Garbo

1 hour ago, DemonWA said:

Hows all the 'supporters' hand wringing at half time like the world was ending. Turn off your phones in future.

Walked it in. 

Valuable experience for a heap of the young guys infront of a big crowd. 

No doubt room for improvement but bank the wins and keep working to get better 

Say that next week, because if we play like that vs cats it will be over by half time and it will be the lions game all over again. All fine if we want to limp into the 8 and make up the numbers but I think most people here would expect more

8 minutes ago, DeeZee said:

Yze knows it’s pressure that beats Melbourne 

What happened to our skills ?

Imagine if we played a good side tonight like Geelong ? Would it be a 100 point drubbing.

Maybe last week wasn’t an abomination?

What pressure, most of the turn overs are under none, make you wonder wth they are thinking out there

31 minutes ago, Moonshadow said:

No AFL footballer is soft

Lukosius isn't a pack crunching key forward like JVR. But he's a good mark, one on one included, an exceptional kick and decision maker and would definitely be a big part of our forward set up over the next 8-10 years. He's also versatile, plays back if needed. I can even see him getting time in the middle, such is his high footy IQ

The whole 'Jack Watts 2.0' label shows that some fans like cheap shot labels because it's easier than thinking in any depth

It's a big YES from me, assuming the price isn't too high.

In JT we trust 

Because most people think you need a man mountain of a key fwd, the game is changing and a more mobile tall is the future 

A key tall which we need, watch him ask for a trade to cats 

1 hour ago, binman said:

Brilliant.

Finally a footy journo makes the bog obvious point about the impact of the insane aerobic demands on AFL players in the modern game.

I love this line:

'The fixture is contentious enough already without placing such insane demands on the athletes, who need adequate time to recover between half-marathons'

And even more importantly factors the impact of those demands into their analysis of the game.

The job of footy journos is helping fans understand the game. They do fans a complete disservice if they ignore a critical factor like physical readiness and the impact of fatigue on performance. 

Take the loss to the Lions. What are the reasons we lost?

In the post match thread factors such as poor coaching, poor selection, players mentally not strong enough, smashed at the contest, not enough pressure and not running two ways have all been highlighted. And fair enough too. 

But if the impact of fatigue is also not factored into any analysis of our performance, you are only left with such factors as potential reasons for the loss. Which means the assessment is off.

For example our all team defence is incredibly taxing, as is winning the clearance count, as is applying elite pressure, as is setting up one down at stoppages etc etc etc.

Logic says that if the players are fatigued, these, and other key elements of our method will be more difficult to implement (which will be reflected in the stats) and our chances of winning will decrease.

Factoring in fatigue is not making excuses, it is simply ensuring all potential reasons for a performance are considered. 

Were the dees fatigued against the lions? The eye test says yes, absolutely.

What was the cause of the fatigue? Who knows.

Perhaps, as Stafford suggests it was simply that we were playing our third game in just 13 days, which included a physically draining and intense win over Port Adelaide and backing up 5 days later to beat the Crows.

It is clear they targeted those games and in order to maximise our chances of winning both they would have designed their high performance program to peak for both games. If so, is it possible to then be in peak shape for the Lions game? 

Or perhaps in addition to the above, we also took the opportunity to get a heavy training block in ahead of our bye to take advantage of the two week week break to the tigers game (ie, so players have time to recover and taper)?

That may not be the case of course, but equally it shouldn't be rejected out of hand. 

Who is the bright spark that would sign off on a heavy training load if that is even a thing and who makes no changes other than what was forced going into the game when a number of players are carrying injuries.

VFL app says Laurie had 20 tackles that has got to be some kind of record 

6 hours ago, He de mon said:

We won 7 out of 10 games without Oliver last year. Clearly there is some depth.

We also had Brayshaw last year and last year isn’t this year. Since Oliver has been injured we haven’t been able to play our preferred way, even Goodwin has come out to say we aren’t winning the way we would like in the 2 games prior. Trying to win from the back half is not sustainable and I can’t see that turning round unless Oliver is part of it 

4 hours ago, Jack Vineys Anger Manager said:

It was an out of character performance. I'm sure we will bounce back.
I don't know why we had no energy, but I do note that the lions, pies blues, suns and swans all looked flat the game before their byes. Coincidence? Mental? Who knows.

 

 

I think the 2 games prior were both similar, we conceded the territory battle in both and relied on sling shotting when we won it back in defensive 50, it was always a risk if a team could force a stoppage inside our d50 or mark the ball we would be punished. If we can’t start winning more territory which primarily comes down to either winning the clearance or putting enough pressure on the clearance disposal to force a turn over we will be an unreliable team this season. A lot will hinge on Oliver getting fully fit as i don’t see Sparrow or any other mids stepping up enough to fill his shoes 

Another fail by the footy department, going to miss ever more games on top of offering nothing that last 2 games. Could have been fit and ready to play tigers after the bye if we were smart 

I know this will be disputed but tonight’s loss I think can be blamed on 3 main factors

1. The selection of players who are not fit and able to play their roll, Oliver and BB, and some who are horribly out of form for one reason or another Billings, JVR, Petty. Some combination of these guys should not have been on the field tonight.

2. Goodwins refusal to adjust when things aren’t going our way, it seemed obvious to me due to the selection of several players who seem unable to play the zone defence tonight the Lions were able to repeatedly move the ball from defensive 50 to attacking 50 without us been able to get a hand on it putting our defence under enormous pressure. Why we didn’t switch to more man on man defence that would have shut this play down I have no idea. This was also evident the last 2 games but the wins papered over those cracks.

3. The inability to make Lachie Neale accountable, time after time he was extracting the ball and giving silver service to his team with seeming impunity, I watched on serval occasions where he was simply standing by him self at a stoppage. The fact our main man in this regard Oliver also seems unable to perform the same task for us is even more frustrating going back to my first point.

Does any of this make you question our credentials this year and Goodwins ability to take us to the promised land, for me I feel like I’m living in ground hog day for the 3rd year running and we will bomb out of finals once again.

That was a game mainly lost at selection tonight and unwillingness to change the game up when things weren’t working. What is the point of playing Oliver when every stoppage and clearance all he can do is watch. Brown shouldn’t have been played clearly not able to impact the game. JVR and Petty also both horribly out of form but not much we can do about that.

The zone simply doesn’t work if players can’t get back, the number of times they were able to chip the ball the length of the ground without us getting a hand on it is baffling. Goodwin should have switched to a man on man to stem the bleeding but alas he refuses to change things up once again 

Also Neale was just allowed to do whatever he wanted tonight did he get a pass because it was his 250th

Just now, leave it to deever said:

Petty's a liability mate

Maybe we should have taken the offer from crows 

3 minutes ago, Chook said:

If we're tired after being up for a month, you have to wonder how the coaches didn't see it through the week. If we thought we'd just turn up then the players need to get their heads checked. This is last year's grand finalists we're playing.

Lost this at the selection table

Getting killed by Neale at the coal face we seem unable to do anything about it, combined with letting them chip the ball 2/3 of the wall up the field what are we doing to win

Big mistake to be playing Oliver 

Lucky lions broke the bogy last week or it would extra embarrassing if we loose 

Always exciting when a new high pick gets there first game 

Soon as he bumped and got the head it was as a medium, the only occasion I’ve seen head contract get a low in recent time would be someone pushing in a melee making glancing contact. The level of contact kozzie made is medium plain and simple 

1 hour ago, HarpenDee said:

100%. Soligo was a sitting duck and Koz could have levelled him and caused serious damage.

But he didnt.

And if he was concussed he would be getting a month or more not a week

I’d give Ben Brown and Oliver a rest till Anzac eve, both looked out of it tonight and bring in Brown and Tholstrup, Billings can start sub while Woewodin goes into the 22

Take the 2 wins away in 5 days every time regardless of how, a few banged up players out there, specially Oliver and Brown not sure either should be playing next week unless they make a miracle recovery I’d be giving both an extra long break to get ready for the Anzac game. 

To bad we couldn’t finish it that qtr would have been good to be able to take it easy on the last

Horrible by Oliver didn’t even put a hand up, what was he even trying to do

7 minutes ago, praha said:

Kozzie gone at least a week for that hit imo.

 

 

Yep that’s a week for sure, contact with the head tucked the arm in left the ground looked for the contact, if unlucky could be 2

Sub Oliver half time Goodwin