titan_uranus

Geelong was down to one on the bench so it was no surprise that West Coast steamrolled them in the fourth. It's what we should have done in Round 1. Geelong's had a tough opening three weeks and a lot of injuries. I'm not writing them off just yet.

The free against Kent in the goalsquare is the worst free kick I think I've ever seen. The one against Lever on Goldstein in Q1 is a close second - Lever has his eyes on the ball, turns briefly to see where Goldstein is but then looks back at the ball, and Goldstein proceeds to elbow him in the head. Putrid.

North's not "better than 'ordinary'". Let's not get too carried away here. I'd also prefer not to be conceding 5 goals in a quarter to a bottom 4 side, but if we're going to break the season down into quarters we are 9-3 in that regard. Which is where the margin within a quarter becomes more important - losing one quarter to Geelong by 30+ points lost us the match. Conceding 5 goals in a quarter to North didn't, given our improved effort for the rest of the game. As much as we hate Brown, he's a good footballer. OMac isn't half the player someone like Rance is, but I really don't think his performance yesterday was that bad. I think our bigger issue is our defensive unit generally - the way we zone, the way we transition from offence to defence, the way we send too many up and the way we find ourselves regularly out of position. I think if we fix those, that helps OMac, and/or it helps us hide OMac's ongoing weaknesses.

The 30+ thing that has been quoted a bit recently is losing a quarter by 30+ points, not conceding 30+ points in a quarter. I think there are solid reasons to be positive after the performance yesterday. We are 2-1 with a percentage of 123% having knocked off a bogey side (don't forget we were coming off one fewer day's rest, flying back from interstate, and from a hot/humid match, yet we were clearly the fitter side, which I think is another positive). But I think most of us can agree there is plenty to fix and plenty that is not working. The inefficiency of scoring from our inside 50s is still a massive problem. Didn't cost us against North but it did against Geelong. Needs fixing. There's still synergy missing from the defensive unit. Lever is improving but clearly below what we ought to be expecting of him. Jetta's down on 2017. Hunt's already been dropped. Wagner's best is improving but his worst isn't. Lewis' best is still A-grade but his worst is possibly getting worse. Not sure you're on great ground with the key forward/defender thing though. We had no issues with Hawkins or Hipwood, and Brown did get a couple from questionable free kicks. We've certainly seen key forwards do worse to us in the past and I suspect we could see them do worse to us this year. But right now I don't think defending key forwards is a problem for us.

I reckon Jetta gets something. Whether it's a fine or a week, we'll see. Christian this year is focusing more on the action than the consequence, though.

There are 24 Thursday/Friday night games to come this year (not including Round 23). 8 of them feature at least one of Carlton, St Kilda or the Dogs. One third of the primetime games to come featuring sides who look like they'll finish bottom 4.

Having not seen the entire game it's hard to comment completely, but if we didn't get torn apart in the ruck by a side featuring Goldstein and Brown, do we really need Pedersen back?

I agree, I think they really miss that upper end talent. So many uninspiring players on their list but no real stars or anyone with any excitement whatsoever, really.

And yet they have three Friday night games to come, plus they get a total of 13 games at Etihad (two more than we get at the G). Despite finishing a game and 10% behind us last year, Despite their average home crowd last year being 4,000 smaller than us (and our figure was dragged down by the two NT games). They look like a bottom 4 side.

Some really encouraging comments about players like Salem, Kent, Wagner and Bugg. Big lifts from that lower third of the side will push us up the ladder. This sort of performance is truly exciting. Putting through 18 goals with Hogan only getting one whilst otherwise dominating up the ground is a really positive sign.

Sidebottom got a fine for his sling tackle last night. Anderson wasn't hurt so I'd be livid if Frost got a week. Jetta might be in trouble though. From the replay looks like he decides to bump and then appears to make high contact.

Port Adelaide usually thump bad sides so for Brisbane to steady after that big run of goals and not even concede one goal in the fourth must have been a massive effort. Maybe Brisbane is actually a bit better than we might have given them credit for? Or maybe the competition is just more even and Port had an off day.

We've only lost 3 quarters all year. A straight Gawn kick and we're 3-0 with a percentage of 123%. Big month coming up (Hawthorn, Richmond, Essendon, St Kilda).

18 goals to 9 after that awful start. 33 scoring shots to 21, +21 inside 50s, +35 CPs, +10 centre clearances. Actual leadership in the fourth. 18 goals but only 1 kicked by Hogan. Kent returning and looking like an AFL player (consistency is the next step). Bugg kicking 4.1. Surely we can be pleased with this.

Hogan as a midfielder, Oliver as a forward. I like this.

Happy bump.

After that Ziebell goal, 5.58.

After Jones blazed away and gave North a goal, we've clearly learned our lesson and our forward movement has been slower and more deliberate. Two goals resulted. I'm impressed with the composure.

We've been all over them so far this quarter for one goal. Wasting our momentum. Edit: the passage of play leading to that Waite goal was classic overconfidence. Jones calls for a play on handball after Harmes marks, but Jones blazes away and turns it over. This game isn't over.

Pretty sure a North player just handballed over their head like Lewis, but no free.

Perfect start. Let's keep it going.

Only seen the last 5 minutes of Q3. The frees against Lewis and Kent were absolutely appalling. That last one cost us a near-certain goal, too. Salem and Kent both looked good in that 5 minute period.

I'm assuming Frost will sit on Brown and they'll both relief ruck when Gawn and Goldstein rest. Frost will otherwise just follow Brown everywhere. He's fit enough and should be strong enough. Ideally he also provides some of the run off half-back we've been missing. Hunt makes way for Frost because he's woefully out of form. We don't need to see any more from Hunt to know he's not close to his best. If he's injured he shouldn't be playing. If he's not injured then this is the wake up call he needs, get back to Casey and get back into form doing what he does best. Pedersen's adding nothing to the side, so I'm not surprised he was dropped, and it makes double sense if we're planning on having Frost shadow Brown all day (as that means Pedersen doesn't need to relief ruck). But I'm not sure about Kent coming back. Goodwin's comment about VFL form is ridiculous, the VFL hasn't started yet and our practice match last weekend was against a non-competitive basket case. Hannan might consider himself unlucky, but I suppose Kent on paper offers more pace.

We don't do this, though. In fact, I kind of feel like this post is the complete opposite. We put a spare man at the back of the square at centre bounces. That player provides run towards our goal and is our extra man around the contest. The opposition usually then takes their spare man and stations them floating in our 50. We regularly win the clearances and get the ball inside 50 as a result, but then turn it over because of the loose man in defence.

Why? Just because you like him? He is getting a bit of it but he's not influencing matches and we have too many players in the side who are just going and not influencing things.