Just now, olisik said:

Well he showed he was unable to do anything to fill the void left from Lever. Good coaches would find a way.

He can't fill the void straight away as we don't have another Lever waiting in the wings.  Unfortunately, we can't clone the bloke.  I actually think they made the right decision with Joel Smith who was one of our better players, especially early when the pressure was on.

But having these guys working together will take a little time.  Lever was the general who organised the defence so well, and now that's gone.  It won't fix itself overnight, it will take a few more weeks to get right.

Just now, Wiseblood said:

He can't fill the void straight away as we don't have another Lever waiting in the wings.  Unfortunately, we can't clone the bloke.  I actually think they made the right decision with Joel Smith who was one of our better players, especially early when the pressure was on.

But having these guys working together will take a little time.  Lever was the general who organised the defence so well, and now that's gone.  It won't fix itself overnight, it will take a few more weeks to get right.

Hopefully Lever helps him out with the coaching.

1 minute ago, Clint Bizkit said:

Lever was the best thing that happened to O. McDonald.

He was the best thing to happen to our backline.

Our mids and half forwards let our backs down today, though.  Oscar was also going to find it tough against a bloke as tall as Cox.  I thought he battled manfully for most of the day.

So, is our much vaunted midfield as good as we think it is? Oliver, clearly, but the rest?

I wouldn't be too critical of Brayshaw - Tom Phillips has been huge for them all year, but Brayshaw shut him out of it today. But then that cost us as we lost Brayshaw's drive.

 

1 minute ago, big_red_fire_engine said:

We were a touch off and played against a team that are loaded with our kryptonite, fast spreading mids and flankers. Our second tier players had lower impact than they have. Yet we still kick 14 goals and Spargo kicks that early goal in the last it was probably game on. We need to decide against fast sides whether we rest Vince as he is a liability on days like today. The bye and 50 games in and its probably time for Trac to decide what he wants to get out of his career. Does not work hard enough. Will take 8-4 and strong %  and hope the boys are as disappointed as I and reset for a big second half post break. 

Pretty fair post Big Red. Regarding Petracca, I'm hoping someone taps him on the shoulder and advises that media appearances aren't his thing. He's not a natural and strikes me as someone who should concentrate on playing footy rather than stilted TV appearances.

And how does a a spud like cox kick 5. His kicking action today looked flawless.

And if I hear USA USA anytime soon I going to farkin lose it!

Lever will be the loss we feared. Defence was almost back to its shambolic worst. Smith performed admirably but we clearly needed someone back there to marshall the troops.

The extent to which we lost the clearance battle was alarming. If we can get the ball forward we are one of the most damaging sides in the comp but on days like today when it is one way traffic out of the middle we get badly exposed.

Not too many positives, team or individual. Hopefully some lessons learned.

Just now, P-man said:

Lever will be the loss we feared. Defence was almost back to its shambolic worst. Smith performed admirably but we clearly needed someone back there to marshall the troops.

The extent to which we lost the clearance battle was alarming. If we can get the ball forward we are one of the most damaging sides in the comp but on days like today when it is one way traffic out of the middle we get badly exposed.

Not too many positives, team or individual. Hopefully some lessons learned.

I thought that’s why Lewis was back there...

We had to lose one sooner or later.Losing to the Pies is bad but I epect us to only lose one more match season end. We will make top 4.

Nostalgic trip back to the bad old days. Oscar had a stinker, Vince has had it, Petracca needs a kick in the arse and Pederson can’t cope at this level. 

6 minutes ago, olisik said:

Hopefully Lever helps him out with the coaching.

Lever is now a registered defensive coach for us . Made official because of his season long injury. So obviously mentoring Petty and others . 

He was in the box today 

Edited June 11, 20186 yr by demonique
Poor grammar

15 minutes ago, DemonLad5 said:

I would seriously consider dropping Petracca.

Passenger. 

Whenever opposition score an unlikely goal, it seems Oscar McDonald is involved

Jones struggled to impact centre bounces today. Many of them he was just ball watching or semi wrestling his opponent who eventually runs off him for a handball receive.

Looking at the start of the game the players looked nervous. It was obvious from the first couple of minutes it was R23 all over again.

10 minutes ago, olisik said:

Well he showed he was unable to do anything to fill the void left from Lever. Good coaches would find a way.

Lever would have made little difference today. The weight of I50's would have smashed any defence. Our mids and half forwards got slaughtered and too often the Pies went forward under little or no pressure

1 minute ago, leave it to deever said:

Passenger. 

I said that after Suns game and got ridiculed, needs 5 weeks in the two's

No different than GARLETT

6 minutes ago, ENYAW said:

We had to lose one sooner or later.Losing to the Pies is bad but I epect us to only lose one more matchEut season end. We will make top 4.

Check the fixture. No top 4 for you.

we have been drafting too many one paced inside midfielders. this is not so obvious when we play weaker sides however is exposed against stronger sides. viney Jones and Oliver are just simply too slow to compete against treloar Sidebottom and De goey. I don't understand why our quickest player is playing in the 2s, it was evident our back line was too slow today with Lewis and Vince getting baths. we desperately need a gaff. pace has been something we have lacked over the past 10 years.

Typical Jones game.?

Clearly round 23 last year didn't sting as much as the players said it did.

It's not the fact we lost, I understand you cant win all the games, but [censored] me that first quarter was hopeless. We tried to get back into it and just couldn't, and the way we just drop away and lose by 7 goals. 

We will not grow as a team until we can at the very least bring 100% effort every single game and this shouldn't be to hard to ask considering these guys are meant to be professionals. 

None of these players deserve a week off, take them to the preseason camp the bailed on and give them a [censored] flogging until the learn that nothing less than 100% effort is not good enough. 

 

Just now, gOLLy said:

Typical Jones game.?

Nah, I will concede that when we are under pressure Jonesy always tries to do too much. Today was a prime example.

11 minutes ago, ENYAW said:

We had to lose one sooner or later.Losing to the Pies is bad but I epect us to only lose one more match season end. We will make top 4.

It’s not the loss, it’s the way we lost! 42 points is ridiculously flattering!

They embarrassed us. 

7 minutes ago, Beetle said:

It’s not the loss, it’s the way we lost! 42 points is ridiculously flattering!

They embarrassed us. 

Maybe thats needed.....Good teams learn & improve....Tigers got pumped in 2017 & when on from it!

We can only hope!