Post match discussion

[dees189227 10,835]

it just makes our win last week mean nothing. We didnt come out with the same intensity or pressure. Good teams back it up after each week. Its something we have to aim towards to.

[3Dee 1,153]

Bitter but optimistic? Realism? You can't see we are improving?

The suns are not proven? Egads! What rock do you reside under?

[T-34 409]

Get real, they lost by 100 points at home last week

To the best side in the comp. who will rack up a number of similar sized victories this year.

They are a more than reasonable side containing the best player in the game.

[Bang Bang Bang 5,509]

I think most on here understand the difference between an outside and inside player. Do you have to be inside to tackle? Do you have to be inside so as not to get pushed off the ball?

This is not a drill, it's a paid gig.

Agreed. Toumpas is an outside player who puts his body on the line when it's his turn to go. Watts is an outside player who doesn't. No need to make excuses for him, he's soft at the best of times but today was embarrassing.

[jabberwocky 2,301]

Today we had a number of non- contributors.

In a sense this is a positive as we have replacements arriving. We should improve markedly over the coming weeks.

[Wilson7 2,530]

Agree with that T34, they are a reasonable team but calling them a quality said is a bit of a stretch

To the best side in the comp. who will rack up a number of similar sized victories this year.

They are a more than reasonable side containing the best player in the game.

[rjay 23,927]

A quick browse through after getting home from the game.

A lot of Watts negative posts and it wasn't a good game from Jack. The thing that really concerned me and I'm sure it will the coaching dept. was a few of times he was in contested marking situations with Prestia...Watts 196cm Prestia 175cm and Prestia managed to get the ball to ground each time. Jack needs to take those grabs.

If Salem is in good form he needs to come up and play some senior footy. We need a good lefty.

Garland should be the first player named for next week. He is really missed with Frawley playing forward.

[Curry & Beer 5,444]

lol. We lost by 8 points. Given where we've come from, the improvement has already come from somewhere. Perhaps it'll keep coming from the same place.

lol what should have been 60 against a very poor opposition

[Nasher 33,110]

lol what should have been 60 against a very poor opposition

Why should it have been?

[Curry & Beer 5,444]

Watts officially lost me today. I've talked him up a lot and in his last 5-10 matches there have been some good signs, but god he was bad today

In his mind a tackle means putting your hand on a bloke's arm as he waltzes past you, absolutely pathetic

[Curry & Beer 5,444]

Why should it have been?

Because we played pathetic football matched only by the pathetic performance of our opposition who kicked 8 more scores, all of them behinds

[Nascent 7,337]

Interesting to hear Roos say it was probably a mistake subbing Tyson and that part of that decision revolved around time management than actual performance. I was very surprised at the call at the time, didn't help my fantasy team either!

[Nasher 33,110]

Because we played pathetic football matched only by the pathetic performance of our opposition who kicked 8 more scores, all of them behinds

There's no such thing as what the margin "should have been", only what the margin was.

[RalphiusMaximus 5,993]

On the Watts debate, I have frequently defended him over the years, but I just can't do it today. He gave us a glimpse early on with a pinpoint pass to Dawes on the HFF, but then simply vanished. We've all seen the bit of footage by now of him being bustled off the ball and simply conceding (presumably hoping for a free). He did that sort of thing far too often today. He repeatedly jogged for half-hearted leads instead of sprinting into the space to get some separation. As has been mentioned, he laid a tackle and then just sat and watched the contest continue a few feet away when he should have been back on his feet and chasing the next target. He repeatedly failed to hold marks that should be simple for a player of his abilities. Roos talks about his desire to produce a player-driven culture of non-negotiable benchmarks. If he's serious about that then Watts has to be dropped. You can't let someone fail at so many of the "non-negotiables" and keep their spot in the side. He needs to show his teammates that he is willing and able to put in when it's his turn, take a hit if he has to and get the job done.

Georgiou - Honestly, I have a lot of sympathy for him today. Yes, he was well beaten at times, but he's playing on a guy 9cm taller who broke records at draft camp for his jumping ability. There is no way in hell He'll win in a 1-1 marking contest against Day.

I also think McDonald wasn't as bad as some are saying. He simply met his match today. We all know that Tom Lynch is going to be a star. That's why we wanted him so desperately and why our recruiters got sucked in to taking Cook when he wasn't available anymore. He was a little too big, too strong and too quick for TMac today, but Tommy kept fighting and kept taking him on when he had the ball in hand. This would be the definitive "honourable loss."

I love the improving chemistry between Dawes and Frawley. They are starting to work out how to play together, and we saw a great example with Frawley's second.

The Umpires today were absolutely diabolical. As always, they managed to pay enough meaningless frees on the flanks to keep the count close, but the number of umpire-assisted scores to GC was an absolute disgrace. It is to their credit that the team lost by only 8 points given they were playing against 21 opponents at any given time.

That being said, the scoreline flattered us. GC were very wasteful in front of goal in the first half and should have been a lot further ahead.

We really need to work on picking up the ball cleanly. We often had first hands to the ball at stoppages but the constant fumbling again let the cleaner opposition take the ball from us and run with it. Closely related to this is our ongoing issue of being unable to handpass at a height between hip and shoulder. Far too often we seem to have players passing either to their target's ankles or above their heads. This is a basic skill of the game that you would expect the average ten year old to have nailed, yet it seems to elude our professional players.

Incidentally, can you imagine what the response would be if a doctor were as mistake-prone as most of our players?

Edited April 20, 2014 by RalphiusMaximus

[Ron Burgundy 8,584]

Bunch of idiots here spewing the same old rhetoric about Watts and his lack of 'hardness'.

It shows your ignorance more than anything else. For some reason you think he's capable of attacking the footy like Jones/Viney, yet still want him to have the skills of a player like Pendlebury.

You get one or the other in the majority of players. There aren't many out there with both skillsets except for players like Ablett. He's an outside player.

Pull your heads in. He had one bad game and you're calling for him to be delisted. Pathetic.

Totally agree. I am genuinely sick to death of the mindless Watts bashing by certain posters here.

It's boring. And it's not clever.

I expect every other club in the competition would gladly have him on their list.

[P-man 13,224]

I'm amazed at those who say it wasnt an improvement.

The second half was watchable. That alone is a significant improvement.

[Dr. Gonzo 22,522]

I saw most of the game in between doing the family duties for Easter - can't comment on the umpiring as wasn't able to watch closely enough but will have a look at the replay.

I thought we did enough to win just couldn't convert our chances in the second half after dominating general play. Again it was about 15-20 mins which killed us, same as the Saints and Giants game. Overall I'm pretty positive about it though because it is a stark improvement on last year me later this year/early next I think we'll start taking our opportunities. We still make too many stupid errors which hurt us particularly in the second quarter.

The Suns missed their chances early and we missed ours late so overall it probably evens out. Dawes' two misses in the second hurt though and when we did start kicking goals late they were able to respond with enough to keep us at arms length.

One player I will comment on is Watts he was a disgrace today. No intensity whatsoever, always behind in the marking contests and is bullied out of the contests too easily. He can go back to Casey for at least a month until he grows a spine. McDonald was poor early also which I though carried on from his first half last week. Terlich makes too many clambers, Dunn should've been playing forward, Jones should've been moved from Ablett earlier and Howe is still too one dimensional and unaccountable.

Disappointed with the result because this is one we could've/should've won but happy with the overall effort and the fact we fought back after half time instead of rolling over like we have in the past.

Edit - although again our effort could've been better especially our tackling too many ineffectual tackles, unless we prevent them from disposing of the footy might as well not record it as a tackle.

Edited April 20, 2014 by Dr. Gonzo

[ILLDieADemon 804]

Am I the only one who thinks Terlich is shocking?

Needs to be dropped.

[Forest Demon 4,681]

Totally agree. I am genuinely sick to death of the mindless Watts bashing by certain posters here.

It's boring. And it's not clever.

I expect every other club in the competition would gladly have him on their list.

Really?

[RalphiusMaximus 5,993]

Totally agree. I am genuinely sick to death of the mindless Watts bashing by certain posters here.

It's boring. And it's not clever.

I expect every other club in the competition would gladly have him on their list.

It's very easy to dismiss criticism with little three word slogans like this. It's something our current PM excels at. Sadly, it utterly fails to address the issue. Watts was terrible today. He was disinterested, lazy and more interested in winning free kicks than winning the ball. Basically, he was everything Roos tells us he doesn't want in his side. You can dismiss this as "mindless Watts bashing" all you like, but I am one of the few who have stood up for Jack from the start and as far as I'm concerned he needs to go back to Casey and prove to the team that he wants to be there.

[Earl Hood 5,789]

Can we talk point kick outs for a moment! 19 or twenty opportunities there today. The good sides turn a point against into an opportunity to get six, but not us. Again we seemed to have no strategy apart from the short kick into the pocket with no further options because we we were slow to start the movements. The Suns seemed to get a quick out to someone in space, with runners going past. Not us. So point kick outs kept coming back to us for scores. The kick out has to be done quickly if possible and you have to have three or four options to be used regularly, to keep them guessing. Some short to the pockets, the odd one long up the middle to a big target etc. others half way to a lead inside 50. Not easy but 12 or so other clubs can turn a kick out into an offensive movement. Not us.

Can we also talk tackling? Today we failed to stop the opposition getting the release handball to a team mate so often it just did me in. Yet the Suns kids were very effective in laying a tackle and stopping our guys from getting a handball out to anyone. Why are we so bad at this?

[Nascent 7,337]

I'm amazed at those who say it wasnt an improvement.

The second half was watchable. That alone is a significant improvement.

Yep, it's like people have forgotten the games where we were done and dusted by the 15 minute mark of the 1st quarter. We have a long way to go but people saying that there hasn't been any improvements are just plain wrong..

[STN91 32]

You could tell we were being out run by a youthful team today but with our structures we came back. In the past we would have folded. Roos doing a good job and loving the slight variances he makes to the line up from week to week. I can see us heading toward a stable outfit. Not great but competitive and stable. Many players to be turned over before we get to the top 4.

[RalphiusMaximus 5,993]

Can we also talk tackling? Today we failed to stop the opposition getting the release handball to a team mate so often it just did me in. Yet the Suns kids were very effective in laying a tackle and stopping our guys from getting a handball out to anyone. Why are we so bad at this?

I'd like to highlight Viney's attempt to stop Ablett. He was clinging to him like a baby monkey, but Ablett just took it and got the ball away anyway. Awesome commitment from Viney and amazing strength and composure from the best in the business.

[chook fowler 18,320]

Agree that overall it was an improvement however the 2nd quarter especially brought back bad memories