Not worried but worried?

[mjp]

Watching the game last night, was anyone else worried that as the game drew to a conclusion:

1/. Murphy was our best option to go back and cover number 4 (the fat short bloke who belted Caleb).
2/. Murphy was the one who best seemed to understand we needed to RUN with the ball and not just blaze away...'cos when we just booted it forward that Hayne bloke just dropped off Dunkley and marked it.

Not worried about the outcome and I am convinced the umpires dudded us on 2x 50m penalties (John Patton says thanks) during the last 20 minutes, but the seeming reluctance of many players to take the initiative was bewildering.

I am talking about Bailey Williams bizarre 'non-effort' on the half back line when he seemed to do everything possible to avoid running through the line of a loose ball...eventually the opposition arrived and he was caught holding the ball. Talking about Dunkley's equally bizarre shot on goal after Murphy's run. Talking about a couple of Picken and Toby's completely un-adventurous i50 entries when they just threw the ball on the boot...the list goes on.

The last quarter was so frustrating and just filled with dumb play - Boyd missing, Morris missing, Libber on the bench obviously didn't help - but there just seemed to be an absence of cool heads who understood the situation and knew what to do (which wasn't blast the ball straight into an out-numbered forward line).

[comrade]

Williams has played a handful of games and will learn with experience. He's proven at VFL level that he's very capable of running the lines and making deliberate decisions with the ball. I'm not concerned with him at all.

Murphy is our most experienced player so no surprise he was given the job on Greene. If Morris was there, he would have probably done it. We do need to develop a small back that can lock down on the opposition's best small forward. Biggs is ok at it but can put in the occasional shocker.

I hated the kick to 30m out over and over. If Travis Cloke was there, fine. But he wasn't and we kept doing it.

But we kept them to 75 points and they needed to kick 2 absolute clutch goals in the last to beat us. We generated 8 more scoring shots.

We still have our best ruckman (Rough) best defender (Morris), AA half back (Boyd), 40+ goal kicking dead eye dick (Dickson), gut running mid sized forward (Crameri), a solid key forward (Cloke) and quality inside mid (Wallis) to come back in. Replace Dale, Williams, Cordy, Jong, Smith & Dunkley with that group and I'm sure we win comfortably.

In fact, keep Libba on the field and we probably find a way to squeak out an extra goal to win. We looked gassed late and used less than 80 rotations. That big fat thug dropping Libba on his head had huge consequences.

[Sedat]

The last quarter was so frustrating and just filled with dumb play - Boyd missing, Morris missing, Libber on the bench obviously didn't help - but there just seemed to be an absence of cool heads who understood the situation and knew what to do (which wasn't blast the ball straight into an out-numbered forward line).

Our F50 delivery in the last qtr reminded me of being a Dogs supporter from when I was born up to 2015, but it appears to be a deliberate tactic as we have been blazing away with long kicks to the forward 50 all this season. I don't mind quick delivery when there is an open forward line and a 1-on-1 contest, but when the opposition have extra numbers back and we don't have a big target up forward it is rather dumb. Last night it was dumb - we needed to run and carry and spot up the shorter options.

[Rocco Jones]

Agree with a lot of what mjp said in the OP but Cloke, Redpath, Roughy/Campbell freeing up Tom Boyd, Crameri and Dickson will make a massive difference. Even Mitch is strong in a contest up forward. Morris can also free Adams or a defender to play forward. Our tall forward/target stocks are ridiculously depleted.

[always right]

No-one never tinning the slippery conditions last night. Though it had a big impact on the quality of our ball delivery inside 50.

[mjp]

Didn't seem to impact the Giants on the little 1-2-3 that led to the Patton goal from the boundary...

[comrade]

Agree with a lot of what mjp said in the OP but Cloke, Redpath, Roughy/Campbell freeing up Tom Boyd, Crameri and Dickson will make a massive difference. Even Mitch is strong in a contest up forward. Morris can also free Adams or a defender to play forward. Our tall forward/target stocks are ridiculously depleted.

Losing Roughy, Cloke and Crameri (plus Morris which fees up Adams) is kind of ridiculous.

[jeemak]

I thought the tactic of getting it to 30 meters out worked for 2-3 quarters but the Giants adjusted. We should have changed tact in the last.

[Go_Dogs]

I thought the tactic of getting it to 30 meters out worked for 2-3 quarters but the Giants adjusted. We should have changed tact in the last.

Yes, create the spill, win the ground ball, kick the goal.

We created the opportunities in the last, just didn't execute them.

[jeemak]

Nor did we kick enough goals in 2-3 quarters when it was working well.

[comrade]

Nor did we kick enough goals in 2-3 quarters when it was working well.

Yep, had we converted in the 2nd like you would expect a professional team to do, we'd be 3-4 goals up and in a position to choke the life out of the game.

[boydogs]

Didn't seem to impact the Giants on the little 1-2-3 that led to the Patton goal from the boundary...

They didn't have two players on the bench after being belted in the head

Dirty, dirty team that knew we had their measure and systematically took us out to steal a win

[bornadog]

Williams and Dunkley are 19 and 20 years old, so not too worried there. I was concerned JJ disappeared after half time and gave us no run and carry, and as the OP says, Murphy had to shoulder the load. We should have been better in the last 5 minutes and tried to find a forward target.

[Remi Moses]

We just weren't far enough ahead at half time when we should have been .
Agree on the bombing after half time . We need a hit up

[Remi Moses]

On the wood 50 metre penalty . Why on earth does the umpire have to tell a player to move on ?
Why not just call play on ?