At the break of Gawn

Nathan Nones was on SEN before, he also highlighted the inability for us to control teams that move the ball quick. I honestly feel all we really need to do is tighten up our pressure, defensive structures on quick ball movement and the rest will take care of itself. We had enough scoring shots to win the game on Friday and our attack has been much better since the bye.

https://player.whooshkaa.com/episode?id=1029896
 

I’ve got a couple of questions::

1) Why can’t we handle opposition pressure as well as last year? This was evident in the Pies game which led to massive over hand balling.

2) How are we going to stop fast ball moving sides? The Pies played on 15% more than their average to ensure we couldn’t set our defence which really rattled us. Is this a midfield issue for us?

If we beat Carlton but we lose to Brisbane it’s looking very likely we’ll play Richmond at the G for an elimination final. A loss there could set in some PTSD for a lot of us.

Get ready to be out numbered again this Saturday night. Blues playing for a top 8 spot and will know this is their best chance. Carlton fans are bloody loud when they’re up and about. 

If we finish 2nd and play someone like Sydney at the G then maybe we can have some dominant fan presence this finals series.

9 minutes ago, binman said:

100% agree with the second para.

Not sure about paras one or two

You might be well right, but the jury is out i reckon.

By that i mean, if we accept the goal is for us to be at peak physical readiness on prelim day (some 7 weeks away) then we have only been in the tapering phase for a couple of weeks and it stands to reason we are a ways of our physical peak right now. 

It's possible the pies are close to their peak as their loading program would not have had had them peaking on prelim day. So logic suggests they were likely to run out the game better than us, as proved to be the case. 

I watched the round 21 West Coast game from last season during the week, and i had forgotten how scrappy a game it was. It was wet and wild night, so that was factor, but our performance was not nearly as strong as i had remembered.

Scores were basically level at half time, and for the first 10 mins of the third quarter and it was only 10 minute burst in the third where we got separation.

When we the game was stopped for lightning we were on top, but after coming back they almost ran over the top of us. Now, that might have been becuase we put the cue in the rack, and we certainly did chip it around and look to take time out of the clock.

But the fact remains they ran out the game better. So perhaps we weren't so far ahead of where we are now as it appears from the weekends game?

Which makes it all the more weird that we never really looked to play tempo footy against the pies. We were the ones who drove the fast tempo in the first half - which was also weird given that i how the pies like to play.

It was almost as if we decided we were going to get out to a unassailable lead by half time. Which to be honest, we bloody well should have.

Perhaps if we had of played some tempo footy we might have had some fuel in the tank left in the last 10 minutes of the game.  

Surely we will run over the Blues next week. 8 day break vs 6 days and an interstate trip. If we run out of gas again we might as well shut up shop for the season.

The Saints v Cats qtr time score line is pretty much what ours should have been at qtr time. Credit to the Cats they know how to score when they have momentum.

58 minutes ago, Diamond_Jim said:

That's team orders. Turning it over on 50 in the corridor is a non negotiable thus the pocket.

On the other hand if Goodwin said "back your judgement"............

Nup, I doubt it. Rivers has never been one to have good vision. Kicking long is his one wood.

Woke up with a bitter taste in my mouth. Absolutely filthy about last night. All this talk from Gawn and co how they want to get one back on Collingwood but each time they fail. The 2020 win against them doesn’t count. It was completely off broadway in a season where no one really cared. The pies players and supporters know they have the wood over us and they love it. Even if we didn’t win the flag this year, if we can knock them off in a final at the G and wipe the smile off that dog Maynard and Howe with his [censored] eating grin I’d be happy. 

Anyway, I found this on twitter which basically sums up the second half and the game. They turned up the heat in the second half and we wilted. That tackle count is woeful for us.

Also, expected score

Mel: 92.7

Coll: 82.0

We won’t win it until we learn how to wrestle back momentum mid qtr. Please, someone give me an example where we have done that since round 10?

Sure, the F50 tackles were down but it’s hard to tackle when they take an intercept mark. I’m really not sold on Ben Brown - he’s just a liability if he doesn’t mark it. I’m also super disappointed in Petty. He’s a premiership defender who put Tabener to sleep last week yet he got towelled up by a 9 gamer.

I really feel what hamstrung is tonight was Melksham on Moore. Melksham had to play FF most of the night and he’s just not dangerous enough. Fritsch should have gone to the goal square. 
 

Pies are a good side, which I hate to admit, but if that game is played again next weekend I’d still say we win. We won all our big key KPIs but just couldn’t execute and we allowed them  to score too easily. Also, some of those F50 free kicks were disgraceful. Elliott was basically gifted 2 goals.

One other thought I had, do you think that Melbourne playing big finals in 2021 - all away from home and at smaller stadiums which largely 60-40 split Melbourne’s way, sheltered this team from the real heat of a big final at the G? If we play a Richmond or a Pies at the G in a final it’s going to be 95k and I feel it just gives those teams an extra bump.

I still think we’ll finish top 4. The equation is pretty simple for top 2. Win our last 2 and we make it (assuming Sydney doesn’t have two massive wins)

Heaving listen to Ed in other interviews, he’s just overstepped the mark here and brought a little too much into the interview (has done it before). I don’t think there’s any tactics exposed here. Both clubs know exactly how each other play, and as Goody often says, whoever can play their game for longer will come up on top.

Any news on Howe? Would be great news if he’s an out.

52 minutes ago, Demongirl35 said:

Did anyone watch the Casey game? How did Joel smith go?

Last time we played Collingwood cox killed us when the ball got booted inside 50. He doesn’t set the world on fire but I feel we need some talls inside 50 and he doesn’t mind crashing a pack to bring the ball to ground and it’s better that happen in our forward line than our backline. Handy inclusion or nah?

Cox hasn’t got near it the last few weeks. I wouldn’t be surprised if he got dropped this week for Grundy.

Guaranteed to play finals now. It’s significant because it’s the first time we’ve played consecutive finals series since 05-06!

I honestly think out of the 4 games this was our biggest challenge. Freo are a great defensive side and had to play them at home.

Pies next Friday night is going to be huge. Let’s pay them back!

2 minutes ago, picket fence said:

If Weideman plays on a 1 kick goal game then  selection is Stuffed

Out of the 3 tall forwards for both sides, he was the only one to kick a goal. I’m not saying he played a good game obviously, but I don’t think BB would have done much in those conditions.

I wouldn’t rush Harmes in. Brayshaw’s time in the middle was heaps more impactful than Harmes’ usually is.

Fritsch needs to stop passing it.

This is the real test now. The dogs flicked the switch last week and we couldn’t respond. We have to maintain this lead! C’mon Boys!

1 hour ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Seriously David King changes his opinion. 5 times a week. That’s what Hutchison likes…

100% the amount of times I’ve heard his opinion change is just ridiculous. 

I remember he said in early 2021 that the Saints had more weapons than Melbourne as an example. 

How was that Gus tackle not HTB? Had an eternity 

Oliver gone down into the rooms?

2 minutes ago, dl4e said:

I would have dropped Melksham and put Chandler in. 

Melksham will be needed to nullify Young (they’re roughly the same height). That kid is a jet. We really need Melksham to reprise his half forward defence roll he did on McGovern back in 2018 rnd 22.

Genuinely annoyed that Lobb has been named.

I really thought he wasn’t going to get up which would really help us.

I haven’t heard one good answer on the contested marking drop off. I’d love to hear an explanation for this.

18 minutes ago, Lord Nev said:

As often happens, I think people are getting too caught up in the 'wet weather'.

Looks like showers in the early morning but dry by late arvo. 17 degrees most of the arvo, don't reckon the weather will be a factor.

The surface isn’t great at the moment in Optus. Saints and Eagles players were slipping over all the time. No Ben Brown might just be a bit of a blessing.