Who lubed the ball?

We are a fit team, very impressed with the running, i thought we had 2 more players. Apart from the kicking I loved how the defensive side of the game lifted substantially- feel good about next week. 

Blaming the conditions for the easy missed shots on goals, yet they were the usual suspects. 

Lucky it was only Freo. 

Should be 2nd on the ladder. 

Just now, Sir Why You Little said:

Footscray played half a game tonight. Their 2nd half was awful

True

 

2 minutes ago, Nasher said:

Have I caught MFCSS?

You?  No chance.  You're too level headed to catch that disease!

1 minute ago, Nasher said:

If that had been the outcome in a torrential downpour at the ‘G, we would be stoked. I’m content. 

I have a slightly sick feeling in my stomach still though that I don’t think is going to subside until we get a few more wins on the board. Have I caught MFCSS?

If you watched the whole game , then no. But wait what fresh bell is this? You think we'll get flogged next week (and have a bet on the dogs just in case) and miss the finals? Early diagnosis indicated early onset MFCSS

Was inside 50 count 78 to 28?

Lots of useless long bombs again, forward congestion, perfect opportunity for a specialist zippy little forward to show his class and get 20 possies and a handful of goals. 

If the best compliment we can give Jeffy is to say he laid 6 tackles in slippery conditions, then we need to seriously reassess his value to our club.

Edited July 7, 20186 yr by Moonshadow

We looked much quicker tonight but the opposition weren't much chop.  Still,  you can only beat what is in front of you.

We need a fit and firing Hunt to come into the team ... Frost made a difference too,  forget the stats,  he breaks the lines and that sort of stuff is invaluable.  Gets a defensive fist to the ball a lot too which may go unnoticed.

Fritsch is a potential game-breaker and match-winner.  A star of the future.  Harmes is at his best when he attacks the ball and takes the game on - again,  he might make a few errors but the upside is the payoff.  Stretch the same. 

All in all, it was a welcome return to form and our good players stepped it up. 

50 more inside 50’s, 24 more scoring shots. Should probably have won by more than 9 goals, but it’s a good win. 

NT has been good to us this year, 248-103.

Back it up next week dees.

Best game from Trac this year. 

4 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Footscray played half a game tonight. Their 2nd half was awful

Weeeeoowew weeeeoeeeewww ⛑??? reverse Demon contra indicator! I'm pencilling in a BOG from Bob Murphy with 25 goals as we play him back into footy and lose by lots. Luckily I'll have had a gorilla on the dogs at 15-1.

better check before I wreck myself totes got a bad case of MFCSS blues

5 minutes ago, Biffen said:

Who lubed the ball?

Was it uncle Bitters?

All the players made mention of how slippery the ball was out there. On another night Hogan would’ve clunked another four or five that he dropped. 

Frost and Jeffy were both welcome returns and are best 22 right now. Frost coming in should’ve happened weeks ago but spilt milk.

Andy or someone else mentioned in the game day thread that Fritzel is now one of our best players and it’s hard to disagree. The kid is just a skilled, smart footballer. An amazing pickup.

Some of the clearance work particularly out of the middle was a joy to watch. Some very nice chemistry between Gawn and the young mids. 

Goal kicking practice wouldn’t go astray. When we have momentum we need to capitalise better than we did. But under the conditions, in the end, it was a solid win and the season remains alive.

 

13 minutes ago, Wiseblood said:

It was ugly, it was tough to watch and the skills in the conditions were not flash.  But in the end we rock and rolled them by 9 goals and, had we said we would win by that margin earlier today, everyone would have taken it.

There were some real positives tonight.  Petracca returned to form in a big way which was great to see.  Did some really classy things but he also worked his backside off around the ball on the defensive end.  Had 5 tackles to go with 28 possessions (just needed to kick his goals!) and that's excellent.  Now he needs to keep it up.  Clarry and Gawn are stars, Salem and Harmes continues to improve and Gus is having a terrific year.  Bayley Fritsch looked a cut above in the conditions with his clean hands and silky skills.  

I thought the changes we made worked really well.  Stretch did some good things and used the ball well.  Jeffy, while not having a huge impact, gave us some pressure and zip at the fall of the ball and seeing him lay 6 tackles was really good.  He will only get better from that.  Frosty was excellent down back, albeit against average opponents, while I thought Spargo worked himself into the game.  It's good to see Goodwin make the right changes and it showed tonight.

Obviously, we still need to work on how we use the ball going forward.  We look terrific when we lower our eyes and have space for the forwards to lead into.  We still bomb it far too much, although we were still able to have 37 shots on goal.  Turn that into, say, 23.13 and we have smashed them off the peninsula.  Our defence was better tonight as well as we stifled their run.  I was a little worried their outside runners could make us pay, but we were far more organised and it showed.

Let's take the win and see it as a way to get our season back on track.  It was also good to add more to our percentage which is still the second best in the competition.  Yes, this was easy opposition but after last week we need to ensure we get these wins, and we did that tonight.  It's nice to be back on the winners list, even if it was a little ugly at times.

I couldn't watch the game. Thanks for the excellent summary . Touched on my key concerns of petracca and frost.

In darwin too.

Good win however am I the only one who cringes when Jones is near/has the ball in hand? His disposals are terrible, either A. Bomb it or B. Hospital handpass it 2m away or C. fumbles with his own team mates

Just now, chook fowler said:

Best game from Trac this year. 

Yup, too bad he kicked 0.3 but 28 touches and 5 tackles was a good return to form.

 

Also, Stretch in for Tyson...  amazing how the most obvious team selection can payoff.  

 

Just now, chook fowler said:

Best game from Trac this year. 

True Chook, he may be coming good at the right time.

7 minutes ago, Petraccattack said:

Inside 50s

Melb  78  Freo 28

Massive I know but Freo had some many back, so lots of repeat entries

Just now, P-man said:

All the players made mention of how slippery the ball was out there. On another night Hogan would’ve clunked another four or five that he dropped. 

Frost and Jeffy were both welcome returns and are best 22 right now. Frost coming in should’ve happened weeks ago but spilt milk.

Andy or someone else mentioned in the game day thread that Fritzel is now one of our best players and it’s hard to disagree. The kid is just a skilled, smart footballer. An amazing pickup.

Some of the clearance work particularly out of the middle was a joy to watch. Some very nice chemistry between Gawn and the young mids. 

Goal kicking practice wouldn’t go astray. When we have momentum we need to capitalise better than we did. But under the conditions, in the end, it was a solid win and the season remains alive.

 

Top five, easily.

Great to get the win, particularly great to see that we limited them to 7 goals, after we let 18 goals in last week. Against that, some really sloppy ball-in-hand play, (Hogan DE 42%), and inside 50's still leaving a lot to be desired. Also, not sure about J Smith forward, or the reason behind it, why drop Tim Smith or Weideman if we need that third marking target?

Thought Stretch showed a bit, continues to develop and mature, a few nice/classy moves.

Still, given the opposition and the conditions, hard to take too much out of it, the next week or two will give us a better idea of where we are.

Finally, will be surprised if Jones is still (co) captain next year. Slowly easing past his peak.

2 minutes ago, olisik said:

Good win however am I the only one who cringes when Jones is near/has the ball in hand? His disposals are terrible, either A. Bomb it or B. Hospital handpass it 2m away or C. fumbles with his own team mates

Yes.

I love Clarry.

Just now, Nasher said:

Yes.

Yes he's the only one or yes he's right?

Not sure about the lack of love for Jones. We absolutely smashed them tonight - everywhere on the ground. It’s just we didn’t convert.

Every week Lewis does something undisciplined. Should not be a leader.