WTF Happened?

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T

Tyberious Funk

Premiership Player
Veteran
May 13, 2005
3,220
4,588
Melbourne
AFL Club
West Coast
Seriously? I couldn't watch the TV for any length of time. I mean, the arse whipping from the Bulldogs wasn't very nice, but at least the Eagles seemed to try. Watching the game against Geelong made me appreciate how Carlton supporters must feel. It's not like Eagles fielded a bunch of chumps, either. Yeah, sure there were a few missing from the best 22, but have a look at the lineup that actually hit the field... other than maybe Green (who last week tricked us into thinking he was a good player) and Morton (who is still young a developing), most of the guys playing are actually front line players.

I mean, Nathan Ablett gave us a pantsing. Not Gary... but Nathan... a second gamer. And Cousins is supposed to be a serious Brownlow contender?

Trying to look for a few positives.... at least Hunter played well. It didn't really get noted that he was a bit poo since coming back. So it's good that he is returning to form. Nicoski wasn't too bad either. And it seemed to Seaby spent quite a lot of time in the ruck... which is maybe good prep for finals. But maybe I'm just grasping at straws.
 
Chill out. It's one result. We're 17-4. You can't just jump off when we lose a game.

No-one enjoys watching us lose, but I have no doubt we'll better next week and in the weeks after that.
 
Some of the skill errors we made in that game I haven't seen for a long time. At least 3 or 4 times we gave off about 6 or 7 handballs that went nowhere, turned the ball over and goals resulted. Disgraceful.
 

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Gunnar Longshanks said:
Chill out.
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The day I "chill out" after watching my team cop a drubbing like that is the day I give up following football.

No-one enjoys watching us lose, but I have no doubt we'll better next week and in the weeks after that.
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I dare say that it will prove to be a season defining moment for the Eagles. Let's see how the player react.
 
i dislike adelaide far far far far far more than i dislike WCE, so i hope you get up and pump those dicky birds whose jerseys have far too much resemblance to the gay flag.

edit: not that being gay is a crime, but being a crow/crows supporter is
 
94_Eagles said:
Some of the skill errors we made in that game I haven't seen for a long time. At least 3 or 4 times we gave off about 6 or 7 handballs that went nowhere, turned the ball over and goals resulted. Disgraceful.
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I can't blame our Fwds or Backliner to much.

We flogged them in the ruck, but it seemed that every single tap-out was sharked by a Geelong player.

We got flogged in the midfield. From there, we had no hope.

We then panicked, went back to Malthouse's tactics of playing down the flanks at all costs.

Under pressure, our midfield would offload it to someone who was under more pressure.

I for one would have liked to have seen: "We're getting murdered by playing along the boundary and playing on at any cost.... KICK IT F ARKING LONG SON".
 
Answer to your question is we continue to play wide when we have one of if not the quickest midfield in the comp straight down the ground is good for a quick side but no not the Coasters we continue to play wide and allow the opposition to flood back. (obiviously the coaches all 4 of them can't see this ) :confused:

If we do this against Adelaide say good bye we will NOT win.
 
TheReason said:
I for one would have liked to have seen: "We're getting murdered by playing along the boundary and playing on at any cost.... KICK IT F ARKING LONG SON".
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Possibly... having said that, I think this highlights that there is a definite lack of contested marking options in the team. It makes bombing the ball long quite difficult. Don't get me wrong, Lynch is quite possibly my favoutire player, but his marking is a serious weakness. And Hansen, returning from injury, was obviously underdone.

Compare this to, say, Essendon... who are far weaker team overall, but punch out of their weight division (at the moment at least) because of two very good forwards in Lloyd and Lucas.

The return of Gardiner is going to be quite important. I might have to revise my previous statement that he is no longer a "required" player :rolleyes:
 
When we did finally kick through the middle - instead of playing on the boundary - we got an effing goal. Did the players not learn from this?
 
Tyberious Funk said:
Possibly... having said that, I think this highlights that there is a definite lack of contested marking options in the team.:
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Thats the biggest thing that s*** me about WA players... players that have no ability whatsoever to take a contested grab.

Out of our current crop, Gaspar is so far in front of anyone else, it aint funny.

Maybe it has something to do with the larger WA Ovals? meaning running / fitness is a bigger virtue than Conetested marking?

P.S. Gardiner & Seabys marks in the Fwd line are as a result of their height and not fully attributed to being able to take a contested grab.
 
FWIW, I think that we over-possessed the ball to buggery on Saturday. Way too many handpasses to other team-mates who were also under pressure. If you're in trouble, why the hell wouldn't you have a crack at bombing it long and seeing what happens? Surely it couldn't have been any worse than the crap we were playing through the midfield and flanks.
 

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hawkeye23 said:
FWIW, I think that we over-possessed the ball to buggery on Saturday. Way too many handpasses to other team-mates who were also under pressure. If you're in trouble, why the hell wouldn't you have a crack at bombing it long and seeing what happens? Surely it couldn't have been any worse than the crap we were playing through the midfield and flanks.
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Exactly...

You would have thought that at some stage the penny would have dropped and the Coach would have said:

"Our possession game-plan and play on at all costs is not working today.
FFS, don't play down the flanks,
And I'm going to f**** choke any one of ya's if you insist in laying the ball off to someone who is under more pressure than you are."

If we are led to believe the myths that some people are peddling here, that we were having a, "science expermintation day"... fine... no problems... well kick it down the corridor and bang it on the boot. See how our forwards go in taking a contested grab.
 
TheReason said:
Exactly...

You would have thought that at some stage the penny would have dropped and the Coach would have said:

"Our possession game-plan and play on at all costs is not working today.
FFS, don't play down the flanks,
And I'm going to f**** choke any one of ya's if you insist in laying the ball off to someone who is under more pressure than you are."

If we are led to believe the myths that some people are peddling here, that we were having a, "science expermintation day"... fine... no problems... well kick it down the corridor and bang it on the boot. See how our forwards go in taking a contested grab.
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Woosh'd only have to lose his cool at qtr/half/three qtr time once! I wish he would "mongrel up" sometimes as a coach, in the same way he used to as a player. The players'd soon learn to do as they're bloody told. :mad:
 
I hate to be a naysayer... but the game against Geelong was the first time this season that I started to worry that;

a) the Eagles game plan has some critical gaps, and
b) the criticisms about lack of KPPs are probably fair.

Having said that, the game plan must be pretty good in order to have got the team this far. But when push comes to shove, there isn't much of a "Plan B". And as for KPPs... a lot of guys have come on in leaps and bounds, there is no doubt about that. But there is still a way to go yet. The two issues are obviously related.

The team needs to really straighten up, particularly on smaller grounds. Watching Kennelly run the ball out of defence for Sydney is just electric and it works so well for them because they have a great contested marker in the form of Hall, and guys like O'Loughlin and Davis aren't too shabby either.

The Eagles obviously have Wirra who is a fantastic player and a great rebounding defender... but he plays towards the pockets. I think Hunter is the problem. A good contested marker, he has plenty of run from defence and can even push forward to kick goals. But there is only ONE of him and if he doesn't man up on the opposition CHB, who will?

I suppose that is the job Lynch is supposed to be doing... given that he was supposed to be playing in the back line this year. Smith's injury has obviously been important, but you can't pin your hopes on an untried rookie. No wonder people hang ******** on McDougall. He can't be blamed for getting himself injured, but damn his lack of form is frustrating.
 
Tyberious Funk said:
I hate to be a naysayer... but the game against Geelong was the first time this season that I started to worry that;

a) the Eagles game plan has some critical gaps, and
b) the criticisms about lack of KPPs are probably fair.

Having said that, the game plan must be pretty good in order to have got the team this far. But when push comes to shove, there isn't much of a "Plan B". And as for KPPs... a lot of guys have come on in leaps and bounds, there is no doubt about that.
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I had a nagging feeling after qtr time against Brisbane.

Then I started becoming really worried after Sydney. Each game we've lost, the opposition coach has come out and publicly said, "We looked at how they've been beaten before and adopted the same...".

Seaby has been a worry for me in the last 6 weeks. His value as the second ruckman is unquestioned. However, he does not present himself enough in the Forward Line. And if thats true, then he's a liability and needs to be on the pine when not rucking. He is not a player, at this stage of his career, that can have a big bag or contest enough marks for the crumbers to come into it.

Sampi - Has been woeful since returning from a long injury.

Plan B - I'm hoping Woosh has kept a Plan B & Plan C that bamboozals the opposition in the finals, and makes a mockery of my concerns.

P.S. God Bless our 2 Finals at Subi (and maybe we can run ourselves back into form), because if we had of finished in eigth again, I'd be ordering the hard liquor right now and drinking myself into a gutter.

P.P.S. I have to wonder about Cuzzy's comments during the year when questioned on his career to date, "I / We have not achieved anything, I / We are hungry for Premiership Success".
 
I can only echo the comments above: I really hope we have a plan B and/or C come finals time and for the love of God STOP GOING DOWN THE FLANKS. Kick the frigging thing forward and run after it!!

Rumour has it that Woosha tore strips off the players for about 40 minutes after the game behind closed doors and Jesus H Christ did they need it. I think that's one of the good things about him being so level headed - when he does go off you better sit up and pay attention and hopefully it makes more of an impact than coming from a coach who is always losing his cool.

Really hope we come out firing this week because if we don't we'll struggle to turn it on come next week.

Also, did anyone notice Gardiner limping after he played his half of footy? If was a betting man I'd suggest he won't be playing this weekend (please hope I'm wrong)...
 
JinmboJones said:
Rumour has it that Woosha tore strips off the players for about 40 minutes after the game behind closed doors and Jesus H Christ did they need it.
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It ain't no rumour. Went for 45 minutes and I felt the reverbrations through the concrete floor. Woosh had the look of death as he left the rooms, and the players didn't look much better.
 
My old man's one of these, "conspiracy theory guys".

I ring up to see if he was as gutted as I was at 1.30pm on Saturday. He tells me, "Result didn't surprise me one iota, and really we had nothing to play for, we don't want anymore injuries".

I come away from the conversation thinking, maybe he is right, maybe WCE have been tanking / cruise mode in the last 6 weeks and are about to step up a notch.

Then I get a reality check and realise its all rubbish to flirt with form and to think a coach can switch the form on / off at will.
 
Let's all remember a few things. The Eagles, compared to other lists, are a very young team. I think they have been brought down to Earth in recent weeks, after perhaps feeling they are a bit too invincible.
Also, Worsfold is not an idiot. He does keep things close to his chest. I have a feeling he's got something up his sleeve. Otherwise, surely he would just use the tactic other teams have used against the Eagles and flood the backline, run it forward to a one out contest in the forward 50 (Judd at full forward. Am I the only one that champions this?). Perhaps he's not using these ideas until finals time.

Or perhaps I'm just undertaking some wishful thinking. These boys need to pull their finger out and take a page out of Adelaide's book.
 

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