Round 5 - Western Bulldogs V Brisbane Lions - Sat 12/4/25 Norwood Oval, Adelaide 4:15PM AEDT

[azabob]

You can also add the lack of respect to their forwards. Morris had no opponent when he kicked his goals. Once Hipwood got 2 they should have played closer to him to shut him down given he kicked 6 last time we played them.

Morris is a natural forward so I can kind of live with that but Hipwood… Put a body on him and he does not impact that game like he did.

[mjp]

You can also add the lack of respect to their forwards. Morris had no opponent when he kicked his goals. Once Hipwood got 2 they should have played closer to him to shut him down given he kicked 6 last time we played them.

I don't think it's that (respect). When you are squeezing the ground like our defenders do, you often end up with forwards 30m + in space...the theory being that you are plus one up the ground and the ball (therefore) wont get there. Obviously when it goes wrong, it goes BADLY wrong!!

[SquirrelGrip]

I don't think it's that (respect). When you are squeezing the ground like our defenders do, you often end up with forwards 30m + in space...the theory being that you are plus one up the ground and the ball (therefore) wont get there. Obviously when it goes wrong, it goes BADLY wrong!!

Yes, I think this is more of the point. I haven't been the last weeks to Perth or Adelaide but we certainly get caught out when the dam wall breaks. It seems that both Freo and Brisbane figured out our team defence as the games went on. Is it because we tired? Did they change tactics? Both teams scored because their TEAM figured out how to beat our structures, not because their individual forwards suddenly became Gary Ablett Snr.

[mjp]

Yes, I think this is more of the point. I haven't been the last weeks to Perth or Adelaide but we certainly get caught out when the dam wall breaks. It seems that both Freo and Brisbane figured out our team defence as the games went on. Is it because we tired? Did they change tactics? Both teams scored because their TEAM figured out how to beat our structures, not because their individual forwards suddenly became Gary Ablett Snr.

Well...Freo 'figured it out' for a hot minute - then they promptly unfigured it out.

When you squeeze the ground like we do the enemies of that are:
- Oppo sides who hold LENGTH (north south) no matter what AND are able to forward handball their way out of congestion before kicking OVER the defensive anchor.

We've seen this a big...I don't think we've got the anchor stuff right recently and can only reference the efforts by Khamis to sprint 100m + vs Freo to cover Amiss who was Freo's deepest forward...

It should be a 'slide', not a sprint...but the higher you press, the more the danger.

[SquirrelGrip]

Well...Freo 'figured it out' for a hot minute - then they promptly unfigured it out.

When you squeeze the ground like we do the enemies of that are:
- Oppo sides who hold LENGTH (north south) no matter what AND are able to forward handball their way out of congestion before kicking OVER the defensive anchor.

We've seen this a big...I don't think we've got the anchor stuff right recently and can only reference the efforts by Khamis to sprint 100m + vs Freo to cover Amiss who was Freo's deepest forward...

It should be a 'slide', not a sprint...but the higher you press, the more the danger.

So with the "anchor stuff", who is the best on our list for this role and how can we get it right?

[mjp]

I don't really think it matters 'WHO' so much as 'what' they are:

Strong aerobic capacity.
Reasonable speed (doesn't have to be elite but need to be 'quick').
Great understanding of spoil/mark decisions.

I mean, to me that sounds like Jones and he certainly seemed to do it the last couple of years...why it isn't him anymore would be up to the coaches to explain. We all seem to be getting into a more aggrressive 'flatline' type structure and I'm not sure why.

[SquirrelGrip]

I don't really think it matters 'WHO' so much as 'what' they are:

Strong aerobic capacity.
Reasonable speed (doesn't have to be elite but need to be 'quick').
Great understanding of spoil/mark decisions.

I mean, to me that sounds like Jones and he certainly seemed to do it the last couple of years...why it isn't him anymore would be up to the coaches to explain. We all seem to be getting into a more aggrressive 'flatline' type structure and I'm not sure why.

Yes, I thought it sounds like Jones too, but the last two weeks we held it together until we didn't.

Jones won't be around forever and perhaps he doesn't have the speed he had. Doc the same. There's talk about Buss being the next Jones, but I'm not sure he has the speed we are talking about either. To me it actually sounds like Gardner.

[mjp]

To me it actually sounds like Gardner.

But he's not in the 22...which is a bit of a fundamental problem!