Lord Travis

This gave me a chuckle

I’m feeling this way too. Gus on the wing playing more defensively forced teams into attacking only through certain parts of the ground. He also covered the corridor well. The best teams shred us through the corridor on counter attack and having Gus pushing there would help nullify that and force them to kick long and high again. Jordan has played some good footy on the wing offensively this year, but teams aren’t as worried about attacking through his wing or the corridor with him there. We have heaps of options and depth for our half back flank. As great as Gus has been, it might be time to shift him back to the wing and bring in a different half back like Rivers for the overall benefit of the team.

Have said it on here for a good month or so now. Bowey out. Hunt in. On tonight’s match Bedford out too if Chandler performs well again as Casey. We must reward form. It’s good for culture to have competition for spots. If Dunstan plays well at Casey he’d be considered in place of Sparrow next week.

Our two worst losses this year have been the Fremantle game and tonight. The Freo loss was worse on the scoreboard, but more even statistically. We just kicked inaccurately for goal. Tonight was a more comprehensive loss. The key thing both matches have in common is we lost clearances by +10. It seems when our strength is taken away from us by good teams, we struggle to find other ways to wrestle back momentum and win. Time for Yze to get to work and come up with some tactics to address the stoppages when it’s not going our way. Centre bounces are huge in todays game use to 6-6-6 rule. Our third quarter in the grand final is proof of that!

Two obvious changes to start with. Chandler had 29 disposals and 5 goals last week. We should have rewarded his great form. He should come in for Bedford, who has had two poor games since the Lions game. Bowey has had no impact on games for a while now. We’ve also struggled with stopping ground balls and linking play in our defensive 50. Fine in the air, terrible otherwise. Hunt should come in for Bowey to help lockdown. Not as polished on offense, but infinitely better at defending. We’ve got Salem and Gus to rebound as is.

Max Holmes looks a ripper. Jason Taylor was bang on identifying him as a gun outside talent. Shame he went a pick too early for us. We need to look at some changes to our smalls next week. That game was lost by our small forward not getting involved, and lack of smaller lockdown defenders.

Seriously though it’s a fair point. Our second halves this year have been poor. Last year we were unstoppable in second halves. We’re a fair way off that level now.

Loading 😉 Every loss can be blamed on loading 😉

It’s more a midfield problem than forward line problem IMO. The kick before the kick that goes inside 50 is an issue. It’s not going to the right depth on the field, which is then leading to a [censored] kick inside 50 because it’s starting from the wrong spot and has no choice but to bomb long into the pockets instead of to a leading players towards the flanks. Whenever it goes to the flanks on a lead instead is the only time we’re marking it and getting decent shots.

6 - Petracca 5 - Viney 4 - Petty 3 - Hibberd 2 - Oliver 1 - Brayshaw

Top spot gone after that goal. With Blues, Freo, Lions and Pies to come, it’s going to be tough to finish top two.

Shame we couldn’t pinch it. Had our chances in this last quarter. Geelong the better team tonight. 10.17 and a few other misses meant the score was closer than it should’ve been.

Rubbish effort

Nup [censored] it. Game over. Disappointing result for an 8 point game. Gonna be a fight to stay top two

First goal SUPER important here!

Smalls need to lift. Kozzie and Spargo fire up please. We don’t deserve it but we could pinch this.

Not been great since returning from a long injury lay off. Our whole backline is slow and poor at defending ground balls.

Cats +13 in clearances. We’ve been beaten at the source tonight and then they’ve setup better structurally too. Even if we get up from here, there’s a lot to learn from tonight. Need to improve come finals time.

Disappointing showing tonight considering it’s an 8 point game. They’ve had 7 more scoring shots and are well in control.

Both Max and Jackson struggling tonight. Gawn getting to contests at least. Dogga had been MIA and embarrassingly pushed off the ball tonight in contests.

Bowey poor defensively again. Weak tackle costs another goal. Needs a spell at Casey. Selection error sticking with him recently over Hunt or Rivers.

Getting beaten in every facet tonight. Lucky to be this close on the scoreboard. Need to hold on here and stay in touch.

Hunt and/or Rivers in next week.

They’re playing better footy. Positive is we’re still very close due to their inaccuracy. Need to be tighter with ground balls and tidy up the kick before the entry into 50. Can’t bang it long due to their spare behind the ball.

Aside from Frittas dud kick, they’re beating us strategically. Spare player behind the ball is working better for them. When we slingshot and tear forward it’s not working. Need to run it and share it to build numbers and pressure as we move forward.