I switch off the Alice game, but watched us live yesterday all the way to the end...
Freo were good. They were well drilled in moving the ball from contest to the open, and maintain their structure with players staying out to receive the relaxing handball. They also setup for a fast break from defence. Once it cleared half back it was one, very quickly as their players run very hard to be an option, hence all the 1 out makes in their forward line. As others noted by trying to compress the field we could not stop this.
Our movement from defence. Freo spread and blocked any space very quickly (like we did in 2021 and early 2022), it was impressive to watch. Hence why we often kicked downtime line to a contest against the giants of Freo (Who also controlled our half forward space). Hence I think maybe only a couple of times did we manage to get any runs and flow.
Even with Max Trac and Brayshaw in the side, it would have been a challenging game. Personally I blame the open taring session they are now doing. Both games this year in Perth they had an open training session the day before and we got pumped. Up till this year they didn't have them, that's my unscientific reason for losing at our second home.
some great signs with the young players, but while we may sneak into the 8, we wont be seriously contending unless we hit some rare form quickly.