1 hour ago, jnrmac said:

Harmes' performance was very worrying. He has gone completely backwards since 2018 and on yesterdays performance he is way off the mark.

He’s in big trouble for a spot with Viney back 

2 hours ago, jnrmac said:

Harmes' performance was very worrying. He has gone completely backwards since 2018 and on yesterdays performance he is way off the mark.

Agree Jnr.

Have been a fan of Harmes but yesterday was disappointing. Poor overhead, dropped or juggled many marks and fumbled many possessions even when he had time. And slow when running to the contest. Not sure about his future. 

At his best he is a valuable member of the team but at the moment he is a long way off. 

Harme's game yesterday was almost comical.

His defensive efforts and repeat efforts are also absolutely appalling for the level.

No doubt he'll be named starting mid next week though.

If not for May and Lever, we would have lost.

 

Yeh, a win is a win and all that haha. But seriously, what has changed in the way we play?

We will get annihilated by St Kilda in a single quarter next week if we dish the same up.

 

Where is the passion and desperation from the first bounce?

How does an AA ruckman dish up that kind of performance at the start of a season against a rookie?

 

We are the weirdest sporting team in the world.

5 minutes ago, JimmyGadson said:

Harme's game yesterday was almost comical.

His defensive efforts and repeat efforts are also absolutely appalling for the level.

No doubt he'll be named starting mid next week though.

If not for May and Lever, we would have lost.

 

Yeh, a win is a win and all that haha. But seriously, what has changed in the way we play?

We will get annihilated by St Kilda in a single quarter next week if we dish the same up.

 

Where is the passion and desperation from the first bounce?

How does an AA ruckman dish up that kind of performance at the start of a season against a rookie?

 

We are the weirdest sporting team in the world.

Your trying to take over from picket fence and old d as the most negative poster on this site.

8 minutes ago, JimmyGadson said:

Harme's game yesterday was almost comical.

His defensive efforts and repeat efforts are also absolutely appalling for the level.

No doubt he'll be named starting mid next week though.

If not for May and Lever, we would have lost.

 

Yeh, a win is a win and all that haha. But seriously, what has changed in the way we play?

We will get annihilated by St Kilda in a single quarter next week if we dish the same up.

 

Where is the passion and desperation from the first bounce?

How does an AA ruckman dish up that kind of performance at the start of a season against a rookie?

 

We are the weirdest sporting team in the world.

Quite a lot.

We didn't dominate time in forward half. We didn't dominate inside 50s. We didn't rely on clearances to generate momentum. We didn't bomb the ball as much as previously. We kicked far more than we handballed. We had a solid defensive half that was reliable. We generated scores from our defensive half, not relying solely on forward half turnovers. We won despite Gawn having a poor game overall.

Neither passion nor desperation were lacking yesterday (55 tackles to 49, 15 inside 50 tackles to 7, 49 one percenters to 45) either.

38 minutes ago, JimmyGadson said:

Harme's game yesterday was almost comical.

His defensive efforts and repeat efforts are also absolutely appalling for the level.

No doubt he'll be named starting mid next week though.

If not for May and Lever, we would have lost.

 

Yeh, a win is a win and all that haha. But seriously, what has changed in the way we play?

We will get annihilated by St Kilda in a single quarter next week if we dish the same up.

 

Where is the passion and desperation from the first bounce?

How does an AA ruckman dish up that kind of performance at the start of a season against a rookie?

 

We are the weirdest sporting team in the world.

Nothing's changed - you're still whinging even when we win.

47 minutes ago, JimmyGadson said:

Harme's game yesterday was almost comical.

His defensive efforts and repeat efforts are also absolutely appalling for the level.

No doubt he'll be named starting mid next week though.

If not for May and Lever, we would have lost.

 

Yeh, a win is a win and all that haha. But seriously, what has changed in the way we play?

We will get annihilated by St Kilda in a single quarter next week if we dish the same up.

 

Where is the passion and desperation from the first bounce?

How does an AA ruckman dish up that kind of performance at the start of a season against a rookie?

 

We are the weirdest sporting team in the world.

Yep it’s a funny thing. Despite our early goals, no one looked switched on. We were close to the fence and many players looked uninspired. 

My son made the comment after watching players on the wing  fumble under pressure that better sides would destroy us, thinking Richmond. 

Not really overly impressed with yesterday’s win. 

A few positives ( tmac, may, lever and young players looked solid without tearing it apart ) but for me looks like the same issues as last year are still going to let us down. Room for improvement with Viney and Ben brown to come in to the side. What worries me is the improvement to other sides Adelaide Sydney hawthorn that could all go past us very quickly if players like Salem Harmes Brayshaw don’t find their best form very soon.

Part of the problem is that so many of our mids only know one way and that was drilled into them since they were kids. 

The issues we saw with the midfield may look bad because the players are trying to do something different as instigated by Yze and co, and it doesn't come naturally so the first few games are still an adjustment period. Let's hope they figure it out soon

11 hours ago, Lampers said:

I can’t believe Yze can’t see it and doesn’t give the feedback, and numerous commentators called out Melbourne getting pushed close into the contest by Freo.

Yze can see it. As can (could) all the coaches. It's not the coaches.

21 hours ago, Purple77 said:

I counted at least 3 kicks inside 50 today by Spargo that hit a target, leading to a set shot goal.

That is why he's in the team. I like him. 

In 3 words

makes good decisions

usually with poise

 

agree - he’s solid

3 hours ago, Graeme Yeats' Mullet said:

He played well, happy to admit it...

But, his good games have been few and far between, and can't remember a good one in a losing side

Hoping he builds consistency!

So you have now changed the bar to include 'played well in a loss'. Good to know.

You do understand the role of a small forward don't you? Are you after 5 goals and 20 possessions in a loss?

 

4 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

We’re we killed?

A midfield of Fyfe, Mundy, Brayshaw, Cerra and Serong is going to have their moments in the sun. Apart from the first 5 minutes and then a flat patch in the 3rd we were very close to even. Freo fans right now would be saying ‘how did we let Oliver and Petracca get so much space running forward’

An AA ruckman dominating 40 to 17 in the hit outs against a 1st gamer and we comprehensively lose the clearances.

Yeah, I'd describe it that way.

Finally sitting down to watch the replay, early thoughts are Tommy Mac, Lever, and May were important early. May in particular was so important, he saved at least a couple of goals by choosing to mark instead of spoiling. 

Second thing was it’s incredibly frustrating watching us have very clear ruck dominance but it takes until 10min in before we win our first clearance. We have Clarry, Brayshaw, and Petracca who are all very good in the clinches, we can’t keep losing the clearances like that. If we’re not going to use Max’s ruck dominance then perhaps we need to rethink how we use him. Ultimately we should be finding a way to win or break even on the clearance count. 

34 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

So you have now changed the bar to include 'played well in a loss'. Good to know.

You do understand the role of a small forward don't you? Are you after 5 goals and 20 possessions in a loss?

 

Nope, just want to see more of yesterday's efforts.

In the last 2 years he's struggled to string together games (8 + 8), and his tackling and pressure acts have dropped off from 2018. Face facts, he was lucky to get another contract.

As I said, hope he builds some consistency.

3 hours ago, JimmyGadson said:

If not for May and Lever, we would have lost.

...but the point is, we did have them.

They're a part of our team, it's why we got them...to replace Oscar & Frosty.

Looks like a pretty good piece of list management.

Saying something like what you are saying is like saying the Tiges don't win a flag without Dusty & .....

 

Just watched the replay, knowing the result of course. Thought all played well, no obvious terrible games.  They were all very rusty though.  The backs were great. The mids played better around the ground than in the centre IMV . the forwards. Rusty but played well

standouts May. Lever. Oliver  Harmes    Tmac .  Spargo  Gawn    Very good first game Jordan , Langdon. 
 

Gunna be hard next week.  Go Dees

Early thoughts second quarter, I’ll echo the sentiments of Spargo and I think he could be an unexpected cog in the machine. Despite the differences in height he could actually be what Melksham was in 2018. Not high possession but making every possie count. 

Another positive thought is that I feel the tackling effort is there, they’re keeping the pressure on and making it hard for Freo to get easy kicks. 

A negative was there was a very clear tap win from Max in a centre bounce I just watched and it went nowhere near any of our midfielders. That’s bad communication and them clearly being on different pages. We’ve got enough smart people at the club, work it out!!!

Just me but I watched the game closely at the G and then replay this morning, I thought that we played the game that was needed to blunt and then get on top of the dockers, to say they are depleted is not taking into consideration our outs. I thought our team work was at times exceptional and we had to work hard for some of our goals but work hard we did, kicking 2.6 in the last took some of the shine off our score line, particularly when some were very gettable. A win is a win.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I didn't hear the interview, but during the coverage the fox commentators were referencing an earlier chat with Fyfe.  When asked how to counter the Melbourne mids, he said that they needed to get behind them and push them inside the contest, meaning force them in too close to the rucks so they can't effectively get the ball out.  The commentators were pointing out how successful this tactic was for them.  I think what we can take from this is that the poor clearance rate from our midfield was contributed to by some tactics of dubious legality that the umpires completely overlooked. 

49 minutes ago, RalphiusMaximus said:

I didn't hear the interview, but during the coverage the fox commentators were referencing an earlier chat with Fyfe.  When asked how to counter the Melbourne mids, he said that they needed to get behind them and push them inside the contest, meaning force them in too close to the rucks so they can't effectively get the ball out.  The commentators were pointing out how successful this tactic was for them.  I think what we can take from this is that the poor clearance rate from our midfield was contributed to by some tactics of dubious legality that the umpires completely overlooked. 

Smart and legal. We need to be better

23 hours ago, Beetle said:

Yeah....he’s a real dud.

Go look up Jordie mckenzie or James magner stats. 40 touches of the ball (or 24) doth not make an afl star.

Midway through the 3rd quarter something I'm surprised to say, Jetta has played a good game and looks back to his older self. Still not quite what he was at the best, but rarely beaten all day. 

The other thing I’ve felt about the game is that Freo had plenty of periods where they were better but they didn’t make the most of it, overall though we’ve been the more polished team throughout the day. Both teams missed kicks/opportunities that really should’ve been goals, we got the scoreboard pressure early which got us out to the advantage we ended up having all day. 

12 hours ago, NeveroddoreveN said:

Clayton was getting held so often at stoppages.

Had a good view of this in the centre bounce time after time. Clarrie was getting harassed and held every time by his opponent. The gormless umpires did nothing. 

12 hours ago, NeveroddoreveN said:

he was bobbing up all over the place

Agree with this! Can never get sick of seeing that mop of red hair. He was in everything.

Thought we changed where we take the ball to from the half back area. We seemed not to use the boundary area or the fat sides. Looked like they used the central and wing corridors.

Our mids couldn't get any free run for the taps at stoppages.  Max connects best when the mids are on the move. If the umpires allowed more harassment of us then we need to get tougher and throw our weight around. Tell Pettraca to get angry and stop treating the opposition like friends when he crosses the white line. Run through a few of their are taggers and pests.

Edited March 21, 20214 yr by kev martin