Yep it is certainly not advantageous when your two captains look totally bereft of confidence. Not a great example.
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Game Day - Tiges V Freo
- Thread starter Mr T.
- Start date
With Miller probably out I hope Balta goes back to defence next week. Poor game by Ralphy tonight. Pickett returned to good form. Prestia missed a few tap-outs that he would normally take (if he wasn't getting over concussion) so he'll be better next week.
The legs are old and worn out very likely, but we have made no attempt to find another KPF other than a skinny tall from the MSD (Bauer) and Ryan who's a ruckman.
Jack is a lightning rod for frees against. As I've posted before, the umps just hate him and ping him for the slightest infringement even if fanciful. Often they ignore a justified free to him. Like maybe the push in the back he claimed near the end.
I hate it ... and not justifying it, but it just might be his big mouth and being a smartarse has contributed to this reality.
That wasn't a free kick to Jack near the end Leon. The umpire got it right; Cumberland was the one who pushed Jack.
Who should they have got then with a limited salary cap and limited draft picks until last year ? Easy to criticise but sometimes your hands are tied.
GCS almost gave Peter Wright away (42 goals in '22, 3 more than Lynch). Or we needed to make more effort to keep Chol - 36 goals this year (4 more than JR8) and plays 2nd ruck too.
It's a matter of what you do with your $$$ and how it's distributed. Sadly, it's also a ruthless game - there are a couple or more players besides Bachar that we needed to call time on e.g. I'm sorry, but Lambert needs a hip replacement which they must have had a good idea about, at least how potentially jeopardized he was.
Unfortunately, cannot see him playing again unless some farewell game-time. But paid FT all year.
Has it worked well to actually appoint two captains? Both on captains stipend.
Yes, I heard the ump say he was pushed by a team-mate but needed to see another slow-mo to verify. However, Jack appeals for a lot of frees and gets in the umpires's ears a lot. They don't appreciate it.
Would Peter Wright of come to us, we don’t know, probably more opportunities and cash at the bombers. Chol wanted to move back to QLD for family reasons, more game time and extra money, can’t really blame him. Probably a fair point on Lambert but once again we are only guessing on his medical state in October last year when these decisions are made. Certainly expect him to retire this year.
Frustrating.
Very frustrating.
The good: we were damned hard to score against.
The not so good: Fremantle were damned hard to score against.
When we play a good defensive team like Freo we really struggle as our inside 50 entries are not good. We get a lot of inside 50s but have trouble converting at the best of times, let alone against a well organised defence.
One aspect I am pleased about. That was a high pressure game, Freo are quick, their overlap run is very good. When Freo are on, and they were playing well tonight, they move the ball end to end very well. But we kept pressuring them all night. That last quarter Freo were really pressing, running up and down the ground right to the end. But so were Richmond. All this talk about not being fit enough to run out games - I don't think so. We just ran out a close high pressure game against one of the better teams this year. The issue does not look like fitness, rather it looks more like we have trouble keeping the concentration levels up all game. I am pleased we were able to run out the game.
Our defence was good all night. In the last quarter especially. One interesting thing I noticed, I looked at the percentage of inside 50s which led to a score and at quarter time Freo were scoring 60% of the time they went inside 50, by the end of the game that was in the 40s. Our defence held firm which is a vast improvement. You always give up a few crumbing goals, and Freo were very good at having a lot of players as an outlet when the ball hit the ground in their forward line. But we still did a damned good job of holding them back.
There was no period of centre clearance dominance from our opposition. In the games where we have led and then lost it has been off the back of a series of consecutive centre clearances we lost badly, allowing for clean possession out of the middle and quality delivery to the forward line. Tonight that did not happen which is good.
Balta, hmm, what to say? Well a couple of things. I am not convinced he took too long on that kick for goal, it was down the other end so hard to tell. But I do remember the one against Melbourne, and that one Gawn was told off once for getting too close and Balta was not given 30 seconds, it was right in front of me and was a travesty. However, it remains the case that tonight he should have got on with it a little quicker. His missed shot earlier in the game was also a factor, you cannot be missing from 25m out on little angle. Balta can be a great player, but he cannot read the game well enough to be a forward. Stop faffing around with him and play him at either CHB or full back. No more forward experiment for Balta, ever.
Nank forward? Yeah, might work if he could move and jump. Clearly he is playing injured, not just injured but badly injured. He could not get to contests, he could not jump for marks. They played Nank forward tonight because he is too injured to ruck. Bad decision. If Nank is injured then he should be recovering not playing. Soldo was fine in the ruck and even did a few things around the ground. He's always been a bit ungainly but seemed better tonight. Soldo needs to continue to be first ruck, Nank out to recover and maybe Balta relieves in the ruck (then goes back, not forward, should be banned from our forward 50).
That last play with Cumberland, yeah, really dumb, really really dumb. Two things though. Cumberland has played what, 3 or 4 games? His first being as a late inclusion as sub and didn't get on the ground. He lacks experience so there is scope for him to learn. But the second thing is playing on from that mark. Even if it wasn't in the last seconds of a close game, he still should not have played on. He had a Freo player in front of him and another real close to his side. At any point in the game, even more so right at the end with scores level, the decision to play on was wrong and silly. Shows he needs to learn a bit more awareness. That said, he played well all night and we would not have been level with Freo had he not played. Plus, it is also worth noting that he marked that ball because he was well positioned in just enough space to get a pass. Cumberland created the option for a pass into our 50 in a very tight game. That is quality positioning and reading of the game. Just a pity he stuffed up the final part of the play. Cumberland is not an easy option, too small to be a key forward and too big to be a small forward. It is his ability to be in the right place at the right time which will get him a decent AFL career. He is a keeper and should play 100 games but it will always be hard work, definitely worth persisting with.
The umpires were hard to notice tonight and that's as it should be. That 50 against Jack was borderline, but if they pay that one there were a couple of others whey should also have paid. Only 32 frees given, the variance in the number of frees given per game is large this year, quite strange really. Some games they pay 45-50 frees, others around 30 or even less.
One other observation. In the fast paced pressured game we see these days I really don't get why teams don't have a goal keeper when the ball goes into their defence. The number of goals hurriedly kicked which go through at ground height or not much higher is plenty these days. Getting someone back on that last line when there is a ball up or throw in near goal would likely save a couple of goals a game at the least. I understand it is not easy to spare a player for this and you don't see many teams do it, but the potential to deny 2 or 3 goals a game is pretty significant.
DS
Very frustrating.
The good: we were damned hard to score against.
The not so good: Fremantle were damned hard to score against.
When we play a good defensive team like Freo we really struggle as our inside 50 entries are not good. We get a lot of inside 50s but have trouble converting at the best of times, let alone against a well organised defence.
One aspect I am pleased about. That was a high pressure game, Freo are quick, their overlap run is very good. When Freo are on, and they were playing well tonight, they move the ball end to end very well. But we kept pressuring them all night. That last quarter Freo were really pressing, running up and down the ground right to the end. But so were Richmond. All this talk about not being fit enough to run out games - I don't think so. We just ran out a close high pressure game against one of the better teams this year. The issue does not look like fitness, rather it looks more like we have trouble keeping the concentration levels up all game. I am pleased we were able to run out the game.
Our defence was good all night. In the last quarter especially. One interesting thing I noticed, I looked at the percentage of inside 50s which led to a score and at quarter time Freo were scoring 60% of the time they went inside 50, by the end of the game that was in the 40s. Our defence held firm which is a vast improvement. You always give up a few crumbing goals, and Freo were very good at having a lot of players as an outlet when the ball hit the ground in their forward line. But we still did a damned good job of holding them back.
There was no period of centre clearance dominance from our opposition. In the games where we have led and then lost it has been off the back of a series of consecutive centre clearances we lost badly, allowing for clean possession out of the middle and quality delivery to the forward line. Tonight that did not happen which is good.
Balta, hmm, what to say? Well a couple of things. I am not convinced he took too long on that kick for goal, it was down the other end so hard to tell. But I do remember the one against Melbourne, and that one Gawn was told off once for getting too close and Balta was not given 30 seconds, it was right in front of me and was a travesty. However, it remains the case that tonight he should have got on with it a little quicker. His missed shot earlier in the game was also a factor, you cannot be missing from 25m out on little angle. Balta can be a great player, but he cannot read the game well enough to be a forward. Stop faffing around with him and play him at either CHB or full back. No more forward experiment for Balta, ever.
Nank forward? Yeah, might work if he could move and jump. Clearly he is playing injured, not just injured but badly injured. He could not get to contests, he could not jump for marks. They played Nank forward tonight because he is too injured to ruck. Bad decision. If Nank is injured then he should be recovering not playing. Soldo was fine in the ruck and even did a few things around the ground. He's always been a bit ungainly but seemed better tonight. Soldo needs to continue to be first ruck, Nank out to recover and maybe Balta relieves in the ruck (then goes back, not forward, should be banned from our forward 50).
That last play with Cumberland, yeah, really dumb, really really dumb. Two things though. Cumberland has played what, 3 or 4 games? His first being as a late inclusion as sub and didn't get on the ground. He lacks experience so there is scope for him to learn. But the second thing is playing on from that mark. Even if it wasn't in the last seconds of a close game, he still should not have played on. He had a Freo player in front of him and another real close to his side. At any point in the game, even more so right at the end with scores level, the decision to play on was wrong and silly. Shows he needs to learn a bit more awareness. That said, he played well all night and we would not have been level with Freo had he not played. Plus, it is also worth noting that he marked that ball because he was well positioned in just enough space to get a pass. Cumberland created the option for a pass into our 50 in a very tight game. That is quality positioning and reading of the game. Just a pity he stuffed up the final part of the play. Cumberland is not an easy option, too small to be a key forward and too big to be a small forward. It is his ability to be in the right place at the right time which will get him a decent AFL career. He is a keeper and should play 100 games but it will always be hard work, definitely worth persisting with.
The umpires were hard to notice tonight and that's as it should be. That 50 against Jack was borderline, but if they pay that one there were a couple of others whey should also have paid. Only 32 frees given, the variance in the number of frees given per game is large this year, quite strange really. Some games they pay 45-50 frees, others around 30 or even less.
One other observation. In the fast paced pressured game we see these days I really don't get why teams don't have a goal keeper when the ball goes into their defence. The number of goals hurriedly kicked which go through at ground height or not much higher is plenty these days. Getting someone back on that last line when there is a ball up or throw in near goal would likely save a couple of goals a game at the least. I understand it is not easy to spare a player for this and you don't see many teams do it, but the potential to deny 2 or 3 goals a game is pretty significant.
DS
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Probably deserves to - his last 15 games have been gifted to him!
I have been out travelling today and just got home. I have not seen the match, nor have I read this thread, or any media reports. But I know the result ... or lack thereof.
One way of looking at things ... we just played a draw against a side now sitting in third place, and actually if they had won the match, they would right now be equal first (the peculiarities of mid-round ladders notwithstanding). You could argue that on paper that was our most meritorious result of the year (Geelong were fourth when we ran them to three points recently).
But I am about to sit down and watch it. Ouch!
One way of looking at things ... we just played a draw against a side now sitting in third place, and actually if they had won the match, they would right now be equal first (the peculiarities of mid-round ladders notwithstanding). You could argue that on paper that was our most meritorious result of the year (Geelong were fourth when we ran them to three points recently).
But I am about to sit down and watch it. Ouch!
We have definitely established that he can't play forward! Granted he shows glimpses, like the snap on goal but it is all a tease. The snap on goal was after a mark he should have swallowed. He has no feel for the game forward or back. His short kicking is always heart in mouth stuff (remember the calamatous short kick in the 2020 GF?). All in all he is a pretty limited player. He needs to be led to the ball (backman) and told to kick long down the line. In other words, Miller can do most of what Balta can do. Balta will have currency as a trade and if we want some GWS midfielders we are going to have to give up something - let someone else make him their project!
yep - anyone with footy nous would not do that! He was outmarked the firsth three times we went forward in the last quarter as well. I just don't think people realise just how hopeless he is as a forward and just how lacking in footy smarts.
He isn't that bad.
I agree he is another Richmond project player.
He looks like he started playing Aussie rules 2 weeks ago but you can't give up on someone so athletic.
Even if he plays back and ruck that's worth more then a midfielder from GWS.
Always remember Sam Taylor went 3 or 4 picks later.
He needs to go back and regain his confidence. He is dropping marks he would clunk normally.
Talk of trading players like Balta is crazy stuff
History shows with these types that we will still all be saying the same things in 2-3 years but by then he is worth nothing as a trade. He has been in the system long enough to be showing far more improvement than he is, (4th season)
Outmarked probably 5-6 times tonight.
Missed 3 guilt edged opportunities to score a goal (two set shots and one streaming out of the middle)
Hit on the back of the head three times when a team mate was handballing to him not once but twice!
One terrible short kick turnover! (Not on his own there, I admit).
So, in summary, he is that bad - he has regressed on 2020 form.
As an aside I have watched those last seconds again and there is no doubt the Freo player ran into the exclusion zone after Cumberland marked which means it really should have been a 50 metre penalty not a play on call.
Sounds like excuses, he shouldn’t have played on, but it should have been 50
Sounds like excuses, he shouldn’t have played on, but it should have been 50
