out of interest how many times do the players dump the footy's in water and do goal kicking practice like that? The footy is a wet football most weeks in melbourne.. 

18 minutes ago, Demon Jack said:

This isn't just us, this has spread throughout the competition like wildfire.

During one of the earlier game's today, one of the commentator's mentioned that goal kicking accuracy is currently at an all time low, and we're talking 150 years of VFL/AFL football.

 

Don't know what measurement they're going off, but it's been worse plenty of times. Having said that, a lot of the 1970s-1990 seasons had way higher average scores than now so they had more shots. It hasn't been this bad with scores so low since the early 1960s.

Let's get it back to the 38.21% of 1900 and try to win the flag again.

The elephant in the room.

Worst thing is we've had 18 rounds to improve but haven't.  At the end of the day we keep coming back to the forward line being the main reason for most of our ills.

So one has to look at the players concerned as a whole.  Are they really interested in improving in this area and taking their game (and the team's) to the next level?  I'm sure some might be and might be putting in some extra work off the main training sessions.  But are they?  If not why not?  Especially those that have an awful record (ie; most of them).

Improve this aspect and we win another two games this year and would be well clear on top.  No chance of missing top two or four.

As much as i loathe the Cats I'll give them this.  They're mostly pretty accurate at their set shot kicking and it does get them out of plenty of trouble much of the time.  They seem to pride themselves on it and ice/win plenty of matches by being super accurate here with pretty decent kicking boots anywhere inside 50.

Is it partly to do with the method as GTB pointed out earlier.....

Go the Biff

Posted 4 minutes ago

Same bloke who's delivered our poxy F50 strategy - that being all the talls run to the one spot & we kick it on their heads

What a pox it was tonight!  Talk about amateur hour.  Both talls also playing from behind almost the entire evening.  

No doubt we are diabolical up forward in so many aspects.

Bad kicking is bad footy.  Both coming inside on the last kick (Spargo aside....and occasionally Melk when he's in and firing a little) and set shots at goal.

Has cost us at least two H&A matches so far (this one and GWS) and will also cost us in finals if not addressed in the next four rounds.

How much of our forward woes lie with Stafford?  Is he the weak link at the coaching level?  It's been a constant issue for far too long now.

Edited July 17, 20213 yr by Rusty Nails

Let’s be honest. How many players in our team could regularly kick set shots from 50 out? Actually forget that how about 40 out? Some of the ways these balls were missing was embarrassing either not making the distance or being way off. Fix it now, win finals, deliver us the flag. 

1 hour ago, Fork 'em said:

This guy.

 

 

I thought it was this guy

29 minutes ago, Supermercado said:

Don't know what measurement they're going off, but it's been worse plenty of times. Having said that, a lot of the 1970s-1990 seasons had way higher average scores than now so they had more shots. It hasn't been this bad with scores so low since the early 1960s.

Let's get it back to the 38.21% of 1900 and try to win the flag again.

The commentator today (Der-wayne I think) said it's the worst its been in 150 years so was clearly being sarcastic. I think it's the worst its been in 15-20 years though.

I can't be overly critical of the total performance tonight but it is abundantly clear the need to correct our mental application and physical application to our goal kicking.

G.Stafford and the crew need to get creative in regards to our discussions going forward, but no doubt has to be addressed in the right way.

No need in creating a bigger problem than it is, the players know they aren't performing this aspect of the game.

Maybe another camp fire setting and a relaxed discussion over a couple of spring waters.

40 minutes ago, layzie said:

Let’s be honest. How many players in our team could regularly kick set shots from 50 out? Actually forget that how about 40 out? Some of the ways these balls were missing was embarrassing either not making the distance or being way off. Fix it now, win finals, deliver us the flag. 

Salem is the only one that I think I trust kicking for goal. That's how [censored] our forwards are. And our mids are really inaccurate too. 

9 minutes ago, Win4theAges said:

I can't be overly critical of the total performance tonight but it is abundantly clear the need to correct our mental application and physical application to our goal kicking.

G.Stafford and the crew need to get creative in regards to our discussions going forward, but no doubt has to be addressed in the right way.

No need in creating a bigger problem than it is, the players know they aren't performing this aspect of the game.

Maybe another camp fire setting and a relaxed discussion over a couple of spring waters.

Before this game.

Oliver 6.12

Gawn 8.12

Brayshaw 2.4

Viney 1.4

Up until tonight, our forwards have actually been 'covering' the fact these midfield leaders are 17.32.  (all of them more goals than behinds except Spargo)

Although tonight would suggest otherwise, if the club just focuses on the forwards its missing a much deeper problem. Namely our midfield are below average kicks.  List gap imo. 

Edited July 17, 20213 yr by Jjrogan

As stated earlier only Spargo hits targets. This is where we miss Jones and Milkshake, they lowered their eyes and hit targets. And yes I understand Milkshake lacks in other areas.

8 hours ago, Fork 'em said:

Problem is we have no-one who can deliver an accurate low spearing pass.
Not even Salem.

Got a midfield of Hail Mary specialists.

Melksham  can, but for some reason is on the outer

It’s round 19 and our forward structure is still rubbish.  This is on the players and coaching group.

they say this is the elite level……FFS imagine being a delivery driver and dropping off your package to the wrong house every week

these AFL players can’t get one of the basic skills right.  It’s atrocious for this level.

Mr Magoo

2 hours ago, Gorgoroth said:

As stated earlier only Spargo hits targets. This is where we miss Jones and Milkshake, they lowered their eyes and hit targets. And yes I understand Milkshake lacks in other areas.

Spargos delivery is always great.

2 hours ago, Soidee said:

It’s round 19 and our forward structure is still rubbish.  This is on the players and coaching group.

they say this is the elite level……FFS imagine being a delivery driver and dropping off your package to the wrong house every week

these AFL players can’t get one of the basic skills right.  It’s atrocious for this level.

I'm wondering if the players are all about fanging in bananas from the boundary. Some seem to be afraid of a drop punt on a 45 degree angle.

Maybe they just don't practice 45m drop punts enough anymore?

It's all about the round the corner trick shots

I think we're still dealing with the legacy of recruiting contested beasts rather than footballers. Brayshaw, Viney and clayton (but he more than makes up for it around the ball) are dreadful kicks. Even Trac is a dodgy kick for goal. Spargs, salem and Melks (when in the team) are our only reliable kicks. 

10 hours ago, Go the Biff said:

Agreed. But we've got some who can put it out in front of a leading player. I get the whole "everyone leads to the right pocket & if we don't mark it we can trap it inside 50" thing. But if I'm running forward with the ball, I'd like at least a couple of options

Agree agree agree.  Seemingly the forwards want it in the pockets.  Or they all run to the one spot. I can see the midfield waiting for options but the forwards currently lack the cohesion of demanding the footy. 

10 hours ago, layzie said:

Let’s be honest. How many players in our team could regularly kick set shots from 50 out? Actually forget that how about 40 out? Some of the ways these balls were missing was embarrassing either not making the distance or being way off. Fix it now, win finals, deliver us the flag. 

Hawks 9 goals 1 behind in middle half of game

Dees:  5 goals 5 behinds in same period.

Game over (or may as well be)

Sadly we have a premiership defence and midfield as good as any, but this skill continuously lets us down and will cost us in the finals. Certainly will be the biggest block to winning the flag.

Its too late to fix this year, and the reason Ben Brown MUST play. At least he can kick straight, and usaulally reliable (unlike, Fritsch, Brayshaw, Neal Bullen, Oliver.

If the balls not in Spargos, TMAcs or Tracs 9and include Salem in this - for gawds sake he's a defender who kicks better than many of our forwards) hands, then just mark down a point before the kick is taken .

3 minutes ago, Demon17 said:

Hawks 9 goals 1 behind in middle half of game

Dees:  5 goals 5 behinds in same period.

Game over (or may as well be)

Sadly we have a premiership defence and midfield as good as any, but this skill continuously lets us down and will cost us in the finals. Certainly will be the biggest block to winning the flag.

Its too late to fix this year, and the reason Ben Brown MUST play. At least he can kick straight, and usaulally reliable (unlike, Fritsch, Brayshaw, Neal Bullen, Oliver.

If the balls not in Spargos, TMAcs or Tracs 9and include Salem in this - for gawds sake he's a defender who kicks better than many of our forwards) hands, then just mark down a point before the kick is taken .

And another thing:

Browns career accuracy is 2.0 (goals to behinds ) twice as likely to goal as kick a point

Others

Fritsch   :   1.3

Brayshaw: 1.3 (1goal 4 behinds this year)

Oliver: 1.0 ( i.e. 50/50 whether he kicks a goal or not)

Tmac:  2.0 

sam Weide.: 1.7

Trac:  1.4

For Interest the former champs stats are:

Lockett   - 2.30,  Dunstall  -  2.0,  Hudson  2.20. BT - 1.82

How far off the mark are we without Tmac and (hopefully) Brown?

Our key oppo forwards stats are: Hawkins and Cameron (at the Cats)  1.77 each

 

12 hours ago, layzie said:

I don’t know but we need a better one. 

It is a basic fun-da-mental of the game. Bad kicking is bad football that is not a good debate topic it is cast iron fact. Get it right Melbourne. 

Get Jordan Spieth.

1 hour ago, leave it to deever said:

Spargos delivery is always great.

as is his decision-making in traffic.

1 hour ago, Brownie said:

I'm wondering if the players are all about fanging in bananas from the boundary. Some seem to be afraid of a drop punt on a 45 degree angle.

Maybe they just don't practice 45m drop punts enough anymore?

It's all about the round the corner trick shots

Before the GWS game I sat near the fence watching the team do their usual pre-match warm up and goal kicking on the ground.

Interestingly from the boundary 50m out, Gus Brayshaw was intent in kicking torps for goal from that posiiton for amusement. He wasn't the only one. Over in the middle Choco was taking real-life drills with some players, gathering ground balls, kicking etc.

Very few practised kicking from 35-40 in front, assuming I guess that they can all do this and don't need to practice. Right?

Gus's display was unprofessional at least and laughable at worst given the situation he was practising would never arise in a game. Maybe its just to relive the pre-match nerves to have a laugh.

So maybe I take this pre-match stuff too seriously - some players sure don't.

3 hours ago, Soidee said:

It’s round 19 and our forward structure is still rubbish.  This is on the players and coaching group.

they say this is the elite level……FFS imagine being a delivery driver and dropping off your package to the wrong house every week

these AFL players can’t get one of the basic skills right.  It’s atrocious for this level.

Yep. Although I thought bb wasnt bad.

Talls got in each others way too often and Hawks did a goid job crowding us out.

Slow movement on our part helped tgem achieve this.

Who would you actually have faith in to kick after the siren for a win ? I’m convinced we have nobody trustworthy. I used to have faith in Tmac, but he hasn’t flushed one in weeks now. Even BBB missed a soda yesterday! 
 

Maybe Tom Sparrow would give me confidence, but he can’t get a game. Fritsch is pretty solid under pressure these days but he still wouldn’t have me confident. 
 

It’s a big concern for mine because if we win a flag, we need to win at least 3 games and you can be sure at least one of them will go down to the wire. 

1 hour ago, Better days ahead said:

I think we're still dealing with the legacy of recruiting contested beasts rather than footballers. Brayshaw, Viney and clayton (but he more than makes up for it around the ball) are dreadful kicks. Even Trac is a dodgy kick for goal. Spargs, salem and Melks (when in the team) are our only reliable kicks. 

Not sure Melksham is that great on the set shot I’ve seen him stink it up big time 

On the run or snapping he seems to be pretty good but not the set shot