GAMEDAY: AFLW Rd 4 vs Adelaide

[DubDee 21,591]

25 minutes ago, Kick_It_To_Pickett said:

Taylor Harris is a shadow of her former self. Lost all conditioning and looks unfit and uncoordinated. Unless she is jumping at the ball, completely useless 

Harris has been blocked off the ball all game. Illegally most of the time

[godees 704]

7 minutes ago, Clintosaurus said:

Holding the ball interpretation is a JOKE

Adjudication of the ruck has also been baffling.

Fitzsimon has been very good this quarter

[Whispering_Jack 28,096]

Well, at least that concern I had about accuracy in front of goal wasn’t really an issue. 

MELBOURNE 01.1 02.2 0.2.2 3.3.21

ADELAIDE 2.1.13 2.5.17 4.10.34 4.11.35

GOALS

MELBOURNE D Pearce 2 Harris

ADELAIDE Phillips 3 Martin 

BEST 

MELBOURNE McNamara Hanks Goldrick Lampard D Pearce

ADELAIDE Phillips Marinoff S Allen Rajcic Hatchard Jones

INJURIES 

MELBOURNE L Pearce (ankle)

ADELAIDE Randall (leg)

REPORTS 

MELBOURNE Nil

ADELAIDE Nil

CROWD TBC at Norwood Oval

[Clintosaurus 6,767]

Percentage wont be hurt too much at least.

[DubDee 21,591]

Only scored one more goal than us after all that!

[DeeSpencer 23,565]

Good fight in the last. Showed we can mix it we just have to get on the same page. And our fitness should help us late in games.

 

[Kick_It_To_Pickett 3,015]

Good to see us fight it out. Lack of awareness probably cost us a couple of extra goals. However, we were out bodied around the ball and couldn’t move it cleanly at all. Agree tht it was not a forward issue, but we needed to roll up the ground higher. Needed more targets at CHF and some ground level representation crumbing the packs. Erin Phillips is a class above most players in the AFLW. She reads the ball off packs superbly and knows where to position herself. Libby Birch is terrific at reading the ball in flight, but less so at ground level. I feel we try to play too precisely at times, and really lack the skill to play a precise game. We looked better in the last when moving the ball quickly

[Deeoldfart 7,830]

No excuses here.  We were completely out-muscled and outclassed by a bigger, stronger and more disciplined team. The scoreboard flattered us in the end.

[BDA 20,811]

Big time reality check. 

We avoided a smashing because the Crows were woefully inaccurate so not too much damage done percentage wise. And thankfully we won;t play the Crows every week

We will not win this comp trying to weave pretty patterns. Game plan is not fit for purpose. Leaders? Where were you all? 

The reality is we've played 3 good quarters this year. the rest has been pretty ordinary. Way too disjointed. The gap between best and worst is a chasm. The coach has work to do. He's been there long enough

The Suns next week so we have a chance to get back on track. We can't let this defeat turn into a bad run of form like prior seasons

[DeeSpencer 23,565]

The most frustrating thing is we are a fit running side but our kicking game is all based on corridor short kicks. Use the ball quickly with switches and take the wide options and we can run teams down and open it up in the middle later.

Particular with Harris dangerous inside 50 we don’t have to be so worried about going wide across half forward or wing. 
 

Fast through the middle is a recipe for turnovers. By hand as much as foot.

We need to be more Eddie Langdon and use the wide flowing running. Cutting it back inside is trying to be Oliver and Petracca with small women who can’t break tackles. We ran or panicked kicked right to where the Crows were!

[Willmoy1947 3,824]

Yellow maggots at it again.

All they have to do is get in the right position and keep up with the game.

Prancing around like fairies. Umpiring like back in the eighties

Pathetic.Oops what do we do, got to play on for the games sake.

[mo64 5,267]

1 hour ago, DeeSpencer said:

The most frustrating thing is we are a fit running side but our kicking game is all based on corridor short kicks. Use the ball quickly with switches and take the wide options and we can run teams down and open it up in the middle later.

Particular with Harris dangerous inside 50 we don’t have to be so worried about going wide across half forward or wing. 
 

Fast through the middle is a recipe for turnovers. By hand as much as foot.

We need to be more Eddie Langdon and use the wide flowing running. Cutting it back inside is trying to be Oliver and Petracca with small women who can’t break tackles. We ran or panicked kicked right to where the Crows were!

It was difficult to find wide options on that ground. The dimensions of Norwood Oval width wise was 110m compared to Casey Fields 145m. This week they trained with cones on the ground to mimic the size of Norwood Oval, but they basically had to unlearn everything they'd practiced all preseason. 

But that was no excuse. They had to win the contested possession to beat the Crows on that ground, and they were soundly thrashed.

[DeeSpencer 23,565]

7 minutes ago, mo64 said:

It was difficult to find wide options on that ground. The dimensions of Norwood Oval width wise was 110m compared to Casey Fields 145m. This week they trained with cones on the ground to mimic the size of Norwood Oval, but they basically had to unlearn everything they'd practiced all preseason. 

But that was no excuse. They had to win the contested possession to beat the Crows on that ground, and they were soundly thrashed.

I agree, but they did the same thing in each of the first 3 weeks. Too corridor focused and very stifled run and carry game that doesn’t get any overlap.

[WERRIDEE 5,254]

Really poor performance Adelaide had a few out too. Should have been belted really big time reality check. Decision making poor and the midfield was poor. Really worrying form from Zanker been poor since round 2 she's a real barometer for us.

[Brownie 5,481]

Big shout out to the commentators, calling scragging kicks off the ground acrobatic and sublime by Adelaide players was Scomo like.

Making out that it was the Adelaide's defence which got the result when it was the defensive tackling pressure by their forwards and midfield was as smart as looking at their against tally's this season and making stupid assumptions.

Umpires... As someone mentioned the holding the ball, incorrect disposal decisions were all over the shop. Baffling.

Anyways, Adelaide's pressure was superb and our ensuing disposals were woeful.

Good last quarter but we should have swung the midfield changes a couple of minutes into the third. Goldrick into the guts looked really good. 

Daisy probably should have been put into the fray earlier as well even though she did well up forward once we started to get momentum.

Looks like the opposition knows how to beat us once they apply tackling pressure and plug the gaps.

I think we've got the talent. There's some work to do on defensive pressure, disposal and connection.

[#11-TonyAnderson 696]

They need to bring the ruthless pressure they had last year which was inspiring (and better than the men at that stage) - showed some of it in the last quarter only. Bring that for the whole game and we will see better results.

[george_on_the_outer 7,083]

We were seriously in trouble when Zanker and Paxman were unable to contribute in the middle.  Putting Goldrick in there really showed others how to play football against seasoned strong opposition. Also was impressed by the first class efforts of McNamara who just kept getting the ball when others couldn't.

I wish Mick Stinear would wake up in the same way as he did half way through last year.  Short kicking was the go in the early years of AFLW, because players who could kick beyond 20m was rare.  Now they can, and so it requires a territory game, not a possession game.  And in the same line, kick the ball off the ground, don't try to pick it up....kick the ball as first option, not handball, especially in the middle.  The game has changed and improved, what worked previously doesn't today.  Especially when we have a good core of talented players who do have the skills to execute long and deep, and have the forwards to capitalise on that. 

Make no mistake.  Adelaide is the SA state side and have been gifted this through AFL poor planning  again. So no small wonder their girls are bigger stronger and more skilled than other sides, given SA is a football state. 

 

 

[rjay 24,099]

10 hours ago, george_on_the_outer said:

Putting Goldrick in there really showed others how to play football against seasoned strong opposition. Also was impressed by the first class efforts of McNamara who just kept getting the ball when others couldn't.

Love watching these 2 play...

[58er 5,689]

18 hours ago, george_on_the_outer said:

We were seriously in trouble when Zanker and Paxman were unable to contribute in the middle.  Putting Goldrick in there really showed others how to play football against seasoned strong opposition. Also was impressed by the first class efforts of McNamara who just kept getting the ball when others couldn't.

I wish Mick Stinear would wake up in the same way as he did half way through last year.  Short kicking was the go in the early years of AFLW, because players who could kick beyond 20m was rare.  Now they can, and so it requires a territory game, not a possession game.  And in the same line, kick the ball off the ground, don't try to pick it up....kick the ball as first option, not handball, especially in the middle.  The game has changed and improved, what worked previously doesn't today.  Especially when we have a good core of talented players who do have the skills to execute long and deep, and have the forwards to capitalise on that. 

Make no mistake.  Adelaide is the SA state side and have been gifted this through AFL poor planning  again. So no small wonder their girls are bigger stronger and more skilled than other sides, given SA is a football state. 

 

 

Very disappointing 

We were smashed around the ball as no kids were strong or smart enough to use their skills. Sherriff  tried hard but was her own worst enemy with any disposal,

we resorted to our 15/20m passes which won't work against top opposition applying pressure. Our passing then made way to 1/2m handballs as the girls played "hot potato " snd went round in circles till  a Crow took possession and got the ball to the outside or backwards for a clean breakaway and 30/40m kick down the ground generally yo another Crow in the open or in front of our defenders.

As usual Erin Phillips was given a free reign WHO was assigned to TAG or WATCH her?

All our much touted top players had stinkers Paxy Hore Zanker ( in the ruck when Lauren Pearce was getting treatment) Harris and Mithen. 
Pressure and stage fright were the reasons plus general footy standards like staying front and centre ( like Erin Phillips) was non existent.

In the last quarter we seemed to break the shackles and had a reasonable system and long kicking game yo our forwards as Daisy controlled the play,

Thus us more of a game plan they will get us against top teams kicking the ball to a moving target and the girls swarming forward to create some panic even in the Crows defence.

But the ONE non negotiable is that we don't FUMBLE the ball which we did vs Saints also.

Half the side looked frightened and it showed big time ie no confidence and a very sub standard 3 terms.

Scoreboard flattered a little but plenty of learnings and our game plan needs reshaping  and smarter connectivity with longer kicking to position if we are to study in the flag race. 

[binman 39,206]

On 1/30/2022 at 12:26 AM, Brownie said:

Anyways, Adelaide's pressure was superb and our ensuing disposals were woeful.

 

That was my key take away too. 

I'm curious about the tactical evolution of AFLW and women's football in  general.

There are any number of tactical  elements that are the same as the AFL (eg pressure being fundamental, use of zones ect) - but in many ways AFLW is a different game, so i assume some bespoke tactics are developed (Dees in October i'd be interested in your thoughts on this idea).

Stinear is obviously trying to implement a game plan based on precision kicking, quick play on after marks (often with a handball to player running past) and lots of handballs. This game plan differs from the men's team quite a bit. It actually reminds me of how the dogs' mens team plays.

And like the dogs men's team i think it is model susceptible to really high opposition pressure, like Richmonds' in the first quarter and the saints until 3 quarter time. And of course like that applied by the Crows. Too many links in the chain that can be broken. 

The crows actually played a lot like our men's team do - repeat entries, high press, supper pressure, win the post clearance contests, surge it forward etc etc. And like our mens team they have the best defence, averaging something like 16 points per game against, which is nuts.

But that is not to say Stinear should change his game plan. If he and his team believe that is the best model  - and have trained all pre season on that model - then he should stick with it. If the Goodwin era has any lessons, then surely backing in the coach in terms of their choses tactical model is one of them

 

 

[binman 39,206]

4 hours ago, 58er said:

Pressure and stage fright were the reasons plus general footy standards like staying front and centre ( like Erin Phillips) was non existent.

Half the side looked frightened and it showed big time ie no confidence and a very sub standard 3 terms.

 

These two comments are absolute rubbish.

[Fat Tony 4,552]

Daisy in the forward pocket next to Harris does not really work IMO. We need someone there with more pace to apply pressure, get some goals over the back and compete better when outnumbered. I would switch Bannon and put Daisy into the midfield as a tagger ala Cotchin/Viney.

We really need Zanker and Paxman to be tougher in the midfield.

[binman 39,206]

3 minutes ago, Fat Tony said:

Daisy in the forward pocket next to Harris does not really work IMO. We need someone there with more pace to apply pressure, get some goals over the back and compete better when outnumbered. I would switch Bannon and put Daisy into the midfield as a tagger ala Cotchin/Viney.

We really need Zanker and Paxman to be tougher in the midfield.

I think Daisy's lack of pace would be exposed as a tagging mid.

Zanks and Paxy both had shockers i thought. Pressure was ok but so may fumbles when under pressure, particularly Paxy.

[Fat Tony 4,552]

16 minutes ago, binman said:

I think Daisy's lack of pace would be exposed as a tagging mid.

Zanks and Paxy both had shockers i thought. Pressure was ok but so may fumbles when under pressure, particularly Paxy.

Daisy would get exposed and would need the right match up in the middle. But her pace is a bigger issue in the forward line IMO, particularly given Harris is also a witches hat defensively. The other option would be to push her to half back.

[Dees_In_October 3,346]

On 1/29/2022 at 4:40 PM, Clintosaurus said:

Holding the ball interpretation is a JOKE

Agree but it was consistent across the games I saw across the round. 'Rule of the week'