Round 3: Changes Vs St Kilda

[FreoMonocle]

Did we? I might have to check but my perception, and Dal Santo mentioned it as well, was that we pushed our winger back in a defensive position - I don't think that was from the opening bounce. So Tucker was playing on ball and then leaving his mid to drop back to defence? That makes no sense. Either way, point still stands, we played too defensively. Need to hold better structure, take the risk and then attack aggressively knowing we've got numbers down field to make contests without massive outnumbers. Not sure why we expected we'd win 1v3 or 1v2 contests.

GC were overplaying, too much haste and not enough speed. Given that they had first possession more often than not, they just moved it forward with scarcely a thought for a target, hoping that if you get it up there often enough you can get scores (worked for us in 2013-2015) to win - and they did. If they slowed it down, they would have had more composure and higher scoring efficiency - but then we would have contested the midfield better. Given that we were smashed in the midfield and unable to rectify it - and the ball was in defense for a ridiculous amount of time, we did have to defend and try to rebound, rather than just be attacking from each bounce.

As for rebounds, this is where they won the game, they didn't let us. Instead of everyone peeling off back towards the 50 arc, they kept the options for short passes shut down - and they prevented our talls from marking from the kick out at the 50m arc. Well played Suns, but that has me scratching my head - sure their forwards and ruck get involved at that point, but their tall defenders were significantly shorter than our forwards, we should have been taking plenty of those grabs and able to send the ball another 50 meters forwards.

 

[wayToGo_]

As for rebounds, this is where they won the game, they didn't let us.

I think the Suns did defend well but I also think flooding back restricts your ability to rebound - so we were assisting them when our defenders intercepted by them having to wait to find a target as our players started running out of d50. Last week we held structure forward of the ball and therefore our defenders could be aggressive on the rebound. Players forward of the ball can lead towards our defender with the ball in d50 - an easier kick and it also means if they don't mark it, the defenders (or mids coming out of d50) can stream on to the ball and momentum should keep the ball moving forward anyway. If you have flooded then you are running away from d50 - a much harder kick to execute and if the player doesn't get the ball then the opposition will generally have numbers and be able to rebound for a repeat i50 and catch us out of position. Of course it all starts with pressure through the middle so their i50 entries aren't clean to start with. The number of times they waltzed through the corridor was infuriating. Those criticising our defenders I think are being a bit harsh - they were under siege, especially early. Awful seeing them gesturing for their teammates to move when they had the ball.

It's annoying losing to a team we should have really beaten but taking the emotion out of it I do think most of the issues we had are fixable. I still do think there is an underlying issue with how we travel though and clearly we haven't worked out what it is yet. Seem to be slow out of the blocks and that's something you can't afford to do when playing away.

 

[blue shark]

Hughes played well although needs to try eliminate the 2-3 brain farts he has each game.

Brayshaw stays in - the pressure should really be on Shultz and Banfield.

We are too tall - and to be honest think the weak link is Lobb. He doesn’t provide much around the ground and isn’t clunking it. That missed handball in the last will give me nightmares for weeks. It’s hard to drop him though as he’s only just been traded in. I would only keep him in if Darcy needs a rest (he struggled throughout the match).

Out: Shultz and Lobb/Darcy
In: Switta and Matera


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I would like to see Hughes tried at Peel on the wing or midfield, if both Ryan, Wilson play HB, Cerra back then there
Is no position left in defence.
Then there is Logue, Cox, Nyhius, Duman, we are overstocked, need more combinations midfield.
A hard nosed defender is lacking we need some backbone or someone to lock down.
There really isn't any reason why our defence shouldn't be a strength.

 

[salim malik]

Nyhuis needs to play this week to get the match practice for the derby so he can lock down and scare the shit out of Liam Ryan again.

 

[StingBitten]

Lobb is really soft.

A man who is 6'6 who said he was bullied at school... weird?

Yeah - cos everyone knows bullying doesn't apply to the tall, strong, good-looking types.

Times have changed.

 

[PowerToThePurpl]

Everyone bar Fyfe and Hill were poor although I liked Colyer’s game, very clean with the ball when he got hands on. If we can’t beat Gold Coast away then we’re going to have trouble against any team away. We really missed Neale in the engine room, he was the difference between the Lions beating North and Gold Coast beating Freo yesterday.

Can’t see us making finals with our Away record, we need that gun second string midfielder that compliments Fyfe IE Tim Kelly or Stephen Coniglio to make a big difference, Blakely could be that. Thought Hogan was very good when pushed into the midfield.

Biggest issue was our ball use both coming out of our defence and inside forward 50, couldn’t think of a single time we kicked it to the advantage of Hogan, Lobb or Taberner.

Overall an extremely poor day but another lesson learnt by the group, think we’re a much better side than that tripe we dished up. Blakely and S. Hill would be a massive boost to the balance of the squad. Would love to see Valente soon as well.

OUT: Banfield, Hughes.
IN: Switkowski, Logue.

 

[bushchook]

I wouldn't be surprised if Mundy is managed this week, wasn't on the ground much and didn't look good when he was

Wouldn't surprise me if he was ill, was well down on his usual performance.

 

[Belnakor]

Did we? I might have to check but my perception, and Dal Santo mentioned it as well, was that we pushed our winger back in a defensive position - I don't think that was from the opening bounce. So Tucker was playing on ball and then leaving his mid to drop back to defence?

Correct, he was leaving his mid and sitting as the spare man in defense. It worked to slow down their entries but we had no way of getting out.

 

[Belnakor]

for some positivity:
ONLY 3 WEEKS UNTIL BLAKELY'S BACK WOOO!

he isn't our solution to our kicking woes, unfortunately.

 

[aussieviking]

Height wasn't an issue from my viewing. Just a midfield that got massively outworked. GC midfield spread harder and faster for 4 qtrs.


Out: Schultz, Banfield
In: Switta, Logue

Get Cerra out the backline and move him into the mid rotations.

Logue - Hamling - Ryan
Wilson - APearce - Hughes
Langdon - Mundy - BHill
Walters - Hogan - McCarthy
Switta - Taberner - Lobb

Darcy - Fyfe - Tucker

Cerra - Brayshaw - Conca - Coyler

thats a good team

 

[Superkoops]

Schulz for a small forward doesn't seem to have the bag of tricks that the small forward needs. He lacks pace so he really needs to amp up the defensive pressure and show a few tricks. It's only his second game but he should have learnt a lot in the VFL. If he is retained this week he needs to improve a hell of a lot.

From memory Schultz isn’t your true small forward. Mixed his time in the VFL between forward and mid.

I do agree though he doesn’t have the speed or tricks. Switta has some serious speed and whilst Matera is prone to a few brain fades (and not overly quick) he does have some tricks.

I’d be looking at those two to come into the team.


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[Fat Nyfe]

In the cold light of day, I wouldn’t mind seeing no changes. We had a shocker, give those players on the fringe a chance to redeem themselves. Schultz, Banfield, Brayshaw or anyone else on the cusp can all do better than what they showed.

 

[wayToGo_]

Correct, he was leaving his mid and sitting as the spare man in defense. It worked to slow down their entries but we had no way of getting out.

Do you know what quarter he started doing that? Watched the replay of the 1st quarter and he played on ball the whole time and never dropped back to defence. He wasn't tagging but he was apposed to Miller in the middle a fair bit. Langdon shifted to a defensive winger with about 5 minutes to go after they got their first two girls in a row.

One thing I did notice watching the replay was how much we got reamed by the umpires in that quarter - must be the first time I didn't notice the umpiring live on TV - must have been too annoyed and focussed on us not backing up from last week. That hit to Hill by Miller putting him down and allowing him to grab the ball at the f50 stoppage unopposed and kick their first goal was terrible. Several times in that quarter they got away with off-the-ball hits and grabs - clearly was a strategy by Dew (and they got away with it, so it worked).

I also do not understand holding the ball anymore. We seem to tackle a guy and spin him fully round twice and its play on. Or we tackle them, they just drop the ball, and it's play on, or worse, we get done for holding on. We weren't even getting the ones when the guy fends off - apparently "no prior"? wtf? It was the same last week against North. And even when we got one the whistle was so late that we got held up. Freo should ask the umpires what the go is because so many scores against have been caused off the back of non-htb calls in the last two games. Is just dropping the ball allowed these days?

 

[Docker82]

Witts is a more than capable #1 ruck don't forget and Darcy has a lot to work on the defensive side of his game.

Witts is probably the third best ruck in the comp. People just fail to realise because he plays for Gold Coast.

Would you expect Brodie Grundy to compete against the third best ruck in the comp in his third year? Perhaps, but he would be the only one in years you could possibly say that about at such a young age.

 

[Dale147]

Saints will go into this game chock full of confidence, it’s a hellishly danger game for us.

 

[Cesoir]

Saints will go into this game chock full of confidence, it’s a hellishly danger game for us.

I said last week was a danger game for us and was howled down by the "it's only Gold Coast" crew. Funnily enough the Eagles were similarly confident going into the Brisbane game and Norths were equally confident going into their game against us.

There are no gimme games, and any team can beat any other on a given day.

 

[sherrif]

we didn't have deep enough entries the ball never got to the talls




disagree with this. we essentially started with a spare man in defense the moment the ball was bounced Tucker moved into the backline.

No he didnt. Tucker played on Jack Martin in a tagging role.

 

[sherrif]

Schulz for a small forward doesn't seem to have the bag of tricks that the small forward needs. He lacks pace so he really needs to amp up the defensive pressure and show a few tricks. It's only his second game but he should have learnt a lot in the VFL. If he is retained this week he needs to improve a hell of a lot.

I wouldnt say Shultz is slow by any stretch. His defensive pressure was terrific the week before. You seem to always think players lack pace when they have a bad game. Shultz definitely quicker than Walters, Ballaz and Matera by a decent margin. Ballaz isnt overly quick anymore and has not been good in terms of pressure acts for a fair while.

 

[theGav56]

I wouldnt say Shultz is slow by any stretch. His defensive pressure was terrific the week before. You seem to always think players lack pace when they have a bad game. Shultz definitely quicker than Walters, Ballaz and Matera by a decent margin. Ballaz isnt overly quick anymore and has not been good in terms of pressure acts for a fair while.

Yep, we looked heaps slower than last week.

I wonder if the teams speed does actually vary, say between home and away games?

 

[wild side]

No he didnt. Tucker played on Jack Martin in a tagging role.

Didn't do a very good job, martin was everywhere

 

[salim malik]

I wouldnt say Shultz is slow by any stretch. His defensive pressure was terrific the week before. You seem to always think players lack pace when they have a bad game. Shultz definitely quicker than Walters, Ballaz and Matera by a decent margin. Ballaz isnt overly quick anymore and has not been good in terms of pressure acts for a fair while.

Schultz wasn't great against North, scrambled through the game and he is slow and lacks tricks. You think every one you like has pace. There are reasons Schultz was passed over many times .
All of the other three have tricks in their bag.

 

[malpaso]

No he didnt. Tucker played on Jack Martin in a tagging role.

He was switched to Martin because the first half I saw Tucker following Touk Miller around.

 

[muzzington]

Unfortunately I think Banfield needs a spell. Hopefully Switty is good to go this week.

And put in Valente for reasons.

 

[armpit]

Can we win though? I need to cut some slack.

 

[Lach72]

One of the things that seemed to happen against GCSs is Walters did play more forward, but for now I'm not sure we can afford that without either another mid in, or we need a replacement small forward and Walters more mid.

I think there will be a push for Valente early as well, and surely North sooner than later too. They aren't forwards, but neither is Banfield really. Would love Swit in asap, and would sacrifice Banfield if needed. Schultz didn't have a good game, but that is his first away game. He did seem to struggle for fitness, so he will be discussed.

Schultz looks heavy. In his highlights he’s quick. His legs seem wooden