Counter Point: We played well vs Gold Coast.

[mjp]

Geez, that match day thread is a blood path isn't it.

We played incredibly WELL against the Gold Coast. The ball LIVED inside our forward 50m area - and a few leaked goals ended up proving the difference. Allowing the goals to Lukocious (2nd q) and Humphry (last one of the game) where they were able to get goal-side of 'everyone' and 'just tap it in' was not ideal...we had our chances to score in similar ways but simply couldn't do it.

Credit to the GC - they busted their butts defensively and repeatedly threw the ball on their boot to clear the area...somehow those rushed kicks seemed to find a GC team-mate more often than not...our pressure was GOOD. We forced a hard-out...it just didn't work out. Yep - I know Naughton battled. Ballard has been the #1 interceptor in the game so far this season though so if you didn't foresee a situation where he was going to be a problem then you probably haven't been paying attention.

I don't know what all the angst is about. We had basically won 8 in a row going in (only one quarter vs Port costing us the sweep) and we did play in Ballarat one week then Darwin the next...we've hardly played a home game truth be told. Witts is a TERRIBLE match up for English (particularly in slippery conditions where he can't really mark it) and he 100% played the game on his terms not Tim's....

Was the game fun to watch? Not really. Did we play well? We sure did. Are there some people completely over-reacting and saying we have somehow lost the ability to play when the footy must have been like a cake of soap for most of the match? Yeah...don't listen to them.

We lost a close one to a desperate team away from home. It's gonna be alright. Bring on the Catters.

[Mofra]

Let's not forget it took an all-time dominant game from Rowell to get them even close, and we missed a lot of gettable shots.

Geelong have been decimated by injuries to the midfield and don't have Witts monstering rucks at the ruck contests so although they are a boogey side for us, we actually line up better against them than we did the Suns.

It's still a tough game though - Hawkins is out of form but Jeeza Cameron is playing amazing football and Gryan Miers is playing like peak Dahlhaus except a little bit better at everything. Stewart normally causes us issues too and SavRat has been a revelation in defence

[GVGjr]

I certainly wasn't angry but felt we didn't take our chances which was disappointing. Bounce back and play well against Geelong and the game against the Suns will be just about forgotten about.

[Sedat]

Let's not forget it took an all-time dominant game from Rowell to get them even close, and we missed a lot of gettable shots.

Geelong have been decimated by injuries to the midfield and don't have Witts monstering rucks at the ruck contests so although they are a boogey side for us, we actually line up better against them than we did the Suns.

It's still a though game though - Hawkins is out of form but Jeeza Cameron is playing amazing football and Gryan Miers is playing like peak Dahlhaus except a little bit better at everything. Stewart normally causes us issues too and SavRat has been a revelation in defence

We just don't beat Geelong. They've had a massive psychological hold on us for the entire Chris Scott tenure - no wonder he doesn't rate us. He has been so effective in robbing our strengths and getting games against us totally on his terms, no matter the personnel on the park. And they get Danger back this week, who is quite fond of tearing us a new one whenever he plays us.

If we can get a positive result this weekend, it bodes well for our chances in 2023. Like the Carlton game (I know they aren't much chop, but they regularly troubled us when they were even worse), it would show a maturity and a defensive steel that has been largely lacking from our team since 2017.

[Grantysghost]

Not every loss means we are at fault either.

Sometimes the opposition plays better than you do.

[Pedro Sanchez]

Geez, that match day thread is a blood path isn't it.

We played incredibly WELL against the Gold Coast. The ball LIVED inside our forward 50m area - and a few leaked goals ended up proving the difference. Allowing the goals to Lukocious (2nd q) and Humphry (last one of the game) where they were able to get goal-side of 'everyone' and 'just tap it in' was not ideal...we had our chances to score in similar ways but simply couldn't do it.

Credit to the GC - they busted their butts defensively and repeatedly threw the ball on their boot to clear the area...somehow those rushed kicks seemed to find a GC team-mate more often than not...our pressure was GOOD. We forced a hard-out...it just didn't work out. Yep - I know Naughton battled. Ballard has been the #1 interceptor in the game so far this season though so if you didn't foresee a situation where he was going to be a problem then you probably haven't been paying attention.

I don't know what all the angst is about. We had basically won 8 in a row going in (only one quarter vs Port costing us the sweep) and we did play in Ballarat one week then Darwin the next...we've hardly played a home game truth be told. Witts is a TERRIBLE match up for English (particularly in slippery conditions where he can't really mark it) and he 100% played the game on his terms not Tim's....

Was the game fun to watch? Not really. Did we play well? We sure did. Are there some people completely over-reacting and saying we have somehow lost the ability to play when the footy must have been like a cake of soap for most of the match? Yeah...don't listen to them.

We lost a close one to a desperate team away from home. It's gonna be alright. Bring on the Catters.

Great thoughts - completely agree. We won in all key aspects of the game except the scoreboard. And i realise that's where it counts. However who wants to be peaking in late may? We have the second half of the season to refine our form and come in hot to the finals. Great foundation set, still room to improve, lets roll...

[Sedat]

Great thoughts - completely agree. We won in all key aspects of the game except the scoreboard. And i realise that's where it counts. However who wants to be peaking in late may? We have the second half of the season to refine our form and come in hot to the finals. Great foundation set, still room to improve, lets roll...

Agree with the above and the OP, but the opportunity to bank the 4 points would have gotten us 3 games clear of the chasing pack - down the track it would have afforded us the opportunity to rest key players in July/Aug in the lead-up to finals, so they are fresh for the business end.

[mjp]

...the opportunity to bank the 4 points would have gotten us 3 games clear of the chasing pack...

Yeah but you know that 'stuff' is all 'stuff' you simply can't control. Hell, at least Melbourne and Brisbane lost (and both were favorites)...I think I read somewhere that the underdog with the bookies has won every Friday night game this year....or something.

My whole post last week was about 'outcomes' - as in, danger game, danger game, don't do all this work and blow it against the Suns but even so. You just can't control what the outcomes are - all you can do is bring effort and hope for a bit of luck and I thought we did the former and missed out on the latter!

[Grantysghost]

Great thoughts - completely agree. We won in all key aspects of the game except the scoreboard. And i realise that's where it counts. However who wants to be peaking in late may? We have the second half of the season to refine our form and come in hot to the finals. Great foundation set, still room to improve, lets roll...

-17 contested ball. Pretty crucial stat.

Mjp is having a lend of us. Says we can't possibly lose in one thread then says we did ok by losing in another.
Must be bored

[mjp]

Mjp is having a lend of us. Says we can't possibly lose in one thread then says we did ok by losing in another.

To be fair, I said we "Couldn't be DUMB ENOUGH to lose to Gold Coast"...and my post was really about an effort based loss.

I keep reading the contested ball numbers and somehow -17 is supposed to be a massive number. It's 4/quarter. A couple of % points in disposal efficiency evens that out...everyone talks about stats like they have meaning - and they can - but in the macro, not the micro. One game is too small a sample size to measure contested ball. If you're down 17 in a single quarter, sound the alarm bells...but one extra to GC every 6 minutes as the difference in the game? Give me a spell.

Coaches might use that numbers with players but only as a trigger when they think effort is down. Effort was fine.

[angelopetraglia]

I don't know what all the angst is about. We had basically won 8 in a row going in (only one quarter vs Port costing us the sweep) and we did play in Ballarat one week then Darwin the next...we've hardly played a home game truth be told. Witts is a TERRIBLE match up for English (particularly in slippery conditions where he can't really mark it) and he 100% played the game on his terms not Tim's....

We play the next five games at Marvel. We play 8 of the last 12 at Marvel (Six home, two away against Kangas and Bombers).

Our only games away from Marvel are:

Sydney at the SCG
Giants at Ballarat
Hawks in Tasmania
Cats at Kardinia Park

[Grantysghost]

It's an indicator of effort that I look for.

I think it's a critical stat, think most experts have it as an important one.

Not the only one of course.

To your question can we be silly enough to the Gold Coast?

The answer is yes

Stats are stats. I only look at a few.

[bornadog]

We just don't beat Geelong. They've had a massive psychological hold on us for the entire Chris Scott tenure - no wonder he doesn't rate us. He has been so effective in robbing our strengths and getting games against us totally on his terms, no matter the personnel on the park. And they get Danger back this week, who is quite fond of tearing us a new one whenever he plays us.

If we can get a positive result this weekend, it bodes well for our chances in 2023. Like the Carlton game (I know they aren't much chop, but they regularly troubled us when they were even worse), it would show a maturity and a defensive steel that has been largely lacking from our team since 2017.

Last 10 games v Geelong, we have only played 4 at Marvel and the record is 2 all.

[Grantysghost]

It's an indicator of effort that I look for.

I think it's a critical stat, think most experts have it as an important one.

Not the only one of course.

To your question can we be silly enough to the Gold Coast?

The answer is yes

Stats are stats. I only look at a few.

We were -14 tackles too.

We over handballed in the conditions. Almost double the Suns.
150 to 85.

So tackles and contested were well down. Could be effort based

Holman had 10, B. SMITH 0.

[mjp]

We were -14 tackles too.

We over handballed in the conditions. Almost double the Suns.
150 to 85.

So tackles and contested were well down. Could be effort based

Holman had 10, B. SMITH 0.

You don't need to tackle if you've got the ball.

Again - Tackles are a point in time stat. Minus 10 in a 5-minute period? That's effort. -14 for the game? That's -3.5/q. Or -1 every 10 minutes...it just isn't statistically relevant.

Plus - tackles ain't tackles. Look up what it ACTUALLY means to have a tackle...it's a bit tenuous...