3 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

The best way to score a goal out of a centre bounce is to burst out the front with speed followed by a handball over the top to a half forward who then goes bang. Ie. the Sparrow play 

I’d have kept Tracc in but I get the set play they were going for. 

Which is why you need a bull like Petracca in there to win the bloody thing!

Langdon over run it and Gawn could tried to shin it forward! That was enough for me!

I had a 39 week pregnant GF to get home to, that was more than enough reason for me to get the [censored] outta there.

My 2 bobs worth. Skills, skills and more skills are lacking. Not sure what we did over summer but again our lack of skillful players let us down. They had Green, Greene, Coniglio, Whitfield & Callaghan all that find space and deliver in spades. We had Lindsay and not much else especially by foot. Salem played OK but those dinky little kicks that go higher than long put us under pressure. He needs to put some oomph into his kicks even those shorter ones.

Great effort by the guys and stiff to lose it but our skills still letting us down. Special mention to TMac. Played a great game.

We were in it all day. Just couldn't stretch out the score enough to get some comfort as the GWS kept themselves close. Some good dynamic plays out of the centre, with other take them on runs. Became a wrestle and a fight for much of the game. I thought we battled well. GWS have some fast ball movement in them, with kicks to advantage ending in easy goals. Their captain is very good, loved his game. A few times they got lucky with the bounce of the ball. Deflating to lose a close one after being infront most of the game. Loved that some of the newbies goaled. Lindsay has a good footy brain. Need to put more angle on our kicks, too easy to turn when we go straight. Also, need to go quick if they get a chance, appeared scared at times to make an error. I would like to see more of our flair and dare. Perhaps wet conditions made it difficult. Play infront of your man on wet days, don't let the ball get behind you and keep your feet. We played for the 4 quarters. Will be better off for the run. We have comraderie.

Edited March 16Mar 16 by Kev

2 hours ago, binman said:

He should have gone for goal. He had to pick out roo with a tricky kick - open goal square 40 metres our have a ping and let it slide thru.

I thought he rushed it, put the ball on his boot as soon as he got possession. He had time to settle and could've put it lace out in front of Roo.

Was super impressed with Xavier Lindsay, kid has composure and skill in spades. Also loved Windsor's game, carried on from where he left off last year. Despite being so lightly framed opposition players struggle to stick tackles, so much like Flower in that respect.

2 hours ago, Stevienic23 said:

Bit of a head scratcher that Trac wasn't in the middle at the last centre bounce 

Obviously hoping he'd get on the end of a clearance and be the matchwinner, right?

5 minutes ago, Docs Demons said:

My 2 bobs worth. Skills, skills and more skills are lacking. Not sure what we did over summer but again our lack of skillful players let us down. They had Green, Greene, Coniglio, Whitfield & Callaghan all that find space and deliver in spades. We had Lindsay and not much else especially by foot. Salem played OK but those dinky little kicks that go higher than long put us under pressure. He needs to put some oomph into his kicks even those shorter ones.

Great effort by the guys and stiff to lose it but our skills still letting us down. Special mention to TMac. Played a great game.

I get your emotion about it, but it wasn’t really skills that let us down. Disposal efficiency was 70% each and goal efficiency was 21% vs 19% for us. So I guess technically they were 2% more efficient going goal, but really it was a 50/50 game Unfortunately didn’t go our way.

2 hours ago, WheeloRatings said:

Player Ratings

 

	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Match
Max Gawn	4.7	6.2	6.9	1.4	19.2
Christian Petracca	3.3	9.8	2.1	1.5	16.8
Tom McDonald	5.6	2.4	3.7	4.7	16.4
Tom Sparrow	0.3	1.9	9.0	3.1	14.3
Jake Lever	3.6	2.5	5.6	1.5	13.1
Harrison Petty	3.1	6.1	2.0	1.7	12.9
Kade Chandler	0.5	6.7	2.5	2.5	12.2
Jake Bowey	2.3	2.7	4.3	2.5	11.8
Xavier Lindsay	1.9	3.4	1.5	4.2	11.0
Caleb Windsor	0.9	1.9	5.6	1.8	10.2
Jack Henderson	3.9	3.1	1.6	1.4	10.1
Ed Langdon	5.5	0.3	1.5	2.4	9.7
Christian Salem	4.9	−0.1	2.4	2.2	9.4
Clayton Oliver	2.2	0.8	4.4	1.4	8.9
Aidan Johnson	1.0	−0.5	8.6	−0.5	8.6
Jacob van Rooyen	0.8	1.1	3.4	2.8	8.1
Matthew Jefferson	2.6	0.0	0.4	3.3	6.4
Jack Viney	5.5	3.1	0.5	−2.8	6.2
Trent Rivers	2.5	1.1	0.8	1.1	5.5
Bayley Fritsch	0.8	−1.8	3.5	1.9	4.4
Harry Sharp	0.7	2.5	−0.4	1.6	4.4
Blake Howes	2.6	−1.1	2.1	0.0	3.6
Harvey Langford	0.0	0.0	0.0	3.2	3.2

 

Interesting how basically our entire forward line were our lowest rated players. Get a bit more experience in the new guys, and Kozzie back, and we’ll be better.

17 minutes ago, DistrACTION Jackson said:

I get your emotion about it, but it wasn’t really skills that let us down. Disposal efficiency was 70% each and goal efficiency was 21% vs 19% for us. So I guess technically they were 2% more efficient going goal, but really it was a 50/50 game Unfortunately didn’t go our way.

Spot on, we have very good DE. We let ourselves down in conversion in front of the goal though, as expected score shows.

Ehh, feeling pretty nothing about this game aside from a few pleasing individual performances.

The way we lost, just felt like I've seen this movie a thousand times before.

Our forwardline is still really dysfunctional and wasn't helped by playing so many talls in torrential rain, so that's on the coaches. 

Goodwin has promised a different brand of footy and that we'll have some teething issues as a result, so I'll be patient. But so far I can't see a great deal of difference in how we've played over the past few years.

Thought TMac was definitely one of our best. The decision not to pick him initially was a shocker. 

I felt we were too top heavy in the forward line. The extra tall means that Fritsch plays further up the ground and takes away his strength. 

The main reason we lost was poor accuracy from set shots. 

I also felt Kossie being out cost us 4 points. 

Maggots again.

They let it go, let it go and let it go until they had something near enough for GWS (the new pin up boys) and blew the whistle.....

I read all replies with due consideration.

3 hours ago, YesitwasaWin4theAges said:

I watched the game on my phone as I was attending a function, yes it was a miss kick. 

We made 2 glaring defensive mistakes from the miss kick they are as follows and should be dissected and not allowed to happen again. 

Sparrow was 2-3 meters away from his opponent if he was touching distance he's getting a fist in towards the boundary side to disrupt clean possession to GWS.

Ball falls in the lap of Kelly who gathers clean and quick fires a handball into Jones who handballs a hail mary into the center circle.

Henderson needed to go through Callahan to disrupt forward momentum doesn't (Welcome to league footy young lad) who then fires a handball to Ward who hits O'Keeffe (who won't kick a goal for the rest of his Career).

Yes I watched the whole [censored] n thing

But yes it was a miss kick.

@Pennant St Dee

There was still never an opportunity to punch the footy at any stage, Sparrow is covering off the kick over the top of one of our players (possibly Fritsch) on the 50m arc members side wing, which is where the kicker heads, he’s also within striking distance of Kelly if the kicker try’s to hit Kelly with a clean kick he can press up and stand the mark to force Kelly to step back and allow players to move up into position which we did well for most of the day., if you rewatch the game you will see this continuously.
 
We have actually covered off quite well but the scrubbed kick came off and Sparrow is boundary side.

Henderson may have been better served to give away a professional free and take Callaghan’s legs out but it is what it is

Surprised no one seems to have said it already but XL would have to be favorite for the rising star nomination after that outstanding debut. Did he make a skill or decision error all game?

I was impressed with Jeffo too. He competed well, was defensively sound and got good wheels. Hendo showed a bit too. I suspect he'll be playing a lot of senior football this year

We were good, and hung in there against a great side. 

The gameplan was different, but I'm not convinced its the right one for this list or the league as it is. 

JVR - horrible game, ran under the ball all day, couldn't hold a grab, didn't play the conditions at all. Against a great KPD though.

Salem - better than last year, but too many little dinky 15 metre kicks in the wet.

Trac - faded as the game went on, but a great first 2.5 quarters

Windsor - very good running from behind the contest. Not 100% sure he's not needed elsewhere though.

Viney - like Trac. Good to see he has plenty of good footy left though.

Lever - pretty good all game but that kick to Viney set the tone for the end of the game. We were in control before that and setting up to lock the ball away. Must be so disheartening to be a young player and see that happen.

Gawn - usually has a hard time vs part timers, but did well against Keefe today. The umpires were generous to him, it must be said. His man snuck off him to kick the winner though. Had two set shots in the last he had to do more with.

Clarry - still not as fit as every other mid, but way more impact than last year. Great tackle on Green.

Langdon - bold coaching move to stick him out wide all day until the final 10 minutes when he was naturally outplayed by their experienced, enormous, dynamic bulls.

Bowey - been a critic in the past, but that was a great game. Composed and tried hard.

Langford - may get flamed for this, but I'd make him earn it in the VFL for a few weeks. Poor sub choice on a rainy day anyway. 10 mins after he came on, timestamp about 9 mins to go, he was jogging alongside their mids who were burning us on transition. Stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the other debutants who never stopped competing. He was far away enough from the ball that it seemed most people miss this. Tell me I'm not crazy.

Lindsay - take a bow.

Jefferson - tough day for it, but took his chances. Goody loves Turner so doubt his day would have been enough, which is a shame.

Howes - don't see it with him. Lacks composure, not particularly good by foot and not brilliant in the air.

Rivers - shocking day from him. Sloppy and panicked. He's now at an age where we need to rely on him week on week.

TMac - hasn't missed a beat. Stiffer gait than when he was younger, but still got it. Love his attacking kicks out of the D50, the same thing that terrified me from 2012-15.

Sharp - was surprised he only had 9. He seemed everywhere. Has a bit of ANB about him, but not sure he's a smart enough player to sacrifice his endurance as a winger. But Langdon shifting back out there meant someone had to be sacrificed. Just weird coaching.

Fristch - he needs to lead into space, but even with the game plan aside - what. was. that? Absolutely disinterested.

Sparrow - a big improvement on last season, good stuff.

Petty - great work down back after a nervy start.

Chandler - does his best work up the ground. Think he'd be better in a better/quicker team like GWS or Collingwood who like runners with a long kick.

Johnson - did you know he scored 17.18 in 21 games last year, including a hot patch of 11 in five weeks? I get why people like him, and I love his effort, but what exactly is he going to bring to a side who is really keen to compete? He seems more like the kind of guy a young team would bring in to shield the kids and stand up for them. He wasn't *bad*, but I don't see a huge amount of room for improvement and he really needed to kick that goal. I'll forgive an 18 year old debutant, but not a 25 year old.

Henderson - looks composed. Will need to either kick goals or tackle a lot to hold his spot. 

 

Edited March 16Mar 16 by Pirlo

8 hours ago, Macca said:

The ease that GWS moved the ball out of our forward line was at times, startling.  On a drier day, they might have really cleaned us up (there again, we might have clunked a few more marks on a dry day ... with our oversized forward line) 

And GWS are not the only team that can move the ball quickly on the counter-attack.  

Whilst we're trying to lock the ball in our forward line by employing the press, the good teams only need one accurate, quick disposal and they are off to the races

It's not a new thing either

We need to back ourselves into using the corridor more with faster ball movement so as we can advance the ball into a more open forward line

Our style is gritty and we are hard at the contest.  Our strength is winning contested ball but we seem to have to work too hard in order to score

By contrast (today at least) GWS' method of scoring was highly efficient.  Helps that they are highly skilled but that's what we have to beat

Despite everything they only conceded 11 goals, yes? I'd guess even a lot of premiership sides have more than that kicked against them per game. Melbourne were far from perfect today. But they can improve a fair bit I reckon.

8 hours ago, Macca said:

Prior to the season there was hardly anyone here advocating playing Jeffo, JVR & AJ in the one team so I'm not sure why suddenly that can be a workable plan

No, but plenty were expecting JVR, Turner and one of Jeffo or AJ, which amounts to the same thing.

Between rotations and giving Max a chop out in the ruck, only 2 of those would be forward most of the time.

8 hours ago, Brownie said:

I agree with the Max observation.

He's showing a bit of ego trying to land those 50m plus goals.

He's just a terrible shot for goal in general

Dish it off and let Windsor or Salem deliver it inside 50

100%.   A.bit dfferent if it's just inside 50 or less but even then.  He almost always shanks to the left.

I didn't watch the replay of his first miss from 30 but it would be interesting to see if he's still planting that last step in the way he used to before trying to correct the shank.

On other occasions that i've slow mowed his shanks, his last step on the left foot, his foot is angled out to the left (effectively pointing to the left goal post or thereabouts) and invariably that's where his right leg / foot follows on the kick and the ball too of course.

Gonna tale a look today on Kayo's.slow mo highlights and see if that was the case (again).  If so, then it's the same technical glitch he's had for years.  

He should be looking to dish off in most cases though.  Even just to eat up the clock a little more and give someone with the ability a better chance of finishing.  Also allows mids and defenders a chance to recover a little more and set up correctly behind the ball for a potential kick in offf the point.  Plus interchange options to take place if required.

Edited March 16Mar 16 by Demon Dynasty

Here are the pressure numbers from the game.

Team pressure

Quarter	For	Agn	Diff
1	180	184	-4
2	193	177	+16
3	192	201	-9
4	191	203	-12
Match	189	190	-1

Source: Herald Sun

Most Pressure Points

Note: pressure points are the weighed sum of pressure acts. Physical pressure acts are worth 3.75 points, closing acts are worth 2.25 points, chasing acts are 1.5 points and corralling are 1.2. ( https://www.championdata.com/glossary/afl/ )

Player	Pressure Acts	Pressure Points	Season Average
Clayton Oliver	27	60	60.0
Tom Sparrow	21	51	51.0
Kade Chandler	16	43	43.0
Aidan Johnson	17	43	43.0
Xavier Lindsay	14	43	43.0
Ed Langdon	19	43	43.0
Jack Viney	20	38	38.0
Jake Bowey	15	35	35.0
Jack Henderson	13	31	31.0
Jacob van Rooyen	14	30	30.0
Bayley Fritsch	13	29	29.0
Christian Petracca	10	29	29.0
Matthew Jefferson	10	27	27.0
Christian Salem	10	25	25.0
Jake Lever	10	25	25.0
Harry Sharp	12	22	22.0
Trent Rivers	11	20	20.0
Max Gawn	8	20	20.0
Harrison Petty	7	17	17.0
Caleb Windsor	6	10	10.0
Blake Howes	7	9	9.0
Tom McDonald	4	8	8.0
Harvey Langford	3	5	5.0

Source: Herald Sun

 

Xavier Lindsay our leading tackler. Was going at 100% efficiency for most of the game. 

Glad we missed out on Houston. 

There was a lot to like from Jeffo too. Impressed in the wet. 

There was a lot to like about yesterday 

A week is a long time in Footy. Last week the pies lost by 50 to a gws side sans Tom Green. This week they beat Port by 90

 

We played ok. Lost by a kick. Don't go microwaving the memberships just yet.

Edited March 16Mar 16 by HarpenDee
Sp

2 hours ago, Bang Na Demon said:

Surprised no one seems to have said it already but XL would have to be favorite for the rising star nomination after that outstanding debut. Did he make a skill or decision error all game?

Lalor will get it

 

7 hours ago, KozzyCan said:

Ehh, feeling pretty nothing about this game aside from a few pleasing individual performances.

The way we lost, just felt like I've seen this movie a thousand times before.

Our forwardline is still really dysfunctional and wasn't helped by playing so many talls in torrential rain, so that's on the coaches. 

Goodwin has promised a different brand of footy and that we'll have some teething issues as a result, so I'll be patient. But so far I can't see a great deal of difference in how we've played over the past few years.

It wasn’t torrential rain until late in the third quarter and had mostly stopped in the last. I had no idea how we would go this season after last years abhorrent one and was pleasantly surprised about how well the new boys went. Looking forward to seeing us winning close games in future.

13 minutes ago, #11-TonyAnderson said:

It wasn’t torrential rain until late in the third quarter and had mostly stopped in the last. I had no idea how we would go this season after last years abhorrent one and was pleasantly surprised about how well the new boys went. Looking forward to seeing us winning close games in future.

There had been showers all day so it was very greasy. It was clearly not a day for tall marking forwards which was reflected all game. Playing three talls and max floating forward was never going to work. We once again wasted far too many good forward entries.

Bittersweet day at the G yesterday. Pre game I honestly thought they would be too good for us but post game disappointed to lose. There are quite a lot of green shoots and positives to come out of the game. Great to have Clarrie and Trac back and the performance and contribution of the debutants. 
 It’s only a very small sample size but some problems still exist and frustratingly so.

1/I think we still overuse the ball too much in the wet. 

2/ We concede some very soft goals in “red time”

3/ We concede some very soft goals out the back of a contest

4/ We concede too many coast to coast goals

We showed yesterday that when we go quickly and directly ie first goal of game, first goal of 3rd 1/4, bang - bang in the 3rd 1/4. Obviously goals from the centre clearance allow this due to the 6/6/6 rule but when we hold our forwards back and give them a chance one out we are extremely dangerous and will score, the talent is there. Our ball movement is still too slow and indirect more often than not. We play with way too much width and allow opposition time to get back and defend. 
 Really hope to see us play with more speed on the ball and directly to give our forwards a better chance on a fast deck at Marvel. 
 I still believe in this group there is plenty of upside but there are problems that still exist that by now we should have found solutions for.