I thought Brayshaw played well. Bedford and Oliver had a good first half and Gawn tried hard but it was slim pickings after that. Petracca played like he was sick. Brown should be dropped ( c'mon Roo boy have a blinder tomorrow) Weideman should never play a game again. Love Milkshake but he's cooked congrats on your 200 but never play a game for us again.

48 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

I'm beginning to wonder about our 'we do not rest players policy'. 

Its admirable but a few players have sustained injuries in the last month:  Lever, Max, Petty.  And a few played today with heavily bandaged legs.  WCE and North were a good chance to give them some respite as we did Viney.  Not to mention a bunch had covid which would have taken something out of them.  It all adds up to being way off our best physically and today it all came home to roost.

While the bye is coming soon I'm not sure that will help players carrying injuries as we get two 9 day breaks rather than a longer break of 13/14 days.  Can make a real difference to resting tired bodies and being ready for the second half of the season.

It's a good point. I look at it like this.

Rightly or wrongly the FD (and we all can do this exercise) would assume a certain number of losses for the year is appropriate. Let's make it 4-6 for the sake of the exercise.

Within this scope, there is still a need to have the players physiologically and psychologically exposed to (and increasing their physiological and psychological capacity) fatigue, niggles etc that come with the nature of playing the sport relentlessly for 6 months. Their bodies are monitored (cortisol sampling for example) and where appropriate, players will be rested. I think it's a myth to assume that 'no matter what' a player will not be rested. ***

However... If the team members have brought into this philosophy as they can see it serves a useful purpose come finals times... then players WILL play whilst not 100%- where there is an assumed loss that can be tolerated. (For me, today is one of them).

Mind you, I'd love to be privvy to the convo re: Petracca before todays match.

 

***Cricket Australia did a u-turn 15-10 years ago in managing fast bowlers and their back stressors/fractures. Historically best practice was to rest... now it's (within reason physiologically) keep going, keep exposing (again both physiologically and psychologically)

 

****the body doesn't wear out, it wears in. If you want a deep dive, go from the 20 minute mark. (pain = fatigue)

Edited May 28, 20223 yr by Engorged Onion

26 minutes ago, Kick_It_To_Pickett said:

What was tonight’s crowd?

Just under 30,000

2 hours ago, reynolds46 said:

Conceding 50 points in a quarter was really concerning 

As was only scoring 1.6 in the second half - a part of the game in which we usually pull away from our opponents.  
I wonder if, like mid 2021, it relates to training loads at least in part. 

I am not in the least bit worried about this loss in the broader context of our season, in fact i think it has distinct potential to be quite positive for us. we haven't been playing that well the last few weeks IMO and had been lucky to be playing Methcoast and Norf but a real team showed us up. 

Petracca is clearly injured, losing May really unsettled us, i think we had the players to cover but we just didn't adjust well enough, the fact Petty is also seemingly injured didn't help. 

but we just got smashed out of the middle, honestly when we are going like that i'd rather see Trac in there, even if he's not 100% the Freo players will need to be consious of him and that could have allowed Oliver and Viney a bit more room to move

Just been out for a long walk to get that out of my system. I always thought it would take some kind of perfect storm combo of bad kicking, umpiring or injuries for us to lose. We got that today but it wasn’t the umps or bad kicking. May’s injury added to the other premiership outs and a quality opponent took advantage. The biggest loss for me was TMac - not just because it brought in the insipid Weed but because he’d have provided cover in defence with May off and Petty hampered. You could see Freo lift and go for the kill. Their second half game plan worked far too easily though. Most disappointing for me was that when they tagged Clarry, Tracc wasn’t able to step up. I mean, when you tag one, the other is supposed to kill you or so I’ve been told.

Anyway, we’ll rebound next week.

It was coming, but up to half time we were in control.

Losing May and then petty under duress with his ankle changed the game.  Their tall fwd's dominated. 

The biggest shift was the form of Viney/Oliver after h/t, they really dropped off. And Trac must be carrying something.

Either way the team had a shocker after 1/2 time and couldn't get control back.  The question on Freo is them doing that every week, at this stage they can't.  Plus they had lots go right for them after h/t but they took their chances and did it. 

13 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

I'm beginning to wonder about our 'we do not rest players policy'. 

Its admirable but a few players have sustained injuries in the last month:  Lever, Max, Petty.  And a few played today with heavily bandaged legs.  WCE and North were a good chance to give them some respite as we did Viney.  Not to mention a bunch had covid which would have taken something out of them.  It all adds up to being way off our best physically and today it all came home to roost.

While the bye is coming soon I'm not sure that will help players carrying injuries as we get two 9 day breaks rather than a longer break of 13/14 days.  Can make a real difference to resting tired bodies and being ready for the second half of the season.

Yeah I'm not a huge fan of it and never have.

The concept of it is to build mental resilience, but there is also a high risk attached to that.

If Petracca was sick today why on earth did he play??

 

All over, well played Freo. We’ll still win the flag in a canter

In the past 18 months each time we only kick accurately 33% of the time we lose, Dogs, GWS and now Freo. We missed goals that we should have kicked, would normally kick. Freo grew in confidence every time we missed and I thought that their team work got better as did their marking and goal kicking. Time to reset and make a few changes to the team and get our best back on the park.

16 minutes ago, Lord Nev said:

And the (very very expected) ugliest - Demonland whipping themselves into a frenzy over Weideman on a day where, given the full context of the above, the last people you would blame for the loss are our key forwards.

Rest of your post was good but just on this, Weideman was poor beyond the forward line issues you mentioned.

He can set himself apart from Brown, and play more like the man he replaced (TMac) by being mobile, attacking the ball and buttering up. He did none of that. And he visibly dropped his bundle each time he was outworked.

13 minutes ago, cookieboc said:

well, that's how you beat Melbourne, super quick ball movement from the back half. Freo did it all afternoon, they outworked us, spread harder and were harder at the ball.

Can't stand the whole "that's how you beat us" schtick.

Not only was their ball movement not the number one thing for them (CPs and stoppages were the main reason they got on top - look at the second quarter when we dominated that area), but it's nothing surprising to see us be put under pressure by quick ball movement: literally every side in the league struggles against quick ball movement.

Also, perhaps the easiest way to beat us is to not have to go up against May, Salem, Langdon, Harmes, McDonald or a fit Petracca.

We lost it because we didn't make the most of our 2nd qtr dominance.  And in the 3rd qtr when Petty was off for much of it they took advantage of our lack of height. 

We moved Weideman back which was 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' as it left Brown totally exposed in the fwd line.  Max and Jackson couldn't plug the gaps fwd and back. 

As a result we lost our structures all over the ground.  Our ball movement suffered, our confidence suffered and by the time the last qtr started the momentum was all Freo's.

The better team won but I can't imagine we will ever play that badly again.

Ok Freo got beaten last 2 games. Today was probably the BEST they have played since they joined the competition!! We had a few out of our premiership side and they had Nat Fyffe out and bugger all else. I liked their game style and we had an "Of" day for many reasons. We will crush Sydney nest week methinks! 😂

Our much vaunted depth was today proven to be as shallow as my kids' wading pool. Dunstan, Melksham, Weideman - out of their depth with the water only up to their ankles. Brown, Hunt and Rivers - just barely avoiding drowning ATM. GHU if May, Petty and TMac are all missing next week. Buddy will kick at least 7.

Just now, titan_uranus said:

Rest of your post was good but just on this, Weideman was poor beyond the forward line issues you mentioned.

He can set himself apart from Brown, and play more like the man he replaced (TMac) by being mobile, attacking the ball and buttering up. He did none of that. And he visibly dropped his bundle each time he was outworked.

Oh, don't get me wrong, Weid and Brown both poor today, I just don't think either had any impact on the loss given how it happened. We were smashed in the middle, destroyed on the spread and our defence was (understandably) a mess.

I'm more talking about the weight of Demonland commentary and how much focus is on Weideman given it was our mids/wings and defence that cost us the game.

Just now, Lucifers Hero said:

We lost it because we didn't make the most of our 2nd qtr dominance.  And in the 3rd qtr when Petty was off for much of it they took advantage of our lack of height. 

We moved Weideman back which was 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' as it left Brown totally exposed in the fwd line.  Max and Jackson couldn't plug the gaps fwd and back. 

As a result we lost our structures all over the ground.  Our ball movement suffered, our confidence suffered and by the time the last qtr started the momentum was all Freo's.

The better team won but I can't imagine we will ever play that badly again.

Good call on the second quarter. I agree with you - we were dominant in the middle, were walking it into our forward half, were not being exposed out the back, and should have kicked a much higher score than 4.6.

Just now, picket fence said:

Ok Freo got beaten last 2 games. Today was probably the BEST they have played since they joined the competition!! We had a few out of our premiership side and they had Nat Fyffe out and bugger all else. I liked their game style and we had an "Of" day for many reasons. We will crush Sydney nest week methinks! 😂

I reckon the best thing that happened to Fremantle was losing to Collingwood last week. They put the GC loss down to a mulligan but when it happened again, they stood up and took notice.

They got back to what made them thump Carlton and Geelong - CP and stoppage dominance, led by Darcy. Like us, they get hands on it first in the middle, and they are set up well behind the ball. Eventually, our under-strength backline broke.

2 minutes ago, Flower Magic said:

Our much vaunted depth was today proven to be as shallow as my kids' wading pool. Dunstan, Melksham, Weideman - out of their depth with the water only up to their ankles. Brown, Hunt and Rivers - just barely avoiding drowning ATM. GHU if May, Petty and TMac are all missing next week. Buddy will kick at least 7.

Buddy has been suspended (but they will most likely appeal).

Edited May 28, 20223 yr by Lucifers Hero

1 minute ago, Flower Magic said:

Our much vaunted depth was today proven to be as shallow as my kids' wading pool. Dunstan, Melksham, Weideman - out of their depth with the water only up to their ankles. Brown, Hunt and Rivers - just barely avoiding drowning ATM. GHU if May, Petty and TMac are all missing next week. Buddy will kick at least 7.

Didn’t Buddy cop a week?

2 minutes ago, Flower Magic said:

Our much vaunted depth was today proven to be as shallow as my kids' wading pool. Dunstan, Melksham, Weideman - out of their depth with the water only up to their ankles. Brown, Hunt and Rivers - just barely avoiding drowning ATM. GHU if May, Petty and TMac are all missing next week. Buddy will kick at least 7.

Buddy won’t be playing next week

2 hours ago, bing181 said:

Langdon, Salem, Harmes, McDonald and effectively May out was a step too far. You start bleeding in one area and it spreads throughout the team.

e.g. Biggest failing tonight for me was our inability to lock it in the forward line. Presumably McDonald would help that but even there, under normal circumstances Langdon is one of the prime movers in getting it back in when it does come out. Also missed Spargo in the forward line.

(Not to ignore BBB's inability to have any impact at all ... but that hasn't stopped us in the past.)

It was one thing to lose May but Petty has been pretty rock solid as a backup but he too got injured and was cooked after that too.

Once our backline fell to pieces, it was all over.

Lots of players seem to be looking sore or tired.

I wonder if we're missing Burgess already?

23 minutes ago, Flower Magic said:

Our much vaunted depth was today proven to be as shallow as my kids' wading pool. Dunstan, Melksham, Weideman - out of their depth with the water only up to their ankles. Brown, Hunt and Rivers - just barely avoiding drowning ATM. GHU if May, Petty and TMac are all missing next week. Buddy will kick at least 7.

But Buddy aint playing next week!😁

Sick and tired of this club.

We always seem to lose! 

26 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

Rest of your post was good but just on this, Weideman was poor beyond the forward line issues you mentioned.

He can set himself apart from Brown, and play more like the man he replaced (TMac) by being mobile, attacking the ball and buttering up. He did none of that. And he visibly dropped his bundle each time he was outworked.

Can't stand the whole "that's how you beat us" schtick.

Not only was their ball movement not the number one thing for them (CPs and stoppages were the main reason they got on top - look at the second quarter when we dominated that area), but it's nothing surprising to see us be put under pressure by quick ball movement: literally every side in the league struggles against quick ball movement.

Also, perhaps the easiest way to beat us is to not have to go up against May, Salem, Langdon, Harmes, McDonald or a fit Petracca.

wouldn't be surprised if Sydney beat us next week, with super quick ball movement that doesnt allow us to set up behind the ball, winning the ball just might help them do that.

and yes, obviously I think the sky is falling in.

 

7 minutes ago, Brownie said:

It was one thing to lose May but Petty has been pretty rock solid as a backup but he too got injured and was cooked after that too.

Once our backline fell to pieces, it was all over.

Lots of players seem to be looking sore or tired.

I wonder if we're missing Burgess already?

Each loss compounded the next.

May went down, exposing Petty, who then played injured, whilst Lever probably isn't fully fit himself.

Meanwhile we went in without Hibberd or Joel Smith so we had a lack of height to help cover for May missing, and we went in without TMac so we didn't have him to swing back.

And we had a short midfielder as the sub.

And we played against probably the best ruckman in the game, so any time we tried to drop Gawn behind the ball Darcy exposed us.