The Fremantle Strangle

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I worry that our good games are so good and our bad are putrid. A bit of pressure and we flake it. It will be a challenge to Ross to get them back to where they were in 2013.
 

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For those who are referring to 6 day breaks having a factor:
6 day break vs 7,8 or 9 (since about 2005)
176-143-3 SU (winning)
177-145 ATS (at the spread)

since 2010
70-55 SU
71-54 ATS

So in fact teams playing off a 6 day break are slightly BETTER than average when playing teams coming off 7+ days.
It's similar to 'coming back to Perth' data. They are both non-factors.
 
Our forward structure is going to be an issue all year. Especially now that our pressure does not seem to be what it was last year.

GWS are playing Boyd, Patton and Cameron in the same forward line today, AFL site talking about Darling being the next Franklin and Adelaide on their board are debated how their 7 tall Forwards are going to fit into the one team.

We are debating over whether Apeness or Tabs will fill the gap. Young guys that are no where near ready.

Of only we were able to recruit on or more of the millions of KPF we have thrown cash at.

I feel so many other teams have developed strong forward lines and we have fallen behind now. Just my opinion
 
I seem to remember Lyon making a few adjustments to the Saints' gameplan following the 2010 GF, specifically to make them a more attacking team. They had a poor start to 2011 but then came home strongly (got knocked out in a EF if I remember, so not exactly a successful season, but decent considering they were 4-7 at one stage).

Whether that was due to the players clicking into gear, or if he abandoned attempting to kick more goals for defensive rigidity, I'm not sure. Someone like Crippa would know more than me.
 
We really need to stop blaming injuries, travel, fatigue etc.

The fact of the matter is the game has gone up another level this year (as it usually does) and we haven't adapted yet. The truth of the matter is we're not playing so differently from 2012/13; it's just that we've been figured out.

This is why Clarkson has been such a successful coach over the last 6 years; every time Hawthorn has looked like falling away they reinvent themselves and adapt their game to the times. Similar can be said of Sydney and Geelong.

That's not to say Ross isn't an amazing coach; it's just that his simple yet effective mantra of defensive pressure football just won't cut it all by itself this year. We need to evolve and add an extra dimension to our play; despite the idea that 'we aren't a team of champions but a champion team' is perfect; but as we saw last night it would probably be better to be a champion team WITH SOME champion players as well'. One of the greatest posts written on the Game Day forum suggested that we have a team of excellent role players, whom ultimately lacked the initiative to change the plan in our hour of need. We lacked that X-factor, that spark, that can't be totally blamed on a lack of Michael Walters and other personnel.

We proved last year that we could win football games with almost half the team lost to injury with our never say die attitude. Perhaps some of the answers lie not just in the future but the past? We can criticise Harvey and Connolly with their inconsistencies; but it was that magic Fremantle possessed that made us so interesting and different from every other team in the competition. Now that we have the strong structures and disciplines of Ross Lyon in place; that Magic could return to our game and give us the edge over our opponents that we haven't possessed this year.

Knibb High Football rules.
 
Our forward structure is going to be an issue all year. Especially now that our pressure does not seem to be what it was last year.

GWS are playing Boyd, Patton and Cameron in the same forward line today, AFL site talking about Darling being the next Franklin and Adelaide on their board are debated how their 7 tall Forwards are going to fit into the one team.

We are debating over whether Apeness or Tabs will fill the gap. Young guys that are no where near ready.

Of only we were able to recruit on or more of the millions of KPF we have thrown cash at.

I feel so many other teams have developed strong forward lines and we have fallen behind now. Just my opinion

Schwab and Connelly can be thanked for this.

Hopefully Apeness turns out alright for us and maybe the tall we pick this year,that's if we even go down that road.
So bugger all pressure on the Ape.
 
Schwab and Connelly can be thanked for this.

Hopefully Apeness turns out alright for us and maybe the tall we pick this year,that's if we even go down that road.
So bugger all pressure on the Ape.

You can hardly blame Schwab and Connolly for the lack of talls drafted between 2008 and 2013.
 
No we haven't lost it, we just aren't doing it.
The years before we were a club on the way up trying to prove ourselves and take it up to the best.
We were putting in maximum effort every week.
We got to the grand final.
Now we are a club who feels we are 1 of the best 2 teams in the comp.
So we aren't doing all the little 1%ers, aren't putting in as much effort for as long.

Its an effort based gameplan and requires maximum effort all year every minute.
We didn't put in the required effort against Sydney until the game was over in the 4th quarter, which allowed us to nearly come back.

The players can switch on the effort whenever they want.
The problem is getting them to give that effort every single game instead of saving it for when they need it eg last night when the game was getting out of hand and they had to do something. Or waiting for finals.

So no the Freo strangle is not gone, no teams haven't adjusted to it.
The problem is we just aren't putting in the required effort to be able to do it.

The players will get blasted by the boss from Saturdays effort.
So we will see a lot more pressure and effort next week.
The players always are desperate to beat eagles so we will see the pressure and effort again in that game.

We can turn it on when we want, but to finish top 2 we must turn it on every single week, not just when the players feel its required.
 
travel, fatigue etc.

The fact of the matter is the game has gone up another level this year (as it usually does) and we haven't adapted yet. The truth of the matter is we're not playing so differently from 2012/13; it's just that we've been figured out of Sydney and Geelong.

That's not to say Ross isn't an amazing coach; it's just that his simple yet effective mantra of defensive pressure football just won't cut it all by itself this year. We need to evolve and add an extra dimension to our play; despite the idea that 'we aren't a team of champions but a champion team' is perfect; but as we saw last night it would probably be better to be a champion team WITH SOME champion players as well'. One of the greatest posts written on the Game Day forum suggested that we have a team of excellent role players, whom ultimately lacked the initiative to change the plan in our hour of need. We lacked that X-factor, that spark, that can't be totally blamed on a lack of Michael Walters and other personnel.
Great post, mirrors my feelings re Lyon.
Robotic pressure always keeps a team in the game, but very hard to change up from.
Always waiting for the other team to falter.[/quote]
 

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Need hunger & heart. None of this complacency crap where we expect to win or get a result - RTB doesn't stand for it.

We showed it against Hawthorn and we bounced back. We showed again this weekend (a lot more expectation to just go out and win compared to the Hawks game) and by god, we will bounce back against North. We will destroy them then get a nice long travel-free break before we entertain the mob up the road
 
Again, I'm not sure why so many people here think our team suddenly lacks "hunger" and "heart".

Sometimes you get beaten despite giving 100%. Especially when the other team is more skillful than you. Which most other teams in the top 4 are given our obsession with "role players".

We lost the game yesterday because our skills were poor. We couldn't convert our inside 50s into scoring shots as a result of our poor skills. So we only kicked 2 goals in the first half as a result of our lack of skills.

We matched Sydney in the 2nd half. There was no lack of effort by our guys. Some of them just aren't very good at kicking footballs.
 
Again, I'm not sure why so many people here think our team suddenly lacks "hunger" and "heart".

Sometimes you get beaten despite giving 100%. Especially when the other team is more skillful than you. Which most other teams in the top 4 are given our obsession with "role players".

Only game that I was really disappointed with was Hawthorn. It seemed like everything they did came off for them; conversely we got the opposite. Last night the Swans had to win or it was season over. Not surprisingly, they played with greater desperation. Even still, we were still in the game to the final siren.
 
I don't think they played with greater desperation. They just took their chances and we didn't.

Jetta burst out of a pack and took a long range shot from the 50m arc and nailed it. Chris Mayne did the same thing for us, attempted a 10m pass and turned it over.

McGlynn got the ball inside 50 and took a snap at goal and nailed it. Lachie Neale had the same thing happen to him, but instead of having a shot he ran around in circles looking for someone to handball off to.

That sort of thing happened on numerous occasions. It was our skills and decision making that was lacking compared to Sydney, not desperation.
 
We had lost to the Hawks,Essendon and drawn with Sydney after trailing by 5 goals at three quarter time in the first five games in 2013.This time last season we where out of the eight.We fell over the line against Richmond in game six .
We had beaten WCE who would prove to be a non event in 2013.
2014 we have beaten Collingwood away and Essendon and Goldcoast teams that have been earmarked for finals and been beaten by Hawks and Sydney away from home
Both losses have been to sides who have been mooted as premiership threats
Isnt it a little premature to write of the Freo strangle and the Freo season.
 
We had lost to the Hawks,Essendon and drawn with Sydney after trailing by 5 goals at three quarter time in the first five games in 2013.This time last season we where out of the eight.We fell over the line against Richmond in game six .
We had beaten WCE who would prove to be a non event in 2013.
2014 we have beaten Collingwood away and Essendon and Goldcoast teams that have been earmarked for finals and been beaten by Hawks and Sydney away from home
Both losses have been to sides who have been mooted as premiership threats
Isnt it a little premature to write of the Freo strangle and the Freo season.

This is incorrect. We did not played Sydney until round 8 last year.

As at the end of round 5 in 2013, we had beaten Richmond by 1 point and had wins against West Coast and the Bulldogs. Narrow loss to Essendon at home (which we should have won) and got belted (42 point loss) by Hawthorn in Tasmania.
 
This is incorrect. We did not played Sydney until round 8 last year.

As at the end of round 5 in 2013, we had beaten Richmond by 1 point and had wins against West Coast and the Bulldogs. Narrow loss to Essendon at home (which we should have won) and got belted (42 point loss) by Hawthorn in Tasmania.


Youre spot on,my mistake.I bow to your knowledge:D ,but we were out of the eight coming into the Sydney game right?
 
Why can't I blame those two ****wits?
There the ones who swapped multiple draft picks to trade in players,when with the beauty of hindsight we should've been utilising the draft.

Any how it is all water under the bridge now!

Because neither of them were at the club from 2008 onwards and we've retained virtually all of our draft picks in that time. If you're looking to blame someone, blame the list manager.
 
Just look at Geelong vs Hawks.
The geelong players lift for those games and put in special efforts.
Even their coach admitted the players lift for big games.

Right now our players are in cruise control, only increasing the effort/pressure when they feel like it.

Round 1 our pressure was great.
Why? first game of the year players are keen to get back into it and give it everything.
After that they went into cruise control.
They got humiliated against Hawks and blasted by coach.
Next game the pressure and effort was back and we smashed Essendope.
Against Sydney for most the game we looked like witches hats, no pressure no chasing we were just lucky they were butchering the ball keeping us in it.
Wasn't until the 4th quarter we put in the required effort but by then it was too late.

You watch the Freo pressure and effort in the 1st quarter vs Nth it will be there from the start.
There is no way anyone can say our effort and pressure has been the same every week, its just teams figured out how to beat it.
Take another look and you will see massive differences.

The hawks game is the only one we were outcoached in and beaten by gameplan.
 
Against Sydney for most the game we looked like witches hats, no pressure no chasing we were just lucky they were butchering the ball keeping us in it.
.

No, we didn't. We matched Sydney for intensity every step of the way. What let us down, and the reason we lost, is that we couldn't kick goals. We had the same number of i50s as Sydney. yet they had 7 more scoring shots and kicked 2 more goals than us. We had the majority of the play in the first half but only managed to put 2 goals on the board despite our dominance.

It gets pretty boring to hear fans blaming players' lack of effort after every loss.

We didn't lose this game due to lack of effort, we lost because our skills and decision making weren't good enough. The way the game panned out was very similar to the GF last year - hardly any scoring in the first half before working it out as the game opened up a bit, but only being able to break even and never making up for the lack of scoring in the first half.
 

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