Autopsy Round 3, 2024: Positives and Negatives vs Western Bulldogs

[WCErevival]

Our forward line went from one of the best a few years ago to a stinker today.

Darling - cooked
Cripps - still half decent but getting on
Waterman - always been an almost player/fringe
Williams - played less than 10 games and still young. Dont even know if he's going to make the grade
Long - second year blues
Petrucelle - see Waterman
Maric - unsighted this year so far

We desperately need Oscar and Ryan back and maybe some young energy in Rawlinson

 

[mattyc75]

Waterman?

Remains the most frustrating player on our list about 7 seasons in.

He can’t be relied on in any aspect of the game. And his lack of competitiveness in most 50:50 balls on the ground - and tendency to apply no pressure when it looks like he’s beaten are awful.

Never a positive

Waterman is the most frustrating player on the list...wow

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[Wadsworth]

Positive: multiple clubs turned down our 2024 1st draft pick to save us from our own stupidity.

 

[Cuzz09]

The difference between the kids at EVERY SINGLE OTHER CLUB and us staggering in terms of understanding their role and playing positive football.

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[Sammy J]

Positives: it’s over
Negatives: an angry Sydney is going to give us a new butthole next week

 

[Gazeah78]

Positive- Clearance work……. Old boys not injured.

Negative- Geez that Chesser pick looks horrible. Hope he can turn it around. Not much shown from the young crop at all. Concerning.

No one really putting their hand up in the magoos. Gaff and Witherden….

Gotta feed Reid. He makes things happen.

I’m not sold on Chesser (yet) but Johnson at Freo doesn’t look great either tbf. I’m prepared to wait till end of season to make a call.

Skills were deplorable.

It’s tough going at the moment - especially if you have youngsters. My eldest told me he’s gonna go for Carlton. I died a little inside.

Reckon Ryan will make a big difference when he comes back. Missing that connection up front.


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[Cuzz09]

We are semi decent at contested footy now so that's good.

Think weve gone too inside midfielder and we've got not much to get it out to.

It's so easy to walk it out

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[Dark Sharks]

Ugh, this is just so draining. Week in, week out, same story

You sit through a game like this one (thankfully i only watched about half) and you question whether our young players even got a single thing out of it. Losing isn't bad, but losing after being uncompetitive for 3 quarters is. Add it to last weeks half a game where we zoned out as well. It's not good for young player development, we need to stay in games more so they can get some belief.

Ranking wise it was the worst game of the year by Harley, Chesser, Hough, Ginbey, Brockman, .. all the players you tune in for to see doing well.

Once again, i can't imagine anything changes until the coach goes, which will be at the bye, if at all. Nothing will change whilst that man still leads this team. Over the past 3+ seasons he's led the club to it's darkest days in our almost 40yr history.





On a more positive note, despite being a potato at times, i feel Jamieson wasn't awful.

Duggan annoys me, particularly when he does stupid shit, but apparently went at 100% with his disposals today.

Bailey Williams again cracked in. Whether he likes it or not he plays better as our standalone ruckman.

Can't deny Kelly put in a full shift. He frustrates me at times but you can see he's digging in as well. Ditto Yeo.

One game closer to the coach going? In the end, when you strip it all back to basics like what Simpson said we were doing, with his "working on our identity" bollocks. We ARE getting our hands on the ball more. We ARE winning some footy. Ironically it seems the rest of the skill/structure/gameplan is now the problem.

 

[Barrybran]

• I'm not sure if it's structural or form-related, but Long has had a quiet start to the year. Maric was pretty invisible today, too.

I'm curious about this as well as Chesser, Maric, Ginbey's first half. These guys were almost invisible at times today. I'm wondering how much is them and their development and how much is structure in terms of they have a role to play but the ball is being rebounded so quickly that they're being bypassed offensively and / or defensively?

 

[Balls In]

Don't think anyone at the club will be at the club for our next serious tilt.

Hopefully Harley gets to play at least 1 final with us, but that's looking WAY off.

Our next serious tilt is as far away as the moon. Perhaps if we get everything right over the next 5 or so years the best couple of kids we have on our list now might see us contend the eight when they are senior players themselves.

 

[Barrybran]

You sit through a game like this one (thankfully i only watched about half) and you question whether our young players even got a single thing out of it. Losing isn't bad, but losing after being uncompetitive for 3 quarters is. Add it to last weeks half a game where we zoned out as well. It's not good for young player development, we need to stay in games more so they can get some belief.

Ranking wise it was the worst game of the year by Harley, Chesser, Hough, Ginbey, Brockman, .. all the players you tune in for to see doing well.

I wonder if some of the roles are designed with a view to having these kids play but not putting too much responsibility on their shoulders because we're still very thin at WAFL level. Reid played far less in the middle today. Ginbey was virtually unsighted there until the last quarter. Long, Maric and Chesser are barely visible. I wonder if the goal is to make sure these guys play 23 games, even if they're not as involved as we'd like, instead of playing 5-6 great games and sitting out just as long with injuries. Our senior guys certainly carried the load today.

 

[HoneyBadger35]

Surprised by the mood here. We suck, but we all knew we sucked? Blown away by one bad quarter, wasted so many chances in front of goal and the scoreboard could have looked almost respectable if we actually kicked it through the big sticks.

At times last year we played zero quarters of footy. We’re playing two to three quarters of competitive footy each game this year. The one that we don’t, we get blown away. That’s the reality of where we’re at right now.

Trending up, this year compared to last.

 

[Balls In]

If anything it's even more horrific when our last couple of 30+ year old veterans are playing at near the top of their game and there is absolutely nothing underneath to replace them. Especially when one of those is the best CHB (most important position on the ground) of the past ten years and Yeo who is about the only player in our squad with mongrel.

 

[Bestbird]

Getting a lot more clearances and forward 50 entries so far this season but when going forward the ball just rebounds with ridiculas ease.

Has been the problem with all games so far this season including pre season games and have yet to see any changes to bring more forward half pressure..

 

[3agles87]

positive: the AFL has a plan to help out the worst performing team of 2023.

Negative: the AFL didn’t realise the Kangaroos weren’t the worst performing team, notwithstanding the Eagles finishing bottom and being part way through the down swing

 

[Wild Kelly]

Positive- Clearance work……. Old boys not injured.

Negative- Geez that Chesser pick looks horrible. Hope he can turn it around. Not much shown from the young crop at all. Concerning.

No one really putting their hand up in the magoos. Gaff and Witherden….

Gotta feed Reid. He makes things happen.

Agree that we need to give the ball to Reid when he calls for it. Like Cuz, he knows how to use it. Unlike 90% of the rest of the team.

 

[CoastersFlag No.5]

If anything it's even more horrific when our last couple of 30+ year old veterans are playing at near the top of their game and there is absolutely nothing underneath to replace them. Especially when one of those is the best CHB (most important position on the ground) of the past ten years and Yeo who is about the only player in our squad with mongrel.

12 more turnovers as a team. Nearly 100 less uncontested possessions. Got the ball turned it over got destroyed on the spread.

 

[Westend]

Really there is nothing positive about that performance today....Gov the oldest player on the list and thats about it

Biggest issue for me and it was very evident today...the kids coming through are just not developing at a rate compared to other sides

hough ginbey chesser maric really are they getting development ...are they improving there game ??....the answer is no for me and thats the most worrying sign

 

[MrWoollie]

Positives/Negatives - I can watch this team with zero expectation. No anticipation of a competitive performance. No chance of a 'nearly' game. Can watch dispassionately, analyzing individual players and acts whilst all the time knowing that the next play (or the one after) will be a disaster.

 

[Priddis Is Done]

Negatives: Gov, yeo and Kelly were our best.

Anyone of those go down, oh boy.

 

[Longwthebreeze]

+
Mids, BWilliams and most of the backs working their asses off
Contested footy.
Clearances
Matching inside 50s x 51 each.
Jamo, Ginbey good signs

-
I want Chesser to make it as much as anyone but zero marks and zero tackles says to me he hasn't got the nous (yet?) to run to space nor is he putting on defensive pressure. WAFL on ball for an extended stint/ tagging role/ half back move?? I don't have the answer...
Waterman and Cripps to have some composure and f@$n kick straight under a roof.
Hough needs to attack the footy in the air.
So much speed in the forward half yet teams continually stroll the ball out.
Dropped marks, basic skills from common few

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[Carbine Chaos]

Positive: if Harley was to leave, the club is making it easier to feel okay about it.


What role was Chesser playing today? Saw someone suggest defensive wing in the matchday thread. If we want someone there he's definitely not the go to, you'd think Luke Edwards is better suited to that sacrificial play. Alternatively, you'd be better off bringing Gaff back to free Chesser up.

If he just had a stinker, disregard.

 

[HoneyBadger35]

Waterman let us down badly in front of goal but 14.8km covered, second of all players behind Caleb Daniel

35

Caleb Daniel

Age

28

Ht

171cm

Wt

72kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

21.3

5star

K

11.5

4star

HB

9.8

5star

M

3.5

4star

T

2.9

4star

CL

1.4

4star

D

19.5

4star

K

11.1

4star

HB

8.4

4star

M

3.6

4star

T

2.0

3star

CL

1.0

3star

D

16.4

4star

K

7.2

3star

HB

9.2

5star

M

3.4

4star

T

2.6

4star

CL

0.2

2star

(15.1km) is ****ed.

 

[Mori]

Young players are struggling because there is no structure to the team, which is not helped by horrible illogical selections. A few things picking only 6 mids and loading up with 8 fwds including 4 tall fwds. Maric should be the fwd leading up the ground linking up the play, his kick to Cripps inside 50 was the highlight of the game but he is fighting for the ball with Waterman and Darling, one of those had to miss out.

They left out the best runner Edwards which left Chesser out on the wings all game where he has struggled in the past. Gibney had to play more outside and Hunt the best running option from defence was doing all the unrewarded running while at half back where Hunt should be playing Jones repeatedly turned the ball over.

They pick Barnett for 1 game against one of the most physical ruckman in the league then drop him and they can't seem to work out if B.Williams is a ruck or forward. A lot of the preseason plans have already gone out the window. Duggan in the midfield RD 1 which only lasted a week is another one. The coaching staff are lost and it sounds crazy to have the CEO coaching but Pyke who has a great football brain should become an assistant and help out because as I said I have never seen a coaching group look as bad as this.

 

[archiemoses]

Negatives - not looking for or giving the ball to Harley at every opportunity