Thoughts on the Geelong Game

[CaptainDangerfield]

Goes without saying

But we should have been miles ahead. Skill errors cost us the game. We regularly missed the man by handball or kick under minimal pressure and they rebounded every time.

Agreed. I didn't think the umpiring was that bad today unlike our turnovers.

 

[macca23]

As I posted elsewhere:

Tops of the Flops

4. Jericho. One of the two triggers that turned the game on its ear. Biglands did it in the 1st quarter. Jericho in the 3rd. In each case their inept errors cost goals that started the 2 avalanches of goals when Geelong didn't even look like scoring. Soft as butter, poor decision making. Should be replaced by Hentschel or Watts next week.

3. Biglands. The initial trigger that cost us so dearly. Took the ball in the centre of the ground, and under no pressure - supposedly at AFL level - shanks his kick at right angles to a Geelong player which led to a goal and a run of 5 goals.

2. Reilly Used the ball very poorly today with poor decision making. Disappointing game.

1. Welsh He played today? Time to lift your game Scotty.

Overall Thoughts

Managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, with firstly Biglands and then Jericho showing just how that can be done.

5 goals into the breeze, 4 goals with it. Failed to use our brains with the breeze just blasting to no one in particular. Needs a bit of work in this area.

A game we should have won and a result that can have an adverse effect on our finals aspirations.

Couldn't fault the effort though, and we were playing a top 4 team on their unique home ground and still could have and should have won.

Brickbats to umpire McLaren who piked on paying the most blatant deliberate out of bounds, which may or may not have had an effect on the result of the game.

An entertaing and absorbing contest with unfortunately the wrong result.[/QUOTE]

 

[birdmanptr]

At the start of the year, when I looked at the fixture, I had this penciled in as a probable loss. However, i'm gutted as geelong didn't win it, we lost it with terrible skill errors. Jericho, Biglands and Hart all made crucial errors that gave momentum back to Geelong.

POSITIVES:

Bocky - Is this the same guy that played finals football with the Eagles last year. Three good weeks in a row now. Give us heaps of run from CHB. Reals the play beautifully.

Bassett - Courage personified. He's playing like a man possessed since Rutten went down back.

Thomson - Stenglein who?

Hudson - It's a pity we can't clone him. If only he could ruck all day.

Mattner - Tough.

The Dispenser - While I have been a critic of his recently, he gave 110% today. Looked like our only dangerous forward. Never stopped trying.

Shirley - Loved his attack at the contest.

NEGATIVES:

Tyson Edwards - Everytime he goes near the ball this year my heart skips a beat. Tries to do too much which leads to either getting caught holding the ball or a poor disposal.

Injury to Burton - I have also been a critic of his so far, but he played really well before getting injured.

Neil Craig - I hope it wasn't his instruction to chip kick and handball backwards when he had the wind in the 2nd and 4th? He should have also benched Jericho earlier for his poor attack at the contest.

Jericho - Softest player at the AFC. No place for him at our club.

The 1 week on/3 week off Brigade - Welsh and Biglands.

Biglands - Don't look now Rhett but Clarkey is limbering up getting ready to play finals footy.

QUESTIONS:

Should Watts get a game against Ricmond? Especially considering the Tiges don't have a bash and crash CHB of FB?

Is Reilly being fairly treated?

Does anyone think there will be changes for the Richmond game?

Excellent post,The only thing i disagree with a bit is the way the ball was delivered to Welsh was hopless McLeod the main defender i could have played full back for geelong today he is not going to take a overhead mark.

 

[macca23]

Excellent post,The only thing i disagree with a bit is the way the ball was delivered to Welsh was hopless McLeod the main defender i could have played full back for geelong today he is not going to take a overhead mark.

Yes that's true, but I can't understand why Welsh didn't run him high up the ground to keep him away from goals, instead of just hanging around the square.

 

[Jerome]

I think part of the problem with Jericho today was that we tried to use him as a key forward. He's not a key forward. he needed some bigger bodies down there (Sarge, Biggles - take a bloody mark!!) to help him.

Why was Sarge on the bench in the first quarter? Why was LJ left on Scarlett?

Our overuse of the ball was frustrating and created too many turnovers.

Our kicking and decsion making going forward was also ordinary. Some of our midfielders and forwards need a kick up the backside. There were a couple of times we had the ball at 50 and kicked to a contest in the goalsquare -2 Cats v 1 Crow. Why the hell did we keep doing that? Lack of voice - no one guiding the ball carrier? Reilly did this once, cant recall the other.

And if we have a Crow outnumbered - where are his teamamtes? We have loose men not providing an option or assisting the ball carrier.

I thought we worked hard with no reward and not enough scoreboard pressure. Our tackling today was good.

Reilly, Doughty and Biglands would want to have a very good week on the track. Thommo, Goody, Bass, Rutten were excellent.

 

[DaveW]

A bit reminiscent of the Brisbane game from a month back. They were only on top for short periods of the match, but when they did they put the score on the board.

We on the other hand, particularly in the second quarter, didn't make the most of our opportunities. Perhaps we could have pinched this one with a bit better knowledge of the conditions.

Goodwin, Thompson and Bassett were the real standouts. After that there were a lot of so-so performances.

Edwards - worked hard but too many skill errors. Dropping the ball 20 out from goal in the last quarter capped off a dirty day.

Perrie - not a fan. He drops too many marks. And when he drops them he lacks the agility to make the 2nd effort. He can't crumb his own drop and he can't tackle the opponent who gathers it.

McLeod - reasonable game off half back but sheesh, what's happened to his pace? He's been caught with the ball maybe half a dozen times in the last two matches alone. Not the McLeod we're familiar with.

On the plus side, we did well to keep them goalless for the 2nd and 4th quarters. And perhaps even more impressively keeping them goalless for long periods of the 1st and 3rd quarters.

By the way, did anyone else get infuriated that when Geelong got a run-on late in the first quarter that there was NO TIME CLOCK!?

We're still sitting in the top four, some 20 quotient points clear of Richmond. Big game next week.

 

[CaptainDangerfield]

As I posted elsewhere:

Tops of the Flops

4. Jericho. One of the two triggers that turned the game on its ear. Biglands did it in the 1st quarter. Jericho in the 3rd. In each case their inept errors cost goals that started the 2 avalanches of goals when Geelong didn't even look like scoring. Soft as butter, poor decision making. Should be replaced by Hentschel or Watts next week.
3. Biglands. The initial trigger that cost us so dearly. Took the ball in the centre of the ground, and under no pressure - supposedly at AFL level - shanks his kick at right angles to a Geelong player which led to a goal and a run of 5 goals.

2. Reilly Used the ball very poorly today with poor decision making. Disappointing game.

1. Welsh He played today? Time to lift your game Scotty.

Overall Thoughts

Managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, with firstly Biglands and then Jericho showing just how that can be done.

5 goals into the breeze, 4 goals with it. Failed to use our brains with the breeze just blasting to no one in particular. Needs a bit of work in this area.

A game we should have won and a result that can have an adverse effect on our finals aspirations.

Couldn't fault the effort though, and we were playing a top 4 team on their unique home ground and still could have and should have won.

Brickbats to umpire McLaren who piked on paying the most blatant deliberate out of bounds, which may or may not have had an effect on the result of the game.

An entertaing and absorbing contest with unfortunately the wrong result.

[/QUOTE]

While I agree he is embarrassingly soft, on the back of his Essendon performance, he deserves 1-2 more games to prove to us he has a set. Watts for Welsh this week. But I have a feeling the only player to come in will be Begley, AGAIN.

 

[LiaLovesRoo32]

Well I am frustrated and was angry at the end of the game but have calmed down a bit now. Used all my best words in the car on the drive home though. That was definitely one we should have won but like others have said we made too many skill errors and what's the deal with this annoying go backwards thing????? I know they have no confidence to kick to our forward line but that has to be a better option than going backwards with 25 handballs (ok perhaps I am still a little angry ).

Having said that there are some positives to take away. Simon Goodwin is having a blinder of a year and how good is Scott Thomson, you gotta love him (makes losing Stenglein not so bad). Bassett was excellent too, he's loving Rutten and Bock being down back (they were good too again). Two or three Hudson's would not go astray either and although I have a soft spot for him thought Mattner was good too. (Sorry if I have fogotten anyone)

Now I just hope I get to see us win next week against Richmond but you just never know what they might do.....

 

[GeeCat]

Abit too close for my liking, but a win's a win and we'll take it.

Some credit to your team for really clogging up the avenue's to goal early on. The forward entries were there early on, the conversion was not. On that note, a nod of acknowledgement to the coaching staff with their use of "Pagan's Paddock", and to the players who chopped off the entries and ran the ball beautifully. Shame you couldn't convert with the wind, having played well against it. I really do sense that the result could have been a whole lot more different. Alas, it's useless pondering on what could have been.

On Scott Thompson, who was gold for the match, shame there wasn't more of him. I loved watching him play, even if it wasn't to our benefit. Is a class act.

A mention to Rutten and Bock. Haven't seen much of them lately, and have only been hearing the word of their good form, but got my chance to see them today and came away mightily impressed, even if they didn't play splendidly. It's difficult to find two quality key defenders to hold down the two defensive posts, let alone two young quality defenders. The future looks bright in those respects.

I'll be brutally honest, I came into the game with little respect for the Crows finals chances. I've always acknowledged their play and ability to win on the occasion, but never really read too much into your team's position on the ladder before the game. That all being said, I've come away a changed man if you will. Looks like this club has the ability to give the finals a real shake.

Cheers

 

[macca23]

Abit too close for my liking, but a win's a win and we'll take it.

Some credit to your team for really clogging up the avenue's to goal early on. The forward entries were there early on, the conversion was not. On that note, a nod of acknowledgement to the coaching staff with their use of "Pagan's Paddock", and to the players who chopped off the entries and ran the ball beautifully. Shame you couldn't convert with the wind, having played well against it. I really do sense that the result could have been a whole lot more different. Alas, it's useless pondering on what could have been.

On Scott Thompson, who was gold for the match, shame there wasn't more of him. I loved watching him play, even if it wasn't to our benefit. Is a class act.

A mention to Rutten and Bock. Haven't seen much of them lately, and have only been hearing the word of their good form, but got my chance to see them today and came away mightily impressed, even if they didn't play splendidly. It's difficult to find two quality key defenders to hold down the two defensive posts, let alone two young quality defenders. The future looks bright in those respects.

I'll be brutally honest, I came into the game with little respect for the Crows finals chances. I've always acknowledged their play and ability to win on the occasion, but never really read too much into your team's position on the ladder before the game. That all being said, I've come away a changed man if you will. Looks like this club has the ability to give the finals a real shake.

Cheers

Good post. Gracious winners are normally pretty rare.

Thanks mate.

 

[birdmanptr]

Yes that's true, but I can't understand why Welsh didn't run him high up the ground to keep him away from goals, instead of just hanging around the square.

Because im sure he would have stayed at full back and some one else would have picked up welsh that is one thing the cats defence do well

 

[birdmanptr]

I'll be brutally honest, I came into the game with little respect for the Crows finals chances. I've always acknowledged their play and ability to win on the occasion, but never really read too much into your team's position on the ladder before the game. That all being said, I've come away a changed man if you will. Looks like this club has the ability to give the finals a real shake.

Cheers

And how many drinks have you had

 

[WaynesWorld19]

Some interesting thoughts so far .

What was clearly evident was that our back 6 like all year were splendid - still held Geelong to a winning score of 9 goals, and still provided plenty of rebound - Bock is giving us the run from CHB that Kenny (AA CHB my foot) didn't.

Our midfield was also superb BUT when our main group of Macca, Roo, Goody, Edwards, Thompson were out of the midfield rotation we lost drive - what makes our midfield & others potent is the ability to run the lines and kick goals.

Our "B" group does not which makes our forwards job harder - Disappointed today in Reilley, Shirley, Skippy.
Need to get a "quicker" and more penetrating group in the "B" engine room.

Geelong kicked no goals for 2 qtrs of the game and won - we kicked 5 goals against the wind and only 4 with it - needed a big player at FF - what happened to MCgregor ?????? - started well in the first qtr - but only had 3 kicks for the game - can I suggest none after half time???

That put a lot of pressure on Jericho/Welsh - Yes Jericho made that mistake - crucify him - NO! - Craigs direction is to take the opposition on which he did, didn't come off - will he learn - YES - will the coach burn him for the error - I would suggest not.

When the crunch came we just had no "go to player" in the forward 50 - I said B4 we could have done with Hentschell today - IMO Welsh and Jericho are very similar type players - probably a selection mistake having both players as FF option (like an insurance policy selection)

Still not as cut about the loss as some have stated - less than a goal to a premiership fancied team on their dunghill - and remember we are a team rebuilding - NOT AIMING FOR A PREMIERSHIP IN THE SHORT TERM.

 

[just maybe]

Perrie - not a fan. He drops too many marks. And when he drops them he lacks the agility to make the 2nd effort. He can't crumb his own drop and he can't tackle the opponent who gathers it.

Load of crap. His hands were very good today, and he provided an excellent target at CHF which McGregor was not providing. He has plenty of agility and made plenty of second efforts today - how about that spoiled mark on the flank where he doubled back around his opponent, scooped up the ball and passed it to a teammate, then kept running and got it back a couple of times? That was excellent work and typifies the kind of desperation certain players (McLeod...Reilly...Doughty...) lack.

 

[outback jack]

I , like alot here, was really impressed with Jericho last week, today at time he looked like a cat starting into headlights, he just couldnt make a decision, and whilst kicking into the breeze to full forward, does he think we have some hulking forward up there? his kicks where shocking; but he did show some signs so we probably should shot him yet.
Just out of curiousity, do our midfields not like killing to Welsh? does he not lead? Last week we got to see Jericho leading out, and they honored the leads, today was completely different, sure Geelong may have flood more, but in no way was it a Sydney type flood (or at least that is what it seemed like on the TV).

dont reckon welsh or jerico should be in the same team, its like having a three man bench as you cant play both in the same forward line. Welsh and jericho being played against scarlett after this method was so unsuccessful was a mistake by the coach that cost us the game. Very poor imo, and blind freddy can see it unfortunately.

 

[crowie]

Geelong kicked no goals for 2 qtrs of the game and won - we kicked 5 goals against the wind and only 4 with it - needed a big player at FF - what happened to MCgregor ?????? - started well in the first qtr - but only had 3 kicks for the game - can I suggest none after half time???

I am thinking the exact same thing.

I think that he played way too far away from the goals, if anyone should have been left alone in the forward 50 for one on one contests it should have been McGregor.

I don't think that was Kenny's fault, I think he was poorly used by Neil Craig.

 

[outback jack]

I am thinking the exact same thing.

I think that he played way too far away from the goals, if anyone should have been left alone in the forward 50 for one on one contests it should have been McGregor.

I don't think that was Kenny's fault, I think he was poorly used by Neil Craig.

Time to sack NC>? The last quarter reminded me of the melbourne game where we basically had enough of the ball, but had welsh or jericho as a FF and Perrie at CHF. McGregor should have been brought into the game deep. There was really no plan going forward. I dont know why they'd repeat this mistake again. I thought we were over having an ineffective forward structure.

 

[crowie]

Time to sack NC>? The last quarter reminded me of the melbourne game where we basically had enough of the ball, but had welsh or jericho as a FF and Perrie at CHF. McGregor should have been brought into the game deep. There was really no plan going forward. I dont know why they'd repeat this mistake again. I thought we were over having an ineffective forward structure.

Umm... No

Kenny is the best contested mark in the team, I thought that he should have been the goto man. Especially when we had the wind.

NC has faith in Welsh, but you'd think that he has had his chances. Time for Watts to string some games together and show us if he is all that he is cracked up to be.

I don't think that there is enough room for both Welsh and Jericho in our forward line.

 

[cro_Magnum]

Abit too close for my liking, but a win's a win and we'll take it.


I'll be brutally honest, I came into the game with little respect for the Crows finals chances. I've always acknowledged their play and ability to win on the occasion, but never really read too much into your team's position on the ladder before the game. That all being said, I've come away a changed man if you will. Looks like this club has the ability to give the finals a real shake.

Cheers

I agree that we could go deep into the finals if things go well on the day but for different reasons

I thought we played pretty poorly today, esp. delivering the ball and forward setup, but still came within a kick of a quality side who is 2nd favourite for the flag.

Plenty of scope for improvement with a bit of tuning

 

[- PC -]

I agree that we could go deep into the finals if things go well on the day but for different reasons

Our best this year will beat anyone but our worst wont beat an amatuer side.

Thats the thing with learning, as a coach and as a player. NC would search for answers as to what went wrong and he will also highlight areas for the players to work on

Thats life as a Crows supporter this year

 

[outback jack]

Umm... No.

why not.?

Kenny is the best contested mark in the team, I thought that he should have been the goto man. Especially when we had the wind..

And seeing it worked in previous weeks you have to ask why we reverted back to this previous unsuccessful style. Sack NC.

NC has faith in Welsh, but you'd think that he has had his chances. Time for Watts to string some games together and show us if he is all that he is cracked up to be..

I don't think that there is enough room for both Welsh and Jericho in our forward line.

There isnt. Imo after todays pathetic performance time for jericho to go back. He has to be able to play in the midfield as well as a flank. Unless he bulks up and actually wins some hard ball i cant see him being anything special for us. Its fine kicking 4 goals when you belt a side by 88pts, but when the midfield is pressured and it cant be delivered on a plate he struggles. Welshy might be nice trade bait for a possible first rounder. He is far too inconsistent.

 

[Markthirtytwo]

Another one we should have won. But not all is not lost. Keep the faith.

 

[crowie]

There isnt. Imo after todays pathetic performance time for jericho to go back. He has to be able to play in the midfield as well as a flank. Unless he bulks up and actually wins some hard ball i cant see him being anything special for us. Its fine kicking 4 goals when you belt a side by 88pts, but when the midfield is pressured and it cant be delivered on a plate he struggles. Welshy might be nice trade bait for a possible first rounder. He is far too inconsistent.

So you would drop Jericho instead of Welsh?

I think we should have Jericho leading a player out of the area and Kenny and Fergus in the hotspot.

Welsh has had his chances.

 

[outback jack]

So you would drop Jericho instead of Welsh?

I think we should have Jericho leading a player out of the area and Kenny and Fergus in the hotspot.

Welsh has had his chances.

jericho was soft as crap, when even the players who made bad decisions, like reilly were willing to put themselves on the line for the team. Jericho is the kind of guy that will never get injured in his life, simply cause he lets his team mates take the hit instead. Welsh you can go either way on. The set up didnt help him 2day.

 

[WaynesWorld19]

So you would drop Jericho instead of Welsh?

I think we should have Jericho leading a player out of the area and Kenny and Fergus in the hotspot.

Welsh has had his chances.

Yes Welsh has been very incosistent this year - at his best in our best 22, at his worst definately a SANFL player - trouble is we don't know which Welsh will play each week.