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I got home late from the game last night and then had to work this morning so have been a bit tardy looking at the site. I can literally feel the frustration in the posts and I guess being at the game I simply didn't feel that way. I wasn't frustrated at the players (or the plan)...I suppose I sort of went in to the game thinking Freo - who had won 3 more games than us this year AND were playing at home in front of a really loud crowd (for those who haven't experienced it, Optus is LOUD - it was engineered so the crowd noise stays 'IN') and our year has been all over the place.
I was (obviously) sitting in the 'Dogs section (notice there is NO PLURAL being used) and even that had more than a smattering of Freo supporters...at 3/4 time the couple next to me were wringing their hands and I said 'Hey - a goal up at 3/4 time? Before the game I would have taken that...let's stay positive' but it wasn't to be.
1/. We did a LOT right. We went into the game with a CLEAR PLAN. English and Cordy were team 'ruck' with Cordy helping down back. Darcy was team long target with Naughts and Marra the leading options. JJ was the highest small forward (along with Hunter) with Weightman next in line and VDM on clean-up duties around the Darcy contest. What else? Nothing much - Keith and Gardner rolled across opponents pretty regularly, no tags that I could identify.
2/. Our focus was clearly ball retention inside 50/repeat entries/weight of numbers. Early on we ALWAYS had an extra back - usually English (more on this in a minute) and the defenders had HELP. Our forward half was a dead set mad scramble from what I could tell (I was on the 50m line at the opposite end from where we kicked in q1) but Darcy was really holding his position deep and (I think) got two shots on goal. Naughton and Marra were looking dangerous without being dangerous which was attracting Pearce and Cox away from the defensive goal-square...Freo are a good defensive unit but early on Chapman and Young - both inexperienced players - seemed lost at times and both JJ and Hunter had some nice involvements. Walker had the clamps on Weightman and I was not enjoying that match-up for us, particularly as Cody seems unable to stop himself jumping at the ball giving Freo an extra on the ground basically EVERY TIME. Luckily, Cody was awarded a mark (which was not a mark) and that forced Walker to clamp even more tightly...
3/. Freo started to run. Their ability to forward handball out of contested situations - Acres was a monster here - was tremendous and our spare (still primarily English) was caught in between the play. This repeatedly happened and Freo started to kick, well, goals. Basically, once they starting kicking them they couldn't stop and got 7 in a row. One of Lobb's in particular was a very impressive kick (the wind was STRONG) and due to lack of supply our forwards crept higher and higher as a group...Freo maintained an extra which often seemed to be Chapman as we played an extra forward up at the stoppage.
I'm gonna stop here for a second. To me this was the game. Freo had a spare as a very agile running player and we had a ruckman. Our ruckman was pushing up and back - contest, drop back, woops, another stoppage, contest, drop back - whereas Freo had a player providing both aerial support and run. I get the criticism of English but he had an interesting challenge which I thought he tried hard to execute...unfortunately he needed to clunk some of those behind the ball marks he got his hands on but couldn't.
4/. Up forward, Naughts was killing himself to provide a target but whenever he was the 'kick-to' he had a crowd to deal with. Because of this, we lost our deep support - I have no idea what happened to Darcy but he has played like 2 games and, what can I tell you, dreamers pick kids in finals (sorry). By the way, Freo picked Amiss so what do I know. Marra did not look dangerous, Hunter looked fumbly and just seemed to lack 'focus' (hard to describe what I was seeing but everything he did seemed 'hard' whereas in the past watching him live he has oozed confidence and really displayed a one-touch ability)...Weightman was completely at sea vs Walker and continued to fly for everything...geez it is frustrating to watch at times. I would have loved to see him moved up on the wing for a bit to get into the flow of the game...
5/. All of a sudden, game on the line and Darcy is in the ruck? I didn't see that earlier...we needed to win stoppages and we have a kid in the centre square? I didn't love it I have to say. I just felt it really showed we had abandoned the plan from before the game and were trying to pluck a rabbit from a hat....I mean, good on Bevo for trying stuff and all that but it didn't give me confidence and I reckon had I mean a player like Dunkley or Naughton who live literally killed themselves with their effort, well, I wouldn't have loved it.
That's sort of it.
There's been lot's of talk on this site about the list and players not being up to it etc - I don't know. I think there is talent. Hunter clearly out of form, Bailey Williams looks uncertain and confused about what his role really is, Vanders is a player without a position at the moment and is trying to shoe-horn his game into what he has been told a small forward should look like...Darcy is a kid, JUH is a kid - and they were two of our 3 forward targets? Ultimately if we had Naughton and Tom Lynch we prob win by 10 goals....but if we had Tom Lynch then those kids don't play and they need to play to develop....there is no doubt we have some challenges. (p.s. Substitute the name 'Tom Lynch' for 'Rory Lobb' if you like and you will get what I mean).
I was (obviously) sitting in the 'Dogs section (notice there is NO PLURAL being used) and even that had more than a smattering of Freo supporters...at 3/4 time the couple next to me were wringing their hands and I said 'Hey - a goal up at 3/4 time? Before the game I would have taken that...let's stay positive' but it wasn't to be.
1/. We did a LOT right. We went into the game with a CLEAR PLAN. English and Cordy were team 'ruck' with Cordy helping down back. Darcy was team long target with Naughts and Marra the leading options. JJ was the highest small forward (along with Hunter) with Weightman next in line and VDM on clean-up duties around the Darcy contest. What else? Nothing much - Keith and Gardner rolled across opponents pretty regularly, no tags that I could identify.
2/. Our focus was clearly ball retention inside 50/repeat entries/weight of numbers. Early on we ALWAYS had an extra back - usually English (more on this in a minute) and the defenders had HELP. Our forward half was a dead set mad scramble from what I could tell (I was on the 50m line at the opposite end from where we kicked in q1) but Darcy was really holding his position deep and (I think) got two shots on goal. Naughton and Marra were looking dangerous without being dangerous which was attracting Pearce and Cox away from the defensive goal-square...Freo are a good defensive unit but early on Chapman and Young - both inexperienced players - seemed lost at times and both JJ and Hunter had some nice involvements. Walker had the clamps on Weightman and I was not enjoying that match-up for us, particularly as Cody seems unable to stop himself jumping at the ball giving Freo an extra on the ground basically EVERY TIME. Luckily, Cody was awarded a mark (which was not a mark) and that forced Walker to clamp even more tightly...
3/. Freo started to run. Their ability to forward handball out of contested situations - Acres was a monster here - was tremendous and our spare (still primarily English) was caught in between the play. This repeatedly happened and Freo started to kick, well, goals. Basically, once they starting kicking them they couldn't stop and got 7 in a row. One of Lobb's in particular was a very impressive kick (the wind was STRONG) and due to lack of supply our forwards crept higher and higher as a group...Freo maintained an extra which often seemed to be Chapman as we played an extra forward up at the stoppage.
I'm gonna stop here for a second. To me this was the game. Freo had a spare as a very agile running player and we had a ruckman. Our ruckman was pushing up and back - contest, drop back, woops, another stoppage, contest, drop back - whereas Freo had a player providing both aerial support and run. I get the criticism of English but he had an interesting challenge which I thought he tried hard to execute...unfortunately he needed to clunk some of those behind the ball marks he got his hands on but couldn't.
4/. Up forward, Naughts was killing himself to provide a target but whenever he was the 'kick-to' he had a crowd to deal with. Because of this, we lost our deep support - I have no idea what happened to Darcy but he has played like 2 games and, what can I tell you, dreamers pick kids in finals (sorry). By the way, Freo picked Amiss so what do I know. Marra did not look dangerous, Hunter looked fumbly and just seemed to lack 'focus' (hard to describe what I was seeing but everything he did seemed 'hard' whereas in the past watching him live he has oozed confidence and really displayed a one-touch ability)...Weightman was completely at sea vs Walker and continued to fly for everything...geez it is frustrating to watch at times. I would have loved to see him moved up on the wing for a bit to get into the flow of the game...
5/. All of a sudden, game on the line and Darcy is in the ruck? I didn't see that earlier...we needed to win stoppages and we have a kid in the centre square? I didn't love it I have to say. I just felt it really showed we had abandoned the plan from before the game and were trying to pluck a rabbit from a hat....I mean, good on Bevo for trying stuff and all that but it didn't give me confidence and I reckon had I mean a player like Dunkley or Naughton who live literally killed themselves with their effort, well, I wouldn't have loved it.
That's sort of it.
There's been lot's of talk on this site about the list and players not being up to it etc - I don't know. I think there is talent. Hunter clearly out of form, Bailey Williams looks uncertain and confused about what his role really is, Vanders is a player without a position at the moment and is trying to shoe-horn his game into what he has been told a small forward should look like...Darcy is a kid, JUH is a kid - and they were two of our 3 forward targets? Ultimately if we had Naughton and Tom Lynch we prob win by 10 goals....but if we had Tom Lynch then those kids don't play and they need to play to develop....there is no doubt we have some challenges. (p.s. Substitute the name 'Tom Lynch' for 'Rory Lobb' if you like and you will get what I mean).
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