Post Match Discussion - Preliminary Final

[jane02 3,748]

I feel even worse this morning than last night.

None of yesterdays game makes sense.

I tried hard to not read the newspapers but couldn't help myself - that has not helped my demeanour.

I am just so bitterly disappointed.

[JV7 2,351]

We just weren't able to get the game on our terms. We were on the backfoot from the firt minute as Goodwin said & we couldn't handle it. The players went into self-preservation and reverted back to old bad habits because they were rattled... Once it happened it was contiguous & the Eagles and their supporters were up & about and it just brewed into the perfect storm. 

As Goody said you either win or you learn and we learnt a huge lesson yesterday. The players & coaches will be better for the experience, it's disappointing because we were in some ways so close to the summit but in reality we are still little while off, we will get there I have no doubts on this playing group & coaching staff. Huge effort to win 2 finals & make a prelim, we all shouldn't forget that.

We get Lever and Hogan back next year & maybe pick up a player or 2. I feel for us to be a geninue contender we need to start the year like we finished(minus yesterday) we've got to be in & around the top 4 from round 1, we only clinched a finals spot in round 22. We need to by round 16-17 we are assured finals & pushing for a top 4 or top 2 spot to be serious premiership contenders.  Bring on 2019.

[deebug 1,754]

I want to play those scum at the G and hope and pray both Hogan and Lever are fit and it's game on.

[Demon17 5,188]

1 hour ago, Fork 'em said:

Correct.

Reputations are made in finals.
And we reinforced our reputation as mentally and physically weak under real pressure.
 

So you didn' t see the previous 2 finals with Cats and Hawks staging comebacks, with hawks players saying " Don't choke"  and yet overcome but still young and inexperienced team finals-wise?

Huge steps taken this year, good platform for next year's assault and glaring deficiency which I acknowledge shown up yesterday as a good dose of reality (think Lewis, outside run, close in shots at goal, Tyson ...) All fixable.

Soon as I heard the forecast yesterday I thought the season over. Ended up being 28 degrees.

[YesitwasaWin4theAges 6,703]

21 minutes ago, jane02 said:

I feel even worse this morning than last night.

None of yesterdays game makes sense.

I tried hard to not read the newspapers but couldn't help myself - that has not helped my demeanour.

I am just so bitterly disappointed.

The team had maximized its limit, throw in the hysteria,hostile atmosphere over their, we were over awed by the occasion. 

The heads dropped after the 2nd turnover in the middle of the ground. Gawn got worked over early, midfield had no energy, no tackle pressure, we could not shut down the spread at the source.

Thats why you have to get in top 4 and play your first final at home and win so your well and truely rested and not have to travel in a preliminary final week.

Yes Western Bulldogs played a Preliminary Final in Sydney but had 90% of the crowd. Yes they played at subi in week 1 with only 40,000 not 60, after a week break and at night, heat did us no favours.

Dogs beat up an ageing Hawks line up like we did, They never played a Prelim in a hositle atmosphere like we did, something we have to avoid in future.

 

[Mondê 525]

My key points that will help us go all the way next season:

Petracca needs to shed a stack of kilos, seriously sharpen up his footskills and become our playmaker linking the midfield to the forward line. He's better at creating than finishing in my opinion. 

Trade for some nippy and small forwards to plonk at the feet of our tall timber, with their primary role other than kicking goals to be apply maximum pressure. Think Liam Ryan and Willie Rioli yesterday. Hannan and Spargo will need to have enormous pre-seasons to convince me that they are capable of filling this void. WCE walked out of their defence yesterday. 

Get Steven May in with a Tyson + (?) package and switch Lewis into the coaches box. Salem becomes quarterback, Lever our obvious intercepter, Hibberd and Jetta lockdown defenders, Frost or Hunt can fight for the line breaking half back role. Not sure where that leaves Oscar.

Craig Jennings needs to sharpen how we setup behind the ball. 

 

 

[Deemania since 56 6,651]

10 hours ago, Leoncelli_36 said:

Just got off the flight from Perth and back home. I felt embarrassed in the first half and remembered what it was like to be a loser. Butt of jokes. Anyway, good ok them for showing some fight in the 3rd, bitvtyt was a disgrace. Ten blokes had their worst games for the year. I don’t need to name them. I will say that Dom Tyson is a scrubber and has been for two years...Lewis was foul and coughed up so many goals at crucial times. His position must be questioned. Oliver battled on. Viney has a good second half butt was missing , along with Jones, for 2 quarters 

There is talent within not yet ready to come up the the firsts team. We can only recruit out of this devastation for an immediate fix of less than two years ... so it is a backman giant killer we need to support Lever, Frosty, Hibberd, Nev, JSmith,  and perhaps, OMac if kept. Suggest May be the prey for the Dees. We need a ruckman who does the fwd line things of note, as well. Strongly suggest Preuss from the Kangas. We need two bloody quick ball handlers outside mids. Departures: Tyson, Lewis, Bernie, Jones, all very sad. Couple of others superfluous to our needs - unless improvements are totally evident. FD has its work cut out for 2019 and some realism factored into the mix. Lightweights abound, grunt needed. Sad realisations but we are too soft, still.

[Willmoy1947 4,096]

For a West Coast player to deliberately try to maim an opposition ruckman by going for his knees or calfs to strip the skin off is not football in my book.

[YesitwasaWin4theAges 6,703]

11 minutes ago, Demon17 said:

So you didn' t see the previous 2 finals with Cats and Hawks staging comebacks, with hawks players saying " Don't choke"  and yet overcome but still young and inexperienced team finals-wise?

Huge steps taken this year, good platform for next year's assault and glaring deficiency which I acknowledge shown up yesterday as a good dose of reality (think Lewis, outside run, close in shots at goal, Tyson ...) All fixable.

Soon as I heard the forecast yesterday I thought the season over. Ended up being 28 degrees.

Heat was a definite factor, we spent so much energy in the past 2 weeks.

Yes it was great the media exposure but we will have to learn to curve it somewhat in future finals series, got a bit much by the third week.

Our brand is in much better shape no doubt, but with all the added exposure on our club, we will be a hunted club especially playing in more higher rating timeslots eg. Friday, Sat nights.

[YesitwasaWin4theAges 6,703]

2 minutes ago, willmoy said:

For a West Coast player to deliberately try to maim an opposition ruckman by going for his knees or calfs to strip the skin off is not football in my book.

They went after Gawny, the worn him into the ground, plus Maxy has shouldered to much of the ruck load, maybe a reason were in for Prusse.

[At the break of Gawn 4,460]

5 minutes ago, Win4theAges said:

Heat was a definite factor, we spent so much energy in the past 2 weeks.

Yes it was great the media exposure but we will have to learn to curve it somewhat in future finals series, got a bit much by the third week.

Our brand is in much better shape no doubt, but with all the added exposure on our club, we will be a hunted club especially playing in more higher rating timeslots eg. Friday, Sat nights.

I honestly wonder if we would have done better in a night game? The heat really took it out of us early. Friday night was the logical time slot for us giving everyone 7 day breaks after the semi-final, but the AFL preferred the TV ratings.

[SPC 3,549]

I have tried not to post in anger, thought I’d save it till today. My feeling from yesterday was that a young group tired badly from the extra games.. not finals hardened yet and didn’t turn up. Need to add pace and kicking to our list and remove some dead wood.. 2019 we will make it to the big dance!!! 

[Bobby McKenzie 2,385]

49 minutes ago, Deemania since 56 said:

There is talent within not yet ready to come up the the firsts team. We can only recruit out of this devastation for an immediate fix of less than two years ... so it is a backman giant killer we need to support Lever, Frosty, Hibberd, Nev, JSmith,  and perhaps, OMac if kept. Suggest May be the prey for the Dees. We need a ruckman who does the fwd line things of note, as well. Strongly suggest Preuss from the Kangas. We need two bloody quick ball handlers outside mids. Departures: Tyson, Lewis, Bernie, Jones, all very sad. Couple of others superfluous to our needs - unless improvements are totally evident. FD has its work cut out for 2019 and some realism factored into the mix. Lightweights abound, grunt needed. Sad realisations but we are too soft, still.

Calling us soft is a bad call. Were we soft in the previous 4 games defining our season? We just had a really off day which can happen to any team even Richmond. i wonder if many people like you would call the Tigers soft?

[qwerty7 326]

Well, as most have said, a disappointing way to end an otherwise fantastic season. The most disheartening aspect of it all is that it just simply wasn’t Melbourne and as much as West Coast destroyed us, they also had luck to help them. 

That goal off the back of the LeCras’ foot after a dashing run of desperation from Hibberd was simply cruel for our boys. On top of that, Darling’s goal from a miracle bounce compared with Hannan’s missed opportunity when Optus Stadium decided to turn into a bloody trampoline and bounce the ball as high as possible to give West Coast a better opportunity to chase him - seriously wtf? I know the game was done and dusted by all those points, but it really just was not our day in all facets of the game. 

I do want to say though that it would take a pretty spectacular team to knock off a West Coast outfit like yesterday at Optus Stadium in a Preliminary Final. I landed back in Melbourne about three hours ago from Perth and you really don’t understand the home ground advantage they have until you go there and experience it yourself. I am not complaining, they earned their right to a home game - but the moment I got there, I knew we would have to play our most formidable football to win. Had the game been at the MCG, I am not saying we would have won, but we certainly would not have let it blow out the way it did. To make up 4% of a crowd, it is really hard to get the boys going when nothing seems to be going their way. We actually were playing somewhat decent footy in the first 10 minutes (in the sense that we were getting into our 50 and actually possessing the ball, though overly so) and had we had the electric crowd of the previous two games, I truly believe we would have been able to answer their pressure a little better and get ourselves into the game a bit more. The West Coast cheers even gave me chills and the pre-game stuff was inspiring - I mean they had a friggin, real, breathing eagle that flew around the ground and eat some bloody seed once it had looped the whole oval. But enough of the bird and the stadium, there is no point in dwelling in the land of could-have-been as that will take us nowhere… let us look to the land of what-will-be. 

All in all, the season has been a resounding success - if you told me we were going to make the preliminary final at the start of the year with the injuries we have had, I would have taken it in a heartbeat. Certainly yesterday was a missed opportunity, but also a valuable lesson that I believe we will come to thank later. I would have loved a premiership, but in my honest opinion, one this year would have been premature. The next five to ten years we have an opportunity to make multiple assaults on the flag and I am confident we will come out victorious on more than one occasion.

It was a bittersweet ending, but that bitterness can simmer in our guts along with the players’ helping to stir them on to a bigger and better season next year. Top 4 and we are shot to be the 2019 premiers. 

Edited September 23, 2018 by qwerty7

[jnrmac 20,097]

4 minutes ago, Bobby McKenzie said:

Calling us soft is a bad call. Were we soft in the previous 4 games defining our season? We just had a really off day which can happen to any team even Richmond. i wonder if many people like you would call the Tigers soft?

Yeah we should have kept Watts.

[Deemania since 56 6,651]

41 minutes ago, Bobby McKenzie said:

Calling us soft is a bad call. Were we soft in the previous 4 games defining our season? We just had a really off day which can happen to any team even Richmond. i wonder if many people like you would call the Tigers soft?

Yep, soft and exposed across several games this season. It is a combination of player availability, as well, and overwork/ expectation for/to some of our finest such as Gawn, TMac, Nev, Lever, Hibberd, Jones, Hogan, for example. It is also related to injuries and similar strength substitution of players at critical matches. 

[SFebes 4,884]

All I keep thinking about is the dropped games vs Cats x 2, STK and Port.......what could have been.

[Deemania since 56 6,651]

3 minutes ago, SFebes said:

All I keep thinking about is the dropped games vs Cats x 2, STK and Port.......what could have been.

Agree with these thoughts, Febes. The dropped games earlier in the season make us work far harder when the sticky end of the season arrives. We were always going to make the finals, this year, and 2 games from 3 in the finals is a highly credible achievement. 

[YesitwasaWin4theAges 6,703]

1 hour ago, At the break of Gawn said:

I honestly wonder if we would have done better in a night game? The heat really took it out of us early. Friday night was the logical time slot for us giving everyone 7 day breaks after the semi-final, but the AFL preferred the TV ratings.

We will never know, yep Friday night would have been the logical choice but those a holes at the AFL didn't think so.

I think if you were offered a Preliminary Final berth at the start of the season you would have ripped off the person arm that offered it to you.

[YesitwasaWin4theAges 6,703]

13 minutes ago, SFebes said:

All I keep thinking about is the dropped games vs Cats x 2, STK and Port.......what could have been.

That is our season right there. Win one or two more games and its a 1st Home final against those drug sniffing grunts. 

We better be playing those grunts at home this year, two seasons in a row we've played them at away.

I hope its late in the season round 21, 22 style, see how they like it the pricks.

[Sir Why You Little 37,046]

2 minutes ago, Win4theAges said:

That is our season right there. Win one or two more games and its a 1st Home final against those drug sniffing grunts. 

We better be playing those grunts at home this year, two seasons in a row we've played them at away.

I hope its late in the season round 21, 22 style, see how they like it the pricks.

We need to beat them in September on the MCG.

that’s when it really counts. 

[titan_uranus 25,020]

3 hours ago, SFebes said:

6. The boys started to look tired v Hawks, we had the toughest run home of anyone don't forget. WCE in Perth, Sydney, GWS then Cats, Hawks and WCE in Perth again.

I think this has to be acknowledged.

Take Collingwood as a counter point. After Round 7, they only left Melbourne three times (Gold Coast in Round 15, Sydney in Round 20, Fremantle in Round 23).

By comparison, we left Melbourne seven times in the same period. Granted, two of those are our own fault (NT games).

Also, only once in that period did we play consecutive games at the same venue - Rounds 20 and 21 at the G vs GC and Sydney. We were on the move a lot in the latter two-thirds of our fixture. We went to the NT twice, Adelaide twice, Geelong and Perth.

The week off helped us refresh, but then to have two finals and back that up with a trip to Perth with a side as young as ours surely took its toll physically.

3 hours ago, P-man said:

The 34 tackles is what has me stuffed. That is appallingly low for this side. I recall the commentary saying halfway through the second quarter that we’d had a total of nine tackles, five of which were in our forward 50. That’s four tackles across the rest of the ground approaching halftime.

Can that really just be mental? Surely not.

For whatever reason we just couldn’t get near them.

I think the above, about our fixture/travel, will have played a role in our tackle count being low.

I also think West Coast's marking game meant we simply couldn't tackle as much as we would have liked. The uncontested marks came a lot from their superior work rate which, again, will have in part come from our fatigue.

That's not the only reason, though. Our heads dropped with all those first quarter turnovers and that didn't help. Their mids were also just so much stronger than ours (Redden, Shuey, Yeo and Sheed are all older and stronger than Oliver, Brayshaw, Harmes and even Viney).

[Diamond_Jim 12,592]

1 minute ago, Win4theAges said:

That is our season right there. Win one or two more games and its a 1st Home final against those drug sniffing grunts. 

We better be playing those grunts at home this year, two seasons in a row we've played them at away.

I hope its late in the season round 21, 22 style, see how they like it the pricks.

If we play them at "home" it's likely to be in Darwin or the Alice unfortunately.

[Demonsone 2,041]

I know Mcgis the home of all GFs but from a purest of an even comp & rewarding teams who finish & win finals .. WC finished higher & beat the Pies in a final & yet playing at Pies home ground 

[YesitwasaWin4theAges 6,703]

47 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

We need to beat them in September on the MCG.

that’s when it really counts. 

My previous posts have stated this fact.