Adam The God

I think we even conceded that in the last 4 or 5 games too, having our mids take multiple inside 50 ruck contests. Maybe Goody and co are finally in Bevo's corner. I've posted about this in the past, but the ruck position is the most overrated and easy to exploit position in the game IMO.

Wasn't that nuff the bloke who sat out the game for a year because he didn't wanna play for Melbourne in Darren Jarman? [censored].

Somehow O'Sullivan, Watson and Naughton or Lynch. Forwardline then looks like: ANB Naughton/Lynch Fritta Kozzy Petty Watson With JVR, McAdam, Spargo, Chandler and Trac resting. Backline looks like: McVee May (Tomlinson lockdown role) Lever Salem O'Sullivan Bowey With stints from Rivers when not running through the midfield and Howes. We need more elite talent in the forward half that turn half chances into goals and can convert the contest wins from further up the ground and players like Petty who can draw the ball on the lead. An elite ball user in the midfield will be nice, but not a priority. We need better forward half players and a defensive tall that will allow Lever and May to play to their strengths. We have the 1st or 2nd best contest team in the league in the midfield, so it's about being able to maximise our midfield dominance inside 50.

A pathetic and insipid ending. You can't kick 9.17 and expect to win too many games of footy, let alone finals. I know we were cobbling together a forwardline minus Petty, Melksham and JVR, but we had more than enough chances to win the game, and botched them. I also felt our A grade midfielders didn't influence the games enough, when we desperately need them to boss games. The mantra leading into the finals campaign was win the big moments. We constantly [censored] the bed in pivotel moments. Shattered by two chokes in two weeks. Nothing more at this time, but numb is a good word for it.

Jesus sure is weeping a lot on this thread. It's quite incredible.

You may be right, but you can't do this in finals.

I've never minded Dougal Howard too much, but never watched him closely. My Saints mates think he's a deadset liability. Haha.

Remember in the direct post siren flurry on King's Birthday it was Maynard breaking up Cox from Trac? I can therefore assume it was Max that left the room...?

Well, Jack has his hand around Maynard's throat in response, so I'm not sure we want to be dredging that headbutt moment up too much.

I said immediately after it happened that we have to introduce a red card for acts like this. If one player is lost for the other team, then it's only fair that the team with the player who commits the red cardable offence be down a player too.

Agreed. Our midfield hasn't been good enough in first quarters the last 6 weeks. Ir all starts there.

I think the media are legit scared about the personal backlash they'll receive if they go against Collingwood supporters. Seriously. Who's one guy that could speak his mind and not get ravaged? A bloke who won them one of their two premierships in the last multiple decades.

Agreed. It can't happen again this year if we want to win anything. Six weeks in a row we've lost 5 of 6 first quarters and the one win we did have was against a wayward Sydney. We need to come out with intent, hardness and aggression. Put goals on the board early and everything else will flow from there.

Psychology is a big part of footy and the modern game relies on an ability to work through your emotions. As Goody often claims, you need to be able to 're-set' both in game and from week to week. I think we'll take care of Carlton, but the main variable, if you like, is the psychological fall out from the QF. It can go one of two ways. Trac said the players were obviously flat after the game, which was certainly mirrored by the supporter sentiment and my own emotions. Now, if we use that hurt and flatness, the second chance that we have, it could be the re-set that we need to kick start our way to a 14th flag. Backs against the wall, have to go the toughest route now, like the Bulldogs in 2021, and missing Petty, Melksham, JVR and now Gus (possibly forever). But unlike the Bulldogs in 2021, who IMV we had the measure of that year, if we can get to a Granny against Collingwood, I reckon our guys would be supremely confident and want to make amends. The alternative, of course, is we are rocked by Gus' likely retirement, we're a little bit banged up ourselves after a bruising QF and Carlton running on emotion like we were in 2018, with the crowd on their side, gets it over us. IMO, we start the first quarter well, get a small lead and convert all our gettable opportunities, and we won't be beaten. However, how much do you guys think the psychology of losing the QF and losing Gus will play into the result this week?

I meant our zone, not theirs. He's a vital part of our press as a half forward and occasionally a half forward +1 that sags off the front of the contest goalside. Thoughts on why he wouldn't be playing?

It's the weekend mate.

Can anyone share this vision, if accessible please? Thanks.

If you watch that play to the end, a handball would have seen Trac cut off by a quickly closing Quaynor.

Handball to Petracca? He had a player right on his hammer and was backing off towards that player as well.

Not exactly happy with it, but I don't think chipping it around the arc against a high press, speedy transition team was thw answer either. I keep reading that our method is off or that we need do better forward, but nothing I've read so far has said how. We are a contest winning team. We're the number one winning contest team. So it means we dominate territory, which means the entire opposition is in our forward half, making it hugely difficult to score etc etc. I'd like to hear how you'd improve forward connection if we're constantly winning contest and therefore usually entering our 50 when it's congested. We chained out of contests by hand for months, but unless you move the ball quickly by foot and get it inside 50, you will not beat the modern defensive zone.

We then lose a major bounce from half back. Unless, of course, we shift Salem into the Rivers intercept role and lose some speed, but keep the ball use and decision-making in Salem, plus get him into the game.

In that same game, IMV he cost us at least one goal and the way they transitioned that night from front to back when he was a half forward was alarming. It's not just on him, but you do only need one weak link in the chain. He needs to get fitter and understand his positioning better.

He gets lost in the zone and press. He'll be a handy player, but not this year IMO. Now watch him get selected this week. 😄

We could win by more, I agree that we could do better, but our method still turned the ball over/won the ball back and got two shots within 35m (slight/to no angle) for both Fritta and TMac (arguably our best kicks at goal). Kick them, and we win. If you do not convert regulation set shots (ie less pressure than shots from open play), you will not win finals. Look at 3 of the 4 finals in week one. The teams that kicked straighter won, and the teams that started well, won. I'm not denying there's huge scope for improvement with our ball movement, forward craft and forward half play, but despite this, the method still generated more scoring shots that expected score calculated should lead to a comfortable win. That's method succeeding and execution failing. So it's not on the coaches or even the players behind the ball or through the middle of the ground, it's that those taking shots and missing gettable shots, cost us the game.

No, it doesn't. We had 3 more scoring shots than them, plus 7 on the full ons. That's 10 scoring shots and expected score suggests many were more than gettable and we should have won. We kicked 3.7.25 to 6.4.40 from turnover when we average 58.1 points from turnover a game and concede 41 points. That's the game right there. Our inability to convert our chances from turnover lost us the game. Not our method.