WB Game Day V Richmond R4 2022

[KT31]

From my very poor memory, we have never played finals after reaching a Grand final.
Why change history, club is at a very serious crossroads at the moment and with our on field performance, Bevo’s demeanour/ outburst, the non-existent President presence and the membership debacles it’s not looking very promising.
Not saying the seasons a bust, but for @#$& sake.

[Grantysghost]

It’s unprofessional, that’s what it is. It’s everyone’s fault. It’s like a cricket team that never takes a catch. Players, list managers and coaches are all to blame and it’s flat out not good enough.

There’s no one I’d put my house on that’s for sure.

Dunkley, Hunter, Naughton, Bont, Macrae I’d bet against set shots.

[angelopetraglia]

If we were 7.2 at quarter time which we could have easily been. Then it would have been game over. Tigers had lost badly the week before. Devoid of confidence. We actually played them back into form. Even in the first half of third quarter we were running all over the top of them again but kept missing and then they made us hurt by kicking goals from the boundary.

There are many other issues. It is not just goal kicking. It ain’t that simple. But just taking some of those chances early and even when we had the momentum in the third, who knows what happens. It could be a completely different game.

[Eastdog]

Back home now from the game. A very frustrating night.

Our goal kicking is a big issue and we have said this many times before MUST be addressed.

The second half of the 3rd quarter is where we lost it. I thought we were pretty good in the 1st half but just did not take our chances.

We need to move on now to Good Friday against the Kangaroos which wont be as easy as we think with their performance today against the Swans and just redeem ourselves and get a win.

[angelopetraglia]

The other thing that was noticeable from the stands tonight was Nankervis all night getting away with late hits and being overtly physical, pushing the boundaries of what is legal without any push back or anyone standing up for themselves or their teammates. He got away with it all night. Drove me crazy. We don’t have anyone who stands up and says, not on my watch mate.

[SonofScray]

Season over.

Turmoil brewing.

[kruder]

More than just goal kicking we went shallow and wide all night. It was very similar to the opportunities we missed in the last quarter against Carlton, 45m out on a 60 degree angle. The forwards refused to move all night and we always seem to find a mid on the wrong side delivering into forward 50. How many left foot kicks did Baz have?

As I said before the forward line is too young to take us forward this year, most of the night we had Naughty, JUH, Weightman, Mcsteal and Vanders inside forward 50. There is 0 chemistry there atm its not something you can fix overnight.

I really liked English's game, we must hang on to him the penny is starting to drop. Outside of that? Bailey Dale was one of the few that tried to change the angles take risks he has quietly become one of our best players. He has more substance than our famed midfield at times that's for sure.

I know O'Brien made a few errors but as a third tall I still think he will be an excellent pick up.

[Boots]

Just got home from the 'G (had dinner with a friend afterwards). What to say!

The matchup against the Tiges is a really bad one for us. We are shorter and slower which wipes out our contested game. On top of that, they use their speed to transition from defense to turnover to attack really fast, which wipes out our gut-running. Against us they can also use their height to just switch to chip-and-mark play (which they did, and we could do nothing except flood back and hope). By the middle of the third the game was an embarrassment. We got a clearance, it went down our end, repeat stoppages, behind. Then they got the ball and it went coast to coast for an easy goal. Repeat ad nauseum. Cue vomitous closeup of that smug *!*!*!*!wit Lynch's grin. And my god, just stop letting Shai Bolton off the chain.

We have zero options against Richmond. We can't tackle, they are too fast. We can't mark, they are too good at 50-50s. That leaves a possession game - win repeat clearances and just hold onto the ball at all costs. Fine, whatever - that's risky and extremely energy inefficient and you get punished for errors, so you have to blow them away. At one point we had as many behinds as they had scoring shots total - so we emphatically did not blow them away.

And the errors! Two of their first four goals were stupid frees in front of goal, then we gifted them two more later with atrocious 50m penalties. Stop ceding the mark! Just stop it! The benefits don't outweigh the risks. All it takes is a player to forget what he's meant to be doing and stopping for half a second and he's done. Bevo's dumb little grudges are so goddamn frustrating. There were two unforced turnovers in the third - one was Dunkley, forgot the other but it was a kick to Bont - that pretty much sealed the game for them.

I'm at a bit of a loss four games in. Is there a team shorter than us, or slower? We are on the back foot against so many sides - even when they are playing badly, Carlton, St. Kilda, Richmond and (pre-implosion) North would seriously threaten us with leg speed and height. Hell we even lost to the Suns a couple of years back. Melbourne are everything we are plus height and speed, and it showed in R1. Ditto West Coast (when they aren't fielding a WAFL reserves team). The less said about Geelong and GWS the better - two teams that have happily followed the AFL's lead by constantly chasing strong marking talls and key forwards.

The only team with a similar height and speed profile to us is Sydney (and they still feel taller). Sydney have similar fortunes to us - they either get a run on and look incredible or fall in a heap and struggle. I am starting to feel like the run-and-gun style is in a bit of a fallow period.

The most galling thing is we have all the pieces to make this work - our tall stocks are kind of incredible - Naughton, English, Marra, Bruce, Darcy. But our gameplan just sucks, and it looks worse by the week.

Who had a good game? Treloar had moments. Dale. Smith was excellent, as was English - that running goal! Bont had an absolute shocker. Dunkley, Naughts and Weightman had pretty mediocre games - lots of effort, no payoff.

Ugh.

[The bulldog tragician]

It’s really hard to know what to say after that loss. Some losses are much worse than others and this felt like a real dagger in the side. It felt like that loss when you know in your heart this group can’t win a flag. God knows we’ve seen enough of those.

I thought this would be a hard one to win, once I saw our team, but I hoped that last weeks manic contested ball effort would see us through. Our start was bright but it is death by 1000 cuts when you miss those shots. Mistakes at the wrong time, skill errors, decision-making. Lack of care for your teammate. Lack of any semblance of forward craft. Obviously the appalling goal kicking is, well, appalling, but it was equally horrible to see everyone, from the captain down, just aimlessly bombing the ball forward. The tigers defence feasted off us. Was there even one occasion when the ball hit the deck that we were able to retain it?

I’m as sentimental as anyone about Wally and the cruel missed opportunity for the 2016 flag but he is a shadow of himself.

All in all it was a heartbreaking night. I guess our season isn’t over. But it feels that way, and I can barely remember how we smacked teams by 100+points, and were top 4 all year, won a thrilling final against a terrific team in their home deck, thrashed a highly fancied contender, and were good enough to be 3 goals up in a grand final. Maybe the answer is as simple as that, we are an introverted club, we didn’t come out breathing fire in round one ready to send the cocky Dees back on their smart ###s, that loss has got into our psyche. Tomorrow maybe this will all seem better, right now I can’t see where the lift will come from.

[Vred]

From my very poor memory, we have never played finals after reaching a Grand final.
Why change history, club is at a very serious crossroads at the moment and with our on field performance, Bevo’s demeanour/ outburst, the non-existent President presence and the membership debacles it’s not looking very promising.
Not saying the seasons a bust, but for @#$& sake.

This is actually true, just went back and checked myself. Every time we've made a grand final (win or loss) we've never in our history gone and played finals the next year.

[ReLoad]

Right now I feel like we’re all paid up members of the Washington generals. Each week we play a mediocre team in the Harlem globetrotters. We find new and comical ways to stuff things up, make the simple look ludicrous and mostly look like we’re devoid of any sort of skill.

Our midfield is so one paced, our bottom 6 suck beyond belief and most critically we dont have ANY role players. Our list certainly needs a shake up, and I think we need to lose a good player to fix deficiencies.

[Go_Dogs]

Bailey Dale was one of the few that tried to change the angles take risks he has quietly become one of our best players. He has more substance than our famed midfield at times that's for sure.

Hasn’t hit a kick all season. Part of the problem not solution atm for mine.

[The Underdog]

I was at a 50th birthday last night and missed the game. Looks like I might leave it that way.

[The Underdog]

This is actually true, just went back and checked myself. Every time we've made a grand final (win or loss) we've never in our history gone and played finals the next year.

I mean that might be true, but given our lack of success generally over time, it’s a pretty small sample size.

[Go_Dogs]

A very disappointing game.

We just don’t have the right mix in the midfield, we’re not dynamic enough, we’re not hard enough, we’re not defensive enough, and while our handball game is still a solid blueprint, we don’t get the ball forward and to a player who can kicks advantage often enough.

Our backline worked OK but we do lack key defender depth and while I think our medium defenders did a pretty good job in the air, we don’t have someone like Morris / Wood who just wins third man up every time.

Our forward line was a shambles last night. We couldn’t get any rhythm going. Naughton tries but hard yakka against multi opponents most times. JUH a non factor. Our smalls - none of them had an impact.

Despite all that, if we’d kicked straight early we would’ve won. So, while it was bad… we can come back fast