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26 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

Viney I understand, he was rusty and it’s not the strength of his game. Has to be better and hopefully will be (without ever being great).

Brayshaw can’t keep butchering it at half back whilst also playing slow most of the time. If he’s there to be a controlled short kicking sweeping player then he has to do that. No idea why we feel we need a slow chip kicking half back to begin with but if that’s the role then so be it.

The worst thing is how often Hunter and Langdon are free on the wings and don’t get used. And Bowey plenty of times too. I know we don’t want to get sucked in to playing the wings but keep the ball moving at speed and safely and things will open up ahead.

 

Good points DS ty

3 minutes ago, layzie said:

I didn't either. Well except for one thing, the clearances. They belted us in that area, plain and simple. They beat us clearly in an area that we usually always boss them in and sorry but that's not all down to us playing garbage. Lions did some things right.

I put that down to really bad planning , communication and leadership in the middle. the coaching group need to have a defensive setup to neutralise this part of the game when it gets out of hand. Goody and Yze were just too slow to react and we never recovered.

A major factor was Grundy just not connecting with the mids - that'll get better as the season goes on. We win the hits for crying out loud but got pants. 
 

That’s two on the trot to Brissy …. Who’s in who’s head now?

Edited by Gawndy the Great

 
1 minute ago, Gawndy the Great said:

I put that down to really bad planning , communication and leadership in the middle. the coaching group need to have a defensive setup to neutralise this part of the game when it gets out of hand. Goody and Yze were just too slow to react and we never recovered.

A major factor was Grundy just not connecting with the mids - that'll get better as the season goes on. We win the hits for crying out loud but got pants. 
 

That’s two on the trot to Brissy …. Who’s in who’s head now?

Good points. It did get out of hand quickly and they got us on this occasion.


8 minutes ago, Neitas bump said:

I just read the stats, Harmes only 3 kicks for the night. And had plenty of midfield minutes. Surely Dunstan is better than that. 

At this point he is ahead Neitas i would think.

I would also be seriously looking at Wowie's performance at Casey over the next few weeks as a potential debutant.

I love Harmes but he may need a spell if he puts in another shocker like tonight against the Swans (if he retains his spot)

 
57 minutes ago, DemonOX said:

Was at the game and it was horrendous. Seemed to be kicking to the opposition or to 2 v 1 all night. 

Very disappointing performance tonight and losing max is no excuse. 
 

 

Yes I was there too. It wasn't just the midfield, we were incredibly loose in our defence.

Loose lions players everywhere. The kicks to 2 lions on one Dee were terrible.

We shouldn't take solace in the last ten minutes. The lions took the foot off our throat.

Petty was sore through the second half 

Lever did his best.

Fritsch and TMAC looked completely tired and lost.

We're so lucky to have a fit Ben Brown.

I really question the value of Harmes' and Melksham. They go alright when we're on a roll but just go missing when the pressure is on. 

Surely JVR has to get a run somehow. 

Chandler really tried hard tonight. I think we need to give JVR the same chance, even as sub to start.

Gee that was hard to watch tonight.

Edited by Brownie


The rule which says that whoever is winning if a match is abandoned after half time gets the chocolates surely has to be scrapped. Imagine it happening in a close grand final.

10 minutes ago, Kick_It_To_Pickett said:

Had Goodwin done a press conference ?

It is now up on the AFL site. The Gawn news was uncertain but the tone was not that encouraging. 

Just now, Fat Tony said:

It is now up on the AFL site. The Gawn news was uncertain but the tone was not that encouraging. 

I thought the same as well. I think we should expect the worse and hope for the best. As much as it sucks we do have an another AA back up ruckman… not all is lost. 

36 minutes ago, Demon Dynasty said:

 

I would also be seriously looking at Wowie's performance at Casey over the next few weeks as a potential debutant.

 

Wowey has a finger injury and out for a month.


Disappointing 3 and a half quarters, very flat. 

2 hours ago, dees189227 said:

Grundy 0 marks. Maybe McRae knew something we didn't. 

Also had 45 hit outs and was taking on 2 ruckman by himself. Fights for his team which is evident. Well be fine. It's only round 2.

2 hours ago, Stiff Arm said:

GF is 2:30 start

Are you expecting the sun to be blocked out?

On an autobahn in Germany,  just dropped in to DL to get the washup. Have the evil Borg arrived or were were we just totally eclipsed by the dreaded Zorko?

Much has been noted about our midfielders delivery forward and losing the clearances (and rightly so) but most of our forwards failed to create a contest for most of the night so the Lions won the ball in our forward line all night in an uncontested way

Our forwards played from behind and failed to create separation and offer themselves up as suitable targets

And lace out passes forward can only happen if the forwards are creating multiple options ... and that didn't happen either.  We failed on all fronts with our forward 50 entries

We just about matched them on the amount of inside 50 entries (54 to 59) but that's where it all started & finished

By contrast, the Lions forwards worked so much harder and their delivery forward was so much better

The scoreboard flattered us and we'll need to play a hell of a lot better to challenge Sydney

Edited by Macca


And losing Gawn effects our structure in the forward line and elsewhere.  We're now down one very tall target in the forward line which means we'll need Brown, McDonald & Fritsch to work a lot harder ... and there will be no real relief for Grundy as a consequence of losing Gawn

Grundy did an admirable job solo last night but can he do that for an indefinite period on his own?  The original plan was for the rucking, forward play and the following around the ground to be shared.  Helping out by occasionally playing as a loose man in defence might be a stretch for Grundy if he has to ruck all night.

So our structural defence is effected as well.  A few headaches for the MC until Gawn returns (which is hopefully sooner rather than later)

Losing Gawn is a big loss as he's arguably our most influential player.  Many would say unarguably.  He's certainly our most versatile player in terms of being able to play anywhere on the ground

Edited by Macca

Viney and Fritta looked like players who hadn’t played for 6 months.

We need to learn, stop bring in players who haven’t played. Play them for a half at Casey the week before, both looked so out of sync.

6 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

Whilst Melksham was awful and TMac not much better, this game wasn't lost by the forward line.

We gave them no chance with our abysmal clearance work.

Any dominance we have over other sides in the competition doesn't exist if we don't at least break even in the middle. Being thrashed as we were at every single stoppage in the first half is far more significant than our forward line.

That's right no supply we are on the back foot all over the ground. 

Seemed to me at the game we did not man up or mutually  respect the opposition at centre bounces throw ins or ball ups. We thought we could outplay them at any time and backed ourselves in for far too long. 

Yes Max off etc. did not help but we had the same excuse last year when Maysie got injured vs Freo. 

We don't seem to have a PlanB.

Would have been a perfect opportunity to switch Tmac and Petty halfway through the second quarter. The reason is simple and clear Harry is not the same defender when Maysie is not out on the ground "helping him " both physically and mentally. Up forward he can restart and go for marks. Tmac was not threatening and we looked small and out gunned in the backline. Tmac could have solved that by going back. 

2nd Last point Harmesy should have been assigned as a tag to SOMEONE or he perhaps is not that valuable in any other role in the team. Would Jordon or Dunstan or Rivers do any worse as our 5th mid? 15/18 disposals plus tackling and a goal is all that is expected from our 5th mid not a Clarry or Trac special.  PS If I misread Harmes role tonight then sorry but he is a good tagger 

Last point It's mind boggling to think that we probably would have won this game if ONE of Maxy or Kossie or Maysie or Salo had played  in the team for the whole night.  But where were the leaders to step up from our players when Maxy went down missing?  JV usually does step up and none of  the "leadership 3 or 4 or5 or 6 or more did not either.  

We have had a scare early doors please don't ignore some lessons we can learn from like last year. We have too much ability to waste another 12 months not trying to be bold and creative. 
 

 

 
9 minutes ago, Gorgoroth said:

Viney and Fritta looked like players who hadn’t played for 6 months.

We need to learn, stop bring in players who haven’t played. Play them for a half at Casey the week before, both looked so out of sync.

Thought Viney being in the middle really just made us look slow and flat footed along with Harmes. 

When Pickett is back I'd like to see Viney spending more time at half forward.

Pre blackout that was the worst performance in many years. Not one winner out there. Our midfield got destroyed. 


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