WB vs North Gameday March 4th Pre-Season 2023

[josie]

I left VFL match at half time. Roos were pummelling us. Some of this had to do with our shortage of talls (presumably because of extended bench in seniors match). Roos looked slick apart from missing some gettable goals in first quarter. Sweet competes hard, Garcia ok without being great. Cleary or JJ (who was doing a lot of kick outs) I think was best on ground for us. Luke Cleary is super composed & good disposal. If he was a bit more solidly built I think he’d be good at afl level. JJ moved well and kicked well, however I suspect he might be carrying a smidge of extra weight which will likely go once he is match fit. His important leadership was evident even though Roos dominating us pretty much everywhere and when they got their running game going they were leaving us behind.

Gallagher did a few nice things and he looks like a tough nut plus can really give the ball a roost. I couldn’t see Clarke out there.

[JanLorMill]

Practice match. Happy it’s over, would have been better with a few less injuries. Only saw parts of the first half but we could do with some more good small backs and forwards

[Bigdog]

Clarke, Bendendo, Buss, Weightman and Gardiner were all sitting with each other during the afl game so I presumed he wouldn’t play.

One player I didn’t notice was Hannan.

[jeemak]

Clarke, Bendendo, Buss, Weightman and Gardiner were all sitting with each other during the afl game so I presumed he wouldn’t play.

One player I didn’t notice was Hannan.

I don't think Hannan played in the end.

[bornadog]

Practice match. Happy it’s over, would have been better with a few less injuries. Only saw parts of the first half but we could do with some more good small backs and forwards

Doc and Crozier cleared of major injuries.

[Jedwardo123]

Missed today as was pretty busy finishing making my kung-fu movie and my time machine needed a wash but did we sag off or run back from the mark at all?

[Mofra]

Missed today as was pretty busy finishing making my kung-fu movie and my time machine needed a wash but did we sag off or run back from the mark at all?

Deep in our forwardline our forwards did to try and cut off the switch kick.
Otherwise, we were on the mark.

[jeemak]

Missed today as was pretty busy finishing making my kung-fu movie and my time machine needed a wash but did we sag off or run back from the mark at all?

That's a solid excuse!

There was a mix of sagging off and standing, but I'm not sure if the latter was due to a lack of awareness resulting from heat fatigue (which crept into the game) or was a genuine tactic as I only noticed it late.

Be prepared for us to avoid standing the mark. I reckon with the new attention being paid to players creeping over and the confusion between a fake and not a fake and players moving off the mark there's going to be some costly fifties paid this year making standing the mark riskier than it was last year. Gotta justify the four umpires somehow!

[jeemak]

Deep in our forwardline our forwards did to try and cut off the switch kick.
Otherwise, we were on the mark.

Ha - I mustn't have been paying attention because I thought I saw sagging but you're more observant than I most of the time!

[Eastdog]

Missed the game as I was celebrating my birthday. Might watch the replay. Thanks for the reports. Lots of positives out of today which is great but now looking at the real stuff in 12 days.

[Grantysghost]

Missed the game as I was celebrating my birthday. Might watch the replay. Thanks for the reports. Lots of positives out of today which is great but now looking at the real stuff in 12 days.

Happy Birthday Easty.

[josie]

Happy Birthday Easty.

Seconded. Hope it was a lovely day for you Easty.

[Jeanette54]

I might just be hard to please, but on too many occasions North were able to carry the ball (after a turnover) without pressure, and the ball still gets out the back leading to easy scoring opportunities. To be fair the defense was effected by the early loss of two first choice players (Doc & Ed), but it still brings back memories of easy joe the goose goals costing us matches.

Speaking of defense, Liam Jones was magnificent, and Alex Keath is finding his old form, which made him such a good defender. Josh Bruce was a bit of a mixed bad in the backline but looks to be staring to settle in there.

[jeemak]

Missed the game as I was celebrating my birthday. Might watch the replay. Thanks for the reports. Lots of positives out of today which is great but now looking at the real stuff in 12 days.

Happy birthday mate, how old are you now buddy?

[jeemak]

I might just be hard to please, but on too many occasions North were able to carry the ball (after a turnover) without pressure, and the ball still gets out the back leading to easy scoring opportunities. To be fair the defense was effected by the early loss of two first choice players (Doc & Ed), but it still brings back memories of easy joe the goose goals costing us matches.

Speaking of defense, Liam Jones was magnificent, and Alex Keath is finding his old form, which made him such a good defender. Josh Bruce was a bit of a mixed bad in the backline but looks to be staring to settle in there.

Is that just how our system gets scored against though, and we have to deal with it in hoping our system gets us enough opportunities to score more than the opposition?

I'm not saying I like it, but it might be a case of better the devil you know than the angel you don't in that if we structured/ played differently we don't score as much and open up other ways to get scored against.

Also, does it get easier to stop that from happening if the game is played more in the middle of the ground rather than being played closer to our goals which will be the case against sides that can counter our dominance in getting it forward and locking it in?

Team defence was a massive area of concern in 2022, but it was good in 2021 and the difference is mostly between the ears of the players. It's the biggest watch out for the start of the season against good teams.