp. There must be some less expensive, servicable rucks around the league.

Tough i know, but finishing 15th, and then maybe 12th and then maybe finish near the 8 and then have Marshall retire just as Tassie comes in the next year really gives us nothing...
You're not getting 2 firsts for a 29 year old ruck though. Maybe pick 17 and 18 with a second rounder going back. The teams that hold picks worth trading Ro for would not be investing that much in a ruck with 3-4 years left.

I think we could be challenging for top 4 come 2026 and I want Marshall as our number one ruck for that campaign (hopefully supported by Heath or Keeler)
 

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Autopsy Round 18: Adelaide Vs St Kilda

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