Please list the 3 things learned from our R4 encounter against Geelong
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Please list the 3 things learned from our R4 encounter against Geelong
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1. As heartbreaking losses go, this is one of the more pleasant ones. I feel we can build off this one.
2. Buku is still raw, but he's also now got some elite traits as well.
3. West will play every game this season. It's taken a long time, but he's almost an established best 22 now.
1. West's transformation into Clay Smith mk2 is complete.
2. We can match it with the best, but we need to find a way to win. Geelong controlled the corridor tonight which meant we had to fight a lot harder to make the same gains.
3. Sometimes you can play well and still lose. Football sucks like that.
1. I think having Garcia as sub would have made a difference tonight. In and under at the contest and would have given us some more run when we needed it at the end.
2. Naughton needs to play like he did on the last 10 minutes for the entire game. He makes such a difference when he does.
3. Buku is improving but still needs to learn to play on key position players. Henry and Cameron were able to turn him inside out on a few occasions but he still backed himself.
1. Sam Darcy with an extra 8kg will be a force in the AFL.
2. Tom Liberatore is so amazingly strong in the clinches he could win a greco-roman gold in Paris.
3. Chris Scott's barber should be de-registered.
Maybe, but I actually thought it was a great chance for Macrae to step up and show he still belongs in the CB's... he got the opportunity, and he was largely ineffectual. I worry for Jack. He's been amazing, but it does look like he's got some work to do to find a new role or a new club I feel.
Jack was never going to put any pace on the game unfortunately. Garcia with his bash and crash at stoppages and pace on the spread would have been handy in the last.
Like you i think the game has just so quick that guys like Macrae and Daniel will struggle to play every game. Could be horses for courses roles.
1. We need to forget about past reputations. Daniel should be in the VFL and Macrae has his challenges.
2. Some of the young pups continue to show signs. Gallagher, Darcy, Sanders and to a lesser extent Khamis. Need to keep blooding new talent.
3. Dale needs a new position. He can't defend and his rebound game isn't what it used to be. Wing or half forward for me.
I kind of feel like another thing I've learned is that we don't necessarily need to be tall down back to play well against tall forward lines. We just need to be confident we limit their access to speedy football.
1, No Liam Jones and we would be stuffed.
2. Finally learnt we don't just lie down and take it.
3. We had 9 players with less than 50 games - is this a new mini rebuild?
1 - We are far fitter than 12 months back.
2 - Geelong are better than I thought
3 - Liam Jones is critical to the teams success, I sort of knew that but tonight's effort confirmed it.
1/ Hack kicks out of the clearance will be the death of me.
2/ We still have too players who get lost in (defensive) transition and our defenders can?t deal with clean ball.
3/ We have several players on long term contracts who are/ look cooked. I guess contracts aren?t worth as much these days, but we are going to have to pay most of their wages if we move them on and lots of money being spent for little return.
1. A flattering scoreline earnt through individual brilliance which masks being beaten by all the old problems with our team system. Tonight was the test for me on whether we?ve addressed the issues and we failed.
2. Our players outplayed them, their coaching system out coached us
3. The score review/Stengel goal would be labelled ?the difference? if it happened to the pies or tigers - doubt we?ll hear much at all about it this week
1. I already knew Libba was a beast, but that was something else. Just incredible.
2. The AFL fantasy system undervalues Intercept marks. Neither Buku nor Jones topped 50 points yet they were absolutely immense.
3. Bring that effort and endeavour next week and we flatten Essendon.
Bonus Geelong edition: Gryan Miers doesn't waste a kick and his gut running is Bailey Smith level.
1. The gap in footy iq between us and the best teams hasn't closed. Dumb decisions cost us constantly.
2. The father son gods really are smiling on us. Has Bont produced an heir yet?
3. Geelong play a low energy dependable brand, same as Melbourne. They all buy in they all play their role and they invariably have success.
If the Cats had the output from their stars we had I think they would have won comfortably.
1. 8 point game which will come back to bite us later in the season. If you think the real difference was only a few points you're kidding yourselves. It was a Geelong game for most of the night. They were effortless moving the ball forward while we scrapped and fought. Our endeavour was good but our skills were actually pretty terrible.
2. Naughton has been running around like a headless chook since 2022.
3. We leaked at least 5 goals because we could not / did not secure the ball in a contest. Duryea and Williams are the only two players who consistently do this well most of our players just panic, Libba being the exception. Concerning that our best medium defender is 33 in a few weeks. Duryea has been outstanding.
Agree with your first 2 points but not the 3rd - Collingwood still haven't shut up about Wayne Harmes 45 years ago and Anthony Rocca in 2002, nor Richmond about Tom Lynch review against Brisbane a couple of years ago.
It was sobering to once again see us get absolute maximum output from our top end players but still always look off the pace last night against a methodical, professional, much more even outfit. I do think we are closing the gap against the very best though, and have made strides in changing our game plan both when we have the ball and when we don't - we lose that game by 5+ goals in 2022-2023. We are still prone to hack kicking it out of a stoppage - our clearance numbers are skewed because they are generally dirty clearances that the best teams structure up behind the ball to intercept, whereas the opposition get very clean and dangerous looks from their clearances against us (no better example that 2021 GF, but insert about a dozen games since then).
We are definitely growing our intercept marking game - there is a shift. But we are still behind the likes of Geelong and Melbourne who have a very well-established and robust defensive intercept game.
I suspect we are itching to get the likes of JOD and Freijah into the senior team as soon as they are bashing the door down. Ditto Arty and Clarke in the front half.
Re the goal review. It was wrong (couldn't tell for sure).
Williams also shoved Blicavs in the back for our last goal so there's no point worrying about umpires. It evens out.
1. It is possible for Tom Stewart to not be best on ground.
2. See 1
3. See 2
I'm surprised we haven't tried this already. He has been treading water across half back for a while. He does seem to have all the attributes to be a good wingman skill wise but does he have the tank? It would be a similar role as how he plays off half back but with more connection with our forwards. I like it
Sam Darcy is ready to improve our side.
Rhylee West is ready to improve our side.
Harvey Gallagher is ready to improve our side.
Ryley Sanders is ready to improve our side.
Moreover, Sanders and West have similar builds, strong short legs and big hips, great for balance and changing direction a la Leigh Matthews and good for breaking and landing tackles and negotiating traffic.
Buku too will improve us now.
Backed his judgement against the best marking forward line and won with Liam.
I'd use Buku as a swing man, great goal kicker too but we won't.
Naughton was ok but can do a lot better.
Naughton's such a fearsome athlete but after seven years in the system might still well be the most agricultural footballer in the comp.
Unless he's taught better forward craft and prepared to work smarter not harder to evolve his game we're basically looking at the finished product which makes me worry we're overpaying for a decoy forward with one trick who's too easily curbed.
We need more impact, more regularly beyond laying the odd tackle.
1. Hopefully Liam Jones has another 6 years in him like Lobb.
2. Too many passengers, our depth is supposed to be good now, but is it really? Do we get enough out of our bottom 6? and if not, do the next best 6 knocking the door down make that difference?
3. Weightman and West are good small forwards, but we still need a sneaky crumbing type and we have one developing, i've been against playing Charlie until he's really ready and banging the door down like Darcy did, like Garcia is and like Lobb is doing but perhaps it's time to unleash the little beast and give us a spark up forward.
1. I can't help but feel we contributed to this loss at team selection. Cameron roamed free, up hill and down dale, while his nominal opponent stayed back to play the interceptor role. When the opposition has a gun key forward such as Cameron, we need to respect his ability and assign a defender to stand him. JOD should have been selected with the brief to run with Cameron all day and negate him as best he could.
Buku is an interceptor. His ground skills and tackling skills are very shaky, particularly the latter. That telling free kick he gave away demonstrates this. He's a third-tall defender, no more.
Better yet, why not play Naughton where he belongs? At CHB. Leave JUH as the main lead-up forward and have a mix of Darcy, English & Lobb share the ruck and deep forward role. (It would have been nice to have Lobb to relieve Tim when Stanley once again took him to school and had the Cats midfielders exiting from the front of the centre bounce.)
2. Our entry into the forward line isn't improving. Too many long, loopy kicks to clusters of players. We now have a kicking coach, how about we get a forward coach who understands leading patterns and forward structure. Let's train leading patterns, creating space, feinting and kicking hard and low to dangerous positions. How about we aim to kick 3 or 4 four straight forward simple goals per game.
3. A defence strategy that includes abandoning your structure to allow defenders to push up deep, regardless of the positioning of their opponent, is fraught with risk. If there is a turnover, the opposition forwards have a clear path to goal. And if one of them is Gryan Miers you will pay. We did.
I cannot wait for the game where westy puts a show on for all 4 quarters. It?s coming - he is so smart.
Loved the note about his brother Levi looking like a good player for his age. The idea of 2 west boys mirroring the Daicos boys is an exciting prospect - albeit it entirely speculative at this stage