Time to give the Weid a potential reinvention and resurrection down back I reckon. A la Liam Jones, Paddy McCartin, James Sicily, and too many others to mention. It would also fit nicely into my (admittedly only briefly tested) theory that Harry Petty, as good as he is defensively, is our next power forward! 😳 Thoughts? (I’m ducking my head already). 

With Petracca if he woke up feeling ill then he shouldn't have played. Goodwin should have made the call and as coach put his foot down and say to Trac have a week off, rest up and prepare for Sydney next week. We know Trac would have probably said I'm fine but he clearly wasn't. He did nothing yesterday and once you run onto the ground you are deemed fit to play. 

One thing that did worry me a bit yesterday was when freo were coming in the 3rd term there were no leaders standing up to stop it. At Carlton Cripps will take responsibility, pendles at the pies and Martin does it at Richmond. But I couldn't see anyone trying to take control. 

The review will be different this week but as Matthew Lloyd said this morning maybe now they will properly address things that they may have glossed over the past few weeks because we were winning. 

5 minutes ago, Webber said:

Time to give the Weid a potential reinvention and resurrection down back I reckon. A la Liam Jones, Paddy McCartin, James Sicily, and too many others to mention. It would also fit nicely into my (admittedly only briefly tested) theory that Harry Petty, as good as he is defensively, is our next power forward! 😳 Thoughts? (I’m ducking my head already). 

Was thinking that myself.

3 minutes ago, Webber said:

Time to give the Weid a potential reinvention and resurrection down back I reckon. A la Liam Jones, Paddy McCartin, James Sicily, and too many others to mention. It would also fit nicely into my (admittedly only briefly tested) theory that Harry Petty, as good as he is defensively, is our next power forward! 😳 Thoughts? (I’m ducking my head already). 

I loved the look of Petty up forward in his brief stint there and wouldn't be unhappy to see that trialed again at some stage. Can't see it happening this year though.

3 hours ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Why we lost ?  

x injuries - Salem Langdon Tmcd Harmes out of best 22 

x injuries part 2 - during the game - May going down so early in the first quarter and left us exposed to Lobb and Taberner. May is our defensive leader. Lever had to go across and robbed us of our advantage.  Petty clearly was then not 100% in 2nd half.

x Trac was not 100% at all. He didn’t have his intensity and energy and lost many contests. There was no burst.  

x bad kicking for goal - yes we’ve called it out that it would eventually cost us and it did. Definitely we were in top in the 2nd quarter and missed so many chances to be 7 or 8 goals up (not 4). Could have applied the jugular but we left ourselves exposed. Conversion has to be improved. Fritsch had some chances as did Trac. Start of the 4th, we could have got back but missed chances. 

x key forwards were very poor.  Simply out marked or out bodied. Brown has had a poor few weeks and needs to lead up more. He’s still in our best 22 alongside Tmcd.  Weid has exhausted his opportunities imv and was very poor last night and eventually tried moving back. 

x In the 2nd half, Freo simply out “Melbourned” us. Sure there was pressure but we created our own with fumbles and missed tackles. Running into trouble didn’t help and examples like Lever and Hunt directly leaked goals  

x we lost in the contested footy , especially in the 3rd quarter. Lost Clearances-and-lost stoppages.

x contested marking all around the ground favoured Freo. 

Many reasons and I’m sure the diagnosis will be thorough.  

But remember we are 10-1 and on top of the ladder.  That’s the goal and there will be speed bumps along the way.
We have 4-5 players to bring back and add a fit Trac and the leadership of May. 

I will take Dees v Freo in the GF in September.  We can take them !! 
 

These are close to my thoughts

first half very hard game. We only played well for about 10 minutes it seemed otherwise Freo kept at us. After half time they were too tall and too quick. We were reacting too not dictating the play.  Injured players did not help and some their day in the sunshine should be over I think .  Try others in the Casey mix, and unless Hibberd comes back perfect then their should be 3 places or 4 for others from our Casey lot. I do think Bedford will be OK.

let’s see if there are others 

go Dees 

So with Majak Daw out ill today was there a bug though the team yesterday. would explain why so many players seemed out of sorts.

1 hour ago, BDA said:

I reckon if Nibbler had kicked that goal right at the start of Q4 if could have given us the lift we needed. Instead he squibbed it and the moment was lost

He didn't squib it. He chose the wrong option, trying to hit up Petracca or Brown when they were clearly manned up. He was only 35m out. Should have taken the shot on himself.

5 hours ago, Jaded No More said:

I suppose we do have another chance later this year to beat Freo. But we were so comprehensively outplayed. Other than the second quarter we never looked like we had any sort of control of the contest. We were outplayed and sadly outcoached. At no stage did we look like Melbourne. Even the goals we scored in the second quarter were a bit messy. There never was any flow or structure to how we played. 
I know the loss of May and then Petty getting injured killed us, and then you combine that with not having Tmac to help and no Langdon or Harmes or Salem (plus Trac being sick) and their replacements being decidedly average (apologies to Bedford who tried hard), and there are certainly reasons for this loss. 
It was just disappointing to see us fall apart and capitulate so badly in the second half. I thought we were done with that sort of performance no matter the adversity.

This was certainly a far worse loss than any we had last year, and I was most disappointed in our midfield. They were putrid once Trac was hidden up forward and Oliver copped the hard tag instead (we would have almost been better off having Trac play a dummy role to keep his tag). Gawn and Jackson were totally outplayed and the rest of the mids could not get their hands on it. 10-0 centre clearances is unacceptable. 

The problem with winning 17 on the trot and a flag, if there can be a problem with that, is the height of the bar that it sets.

Good sides play bad games in almost every year.

The media love talking about 2018 Richmond and comparing us to them. In 2018 Richmond lost mid year to West Coast by 47 points. Remained the dominant H&A side that year.

Then in 2019 Richmond lost six games, each one by at least 33 points, and one by 67 points to Geelong in Round 13.

The point being that good sides, even great ones like 2018-19 Richmond, can lose games badly.

The fact we didn't lose one badly at all in 2021 is a testament to how good we are, not a cause for this level of concern in 2022.

My observations:

- we have to stop either bombing high to a contest in our forward 50 or only hitting up leads deep in the pocket, BBB, Tmac and co can't be expected to have to clunk outrageous contested marks every time we go inside 50 to get looks at goal, we need to fix up that connection going forward

- We got thoroughly out marked yesterday, both in contested and un-contested categories, our forwards and mids just have to bring the ball to ground and give our small forwards a chance to go to work, 

- Freo's kick mark style game plan got through our zone quite easily on transition, usually we can defend a team going slow and switching but freo were on, and they barely missed a kick going forward, conversely, our disposal going forward was horrendous or at least, very sub-par by our standards

- as has been said, I haven't seen our midfield perform that poorly in a while, Freo's spread from stoppage was phenomenal and we never seemed to cover the outlet handball that consistently got them out of trouble

- Goal kicking accuracy again a problem, we've had to deal with it for some time seemingly (accept for the back end of last year) and it is really hurting us in games, completely sucks the momentum when we miss after finally getting a good look at goal 

- Goody has generally presented our defensive system as one not reliant on personnel but one that any dees players could slot into and it could still stand up, Steve is clearly incredibly important to our team but it seems incongruous that we squarely point to personnel issues in a defensive system that is meant to hold up either way, again, not denying how important steve is to our team and to our defensive structure but just something I think is interesting to consider 

- inability to arrest momentum was very concerning and unlike us, usually we can wrestle the game back onto our terms and kick a settling goal when the opponent is getting a bit of a run on, not sure why this was the case but everything seemed to go freo's way, balls bounced into their laps, dump kicks were marked etc.

- the MFCSS always lingers around but I really hope the boys can respond next week 

2 minutes ago, A F said:

He didn't squib it. He chose the wrong option, trying to hit up Petracca or Brown when they were clearly manned up. He was only 35m out. Should have taken the shot on himself.

I agree he should have taken on the shot. Apologies I wasn't clear. When i say squib i meant he squibbed the decision to shoot

1 hour ago, dees189227 said:

With Petracca if he woke up feeling ill then he shouldn't have played. Goodwin should have made the call and as coach put his foot down and say to Trac have a week off, rest up and prepare for Sydney next week. We know Trac would have probably said I'm fine but he clearly wasn't. He did nothing yesterday and once you run onto the ground you are deemed fit to play. 

One thing that did worry me a bit yesterday was when freo were coming in the 3rd term there were no leaders standing up to stop it. At Carlton Cripps will take responsibility, pendles at the pies and Martin does it at Richmond. But I couldn't see anyone trying to take control. 

The review will be different this week but as Matthew Lloyd said this morning maybe now they will properly address things that they may have glossed over the past few weeks because we were winning. 

Petracca's done this for us repeatedly. He wasn't right yesterday and couldn't do it.

Oliver's done it too, but he was copping a tight tag.

Gawn's done it too, but he was in a strong battle with Darcy and had to pay him respect.

May's done it but wasn't on the field.

Lever's done it but was being asked to man our entire defence without May and with Petty on one leg.

I'm more disappointed in the next level down - Jackson, Hunt, Sparrow, Rivers, Brown, ANB, players who have been reliable since Round 1 2021 but who all yesterday were off the boil. Without Petracca or Oliver able to turn the tide with their brilliance, none of them were able to go with a hot opponent.

Finally our 2022 season will start. We have been flying on myth of 2021 (great final season  which did not accurately represent  the home and away season). Every season has to find its new motivation. You've got to both earn it and believe in it. We've had to much of the belief, before we have had to dig deep. There may be a few more surprises around the corner (Swans, Lions, Queens Birthday Pies) What are we capable of when injuries emerge. The month of June will be our mid season pre - finals test. Its the month we needed to have

All our defenders had a torrid time yesterday.  The 'talls' have been much spoken about.

A few words about our smaller defenders:  Bowey, Hunt, Rivers and Brayshaw.  Normally, Hunt would have had Schultz covered and Bowey would have Frederick covered.  But they along with Rivers and Brayshaw had to cover their man plus back up Lever in May's absence and Petty's injury.  Furthermore, some of them were attending stoppages because our mids couldn't get down there.  And Brayshaw gave us great rebound in the second quarter.  All up that was a mountain of work by those 4 guys especially when our midfield was depleted and couldn't stop the ball getting into our d half.

Eventually the avalanche took its toll.  Its easy to forget Bowey has played 18 games, Rivers 44 and Petty 36.  A big learning experience for them.

While the scoreboard says otherwise our defensive unit did a great job.  Very proud of them all.

Edited May 29, 20222 yr by Lucifers Hero

2 hours ago, dees189227 said:

With Petracca if he woke up feeling ill then he shouldn't have played. Goodwin should have made the call and as coach put his foot down and say to Trac have a week off, rest up and prepare for Sydney next week. We know Trac would have probably said I'm fine but he clearly wasn't. He did nothing yesterday and once you run onto the ground you are deemed fit to play. 

....

Could be that he felt OK by the time the match was to start but as soon as he started to exert himself it took its toll.   Hard to judge sometimes and since we don't really know what he was suffering from (?) impossible for us to know where the blame, if any, lies.

2 hours ago, Mr Steve said:

So with Majak Daw out ill today was there a bug though the team yesterday. would explain why so many players seemed out of sorts.

And JVR, which is particularly sad for his as he could have possibly be looking at a debut in place of Weed next week.

If Goody was Chris Scott 😮 he would have used this an an excuse and queried why the game wasn’t postponed 🙄

My main observation in the second half was we seemed so rushed with our ball movement when Freo got on top.  So many quick play ons without much forethought of where to next.  It was so out of charachter to what we have been doing recently when oppisition sides have had some momentum.  I was shouting at the tv for them to just slow it down.

That and a big loss of composure was flashback time to darker days.  

Not panic stations yet by any means though.

Disappointing as I was hoping to see Freo fall out of the 8. Oh well.

Win the next two go into the bye 12-1, reset for an all out assault on the flag. No team in the modern AFL has ever gone undefeated, sadly neither were we. I hope it puts a rocket up the boys to beat Sydney next week, No May, No Buddy, nil all draw there.
Injuries took their toll, May and Langdon are irreplaceable, Dunstan + Melksham + Bedford is one too many NQR (though Bedford’s first half was excellent). Bring back Langdon, Harmes, McDonald and eventually May and Salem. Let’s go Dees.

On a different slant my concern is that we are scratching to fill the holes. Thommo played a great game today so he is an in but who could come in for a JJ or Sparrow or Spargs. Freo have a lot of height in their team that can kick and mark very well let’s hope that Rosman and Turner can step up in 2023. There are a number of sides building height into their teams and that is the area that we need to focus on going forward.!!!!!!

We had a few key players out prior to this game, got a couple more injuries during the game, appeared tired and slow at times.As a collective we were ‘off’.  

A one quarter effort was not going be enough against a serious premiership contender such as Freo (defence wins premierships and they have a very good defence).  We not only lost but were thumped after half time.  Not happy but no big deal. We were totally outplayed because we were not on, but they certainly were!  Plenty of learnings from this.

We have also pretty much been hunted by most sides in the prior 10 games (North Melbourne included!) which is an added pressure.  This was always going to be a danger game. Even more so after Freo losing two in a row at home prior to them playing us. They got us and good on them, they did well.

Next three games are HUGE!  Two other genuine premiership contenders and  the Pies who will set themselves for a big one.  

I trust the boys will reset, back themselves,  their systems and become the hunters.

I too need to reset as a supporter. I was beginning to take winning too much for granted. I am nerrrrvously excited about attending  the next three games. Bit like last year.  Bring it on.

6 hours ago, Harrisonrules said:

Finally our 2022 season will start. We have been flying on myth of 2021 (great final season  which did not accurately represent  the home and away season). Every season has to find its new motivation. You've got to both earn it and believe in it. We've had to much of the belief, before we have had to dig deep. There may be a few more surprises around the corner (Swans, Lions, Queens Birthday Pies) What are we capable of when injuries emerge. The month of June will be our mid season pre - finals test. Its the month we needed to have

I can't stand revisionism and this is no exception.

We ended the H&A season 17-1-4 with a percentage of 130.8%. We beat 16 of the 17 other sides, including Port Adelaide (2nd) in Adelaide, Geelong (3rd) in Geelong, the Dogs (5th and runners up) at Marvel and GWS (7th) in Canberra.

We were supreme in finals but we were exceptional in the H&A season. We didn't do a 2016 Dogs and fluke a September run, we developed incredible form across 23 rounds and then found everything click into place in a near-perfect way in the finals.

Poor little Bowey, we let him down.....

9 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

I can't stand revisionism and this is no exception.

We ended the H&A season 17-1-4 with a percentage of 130.8%. We beat 16 of the 17 other sides, including Port Adelaide (2nd) in Adelaide, Geelong (3rd) in Geelong, the Dogs (5th and runners up) at Marvel and GWS (7th) in Canberra.

We were supreme in finals but we were exceptional in the H&A season. We didn't do a 2016 Dogs and fluke a September run, we developed incredible form across 23 rounds and then found everything click into place in a near-perfect way in the finals.

We won the minor premiership for goodness sake. How can people not recognize that we were by far the best home and away side in 2021? Mind boggling. 

9 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

I can't stand revisionism and this is no exception.

We ended the H&A season 17-1-4 with a percentage of 130.8%. We beat 16 of the 17 other sides, including Port Adelaide (2nd) in Adelaide, Geelong (3rd) in Geelong, the Dogs (5th and runners up) at Marvel and GWS (7th) in Canberra.

We were supreme in finals but we were exceptional in the H&A season. We didn't do a 2016 Dogs and fluke a September run, we developed incredible form across 23 rounds and then found everything click into place in a near-perfect way in the finals.

Great post response to a a ridiculous comment on the 2021 season being a "myth".

Just finished a 16 win streak from last season into nearly mid-2022. Last season and the falg wasno fluke -  neither is this year. I think the team is even better given its consolidated belief in winning. 

17 minutes ago, Demon17 said:

Great post response to a a ridiculous comment on the 2021 season being a "myth".

Just finished a 16 win streak from last season into nearly mid-2022. Last season and the falg wasno fluke -  neither is this year. I think the team is even better given its consolidated belief in winning. 

It was actually 17 ... like your name!!!

Sheesh!!! It's all over by the sounds of some on here.

Remember we played until October and have had 5 weeks less rest than Freo/Carlton etc. Look at the Dogs and Port. They're just starting to pick up.

We got smashed yes. But we've looked cooked for a few weeks now. We're also the hunted. We've been winning in 2nd gear. Our 4th gear wins every time. Finals are 13 weeks away. We don't need to win this week either. We'll be already planning our fitness around finals.

Lets see how Freo go against us when Salem, Harmes, May, Hibbo, TMac, Langdon and Trac (was very ill) are playing. 

Go Dees