Agree our defence did well considering the ease at which it came in but disagree about the fwd line. Jack and Tom together just make us tooo slow. Need that medium target that Caddy played so well
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Rich V Carl - Match Day Thread
- Thread starter AstuteTiger
- Start date
That guy is making no sense. Agree I thought Gibcus was solid on debut.
Lets be clear here, we lost for 2 reasons and 2 alone. Our midfield once Prestia went over were absolutely annihilated, and 2 our lack of discipline.
What did we give away, 10 50m penalties? The only 1 I think might not have been right was the one that was given to Hewitt, looks like free could have gone either way, and our player (Graham?) didn't hear which way it was. The others were abysmal, missing a kick back to them by 10m, talking back to the umps, Graham running in front of Cerra for the double 50. We gave away 500m from 50m penalties, thats nowhere near good enough and needs to be addressed. At least 7 or 8 of them led directly to kicks for goal for the Blues.
Onto the midfield, I think at quarter time we had more disposals and were up on contested possessions by around 8. We lost contested possessions by 21, so we lost the last 3 quarters by nearly 30!! Thats abysmal, and directly why we lost the clearances by 18.
Which brings me to Dusty. We were 3 goals down in the 4th (just gone 3 down and they'd kicked I think 6 in a row) and Dusty was on the edge of our F50. Sorry, but thats not good enough. We were getting smashed in clearances and conceding goal after goal and we need someone to wrestle momentum back, and thats when we needed Dusty in the centre clearance.
Balta starting back was a soft decision by Dimma and the wrong one.
I said before the game, if we matched the Blues in the middle we would beat them inside the arcs. I reckon we probably won the battle inside both arcs but were smashed between them. I mean if someone had come to us before the game and said that Lynch and Jack would kick 3 to McKay and Curnows 1, then we'd be happy and most likely would expect to win. The amount of goals they kicked from the midfield (a lot due to the above 50m penalties) was what killed us.
BTW - Aarts needs to go back in the no, no, no, no pile. He tries hard, but he doesn't win a lot of the ball, has no spatial awareness and isn't a great kick (apart from when kicking for goal). I cannot fathom that if Kmac were fit we would have played Aarts in place of Pickett who was in our top 2 (along with Shai).
Rubbish he played 3rd tall at times and was on Curnow for the rest who has absolutely zero influence on the game. Its dumb to argue this point against playing him. Had it been Brown, he would have played the exact same role as Gibcus so not sure why you think he should be there. At the end of the day Gibcus was essentially in instead of Vlastuin.
Sonsie wouldn't be replacing Vlastuin in the team. I'd have him in instead of Aarts though. Aarts will not take us forward, so lets play someone who might, don't care who it is, whether its RCD, Dow or Sonsie but 1 of them has to come in for Aarts (and probably 1 other in to replace Prestia).
I reckon it was only 1 or 2. He wasn't there when the kicked the first 3 goals in the last quarter from stoppages.
Baker, Edwards and Cotchin barely fired a shot tonight. Baker was good in the first quarter but not sure he's ready for midfield responsibilities yet, much better as a back/forward flank type. Jack Graham had some good moments but also some super irritating lack of discipline.
I thought playing Soldo and Nank was the missing ingredient last year but I'm not so sure about that now.
Mind you, it's only round one and there's still plenty of time to improve throughout the season. Hope Prestia isn't out for too long though, we need him badly.
I think the stat that Dimma needs to put on the board and embarrass a few is the contested possession numbers by each player.
The fact that Prestia is 5th on that list and barely played more than 5-10 into the 2nd quarter is an embarrassment.
The fact that Prestia is 5th on that list and barely played more than 5-10 into the 2nd quarter is an embarrassment.
agree on Aarts, but more so Ross IMO, offers nothing. Looks OK I suppose when he gets the ball in space, runs, not fast, and maybe takes a bounce and kicks to a teamate. Thats it. Its not much to hang your hat on.
Cerra got into guineas book of records tonight.
5 free kicks, all paid for in the back.
I counted at least 3 our players should've got but zilch from the umpires.
I never notice Cerra had a foldable spine playing for Freo
5 free kicks, all paid for in the back.
I counted at least 3 our players should've got but zilch from the umpires.
I never notice Cerra had a foldable spine playing for Freo
I reckon 90% of them wouldn't give a toss.
Has Hardwick got the balls to drop Cotchin?
Graham? Edwards??
My son was better at half time in the aus kick
Wow. That was ugly. We have some problems. Midfield is numero uno among them. God help us when we play a team with a really good midfield; like Melbourne. Can't recall a worse drubbing than that; the last quarter was embarrassing. It was like we had 4 witches hats at every centre bounce.
We looked old and slow. We also looked unskilled. It was just more of what we saw in the second half of 2021. Too many butchers of the ball. We also look like we lost the desire; our pressure was non existent and our tackling pathetic. We lacked intensity all night and our discipline was horrible. It's sometimes hard to tell at the ground but I don't recall any of the 50m penalties not being there; we only have ourselves to blame.
I am so concerned for our midfield. Have been since mid last year. The warriors that brought us 3 glorious flags are old and looking old. Prestia can't stay on the park, Dusty looks mortal. But we failed to address this at the draft last year. 5 picks under 30 and only Sonsie, maybe, a genuine mid. It wouldn't have helped tonight or even this year but it shows that we haven't recognised that we have an issue in this most crucial part of the ground. I'm far from convinced on the likes of Dow, RCD, Ross, Martyn etc. Aarts in the midfield? C'mon Dimma
The only real positive for me was Marlion; clearly best for us. And he seemed the only one tonight that could stick a tackle and hurt the opposition. Not sure why so many are down on Gibcus. Thought he did okay in backline that was under siege due to a midfield mauling.
We looked old and slow. We also looked unskilled. It was just more of what we saw in the second half of 2021. Too many butchers of the ball. We also look like we lost the desire; our pressure was non existent and our tackling pathetic. We lacked intensity all night and our discipline was horrible. It's sometimes hard to tell at the ground but I don't recall any of the 50m penalties not being there; we only have ourselves to blame.
I am so concerned for our midfield. Have been since mid last year. The warriors that brought us 3 glorious flags are old and looking old. Prestia can't stay on the park, Dusty looks mortal. But we failed to address this at the draft last year. 5 picks under 30 and only Sonsie, maybe, a genuine mid. It wouldn't have helped tonight or even this year but it shows that we haven't recognised that we have an issue in this most crucial part of the ground. I'm far from convinced on the likes of Dow, RCD, Ross, Martyn etc. Aarts in the midfield? C'mon Dimma
The only real positive for me was Marlion; clearly best for us. And he seemed the only one tonight that could stick a tackle and hurt the opposition. Not sure why so many are down on Gibcus. Thought he did okay in backline that was under siege due to a midfield mauling.
Great summary & share the view on the midfield. Personally I’d give Ross & Sonsie a go in there.Wow. That was ugly. We have some problems. Midfield is numero uno among them. God help us when we play a team with a really good midfield; like Melbourne. Can't recall a worse drubbing than that; the last quarter was embarrassing. It was like we had 4 witches hats at every centre bounce.
We looked old and slow. We also looked unskilled. It was just more of what we saw in the second half of 2021. Too many butchers of the ball. We also look like we lost the desire; our pressure was non existent and our tackling pathetic. We lacked intensity all night and our discipline was horrible. It's sometimes hard to tell at the ground but I don't recall any of the 50m penalties not being there; we only have ourselves to blame.
I am so concerned for our midfield. Have been since mid last year. The warriors that brought us 3 glorious flags are old and looking old. Prestia can't stay on the park, Dusty looks mortal. But we failed to address this at the draft last year. 5 picks under 30 and only Sonsie, maybe, a genuine mid. It wouldn't have helped tonight or even this year but it shows that we haven't recognised that we have an issue in this most crucial part of the ground. I'm far from convinced on the likes of Dow, RCD, Ross, Martyn etc. Aarts in the midfield? C'mon Dimma
The only real positive for me was Marlion; clearly best for us. And he seemed the only one tonight that could stick a tackle and hurt the opposition. Not sure why so many are down on Gibcus. Thought he did okay in backline that was under siege due to a midfield mauling.
Great game by Pickett. Looked dangerous & ran well all night.
The game swung massively obviously when Prestia got hurt however Dimma dropped the ball IMO.
Graham clearly under done. Should have given young hungry mids the opportunity.
Ross to the inside midfield ASAP. He's a contested ball player. Look forward. Not at names.
Balta up front for the rest of the season as per planning. Maybe at JR's expense.
Gibcus looked better when given responsibility.
The future's coming fast.
Graham clearly under done. Should have given young hungry mids the opportunity.
Ross to the inside midfield ASAP. He's a contested ball player. Look forward. Not at names.
Balta up front for the rest of the season as per planning. Maybe at JR's expense.
Gibcus looked better when given responsibility.
The future's coming fast.
Absolutely. Of all the issues we have - age, pace, structure, skills, midfield or whatever - our deplorable last in the comp inability to win contested possessions and clearances is our biggest problem. Half of the other issues become less relevant then if you’re getting first possession.
We have too many guys sitting back looking for a handball or waiting to make a tackle on an opponent who’s got first hands on it, that we get totally smashed at stoppages and clearances. It’s embarrassing. We got touched up by an average team tonight, simply because they got first hands on it more.
It’s time for this group to toughen up a bit and bring some more intensity, attack on the ball and pressure on the opponent in contested clearance situations.
Ross turned it over like it was his job. He’s got skill but no decision making, and you can’t teach it. He’s done. Arts is a VFL footy player filling a role because we don’t have anyone else, so I don’t blame him.
When we’re getting a centre clearance smashing like in the last 1/4 tonight, why not throw Balta in as a big bodied mid, even Castagna, just to give it a different look?
We just stayed with the same rotations almost to the end when Pickett went in. Surely you try everything when it goes pear shape.
We just stayed with the same rotations almost to the end when Pickett went in. Surely you try everything when it goes pear shape.
Maybe, but they were not the reason we lost - it was our poor performing midfield in that last quarter. (In fact the whole game)
I can't believe we didn't at least try Balta in the ruck when it was going to *smile*. Good things happen when he goes in there. Soldo was useless
