Game Day West Coast v Port Adelaide Preseason Training Drill @ Lathlain 4.40pm

[Chad in Vegas]

- Hunt already looks a class above most of our team. Just goes to show how far off the mark we were last year in terms of fitness. Sadly a few times he provided a handball receive option and was overlooked in favour of kicking long to a contest. Even more frustrating is that the Eagles haven't sought a headband in our colours for him yet. I blame Nesbitt and he should resign.

We did the same thing to Jetta for the better part of his first 2 seasons which was even more unforgivable given his insane disposal.

 

[Coasters7]

Worst thing you can do in footy is turn the ball over by foot, which has been known for a while now. But the culprits aren’t those with poor foot skills, it’s those who kick it out of contests when they shouldn’t.

It was trendy 10 years ago, with Clarko, to want players with elite footskills. Gaff and Sheed are accurate kicks technically, but both will just bang out these loopy 30 metre chips when they are in congestion, which is just so easy to defend and rebound against.

Feels like that compulsion to kick, when you should be looking to move it forward by hand, is the real momentum killer - not so much a question of having good footskills.

Or just hang onto the ball and punch the other blokes arm in an “attempt” to handball like everyone else does or let it “knock out in the tackle”. Most of our players seem shit scared of being pinged that they rush a disposal rather than take another stoppage. If there’s no clear option then there’s no need to force it

 

[Dylan82]

Some further thoughts from a tactical perspective on this match:

I keep hearing about new game plan, but to be honest I saw little different being showcased to what was there during the second half of 2022.

Whilst the intent to move possession faster was there, many of the same mistakes from last year remained apparent. Exit kicks from defence to a contest in the corridor 55-60m from your own goal is an invitation to be annihilated by any team setup towards forward half turnover ball. Port were truly awful on turnover conversion tonight. We can't expect such charitable opposition as the season gets into gear.

The team remains guilty of hesitating far too much at the initiation of a counterattacking opportunity and allow the opposition plenty of time to set up effectively, causing possessions to be channelled out wide to the wings. Much of this is because the club doesn't appear to prioritise the creation of an outnumber in the centre square area, so the player in possession is wasting time looking for an option, rather than just going, knowing that an option will be there due to how the team is set up.

Both teams were incredibly static and conservative in their approaches. I get that it is a "simulation" game and nobody wants to give their secrets away, but Port played more than half the match with a defensive spare and the West Coast response was to use Gaff as a sweeper - certainly nothing innovative on show in this area tonight.

There appeared to be little to suggest that the recurrent problem relating to post-stoppage contested possession will be addressed.

The diagonal kick to "change lanes" in the middle of the ground caught out the defence too easily on too many occasions for my liking.

Forward half pressure and possession recycling was definitely improved. Kennedy's retirement remains a massive loss, but the forward line does appear more agile and defensively cohesive to prevent the ball trampolining back out of attack now.

Considering the two Grand Finalists of 2022 built much of their functionality (and resultant success) around using the ruck to free up intercept marking defenders as a launchpad for their own counterattacking moves, it was surprising (and disappointing) to see a match featuring three of the competition's elite interceptors in McGovern, Barrass and Aliir show no signs of that tactical avenue being explored.

 

[UnidentifiedPunch]

Some further thoughts from a tactical perspective on this match:

I keep hearing about new game plan, but to be honest I saw little different being showcased to what was there during the second half of 2022.

Whilst the intent to move possession faster was there, many of the same mistakes from last year remained apparent. Exit kicks from defence to a contest in the corridor 55-60m from your own goal is an invitation to be annihilated by any team setup towards forward half turnover ball. Port were truly awful on turnover conversion tonight. We can't expect such charitable opposition as the season gets into gear.

The team remains guilty of hesitating far too much at the initiation of a counterattacking opportunity and allow the opposition plenty of time to set up effectively, causing possessions to be channelled out wide to the wings. Much of this is because the club doesn't appear to prioritise the creation of an outnumber in the centre square area, so the player in possession is wasting time looking for an option, rather than just going, knowing that an option will be there due to how the team is set up.

Both teams were incredibly static and conservative in their approaches. I get that it is a "simulation" game and nobody wants to give their secrets away, but Port played more than half the match with a defensive spare and the West Coast response was to use Gaff as a sweeper - certainly nothing innovative on show in this area tonight.

There appeared to be little to suggest that the recurrent problem relating to post-stoppage contested possession will be addressed.

The diagonal kick to "change lanes" in the middle of the ground caught out the defence too easily on too many occasions for my liking.

Forward half pressure and possession recycling was definitely improved. Kennedy's retirement remains a massive loss, but the forward line does appear more agile and defensively cohesive to prevent the ball trampolining back out of attack now.

Considering the two Grand Finalists of 2022 built much of their functionality (and resultant success) around using the ruck to free up intercept marking defenders as a launchpad for their own counterattacking moves, it was surprising (and disappointing) to see a match featuring three of the competition's elite interceptors in McGovern, Barrass and Aliir show no signs of that tactical avenue being explored.

Your analysis Dylan is always a fantastic read. It makes you think differently about the game after watching the replay.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[kranky al]

Not a hearty spag bol?

On SM-G991B using BigFooty.com mobile app

A succulent chinese meal …..

 

[RookiePick]

Glad to see I wasn't the only one who thought we didn't really play a lot differently to last year.

Our defence on transition is still woeful and we look glacially slow in the midfield if the play opens up. Stoppage set ups are still off the pace. A lot of hit outs won for the opposition to shark the tap and move the ball pretty easily out of the stoppage - often out of the front of it which is concerning.

In the plus column I thought Bailey and Jamo had solid runs. Both looked stronger and rucked strongly. Gov, bunga and Barrass looked in great nick. Endurance wise we looked much stronger. Mids were helping out deep at both ends. Intent to tackle looked much better, although we still seemed to have them broken often.

 

[FKASC]

Glad to see I wasn't the only one who thought we didn't really play a lot differently to last year.

Our defence on transition is still woeful and we look glacially slow in the midfield if the play opens up. Stoppage set ups are still off the pace. A lot of hit outs won for the opposition to shark the tap and move the ball pretty easily out of the stoppage - often out of the front of it which is concerning.

In the plus column I thought Bailey and Jamo had solid runs. Both looked stronger and rucked strongly. Gov, bunga and Barrass looked in great nick. Endurance wise we looked much stronger. Mids were helping out deep at both ends. Intent to tackle looked much better, although we still seemed to have them broken often.

Well tbh there’s no real need to change the gameplan. Covid and injuries were the only thing coming between us and a flag last year.

 

[squashface]

West looks quite good in traffic - I hope he gets more midfield minutes than forward minutes, even if it's at the Beagles as depth.

 

[BrotherDodge]

Loving this cold, dead stare from Oscar Allen

12

Oscar Allen

Age

25

Ht

196cm

Wt

96kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

9.8

2star

K

6.6

3star

HB

3.2

3star

M

3.8

4star

T

2.4

4star

G

1.1

4star

No current season stats available

D

8.6

3star

K

5.8

3star

HB

2.8

3star

M

3.8

4star

T

2.0

4star

G

1.2

4star

too. That's the Eye of the goddamned Tiger right there. Big year coming up.

 

[Bender_]

Glad to see I wasn't the only one who thought we didn't really play a lot differently to last year.

Our defence on transition is still woeful and we look glacially slow in the midfield if the play opens up. Stoppage set ups are still off the pace. A lot of hit outs won for the opposition to shark the tap and move the ball pretty easily out of the stoppage - often out of the front of it which is concerning.

In the plus column I thought Bailey and Jamo had solid runs. Both looked stronger and rucked strongly. Gov, bunga and Barrass looked in great nick. Endurance wise we looked much stronger. Mids were helping out deep at both ends. Intent to tackle looked much better, although we still seemed to have them broken often.

There were points later in the game when Port would push back hard and have all 18 players behind the centre and without a second tall forward they were apprehensive about moving it quickly and it looked like the same shit from the past few years. Other than that there did seem to be a bit more of a handball and carry through half back mentality than last year I thought.

 

[Avalor]

We just gave riolli a charity goal. Decided to let him be on his own in the forward 50.

So it's Rioli in the goal square now, not DeGoey.

 

[Happy Mastenator]

Glad to see I wasn't the only one who thought we didn't really play a lot differently to last year.

Our defence on transition is still woeful and we look glacially slow in the midfield if the play opens up. Stoppage set ups are still off the pace. A lot of hit outs won for the opposition to shark the tap and move the ball pretty easily out of the stoppage - often out of the front of it which is concerning.

In the plus column I thought Bailey and Jamo had solid runs. Both looked stronger and rucked strongly. Gov, bunga and Barrass looked in great nick. Endurance wise we looked much stronger. Mids were helping out deep at both ends. Intent to tackle looked much better, although we still seemed to have them broken often.

The first bolded section is due to the fact that we are screwed at stoppages without Nic Nat, and the second bolded section is completely wrong and the reason for the first bolded.

Lycett smashed both of them. They did slightly better against Teakle (who has been on the port list all of 6 months).

Both of them are terrible at the moment. Jamo may improve in time but Williams just doesn’t have it.

Nic Nat goes down and we are ****ed.

 

[tigger_ferret]

Just placed a bet on him at $51 on Sportsbet.

 

[bh90210fan]

It was great seeing MvGovern, Yeo and Ryan in ripping nick and bossing it out there. Encouraging signs with the new additions Hunt, Chesser, Hewett Culley showing a bit too.

Watching Gaff line up in the centre square for the first bounce was concerning though if you’re assuming that is a window into round 1, and for all of his lauded kicking skills Witherden’s supposed to possess he rarely shows it.

Good hitout though hopefully no injuries and we can look forward to starting the year with a healthy squad

 

[eagles rule]

A good hit out by the boys and good to get a win ..

Will Schofield

31

Will Schofield

Age

35

Ht

196cm

Wt

94kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.6

3star

K

6.5

3star

HB

4.1

3star

M

3.9

4star

T

1.8

4star

MG

154.0

2star

D

5.0

1star

K

2.5

1star

HB

2.5

2star

M

0.5

1star

T

1.5

2star

MG

70.5

1star

D

7.4

2star

K

5.4

2star

HB

2.0

2star

M

3.2

4star

T

1.8

4star

saying we will play finals was tongue in cheek and not drinking the bath water I hope .. We need to get more classy top end talent at the draft this year ..




On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[bh90210fan]

Haha watching the replay and haven’t even got to his mark or goal yet but Hewett comes on and within 5 minutes he storms out of a centre bounce for a clearance, lays a crunching tackle and gives Yeo an earful for ignoring him in the goalsquare

Just give this guy the Brownlow already

 

[TheNewAnchor]

Your analysis Dylan is always a fantastic read. It makes you think differently about the game after watching the replay.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

I have to disagree with your views on Dylan’s assessment of yesterday’s game. I thought most of it was contradictory fluff. These games are low intensity which encourages possession accumulation and retention due to the low pressure around the ball and at stoppages. They tell you very little about how we’re likely to perform during the season proper. If you came away from that game thinking you’ve witnessed what our game style will look like in 2023 then you’re probably setting yourself up for a rude awakening.

There were some positives coming out of the game, particularly player fitness and availability, but beyond that I wouldn’t be too focused on the game style, or indeed the result. The games I’ve watched have all been low to medium intensity and little more than a training drill.

 

[Happy Mastenator]

View attachment 1615340

Thanks for the heads up. Always enjoy throwing money away on Eagles bets that never get up.

 

[Eastcoasteagle]

My hot takes from the initial 4 qtr match
(These are made with the idea that Simpson played the way he wants to play in the season with the current players available for this evening, however unlikely that may be)

- Hunt already looks a class above most of our team. Just goes to show how far off the mark we were last year in terms of fitness. Sadly a few times he provided a handball receive option and was overlooked in favour of kicking long to a contest. Even more frustrating is that the Eagles haven't sought a headband in our colours for him yet. I blame Nesbitt and he should resign.

- Long looks both a likely type and still waiting to lose some of his baby teeth. Could be a gem.

- Chesser and Hewett are already best 22 and there's a lot to like from both of them. Chesser could slot straight onto the wing and Hewett onto the HFF and rotating with Kelly though the midfield.

- Culley is a blue collar workhorse who should be at every stoppage possible and no where else. Instead I saw Gaff at CBDs and Culley on the HFF. GTFO with this s**t.

- Gaff at CBDs. GTFO. Rhino told us he'd never be there again. For shame Rhino, lies make baby Jesus cry.

- Rotham still going sideways and backwards. A few times he had the chance to play on quickly and just stalled. He's got to be better that.

- Witherden tried to be creative at least but got caught out a few times unfortunately.

- Where was J Jones tonight?

- Allen is elite, and considering he did that basically playing 2 on 1 tonight it was even more impressive. With Waterman or Darling or BWilliams up forward he should be even more effective.

- Ryan is sharp. Fitness looks the best it's ever been and he should really be pushing for another AA if he keeps that kind of work rate up. Was best on for us tonight and I hope he can bring that into the regular season and ditch playing for frees.

- Sheed calling for the ball when flat footed and under pressure and younger players trusting him was just dogshit. You don't need to call for the ball just coz you're next to someone.

- Gov looking fit and sharp. Will have a big year.

- Duggan great in patches but disposal floaty and unpredictable.

- Kelly a bit in and out of the game but kicking goals is a positive.

- Unsure why West and Clarke played as much as they did, hopefully it's just coz of the outs.

- Annoyed at lack of exposure for Hough and Hewett. I'm assuming they played more in the latter game, but if I'm taking the first half of the game as a representation of what Simmo was after then I'm a bit disappointed those 2 didn't get more of a run.

- Cole doesn't look like a player that has missed a year of footy, though will be all the better for the run.

- Outside of Allen and Ryan I felt our forward line looked a bit dire.

- Still winning despite what looked like a subpar performance was surprising.

- SPS is a bit of a tease. It's like there's a player trapped somewhere but Carlton have made him retreat inside himself.

Great summary, thanks.

Man that is frustrating to read about Rotham! He's got speed and good kick, take the friggin game on. How the hell has no one coached him to say you've got a license to attack of half back? It's so obvious, he's got all the tools but never ever uses them. Reading what you wrote for Witherden is what I want to see for Rotham.

 

[ronpingwins]

Anyone stay around for the last 2 quarters that weren't televised? How did Burqiel/Hewett/Culley/L Edwards look?

 

[Deplorable trumpster]

The first bolded section is due to the fact that we are screwed at stoppages without Nic Nat, and the second bolded section is completely wrong and the reason for the first bolded.

Lycett smashed both of them. They did slightly better against Teakle (who has been on the port list all of 6 months).

Both of them are terrible at the moment. Jamo may improve in time but Williams just doesn’t have it.

Nic Nat goes down and we are ****ed.

I think they need to make a call on Williams and whether it is worth continuing to invest him. I know the standard rebuttal is that ruckmen take a long time to develop. And maybe that is true. But he just shows so little that it is a concern. And we don't want to keep investing in somebody showing such poor returns at this stage unless we really have made a clear eyed and conscious assessment that we really do think he is eventually going to develop into an AFL standard ruckman. We don't want to sleep walk into investing another 30 - 50 games in him, and forsaking looking around for alternative candidates to import and develop, before finally admitting to ourselves what seems fairly obvious now which is that he isn't going to make it.

 

[Bender_]

I think they need to make a call on Williams and whether it is worth continuing to invest him.

I agree, we should just totally cut our losses and delist him before the season even starts. I'd hate to waste any more time and resources on him.

 

[eaglespremiers]

Anyone stay around for the last 2 quarters that weren't televised? How did Burqiel/Hewett/Culley/L Edwards look?

I didn't see it but apparently Hewett and Culley were quite prominent.
Nobody knew which player Edwards was, or whether he was even out there.

 

[Hook461123]

Definitely some positives from last night.
Allan looked great, took some good marks, worked hard and provided a target around the ground.
Hewett showed a glimpse of his class and potential.
Kelly and Yeo looked fit and strong.
Ryan looked dangerous every time he got the ball.
Saw some signs of trying to move the ball faster with play ons and handballs through traffic.
Thought Jameson looked ok and noticeably bigger.
Hunt seemed to fit in pretty well and provided some run on the wing.
And best of all no significant injuries.

Skills were a bit poor, especially early, as you’d expect but all in all pretty happy with that hit out.

 

[ziad]

I have to disagree with your views on Dylan’s assessment of yesterday’s game. I thought most of it was contradictory fluff. These games are low intensity which encourages possession accumulation and retention due to the low pressure around the ball and at stoppages. They tell you very little about how we’re likely to perform during the season proper. If you came away from that game thinking you’ve witnessed what our game style will look like in 2023 then you’re probably setting yourself up for a rude awakening.

There were some positives coming out of the game, particularly player fitness and availability, but beyond that I wouldn’t be too focused on the game style, or indeed the result. The games I’ve watched have all been low to medium intensity and little more than a training drill.

Completely agree on two points- the intensity/defensive pressure was low (as expected in match sim for all clubs) and we ran out the game well. A great sign.