West Coast Vs Geelong, Match Thread

[Gizza]

Not sure if mentioned but Waters had 17 marks!

That just goes to show how hard he works and how much he presents.

 

[rant]

Everyone is a bit harsh on Ebert I think. Fair enough his kicking has been well below an acceptable level but I think he will be a good player. He is good overhead for a midfielder and I don't mid the way he goes about it.

No one doubts he will be a solid player. Its just that we have too many poor disposal midfielders. He would be great for a team like bulldogs or saints but in the eagles he doesn't have classy midfielders around him to compensate.

 

[rant]

Overall most impressed with the midfield. They have been improving after coming up against good midfield teams in Saints and Carlton. Really stood up against the likes of Ablett, Selwood, Bartel, Chapman etc.
This is with the loss of A. Selwood and Butler.

Second most impressive was the defense. Did a good job though Geelong was down hawkins and mooney. Most of their goals were at 50 or beyond that sailed over the heads of the defenders. They also kicked very straight.

Thirdly, our zone defense. When its worked well this year teams have found it hard to clear their back 50. Geelong is probably the best ball moving team and they also had difficulty. That says that we are in the right direction with the defensive zone

 

[placebo]

Pretty good effort. Geelong's experience/fitness/skill got on top in the last 15 as well as some junk time at the end.

Defensive pressure was good.
Shep is awesome.
Backline performed goddamn admirably considering the number of occasions skilled Geelong players delivered the ball inside 50 with no pressure on the ball carrier.
Forward line looked alright.

All in all, some good positives and it was a pretty enjoyable game to watch at the ground.

 

[Underrated]

Agreed. He makes great position and even though he makes some skill errors at least he had 5 shots on goal. Thats incredible when you look at the lack of goals from our other mids all year. Hopefully he converts them next time.

This...the guy has ability, a couple of nice intercepts tonight and also finds himself in positions to kick goals, probably better than most of our mids.
The finishing just was'nt quite there tonight.

 

[Cuzz09]

we done everything in our power in that last quarter to give geelong the game.

we had moments in the game, but overall we stuffed it. it just illustrates where we're at as a side...lacking polish.

in saying that, our effort was fantastic. tackling pressure was immense, it's a bit annoying that we bring this type of game out against the best team...who we were destined to lose against anyway. if we played like this against lesser teams, we'd have won.
overall, a fairly good effort.

Mitch Brown, stay forward. he provides a very lively target who presents with agility and ferocity. more please.

Thats what I think may happen next week.... Hope not though.

 

[r dub 19]

Swift is going to be a gun, wait till he gets a preseason into him. A lot of people don't see it.

 

[WCE_phil]

Swift is going to be a gun, wait till he gets a preseason into him. A lot of people don't see it.

Personally i agree with wiseby in his rating of swift as being next to naitanui as the most talented of those at the 08 draft. His best is still a very long way off. But some of the things he does now are just great. His body is nowhere near developed and even when he gets caught or shanks a kick you can see what he was trying to do.

If at first you dont succeed then try again. You dont become a superstar by not giving it a crack. He has the talent and he's trying to give it a crack. If his body develops to the level in which he sees the game then he will be a genuine star.

To my mind the second most talented young midfielder in the comp. Behind cotchin.

 

[CursoryMercenary]

If we didn't turn the ball over we would have won. Much improved performance, nothing really bad apart from that. Can we play like that every week?

 

[Monocle]

Swift is going to be a gun, wait till he gets a preseason into him. A lot of people don't see it.

I tend to agree with this comment.

Yes..... he does annoy me with often being caught trying to do a tad too much with the ball in hand.

However if he was a yard and a half quicker then he is not far away from breaking the lines. I suspect that one or two full preseasons will increase his pace and thus take his game to the next level.

For a kid that has missed so much football he traveling along OK.

His future is bright.

 

[EagleMan87]

Thats what I think may happen next week.... Hope not though.

...What?

 

[swannies]

That's more like where I thought we were heading earlier in the year. I guess the match committee had to give Q and a couple of others their chances, but that forward line looked much more dangerous. Midfield did great in the clearances, so you can see what Worsfold is trying to build, just need a couple of finishers cruising past the contests.

 

[Cuzz09]

...What?

Sorry, that didn't come across the way I meant....

I meant that I hope we turn up next week Vs the tigers and play the way we would against a good team like the cats.

Fingers Crossed we can match their hard edge.

Hope it isn't raining at the G' next Sunday.

 

[Hu$tler]

Another game we should have won, but came up short.

Once again our fitness and skill levels are not at AFL standard.

Nick Nat's mark omg what a *****ing grab!!!!

 

[GOEAGLES 08]

Swift is going to be a gun, wait till he gets a preseason into him. A lot of people don't see it.

+1

im really not sure how people dont see it either?! he loves to take the game on and try to break the lines... and once he gets a bit more pace he will be elite!

 

[Eastern Rangers]

Swift's playing catch up. Needs all the games we can pump into him. It's an obvious investment that needed to be made.

Shame we can't get games into Shuey.

 

[couchy555]

Kennedy was impressive. Good hands, tidy kick and very mobile. You've definitely got yourself a key forward for the future.

Turnovers kill you though, need to cut out the mistakes and your back playing finals

 

[Quinz]

Another game we should have won, but came up short.

Once again our fitness and skill levels are not at AFL standard.

Not sure I agree with this, Geelong always looked much more dangerous than us going forward, I don't think we 'should' have won this game in the same sense that we should have beaten Port, or St Kilda, or the Kangaroos.

But I am proud of the effort we put in. We need to take that intensity over to Melbourne next week and beat Richmond, or else we undo all this good work.

It's strange how we lost last week by 29 and this week by 24, but there was a world of difference between the performances.

Positives

- We didn't rest NN against the best team in the comp, as a few other teams have rested their young stars. He is inspirational with some of the stuff he does, looking forward to seeing it more consistently as the years go on. Super talent, as we all know.

- Swift is going to be a terrific player. Takes the game on as often as he can, and while he lacks the core strength to break some tackles, that will come eventually.

- Waters is fantastic. Was his worst game of the season for turnovers unfortunately, but generally this year he has been good. One of the toughest players in the comp and probably my favourite player on our team right now.

- The forwards worked well together without any one dominating. JK and BMac kicked three each, and Lecca kicked two including one super goal at the start of the last. NN chipped in with two as well.

- Rosa continues to have his best season, topping the tackle count tonight and using the ball well again.

- Stevenson had three goal assists and was always dangerous with his disposal. Should not be dropped again this year and should be elevated at the end of the season.

Negatives

- We lost. Really good effort, but it's just that much better if you get four point on the board. If we played like that every week we'd be close to or in the eight.

- Ebert. I like him, but Ebo- BE THE MAN. Never looks confident kicking for goal, players should thrive on the opportunity to kick the team lifting goals, like LeCras does. Just disappointing when he could have kicked three and had a real impact for us.

- Mitch Brown. Maybe I'm too harsh on Brown given that it is his first game back, but he drops far too many overhead marks at the moment. The kicking to him isn't always great, but he needs to start holding on to them.

- The umpiring. Had a big, big impact tonight. Weren't too many horrendous calls, but every one seemed to result in a goal against us, Geelong are excellent at taking the half chances. Ablett is untouchable.

- Adam Selwood getting injured. Was working Ablett over, who started playing for free kicks and limping around. Really frustrating to see a player get injured while playing a good game, like Masten a few weeks back.

 

[bigburger]

I don't normally complain about the umpires because i think usually teams get there fair share of bad calls but they were ****ing horrendous tonight. Anyway here are some late night constructive criticism's I have of our side after tonight.

I seriously think Eberts kicking is becoming a massive detriment to the side. A stat tonight by one of the commentators was out of the top 50 kick getters in the AFL he has the lowest efficiency by foot. He is NOT improving in this area and is not playing as an inside player. In my opinion tonight he cost us 5 goals. Three of those were shots on goal that went through for a point with two of those being set shots and two were turn overs only about 75m out from Geelongs goal which were resulted in Geelong goals. He either has to work on this extremely hard of give up kicking the ball and go down the Rhys Palmer path of becoming an inside midfielder from being mostly outside. Otherwise I cannot see a spot for him in the side when Priddis is playing so well, Rosa is playing so well and Masten, Kerr and Shuey all come back. After Embley he would be the first play I would have out of the side.

Also Mitch Brown is one of the worst forwards in the AFL. However put him down back and his tackling and strength in a one on one contest is a major asset. Also his dash out of defense is great to see.

Another point while I'm at it. At the moment when Glass comes back its MacKenzie that needs to be dropped not Wilkes. Wilkes has been great down back these past couple of games and McKenzie is becoming worse and worse. He is too small to play on a Brown, Mooney, Tippett etc. However he is to large to play on a S Johnson type. The only players he matches up well on are athletic talls like Waite who don't utalise strength prefering agility and running power. Schofield and Brown are the future of our defensive key positions.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Swift get dropped some time soon. I would be terribly dissapointed if he did as I think hes going to be a gun but boy is a he a ball hog. He always tries to do too much and I honestly think he only passes the ball to certain teammates because they are more reliable than others. Even though he is right it is not the right way to be playing. When a team is working cohesively average players are made to look a lot better.

If Razzel Dazzel gets dropped this week I'll be extremely pissed off. The only criticism I have of him is he is not hard enough at it but his skills imo are above average and his decisions are good.

Kennedy needs to take more marks. IMO he doesn't calculate for his opponents positioning enough in a marking contest and gets knocked out of the contest too easily. He simply flings his body towards the ball and if not interrupted hes a good chance of marking it. IMO his awareness is not good enough in these situations and I also think he could work on his size in this regard as well. Also I feel he needs to work up the ground more. Its great having him deep forwards kicking goals but when the sides down and struggling to get it out of defense he needs to be the one working harder. He is so vital to our side I hope he realises he is a real on field leader and a barometer for how well we are playing.

Hurn is trying to kick the ball too hard imo. He needs to go through the motions a bit more instead of simply trying to kick the cover off the ball every time. Especially when hes kicking from long range on goal. I liken it a golfer trying to hit the ball too hard. Their technique goes out the window and they generally don't hit it as well. Even though it may feel as they are hitting the ball harder.

 

[r dub 19]

I wouldn't be surprised to see Swift get dropped some time soon. I would be terribly dissapointed if he did as I think hes going to be a gun but boy is a he a ball hog. He always tries to do too much and I honestly think he only passes the ball to certain teammates because they are more reliable than others. Even though he is right it is not the right way to be playing. When a team is working cohesively average players are made to look a lot better.

To be fair to Swift he is our only mid that takes on the game and good on him. I understand what you mean how he looks like a hog and does too much. The thing is you can see what he is trying to do and throughout his junior career it would come off but atm he is not fit enough,big enough and does not have enough AFL exp to pull off the things he is trying to do.

I remember watching Cooney in his young days with that rank haircut I always thought "what is he doing, he is useless" but it only took him a few seasons to turn average wtf moments into quality. I think swift is much the same.

 

[Eastern Rangers]

I seriously think Eberts kicking is becoming a massive detriment to the side. A stat tonight by one of the commentators was out of the top 50 kick getters in the AFL he has the lowest efficiency by foot.

That is a concern. Needs to played in an alternative role or be dropped for a Houlihan/ Smith come the second half of the season. Don't see room for him going forward, mainly because i don't see room for Priddis going forward either.

Also Mitch Brown is one of the worst forwards in the AFL. However put him down back and his tackling and strength in a one on one contest is a major asset. Also his dash out of defense is great to see.

Another point while I'm at it. At the moment when Glass comes back its MacKenzie that needs to be dropped not Wilkes.

Mitch Brown needs more time to prove himself. I wouldn't count on it however. Im still backing Notte to get a game by seasons end.

McKenzie did a great job on the Jpod.
Schofield was the best matchup for a Stevie J or Ablett.
Wilkes was a good matchup for Mooney.

All three are different, Glass is the most similar to Wilkes. Who i must admit has been playing pretty well.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Swift get dropped some time soon. I would be terribly dissapointed if he did as I think hes going to be a gun but boy is a he a ball hog. He always tries to do too much and I honestly think he only passes the ball to certain teammates because they are more reliable than others. Even though he is right it is not the right way to be playing. When a team is working cohesively average players are made to look a lot better.

Why? Cox is selective with his taps, going to Priddis every bloody time is bloody predictable.

If Razzel Dazzel gets dropped this week I'll be extremely pissed off. The only criticism I have of him is he is not hard enough at it but his skills imo are above average and his decisions are good.

Why? He has no place at AFL level, we would be better of with Stevens. He has better pace, awarness and a toughness for the contests.

Hurn is trying to kick the ball too hard imo. He needs to go through the motions a bit more instead of simply trying to kick the cover off the ball every time. Especially when hes kicking from long range on goal. I liken it a golfer trying to hit the ball too hard. Their technique goes out the window and they generally don't hit it as well. Even though it may feel as they are hitting the ball harder.

Thought i was the only one who noticed this. Hopefully it's just him feeling pressure to hit targets and not something more serious to do with his groin.

 

[kane249]

I don't think some people who post on here actually watch games. S.Selwood was fine tonight, as was Embley.

Why is Embley getting mentioned? Disposal Efficiency = 50%

Nuff said

As for Scooter he was average tonight and that holding the ball leading to their last goal was just deplorable

 

[ziad]

Shame that once Selwood started playing his best game for the season, he gets injured.. Just like Masten..

****ing snipers.

he won against judd last week and was killing Ablett. He has risen to a new level. no wonder he was picked off he was such a threat

 

[Masto]

Also Mitch Brown is one of the worst forwards in the AFL. However put him down back and his tackling and strength in a one on one contest is a major asset. Also his dash out of defense is great to see.

I'm sure Richmond once said the same thing about Jack Reiwoldt. He was no good for quite a while but they played him and played him until he came good. Now Brown probably isn't as talented as Reiwoldt and his injury has set his development back a little bit but he has the ability to make an impact as an AFL forward. Its a development year anyway - why go back to Lynch? The only way is forward...

 

[W.C. Fry]

Not happy with the crowd having a laugh when Kennedy comes in for his set shots. I will personally slap anyone around me who continues to do this.

Yes - he has a wierd runup. Get over it and stop putting him off by laughing at him.