The Moment: Rnd 18, 2025 vs Adelaide

[kruder]

Adelaide ran the ball from one end to the other, but not at speed. They criss-crossed the ground and took their time before they got the ball into their forward line . Unfortunately Lobb was well beaten today and Thilthorpe out pointed him with some great marking.

Yeah that was really frustrating, it wasn't even quick at times yet they still got it out the back. We just lacked the defensive intent to get back and help across all lines it stood out like a sore thumb at the ground and we are lacking leadership as a collective in the back half.

[Happy Days]

Thilthorpe’s mark on the lead to kick his sixth. Lobb was on his hammer and hit the perfect spoil but Thilthorpe just grabbed the ball and nearly burst it. Way too good.

[Mantis]

My moment came at the start of the 3rd quarter.

After playing a pretty crappy 2nd quarter, which had us giving up a red time goal, as is our want I was really interested to see how we would respond and eat into the attainable 3 goal deficient.

How we would set up in the back half was of keen interest and was interested to note that we started Coffield on the bench and had Williams shift on to Fogarty. Adelaide interestingly started Dawson forward and he was matched up on Bramble about 40m from goal… I was concerned.

Before the ball was bounced Walker who was playing deep with Thilthorpe ran up past Dawson and then back close to the goal square. I’m sure he told Dawson to take Bramble deep. Walker ran back and spoke with Thilthorpe. Over the course of the next 1-2 minutes we saw Dawson take over as the deepest forward and when the ball came down Bramble pushes his taller opponent in the back and Dawson slots the goal…. Game over!

If I can see this match up is a recipe for disaster why can’t our coaches or players and make the necessary adjustments?

[ibonttobreakfree]

I can't remember which quarter it was but their goal from a 1 on 1 contested mark over sanders. They had been dragging lobb up the field all day and this time jod was also up on their wing. They got the turnover and switched it around to the fat side and got a fast entry into the 50 where sanders was isolated and none of our keys had time to get back. Think thats what most teams do to us now. Seperate our key defenders and drag them up the field so they can't help each other. It was noticeable how many times jod was one out.

There was also a couple of times where coffield was so worried about his own man he missed opportunities to sag off and help make it a 2 on 1. Then on the flipside, there was a few times when we did have an outnumber in defence and didn't even halve it. Bit of a shambles at times.

[Flamethrower]

When the game was moved - we have been Adelaide's bunnies for a decade or more everywhere but Ballarat.

[SonofScray]

Was less a moment driven by individual play, but more an a-ha moment watching is set up across the ground looking to force a turn over game and doing really well to spread and slide across. The problem became clear to me, they weren’t giving the ball back. Very patient and secure with their ball movement and decision making.

That requires a bit more emphasis at the source, hardness but we don’t have that as a real staple of our game. We aren’t soft anymore. But we’re not tough like that yet.

[Bornadog]

Was less a moment driven by individual play, but more an a-ha moment watching is set up across the ground looking to force a turn over game and doing really well to spread and slide across. The problem became clear to me, they weren’t giving the ball back. Very patient and secure with their ball movement and decision making.

That requires a bit more emphasis at the source, hardness but we don’t have that as a real staple of our game. We aren’t soft anymore. But we’re not tough like that yet.

Guys like Davidson, Dolan, Sanders and Hynes are not strong enough at this stage of their career which means their tackling is not good.

[Bornadog]

Thilthorpe’s mark on the lead to kick his sixth. Lobb was on his hammer and hit the perfect spoil but Thilthorpe just grabbed the ball and nearly burst it. Way too good.

Thilthorpe was the difference in the end - especially the 2nd quarter. However, we allowed 30 inside 50s in the first half which gave him plenty of opportunity. We tightened up in the second half with only 22 entries for them and outscored them, but the 2nd quarter did the damage which we never recovered from. Similar to the Freo game.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Thilthorpe’s mark on the lead to kick his sixth. Lobb was on his hammer and hit the perfect spoil but Thilthorpe just grabbed the ball and nearly burst it. Way too good.

I know Lobb got beaten but sometimes you just have to tip the hat. Thilthorpe took a number of big grabs under pressure and the ball was always put to his advantage - that left foot by Walker was brutal.

JOD, on the other hand, gave Walker and anyone he played on FAR too much space. I thought JOD was absolutely awful and I'm tired of us pretending he's some great young defender, he's nowhere near it.

[Grantysghost]

I know Lobb got beaten but sometimes you just have to tip the hat. Thilthorpe took a number of big grabs under pressure and the ball was always put to his advantage - that left foot by Walker was brutal.

JOD, on the other hand, gave Walker and anyone he played on FAR too much space. I thought JOD was absolutely awful and I'm tired of us pretending he's some great young defender, he's nowhere near it.

In that second quarter when Thilly kicked four I thought Lobb's positioning was too aggressive.
However that's how they are coached to play.
You're spot on with the kicking to advantage, it was a beautiful thing. Dawson is some player in that regard. Whatever the Swans got for him it wasn't enough.
JOD did a couple of nice things in the first quarter but really was poor I agree. In the air we just had no answers. It all went wrong. We couldn't even manufacture Tim down there.

How many times did we kick it to ROB? It was really frustrating.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

I know it didn't end up in an Adelaide goal, but it was turned a REAL potential momentum builder into such an anti-climax: Naughton absolutely spudding an open goal, when on the end of a fantastic chain of pressure and ball movement. I think that would've got us back under 2 goals in the 3rd Qtr?. They went straight down the other end and thankfully for us, Ben Keays similarly missed a sitter to keep us in it.

But given Thilthorpe was leading from the front up the other end, Naughts could've similarly returned fire for for us in that moment.

[Scott2016]

The game was lost in match committee. Not picking a tall defender and playing Dolan. I said last week Buku has to play as he gives us multiple options. Can play forward and back also can help out in the ruck to give Tim a rest. When Darcy goes into the ruck we lose him for 15 minutes. The forward line when he is off only has one option for the opposition to defend and thats naughton. The ball movement from the opposition starts from our forward entries that fail and we get hurt on the way back. Dolan VDM Hynes Poulter Garcia and west are not worrying opposition teams. West has not hit the score board for weeks but has picked up junk time goals late in 4th qtr and has given away free kicks. VDM is useless and whatever role he is meant to be playing it adds nothing to the team. His tackles are with jelly arms and the opponent still disposes of the ball. Hynes and dolan are not ready. I would play them ahead of Mcniel so they get the same chances as mcniel has had. They need to develop but they must give us something to say they add value to the team.

Im bringing in Harmes and Buku for Poulter and Dolan this week. If we lose the season is over, so then I would bring Dolan back in and VDM out.