Walking away from the game last night, I was feeling the same mix of frustration and anger I'd felt on several occasions this year. Ghost of the Melbourne game. Shadows of the doggies. I was getting worked up wondering how many times I would make the walk down the yarra feeling cheated by a team who continues to promise so much and then give so little. Until I had a moment of crystallising perspective, in which I understood that good teams are allowed to be beaten by good teams. Almost every game comes away with a winner. The best teams are consistently at their best, and, with our level of experience, we are slightly below that. We were not atrocious last night, but we were not at our greatest, and West Coast is a quick scoring, efficient team that capitalised on that. They're dangerous, and we allowed them to be. Call it the bye, call it Dimma putting them to sleep with his addresses, something had us at one level of intensity and concentration less than the opponent at crucial times.
The one real and glaring issue that seemed obvious to me was the structure of our talls. I hate to say this, and it seems like heresy, but Maric is cooked.
Absolutely spent. I watched him, Vickery and Glimpses Griffiths very closely last night, and unless our midfield is having a midfield day, we will be ineffective with these three as our talls.
Maric is beyond slow. If he is not halving the ruck contest, he is an outright liability. I couldn't count how many times one of their midfielders, or even half backs, gathered the ball and just ran right past him. There was a painful contest on the wing, where Masten picked up the ball behind Maric, ran up to him, ran past him, and ran away. Maric did his lumbering best to chase, but within about 2 seconds realised he was no chance, and ended up zoning away somewhere else, and Masten ran literally unopposed. At least our other talls chase behind, so that there is some perceived pressure on the guy with the ball. Maric doesn't have the speed/energy, to even pretend to chase an opponent at the moment. It's a liability.
On top of that, I was watching Glimpses very closely when the ball went forward. I'm convinced he's never learnt how to lead. Maybe because he's been a backman/ruck throughout his learning years, but he has no idea what he's doing as a forward. He stands behind his opponent and waits. It's actually where his glimpses come from, because his hands and leap look great when we pop it on his opponents head, and he uses the back position to get a little run up and jump over them for the nice mark. But he never even offers a lead. Twice Jack marked if from 55 out, everyone knows he can't kick it that far, and Glimpses just stood in the goal square and watched. A little lead, and Jack will hit you. Deledio took literally three steps, and Jack put it in his hands.
Give the player with the ball half a chance.
Vickery actually played really well. Lead when required. Moved into dangerous space. Created and was composed and strong with ball in hand. Marked well around the ground.
Here's what I would do. Drop Maric. Play Glimpses as the number one ruck (he looks so much more dangerous and useful on the ball, and offers much more than Maric if the opponent gets the ball). Play Vickery as Ruck/forward. Play McBean out of the goal square, and Jack roaming.
That is still a three tall, top heavy forward line. The difference is that we go from a non mobile Maric, to a mobile Glimpses, a non-leading Glimpses to a leading McBean, and Vickery and Jack keep doing what they're doing.
Alternately, play McDonough as the medium forward he was recruited for in McBean's place.
If we keep Maric as ruck, the Griff has to go back to the reserves and learn to play as a forward. He doesn't kick bags, not because he hasn't got the ability, because he literally doesn't know how.
I'd love to see Griff/Vickery ruck and McBean forward. Give a chance for Glimpses to become the Griffin.
The one real and glaring issue that seemed obvious to me was the structure of our talls. I hate to say this, and it seems like heresy, but Maric is cooked.
Absolutely spent. I watched him, Vickery and Glimpses Griffiths very closely last night, and unless our midfield is having a midfield day, we will be ineffective with these three as our talls.
Maric is beyond slow. If he is not halving the ruck contest, he is an outright liability. I couldn't count how many times one of their midfielders, or even half backs, gathered the ball and just ran right past him. There was a painful contest on the wing, where Masten picked up the ball behind Maric, ran up to him, ran past him, and ran away. Maric did his lumbering best to chase, but within about 2 seconds realised he was no chance, and ended up zoning away somewhere else, and Masten ran literally unopposed. At least our other talls chase behind, so that there is some perceived pressure on the guy with the ball. Maric doesn't have the speed/energy, to even pretend to chase an opponent at the moment. It's a liability.
On top of that, I was watching Glimpses very closely when the ball went forward. I'm convinced he's never learnt how to lead. Maybe because he's been a backman/ruck throughout his learning years, but he has no idea what he's doing as a forward. He stands behind his opponent and waits. It's actually where his glimpses come from, because his hands and leap look great when we pop it on his opponents head, and he uses the back position to get a little run up and jump over them for the nice mark. But he never even offers a lead. Twice Jack marked if from 55 out, everyone knows he can't kick it that far, and Glimpses just stood in the goal square and watched. A little lead, and Jack will hit you. Deledio took literally three steps, and Jack put it in his hands.
Give the player with the ball half a chance.
Vickery actually played really well. Lead when required. Moved into dangerous space. Created and was composed and strong with ball in hand. Marked well around the ground.
Here's what I would do. Drop Maric. Play Glimpses as the number one ruck (he looks so much more dangerous and useful on the ball, and offers much more than Maric if the opponent gets the ball). Play Vickery as Ruck/forward. Play McBean out of the goal square, and Jack roaming.
That is still a three tall, top heavy forward line. The difference is that we go from a non mobile Maric, to a mobile Glimpses, a non-leading Glimpses to a leading McBean, and Vickery and Jack keep doing what they're doing.
Alternately, play McDonough as the medium forward he was recruited for in McBean's place.
If we keep Maric as ruck, the Griff has to go back to the reserves and learn to play as a forward. He doesn't kick bags, not because he hasn't got the ability, because he literally doesn't know how.
I'd love to see Griff/Vickery ruck and McBean forward. Give a chance for Glimpses to become the Griffin.
