stevethemanjordan

What I was thinking. Happens even if it’s not Dusty.

I just find it funny when posters are confused by criticism around a player. If a bunch of supporters and footballing followers share a common view for a player, there’s got to be some sort of truth to it. A whipping boy doesn’t magically appear without reason.

Not my fault the editing posts is bugged. Hope you read that post that I tagged you in btw and it’s all making sense now.

@Nasher @Wiseblood

Both dumb and stubborn. Either he needs to crack down on players during a game who continually bomb the ball inside without thought or immediately make a move to help stop the opposition pinging the ball back the other way at the speed of light. It's one two things. Not hope that the players will magically start kicking inside forward 50 with care and thought after goal number 5 in a row conceded.

Sooooooo MFC.

Forever and always.

Relax. I understand you're more upbeat than I am, so we'll settle it at that. Obviously all sides concede run-ons at one point or another. We however, have a deep-seated issue given the frequency and number of them. It's a big problem Wiseblood and a major flaw in our gameplan under Goody given the way we're playing.

It seems strange that there'd be a media circus, (including expert footy analysts) around only one team who have developed a bad habit if indeed every other side was conceding the same amount of 'run-on' goals? Would it not? They're the ones who do the critical analysis. I find it hard to imagine they'd only point the finger at us if it were happening to most other sides.

That's true. However, last year was the same story and we didn't have Lever.

Haha! Only you could take a positive out of the fact that the Carlton football club have beaten us in that particular stat. A team who is in complete rebuild mode. Amazing.

I'm interested in why it happens to us and how we can fix it. None of us needed to see those 'stats' to be able to recognise the ease at which opposition sides score once in our back-half. And yes of course there's a direct correlation between that happening and the result of a match. I can't imagine there'd be too many teams ahead of us in that list that Gerard brought up. And if there are, they'd be most likely Carlton, Gold Coast, North and Brisbane. Please yourself though if you, like Wiseblood, believe to think it's no big deal.

Almost every football analyst/media outlet shares the same view and has pointed to the same pattern that has developed. If you're not listening to the rest of the football world out there who watch objectively, then you're clearly not going to listen to your fellow demon supporters who have identified this long before last weekend's game. I say this because you've just stated that you don't think it's a huge issue, lol. I don't think you understand. In 21 of 26 games, we have conceded a run on of 4 or more goals. In eight of those games we gave up 4 unanswered goals. In five games we gave up 5. In four of the games we gave up 6. In one game we gave up 7. (Brisbane in round 2). In two we gave up 8. And we gave up 10 against Hawthorn last weekend. No biggie though I guess..

Umm. Really?

It'd be premature to address it just yet eh @ProDee?

Obvious to say, but Guss’s concussions from last year have set his development back significantly. Not only has he had limited continuity in playing games at AFL level, but we haven’t even seen him play those games in his most natural and best position, which is starting in the square. He was drafted to this club as a hard nosed, big bodied inside mid with a few other strong attributes including contested marking and an ability to kick both sides which gives him some positional flexibility. The club were rightly cautious last year when bringing him back into the side with a different role, but it’s definitely not where I want him going forward. As others have already noted, I think a contributing factor to our break down during games through the middle is due to the fact that we have so many personnel rotating through that midfield mix. It’s a double edged sword if I’ve ever seen one. Whilst it’s great to have some flexibility and options for different setups, it also takes away any sort of continuity and chemistry we could be building with a smaller and more concentrated group of mids. I have no concerns over Gus as long as he remains uninjured going forward. But really, once Lewis and Jonesy move on, we should be playing a consistent group of inside mids that play 80% + midfield time that include Viney, Oliver, Brayshaw, Salem and Petracca. Trac obviously playing more of a Dusty balance of mid/forward time due to his one-on-one dominance. I hate Tyson on a wing and I hate the fact that’s Goody continues to play far too many numbers through that part of the ground who don’t contribute enough. Our next step is to find some speed and power runners for the wings so we don’t have to continually play inside, one-sided and one-paced mids like Tyson on the outside. Clearly I’m on a rant and have entirely lost track of this thread but [censored] me can we please start playing blokes on positions they’re suited to.

Would much rather a player who would run half that amount but actually have an impact both with the ball in hand and when it’s in their area. Posters believe he is playing his ‘role’ because he’s in the team. He might be playing, but he’s not performing at all. It’s no use winning the ball and then doing nothing with it. He, like Harmes and Melksham (and some others), has started the season in a very underwhelming way.

Usually there’s someone who posts it on YouTube a few days later? Should be up tomorrow, I’ll share the link if I find it.

I don’t believe it’s a personnel problem. Except maybe when we have both of of Lewis and Vince in the backline at the same time due to their inability to keep their feet and Keck of pace. Most of our back six are fine and would benefit greatly from playing a less agressive and more defensive setup imo.

I urge you (if you haven’t already) to watch ‘on the couch’ for an insight into what a rabble we are in our defensive setup. Brown pointed out some really ordinary defensive efforts from both Lewis and Vince which also highlighted their lack of speed which again is problematic in the type of defensive structure Goodwin is trying to implement. The lack of accountability is pretty disguising from two very senior players.

^ There's your larger than life sample. Cheers

Good points. They do all naturally gravitate to an aerial contest but I still firmly believe that it's partly to do with the way play as a unit. We're a rolling defence which means players are frequently swapping on opponents. And that is problematic when there's an aerial contest. It constantly looks like our players aren't sure of where their opponent is so they all fly. Agree, no idea. Down in so many areas. Not as clean when the ball is on the ground and hasn't been anywhere near good enough with his ball use.

Lever benefitted from having a backline that played a less aggressive zone and a more one-on-one style setup which allowed him to play his natural role as an elite intercept player. He was number one in the comp. We're doing him no favours in the way we're playing as a defensive setup. No favours. I'm similarly confused at why we'd go so hard after Lever and then play him in in a defensive structure that doesn't allow him to do what he does best. But this is nothing to do with him. It's to do with our style of defence. It's the same with Oscar. After seeing him play so well yesterday, I can see him being a successful full back down the track once he builds his body a bit more. But again, playing him in a zone that needs players to guard space is not a strength of his. His strengths don't lie there. We need to rijig asap.

I wish to bring this issue up as a point of discussion even though I'm aware that many posters are talking about it in other threads. Our two major problem areas are clearly our inability to convert inside 50's into genuine scoring opportunities and our inability to limit the opposition scoring when they enter their forward 50. For the former, the answer is seemingly more clear cut. We clearly lack players who possess high enough levels of composure, foot skills and smarts. Evidenced time and time again by our players entering the forward 50 with almost no care for what the outcome will be. Be it quick scrap kicks from stoppages from players like Petracca yesterday or pointless torpedos to a forward line that contains one key position height forward. This is not okay. I don't for one second believe that Goodwin has instructed our players to kick the ball aimlessly into our 50 in the hope that our crumbers will score from that type of play every single time. It is simply unsustainable and amatuer. There are so so many times I can see clear space for our players to kick into to the advantage of our forwards, but they simply don't. This issue hasn't been addressed at all since the beginning of the season. I believe it's a player issue and Goodwin must now either play two key talls in our forward line or send a heavy message to those who continue to move the ball into our forward line with no system to their thought. It's putrid. The latter/second point that is less clear cut to me is the way we setup as a defensive back six. In my opinion, the aggressive zone that Goodwin has implemented is in no way conducive to the type of backmen we have who are meant to be executing this type of setup. Is it not obvious that in order to successfully execute an aggressive zone defence, you need one of two strengths as a backline unit, preferably both. Kicking skills/composure and speed? Playing in an aggressive zone means you're guarding space rather than standing side by side to your opponent. Which also means you need fleet footed individuals who can read the play and have quick reaction times. Aside from Hunt and Frost who both lack composure and foot-skills anyway, we have nobody else in that backline who is quick. In fact, Lewis, Vince, Oscar, Lever and Jetta are all slow with Hibberd being the only one whose pace is good.. Out of that group, I'd say Lewis, Vince, Oscar and Hibberd are generally solid users of the ball however, Lewis is the only player who more often than not shows composure and calmness. The rest of our backline group are far too inconsistent with the way they handle pressure situations. (Although Lewis didn't exactly set the world on fire in that regard yesterday.) Take spoiling as an example. Does anyone believe that Goodwin instructs 3 or 4 players to go up in a contest, all with the intention of spoiling the same ball whilst their opponents run amok once the ball hits the deck? How many times do we see opposition sides score easy goals because of this? That's only one example. But it is directly related to this defensive zone that we play. If our players don't have direct opponents as such, then your backline group need to have the utmost trust, composure and decision making skills in each other to know when to fly, or when not to etc. I believe Goodwin needs to show some maturity and an ability to change when something isn't working and in my opinion, I'd love to see us fall back and play a much less aggressive type of zone that suits players like Oscar, who I must admit was really good yesterday. He is a one-on-one defender. Not a zone playing key position defender. Lever would benefit from a tighter playing backline group, go and look at how Adelaide play and why he was so good for them. Lewis, Vince and Jetta would all benefit from playing closer to their opponents due to their lack of speed. I can't understand it and I really hope Goody can show some humility just like Hardwick did last year and rejig the backline structure. It's okay to be wrong as a coach. As upset as I am with yesterday, I still hold hope that this group will click. I'm certainly beginning to question some of Goodwin's plans though. Thoughts?