Apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere and if so please remove.

Much gets made of our forward line, the reality is that much needs to be made of our general scoring in first halves.

We are essentially on average, a 3 goal better team in second halves than we are in first halves.

Just a fun stat, but one that desperately needs to be recitified. 

As great as a player as Tracca is, I have noticed quite consistently that he is a slow starter.

I think it's his fitness and endurance that make him dominate second halves much more than his firsts. Perhaps he wears tags or opponents out.

But so often he will amass many more of his disposals in the second half of games.

Maybe there's a connection.

It's accuracy too. 51.55 in first halves, 79.70 in second halves.

Prior to the weekend we were 88% in the first qtr meaning that we had scored less than our opposition

Thats a more important stat. We have always been behind the 8 ball

 

Good to see a dominant first qtr for a change against St Kilda

9 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

Prior to the weekend we were 88% in the first qtr meaning that we had scored less than our opposition

Thats a more important stat. We have always been behind the 8 ball

 

Good to see a dominant first qtr for a change against St Kilda

First quarters against good teams have been a lingering problem now,

Kings Birthday last year we gave up a 20-point headstart, against Port last year we didnt kick a goal from open play in the first quarter, round 22 against Carlton last year we gave up 25-4 inside 50s at the start of the game, the QF against the Pies we give them a 13-point start in a game where only 110 points are kicked, Port this year we give a 20-point head-start, Carlton was 36 points 2 weeks ago, even North last year in Hobart had a 30-point lead.

I noted @titan_uranus brought up the fact we take too much low percentage shots at goal. I'm sure we'd rather take them from 30m directly in front, but we had quite a  few from 45m directly in front and missed.

Surely, these are very gettable shots.

If nothing else it does suggest we're running out the games pretty well. i'd say first quarters is a mindset thing, i wonder if perhaps early in games the players are maybe trying a little bit too hard and they relax into it as the game goes on, but as we saw with Carlton, Brisbane and West Coast, by the time we settled into those games we were miles behind 

16 minutes ago, Binmans PA said:

I noted @titan_uranus brought up the fact we take too much low percentage shots at goal. I'm sure we'd rather take them from 30m directly in front, but we had quite a  few from 45m directly in front and missed.

Surely, these are very gettable shots.

That was my view of yesterday. Not necessarily a systemic issue (didn’t take any low percentage shots in the first quarter against Carlton…!).

Perhaps it’s our fitness which sees us do better later in games, but I do think we are not starting games well enough.

Definitely feels like a trend.  Though in 2022 we'd do the opposite. Jump out of the blocks, lead at half time and then try to grind out the second half.  

Of course it all grinded to a halt eventually 

15 hours ago, FearTheBeard said:

First quarters against good teams have been a lingering problem now,

Kings Birthday last year we gave up a 20-point headstart, against Port last year we didnt kick a goal from open play in the first quarter, round 22 against Carlton last year we gave up 25-4 inside 50s at the start of the game, the QF against the Pies we give them a 13-point start in a game where only 110 points are kicked, Port this year we give a 20-point head-start, Carlton was 36 points 2 weeks ago, even North last year in Hobart had a 30-point lead.

My theory is that other sides know how we play,  plan for it then execute. We try to play our plan and adjust to what the opp throws at us. 

We're reactive. But always try to play our game rather than change our plan to beat an opposition

 

21 hours ago, FearTheBeard said:

First quarters against good teams have been a lingering problem now,

Kings Birthday last year we gave up a 20-point headstart, against Port last year we didnt kick a goal from open play in the first quarter, round 22 against Carlton last year we gave up 25-4 inside 50s at the start of the game, the QF against the Pies we give them a 13-point start in a game where only 110 points are kicked, Port this year we give a 20-point head-start, Carlton was 36 points 2 weeks ago, even North last year in Hobart had a 30-point lead.

Really it’s so obvious about our starts, Go back to R 22 vs Pies at the G we missed the Finals by a goal (ie %) and a win. 

I feel it’s part of Goody’s lack of panic to make changes also that doesn’t address some early issues when our slow starts occur. If it is Trac’s issue then something needs to be done about it. 
We are never beaten but it’s galling losing by mere points.