POSTGAME: Opening Round vs Sydney

[Sigil 963]

When I don't understand something, I find it useful to to do some dot points and diagrams to better my understanding.

I think I've cracked it!

[ElDiablo14 3,155]

2 minutes ago, praha said:

Interesting stat I saw on Twitter. 

Since we lost to Port by 50+ in 2020 we've only lost one other match by 30 or more points (Freo at the MCG in 2022). 

We've also only lost 24 games out of the past like 96. 

It is an outstanding record but it does have me wonder what it's all for.

Feeling we are in for a tough, long season. I just can't see us pulling a Geelong or Hawthorn and suddenly coming good. I don't think Goodwin has the coaching prowess and I feel we are a bit too raw still.

The confidence is there but I think this mob needs a revolutionary leader. Someone to really inject some fresh ideas. We've got another season of this to look forward to and to be quite frank it's not appealing and not good for the fans. 

Tonight was ugly and we simply aren't ready. I hope for Goodwin's sake that this doesn't snowball into another 2019 because he won't survive.

 

Honestly, we have a good list overall. If Goodwin is no longer the coach we need a change may not be bad at all.

[seventyfour 393]

There's just too many things to fix. 

Game style. Ball usage. Bad players getting games. Goal kicking.

We're done.

It was a fun ride but I think we're heading for the worst place of all - mediocrity.

[picket fence 15,285]

1 minute ago, pitmaster said:

Another AFL genius balls up. Send us up to play in sub-tropical conditions in the height of summer heat.

This is no time to panic. The fixture set us up. We were spent from midway through the third quarter.

Let's see next round. If we mishandle the ball the same way then I'll panic.

No mate no way.. we were thrashed tonight and dont complain about the conditions!

[Dee Zephyr 17,702]

Howes was a big positive.
The lack of run early in the last was costly. We couldn’t go with them for about 10-15 mins, the game was well and truly still alive at 3/4 time.

Hope Bowey isn’t too bad, we had to use Salo back there after Bowey was injured.

[cookieboc 648]

literally crud

 

[Roger Mellie 3,530]

9 minutes ago, adonski said:

Glad we locked up Sparrow for another 2 years. Don't know where we would have been tonight without those 13 touches.

I think it was 1 kick and 12 fumbles

[BLWNBA 360]

Good on Straight Set Simon for continuing to try and disprove that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results. 

Edited March 7 by BLWNBA

[picket fence 15,285]

7 minutes ago, Maldonboy38 said:

My wife had the computer all night, this is my first opportunity for input. Glad, to be honest. I may have chucked the laptop through the new smart tv. So:

• few positional winners
• annihilated around the stoppages and ball drop
• our small forwards were as poor as they have ever been
• horrendous field kicking
• and a whole lot of poor, poor football.
• Some of our great players were less than average.
• Our brilliant back 6 were soundly beaten by their own errors, decision making & field kicking
• Laurie, Schache & Billings looked sub par. Billings not the answer.

I know it was greasy & slippery, but our ball handling looked like Tallygaroopna v Manangatang reserves in mid winter.

Yep great analogy thanks

[Binmans PA 26,236]

4 minutes ago, Nascent said:

Still baffles me that such a strong contest/defence team can be so poor in "wet weather" conditions.

This is it. Incredible. But I think as @binman often points out, inclement conditions often exacerbate our ordinary skills.

[ElDiablo14 3,155]

1 minute ago, picket fence said:

No mate no way.. we were thrashed tonight and dont complain about the conditions!

Imagine professional players earning close to a million a year complaining about a bit of dew...

[Demon_spurs 1,672]

I never pot players and I wont this week either, but some experience players played  some embarrassing footy tonight. And some youngsters tried their hardest. i will say no more except I expect a huge turnaround next week.

 

[Demon4ever 109]

10 minutes ago, Bingo said:

Like Heeney said, they play and train all preseason in this heat and humidity. We couldn't handle the ball.

Exactly! They know the ground inside out. They didn't even look like they were sweating at all! Whereas you only had to look at Clarry and he was dripping. If only we played our first game at the MCG in front of 60k+... might have been a different story!

Edited March 7 by Demon4ever

[DeeZee 6,766]

Oh well at least I got to see one premiership in my lifetime albeit on TV.

[dl4e 5,594]

Played like fummbly school girls. Sydney much cleaner. Again our forward line was a problem. If schache plays seniors for us again I think I will sit in a corner and cry for 6 hours. 

[Dee-monic 620]

7 minutes ago, Gawndy the Great said:

Gawn was taken to the cleaners by Grundy. It was a pathetic performance by him - he should have expected it. Frankly should be ashamed of his performance tonight.

Very harsh on Max. Grundy was outstanding and on the night Max did his best but couldn't match him. There is no shame in that.

One blip on a magnificent career is no reason to use words like "pathetic".

 

[seventyfour 393]

At least Jordon was bad. Very average player. Lost nothing when we let him go.

[Demon Jack 6,327]

If we're serious about 2024, Schache shouldn't play another game for us. It wasn't a night for key forwards, but he is seriously a liability in the forward line and ruck.

To his credit, Grundy knew how to topple Max. His physicality played a huge part in Sydney rolling over the top of us in the last quarter.

Viney was Viney. Excellent game, even if he occasionally tries to pull off more than he can chew. May was also very good.

After all the pre-season hype, Laurie was very disappointing. Sparrow likewise. 

We really missed Kozzie tonight. Our smalls in Spargo and Chandler also did little to enthuse. Billings only had 2 touches after coming on as the sub.

On the plus side, Howes and Windsor showed promising signs. Howes in particular looked right at home in the defensive 50. Really liked McVee's game as well.

Doggies in 10 days. Plenty of time for 'learnings' 

Edited March 7 by Demon Jack

[Dr. Gonzo 22,508]

6 minutes ago, praha said:

Interesting stat I saw on Twitter. 

Since we lost to Port by 50+ in 2020 we've only lost one other match by 30 or more points (Freo at the MCG in 2022). 

We've also only lost 24 games out of the past like 96. 

It is an outstanding record but it does have me wonder what it's all for.

Feeling we are in for a tough, long season. I just can't see us pulling a Geelong or Hawthorn and suddenly coming good. I don't think Goodwin has the coaching prowess and I feel we are a bit too raw still.

The confidence is there but I think this mob needs a revolutionary leader. Someone to really inject some fresh ideas. We've got another season of this to look forward to and to be quite frank it's not appealing and not good for the fans. 

Tonight was ugly and we simply aren't ready. I hope for Goodwin's sake that this doesn't snowball into another 2019 because he won't survive.

 

It's boring football, just really hard to watch.

[leave it to deever 15,790]

2 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Outstanding use of the sub by Goodwin yet again.

Billings came across to Melbourne to seek a fresh start and regain some much needed confidence. So nothing surer than our master mind coach starting Billings as sub and denting whatever confidence he gained in the practice matches. 

We looked unfit and unskilled. The large rehab group throughout pre season was reflective tonight.

We badly missed Kozzie’s spark while Sydney didn’t appear to miss their three mids at all.

I'm starting to have doubts about Goody.

I'll always be impressed with him getting us a flag.

But coaches too lose their appetite and edge.

He can be very stubborn at times and make some weird selections.

Some of his finals selections last year were bizarre at times.

Why did we recruit Grundy .... because we were down a big fwd.

Grundy goes and we ignore that fact we don't have a big fwd.

Tmac and Bbb played horribly in both our last two years finals but they are still around.

So glaring is our fwd line lack of firepower we've not only kept Schache but now he's not the sub anymore.

Unless Jvr becomes a star on his second year we better all pray Petty has a big year.

Where are our goals going to come from.

Why does Chin always get games.

Laurie too.?

That's on Goody 

[Heart Beats True 493]

After all the drama of the offseason and the so called united front the footy club makes you believe they possess coming into tonight’s game, that was pathetic.

It clearly looked like players were not ready mentally and weren’t composed enough to execute the “new” game plan. That falls back on the leaders of the club and the coach.

i know it’s round 0 etc however we made a huge mistake letting Yze leave, he should be our current coach. Yes Goodwin won us a premiership and the usuals will say he deserves time but how much time? Things need to change dramatically for us to turn this around.

[pitmaster 3,064]

1 minute ago, picket fence said:

No mate no way.. we were thrashed tonight and dont complain about the conditions!

You're right but look at contested ball stats from midway through the third and that's where it started. Heeney said they trained in the humidity all summer.  He seemed to acknowledge it worked in their favour. I'm backing us to bounce back hard. The small ground also allows for difficult entires unless you win the centre bounce contest cleanly. 

[SPC 2,850]

13 minutes ago, adonski said:

Glad we locked up Sparrow for another 2 years. Don't know where we would have been tonight without those 13 touches.

13 fumbles 

[picket fence 15,285]

2 minutes ago, Demon_spurs said:

I never pot players and I wont this week either, but some experience players played  some embarrassing footy tonight. And some youngsters tried their hardest. i will say no more except I expect a huge turnaround next week.

 

Doggies will Destroy us mark my words!

[Dee Viney Intervention 1,484]

Seems nothing much has changed. Chronic overuse of the ball in wet conditions and In efficiency going forward and in our conversion. We can usually hang out hat on defence but that was poor as well.