You’ve drawn the line in the sand for me E. Now I know my limits and what not to exceed. Thanks for the advice.
But now that I look at it - it’s really wobbly.
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IMPORTANT // Please look after your loved ones, yourself and be kind to others. If you are feeling that the world is too hard to handle there is always help - I implore you not to hesitate in contacting one of these wonderful organisations Lifeline and Beyond Blue ... and I'm sure reaching out to our PRE community we will find a way to help. T.
GAME DAY - Tiges v Dogs
- Thread starter Mr T.
- Start date
But now that I look at it - it’s really wobbly.
Season 2023 could go anywhere from here. Players look tired already and its only round 4. Testing time for Dimma, he needs to unleash the Kraken.
What was the difference between the first/3rd & 4th qtrs and the second? The weather. It was wet again for the second half, the ball was slippery and we didn't adjust. I'm amazed how many cannot see that as soon as it dried out we didn't fumble and our handball happy game won out. We hit our targets and played slick one touch football that was unstoppable. We didn't miss targets by hand or foot.
Our formline is OK. It's the start of April.
We need luck with injuries and weather. And Dimma needs to get the motivation levels right.
We don't know what our best mix is yet. That's why we're experimenting. It'll be a new team.
Someone stole my chocolates.
Andrew Wu match summary in The Age. Pathetic. He notes Lynch is staring at a suspension and can expect to miss multiple weeks if he is cited? Huh? How about proffer your opinion, not sure what you are getting paid for Andrew? What will he be charged with?
Crowds are back 56,000 on a *smile* full day weather wise and against a generally poor drawing Bulldogs was pretty impressive I thought
Correct, I just watched the 2nd quarter when conditions had dried out and that was as good as football as you'd want to see we just tried to play the same way when it was wet.
The fact we only lost by 5 points after playing less than a quarter at the level we can play, and similarly only 14 points against Collingwood when we were soundly beaten all day, are a testament to how good we can be.
There is an issue across the whole competition in trying to stop a team with a run on, just look how quickly we scored yesterday.
But we have been decent at not getting blown away so we clearly have some ability to limit damage when the other side is on a roll, or at least peg some of the damage back.
The issues are that we are terrible at clearances and that we can't seem to play more than 1 good quarter each game.
There is some hope there, but also a lot to worry about.
DS
There is an issue across the whole competition in trying to stop a team with a run on, just look how quickly we scored yesterday.
But we have been decent at not getting blown away so we clearly have some ability to limit damage when the other side is on a roll, or at least peg some of the damage back.
The issues are that we are terrible at clearances and that we can't seem to play more than 1 good quarter each game.
There is some hope there, but also a lot to worry about.
DS
Refrained from posting last night as for the first time in a long time I was super frustrated with the team and that never lends itself to productive material.
After yesterday it is clear to me that we are not contending anytime soon and have made a significant error in list management that is going to take some time to rectify.
We chose to invest significantly in bringing in two guys to strengthen our midfield and give us first use of the ball. When the whips were cracking yesterday we couldn't get the ball in our hands at all, let alone first use. The Bulldogs rolled two back off the stoppage most of the game yesterday to cover Keath being out and we still couldn't win the footy with that outnumber around the ball. A wise Indian concierge once told me that the best way to deal with the painful effect 'Dehli belly' has on your back passage was to apply crushed ice in a sock. Yesterday our midfield needed crushed ice in a sock.
More concerning is the fact that our team approach and attitude has fallen off a cliff. If you listed the seven deadly sins in football, selfishness, softness and ill-discipline would make the list and we are guilty of all of them. Throw in wasteful ball use, a lack of intense effort and poor forward efficiency and we almost have them all covered.
The selfishness was stark yesterday. Bolton started the game by burning a free teammate in the goal square and went on to commit a couple of the most self first acts you will ever see on an AFL ground in the first quarter alone. He did some nice things afterwards but he should be dropped from the side just based on that. He won't be because Hardwick is a player's coach and not a standard setter but he should be. Other selfish acts manifest in wanting to take the game on alone instead of using the first option. Baker, Pickett, Balta are all guilty of it, and it creeps in on some the young guys as well.
We are a soft team at the moment. People think that implies we squib contests or get scared but it doesn't mean that at all. It's as simple as not being completely committed to the ball. Fumbling is a sign of softness, so is going to ground. We had so many cymbal handed players yesterday we should form a marching band. The difference between committing yourself solely to the footy vs being aware of what is around you. Soft. The number of times we lost our feet in contest. Soft.
The ill-discipline isn't new and neither is the fact it won't be addressed yet keeps killing us. There will be the usual carping about umpires but the truth is we are a team that doesn't give a stuff. Stupid 50s taken as read, the other obvious one yesterday was get caught out of position in a marking contest and just stick two hands in their back and give them a shove. Doesn't matter than the ball is wet and they likely won't mark it anyway, just make yourself feel better by working out a bit of frustration at being out positioned. Selfishness colliding with ill-discipline.
We unquestionably have the ability but the mindset isn't right. The decision to load up wasn't wrong based on talent but our mindset just isn't at the level to contend. We have a mix of guys who have the fire but are battling age and physical wear and tear, guys with full bellies and a lack of team care and young guys who are finding their way in a team that is much harder to develop in than it was previously.
The positive thing about having the talent is the rest of the stuff is much more easily fixed if you have the desire to do it. We saw in 10 minutes yesterday what we are capable of so we could turn it all around if we wanted to. Unfortunately I can't see it happening.
After yesterday it is clear to me that we are not contending anytime soon and have made a significant error in list management that is going to take some time to rectify.
We chose to invest significantly in bringing in two guys to strengthen our midfield and give us first use of the ball. When the whips were cracking yesterday we couldn't get the ball in our hands at all, let alone first use. The Bulldogs rolled two back off the stoppage most of the game yesterday to cover Keath being out and we still couldn't win the footy with that outnumber around the ball. A wise Indian concierge once told me that the best way to deal with the painful effect 'Dehli belly' has on your back passage was to apply crushed ice in a sock. Yesterday our midfield needed crushed ice in a sock.
More concerning is the fact that our team approach and attitude has fallen off a cliff. If you listed the seven deadly sins in football, selfishness, softness and ill-discipline would make the list and we are guilty of all of them. Throw in wasteful ball use, a lack of intense effort and poor forward efficiency and we almost have them all covered.
The selfishness was stark yesterday. Bolton started the game by burning a free teammate in the goal square and went on to commit a couple of the most self first acts you will ever see on an AFL ground in the first quarter alone. He did some nice things afterwards but he should be dropped from the side just based on that. He won't be because Hardwick is a player's coach and not a standard setter but he should be. Other selfish acts manifest in wanting to take the game on alone instead of using the first option. Baker, Pickett, Balta are all guilty of it, and it creeps in on some the young guys as well.
We are a soft team at the moment. People think that implies we squib contests or get scared but it doesn't mean that at all. It's as simple as not being completely committed to the ball. Fumbling is a sign of softness, so is going to ground. We had so many cymbal handed players yesterday we should form a marching band. The difference between committing yourself solely to the footy vs being aware of what is around you. Soft. The number of times we lost our feet in contest. Soft.
The ill-discipline isn't new and neither is the fact it won't be addressed yet keeps killing us. There will be the usual carping about umpires but the truth is we are a team that doesn't give a stuff. Stupid 50s taken as read, the other obvious one yesterday was get caught out of position in a marking contest and just stick two hands in their back and give them a shove. Doesn't matter than the ball is wet and they likely won't mark it anyway, just make yourself feel better by working out a bit of frustration at being out positioned. Selfishness colliding with ill-discipline.
We unquestionably have the ability but the mindset isn't right. The decision to load up wasn't wrong based on talent but our mindset just isn't at the level to contend. We have a mix of guys who have the fire but are battling age and physical wear and tear, guys with full bellies and a lack of team care and young guys who are finding their way in a team that is much harder to develop in than it was previously.
The positive thing about having the talent is the rest of the stuff is much more easily fixed if you have the desire to do it. We saw in 10 minutes yesterday what we are capable of so we could turn it all around if we wanted to. Unfortunately I can't see it happening.
The starkest thing at the game for me was the lack of effort to create options when we are playing our poor patches. It such a stark contrast to when we are playing our good patches. It’s like looking at two different teams! One is active and engaged - the other is passive with everyone looking at everyone else to do the work.
Is there a pinch of ‘our new boys will get it done’ vs ‘the old firm will get it done’. Certainly a lot of hesitation around the loose ball. Could be partly about cohesion and change. I just wanted someone to say ‘I’ll get it done’ and to get it done. That’s what champions do. T and H need to get there hands dirty (er)
I'm not sure its even as bad as that. Ie. good when its dry and awful when its wet.
Even in the quarters that we looked like we struggled (1,3 and 4) we still moved the ball well enough, but for some reason we over used the handball (more than we did in that purple patch when we threw on 7 goals without a reply). The problem was that we took the wrong options. Others have alluded to it whether we either took another handball instead of a kick, we went for the inboard kick when it wasn't on, we zagged back inside when we should have zigged and handballed to the outside. The thing is, these guys aren't poor users of the footy, Baker was horrendous in the 1st half, everything he touched seemed to turn to *smile*. Dusty handballed more than we have probably ever seen, as did Dan Rioli, I think at quarter time, he'd had 5 disposals - all handballs - in the freaking wet!! This is a guy that kicks way more than he handballs normally, and then in the wet didn't even take a kick. Perfect example of Dan was start of the 2nd, took a good defensive mark on the edge of the D50, runs the ball out towards the members wing, handballs, then the next player in the chain handball,s then the next, back to Dan Rioli who was then tackled HTB. WE maybe moved 30m down the field, and turned the ball over at the halfway point of the field, making it a very dangerous turnover as that ball was heading straight back inside 50.
We actually moved the ball by foot a lot more in that purple patch, not necessarily by hand. You can see that with disposal stats by quarter.
Q1 - Kicks 46, Handballs 46 - Ratio 1
Q2 - Kicks 66, Handballs 45 - Ratio 1.47
Q3 - Kicks 55, Handballs 48 - Ratio 1.15
Q4 - Kicks 51, Handballs 35 - Ratio 1.46
It actually kind of goes against what you are saying as we used the ball differently in the 2nd, it was pretty evident to me that we were kicking more and the stats back it up, but for some reason we then went against that in the 3rd.
In the 2nd quarter we had 20 of our 48 inside 50's. Kicked the ball more in the 4th, I'll need to watch that back and figure out how we only managed 7 inside 50's in the quarter, but we scored well enough when we got it in there, we just couldn't get it in there in the final quarter
Just to add to the view that some have that the coaches told them to play like this.
Dan Rioli is a great example.
Last season, he averaged 11.6 kicks to 8.9 handballs.
1st 3 games this year he has gone, 17 K, 10 H, 17 K, 6 H and 19K, 6H. Clearly the way they have coached him in the offseason is actually to kick MORE not less.
Yesterday he had 10K and 19H in the wet. Decision making wasn't there last night.
Dan Rioli is a great example.
Last season, he averaged 11.6 kicks to 8.9 handballs.
1st 3 games this year he has gone, 17 K, 10 H, 17 K, 6 H and 19K, 6H. Clearly the way they have coached him in the offseason is actually to kick MORE not less.
Yesterday he had 10K and 19H in the wet. Decision making wasn't there last night.
That would be from all the Footscray backmen standing on his toes and trying to gangscrag him all the time.
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