Discussion Round 5 v Melbourne @ MCG

[SaintsSeptember]

It's a good hypothetical. I thought early in the 2nd quarter our guys seemed to be fighting each other for the ball instead of working as a unit to create space to clear it. This improved after half time. Jamar is a good ruckman. Clearance stats may have been overrated on Saturday night as often it was a scrubby kick that often went straight to us or to another contest. I think this is another area that brought us undone in the second quarter. Overpossession. We played much better wet weather footy in the second half.

I seem to recall an incident in the backline, all the Saints went in, it spilt out and there was no-one there to contest the crumb.
To me they need to be a bit smarter with their flood tactics.
Only one player can get the ball, and once there are three or so players trying to get it, it probably doesnt help to throw more in.

 

[bluejay]

It's a good hypothetical. I thought early in the 2nd quarter our guys seemed to be fighting each other for the ball instead of working as a unit to create space to clear it. This improved after half time. Jamar is a good ruckman. Clearance stats may have been overrated on Saturday night as often it was a scrubby kick that often went straight to us or to another contest. I think this is another area that brought us undone in the second quarter. Overpossession. We played much better wet weather footy in the second half.

We commented this with my wife several times during the game: our boys went in a pack 2, or 3 or even 4 of them, against 1 opposition player only. The bal would come to ground, and there there were the other Melbourne players waiting for it, while our boys were down after a pack crash. This happened too many times, especially during the 2nd and 3rd quarters. It frustrated the hell out of me, as if there was a lack of communication between them.

I love Sam Fisher, but he was one of the worst in this regard. I think that sometimes he believes he has to do it all by himself, and goes to the contest anyway when there are already 2 of ours there, leaving his man alone.

Hopefully our coaching staff can focus on this during the week and they fix it.