On 03/03/2025 at 06:59, picket fence said:

Disco played like he was at a Disco and was largely MIA!

 The midline doesn't seem to suit Disco, I reckon...due most probably to his height not duplicating that of more successful forwards and so, he has considerable need to move his body to the fall of the ball as it comes in, at varying speeds. I think that his best work is on the flanks from deep in the fwd line to the wing; he does have accelerating pace, is capably agile, directionally on the run and on a timed lead (a real strength of his), can take a few  'beauties' with the strong mits. Did I mention that he has a great eye to set up some fine goals? 

  On 03/03/2025 at 09:02, Demon Dynasty said:

Windsor but more dangerous and effective when he pushed higher up the ground.  Back to the wing for mine. 

Blud oath!

  On 03/03/2025 at 06:52, picket fence said:

And yet ok to pot shot Jeffo ( for perceived weaknesses) but not Fritsch? I'd drop Fritsch on last nights effort but they wont! Chandler also has done nothing for a long while and should spend time at Casey! I don't give a fat rats clacker if he provides more pressure than a thousand jet tyres going through a bees diaphram... KICK SOME GOALS for a change!

Dont forget he does have the credits of being a 6 goal GF Premiership Legend of the club

  On 03/03/2025 at 09:07, stinga said:

It's hard to know with Bowey  Even though he got a bit of the ball he butchered it and was ineffective against their smalls who created havoc. He is small and not very aggressive but usually highly skilled.   Maybe with TMac and Petty back in the backline, it becomes more contested and strong, less reliant on him contributing to that, so it doesn't show up so much in his game and he then has more time to deliver properly.   We won't know until they all play together.  Windsor also becomes a better player with those two back.  A strong suggestion by others is that Rivers needs to take Bowey's defence spot now that Langford will hold down a midfield place, Langdon has gone to the midfield and Sparrow is going well.  Especially when Kossie comes back.  That is 7 major midfielders.

I'd rather see Rivers in the middle and Lingers back to his wing for Billings Stinga.

Rivers has show something through there in patches last season.  Need to persevere.  His upside is bigger than Lingers through there imho.

Bowey hasn't been the same since his return from the LTI problem but certainly deserves a fair stab at getting his mojo back.  He may need to try and find that mojo again at Casey however.

  On 03/03/2025 at 09:02, Demon Dynasty said:

FWIW after one praccy and noting that it's just one pre-season warm up so not casting anyone in the bin at this point.  Comments purely relate to this game in isolation...

POSITIVES:

Clarry ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Tracc ⭐️⭐️⭐

Salem ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Big M  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Windsor but more dangerous and effective when he pushed higher up the ground.  Back to the wing for mine.  ⭐️⭐️⭐️

AJ - Early jitters but improved as the match went on.  I like ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Kozzy - only one quarter to go by but electrifying from the get go.  Needs to play 80 / 20 Small Forward / CBAs (or thereabouts) once he returns though imo.  We need his goal kicking smarts and ability to convert.  Our constant inaccuracy is a momentum / coach killer.

Sparrow ⭐️⭐️⭐️ - has shown VG early pre-season and in-seaaon form before though.  Needs to bring this level or so most weeks.

PASS MARK

Langdon but like others i feel he needs to get back to the wing pronto for Billings

NQRS THAT WEREN'T AT THE LEVEL

Billings

Howes

Bowey

Chandler

Woe - albeit with limited TOG.  Needs a bigger hit out to see where he's really at.  Looks slow both across the ground and with decision making though and will need to start showing off other assets this season if he's to gain some traction and a regular spot in the 22.

Edit:  Forgot to add Salem as one of the positives.  Thought he was solid for the majority.

Edited March 3Mar 3 by Demon Dynasty

  On 03/03/2025 at 09:31, DeeBlood said:

Yes, is but not when it is used incorrectly.

"whence" means "from where" so "from whence" is a tautology. "From" in that instance was redundant.

Money: Whence it came, where it went! Actually the title of a book by JK Galbraith! 

There is a replay of the praccy match in Mandurah on the AFL site https://www.afl.com.au/afl/matches/7183

Biggest issue was how we got cut up by their pace and method off their hb line, leading to easy shots on goal.  Do we have plans on how to defend it, apart from dominating clearance and not turning it over in space??

  On 03/03/2025 at 10:46, buck_nekkid said:

Biggest issue was how we got cut up by their pace and method off their hb line, leading to easy shots on goal.  Do we have plans on how to defend it, apart from dominating clearance and not turning it over in space??

BN i felt a fair chunk of that was to do with a combo of...

> Some poor / mostly shallow entries i50.  Many of our attacking forays inside were kicks from mid field falling in the 40 - 50 meter zones.  To me that's a groundhog issue from recent years that was on show yet again in the praccy.  Old habbits die hard it seems.

> Lack of pressure on the ball carrier i50.  This is also an issue due to a lack of pace in general amongst most of our forwards, bar Kozzy (when played there) and to a lessor degree Chin.  Chin also having little to no impact in any facet of the game last night was disappointing.

Sharp might be able to add something here and i'd be seriously looking to progress him into the 22 as a mid who pushes up into a medium - small forward role at times to add some zest and pressure when Kozzy is spending time at CBs (in preference to Chandler).

This is another reason i am all for Kozzy playing the bulk of time in a small forward goal sneak / pressure role.  He's our best pressure & small forward and by a fair margin.  Take him out for big chunks of time and you are robbing Peter.

> Some absolute butchering of the ball coming inside by both hand and foot.  In some cases with little to no pressure at all.  Some horrid turnovers that left everyone out of position forward of the ball, exposing us to the sling shot.

Regardless of whether it was Freo, most teams would've punished us here.

Yes Kozzy coming out of the middle to help curb the inside 50 delivery prob is handy, but surely we can find at least two others to bring some sort of return here.  Or maybe not!  But if we could this would  allow us the luxury of playing Kozzy in a mostly small forward / pressure role where his assets should have more impact in terms of scores from turnover inside our forward half.

> Lastly a lack of genuine contested or big marking options up forward with JVR out.  AJ was admirable but we look all at sea here without Roo and there ain't alot of danger elsewhere in the short term unless Disco has a pretty big year or AJ finds some serious mojo.

Edited March 3Mar 3 by Demon Dynasty

  On 03/03/2025 at 09:43, DeeBlood said:

Whence, Hence and Thence 🤣🤣

Forever thus

  On 03/03/2025 at 06:52, picket fence said:

And yet ok to pot shot Jeffo ( for perceived weaknesses) but not Fritsch? I'd drop Fritsch on last nights effort but they wont! Chandler also has done nothing for a long while and should spend time at Casey! I don't give a fat rats clacker if he provides more pressure than a thousand jet tyres going through a bees diaphram... KICK SOME GOALS for a change!

On first read of that it sounds critical of my post which was only about Fritsch's (unresolved) weaknesses.

Then I realised you generally agree with it - just not sure how that triggered the rest of your commentary rant 🙃
 

 

  On 03/03/2025 at 21:31, Lucifers Hero said:

On first read of that it sounds critical of my post which was only about Fritsch's (unresolved) weaknesses.

Then I realised you generally agree with it - just not sure how that triggered the rest of your commentary rant 🙃
 

 

I just liked reading phrases like 'fat rats clacker' and 'bee's diaphragm' haha. 

  On 03/03/2025 at 09:43, DeeBlood said:

And for the pedants and grammarians amongst us, after all, we are the club of toffs, add these...hence means from here, and thence means from there.

So a triumvirate of words to help you sound really stuck up!!!

Whence, Hence and Thence 🤣🤣

Ah, Demonland, gotta love it.  But the usage of 'hence' to mean "from here" is rather archaic. It is now usually defined  as therefore or as a consequence.  Some even go as far as hence meaning from now. Shocking, I know.

 

  On 03/03/2025 at 21:46, layzie said:

I just liked reading phrases like 'fat rats clacker' and 'bee's diaphragm' haha. 

Yes @picket fence is a master of colourful language and not trigger the censor !!!  With the occasional whimsical prose!  😉

  On 03/03/2025 at 10:46, buck_nekkid said:

Biggest issue was how we got cut up by their pace and method off their hb line, leading to easy shots on goal.  Do we have plans on how to defend it, apart from dominating clearance and not turning it over in space??

This has been fairly consistent under Goodwin. We play a high forward press to generate repeat inside 50s which means when the opposition break our lines we have very little going for us defensively.  That style of play has gone out of vogue in recent years. The game now favours transition play which we don't seem to have much interest in doing.

We very rarely score from the defensive half of the ground these days because most teams defend deep and kill our ball movement. It's also why a lot of our games become such slogs to watch. We lock the ball in our forward half for little reward only to see the opposition break through once and kick a fast goal.

Edited March 3Mar 3 by KozzyCan

  On 03/03/2025 at 22:39, KozzyCan said:

This has been fairly consistent under Goodwin. We play a high forward press to generate repeat inside 50s which means when the opposition break our lines we have very little going for us defensively.  That style of play has gone out of vogue in recent years. The game now favours transition play which we don't seem to have much interest in doing.

We countered this in 2021 with Langdon and Brayshaw hovering on the def side of our f50 arc and when the opp got the ball they started rolling back toward our d50 preventing the opp from getting a run and carry game going. It gave our def 6 time to man inside the d50 arc and behind to defend the goals.  Opp had to kick over the top where it was often marked or if they got past Langdon and Brayshaw they had to contend with Bowey, Hunt, Rivers and Salem.  Some teams got thru by 'running at the defenders' but the above defence worked very well.

That also enabled us to rebound quickly when the opp turned the ball over and caught them out of position forward of centre.  Brayshaw and Langdon were very good at running both ways.

Also, in 2021 Lever often called players back to 'defend the corridor'. 

The names may have changed but the structure and roles worked and imv we have the players to perform the roles as per 2021.

No idea what happened to that (imv, very effective) defence and as you point out we now play a very high forward press including our mids and defenders often only May in our def half.  Just too easy for opp to break thru for easy over-the-top goals or fast running with our players chasing. 

I'm not suggesting we should revert to the 2021 game style in toto but the above was very effective and I wouldn't mind seeing it in our game plan again, at least some of the time.

Edited March 3Mar 3 by Lucifers Hero

Watched the game in patches on Sunday and the replay yesterday. I was generally happy with the level of effort, and handballing out of congestion to space was largely working a treat as a change from last year.

Had a chuckle when Koz came on for the last qtr, and Adam Simpson said "imagine you've been playing 3 quarters, pumped out 12-13kms and then you have to play on a fresh Kozzie Pickett in the last quarter"

  On 03/03/2025 at 23:23, Lucifers Hero said:

We countered this in 2021 with Langdon and Brayshaw hovering on the def side of our f50 arc and when the opp got the ball they started rolling back to our d50 arc preventing the opp from getting a run and carry game going. It gave our def 6 time to man up inside the d50 arc and behindit to defend the goals.  Opp had to kick over the top where it was often marked or if they got past Langdon and Brayshaw they had to contend with Bowey, Rivers and Salem.

That also enabled us to rebound quickly when the opp turned the ball over and caught them out of position forward of centre.  Brayshaw and Langdon were very good at running both ways.

Also, in 2021 Lever often called players back to 'defend the corridor'. 

No idea what happened to that (imv, very effective) defence and as you point out we now play a very high forward press including our mids and defenders often only May in our def half.  Just too easy for opp to break thru for easy over-the-top goals or running off our players.

We got worked out a bit after 2021, teams started tagging Langdon and Gus returned to the middle. We basically had to always take the opposite wing which was given to Jordon who, while a fine role player, never really had any weapons. This is when the trend of just bombing it long to Max started to come in and our ball movement slowed to a trickle.

Our wings looked a lot better last year with Windsor taking the opposite side but everything else fell apart so it didn't really matter. Now we've moved both Langdon and Windsor to completely different roles. I don't really get the thinking.

  On 03/03/2025 at 23:23, Lucifers Hero said:

We countered this in 2021 with Langdon and Brayshaw hovering on the def side of our f50 arc and when the opp got the ball they started rolling back toward our d50 preventing the opp from getting a run and carry game going. It gave our def 6 time to man inside the d50 arc and behind to defend the goals.  Opp had to kick over the top where it was often marked or if they got past Langdon and Brayshaw they had to contend with Bowey, Hunt, Rivers and Salem.  Some teams got thru by 'running at the defenders' but the above defence worked very well.

That also enabled us to rebound quickly when the opp turned the ball over and caught them out of position forward of centre.  Brayshaw and Langdon were very good at running both ways.

Also, in 2021 Lever often called players back to 'defend the corridor'. 

The names may have changed but the structure and roles worked and imv we have the players to perform the roles as per 2021.

No idea what happened to that (imv, very effective) defence and as you point out we now play a very high forward press including our mids and defenders often only May in our def half.  Just too easy for opp to break thru for easy over-the-top goals or fast running with our players chasing. 

I'm not suggesting we should revert to the 2021 game style in toto but the above was very effective and I wouldn't mind seeing it in our game plan again, at least some of the time.

When I think of that time and that game style, the first thing I think of is 'turnovers in good areas'. Our line was set high but our pressure up the ground was so immense that we would have Lever, May and Petty intercepting sometimes in the middle of the ground enabling plenty of repeat lock in jobs. The work of our wingmen that season does get overlooked as they would cover for those guys all the time. Not just in a contest way but as a backstop if needed, the mental side of being the opposition looking up and seeing our guys back their already and being forced to kick sideways or just hoof it. I nicknamed our back 6 the 'No Fly Zone' that season and it worked an absolute treat and I also thoroughly enjoyed watching how we played that season.

 Elements of this approach in our back 6 will remain, it's in our DNA. However our thought process around scoring does need to evolve. Who knows, it still might come from repeat entries and chaos but we really do need to keep fine tuning the way we rebound and transition from the backline. I am confident that with enough good users of the football back there we can develop this into something that will bear fruit. 

  On 03/03/2025 at 08:26, mo64 said:

Can't believe the vitriol directed at Fritsch. He's been our most reliable forward over the past 4 years, and yet some are pointing the finger at him based on 2 quiet preseason games. He's the least of our problems.

Then you clearly didnt watch him last year.

No denying his talents but his second efforts and tackling are frankly deplorable and these are the cornerstones of our game style. That was what he showed on the weekend

When the opp can waltz the ball out of the d50 with ease it pressures every other phase of the game.

He has been lazy for quite a while now and last year he went to half time in at least 9 games where he had only 1 or 2 possessions. Disgraceful.

You might say he's our most reliable fwd but that is a very narrow view. In a team sport you cant have passengers like him

 

 

  On 03/03/2025 at 06:56, picket fence said:

Vomitous output🤮

Great reply. Can I borrow it provided your attributed ?  It could come in handy this season

  On 03/03/2025 at 23:23, Lucifers Hero said:

We countered this in 2021 with Langdon and Brayshaw hovering on the def side of our f50 arc and when the opp got the ball they started rolling back toward our d50 preventing the opp from getting a run and carry game going. It gave our def 6 time to man inside the d50 arc and behind to defend the goals.  Opp had to kick over the top where it was often marked or if they got past Langdon and Brayshaw they had to contend with Bowey, Hunt, Rivers and Salem.  Some teams got thru by 'running at the defenders' but the above defence worked very well.

That also enabled us to rebound quickly when the opp turned the ball over and caught them out of position forward of centre.  Brayshaw and Langdon were very good at running both ways.

Also, in 2021 Lever often called players back to 'defend the corridor'. 

The names may have changed but the structure and roles worked and imv we have the players to perform the roles as per 2021.

No idea what happened to that (imv, very effective) defence and as you point out we now play a very high forward press including our mids and defenders often only May in our def half.  Just too easy for opp to break thru for easy over-the-top goals or fast running with our players chasing. 

I'm not suggesting we should revert to the 2021 game style in toto but the above was very effective and I wouldn't mind seeing it in our game plan again, at least some of the time.

Thanks Luci, I had a similar thought. Even last year, how often did Langdon, and to a lesser extent Windsor, after some serious defensive gut running from the wing, clean up on the last line of defence? Its early days yet, but I haven't seen our current wingers doing the same. 

  On 04/03/2025 at 00:23, jnrmac said:

Then you clearly didnt watch him last year.

No denying his talents but his second efforts and tackling are frankly deplorable and these are the cornerstones of our game style. That was what he showed on the weekend

When the opp can waltz the ball out of the d50 with ease it pressures every other phase of the game.

He has been lazy for quite a while now and last year he went to half time in at least 9 games where he had only 1 or 2 possessions. Disgraceful.

You might say he's our most reliable fwd but that is a very narrow view. In a team sport you cant have passengers like him

 

 

100% agree!

  On 04/03/2025 at 00:23, jnrmac said:

Then you clearly didnt watch him last year.

No denying his talents but his second efforts and tackling are frankly deplorable and these are the cornerstones of our game style. That was what he showed on the weekend

When the opp can waltz the ball out of the d50 with ease it pressures every other phase of the game.

He has been lazy for quite a while now and last year he went to half time in at least 9 games where he had only 1 or 2 possessions. Disgraceful.

You might say he's our most reliable fwd but that is a very narrow view. In a team sport you cant have passengers like him

 

 

agreed, against North Archer was killing him just based on pure hunger. later in the game Fritsch fired up and started to play better but he needs to do way more defensively. 

  On 04/03/2025 at 00:58, Bay Riffin said:

agreed, against North Archer was killing him just based on pure hunger. later in the game Fritsch fired up and started to play better but he needs to do way more defensively. 

That's confusing, I didn't think Fritta played against North................