buck_nekkid

CATS VS DOGS PING PONG

Best bit of the quarter was when the BT of Southport was turned off for a few minutes.

Oh, and the umpiring, my goodness it was terrible!

My take: It was a hard contested game, played hard by both squads. We hit th e contest harder than they did (big positive) and won the clearances and contested ball numbers. We kept them to a ridiculous first half score, so the defensive stuff was pretty good. Max had a bad game - took some marks but some of his giraffe kicks were awful, Lucky he kicked that goal to redeem himself. Poor goal kicking tonight, the trend continues. A lot to like in JVR, McVee, lingers and hunter. May did an excellent job and Trac was sublime. Happy to take the4 points and move onto next week. The defensive side if our game was very good tonight, so if we can being that next week and straighten up our goal kicking and transition work, we stand a red hot chance to dack the filth.

about to grab a pre game bite and a beverage. Then onto public transport for the ride in. Go dees! Lets Make some noise!!!!

Do the emergencies from tonight head up early tomorrow for a kick?

Reckon we will go ok. Sit someone on Sard wonder soap, win the middle and we got this. Dees by a handy 33.

I would bring in Tommo to free up lever. Need 2 talls to cover Curnow and McKay Hunter back in. Harmes out. radical alternate plan j Smith in, TMac back and Hunter in

We reverted to a lot of ‘bad’ habits in the game. Like forwards leading into the pockets. Like kicking it onto the heads of out big forwards. We were outnumbered at most stoppages (i counted +1 to Freo several times) and only once did I see our players really get on the move to maximise the tap. These dinky handball chains with lots of underground handballs is not pretty, and is often a turnover source. we had almost no overlap run and avoided the corridor like it had herpes. Some good marking by Max and May. However support around them seemed weak. If they missed these grabs, Freo had easy outs. Goody talked about efficiency. I see effort but a lack of cohesion. Spargo cost us 3 goals by being selfish, and the simple shots missed cost us dearly. End of the world? No. Worrying? Yes

It was really disappointing. We pooped the bed badly all day. Charlie cost us 3 goals alone with his selfish play. Harmes was in it early but then MIA. Gotta think about some serious changes to reward performance and start patching some of the holes. How can we accept the smashing in clearance week after week? Each lost clearance served the suckers an easy entry. Kicking for goal as abysmal. Marking and basic skill execution was poor. No excuses, this was as bad as I’ve seen the team play as a team in a long time. Time to shift gears if we want to be in it.

Apart from ‘where are the free sandwiches’, what were the questions that drove Robby to put pen to paper?

Not entirely thrilled with the ins and outs, but if we can get our structures right and stop their clearances and fast run, we should win. I hope it gives us a good ‘preview’ of how to play the Pies, since they have reverted strongly to this way of playing (Fast). Jacko to have a good one (but not too good). Hoping for better setup around bounces etc.

Hey guys, A great Friday night for neutrals - a tough, finals style hitout in May. Port always smack Max around, so not unusual. They brought the pressure and a clear plan to beat us. We played one great quarter, one average and 2 poor quarters of football, and still only lost by 4 points. I dont want to beat up on the team. A bit worried that we dont do much planning or in game changes as we ‘trust the process’. Butters getting off the chain, targeting our marking, making Lever accountable, not changing up the midfield until half time. Etc What do you guys think of the ‘trust over change’ coaching model, and are we still on the path to going deep in the finals?

We seem to be susceptible to high levels of pressure. Each team that has beaten us on pressure - and in particular stops us taking marks, beating us in the groundball and contested ball - beats us. We keep backing our ‘system’ to win, but this relies on us keeping the ball under control and more in our forward half. We dont seem to have ‘gears’ to shift our style, or responses to the Port model. Why letting a midfielder keep racking them up against us, why not changing our midfield strategy or mix until after half time, why not changing the kick in or Exit strategy when all they are going to do is smash max, knock the ball 10 clear and have players in the zone to rapidly belt it back. 10-0 clearances in the last, about 10 minutes in their forward half in a row, zero effective exits. Reliance on the same old champs to rise and keep us in it. One quarter of football our way and we almost Pinched it. It was finals intensity, but we didn’t do enough. lots of lessons, mainly for Goody and the team. Gotta be better under the pump of a charging pressure team. Pies will be interesting, a different challenge entirely.

Pressure and clearance won the game/lost the game. We expected too much from too few, with only some superhuman efforts getting us a whisker in front. Pressure is the way to beat Narrm.

It is Clarry with his new haircut mixed with my little pony…

It will be a matter of ground ball for mine. If we can keep up pressure across the park and force them to contest their possies , we have the marking power to go above/around them. Need good taps to advantage in the centre, and post clearance pressure is key. They will have moments, but think if we turn up we will win by about 4 goals. We will know which Melb side shows up in the first 5 min (ref Bris and Ess disasters).

McDonald is an interesting in. Thought Rooey took his role. If he covers the ground up to the wings and protects JVR in packs then he will do his job. Maybe kick a couple as well. The fact he can also go back puts him ahead of bbb. Salem? Lets see how he goes…

There has been a lot of chat on Demonland about where we are at in the scheme of things based upon this game - and some trends. smashed in clearances and stats that seem to matter to us. forward line mix still up in the air backline seems to be struggling. What do you guys think of where we are at? What is out biggest area of concern from your perspectives?

Is the hawks game the ‘replacement’ game for members (ie, free ga entry?)

Training ground? What is this thing you speak of!

Are you certain he passed all protocols? Maybe he missed a couple of key milestones and needs another week?

I’d be keen to understand how hard he is on himself- he sets incredible Standards for the back 7 and marshals the defensive unit, how does he manage/evaluate his own performances and does he let stuff get to him? How does he manage this in game and out of games?

When are they heading up to QLD?

Put a second team in Geelong, I say…