To those who watched what were our tactics. Did we run and carry or was there more kicking , did we try and use the corridor. Secondly did you feel the players were being to understand the Baily plan. Thanks to those who answer.

I think we tried to use the corridor. At times we fiddles around with the handball, probably because there was few options up forward. I believe the tactic was to hold onto the ball until we found an option. Unfortunately we didnt have the skills to carry it out. And when we went with a high ball it was almost always marked by a Geelong defender. To be honest, I though we were average today despite the surprisingly close margin

I don't know what Bailey's initial intention was, but what we carried out today was a bit of a change from previous weeks. We used short kicks to create space more, and ran off the back of that. There wasn't the overuse of handball as often today as there has been in previous weeks and in pre-season. Whether it was the players over-doing what they've been instructed or the instruction changed a bit during the week I'm not sure.

A few times we got caught a bit to far up the ground, in a 3/4 press, but with only one bail out option left up forward - which was part of the reason Harley took mark after mark in our forwardline.

So to answer your questions yes we used run and carry but it was a more kicking based run and carry. Much more like the Geelong version than the West Coast version, if that makes sense. And yes we used the corridor much more, imo due to having Miller there to straighten us up. Big big big plus there, made us much more threatening. I think the Bailey plan and the players learning of it are beginning to merge into each other. The players will get more confidence in it when they see it beginning to work, and there was definately some signs of that today

I don't know what Bailey's initial intention was, but what we carried out today was a bit of a change from previous weeks. We used short kicks to create space more, and ran off the back of that. There wasn't the overuse of handball as often today as there has been in previous weeks and in pre-season. Whether it was the players over-doing what they've been instructed or the instruction changed a bit during the week I'm not sure.

A few times we got caught a bit to far up the ground, in a 3/4 press, but with only one bail out option left up forward - which was part of the reason Harley took mark after mark in our forwardline.

So to answer your questions yes we used run and carry but it was a more kicking based run and carry. Much more like the Geelong version than the West Coast version, if that makes sense. And yes we used the corridor much more, imo due to having Miller there to straighten us up. Big big big plus there, made us much more threatening. I think the Bailey plan and the players learning of it are beginning to merge into each other. The players will get more confidence in it when they see it beginning to work, and there was definately some signs of that today

Thanks guys sounds promising , im happy to see some progress in the team for this week now just a little bit more and a win against the Roos would be great.

I don't know what Bailey's initial intention was, but what we carried out today was a bit of a change from previous weeks. We used short kicks to create space more, and ran off the back of that. There wasn't the overuse of handball as often today as there has been in previous weeks and in pre-season. Whether it was the players over-doing what they've been instructed or the instruction changed a bit during the week I'm not sure.

A few times we got caught a bit to far up the ground, in a 3/4 press, but with only one bail out option left up forward - which was part of the reason Harley took mark after mark in our forwardline.

So to answer your questions yes we used run and carry but it was a more kicking based run and carry. Much more like the Geelong version than the West Coast version, if that makes sense. And yes we used the corridor much more, imo due to having Miller there to straighten us up. Big big big plus there, made us much more threatening. I think the Bailey plan and the players learning of it are beginning to merge into each other. The players will get more confidence in it when they see it beginning to work, and there was definately some signs of that today

Good observations Hards. For a change we were able to get some goals from our mids, but I'd like to see them given the license to push forward more often. But if they're caught up playing handball games, this won't eventuate.

We definitely used short kicking more today than last two weeks.

Our skills are still very up and down. Less handballing across half back but players took their opponent on and worked hard forward and back - case in point would be Bruce off Johnson.

And the forward line worked much harder and Robbo did less stupid things.

I'd like to see next week before definitively saying we have changed game plans.

Definitely more kicking, and less handball to move the ball on quickly as stated earlier.........the intent was still there to move the ball quickly, but the balance between kicking and handball was a lot better, and it seemed to me that it was really back to the players deciding how they wanted to play on, instead of being programmed to handball and move the ball on at all costs.

As a result, the players seemed to have a lot more confidence.

Biggest concern from the game IMO was the delivery into the forwardline........far too many times it was bombed in with no system.

the biggest reason we improved i think is simply because we ran harder, to give options down the field, this allowed us to kick the ball a lot more...

in previous weeks our players would look up, have no options and, be forced to handball and stuff around with the footy, not sure what to do with it, which would result in a turnover... this week we had options down the field, and we moved the footy a lot better...

Having the surety of Rivers down back, plus a hard leading Miller instsntly made the game plan easier to implement.

And not having the likes of Buckley turning it over running from half back helps.

Now if we can get Bate fit, we will hopefully have another target when moving it foward, because we are seriously lacking in players who can can beat their opponent in the foward half.

Lots more shorter kicking today, pushing it into the corridor or into space, and it worked a treat.

I thought we really rattled Geelong today. If we were playing a lesser opposition we could well have won our first game for the year. Having Rivers down back, and Miller giving an option leading up, it worked well today. The thing that needs improving is the delivery into 50. Too many times one of our players had received the ball, run into space, but then just bombed it towards Neitz who would get double teamed or have the ball fisted away because it was a high kick rather than a kick to run onto with a lead. If we had done that better today, Harley wouldnt have taken so many uncontested marks, and we probably would have won. Not to be, and another loss to our name, but today was a big step forward and showed when we execute the gameplan well, we can play some good footy and be hard to stop if we get a run on.

This isnt going to be our year, but there are some good signs for the future with younger players being brought up on DB's gameplan and learning to execute it well.