I understand some consideration has to go into the fact that the first three games would have been a serious shot to everyone's confidence, and during today's pre game presser Neeld gave a good explanation of how it's mostly our lack of composure with the ball that is hurting us,

But to me this is a more acceptable issue to have, we are starting to get back to where we should have been at the start of the season anyway, the skills will become ingrained as Neeld says, Toumpas possibly coming in this week will add a very good user to the side, and with Gold coast being quite young he should have a good chance to get some confidence at AFL level.

The second thing was again I think in the last in Carlton's attacking 50, Byrnes had the ball and was under pressure, he could have easily given a blind handball or one to a statue but held up and took the tackle. By not releasing the ball he forced a 50/50 ball up rather than a hit and hope handball. This is where his training at Geelong and experience can count, he didn't have a great game but if he can get more of our guys to think and be prepared to take the hit then he will add value.

It's something the Cats do really well draw a man and either ride the bump or stand up in the tackle before feeding off to a free team mate. They have confidence they can ride the tackle and confidence in their team mate being able to do the same before feeding them a pass while they wait outside the contest

It's a catch 22 though, you choose people with good disposal but most of the time have difficulty getting their own ball and are reliant on it being dished out (Toumpas, Blease, Morton). They are invariably labelled as soft and when we're struggling like this people prefer to see "goers" in there that want the contest but get forgiven for average disposal (Magner, Couch, M Jones, McKenzie, Bail). You rarely get a the full packet, although with the draft pick we've had you'd hope we would've got one by now!

What kills me is that these are AFL footballers here. How is it that they have made to it the top flight without being about to hit a 20m target? And the answer is the haven't. They must have the ability in them, or at the very least an ability to improve. There have been players that have fixed their techniques to kick better, but is there someone at the club that is trying to do this or are they too focused on "the plan". I'll also say that Chip, Grimes, and Trenners all used to have good disposal, I remember both Grimes and Chip being able to nail every one of their kicks in 2010 so that ability must still there.

There were a lot of coach killer moments today.

I agree with what you have said Pates, but that bold line caught my eye

I reckon Grimes is an average kick and Chip although better still isn't great

I hope this FD can address these issues - but I am not going expecting miracles overnight. It really is frustrating....

It's something the Cats do really well draw a man and either ride the bump or stand up in the tackle before feeding off to a free team mate. They have confidence they can ride the tackle and confidence in their team mate being able to do the same before feeding them a pass while they wait outside the contest

Also the majority of the team has played more then 0 - 40 games of AFL, i reckon that helps

But spot on I agree - Cats are the team to look up to

I understand some consideration has to go into the fact that the first three games would have been a serious shot to everyone's confidence, and during today's pre game presser Neeld gave a good explanation of how it's mostly our lack of composure with the ball that is hurting us,

But to me this is a more acceptable issue to have, we are starting to get back to where we should have been at the start of the season anyway, the skills will become ingrained as Neeld says, Toumpas possibly coming in this week will add a very good user to the side, and with Gold coast being quite young he should have a good chance to get some confidence at AFL level.

I agree with your post, but I wouldn't bring in Toumpas this week.

We'll no doubt bring in Dawes this week & to me one of our biggest problems is inexperience & too many changes every week. this was the best running side we've had in all year (on purpose IMO) but we went overboard on runners for today.

We'll need a better balance next week with Dawes in, but I'd like to see Fitzy in to play Clarks role, deep forward, with Dawes out at CHF leading up.

Gawn to rest deep forward again.

..... and please guys bring in Magna for next week. Grimes on the LTI, Magna In...

..... and please guys bring in Magna for next week. Grimes on the LTI, Magna In...

Agreed, he's earned it and its a direct replacement. I also agree that leaving Jimmy at Casey until he puts consistent performances in is a good idea. That said its a good chance for him to go up against a team that's of his age group.

Edited May 5, 201312 yr by Pates

You can add 5 or 6 others to the list. Nico and Bail are near the top.

And Grimes

missed targets all day and continually chose poor options

I was watching their pre-match drop punt drill closely before the match and estimated that less than 50% were hitting their man...

I've seen junior sides with far better precision.

I agree with your post, but I wouldn't bring in Toumpas this week.

We'll no doubt bring in Dawes this week & to me one of our biggest problems is inexperience & too many changes every week. this was the best running side we've had in all year (on purpose IMO) but we went overboard on runners for today.

We'll need a better balance next week with Dawes in, but I'd like to see Fitzy in to play Clarks role, deep forward, with Dawes out at CHF leading up.

Gawn to rest deep forward again.

..... and please guys bring in Magna for next week. Grimes on the LTI, Magna In...

Yes too many changes each week combined with a young and inexperienced list means the players probably havent had the opportunity to get to know each others games, or strengths and weaknesses. A star team will usually beat a team of stars - we havent got the latter, but hopefully with time and determination can build the former.

Sundays game just highlighted the importance of Jack Watts , his skill, and ability to make the right decisions.

2 really interesting things today that are linked to the post.

Can't remember who had the ball about 55 out from goal I think in the first quarter but Dunn was standing next to him calling for a handball. Now we know Dunn can get the journey but he was not moving and calling for the ball with Carlton players around him. It wasn't given off, one of the better decisions of the day. However surely Lydnen knows he should be moving to take the ball, that's what he did at Casey last week. It's not knocking him, he had a good game today I thought but it's how most of our players are. There is little movement and most handball is a result of pressure, it's why we have so many less disposals than our opponents.

The second thing was again I think in the last in Carlton's attacking 50, Byrnes had the ball and was under pressure, he could have easily given a blind handball or one to a statue but held up and took the tackle. By not releasing the ball he forced a 50/50 ball up rather than a hit and hope handball. This is where his training at Geelong and experience can count, he didn't have a great game but if he can get more of our guys to think and be prepared to take the hit then he will add value.

The turnovers are killing us.

Message to Tommy Mc, find out what Corey Enright did to get his kicking action and ability fixed and do it otherwise you have a very limited to no future in the game. I know you have a few mates but you are the one with the biggest potential upside.

Agree 100% with the Dunn and McDonald points.

well i was rapt with the output yesterday. besides turnovers which killed us against brizzy Q3 i thought the signs are definately there.

we seem to get little improvements and patches of it show up each week,the long term plan is coming together and skills will start to become a priority next preseason after some major adjustments are taking place and you can only add little bits at a time. he hasnt overloaded the players with to many adjustments at a time.

i was impressed that to rejig the team twice during the game and they responded well to be undermanned outclassed and continue to follow plans as best they could

Some of our guys need to practice kicking and handballing. Film it, replay it analyse it, adjust and practice.. until they are consistently hitting targets. Sad to see players kicking into the mark so often, or kicking directly to an opposition player. Worse is kicking high drop punts to players who have to sit and wait for the ball and an opposition player to come. There really is no excuse for guys missing targets 2 meters away with handballs, that is unforgivable in my book.

I like Brynes, in a Geelong team he would be sitting around the forward line waiting for the ball to come down and crumb, in our team he is having to go and get the ball in the back line and try to run it forward to an often vacant or out manned forward line. I also like the way he held onto the ball (without giving away a free) so we could reset it was smart play (not something you see often in our team) as it was far better than turning it over, unfortunately a lot of our guys gave blind handballs that go anywhere or go straight to blues players, poor percentage football that usually cost us. The swans are masters of this, when in doubt create a ball up situation.

A lot of decision making and skill gets back to coaching. In the split second you have to dispose of the ball it is as much about the give off as it is about the person who calls for it. Sometimes an experienced player will ignore the call close in and take the tackle or lift his eyes and look for the best defensive position to send the ball. It is much harder at ground level to see where a player is hot than it is in the stands. Teams are drilled so it is instinct not thought, they become reactive and need to be disciplined not play like rabbits in the headlights. If they hand ball to a stationary team mate in a worse position that is coaching and a player who puts himself in the wrong position and calls for the ball should be told so. Carlton's ability to set up from a kick in and kick it long and wide to position is the result of hours of practise not a lucky fluke on the day and I would hope we have been practising a counter move to such a play.....

I was listening to SEN this arvo and they had some blues players on and the Ox asked about kicking drills and whether they are allowed to do their own training before or after training and he said the physio's don't allow it.

The Ox spoke about how he used to do it every single training; repetition, repetition, repetition. He said it really helped with his confidence in kicking and marking. This is exactly the sort of thing our boys should be getting into.

What I can't stand is the high hack out of the back line.

If you're not kicking to a target keep the bloody thing low/along the ground if needs be. Our players seem to have little awareness of where opposition players are and a number of times blindly kicked the ball down their throat.

I love the way Terlich goes about it but by gee he turns it over straight out from goal at least once a week. Toward the city end yesterday he missed a clear target above his head by about two metres. Again, I'd say keep it low. If you miss you target, miss it at their bootstraps not 5 metres over their head - at least that way you can contest and you lessen the chance for an intercept.

I suppose it's just another area of the game where we are struggling. With confidence and more time together for the players, however, it will improve. Some weeks it will seem to have improved immensely, others it will feel like a complete regression. Either way there must be a steady increase of overall disposal quality.

I was listening to SEN this arvo and they had some blues players on and the Ox asked about kicking drills and whether they are allowed to do their own training before or after training and he said the physio's don't allow it.

The Ox spoke about how he used to do it every single training; repetition, repetition, repetition. He said it really helped with his confidence in kicking and marking. This is exactly the sort of thing our boys should be getting into.

I'll never as long as I live understand the way Melbourne prepare for a game.

We all hear that the physios say there's no time for goal kicking practice during the week - yet in the 15 minutes before a game every single player is sinking (or missing) pot shots from 40 like it's the 1980s.

Surely there's a better way to spend your time to prepare for a contact sport than having 70% of players that won't even have a shot at goal practicing their goal kicking.

I suppose the only reason it makes sense is that the players don't get to practice goal kicking during the week - they have to practice some time!

I think its also because alot of our players are flat footed, stationary targets, which makes them easy targets to tackle and spoil.

How are are players expected to get better at kicking, the very best of them would have no more than 15 kicks in a match, the worst 2 or 3. I really think these sport medicine, physios, etc have a bit to much power, and forget these guys main purpose is kicking, marking, tackling, shepherding, handpassing and not just repeated 50 meter sprints

I think its also because alot of our players are flat footed, stationary targets, which makes them easy targets to tackle and spoil.

Absolutely, further to that people underestimate the importance of the "target" in "hitting a target".