Autopsy Sydney Legacy in Grand Finals continues 10 goal loss to the Lions

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I wish we had another game, so I can hold up a sign saying "soft".
Hopefully the cheer squad will open next year with
"2024 soft as butter
But that doesn't define us"

Either way a collective kick up the arse by the supporters.

Maybe we should all attend the first SCG game and hold up "2024 soft" signs. If there are several hundred, they may just get the message we are livid.
 

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LONG POST INCOMING

I want to talk about our midfield spread. And no I'm not talking about Isaac Heeney's topless editorial for Mens Health.

Rewatching this absolute shit-fest for the last of my first possession stat entries (thank god for the skip button so I can just fast forward to each stoppage!!), it has just reinforced to me how we have quality not quantity when it comes to inside midfielders.

Much discussion about how we got belted in the contest. That is true to some extent. But our first possessions here are actually good from what I've seen. It's mainly Grundy and Rowbottom doing a lot of the heavy lifting in this regard (aware that Heeney was injured and was basically a non-factor), and minus a few yucky dump kicks and blind handballs to nobody from Grundy, they're having good, clean clearances that are getting to the player they want to get the ball to.

That is the problem though - It's that second player receiving the ball where things are coming undone.

Most of the clearances are going to a Gulden or a Warner or a McInerney or a Florent or a Lloyd, as you'd hope and expect, but then those players are just inexplicably fumbling, getting caught or worked off the footy, not able to dispose of it in tackles, running into trouble or taking the wrong option, not being in the right position in the first place etc. because they aren't on the outside, they're playing close and in tight, and we're turning it over in the post-clearance time and time again.

In other words, the spread ain't spreadin'.

Brisbane on the other hand have about four blokes at every contest who are tough and hard and strong, not phased by our pressure "efforts." They're just feeding it out handball by handball until they get it to the true outside, and that is where they are getting their run and gun going that makes us look like we were half asleep.

I'm reminded of our old midfield, with JPK, Hanners, Parker, Jack & Mitchell. They used to be so effective at getting it from inside to outside using each other, given they didn't have the plethora of outside options around them that we currently do. God knows they weren't fast and they struggled to stop other teams' spread, which was part of our undoing in the 2016 GF. But they all worked so well together and they could actually string 2 or 3 possessions together and get the ball from point A to point B to point C because they were all similarly skilful players, so they were good at the spread.

Because we're tilted so heavily towards outside running players not overly suited to the contest, our inside mids are getting the ball to those outside players but those outside players aren't actually outside the contest. If that makes sense. One possession isn't getting it from the inside to the outside. You generally need two or three possessions to get it from the inside to the outside, and they're usually contested ones. So we need to have players who can get more out of these second and third possessions.

We simply have to get a second string of proper inside mids so that guys like Heeney and Rowbottom have guys they can actually work with. Their inside skills are awesome, but they have no one who can match them. Unless they are feeding it out to each other, you can place a bet on a Swans player managing to stuff up and fail to capitalise on the clearance given to them because it's some player not used to working in a telephone box.

Over to you, Mills, Sheldrick or Cleary (and Horse & co, to select them.)
 
Last edited:
LONG POST INCOMING

I want to talk about our midfield spread. And no I'm not talking about Isaac Heeney's topless editorial for Mens Health.

Rewatching this absolute shit-fest for the last of my first possession stat entries (thank god for the skip button so I can just fast forward to each stoppage!!), it has just reinforced to me how we have quality not quantity when it comes to inside midfielders.

Much discussion about how we got belted in the contest. That is true to some extent. But our first possessions here are actually good from what I've seen. It's mainly Grundy and Rowbottom doing a lot of the heavy lifting in this regard (aware that Heeney was injured and was basically a non-factor), and minus a few yucky dump kicks and blind handballs to nobody from Grundy, they're having good, clean clearances that are getting to the player they want to get the ball to.

That is the problem though - It's that second player receiving the ball where things are coming undone.

Most of the clearances are going to a Gulden or a Warner or a McInerney or a Florent or a Lloyd, as you'd hope and expect, but then those players are just inexplicably fumbling, getting caught or worked off the footy, not able to dispose of it in tackles, running into trouble or taking the wrong option, not being in the right position in the first place etc. because they aren't on the outside, they're playing close and in tight, and we're turning it over in the post-clearance time and time again.

In other words, the spread ain't spreadin'.

Brisbane on the other hand have about four blokes at every contest who are tough and hard and strong, not phased by our pressure "efforts." They're just feeding it out handball by handball until they get it to the true outside, and that is where they are getting their run and gun going that makes us look like we were half asleep.

I'm reminded of our old midfield, with JPK, Hanners, Parker, Jack & Mitchell. They used to be so effective at getting it from inside to outside using each other, given they didn't have the plethora of outside options around them that we currently do. God knows they weren't fast and they struggled to stop other teams' spread, which was part of our undoing in the 2016 GF. But they all worked so well together and they could actually string 2 or 3 possessions together and get the ball from point A to point B to point C because they were all similarly skilful players, so they were good at the spread.

Because we're tilted so heavily towards outside running players not overly suited to the contest, our inside mids are getting the ball to those outside players but those outside players aren't actually outside the contest. If that makes sense. One possession isn't getting it from the inside to the outside. You generally need two or three possessions to get it from the inside to the outside, and they're usually contested ones. So we need to have players who can get more out of these second and third possessions.

We simply have to get a second string of proper inside mids so that guys like Heeney and Rowbottom have guys they can actually work with. Their inside skills are awesome, but they have no one who can match them. Unless they are feeding it out to each other, you can place a bet on a Swans player managing to stuff up and fail to capitalise on the clearance given to them because it's some player not used to working in a telephone box.

Over to you, Mills, Sheldrick or Cleary (and Horse & co, to select them.)
At the end of the day we keep getting smashed in the middle It’s been obvious for seasons now And here we are still stating the bleeding obvious
 
LONG POST INCOMING

I want to talk about our midfield spread. And no I'm not talking about Isaac Heeney's topless editorial for Mens Health.

Rewatching this absolute shit-fest for the last of my first possession stat entries (thank god for the skip button so I can just fast forward to each stoppage!!), it has just reinforced to me how we have quality not quantity when it comes to inside midfielders.

Much discussion about how we got belted in the contest. That is true to some extent. But our first possessions here are actually good from what I've seen. It's mainly Grundy and Rowbottom doing a lot of the heavy lifting in this regard (aware that Heeney was injured and was basically a non-factor), and minus a few yucky dump kicks and blind handballs to nobody from Grundy, they're having good, clean clearances that are getting to the player they want to get the ball to.

That is the problem though - It's that second player receiving the ball where things are coming undone.

Most of the clearances are going to a Gulden or a Warner or a McInerney or a Florent or a Lloyd, as you'd hope and expect, but then those players are just inexplicably fumbling, getting caught or worked off the footy, not able to dispose of it in tackles, running into trouble or taking the wrong option, not being in the right position in the first place etc. because they aren't on the outside, they're playing close and in tight, and we're turning it over in the post-clearance time and time again.

In other words, the spread ain't spreadin'.

Brisbane on the other hand have about four blokes at every contest who are tough and hard and strong, not phased by our pressure "efforts." They're just feeding it out handball by handball until they get it to the true outside, and that is where they are getting their run and gun going that makes us look like we were half asleep.

I'm reminded of our old midfield, with JPK, Hanners, Parker, Jack & Mitchell. They used to be so effective at getting it from inside to outside using each other, given they didn't have the plethora of outside options around them that we currently do. God knows they weren't fast and they struggled to stop other teams' spread, which was part of our undoing in the 2016 GF. But they all worked so well together and they could actually string 2 or 3 possessions together and get the ball from point A to point B to point C because they were all similarly skilful players, so they were good at the spread.

Because we're tilted so heavily towards outside running players not overly suited to the contest, our inside mids are getting the ball to those outside players but those outside players aren't actually outside the contest. If that makes sense. One possession isn't getting it from the inside to the outside. You generally need two or three possessions to get it from the inside to the outside, and they're usually contested ones. So we need to have players who can get more out of these second and third possessions.

We simply have to get a second string of proper inside mids so that guys like Heeney and Rowbottom have guys they can actually work with. Their inside skills are awesome, but they have no one who can match them. Unless they are feeding it out to each other, you can place a bet on a Swans player managing to stuff up and fail to capitalise on the clearance given to them because it's some player not used to working in a telephone box.

Over to you, Mills, Sheldrick or Cleary (and Horse & co, to select them.)
Rubber88
 

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Autopsy Sydney Legacy in Grand Finals continues 10 goal loss to the Lions

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