Does our game plan bring the best out of our list? 

This press trying to keep the ball in our attacking half to create forward half turnovers isn't working for us, it creates congestion helping the opposition defend. Our talls think bringing the ball to ground is a "win" then we get smashed at the ground ball. Quick turnovers against us and we are out of position, the opposition score easily.

With the best ruckman in the comp. A young talented midfield group, and a back 6 as good as any we should be spreading the ground making it hard for opposition to score and opening up our forward line especially considering we have injuries to key talls.

Put Trac in the goal square open up the 50 with Fritsch and a rotating Gawn and Jackson leading into space and we can kick a score in the early rounds.

I fear if Goody is stubborn on his Game plan especially with a underdone midfield we will at best be 1 and 4 season over by round 5. He has to adapt to whose available I can just see it loose to Freo first up and the wheels will fall off. 

yeah lets hope so. The quickest way to get Goodwin sacked is a win for the club. If that's a 1-4 start then so be it. 

Ahh the old doomsday thread following a loss

Here we go again indeed 

Wait and see when we get a full list on the park, before seeing if Goodwin keeps his job, or not??

I just hope we see something much better, on field this year, then we have been in past seasons.

I tend to agree that the press doesn't help us at all.

We can win contested ball in the middle, but the important first or second disposal is a real weakness.

This is compounded in the forward half when we have 80% of our players in there. We don't have the players capable of kicking flukey goals, yet that's how we plan on kicking them

Edited March 9, 20214 yr by BW511

No game plan will matter if we can't keep the football.  We don't have a contested marking forward means we need to hit up players on leads.  We don't move the ball clean enough and will turn it over that will lead to opposition scoring.

Until we can get out disposal up to scratch we will not be contenders.

We can keep composure for small parts of the game, but like the third quarter yesterday as soon as we lose it, bad kicking spreads like Co-Vid through our side everybody starts missing targets.

  On 09/03/2021 at 03:40, deebug said:

Wait and see when we get a full list on the park, before seeing if Goodwin keeps his job, or not??

I just hope we see something much better, on field this year, then we have been in past seasons.

We had our 'full list' for all off last year, I have never really bought into Goodwin as a coach I just hope I'm wrong because this club needs stability to thrive.

I think he is coaching to save his job rather then take a risk, where has the forward thinking gone, didn't he invent the diamond wings running through the middle before 6.6.6. Was introduced. We need something of a similar nature to spark the group 

  On 09/03/2021 at 03:51, drdrake said:

No game plan will matter if we can't keep the football.  We don't have a contested marking forward means we need to hit up players on leads.  We don't move the ball clean enough and will turn it over that will lead to opposition scoring.

Until we can get out disposal up to scratch we will not be contenders.

We can keep composure for small parts of the game, but like the third quarter yesterday as soon as we lose it, bad kicking spreads like Co-Vid through our side everybody starts missing targets.

That's definitely been the case for a long time and hasn't been fixed we can all see it, who's responsible? AFL players should be able to hit targets even under pressure. as you say we have no one taking contested grabs so we congest our forward half making it harder to mark. We need to create space for leads

  On 09/03/2021 at 03:26, Rednblueriseing said:

With the best ruckman in the comp. A young talented midfield group, and a back 6 as good as any we should be spreading the ground making it hard for opposition to score and opening up our forward line especially considering we have injuries to key talls.

Put Trac in the goal square open up the 50 with Fritsch and a rotating Gawn and Jackson leading into space and we can kick a score in the early rounds.

 

We play an opposition not just circle work. You can’t simply ‘open the forward line’. Move the ball slowly and the forward line will congest.

In fact a big problem is we spread a lot and try to get forwards deep and then turn the ball over between the lines.

And we don’t play the aggressive defensive press any more where every defender starts equal or forward of their men. We start behind and drop May and Lever in to gaps. 

Our ball movement was dreadful yesterday. Slow to react. Very little risk and creativity yet somehow also reluctant to go into a switching model which is the way to get around the dogs assertive press.

But against the Tigers we moved the ball fairly well. Clearly we missed Salem and the confidence the experienced mids give to run and draw the footy. We have to hope it was more of a bad day than a sign of things to come. 

  On 09/03/2021 at 04:20, DeeSpencer said:

We play an opposition not just circle work. You can’t simply ‘open the forward line’. Move the ball slowly and the forward line will congest.

In fact a big problem is we spread a lot and try to get forwards deep and then turn the ball over between the lines.

And we don’t play the aggressive defensive press any more where every defender starts equal or forward of their men. We start behind and drop May and Lever in to gaps. 

Our ball movement was dreadful yesterday. Slow to react. Very little risk and creativity yet somehow also reluctant to go into a switching model which is the way to get around the dogs assertive press.

But against the Tigers we moved the ball fairly well. Clearly we missed Salem and the confidence the experienced mids give to run and draw the footy. We have to hope it was more of a bad day than a sign of things to come. 

I have to disagree if your a forward say a half forward and push to 60 meters out your opponent can sit back in the hole and leave you free, or man you up leaving a gap for a forward to lead into. it's basic, creating space and every other team do it

We are on the decline IMO. I can’t see us improving at the rate needed to keep up with the competition. Beyond our inconsistent A graders we are far too vulnerable. Whether this is more a list problem or a coaching problem I’m not sure. I worry it’s both. I can’t see us scaring the eight this year and I don’t think we have the skill set to not need a clean out. Our flaws look to be continuing year on year. There is an apparent issue with the mental side of things and the skill execution area. Beyond Gawn, Petracca, may and possibly lever and Oliver what do we have? Oliver has gone backwards and lever needs a consistent run at it but I think he’ll be ok. Brown may help...

it could be a very long year.

I think if you look at preseason form the last 5-10 years you'll find it's generally not a good guide for how teams go throughout the season.

The Bulldogs midfield (inside and outside) towelled us up last year and it will be even better this year - I rate them highly and would not be surprised to see them in the top 4.  They reportedly set themselves for the game.

We played them missing half our forward line (Brown, Weid, Kozzie) and half our midfield (Viney, Brayshaw, Oliver) so I don't think we need to read too much into it.  Even at full strength I would think the Bulldogs would be better than us at the moment so the loss cannot be a huge surprise.

Its disappointing that our second string midfielders (Sparrow, Jordan, Baker etc) did not go up a gear but I don't think we can expect these guys to carry the load - but they will be useful when they have some more experience and muscle around them.  My biggest concern is that we still seem to be unsure about who will play the other wing.

The biggest positive is the form of May and Lever - they look set for big seasons.  If they can keep up that form, that will keep us in a lot of games while we sort out our issues forward of the ball - fingers crossed its not far away from clicking when our prime movers return.

Trust me, I’ve got my knives sharpened for Goodwin, but I think it’s premature to pass verdict based on a pre-season game where our second string got towelled up by a full-strength doggies side. Let’s give it 4 or 5 games to see if we’ve addressed the flaws in our game before passing judgment. If we’re 1-4 then by all means release the hounds.

I think you are being reasonable @Better days ahead, but also feel like we are always waiting 4-5 games for things to gel/address a weakness/make a change/come into form/get back from injury/find a home base etc etc

 

I thought this was going to be a tribute to Whitesnake.