Nairobi_Demon

Our biggest problem is that too often we fall into the trap of comparing our current form to our near perfect 2021 finals campaign, especially the PF and GF performances. Not saying we can’t get better nor that it will just happen, but we’re well positioned for another tilt and Iike others I think this team has gears they can go to in September. Let’s get behind them 👍

One of the positives for me was the way some of our key players reacted when Carlton got on a run mid way through Q3. It was clear to me that the team and especially some key players have another gear they can go to and it gave me confidence that we’ll see more of that gear in the finals. Except for that period, I thought Trac had an ordinary game. Obviously we judge him highly, but he seemed to be caught watching the contest and out positioned a few times.

I’m not convinced Sparrow has added enough value in the past two weeks. In: Harmes Out: Sparrow

I’m excited that TMac was back training today and that, according to the injury report, he’ll integrate into full training next week. I wonder if this is why they haven’t tried JVR.

Thanks, I hadn’t noticed this. It does seem like there’s someone immediately on top of him as soon as he receives the ball. Hence all the WTB penalties. I hope his reaction time will improve as he reaches his peak level of performance in a few weeks. I also hope that goal last week clears his nips in front of the sticks. He really seemed to relish it 😁

Theoretically true, but I think it will significantly increase our chances if we avoid Geelong in week 1. They will be desperate to win the first week to secure a bye. It would be an extremely taxing match, making for a tough elimination final if we weren’t to get over the line.

In: Harmes Out: Sparrow Really frustrated that Weideman didn’t lift last week. He was playing for a spot in our finals 22 and if that’s not enough motivation, I’m not sure what else would do it. But boy we really need another tall up forward. I think we need to blood JVR or give Weideman one last chance, replacing Melksham.

I’m still confident we can win as long as we remain injury free to our key players and we play truly ruthless footy, which Friday’s loss will help Specifically, I think we’ll finish 2nd, play and beat Sydney in the first week of finals, play and beat Fremantle in the PF, then probably face Geelong in the GF.

Nice summary of the key factors influencing performance. However, it was clear we weren’t fit enough in the last quarter. But what’s interesting is that each of those factors seemed to influence the game at different stages. We can’t blame the poor set shots in the first half on fatigue. I think those must have been a combination of our skills (despite all Choco’s efforts some of our key players still have poor technique - looking at you Max) and attitude (evidence 1: Salim’s response to his miss; evidence 2: Langdon’s comments to the media on Friday). The last quarter was fatigue, clearly, which does raise questions about the fitness program. But overall I’m not too worried about this. I’m convinced we’ll be running on top of the ground come finals and teams like Collingwood will crash out in straight sets. I am starting to get a little worried about the attitude. Indeed, I found Goodwin’s and McCrae’s responses to questions about Langdon’s comments in their pressers very interesting. Goody very strongly emphasised two things: one, that Langdon actually meant to respect the opposition. Respecting the opposition is a line he repeats all the time and he seemed to want to nip in the bud any sense of complancy/inevitability amongst the players that Langdon’s comments may have surfaced. Two, he strongly reaffired his belief that this team can go all the way, again nipping in the bud the potential for a loss such as this to deflate the belief of the players (like it has deflated many on demonland 😆). In contrast, McCrae thought Langdon’s comments added colour to the game. Goodies comments were focused on managing attitude. Indeed, with our fitness sorted like last year but with the additional challenge of our hunted status, our attitude really does need to be ruthless if we want to go back to back. I don’t think it was yesterday.

Agree that they look the biggest threat at the moment. They were really impressive for good chunks yesterday. And when we played them round 17 I couldn’t help thinking that they were just bigger bodies than our boys. I think that may be why Rivers has come in and Bowey out. Rivers is much bigger. Interesting to see whether they can sustain the pace and intensity through to end of September. What’s clear is that some of their senior players will know and play like it’s their last chance at a flag. Can’t wait for our finals match against them, hopefully the GF. I suspect it’ll be much closer than our PF last year.

I was thinking the same and posted similar thoughts earlier today in the postgame thread. It is quite a significant change in pacing for us. All last year we tended to go hard in Q1 and establish a lead, ease off in Q2, put our foot down in Q3, and then hold in Q4 (ex the PF and GF when we kept the foot on the pedal until the end).

Agree Jacey, it would be a change to how we pace ourselves more broadly not just the last few weeks. Generally we seem to start fast in Q1, ease off a bit in Q2, really put the foot down in Q3, and then hold in Q4 (except the PF and GF where we just kept the foot on the pedal until the end).

I agree that the core parts of game were back, particularly pressure. But it didn’t seem clear to me that they were present in the first quarter. In fact I was a bit worried early on. Were we just slow to get going or did we perhaps make a conscious strategic decision to just stay in it in the first Q (which we did) and then really up the pressure from Q2 onwards? That would not only be a significant strategic change from the past few weeks but our approach to pacing last year. Generally we would go hard in the first, ease off a little in the second, hard again in the third, and then hold in the fourth (with the exception of the PF and GF, where we kept the foot on the pedal until the end).

Any others think we applied a different strategy to how we paced ourselves over the four quarters? In our previous three matches, it seemed that our strategy was to go hard at the beginning, get a decent lead and then just hold it as the loading fatigue hit us in the last third. This hasn’t worked, partly because our defence has been disrupted making it difficult to hold our lead. Today it seems that we started slowly, conserving ourselves a little, and then turned it on the second quarter. Clearly we weren’t as exhausted as previous weeks, but perhaps this also helped us converse what energy we had.

Interesting Stu, thanks for posting your insights. I wonder who generally has handled the loading better and for which skills over the past few weeks? Unsurprisingly, it seems many of younger players have suffered the most, e.g., Jackson, Sparrow, etc. Certainly Trac has suffered, but that could also be because of the type of power-oriented play and therefore loading he’s assigned. Bowey is one of our most skilled players but his reliability has been uncharacteristically off. On the other hand, Gawn was amazing against Sydney and seems to have handled it quite well over the last few matches. Brayshaw also although probably in spurts. Petty also although I wonder if his multiple niggles meant his loading was lighter. Jordon has done quite well.

I’m also interested to see who we bring in and how we perform without Max, although I think we’ll have to wait until round 17 against Geelong to really see the impact of Max sans loading

We must be loading given our complete inability to run out the last third of games. The question I have for the sports scientists among us, is it possible we’re loading too much? Not only are we exhausted but we seem more injury prone. Could that also be a result of the additional stress on the body of loading?

Thank you, very insightful post. I think Andy, George and Binman just found their next guest on the podcast.

Two points on Goodies press conference stuck out for me: One, he emphasised our forward method as much as forward personnel performance. There were also some interesting observations in the demonland postgame chat about our forward entry quality depending on where the offensive push begins, eg full back vs half back/centre, etc. While I’m sure personnel performance will receive some attention, I’d be curious to hear the panels thoughts on forward method. Two, I was struck by how frank Goodwin was about M Brown playing better football than Weideman. He’s normally more encouraging let’s say, but it did make me wonder whether he’s lost patience with Weideman. Curious what you thought of M Brown’s game and whether he’s clearly playing better football than Weid or whether he’s more marginal.

Oliver incredible, again. Trac struggling to get in the game

Agree with this sentiment What distinguishes Aussie rules to other codes of football is how family friendly and female friendly it is, and I think the two are linked. Wednesday and Thursday night games undermine this unique ethos, which I think anyone who’s been to a soccer game in somewhere like London will appreciate

Agree - Lever and Petty know when to zone of their man to intercept or spoil when May’s opposition, which is usually the FF, gets away from him

Agree - and very indecisive

Thanks for these comprehensive responses - that’s re-assuring. Just listened to the podcast. Excellent as usual. The insights into the playing conditions particularly helpful. Unfortunately I won’t be able to re-watch before tomorrow’s game. I’m getting smashed at work at the moment 😁 Go Dees

I was a bit distracted when the game was screening live and haven’t had a chance to watch again, but I was wondering if you could comment on the stoppages, as we often seemed to get beaten. I was concerned that I saw a reversion to one of pre-2021 (bad) habits, namely the “bees to the honey pot” approach with too many going in for the ball.