Good win in the end but certainly hearts in the mouth stuff mid way through the last.
First quarter was good, we seemed to just be holding them off and scoring enough to stay ahead for the next 2 quarters, then came the last.
No idea what went on at the start of the last quarter. I know Prestia went off sometime through the last quarter, was he struggling before that, did we take time to adjust? We just could not get a possession for maybe 10-15 minutes there, Essendon were just smacking us and scoring at will.
What does occur to me is that, yes, our defence is not what we know it can be, but the way the game is being played now, teams can score very quickly. I noticed a fair few goals where we were exiting their F50 and lost the ball on the wing or maybe a little closer to goal - that is a disaster which is very hard to defend. With the fast ball movement which benefits from the rule changes, teams can find space and even an outnumber forward. Our defence needs to lift and I think we are one tall down in defence, but quick ball movement, especially after a turnover when the whole team is streaming forward, is damned near impossible to defend. We certainly need to find a way to limit the damage when the opposition gets a run on though, this is critical to being competitive at the end of the year, you know you will face good teams who will get a run on at times, the point is to limit the damage.
When we turned it on it was amazing how quickly we could score. Same applies to opposition defence really, once we turned it on the scoring was very quick. We looked like we were standing still for a while there, and then Essendon looked like they were standing still.
Funny game the SHocking version of Aussie Rules, I reckon every team is madly trying to work out how to stem the flow when the opposition get on top.
Umpiring was not bad. A couple of very soft in the back frees where I reckon the Essendon players took a nice dive, olympics are calling for some players. The umpires really need to be able to judge these better. Lot of talk earlier in the thread about Richo's commentary on that one with Grimes, "you have to dispose of the ball legally", yeah, no actually. You have to attempt to dispose of the ball legally if you have no prior opportunity. Someone send Richo the rule book, actually I'm sure he has a lot of people pointing this one out to him.
The surface at Perth Stadium is certainly an issue. Very slippery in such a dry place. It wasn't just dew or whatever either, looked like the grass and soil was offering very little purchase for players on both sides. They showed a close up of the grass at one point and it looked like it needed a mow. Not sure what the issue is but there is something wrong when that many players slip and slide unless it is raining.
Chol had a solid game, figure he was taking a break in the 3rd and early 4th quarters. Can he build a big enough tank to play ruck? No idea. As a ruck I reckon CJ makes a good forward, far prefer him forward, he needs to build some more strength but doing a good job. Nice to see Castagna more often, barely seen him for weeks, hopefully his role is changing because what he has been doing for a month has been not much. Grimes and Vlastuin do still look out of sorts, part of this would be playing in a back line which really needs another tall, but hopefully the bye will be a helpful break for both of them. Pickett was fine, yes he can be scrappy with disposals, but he appears everywhere and does a tonne of work . . . just don't use him as a ruck, not his fault, he just can't compete against rucks who are a foot taller than he is.
8 point game given our ladder positions, another 8 point game next week, let's hope we can bring our best, get a good win and take a break for a couple of weeks.
DS
First quarter was good, we seemed to just be holding them off and scoring enough to stay ahead for the next 2 quarters, then came the last.
No idea what went on at the start of the last quarter. I know Prestia went off sometime through the last quarter, was he struggling before that, did we take time to adjust? We just could not get a possession for maybe 10-15 minutes there, Essendon were just smacking us and scoring at will.
What does occur to me is that, yes, our defence is not what we know it can be, but the way the game is being played now, teams can score very quickly. I noticed a fair few goals where we were exiting their F50 and lost the ball on the wing or maybe a little closer to goal - that is a disaster which is very hard to defend. With the fast ball movement which benefits from the rule changes, teams can find space and even an outnumber forward. Our defence needs to lift and I think we are one tall down in defence, but quick ball movement, especially after a turnover when the whole team is streaming forward, is damned near impossible to defend. We certainly need to find a way to limit the damage when the opposition gets a run on though, this is critical to being competitive at the end of the year, you know you will face good teams who will get a run on at times, the point is to limit the damage.
When we turned it on it was amazing how quickly we could score. Same applies to opposition defence really, once we turned it on the scoring was very quick. We looked like we were standing still for a while there, and then Essendon looked like they were standing still.
Funny game the SHocking version of Aussie Rules, I reckon every team is madly trying to work out how to stem the flow when the opposition get on top.
Umpiring was not bad. A couple of very soft in the back frees where I reckon the Essendon players took a nice dive, olympics are calling for some players. The umpires really need to be able to judge these better. Lot of talk earlier in the thread about Richo's commentary on that one with Grimes, "you have to dispose of the ball legally", yeah, no actually. You have to attempt to dispose of the ball legally if you have no prior opportunity. Someone send Richo the rule book, actually I'm sure he has a lot of people pointing this one out to him.
The surface at Perth Stadium is certainly an issue. Very slippery in such a dry place. It wasn't just dew or whatever either, looked like the grass and soil was offering very little purchase for players on both sides. They showed a close up of the grass at one point and it looked like it needed a mow. Not sure what the issue is but there is something wrong when that many players slip and slide unless it is raining.
Chol had a solid game, figure he was taking a break in the 3rd and early 4th quarters. Can he build a big enough tank to play ruck? No idea. As a ruck I reckon CJ makes a good forward, far prefer him forward, he needs to build some more strength but doing a good job. Nice to see Castagna more often, barely seen him for weeks, hopefully his role is changing because what he has been doing for a month has been not much. Grimes and Vlastuin do still look out of sorts, part of this would be playing in a back line which really needs another tall, but hopefully the bye will be a helpful break for both of them. Pickett was fine, yes he can be scrappy with disposals, but he appears everywhere and does a tonne of work . . . just don't use him as a ruck, not his fault, he just can't compete against rucks who are a foot taller than he is.
8 point game given our ladder positions, another 8 point game next week, let's hope we can bring our best, get a good win and take a break for a couple of weeks.
DS
