Maintaining possession our biggest current issue. Too many turnovers, and as Goodwin said, not connecting forward of the ball. Almost impossible for the moment to string together chains of possessions the way we were doing last year.

Rusty as.

1 minute ago, Micksdemons said:

Not watching and reviewing is not learning - how’s that working do you think Simon ??

The bloke sat there, in real time, and watched the Prelim happen.  I think he took plenty from it.

I (sadly) won money backing Port and Jee-long.

Despite how bad Essendon are, the odds on them next round (of $2.95) look juicy.

 

3 minutes ago, Moonshadow said:

7 commentators laughing over the top of Goodwin's presser.

Stay classy 7...

Cannot be as bad as the Brad Johnson-Dermie gigglefest on Fox. I'll check the presser on the club website.

1 minute ago, Micksdemons said:

Not watching and reviewing is not learning - how’s that working do you think Simon ??

Dead right Mick. The alarm bells rang in my head as soon as Goodwin said he was not going back. 

Pure arrogance. 

I could imagine Clarkson maybe doing that, he has this coaching thing well worked out. 

Goodwin is still using training wheels and he is paying for it right now

Well, that was a filthy night at the office.

Felt like we had worked our way back into the game in the second quarter, but the writing was on the wall for us when guys like T Mac, Melksham and Freitch miss relatively straight forward goals they would gobble up 80% of the time.  Doesn't help when Geelong ended up with 25 free kicks to 12, including a very dubious 50m penalty to them.  I really don't feel like the scoreboard reflected our performance tonight.  It wasn't a great performance by us, but we weren't that bad either.

Positives for me were our midfeild was dominant and most of our backs were ok. I thought Frosty put in a pretty decient game today.  Forward line with the exception of Melksham was pretty bloody ordanary though to say the least.  I don't think Sparrow is quite ready yet and needs to go back down to Casey for a bit.  Nibbler has been practicality non existent, Weid and Tommy have been struggling big time.  Pattraca had a stinker.  I don't think we can drop too many at once, because all of a sudden, our forward stocks are pretty slim pickings through injury and form.

From the Casey report,  it sounds like Stretch deserves a game, so I'd like him back in the side, perhaps for Sparrow or Nibbler and then shuffle a few around.  Our forward line looks very stagnant and is missing good delivery.  I'd like to see one or both of Freitch and Hunt down their.  Would also like Salem to push forward more, but don't think we can afford to loose his delivery out of our back half.

Honestly, this game felt a lot like the Hawthorn loss of last year.  It was a bad loss in it's own right, but I don't think we are that far off the pace.  Just need to chalk up a few wins for some confidence and to stay in the Hunt.

We played some diabolical shockers last season at various stages. Now all I can hope for is that we got them out of the way early this season. 

Edited March 30, 20196 yr by america de cali

3 minutes ago, Wiseblood said:

The bloke sat there, in real time, and watched the Prelim happen.  I think he took plenty from it.

Rubbish

Just now, Wiseblood said:

The bloke sat there, in real time, and watched the Prelim happen.  I think he took plenty from it.

Really so how’s that working for us ? 80 pts your joking of course - what do you think he learnt - we’ve won two quarters since and that includes the Coll practise match 

I had a friend come in from Australia and we went out for dinner. 

I told anyone who was likely to blab to keep the score under wraps. When I opened up the game tab on the Watch AFL app, I saw that the post match was still on and the first thing that said was that 'Geelong has thumped...'

That was enough for me. No point in watching the replay and I was vindicated in my choice of activity for the evening.

We clearly need to have a good hard look at ourselves. It's no longer year one of the rebuild. That was absolutely...

 

1 hour ago, Wiseblood said:

It's two things.  You can pin it on specific players all you like, but individuals aren't really the problem for us right now.  It's how quickly we move the ball, and the poor use of the ball going forward.

Both are related.  We get it, we bomb it and we generally turn it over at the moment.  Our gameplan is to kick it in there, keep it in there and get a goal.  Every now and then we might hit a lead, or get someone out the back, but it's a rarity.  Teams have pretty much worked us out when we go forward.  A prime example for me was the first foray forward in the last term.  Melksham marks, turns and kicks... to basically a three on one, as the Cats all went straight to the hot spot.  When the ball hits the deck they have the numbers, because we usually don't move it quick enough, and then they run it down the other end as they've set up to do so, while we have sent numbers forward to lock the ball in.  They have acres of space to hit targets and we can't defend it. 

I'm an optimist, but this isn't working.  We need to look closely at it.   What's the fix?  Weideman and Tom McDonald can't get near it, so we get stuck into them, but what chance to they have when the ball is kicked long to a contest all the time?  What are they supposed to do?  I know we have players down on form, but the way we go about things doesn't help.  Shifting a few out for others won't change a whole lot at this stage.

I thought our efforts around the ball were much, much better.  We had a dip pretty much all night and worked hard to match them in all areas.  Our ball use was poor, though, while they took every chance they got.  Think about the third term.  We kicked a few points - one of them being a goal might have changed our mindset, changed our outlook.  But we missed them all, they scored one from one entry and it was pretty much all over.

I mean, getting it forward isn't the problem for us.  Using it properly and/or keeping it in there, is.

Positives?  Our mids worked hard all night.  I like the look of young Sparrow and what he can bring to the side.  KK will be better for the run.  Outside of that, there isn't a whole lot else.

Individuals aren't the problem, here.  As I said, we have players down on form, but they aren't the core issues right now.  The game plan is the major issue.  We need to fix it and quick.  It's not panic stations for me yet.  We can easily still make finals.  But we need to change it up to do it.

Chin up, people.  Let's do our best to stick by the club and hope we bring the same intent, and better usage forward of the ball, on Friday night.  If we do then we win and get our season back on track.

I generally agree with this mate, but remember when commentators were saying we needed to start to put the foot on the throat of opposition teams and bury them when we had the chance?

To be a good football team you need to take your chances. We've been pretty good at this for a while, but ANB last week misses two very gettable shots that would have had us up by 5 or 6 goals and who knows. Good teams make this happen.

This week the perennially overrated Fritsch misses a soda from 15m out when we have all the momentum at the start of the third. Moments later, he inexplicably kicks across defensive goal and kicks it on the full. Selwood goals from the resulting free kick and instead of turning the screws and making it 3 goals the difference with almost a half to play, and with centre clearance dominance, we're five goals down in the wet and it's game over.

None of the other top teams have players that are regulars like us that make momentum-killing errors like these. 

I thought we'd get back on the horse and perhaps in dry weather we'll be a better shot, but our game style is busted and we have no forward winners.

We've definitively taken a step back and that upward trend was always going to be difficult to maintain, but we're not making the top 4 this year. That's done. History tells us this, particularly with our percentage. If we can get our game together next week then we're a chance for the 8, but without better ball use and forward winners, we're going nowhere but down. How embarrassing to be rooted to the foot of the AFL ladder again.

Geelong have surrendered centre clearances and played slingshot against sides since Scott started coaching. This is not new and we should know how to counter this. The wet weather undoubtedly helped them, but that doesn't explain an 80-odd point drumming.

We stood in the rain in general admin until the final siren, but knowing the game was over half way through the third brought back memories of 2012-2016.

I could see the work rate was there for the majority of the game. We got caught in defensive transition countless times, but I'm most concerned about our coaching, structures and ball use.

Oliver is a star. ? Gawn was great too. Viney and Brayshaw did some good things. Our defenders were reasonable, but we leaked far too many easy goals in that first quarter and late in the game. That's team defence.

I dread to think about next week. If it rains, I'm telling you right now, we've no chance.

Edited March 30, 20196 yr by A F

7 minutes ago, Micksdemons said:

Really so how’s that working for us ? 80 pts your joking of course - what do you think he learnt - we’ve won two quarters since and that includes the Coll practise match 

Would watching it again have helped? Give me a spell. 

We are in a deep rut gameplan wise right now, but re-watching the Prelim isn't the cause, no matter how you want to spin it. 

The forward line is non existent and Gawn is having zero influence on games thus far.

We also take next to no contested marks around the ground as opposed to almost every other side in the AFL.

Regardless of form get Preuss in the side to not only provide ruck support, but allow us to sit a tall in the forward line and take a key defender.

Work the small forward situation out, we currently have nothing to offer here. Until ANB learns to apply physical pressure get him out of the side! Aerobic, two way running my [censored] - means nothing if you aren’t willing to put your body on the line and win the ball.

Edited March 30, 20196 yr by Beetle

16 minutes ago, Wiseblood said:

I think picket has been going hard on the raspberry cordial tonight.

Yep with good reason, A dees Loss ( Bad) PF luurve of a nightcap, and wallah 

Recipe for Sledgefest!!

Edit - mistake.

Edited March 30, 20196 yr by Beetle

1 minute ago, Beetle said:

The forward line is non existent and Gawn is having zero influence on games thus far.

We also take next to no contested marls around the ground as opposed to almost every other side in the AFL.

Regardless of form get Preuss in the side to not only provide ruck support, but allow us to sit a tall in the forward line and take a key defender.

Work the small forward situation out, we currently have nothing to offer here. Until ANB learns to apply physical pressure get him out of the side! Aerobic, two way running my [censored] - means nothing if you aren’t willing to put your body on the line and win the ball.

Agree 101%% with this summation 

Could ANB have sleep Apnea during the day?? 

1 minute ago, Wiseblood said:

Would watching it again have helped? Give me a spell. 

We are in a deep rut gameplan wise right now, but re-watching the Prelim isn't the cause, no matter how you want to spin it. 

??

Just now, Micksdemons said:

??

?

14 goals to the cats from turnovers. 14

Must be some sort of record

36 minutes ago, Dame Gaga said:

Who is the media going to whip the most this week? Melbourne or Essenbomb?

It will be the afl for scheduling two bottom placed teams on a Friday night!!

1 hour ago, faultydet said:

I will bet many of those extra inside 50's were a result of chaotic back and forth at the 50, under intense pressure, and not actual targeted inside 50's

And there is one of the two main problems.

We bang it in without any purpose or direction and secondly we don't have the small forwards to take advantage of the inside 50's.

On the scoreboard that was an 80 point belting, which on the basis of effort and inside 50's, should have at worst been a 20-30 point loss.

33 minutes ago, Wiseblood said:

The bloke sat there, in real time, and watched the Prelim happen.  I think he took plenty from it.

I sat there watching it in real time and can’t remember the next 3 days.

38 minutes ago, Wiseblood said:

The bloke sat there, in real time, and watched the Prelim happen.  I think he took plenty from it.

Yet we still bomb it into the forward line like morons.

4 minutes ago, Gunna’s said:

It will be the afl for scheduling two bottom placed teams on a Friday night!!

It will huge at the Colosseum Friday night! Supporters of both sides will be baying for blood! Whichever side flounders first will receive the thumbs down from the crowd and we don't know what will happen next! Heads may roll! Someone will be sacrificed to appease the bloodthirsty fans! Roll up, roll up, for all the fun of the fight to the death! (That's how the AFL should promote the game).