2019 JLT Series - Match 1 Gold Coast Suns V Western Bulldogs

[Remi Moses]

Gold Coast comfortably beat Brisbane last week . I think I’ll save the wrist slashing until the actual season

[whythelongface]

An ok hit out. Not too phased by the result, however our delivery into the forward line still needs serious addressing. Tending to still bomb it long into the forward line. When we did lower the eyes and there were forwards leading for the ball we looked good eg. Daniel to Gowers and Lloyd to Wallis (?).

Sometimes i get the feeling that by getting our hands on the pill and dominating possession is one of our weak points as the opposition clogs up our forward space and rebounds quickly to open space. We are generally really good on the rebound and using space to our advantage, thus maybe this is a tactic that we should employ. The issue then is letting the opposition win clearances and relying on our defence to intercept - a risky strategy.

Back on the game I was impressed with Naughton, Daniel and Lloyd. Macrae and Hunter, as always, get their hands on the pill - would like to see them deliver quickly into the forward line to a solid lead. English took a couple of grabs that i was impressed with - backing into the pack as well as leading - lots to work on but showed good signs.

[Nuggety Back Pocket]

Judging on what we witnessed yesterday you begin to question the logic of recruiting borderline players in Suckling Gowers Lloyd and Duryrea from other AFL Clubs. Of the new players Hayes impressed the most with his ability to find space to win the ball. Naughton and Daniel were obvious stand outs in defence. Macrae has been clearly our best player over the past 3 seasons and remains so. The forward line apart from Wallis remains a disaster with little signs of improving. It was heartening to see the return of Liberatore in a good performance in an otherwise lack lustre effort. Dunkley’s poor disposal as a midfielder would suggest he might be better suited up forward where he has done well in the past. We need the infusion of JJ Bailey Williams and Smith into the line up plus Schache who remains our single one white hope as a key forward.

[Greystache]

Watched on delay, I'll forget it and move on. Nothing to get excited about from that.

- Skills were worse than last season, which doesn't seem possible. I'll write it off due to the conditions and move on.

- Goal kicking worse again, which isn't possible. I'll blame the age of the players and move on.

- No forward structure again. I'll blame the early stage of the year and move on.

- Continued to blindly bomb long into the forward line to the disadvantage of the forwards. I'll write it off as some cutting edge new strategy that just looked the same as the past 2 years.

Some positives were Naughton looked great (although his foot skills are a major concern especially with our development program). Libba was hard at it. Macrae continued where he left off. Daniel was pretty effective. The game was shorter than a regular season match.

[hujsh]

Watched on delay, I'll forget it and move on. Nothing to get excited about from that.

- Skills were worse than last season, which doesn't seem possible. I'll write it off due to the conditions and move on.

- Goal kicking worse again, which isn't possible. I'll blame the age of the players and move on.

- No forward structure again. I'll blame the early stage of the year and move on.

- Continued to blindly bomb long into the forward line to the disadvantage of the forwards. I'll write it off as some cutting edge new strategy that just looked the same as the past 2 years.

Some positives were Naughton looked great (although his foot skills are a major concern especially with our development program). Libba was hard at it. Macrae continued where he left off. Daniel was pretty effective. The game was shorter than a regular season match.

God it didn't feel like it.

Honestly I got bored in the 3rd quarter and found something else to do before finishing it off like a plate of bad leftovers later.

[Smads57]

Just at the airport and players have come thru check in and everyone is looking healthy (ie. no-one wearing heavy dressings). All players but Libba headed to Loung area whereas he went straight to the bookshop and got himself a book to read - diff cat for sure.

[Mantis]

Watched on delay, I'll forget it and move on. Nothing to get excited about from that.

- Skills were worse than last season, which doesn't seem possible. I'll write it off due to the conditions and move on.

- Goal kicking worse again, which isn't possible. I'll blame the age of the players and move on.

- No forward structure again. I'll blame the early stage of the year and move on.

- Continued to blindly bomb long into the forward line to the disadvantage of the forwards. I'll write it off as some cutting edge new strategy that just looked the same as the past 2 years.

Some positives were Naughton looked great (although his foot skills are a major concern especially with our development program). Libba was hard at it. Macrae continued where he left off. Daniel was pretty effective. The game was shorter than a regular season match.

Very pragmatic thoughts GS.... with just a touch of sarcasm included.

Bevo in his presser explained that we got what we wanted out of the game, which was a hit-out against another team, a look at some new players and some conditioning into the players.. which is setting the bar pretty low, but given the line of questioning from the work experience journo there wasn't much more asked of him which was a shame.

What we didn't see was any connection from defence to attack through over-use of the ball, poor skills and horrible offensive structures.. I was really looking forward to seeing what we had been working on given we've been hidden away for 4 months, but on that I have NFI what changes we've made.

A long way to go, but if that performance is anything to go by it looks like it's going to be another incredibly frustrating year ahead.

[bornadog]

We didn't lose anything, it was a training run, a practise match.

Can't wait for round 1

[Mofra]

Judging on what we witnessed yesterday you begin to question the logic of recruiting borderline players in Suckling Gowers Lloyd and Duryrea from other AFL Clubs.

I must be very different, but I saw real positives in all of those players.

- Gowers demands the ball, has swaagger (we desperately lack it) and topped our goalkicking last year
- Suckling finished last year one of our better players and his left peg is still a weapon
- Lloyd was probably our best inside 50 ball user. Instantly best 22 for mine
- Duryea a significant upgrade on Roarke. I though he was ok.

Then again I have serious concerns over Hayes' kicking even accounting for those conditions. I want to see him again under dryer conditions to see if his kicking is going to limit his effectiveness.

[Mantis]

Was anyone else surprised by our centre bounce attendees/ set-ups?

I haven't referenced checked these numbers so take them on face-value, but sourced from twitter our CBA's were:

Macrae - 21
Libba - 15
Bont - 14
Wallis - 12
Dunkley & McLean - 6
Smith - 1

It would be interesting to see how effetcive we were with each grouping.

[Axe Man]

Was anyone else surprised by our centre bounce attendees/ set-ups?

I haven't referenced checked these numbers so take them on face-value, but sourced from twitter our CBA's were:

Macrae - 21
Libba - 15
Bont - 14
Wallis - 12
Dunkley & McLean - 6
Smith - 1

It would be interesting to see how effetcive we were with each grouping.

Wallis more than expected in place of Dunkley and McLean.

[Mantis]

Wallis more than expected in place of Dunkley and McLean.

Yep was extremely surprised to see Wallis given first crack given how ineffective he was as a mid last year, and how effective he became as a forward.

I also think Macrae is a little high too... going to be interesting to see how this plays out because we really need to win the centre bounce clearances to give our forwards first look.

[Axe Man]

Yep was extremely surprised to see Wallis given first crack given how ineffective he was as a mid last year, and how effective he became as a forward.

I also think Macrae is a little high too... going to be interesting to see how this plays out because we really need to win the centre bounce clearances to give our forwards first look.

I wonder if Wallis will take centre bounces but then drift forward? He's good in close but not as effective on the spread. Then say a Dunkley or McLean drift up from the forward line into the midfield. Also keeps defenders guessing.

I think our A team is Bont, Libba & Macrae, but they can't take every bounce.

[Greystache]

Yep was extremely surprised to see Wallis given first crack given how ineffective he was as a mid last year, and how effective he became as a forward.

And he was also easily the most effective forward on the day. He has the ability to win a contest forward, and given the way we bring the ball into the forward 50, a contest is the best result we can hope for. I'd prefer him to play as little time in the midfield as we can afford with rotations.

Why we have him attending so many centre clearances instead of playing forward, and have Dunkley playing forward and attending so few centre clearances is a mystery that may never be explained.

[Mofra]

And he was also easily the most effective forward on the day. He has the ability to win a contest forward, and given the way we bring the ball into the forward 50, a contest is the best result we can hope for. I'd prefer him to play as little time in the midfield as we can afford with rotations.

He was also one of our most effective forwards in the second half of last year. I was mystified when he continually went into the centre in the first term.

I really though we'd get a look at our 'best' forward set up in JLT 1 but I don't see our best set up excluding both Schache and Dickson.