Match Day Thread

[Footynut 302]

Not even slightly concerned.

A lot of supporters need to take a step back and reassess.

More realistic expectations needed.

Looking forward to a huge 2010!!

Absolutely spot on...

[drdrake 3,049]

We are meant to have some very good young players to. The best thing for the club is the players are in Perth hopefully a player grabs them all in the rooms with no coaches and draws the line in the sand, our club can not keep putting up this rubbish. No matter what gains we make off field if we can't start improving on field our club will be a basket case. To be a successful club you need both on and off field to work well.

All of you that think this is just a NAB game no big deal, it is a big deal when we show no improvement from the past 2 years.

[Footynut 302]

No, we'd only get pick 4 for finishing last even if we get zero wins.

But you won't have to worry - we won't have a pick in the top 10 in 2010.

Sorry KS I was being sarcastic....just to clarify...lol

[Keyser Söze 0]

Sorry KS I was being sarcastic....just to clarify...lol

Yeah, reading it again I did miss that.

But we still would only get pick 4!

Scary thought for Richmond.

[Ryan Dee 140]

Yeah, reading it again I did miss that.

But we still would only get pick 4!

Scary thought for Richmond.

Even more so for us.

[... 11]

I thought Scully was great tonight. You couldn't ask for any more from a first gamer. Lightening fast! Trengove also played a good first game. Both Mac and Mc played good games, as did Frawley. Bennell had a stinker, but I'm not worried about him, he'll be fine. Martin needs some angry pills. Cale Morton was good. We missed Davey's usual influence.

There were two major concerns for us IMO:

1> We are a long way off having a functional forward line. Jurrah will never be a key forward - he will be a very good pocket or flanker, and devastating at times, but he's not the answer for FF or CHF. Maybe Morton is one answer. We missed Bate tonight. Pressure must surely be peaking for Watts irrespective of the kid glove approach. Petterd is on a razor's edge. He needs to start showing some better ball handling and grab more opportunities to kick for goals. It doesn't help his cause, however, when he so often ends up in the forward fifty by himself with two taller opponents when the ball comes down. Maybe he's the only bloke fit enough to make it back to our forward line in time as the ball is coming down?

2> We got pole-axed at the stoppages. There was something very wrong going on there. I know Sandilands' dominance was a big part of it, but our guys just seemed to be constantly out of position and chasing tail at the stoppages. Even when we finally twigged that we were losing the ruck and hence better man up at the centre bounces, we were still soundly beaten. Scott West will not sleep well tonight.

Not an enjoyable night overall.

[Swampfox 190]

Not watching or listening. What jumpers are we wearing?

We are wearing our home jumper (including blue shorts) and Freo have their away strip (white with purple anchor and white shorts)

Hard to figure the AFL out doesnt it

[DemonDan... 77]

All of you that think this is just a NAB game no big deal, it is a big deal when we show no improvement from the past 2 years.

Havent read all 8 pages just this one, so apologises if i repeat the already mentioned.

1st the good:

The backline seems to be getting some real cohesion and MACdonald(dees b.o.g) seems to have fit in well.

Jones and Strauss. Jones building on that belief hes talked about in the past. Strauss was the best of our young fellas tonight imo.. He took the game on like a Benny from last year..made some big boo-boos, but made some great plays and did alot more, esp for a 1st gamer, than a lot of others did.

Scully and Trenny, both made a bit of an impact. Trenny more 1st half, Scully 2nd.. These 2 guys in particular look like theyll progress quicker than most. Wanted to see Scully played off a flank and when he did in the last quarter across half-back, he really started to shine. He was lost playing on the wing before that.. give him a chance to adapt Bails, Trenny too.

Hope thats the only lesson Bailey needs to learn with them.

Now the ugly:

Although, hopefully we'll get a better performance at home next week (visy park v ess), the problem we have seems universal.

We cant kick. If we couldnt kick well tonight in perfect, pristine conditions for footy we wont anywhere. There was no dew, no wind, no excuses.

Seriously, 9-10 y.o. kids in the little-league half time break were kicking the ball to their teammates..

We didnt kick it even towards ours some of the time. Ball carriers under no pressure missed targets 30 mts away, missed leads and especially notable was how bad we were when kicking to space.

Why was our judgement so consistantly off, by so much? Were we smashed?

Pulled drdrakes statement out because some seem to be a bit too cool about the whole situation.

It was a step back to 07'. We were horrible, deplorable -an all those adjectives- tonight..

BUT - we were interstate, and again, hopefully we'll be better a bit closer to home next week..

if not.. i cant see us winning more than 4 games this year again. Not when you cant get basic kicking right.

Players: -apart from those mentioned above-

Firstly- almost everyone, bumbled and fumbled the ball at some stage.

J-Mac: Consistant and hard as always, definition of blue-collar.

Green, Frawley, Rivers, Cheney, Miller (dare i say): tried hard, overwhelmed with little midfield support.

Moloney: Toughed it out. Disposal was horrid at times.

Morton, Grimes, Slyvia: Outplayed, outsmarted, rarely-influential/effective for us today.

Martin, Jetta, Bennell, Warnock, Maric, McKenzie, Petterd: Outplayed, outsmarted, non-effective for us today.

Davey, Fitzpatrick: Obviously underdone, shouldnt have played.

Jurrah: ? Dont know where to put LJ yet.

If he played thru the match with an early corkie or slight strain or something - was he crook/a bad meal?- than discount the following..but if not.. wow.

I cant remember having seen a player, look so dis-interested, so lazy in a game of footy.

Didnt want to run or chase, barely lead out.. stopped a few times to do these stretches, seemingly for cramp but he hadnt done enough to warrant cramping up, did it once when the footy was only 20-odd mts away!

People around me, dees supporters, were yelling 'c'mon LJ' and similar things in hope to see him look like he wanted to get into the game. Was pretty embarrassing. He dropped marks and only hit a pack a couple of times the whole match. Again, hope there was a reason.. or just a really, really bad off-night.. we know he can do better.

Look forward to hearing a better report from someone at visy next week! Cheers all.

(Oh, All of the above IMO, of course)

EDIT: forgot to mention too, BD was spot on, we were nowhere at stoppages.. not because of big sandilands either, it was mostly bad positioning.

Edited February 21, 2010 by DemonDan...

[dreamin' man 0]

Good report, DemonDan. I was there, too, & was amazed by how often our forward line, half-forward line, anything forward of centre was empty. Just players bunching around the ball. Then the ball would be going forward & everyone was struggling to get to it. Also, hitting targets was poor & Freo showed us up a few times by taking the ball out of defence up the middle. Dees were constantly going around the boundary w. the result that the ball was out of bounds or bottled up. Scully was the highlight among many lowlights.

[tarzan16 40]

i don't care if it was one game or 22 games, nab cup, scratch match or full season, in anyones language that was pure ordinary. i really feel our ball skills have got worse (which i didn't think was possible) crawf not so dumb now!, nothing going forward, terrible decision making. if anyone can tell me what Baileys game plan is then please let me know, or even let the players know! and we looked slow at times, a lot of players standing still waiting for the ball WTF.

Joel played well, and its clear that scully and trengove are gonna be class.

another long season ahead. come on dees!

[jnrmac 19,310]

Not even slightly concerned.

A lot of supporters need to take a step back and reassess.

More realistic expectations needed.

Looking forward to a huge 2010!!

Ha! LOL There's some irony for you. I'd suggest realistic expectations won't result in anything like a huge 2010!

[agent_orange 0]

Ha! LOL There's some irony for you. I'd suggest realistic expectations won't result in anything like a huge 2010!

My expectations weren't that high - just for an improvement in skills and decision making.

One has to wonder what has been improved upon from last season. I hate to say it but I don't think Bailey is the man for the job.

[jabberwocky 2,301]

It amazes me how little credit Nathan Jones gets on this site.

He won the equal high amount of centre clearances with Mundy. He took the game on and always looked to dispose of the ball to advantage and executed well. He looks leaner and quicker.

Easily our best player and had a hand in more scoring opportunities than any other player.

If all of or players had this mindset we would have a different result.

Edited February 21, 2010 by dandeeman

[pitmaster 3,080]

We are a long way off having a functional forward line. Jurrah will never be a key forward - he will be a very good pocket or flanker, and devastating at times, but he's not the answer for FF or CHF. Maybe Morton is one answer. We missed Bate tonight. Pressure must surely be peaking for Watts irrespective of the kid glove approach. Petterd is on a razor's edge.

Spot on re the forwards. Jurrah is not a key position player, valuable as he is. Morton isn't at the moment either, and looking at him last night he might be one of those blokes who never develops a KPP's body.

Nor is Watts who will be a half forward for the next couple of years.

Miller's kicking has improved but his contested marking is non-existent and he is not a long term answer. Bate is our best short term prospect for a key forward post.

I'd still try PJ down there if he was fit.

Of other forwards, Maric and Petterd did nothing to ensure their futures last night.

The best consolation I can think of is that we were not fair dinkum - going in without Jamar was evidence of that.

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

Spot on re the forwards. Jurrah is not a key position player

Miller's kicking has improved but his contested marking is non-existent and he is not a long term answer. Bate is our best short term prospect for a key forward post.

I'd still try PJ down there if he was fit.

Jurrah is still a key forward where ever you play him.

Miller spent most of his game time chasing marks on the lead. While not a strong contest mark, he does make the contest to bring the ball to ground. I am not sure PJ gives us anymore scope there.

[pitmaster 3,080]

Jurrah is still a key forward where ever you play him.

Miller spent most of his game time chasing marks on the lead. While not a strong contest mark, he does make the contest to bring the ball to ground. I am not sure PJ gives us anymore scope there.

I should have mentioned Dunn. He is more mobile than Bate and while he has been played everwhere else, he might give us another option for a forward slot. (I like the distinction that Jurrah is KEY but not KPP.)

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

I should have mentioned Dunn. He is more mobile than Bate and while he has been played everwhere else, he might give us another option for a forward slot. (I like the distinction that Jurrah is KEY but not KPP.)

Dunn is neither a key or kpp player. Dunn does not attack the ball and needs to impose himself. Bate has him well covered up forward.

[drdrake 3,049]

We keep bringing up our lack of key forwards, you could have Jono Brown sitting at full forward and he will struggle. We don't go inside 50m enough to win games you need to get the footy in there 50-60 times a match, we just get it in over 40 times. Our team is so concerned about the defensive zone that we don't run hard on the attack. We can't keep getting 18 players behind the footy, you don't win games playing like this.

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

We keep bringing up our lack of key forwards, you could have Jono Brown sitting at full forward and he will struggle. We don't go inside 50m enough to win games you need to get the footy in there 50-60 times a match, we just get it in over 40 times. Our team is so concerned about the defensive zone that we don't run hard on the attack. We can't keep getting 18 players behind the footy, you don't win games playing like this.

These are the key points.

So often the over-using of the handball is a result of there being no options down the field. If there is an option down the field (that isn't outnumbered three on one) then the players will go to it instead of handpassing to a teammate nearby who is usually under just as much or more pressure.

Therefore, because the whole team (forward line and all) push up the ground when defending, the forwards then have to run back to the forward line when there is a turnover.

I heard the commentators three or four times say "no one to kick it to" (referring in the forward line). How can you expect to enter the forward 50 if there is either no one there to kick it to in the first place or one forward outnumber (as Petterd was on a few occasions)?

The result is no options up field, players under more pressure, more unnecessary handpassing and more skill errors.

[Keyser Söze 0]

Ha! LOL There's some irony for you. I'd suggest realistic expectations won't result in anything like a huge 2010!

Depends on your definition of huge.

[Jumping Jack Clennett 1,628]

WE MUST stop dropping chest marks!!!!

5 were dropped in this game by talented players.

It seems ridiculous, but we need to practise this basic fundamental repeatedly until we're confident that NO-ONE will drop an uncontested chest mark again this season.

When a chest mark goes down, it not only catches all the players out of position( as they move into attacking mode, assuming we're about to gain possession), but it makes us look untalented and amateurish. Confidence drops.Morale drops. Overall performance worsens as a consequence.

[Keyser Söze 0]

WE MUST stop dropping chest marks!!!!

5 were dropped in this game by talented players.

It seems ridiculous, but we need to practise this basic fundamental repeatedly until we're confident that NO-ONE will drop an uncontested chest mark again this season.

When a chest mark goes down, it not only catches all the players out of position( as they move into attacking mode, assuming we're about to gain possession), but it makes us look untalented and amateurish. Confidence drops.Morale drops. Overall performance worsens as a consequence.

Merely an aberration.

I hardly think there's a need for us to practice more chest marks at training.

edit: spelling

Edited February 21, 2010 by Keyser Söze

[Jumping Jack Clennett 1,628]

"Merely an abreration."

I hardly think there's a need for us to practice more chest marks at training.

edit: spelling !!!!!!

I think we must practiSe, practiSe, practiSe our chest marks, to avoid these mere "abrerations!"

[Keyser Söze 0]

quote name='Keyser Söze' date='22 February 2010 - 09:30 AM' timestamp='1266791437' post='304412

"Merely an abreration."

I hardly think there's a need for us to practice more chest marks at training.

edit: spelling !!!!!!

I think we must practiSe, practiSe, practiSe our chest marks, to avoid these mere "abrerations!"

Yeah yeah yeah.. I put the extra 'r' in the wrong spot by mistake. You need help with your quoting.

Makes no difference to the sentiment of my post - it's silly to contend that we need to practiCe more chest marks at training.

Edited February 21, 2010 by Keyser Söze

[Jumping Jack Clennett 1,628]

I don't think it's silly to praciSe anything you do badly. But each to his own opinion.