I thought one of the better things to come out of the game was that w ed never panicked when the Dubs were coming back hard. We didn't chip sideways and get spooked like in the Carlton gane last year around this time. We kept cracking in and eventually got our reward. 

Also of note is the fact that in three rounds we have only looked like we weren't in control of the game for a few minutes.  The start of this match was probably the worst we've seen for that, and it lasted maybe five to ten minutes.  Aside from that, ugly or not, scoring or not, we've been in control of the games.  The side is showing a lot of maturity in being able to keep that control, possess the ball when we need to and not panic like they used to. 

2 minutes ago, Lord Nev said:

Salem definitely. Gus, no.

4 clangers and 4 turnovers tonight.

Going at 57% by foot so far this year.

Gus was ordinary again, particularly early. Got some easy touches in the 2nd half.

I like the comfort of him playing and giving extra midfield option. But he's been too sloppy, and one of his chasing efforts on Kelly was pathetic and caused the start of easy transition to goal.

Just now, Graeme Yeats' Mullet said:

Gus was ordinary again, particularly early. Got some easy touches in the 2nd half.

I like the comfort of him playing and giving extra midfield option. But he's been too sloppy, and one of his chasing efforts on Kelly was pathetic and caused the start of easy transition to goal.

I thought that was the best of his 3 games so far, but still not where he should be, and agree on his chasing efforts.

Interestingly, he played more game time than usual tonight and attended at least a couple of centre bounces (will confirm that once I see that stat somewhere).

But yeah, IMO he can't be an outside wing option when he doesn't apply a lot of pressure and doesn't kick well.

1 hour ago, Nasher said:

Hunt and Langdon were excellent tonight.

There was one moment where Hunt got it at half back and handballed to Langdon on the wing, then both of them sprinted down the wing together with their hair blowing back. If someone could dig out a screenshot of that, that'd be great, I need a new avatar. Think TMac has had his time :-)

I think he knows it to....he looked quite down at the end of the game.

It’s not about winning by 100 points, I would have taken a 1 point win if I saw improvement in some areas of our game that we have struggled with for years. 
 

Wayne Bennett currently coaching South’s NRL was head coach of the Brisbane Broncos for years. I think he’s won seven premierships as coach, six with the Broncos and one with St.George. When I lived in Qld I watched a little bit of league, I remember seeing him after some games interacting with the players and during his press conferences not wanting the players to get ahead of themselves. At times when the Broncos won against quality opposition he would be happy for the win but would go on to identify areas that needed to be worked on. When they had a win like we had tonight he would be scathing and at times take journalists to task who dare suggest they played well. When they lost he would highlight areas that the team did well sighting they had a lot to work with. 
 

2 hours ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

Sad?....more like realistic. Have you been following this team for long? After what transpired tonight the players would of been better off not singing the song and discussed what could of quite easily been a loss. We got lucky with so many injuries to the Giants, still some repetitive areas of concern for us at the moment. It’s a long season, they’ll be plenty of other opportunities to sing the song. As I said, many won’t agree.

Yeah. I've followed for a long time. You know what ive seen? A lot of losses.

I dont think the lid is off. I'm very realistic in thinking that we have had a soft start to the season and know that we are one of many teams battling it out for 6-12 on the ladder. But i will take it as we were a bit underdone heading into the season.

We are three wins from three games. I'm happy that we have won.

I've also been around on these board long enough to know that my words will fall on deaf ears with you. You have always been a bit of a pessimistic [censored]

I mean... you dont even want the team to sing the song. Have a think about what you post. 

Edited April 4, 20214 yr by BAMF

7 minutes ago, Lord Nev said:

Salem definitely. Gus, no.

4 clangers and 4 turnovers tonight.

Going at 57% by foot so far this year.

Didn’t look at the stats. 69% tonight is lower than I would’ve thought. He did well on the eye test. Maybe his best possessions were in our half of the ground.

1 hour ago, Lord Nev said:

Salem definitely. Gus, no.

4 clangers and 4 turnovers tonight.

Going at 57% by foot so far this year.

Jeez Nev, you give Gus a hard time.

I thought he did his bit tonight. Manned his wing, tough in the contest and took his goal well. One of our better players.

1 hour ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

I would have taken a 1 point win if I saw improvement in some areas of our game that we have struggled with for years. 

We won a game that in recent seasons we would have lost. I'd call that improvement.

1 hour ago, Grr-owl said:

What happens when Weid and Brown return?

There's no room for Tmac. Brown, Weid as the key talls, Jackson as the third tall/ruck. Fritsch and the smalls to compliment.

1 minute ago, Better days ahead said:

Jeez Nev, you give Gus a hard time.

I thought he did his bit tonight. Manned his wing, tough in the contest and took his goal well. One of our better players.

I just think a player like Gus playing to his potential is what can push us to the next level. He's nowhere near that so far this year IMO.

What does "manned his wing" mean? He's rated as below average for pressure acts and disposal efficiency. He needs to be doing well at one of those at least surely? Disagree he was one of our better players tonight, but I thought it was his best game for the year so far. He'd be a fair way down the list of our best, particularly when he disappeared for 2 quarters.

Just think it's unfair how quickly other players get jumped on but Gus flies under the radar, especially given his level of talent.

The umps were ****house. 
 

And we still beat the giants. 

Some harsh comments regarding tmac. He had a bad match but has been very good in the previous two. Should not be dropped on the basis of one negative game. 

 

Really impressed with Hunt's game. Also thought Tomlinson was good. I thought he was a dead set spud leading into this season but have been happily proven wrong. 

20 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

Was using effort in the overall sense, but I thought the mental effort was lacking pretty much all night. Got jumped at the start. Coasted to a minor lead. Then gave up 2 goals to start the last.

We ran hard and we had a crack but that’s the bare minimum. Skills and smarts were both poor for the majority. 
 

If the Giants didn’t have any injuries is any confident that we even win? They lost 3 leaders and important players.

We were not at the "bare minimum", ridiculous to imply as much.

Yes, our skills were poor, as they have been all year so far, but the way we set up across the ground was consistent and indeed it was our reliable structures and systems that ensured we got back into the game early.

As to whether we'd have won without their injuries, you'd imagine it would have been closer but we were already turning the tide in the first and early in the second before the injuries took place. Plus Davis has been a shadow of his former self so far this year.

16 minutes ago, Lord Nev said:

Salem definitely. Gus, no.

4 clangers and 4 turnovers tonight.

Going at 57% by foot so far this year.

Brayshaw was good today. Not great, just good.

Some mark him too easily, I accept that. But I get the sense you mark him too harshly. 3rd highest metres gained for us is of major importance for our non-Langdon wing.

1 hour ago, Lord Nev said:

I just think a player like Gus playing to his potential is what can push us to the next level. He's nowhere near that so far this year IMO.

What does "manned his wing" mean? He's rated as below average for pressure acts and disposal efficiency. He needs to be doing well at one of those at least surely? Disagree he was one of our better players tonight, but I thought it was his best game for the year so far. He'd be a fair way down the list of our best, particularly when he disappeared for 2 quarters.

Just think it's unfair how quickly other players get jumped on but Gus flies under the radar, especially given his level of talent.

Not sure I want to get into a back and forth with you on Gus.

He played his part in a very good win. Other players contributed less imv.

If someone gets squeezed out and it happens to be Gus I won’t be organising any protest marches.

16 minutes ago, BAMF said:

Yeah. I've followed for a long time. You know what ive seen? A lot of losses.

I dont think the lid is off. I'm very realistic in thinking that we have had a soft start to the season and know that we are one of many teams battling it out for 6-12 on the ladder. But i will take it as we were a bit underdone heading into the season.

We are three wins from three games. I'm happy that we have won.

I've also been around on these board long enough to know that my words will fall on deaf ears with you. You have always been a bit of a pessimistic [censored]

I mean... you dont even want the team to sing the song. Have a think about what you post. 

That’s twice now you’ve attacked the man and not the ball, that’s ok. 

Did you read my above coach comments regarding Wayne Bennett?

What effect do you think it would have on the team if for one game we didn’t sing the song, but the players spoke openly and honestly with each about how easily tonight could of been a different result and about what it is we want to achieve. Do you think it would have a negative of positive effect?

We all want one thing but when certain aspects of our game continue to remain the same what harm can come from mixing things up. We shouldn’t be afraid to try new things and to hold each other accountable.

 

Edited April 4, 20214 yr by Bombay Airconditioning

7 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

Brayshaw was good today. Not great, just good.

Some mark him too easily, I accept that. But I get the sense you mark him too harshly. 3rd highest metres gained for us is of major importance for our non-Langdon wing.

Metres gained isn't a stat I pay a lot of attention to tbh, especially for us. Using the ball well and applying pressure are the things I personally consider important in the context of our weaknesses as a team. I just think, if you can't do one well then you really need to nail the other one and currently Gus isn't doing either. I understand some may think I'm marking harshly, but I think he's a FAR better player than what he's shown so far this year, so it's a kind of tough love in a way.

I'd love to see him either become an elite ball user, particularly linking up forward OR become a running, pressure machine. Gut feel is he probably considers himself the former, but it's not clicking for him in that way so far. Hopefully he can sort out the kicking yips because if he reaches his potential playing in that role then we're next level dangerous.

Edited April 4, 20214 yr by Lord Nev

4 minutes ago, Better days ahead said:

Not sure I want to get into a back and forth with you on Gus.

He played his part in a very good win. Other players contributed less imv.

If someone gets squeezed out and it happens to be Gus I won’t be organising any protest marches.

All good mate. I wouldn't have him coming out this week personally, I thought it was a step forward for him, he just has a few more steps forward to take IMO.

5 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

We were not at the "bare minimum", ridiculous to imply as much.

Yes, our skills were poor, as they have been all year so far, but the way we set up across the ground was consistent and indeed it was our reliable structures and systems that ensured we got back into the game early.

As to whether we'd have won without their injuries, you'd imagine it would have been closer but we were already turning the tide in the first and early in the second before the injuries took place. Plus Davis has been a shadow of his former self so far this year.

Both Davis and Coniglio aren't what they used to be but they were important players if the Giants were to sustain their game plan of flooding back, taking intercept marks, keeping pressure on us then counter attacking. They had a path to make it hard for us and were doing it.

I'll rephrase. Surely no one is giving tonight a distinction. Some may give it a credit. I thought it was a pass. About 55%. Come back next week for a far tougher exam.

55 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

Biggest concerns to me: 

1. GWS only had to switch once or twice to then open up all sorts of room on slow plays. Geelong will kills us if we’re so loose.

2. There’s still a lack of trust with the defenders especially when the ball hits the deck. Too much zoning rather than sticking one on one.

Rivers has to stick tackles and Lever particularly has to know when to get up on his man. He gave Himmelberg way too much space all the time. Get up on him and halve a contest and trust team mates to cover back. Same goes for May when taking a small like Greene. Back Lever, Tomlinson etc to do the aerial contests if you aren’t in best position and stick on your man. 

Yep, good post. Thought for the most part Rivers was ordinary and seems to be experiencing those second year blues. Some of those tackling efforts were not AFL standard. And how did May constantly get beaten for strength by little Toby Green?

We structured up beautifully, but then made too many silly errors. Room for improvement.

-We have some fight in us!

Good run and effort.  

Lever kept up the intercepts, as May played a different game (we missed his dominance).

Oliver will get some "learnings", from that close tag. 

Bombed away too much into our crowded forward line. Need to work on hitting up the targets.

In the first, GWS kept attacking from the wing and half-back. Great that we stopped that.

Jetts, Tom and Trac had bad games.

Need to kick the easy ones, for confidence, momentum and score pressure. They need a better routine, ( particularly Tracc, Oliver and Gawn). They seem to be working on relaxing instead of a serious method. Hold the ball steady, know how many steps and hit it sweetly. Repeat and repeat at training.

Max gives us flexibility in playing forward, back or mid. Great to see Goody mix it up.

Kossie, Langdon, Max, Fritta, Hunt, River for the entire game. Viney, ANB, Jackson, Brayshaw, Salem, Lever, Jones in bursts. Spargo, Sparrow,  Tomlinson, Jordan as role players.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 4, 20214 yr by kev martin

1 hour ago, A F said:

And how did May constantly get beaten for strength by little Toby Green

Because he's a great footballer. If he was playing for any other team he'd be lauded as one of the best in the comp. Super player.

1 minute ago, Better days ahead said:

Because he's a great footballer. If he was playing for any other team he'd be lauded as one of the best in the comp. Super player.

greene is fairly well lauded as it is - only the one all australian honour but that's more been due to injury and suspension than anything else

Can we dare to dream now???