Macca

I'd rather see both kicking the ball well to position. And it's never too late to learn They've both got elite skills elsewhere Against Freo, Lions & Swans we didn't blaze away forward and Petracca & Oliver were both handpassing it more But elite footballers being able to kick to position is a pre-requisite skill We need to almost ban the long bomb as part of the game plan. I'd rather see us kick or handpass sideways or backwards from (55m - 70m) if an opening ahead doesn't present itself However, we keep lapsing back into old habits which makes me think that we're still trying to hold on to parts of the old game plan. Territory gain is a bit instinctive in footy Maybe the unlearning is more difficult than the learning But 1 mark from 28 f50 entries in the first half sums it up ... that's where we lost the game

Those long bombs in 2021 worked a treat We had an open forward line, lots of marking targets and we were able to hold the ball in our forward line with forward line defensive pressure But then it all changed. The other teams worked us out by flooding our forward line (2022 onwards) and intercept marking came to the fore Also, teams now are expert at defending the long bomb with rebound attack from even the last line of defence. Lots of handpassing and short kicks and hey presto, we're then trying to stop them scoring So why are we even bombing the ball in at all? With the 4 or 5 seconds of hang-time with those bombs, a defender can run 25-45 metres to spoil or mark Not withstanding those defenders anticipating where we are going to kick it to Effectively, we are handing the ball back to the opposition and from that point, the other teams has possession and a chance to score (if they keep possession)

Watts might have made it if we were able to use him as an outside player (old fashioned receiver) ... a bit like how the Pies use Nick Daicos But alas, we had a myriad of issues just putting a competitive team together in Jack's time with us But those kicking skills were sublime But back to Spargo and his F50 entries ... I always feel comfortable when he kicks it forward but either he needs to get the ball a lot more or we somehow get it to him more (as part of the chain)

The DE rating includes handpasses So Oliver & Petracca had 25 kicks between them yesyerday with only about 6 or 7 kicks hitting targets (assuming most of their handpasses hit targets) ... that's a DE rating of about 25% But both are supposed to be elite footballers. They need to kick the ball better (to position) or in the case of Oliver, handpass the ball more as he's never been a great kick to position player To be fair, all those long bombs forward come from a variety of players but you expect the senior players to set a good example

It's interesting that the player who is incapable of kicking long bombs into the forward is also our best exponent at kicking the ball into the forward line 30 metre low trajectory kicks is his go Our mids could learn a lot on how Spargo goes about it ... so we need to get the ball to Spargo more (when he's fit to go again) Perhaps as the last link going forward? The same thing was said about Watts years ago when he was playing as a high half forward

Yeah, I figured that JR The mids need a rocket

Our approach to goal is totally unprofessional Goodwin made an example of JVR & Fritsch but it's time he did the same with a couple of mids We've got nothing to lose as finals are out of the question anyway

How about our forwards start leading to the ball carrier or to space Our forward line is pure amateur hour and wouldn't be tolerated at suburban level. Pathetic On top of that we hoof it forward to compound the problem 4 years of absolute dross ... it's as if we are trying to sabotage our chances of winning

More than just several occasions Both hoof it forward on a constant basis with indiscriminate kicks that end up bearing very little reward We're paying them both elite money for B grade output Matchwinners? They are both a long way off and the other issue is that other players follow suit with the long bombs to the opposition So both either can't adhere to team rules or they don't want to. Either way, they are both costing the team wins

Could be that Goodwin can't fix it because our players just can't or won't change their ways The first half was diabolical with 1 mark from 28 forward 50 entries And just to rub it in Oliver & Petracca totally waste 2 more forward 50 entries late in the game with panic disposals We had a real opportunity to win the game today but we handed the game to the Pies by not taking advantage of our opportunities to score (specifically our forward 50 entries) That's on top of being largely wasteful against the Hawks & Saints ... use the ball properly and/or kick straight and we could have won our last 8 games

It's incredibly frustrating to watch ... if we just took a bit more care instead of blazing away we'd create a stack more scoring chances We've taken 1 mark inside 50 from 28 entries

Wasting our chances with the long kicks forward ... we're better off short passing or handballing forward More teamwork required if we're going to win this

What an amazing find! Who would have thought? Apart from the kicking skills, the game itself was very similar to a high pressure game played nowadays ... kicks to the boundary line (and the pockets) and the forward press all in operation. Intercept marks!! And RDB's 40 metre stab pass was a thing of beauty. Hassa Mann - all class And all those mistimed drop kicks would be handy for the chaos ball in the forward line we see these days (rather than the long bomb)

I'm 100% more concerned with the whole team as a group and playing as a team Changing one player or a few players is largely irrelevant if the whole team aren't all on the same page In other words, if T-Mac had played instead of Lever it wouldn't have made much of a difference

I listened to the game up until OKC were 8 points in front with a few minutes to play. Work intervened but I was assuming that OKC had won Watched the 'Mini' when I got home and sure enough, the Pacers got up and won! A number of the pundits have commented that the Pacers are very hard to match-up with

Yeah, @Gorgoroth , it's becoming quite the circus with Rodgers I'd like him to do well and not spoil his legacy but he's definitely not the player he once was It might work under Tomlin at the Steelers ... but it's a big if. The outcome may end up being more on the average/ordinary side of things But the Steelers made the playoffs last season so that would be the minimum standard you'd imagine

How 'bout those Pacers! They play every minute and win the first game on the road

As a team, we were not switched on. A lack of teamwork around the stoppages and between the arcs What we displayed against Freo, Lions & Swans wasn't on show in the Alice I lost count of how many long kicks forward led to negligible results. And of course, our kicking for goal was woeful Old habits die hard

Australia 1 Japan 0 The scoreline doesn't tell the story but what counts the most is the result. Japan had a lot of the ball but a lot of it was tippy-tap So barring a mathematical miracle, the Socceroos have qualified for the World Cup (for the 6th consecutive time) Kudos!

Uncontested possessions vs St Kilda - 177 Against Sydney - 244 Did we forget how to share the ball yesterday? And the amount of wasted long kicks forward today was a reminder that old habits die hard. We kept handing the ball back to the Saints with rushed kicks forward By contrast, the Saints often hung on to the ball until they saw an opening 17 more inside 50 entries against St Kilda, yet our goal kicking effiency was off the charts, woeful There is barely a player who looks confident kicking for goal (when we're having a bad day) Other days we are fine. Jekyll and Hyde We were outplayed today but we still could have won the game if we'd kicked straight

A couple from another classic album (Eric Clapton 461 Ocean Boulevard)

And there needs to be a complete buy-in from the players as well (obviously) There's been plenty of chatter of late here with regards to what we are doing when we've got the ball ... but there are also other major factors as to what the team members do when the ball is in dispute and also, what we do when the opposition has the ball So to have a dramatic game plan change is going to create issues until everyone is on the same page There's a lot to learn but thankfully, we are starting to see the results As you said in another post, rjay, it's never just the one thing

In 1975 North started 0 & 4 and were then 3 & 6 after 9 rounds

For the next week and a half the French Open is on every evening on 9Gem from 6.30pm Aussie Alexie Popyrin (25 seed) will probably lead things off tonight with his 2nd round match-up against Alejandro Tabilo And the Demon (de Minaur) got through his first round match last night in straight sets On the Women's side Aussie Ajla Tomljanovic is up against the 4 seed Jasmine Paolini

Another high amount of uncontested possessions (244) emphases how we're becoming a share-the-ball-first team 16 marks inside 50 highlights the space we are creating forward as nearly all of the 16 marks would have been uncontested 20 inside 50 tackles is another big plus We turned the ball over 70 times against the Eagles but only 53 times against the Swans ... we are getting better at keepings-off To the eye we're often playing the boundary until we get to about 70 metres from goal and from there we go direct to a player making position in the created forward line space or to a 1 on 1 ... but more so away from the boundary line So our forward 50 entries are becoming more efficient, match by match