WB Game Day V Collingwood R1 2020

[Rocket Science]

On one hand, in the current moment it feels trite and indulgent to moan about a compromised game of footy.

On the other hand that ranks amongst the bleakest, most piss-weak outings I've watched us trot out this century.

A game plan that hinges on our midfield dictating terms isn't much chop when that midfield doesn't bother turning up. There are so many untried, un-proven holes at either end that frankly can't cope when the game's not played on our terms. Great formula.

Collingwood chopped us up tonight and did it easily. Whether they're up to it or not there's little point potting Gardner, Cavarra, Dale and co. when our prime movers can't get a sniff and our coaching panel can't adjust because the structure and/or personnel are sub-par.

Granted Collingwood are decent opposition but all that pre-season fluffing we were treated to felt a bit wrong and undeserved throughout, and tonight vindicates that instinct.

Shit-house.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

I am looking forward to reading MJP's take in the next day or so.
He usually makes me want to delete my posts following each game.
Tonight is no different! Come on down Mike!

[Mantis]

I am looking forward to reading MJP's take in the next day or so.
He usually makes me want to delete my posts following each game.
Tonight is no different! Come on down Mike!

You can’t defend the indefensible... that was a woeful performance by both the MC & players. If Mike can paint a positive from that train wreck then I’ll be amazed. We picked a poorly structured team, set-up even worse and our players played bruise-free footy and made woeful mistakes in both decision making & skill execution.

The club have said all the right things in the lead up to the game and then serve that up... embarrassing!

[SonofScray]

‪It won't matter in the grand scheme of things due to #covid19 but the season is already shot. You can't expect to contend if within us, there is capacity for such putrid performances. Season shot. Months of meaningless footy ahead. ‬

2017 we shot ourselves in the foot. 2018 the season was shot within the first 6 quarters of footy played. Last year wasn't far removed but for a late spike in form staving of the malaise. All the wind has been taken out of my sails at this point after last night.

[chef]

Just looked like we didnt want to be out there.

[Pickenitup]

I’m really disappointed how we played last night, but this year is a season like no other and I doubt we will finish the year onwards and upwards to Season 2021.

[GVGjr]

You can’t defend the indefensible... that was a woeful performance by both the MC & players. If Mike can paint a positive from that train wreck then I’ll be amazed. We picked a poorly structured team, set-up even worse and our players played bruise-free footy and made woeful mistakes in both decision making & skill execution.

The club have said all the right things in the lead up to the game and then serve that up... embarrassing!

With the shorter season we can't wait for the MC to get the selections right and with shorter quarters we can't give up starts like we did last night. We have plenty of work to before the next match but the one thing more than anything that needs to be addressed is the effort the players must bring and I'm not sure why that is a somewhat consistent theme for us.
I often read about the age and experience profile of the list we put onto the ground to explain our losses but last night is proof that it's nowhere near as important as the effort the players bring to the contest.

[CarnTheScray]

What a shocking performance. At least 5 of those players out there last night wouldn't be in my AFL side. This game has managed to be the one that breaks my father after 60 years. He's cancelled his membership for the first time in his history of supporting the club. Who can blame him.

[soupman]

It's usually hard to judge selection when the putrid effort your team puts in renders any plan useless, but all the same like everyone I think there were quite a few things wrong with how we setup.

I don't necessarily think we went in too tall, the shorter quarter mean you need less running power and I assume our gameplan is about getting it in quickly to 3 marking targets.

However, Young should not have been picked as a forward. He has played two scratch matches there, and in truth looked good for one quarter. From a team balance perspective he is a strong mark who plays deep. Exactly what Bruce is. Considering Naughton is not match fit and unlikely to be roaming the wings, this means we go into the match with three mark only talls that all want to play deep. Schache after what i thought was an encouraging pre season has at least shown glimpses of being able to play a bit higher as a link up target (I thought he was excellent pushing up the ground in Marsh 1), he should absolutely have been picked ahead of Young as a key forward, especially considering he is the only tall forward we have who uses the ball well by foot as a link up player and unlike Naughton and Bruce performed in that role preseason. If we play three talls we can't have them all deep.

Young should be in defence. Again I know he had a good quarter against North, but we already have three good tall forward projects with Ugle Hagen coming as well. We don't need him forward. Meanwhile we are playing Cordy in defence who has been woeful since 2018, and Gardner who whilst I actually thought played his role effectively (aside from completely stuffing up two switch plays), is not someone we should be playing. Young is as good as either Cordy or Gardner defensively, but is a better mark, better reader of the ball and better athletically. He absolutely should be playing in defence. If we want to pump games into him then pump them in a position he will be most useful to us long term.

Trengove is the other obvious solution (apparently not, I think his magnet is in the same place Roberts and Campbells magnets ended up in for the last year and a half of their contracts). The player on our list clearly best suited to playing on Cox, ugly but reliable and actually a defensive aerial presence, and a backup ruck if it all goes to shit as well. Considering half of English's games seem to be disasters in the ruck it probably isn't the worst idea to play a guy that can perform there and is not a liability elsewhere. I understand backing English in and giving him confidence but conceding another 3 votes to Grundy is not it. Trengove should in the very least be in the mix as a reliable backup option for basically everywhere.

Cavarra being picked was dumb, not because he shouldn't be in the side, more because it seems like it was an afterthought. If you're going to insist on playing your two praccy matches with as close to 22 as you can then make sure you are set on that 22. Instead they change their mind before round 1 and pick Cavarra who didn't get a look in. Whats the point of this 22 only bullshit. Every year we do it and every year we start poorly. Just play with 26 and atleast give yourself a chance to experiment with options and have options if not all the 22 look in form. We did need a pressure type though, so i understand why he was in the mix. Lloyd and particularly Dale were next to useless, Wallis offers nothing in terms of pressure unless the ball is literally right in front of him, no pace (also he is useless as a midfield rotation, when will they figure out he is a pure forward now). Lloyd seems to crumble when the opposition plays with intensity, but unlike Dale atleast he can get the footy occasionally. Someone like Richards would be invaluable here to atleast give us a change of pace up forward and an ability to take the game on.

Cordy kicking out is dumb, the question is though if the gameplan is to just kick it long on the 45s from kickouts anyway you might as well use Cordy, atleast he isn't a complete liability when the ball comes back like Daniel is (although he isn't far off on recent form). I don't know if that was our gameplan because Cordy was taking the kickouts, or Cordy was taking the kickouts because that was our gameplan. I assume it is our gameplan seeing as how we have recruited all this contested marking talent. But regardless when you have a side filled with good ball users like Williams, Suckling, Daniel, JJ (Who desperately needed to find a way into the game, this might have helped a little), Hunter and maybe Crozier getting Zaine or Gardner to do it is dumb.

We also played dumb going forward. For a half we showed a complete inability to retain the footy. We desperately needed to hold onto the footy when we got it, work our way up the ground, get some players touching it and confidence up and halt Collingwoods momentum. Instead we got at best 2 links before someone panicked and stuffed it up or we didn't quite hit a target and we turned it over. A good example is late in the second when Lloyd received it on half back. We finally started flicking it around before Lloyd panicked and went for an extremely low percentage kick to Daniel in the corridor (who wasn't even in space FFS) with two Collingwood players near him. Instant dumb turnover. It also didn't help that Gardner stuffed up two basic switches.

The biggest issue though is obviously the most baffling one. Our worst on ground were our midfield group, because unlike our forwards they actually had an opportunity to impact the game and instead they were completely lacking of intensity, confidence and composure. Our midfield group killed any chance we had of winning this game, and it's a woeful start to Bontempellis captaincy. I see people calling for Libbas inclusion to save us like they did after the GWS game, but the truth is if we are relying on a slow fringe midfielder who hasn't been genuinely good since 2016 to save our issues then we are doomed. Our saviors are Bont, Macrae and Dunkley. They need to perform.

[Jeanette54]

A performance like last night is a far greater problem at the moment than it would usually be. Without the reserves comp, player management will be severely comprised.

Players like Libba, Schache, MacLean etc cannot be run into form in the twos, in the normal manner of things. And there is nowhere for our poorly performing senior players to go, to address their concerns in match conditions.

Make no mistake, this season (if it proceeds) will be an exceptionally challenging one for our leaders, and decision makers.

And probably the biggest challenge will be how our new skipper can perform in a leadership role. Being a captain in tough times requires a very different style to that when times are good. Marcus has proved he can say, and do, all the "right" things to date, but only time will tell if he can fill the boots of a true leader in times of adversity.

[Grantysghost]

With the shorter season we can't wait for the MC to get the selections right and with shorter quarters we can't give up starts like we did last night. We have plenty of work to before the next match but the one thing more than anything that needs to be addressed is the effort the players must bring and I'm not sure why that is a somewhat consistent theme for us.
I often read about the age and experience profile of the list we put onto the ground to explain our losses but last night is proof that it's nowhere near as important as the effort the players bring to the contest.

Interesting to hear Buckley saying the shorter quarters suit their manic pressure style. It's somewhat like having no bench restrictions in a way. They can keep pushing the entire game. We want it to open up. Interesting I think.

Edit : in no way an excuse for last night, it's a bigger picture thought. Last night was perfectly explained by soupaman above.

[Sedat]

It's usually hard to judge selection when the putrid effort your team puts in renders any plan useless, but all the same like everyone I think there were quite a few things wrong with how we setup........

Excellent summary and hard to argue with almost any of it. Just on Libba, I would say he is a natural extractor and would have assisted greatly in counter-balancing our dreadful clearance differential when it was clear the A team were off their game and getting absolutely belted by Adams, Pendlebury and co in at the coal face. Libba also has the defensive ability to clamp down on a rampant opposition mid if needed. We don't hard tag as a rule but whenever we have done recently it has been Libba doing the job.

Agree that Bont, Macrae and Dunks could not play any worse and I am confident they will respond positively next week.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Agree that Bont, Macrae and Dunks could not play any worse and I am confident they will respond positively next week.

As much as I'd like to agree with that, our big 3 have been flat out embarrassed a few times (v Carlton, v GWS and now v Pies). Two of those now are back to back in big games which is concerning.

This can happen to any team, but three times in less than a year in such dramatic circumstances? I don't recall our 2016 side ever capitulating like this. I think of the Geelong game late in that season when everything was against us with an incredible amount of injuries and yet we played to the final bell admirably.

This side is far more talented than 2016 but they're also far more mentally fragile. Not sure how we fix this which is what is so disappointing about last night after a summer of banging the drums about how much we've been stewing over last year's final.

[GVGjr]

Interesting to hear Buckley saying the shorter quarters suit their manic pressure style. It's somewhat like having no bench restrictions in a way. They can keep pushing the entire game. We want it to open up. Interesting I think.

Edit : in no way an excuse for last night, it's a bigger picture thought. Last night was perfectly explained by soupaman above.

Their midfield certainly seemed better prepared so it's a good observation
I think we are a genuine midfielder light on most weeks preferring the versatility flankers might offer. With McLean not in the side it seemed like we were another option down as well. We have to get the selections right against Carlton

Agreed about soupaman's brilliant summary, he's a great contributor to the site.

[soupman]

Excellent summary and hard to argue with almost any of it. Just on Libba, I would say he is a natural extractor and would have assisted greatly in counter-balancing our dreadful clearance differential when it was clear the A team were off their game and getting absolutely belted by Adams, Pendlebury and co in at the coal face. Libba also has the defensive ability to clamp down on a rampant opposition mid if needed. We don't hard tag as a rule but whenever we have done recently it has been Libba doing the job.

I get what you're saying, but bringing in Libba so that we have a plan B in case our a grade midfield doesn't turn up isn't a great plan imo, especially when you consider how little Libba offers elsewhere. I think if he isn't good enough to be primarily in the side as an extractor he shouldn't be in the side. Shame because he has been such a significant contributor in the past