3 things learned from Rd17 vs Collingwood 2023

[Critter]

1. Bailey Smith is a midfielder, pure and simple. Not a forward flanker and not a winger. He thrives on the cut and thrust, push and shove, both inside and outside. He is a gun player who we are mishandling. Core midfield is simple - Bont, Libba, Treloar, Smith & Macrae.

2. Pushing a forward up into the opposition back-line is counter-productive. Too often, when we have a fast entry into our forward line, we face an outnumber. The opposition get easy possession, quickly set-up of their transition game-plan and, whooska, there's a run-on we can't defend. On Friday I got very tired of watching Quaynor mark/short kick from Quaynor to Noble/fast kick from Noble to either Daicos and then... goodnight.

3. Our rucks are struggling. Time to make a call and give Lobb a rest. Don't care who he is, no-one should be able to play as poorly as he is and retain his place - 1 mark and 9 hit-outs doesn't the mustard. He provides next to no contest. Time to bring in Sweet and have him do the majority of the tap work. Have Tim play a different manner of game - a la Max Gawn. Play close to goal and provide better contest for any outnumbers that result when our forwards head off to greener pastures down back.

[The bulldog tragician]

I had more things that confused me rather than learnt:

I still don’t know whether we are able to match a premiership favourite or not. It is hard to know whether to take heart from the times we are scintillating or be concerned that we can’t sustain it. Collingwood’s best in quarter three looked like a level we can’t reach but it’s funny that the period where we were very dominant in q1 doesn’t leave the same impression.

I am not sure, either, what is our designated game plan, or what is players moving away from those directions under fatigue or pressure. We seemed initially to be playing more directly and taking more risks than we’ve seen this season. It was exhilarating and we reaped rewards. When Collingwood lifted we reverted to slow and cautious ball movement. (For what it’s worth Cameron Mooney has criticised us as unwatchable due to over possession of the footy and an ineffective handball to kick ratio). In the last qtr our courage and fight couldn’t be doubted but we couldn’t do what Collingwood do in their famous fight backs - storm through the middle and score heavily in minutes. In one passage of play that sticks in my mind when the game was still winnable one of our players handpassed to Bont who was just outside 50 but slipped over. The Pies were away of course. There were other examples of us still trying to laboriously set up a goal instead of getting it in there quickly. I wish I knew what the game plan were trying to implement is because Mooney, though not exactly a genius, had a point..we aren’t direct. Is this what Bevo wants ( a continuation of handball club) or our default game style?

I wish I knew what the Bailey Smith plan was. I don’t think he was as poor in recent weeks as was made out but he was down on the weekend which may be what happens when the media decide to helpfully query his mental health thereby creating a problem with his mental health. But please Woofers no talk of trading him! He’s a point of difference in a slow midfield and our future. I just don’t see how he’s developing OR contributing in his current role.

[Boots]

In one passage of play that sticks in my mind when the game was still winnable one of our players handpassed to Bont who was just outside 50 but slipped over. The Pies were away of course.

I clearly remember this and it really confused me. Why did Bont fall over at that moment? It seemd so unforced and bizarre. Our players often struggle to keep their feet but there was a lot of slipping and falling on Friday night when the pies seemed really sure-footed. Are we as clumsy as we feel?

Sometimes it seems to be failed tackles, sometimes it's a result of every mark being a pack mark. But sometimes we just... fall over. Is it positive identification error to say it happens more often to us than it does to other teams?

3. Our rucks are struggling. Time to make a call and give Lobb a rest. Don't care who he is, no-one should be able to play as poorly as he is and retain his place - 1 mark and 9 hit-outs doesn't the mustard. He provides next to no contest. Time to bring in Sweet and have him do the majority of the tap work. Have Tim play a different manner of game - a la Max Gawn. Play close to goal and provide better contest for any outnumbers that result when our forwards head off to greener pastures down back.

What is Lobb for? Why has this highly-paid and broadly capable player come to us and dropped off immediately? Why can't we figure out what to do with him, when we had such a clear reason to recruit him?

[bornadog]

I clearly remember this and it really confused me. Why did Bont fall over at that moment?

Even if he didn't slip, it was a poor pass (I think West) and it went way over his head. It was the wrong option to kick it to Bont anyhow.

[1eyedog]

Even if he didn't slip, it was a poor pass (I think West) and it went way over his head. It was the wrong option to kick it to Bont anyhow.

I thought it was the right option as Bont was free and it opened up the corridor it was just poorly executed. Even if he didn't slip it would have went way over his head.

I think Bont read the flight really quickly and what should have been a lace out pass on the chest turned into a 50/50 scramble. Lots of anxiety when you miss a target like that in the middle of the ground.

[Grantysghost]

Even if he didn't slip, it was a poor pass (I think West) and it went way over his head. It was the wrong option to kick it to Bont anyhow.

It's like goal kicking. Miss the target you aren't playing well.
Two parts.
Work yourself into good positions to execute.
Execute.

We aren't doing the second.

[azabob]

Even if he didn't slip, it was a poor pass (I think West) and it went way over his head. It was the wrong option to kick it to Bont anyhow.

Yep. This was right in front of me. Bont had to suddenly stop and prop and lost both his footing entirely.

[jeemak]

It's possibly an example of why we're conservative with the ball. Both times Bont fell over in the last, in the middle of the ground there was suspect aggressive decision making and poor execution, and both times it happened we got scored against immediately.

Why do we seem to fall over a lot? I think it's got to do with handballing behind the runner because of poor execution or a lack of confidence/ quick thinking in taking the option in the first place, kicking the footy on the head of the leading player and not in front of them.

We need our link players to be first touch/ one touch players who cleanly take the ball and quickly get it into the hands of the movers, and they just aren't quite up to that standard a lot of the time.

[Mantis]

I wish I knew what the Bailey Smith plan was. I don’t think he was as poor in recent weeks as was made out but he was down on the weekend which may be what happens when the media decide to helpfully query his mental health thereby creating a problem with his mental health. But please Woofers no talk of trading him! He’s a point of difference in a slow midfield and our future. I just don’t see how he’s developing OR contributing in his current role.

His 2 previous games he's had 19 touches against North which included 15 handballs and a total of 22m gained, WTF!... and then 16 touches against Freo when he was just ok in a convincing win.

He seems to be a little lost in the role he's playing, and could do with some more midfield minutes, like in the last qtr, but it's the same role he played in the 2021 finals series when he was brilliant, and he isn't helping his chances by his half-arsed efforts such as the poor chase against Hill.

As per other comments in other threads he's an extremely important player to us going forward, but this version of Bailey isn't helping us win games of footy and we need a circuit breaker.

[Boots]

It's possibly an example of why we're conservative with the ball. Both times Bont fell over in the last, in the middle of the ground there was suspect aggressive decision making and poor execution, and both times it happened we got scored against immediately.

Why do we seem to fall over a lot? I think it's got to do with handballing behind the runner because of poor execution or a lack of confidence/ quick thinking in taking the option in the first place, kicking the footy on the head of the leading player and not in front of them.

We need our link players to be first touch/ one touch players who cleanly take the ball and quickly get it into the hands of the movers, and they just aren't quite up to that standard a lot of the time.

I think my all-time favourite thing about this website is how often I learn things when people reply to my posts.