As he should be, but there’s a deeply troubling disconnect out there on the field ATM and that’s his domain
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Game Day - Tigers V Swans
- Thread starter BT Tiger
- Start date
No not true. They had 10 players who have played less than 50 games, we had 8. 2 years less on average PER player. Swans had the youngest average age for the whole round 5.
An eight goal loss to a team at a neutral venue with similar availability issues. Back half turn overs and poor discipline were the difference in the first half and structurally the team fell apart in the last, allowing them too many opportunities to get in behind our defence.
Yes they were younger, they had 2 players who had played less than 10 games, we had 4.
To think I was bullish about our chances tonight. Melbourne will destroy us.
2 of those 4 are over 31yo. They're way past their best. As is Vlastuin who is slow. What we see is what we get with Bolton. We have potential talent, still need to prove themselves. It's just my opinion but I don't think we have enough young talent to make it that warrants giving up 2 years of draftees.
Did you see this coming round 19,20,21,22 last year?
They topped up because we were very close.
Things don't always turn to gold.
Wc did it with Kelly
Brisbane did it with Fev etc
Haven't seen Grimes lose as many one on one contests and as for Balta; still plays like a guy in his 1st season with some of those awful turnovers.
Between Bolton, Balta and Ralph-Smith cost us about 8 goals.
Lastly, we are dead last in comp for centre clearances and easily the most ineffective when we do get a clean break.
Between Bolton, Balta and Ralph-Smith cost us about 8 goals.
Lastly, we are dead last in comp for centre clearances and easily the most ineffective when we do get a clean break.
It was an interesting mix. Yes they were younger and more experienced, but most of our experience is only in a handful of players.
We had 7 over 150 games (Jack, Cotch, Dusty, Vlastuin, Grimes, Prestia and McIntosh) for an average of 236 games. They only had 4 (Heeney, Cunningham, Parker and Lloyd) for an average of 199 games.
Our remaining 16 players have an average of 51 games, their remaining 19 had an average of 59 games.
We have an experienced underbelly, but look at those 7. What did we really get.
Jack = Good. Dusty = Invisible, Vlastuin = Liability, Grimes = Average, Prestia = Good until he copped that knock, McIntosh = Ok. Heeney and Lloyd in particular were good, but our experienced players really didn't step up for us.
Gosh just back from the game & where to start. Lots of random thoughts - some emotive but not alcohol fuelled.
1. Hardwick’s chaos/turnover based game plan has unravelled due to teams working us out, especially by setting numbers behind the ball and hitting us going the other way with high level foot skills & structure - especially willingness to switch and/or use the corridor.
Also had no idea why we consistently allowed Sydney to waltz the ball to the 50 metre arc from kick ins. Bizarre - we set numbers back and then lost contests anyway as too often, we sat too far off opponents. They constantly picked their way through with foot skills.
2. We’ve rightly tried to address clearance but our rucks can’t give our mids first use. We saw it last week with English and tonight Miller made Ladhams look like Polly Farmer. So disappointed in Miller’s game, especially around the ground.
Ryan tried hard but has no tank & can’t mark in the wet - jury is out for me on whether he’ll ever make it. Those two dropped marks in the last quarter (one defensive & one offensive) were poor - I know he’s young, but at AFL level if you aspire to be elite, you just have to take them.
3. Can’t kick and/or make the right ball use choice (often under pressure) then you can no longer play AFL. Sydney are elite kicks - especially their younger players. We are poor kicks and decision makers across the whole team. Huge issue going forward in this season.
4. Some of our best/most experienced players are out of form. Bolton, Grimes, Vlaustin, Cotchin, Prestia and even Martin. Jack was magnificent in contrast tonight.
5. Jury is out for me on a lot of our young players - feeling negative but I’m seeing too many deficiencies in many of them. Ralph-Smith’s kicking is but one example.
Where to from here? I’ve been asking that question constantly since the end of the game.
Injuries are restricting major player changes, but surely we have to play a more contested, one on one type of game. Zoning off or back certainly didn’t work today. Centre clearance has to be fixed - with our weakness in the ruck, just man up & prevent clean release would my first focus.
However we won’t fix ball use or inept kicking skills in a hurry. That’s the biggest issue imo. We’re in a mess & am not sure what the solution is.
1. Hardwick’s chaos/turnover based game plan has unravelled due to teams working us out, especially by setting numbers behind the ball and hitting us going the other way with high level foot skills & structure - especially willingness to switch and/or use the corridor.
Also had no idea why we consistently allowed Sydney to waltz the ball to the 50 metre arc from kick ins. Bizarre - we set numbers back and then lost contests anyway as too often, we sat too far off opponents. They constantly picked their way through with foot skills.
2. We’ve rightly tried to address clearance but our rucks can’t give our mids first use. We saw it last week with English and tonight Miller made Ladhams look like Polly Farmer. So disappointed in Miller’s game, especially around the ground.
Ryan tried hard but has no tank & can’t mark in the wet - jury is out for me on whether he’ll ever make it. Those two dropped marks in the last quarter (one defensive & one offensive) were poor - I know he’s young, but at AFL level if you aspire to be elite, you just have to take them.
3. Can’t kick and/or make the right ball use choice (often under pressure) then you can no longer play AFL. Sydney are elite kicks - especially their younger players. We are poor kicks and decision makers across the whole team. Huge issue going forward in this season.
4. Some of our best/most experienced players are out of form. Bolton, Grimes, Vlaustin, Cotchin, Prestia and even Martin. Jack was magnificent in contrast tonight.
5. Jury is out for me on a lot of our young players - feeling negative but I’m seeing too many deficiencies in many of them. Ralph-Smith’s kicking is but one example.
Where to from here? I’ve been asking that question constantly since the end of the game.
Injuries are restricting major player changes, but surely we have to play a more contested, one on one type of game. Zoning off or back certainly didn’t work today. Centre clearance has to be fixed - with our weakness in the ruck, just man up & prevent clean release would my first focus.
However we won’t fix ball use or inept kicking skills in a hurry. That’s the biggest issue imo. We’re in a mess & am not sure what the solution is.
Up forward and in the middle, Papley was at his explosive best.
We used to have a player like him.
His name was Dustin Martin.
But that was a long time ago.
We used to have a player like him.
His name was Dustin Martin.
But that was a long time ago.
