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Our forward issues stem from over all work rate. Particularly through the middle. our defensive issues stem from work rate. Particularly through the middle. our lack of execution of skills stems from fitness. It was clear at the ground the past fortnight we were playing with heavy legs. We are not only going through some turbulence on the injury front we are probably going through a spike in training load. Banged up and tired. It only takes a few percent drop off in energy to look sluggish. These problems will start to resolve as we start to come back into fitness. We rely on everyone running on top of the ground to maintain structures and create the imposing defensive setup we have. The season is long. Last year I thought we were done after the gws game. We look exactly the same right now.

Hard game to pick apart. sydney looked about a 6 goal better side most of the night. Our midfield showed up for a quarter and then went to bed. I think they got the better of the umpiring over the night but that might be my in game bias. Those last two goals were as soft as you’ll find. the way they and freo have been first to the ball all game once it hits the ground says to me we are either playing with heavy legs or we are being lazy or at times it looks like we are looking at our positioning within our structure instead of getting our hands on it. we have lost our aerial superiority. Freo are big and strong but I don’t see why Sydney beat us so comprehensively in the air. we looked terrible tonight and almost won it. It’s hard to piece it all together to tell a story yet. there are similarities to last year and I lean toward us starting to load our players on the track combined with losing some key players and some in game losses having huge impact. We started out and did what we need to and now we enter the real grind of the season. A lot of top four sides will lose games they should win in the next two months. Our offensive issues seem to stem from where we win the ball back. The closer to their goal we get it back the harder it is to employ our forward system. When we win it back at half back and the wing our forwards know what to do. When we win it back at full back the opposition can set up and our talls can’t lead and get out numbered at contest. Fritta loves those leads sideways across the 50 that work when you win it back high enough but they don’t work in a flooded backline. i didn’t notice where Sydney employed their spare but it looked like we were comprehensively out worked across the ground. I still think we are at worst a prelim team, provided we come out of this slump.

Lots of talk about effort and not having enough of it etc. we were essentially a backline of lever as the only tall in the third. So they took some marks and our structures on the ground were broken and they kicked a few easy ones too. That is purely system breakdown and no amount of effort fixes it. If that happens in a final we probably lose as well. we had a shocker in the middle in the third too. Once again when petracca has no run we are essentially a man down in there and they exposed us on the spread which doesn’t really happen to us these days and with a full compliment of inside and outside mids (mids, flanks, wings) we have the structure we want and we probably don’t see what happened in the third. it’s a domino effect that no one is immune to. Too many keys all disappeared at once this game. We are as equipped as anyone to deal with it because we have some depth but you lose too many key cogs and that’s what you get. Well done to freo but the media have been saying we are going at about 70 percent. That game we were genuinely going at 70 percent in the second half.

In the second quarter they were trying hard to expose our lack of height but it wasn’t coming off because we were getting first hands on it. They were swapping match ups, manning up spare etc. then in the third it clicked because they got it first. They’re very tall and strong. Given a full squad and better condition we take the half time lead and run with it. They don’t get the run on they did with our first choice backs and a healthy petracca. It was a perfect storm of holes all over our backline and a barely functioning midfield on the day. They were and are good but they took advantage of a severely undermanned side. As for forward connection, I think in part it comes from effective and efficient defensive work. They had time to set up in the second half. In the second quarter they didn’t and we could have kicked more than we did. In a pressure final with close to full squads our cream will out perform their cream I would think.

It smelt like the gws game last year in the first. Then we came good in the second. Then it was much worse than the gws game. We were flat. We had important players out in important spots. They were strong and clean. The ball fell their way, they got the rub. Concerning in part but I thought we’d lose one or two in the coming month. We will beat them in a final

You may be interested in the hawthorn Brisbane game then. we got sliced open a few times last year too. By bad teams mainly with nothing to lose. Good teams are less likely to do that as it can bite you in the [censored] just as easily as it can work. from my perspective our system is stronger than last year so far because we’ve ground out a few games that looked like the losses we had last year. form and standing isn’t static. Different teams match up better against each other. Fitness, form, match ups, training loads etc all come into it week to week. we got sliced open to the tune of 52 points yesterday. Brutal. next week is a test. Freo need to score against us though. They won’t fly through the middle because they play a defensive system like we do. we’ve stood up this year when needed and to suggest otherwise is to be barely paying attention.

Did you not learn anything watching the journey that was last year. Remember losing a couple of games just like yesterdays?

There were periods when we had long runs of forward half possession where they had 13, 14, 15 players in our forward 50. They played us very close and very hard. I liked their endeavour. They gave away a lot more free kicks than we’re paid but they can’t pay them all. We were being tackled before we took possession in the contest more often than not. We are never going to look fluent going forward when there is that little room in our forward line, when our talks are competing with multiple players in the air etc. Goodwin was pleased with the amount of time we controlled the game and played a forward half game which we’ve been trying to get going all season. It’s one of the stats that are down from last year. So that’s a positive amongst the scrap that the game was. against better teams and teams that try and win with their game the field opens up they get caught on the rebound and our forward line has room for our forwards to operate. Our system is designed to win hard games of football with something on the line. Where a team needs to kick a winning score. North and west coast were not trying to do that. So it looked a bit [censored].

North trying out the west coast game plan. Congest areas and try to hurt us. Then get the ball and all out attack no matter what. Makes for hard to watch football. We’re always going to get more frees when teams play this way against us.

This is where intent vs outcome needs to be looked at. Intent creates much more consistency I would think. Outcome is impossible to work with because there are too many variables. No matter what you police with outcome there will be situations like chandlers. All the while stray elbows, forearms and punches go unpunished. One is an unfortunate part of the game that will never go away no matter what rules we create, the other looks terrible, has 100 percent more malice involved and has the potential to create huge amount of injury. We are trying to remove concussion in a game where it’s impossible to do so. Will punishing chandler help reduce concussion, I don’t think so. He will make that tackle every time and so he should. Meanwhile Ryan gets one week, where the intent was far greater, not in the spirit of the game, bla bla bla and the afl wonders why the fans have issues with the umpires, mro, rules committee etc. they are set up to fail

What should chandler have done. The part where it becomes dangerous is out of his control. He has to play the game.

Physicality, presence etc. they kick about the same amount of goals but t mac does the other stuff better

Too many passes that hang in the air a bit too long. If we just put our heads down the game would be much easier. They are creating more opportunities this quarter which is unacceptable.

Perfect game to work on lowering the eyes. Midfielders getting goal side a bit more than they might normally. The eagles are as bad as we were at our worst. It’s bringing back bad memories of them doing the same to us years ago at the g one [censored] afternoon

Nah. Not even close. Tom McDonald’s great but that’s his glaring weakness. He over rates his kicking ability.

How many times have I seen Tom McDonald turn the ball over by foot taking on more than he should trying to look a million bucks in his career.

Goes to show how taxing it is playing us. You’re welcome essendon.

Collingwood and Adelaide beat us by running hard through the middle and taking their chances last year. And playing us when we were flat because you can’t get up for every game, especially against minnows. Hawks had a crack. We seem better prepared for it this year. We were as flat as anytime last year against the hawks. We are even more hell bent on practising defence this year. To the detriment of winning big. I think the practice pays off over the year though and works in our favour. It has shown that when teams need to try and win the game when we are up for it they end up looking pretty mediocre.

There’s a lot of lack of perspective getting around this thread. Goodwin doesn’t like making many changes for a reason. We looked unorganised early today for a reason. The way we play requires cohesion in the way we move and certain players with certain assets to use those assets over the course of a game. Without all those outs we cover a lot of their switches better. We have petty which frees up lever. To help rebound. We keep the ball in our forward line longer with kozzie anb and sparrow. we won today because our top 6 is better than theirs. Interestingly our top 6 is much better than st Kilda and freo who are looking like they will be there abouts. st kilda aren’t exactly looking like world beaters right now against port. The season is long. We get to 12 wins asap and then we plan our run home. after going to most games my entire life I choose to enjoy the grind and admire the freaks we have running around getting the job done when teams of years gone would have gotten nowhere near. last year we had some ugly wins and losses. There were problems with forward cohesion but we figured it out. And by the end of the year didn’t it look incredible.

We were cooked in the last. Our forward entries were as bad as possible

We looked a rabble for the first half of that quarter. Starting to settle it down a bit I think. Our connective players being out Anb, kozzie etc are noticeable

Richmond’s strategy was to hold on to us at every opportunity and play the numbers knowing that the umpires weren’t going to pay them all. They held and scragged and ran into us to try and wear us down and get away with what they could. It was the wily old veterans clinging on for dear life against the new champions. Clog up the backline and try and play as close to the line as possible knowing they will give some away but get away with most. More apparent at the ground than on replay. that’s why the free kick count was what it was. Richmond supporters complaining need to understand the way their team played the game quite deliberately. I haven’t paid much attention to them all year but stats would suggest that’s the way they play every week.

We controlled that q. Didn’t convert and they got a gimme. Double the scoring shots. Tracking just fine.

There’s definitely a bit of sadness. Always really liked him at melb. I don’t understand the booing and the abuse at the ground though. Thought that was very poor. He did what he could for us. If your dad dies of cancer and then you get cancer and your family is on the other side of the country you get to do whatever you need to do. Unfortunately even Melbourne have their fair share of [censored] supporters. It’s not like we lost out when we let him go.

Viney was really clean and powerful in close. Best I’ve seen him for a while. We seemed to try and move a bit quicker than we have been off half back and turn overs in general. Seemed like there was an intent to catch them off guard and on the overlap. Whether this is a tactic we used specifically against gws or if it’s the next building block for our year I’m not sure. the umpires really had no feel for the game. This umpire respect nonsense has the least consistent application I’ve seen for years. One week you can jump around and shout at them, the next week you can’t even raise your arms. A rule like that has to be applied consistently because its impact is far too great for what it’s trying to be.