Next week at a glance

[Mantis]

Re: Next week at a glance

Of course they do, how do you explain their 4th quarter fade outs? They simply cannot play four quarters of footy, how else would you describe it other than undisciplined? Leading at 3/4 time I think they feel they have done enough and just try to play to stay in front if you like, rather than try to attack and win. It is not an issue of skill or cattle or tactics. They just go to shit when they have a chance of winning and it can only be through undisciplined football.

One word which you refuse to use is fitness.

[1eyedog]

Re: Next week at a glance

One word which you refuse to use is fitness.

All AFL players are at peak fitness and rotations these days make sure that everyone gets a rest to enable 4 quarters of football. I am astounded to think that some teams are not fully fit, it seems that fitness is the fist thing you would get in the pre-season. Still, you may be right.

[Mantis]

Re: Next week at a glance

All AFL players are at peak fitness and rotations these days make sure that everyone gets a rest to enable 4 quarters of football. I am astounded to think that some teams are not fully fit, it seems that fitness is the fist thing you would get in the pre-season. Still, you may be right.

Having just finished watching the last qtr...again, the Freo player's were running up and down on the spot.

There movement and running to position was almost non-existent.. they seem to have too many player's who cannot run out a full game of AFL footy.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: Next week at a glance

Having just finished watching the last qtr...again, the Freo player's were running up and down on the spot.

There movement and running to position was almost non-existent.. they seem to have too many player's who cannot run out a full game of AFL footy.

This is possibly the most important factor in AFL Football today; fitness. Not so long ago, Essendon were in a similar positions whereby they would be competitive & in winning positions right up to 3qtr time, but would fade, and they really struggled to win a last qtr at all. May have been 2006? Either way, it was well documented.

Fremantle are clearly in the same position. Players like Pavlich, Sandilands, Crowley, Carr, Bell & even McPharlin, Peake, Schammer & Farmer are all quality players but they tend to go missing after a while. On the contrary, it's why we've been so successful this year. We ran over Adelaide in the last few minutes, we ran over Essendon in the last quarter, we pegged Richmond back for a draw & again put away Freo in the last. That's four games of football - it makes a big difference, and when you consider Freo are at the other end of the spectrum and have lost them all (Geelong, Melb, Us) then it really can hurt a side.

My question is how & why? You would think all AFL clubs would have the programs and staff to make sure that their players can run out full games.

[dog town]

Re: Next week at a glance

I think generally its more mental than fitness in these situations. Freo were simply afraid that they would lose again. When those sort of losses start piling up you can really become scared to take the game on and risk losing. IMO they were that worried about us coming over the top of them that they went defensive. It can even be sort of a sub conscious thing. I know my local side has choked a couple of times gainst our arch rivals in the last year or so and on those occasions I thought we just went a bit defensive out of fear of losing. Fitness plays a part but I think mentally Freo are in a bit of strife at the moment.

[Mantis]

Re: Next week at a glance

Fitness plays a part but I think mentally Freo are in a bit of strife at the moment.

Yeah they are, but my point is that they didn't seem to have any players able to 'gut run' in the last qtr. They required one or more of there midfielders to be able to break free to allow players delivering from our forwardline the opportunity to 'switch' play and thus 'take a risk'.

We now have quite a few who can do this gut running to create an option and none better than Crossy who works as hard as any other player in the comp in criss-crossing across the ground to provide an outlet for our defenders.