What went wrong.

[Mantis]

Ok so I am a sadist and have just finished watching a replay of the game. It was about as much fun as going to the dentist and I actually have healthy teeth, but it still sucks.

Here are a few observations I made:

* When we ran out, through the warm-up and the national anthem we look scared. There was no confidence in our players appearance, we, as Eade mentioned looked over-awed.

* Our skill error's get to a point of almost being amusing. **** me, how many times did we hand the ball to the opposition on a platter. Gia, Eagleton (I'll get to him later), Ray, Cross, Murf, Higgins the list goes on. Not good enough boys, shit they only train every second day to play in games like these and when we get there we freeze.

* Too many of our player's go to ground in the contest, again not good enough.

* Our captain can't impose himself on the game when we are struggling. He started off very well on Guerra by leading into space, but then got involved in wrestling contests and was in-effective. His last qtr was typical, ran around in the back half picking up cheap kicks, but he was in good company with that one. Our leadership in general was and is poor when the chips are down.

* Higgins makes 3 mistakes in a row at the start of the 3rd qtr and then get's KO'ed, karma is a bitch.

* Now on to my mate Eagle. Good teams do there home work and Hawthorn gave him no room to move on his left and he was down right embarrassing.

* As we do when we are struggling we started bombing the ball into an out-numbered & out-sized forwardline, it's just plain silly. Hold onto the ball until a option present's and if one doesn't hug the boundary.

* Ryan Griffen is a bloody good kid, he busted his arse and he tried hard to break the game open. Hope he is confident amongst the group because he should be our next captain.

* Our tactics were bemusing, we picked an attacking team, but played defensively. Did he pick the right team to carry out his instrustions? I suppose do we have the right players to carry out these instructions?

* Hahn was terrible, just like the Geelong game where he was ineffective. Rumours that he wa sinjured, but he gave us nothing.

It was a similiar story to too many of our performances in finals over the years. The group showed some great resolve through the first half of the year and will need to draw back on those experiences to get us up for this week's game.

We simply have to show some fight this week because if we don't there are going to be some serious questions to the future of this playing group. We have some great talent coming through, but our senior core have to stand up and lead the way this week, they just have to.

[LostDoggy]

Re: What went wrong.

Ok so I am a sadist and have just finished watching a replay of the game. It was about as much fun as going to the dentist and I actually have healthy teeth, but it still sucks.

Here are a few observations I made:

* When we ran out, through the warm-up and the national anthem we look scared. There was no confidence in our players appearance, we, as Eade mentioned looked over-awed.

I noticed this. During the national anthem, we did look scared. Did you see how the Hawks stood? Like a team, and they were united.

I think the national anthem reflected the whole game. They stood and played like a team, we stood and played like individuals, not one individual achieving much (Griffen though, was alright).

[BulldogBelle]

Re: What went wrong.

Seemed as though most of Eade's tactics all went wrong.

He put Akermanis on Rioli, this was a waste of Akermanis. Soon as Akermanis went to the forward line we kicked goals.

Morris on Franklyn was a disaster. Lake was a far better opponent. Lake is taller, a better mark than Morris and also gets into Franklyn's face. Should have been Lake on Franklyn with maybe Shaggy filling in holes.

We tried to play on at all costs. Bob Murphy started doing this successfully at the start of the year but teams are wise to him now and all of his play-ones came unstuck. Bad move, should have spotted up a player instead of trying to bomb it in. Too slow to change.

We tried to play on through the midfield. Make it our own, but pressure led to poor hand-balls and poor decisions. Turn-over galore. The team should be taking the best option and not a programmed strategy. The best option is sometimes to kick wildly forward instead of a chancy handball when in trouble.

Higgins should not have played, he doesn't deserve a spot. has done nothing. Lot of talk of how good he could be but that's all. Better off with Skipper providing a permanent tall option up forward. can also change in the ruck with Minson.

Tacking was not good. When we were winning games at the start of the season we were tackling fiercely.

There are a few players who need a good kick up the bum. Eade - I don't think that he has the IQ for tactics.

Players have not been encouraged to use their best skill assets, with the exception perhaps of Griffen. He likes breaking tackles and running. Often he can gain 100 meters in one exchange with a run and kick. What of the running and dodging talents of Murphy, Ray, Gilbey and AKA. All seem to be stifled. The fantastic marking talents of Hill were not exploited.

There are other poor strategies and coaching decisions that I'm sure others have noticed.

[Mantis]

Re: What went wrong.

1.Seemed as though most of Eade's tactics all went wrong.

2.He put Akermanis on Rioli, this was a waste of Akermanis. Soon as Akermanis went to the forward line we kicked goals.

3.Morris on Franklyn was a disaster. Lake was a far better opponent. Lake is taller, a better mark than Morris and also gets into Franklyn's face. Should have been Lake on Franklyn with maybe Shaggy filling in holes.

4. We tried to play on at all costs. Bob Murphy started doing this successfully at the start of the year but teams are wise to him now and all of his play-ones came unstuck. Bad move, should have spotted up a player instead of trying to bomb it in. Too slow to change.

5.We tried to play on through the midfield. Make it our own, but pressure led to poor hand-balls and poor decisions. Turn-over galore. The team should be taking the best option and not a programmed strategy. The best option is sometimes to kick wildly forward instead of a chancy handball when in trouble.

6.Higgins should not have played, he doesn't deserve a spot. has done nothing. Lot of talk of how good he could be but that's all. Better off with Skipper providing a permanent tall option up forward. can also change in the ruck with Minson.

1. Yes they did. He had a poor night.

2. Certainly was. Callan should have played on him, perhaps even Harbrow who performed quite well at Willi during the year in defence. Perhaps we could have played more tahn 5 defenders so we had some flexibility.

3. Yes it was, as soon as the 50 was cleared out a move had to be made. It was like lamb's to the slaughter. Felt sorry for Morris as he should never had been in that situation.

4. Yeah he does it far to often and it's lost it's effect.

5. It's what happens when you have poorly skilled players in pressure situautions.

6. Agree, did nothing in his 2 games back. Big questions marks on his future, but I suppose he is learning his trade from a few like player's, whatever that means...

[1eyedog]

Re: What went wrong.

Ok so I am a sadist and have just finished watching a replay of the game. It was about as much fun as going to the dentist and I actually have healthy teeth, but it still sucks.

Here are a few observations I made:

* When we ran out, through the warm-up and the national anthem we look scared. There was no confidence in our players appearance, we, as Eade mentioned looked over-awed.

* Our skill error's get to a point of almost being amusing. **** me, how many times did we hand the ball to the opposition on a platter. Gia, Eagleton (I'll get to him later), Ray, Cross, Murf, Higgins the list goes on. Not good enough boys, shit they only train every second day to play in games like these and when we get there we freeze.

* Too many of our player's go to ground in the contest, again not good enough.

* Our captain can't impose himself on the game when we are struggling. He started off very well on Guerra by leading into space, but then got involved in wrestling contests and was in-effective. His last qtr was typical, ran around in the back half picking up cheap kicks, but he was in good company with that one. Our leadership in general was and is poor when the chips are down.

* Higgins makes 3 mistakes in a row at the start of the 3rd qtr and then get's KO'ed, karma is a bitch.

* Now on to my mate Eagle. Good teams do there home work and Hawthorn gave him no room to move on his left and he was down right embarrassing.

* As we do when we are struggling we started bombing the ball into an out-numbered & out-sized forwardline, it's just plain silly. Hold onto the ball until a option present's and if one doesn't hug the boundary.

* Ryan Griffen is a bloody good kid, he busted his arse and he tried hard to break the game open. Hope he is confident amongst the group because he should be our next captain.

* Our tactics were bemusing, we picked an attacking team, but played defensively. Did he pick the right team to carry out his instrustions? I suppose do we have the right players to carry out these instructions?

* Hahn was terrible, just like the Geelong game where he was ineffective. Rumours that he wa sinjured, but he gave us nothing.

It was a similiar story to too many of our performances in finals over the years. The group showed some great resolve through the first half of the year and will need to draw back on those experiences to get us up for this week's game.

We simply have to show some fight this week because if we don't there are going to be some serious questions to the future of this playing group. We have some great talent coming through, but our senior core have to stand up and lead the way this week, they just have to.

This reeks of a real cop-out excuse to me from a coach who has no answer as to why the team performed the way they did. We smashed Collingwood in an Elimination final in 2006 in front of 10,000 more people at the same venue in a night game. We were even more outnumbered playing Collingwood than we were against Hawthorn. Doesn't make sense to me other than that the players were scared of quality opposition because of their recent poor form, however Eade has said time and again over the past 4 weeks that the players are confident in their ability.

[1eyedog]

Re: What went wrong.

1. Yes they did. He had a poor night.

2. Certainly was. Callan should have played on him, perhaps even Harbrow who performed quite well at Willi during the year in defence. Perhaps we could have played more tahn 5 defenders so we had some flexibility.

3. Yes it was, as soon as the 50 was cleared out a move had to be made. It was like lamb's to the slaughter. Felt sorry for Morris as he should never had been in that situation.

4. Yeah he does it far to often and it's lost it's effect.

5. It's what happens when you have poorly skilled players in pressure situautions.

6. Agree, did nothing in his 2 games back. Big questions marks on his future, but I suppose he is learning his trade from a few like player's, whatever that means...

That's just crazy. The kid has played what, 30 games, has suffered serious shoulder and ankle injuries over the past few years and has not had the opportunity to string 10-15 games together in that time. When he does so he will show his worth, but to suggest that his future is in question at this stage with the injuries he has had is naive and unfair.

[Mantis]

Re: What went wrong.

That's just crazy. The kid has played what, 30 games, has suffered serious shoulder and ankle injuries over the past few years and has not had the opportunity to string 10-15 games together in that time. When he does so he will show his worth, but to suggest that his future is in question at this stage with the injuries he has had is naive and unfair.

Maybe I am being harsh, but what type of player will he develop into?

He has showed the ability to finish in the past, but is a tad slow, doesn't look to have great endurance and is poor defensively. We need him to be a ball carrying midfielder and I'm not sure if he will or can fill that role.

And I am not just judging him on the past couple of weeks, that would be unfair, even for me.

[Bulldogs_6]

Re: What went wrong.

Everything went wrong pretty much.

[FrediKanoute]

Re: What went wrong.

That's just crazy. The kid has played what, 30 games, has suffered serious shoulder and ankle injuries over the past few years and has not had the opportunity to string 10-15 games together in that time. When he does so he will show his worth, but to suggest that his future is in question at this stage with the injuries he has had is naive and unfair.

I agree, Higgins just looks like a guy who has missed a heap of the season. He runs to rights spots and gets the ball, but his execution is missing b/c he is adjusting to the pace of the game. If West, Williams and Addison were available then I think Higgins wouldn't be playing, but there not and half a Higgo is better than some of the guys at Willi.

As for what type of player....if he turns into a Ben Cousins forward mid I'd be wrapped!

[LostDoggy]

Re: What went wrong.

Some good analysis here guys. Well done

One thing I will say is that if the team can't get themselves fired up this week after an embarassing performace in a final they simply never will. I'll reserve my judgment of this team until after Friday's game. Seems that the players know they can beat lesser teams but don't have the self belief against the top 2 teams.

[Mofra]

Re: What went wrong.

Maybe I am being harsh, but what type of player will he develop into?

He has showed the ability to finish in the past, but is a tad slow, doesn't look to have great endurance and is poor defensively. We need him to be a ball carrying midfielder and I'm not sure if he will or can fill that role.

I'm not sure he will be a ball-winning midfielder anytime soon, if he can;t string games together how will he develop the cardiovascular required to play midfielde rin more than bursts? He probably doesn't have the explosive pace of a Griffen to play in bursts.
His finishing seems to be his best asset and he's decent overhead for his size. Probably more a Shannon Grant type.

[1eyedog]

Re: What went wrong.

Maybe I am being harsh, but what type of player will he develop into?

He has showed the ability to finish in the past, but is a tad slow, doesn't look to have great endurance and is poor defensively. We need him to be a ball carrying midfielder and I'm not sure if he will or can fill that role.

And I am not just judging him on the past couple of weeks, that would be unfair, even for me.

I would like to be optimistic about him and see him filling the void up forward left by the retirements of Johnson and Akermanis in the next 2 years. He certainly doesn't have the pace Johnson or Akermanis had in their youth as you stated, however he is a good lead up, has good hands, is creative and knows where the goals are. I think he will be sorely needed here until he develops enough to be thrown into the midfield rotations. Once again he won't be a quick midfielder but I can honestly see him being a Cousins type player. I'm not saying he will necessarily be as good as Cousins but he will do a similar job for us. He appears to have time when he gets the ball, has poise and as you stated finishes well, his deficiencies in the middle will be offset by his ability to kick goals, something Cousins did well. I see him playing an integral part in midfield rotations with Ward, Griffen and Cooney for the next 5-8 years.

[1eyedog]

Re: What went wrong.

I agree, Higgins just looks like a guy who has missed a heap of the season. He runs to rights spots and gets the ball, but his execution is missing b/c he is adjusting to the pace of the game. If West, Williams and Addison were available then I think Higgins wouldn't be playing, but there not and half a Higgo is better than some of the guys at Willi.

As for what type of player....if he turns into a Ben Cousins forward mid I'd be wrapped!

Sorry Fredi didn't read your post, I agree with the analogy here, but maybe I'm being a little too over optimistic.

[Go_Dogs]

Re: What went wrong.

I'm not sure he will be a ball-winning midfielder anytime soon, if he can;t string games together how will he develop the cardiovascular required to play midfielde rin more than bursts? He probably doesn't have the explosive pace of a Griffen to play in bursts.
His finishing seems to be his best asset and he's decent overhead for his size. Probably more a Shannon Grant type.

He'd be no slower than a Bartel, or Jordan Lewis I wouldn't have thought. Not super quick, but quick enough.

I think he will play his best football as a midfielder, and I would be making sure he is fit enough (and hopefully he has a big of luck on the injury front) to play midfield next year. Yes, he has a little bit of work to do on certain aspects of his game, but if he can develop an elite fitness base, I think his work rate will look much better.

If we can have a midfield with Cooney, Griffen and Higgins next year, to compliment Cross and Boyd, we'll be looking pretty good.

Cal Ward will be another, but it is probably unfair to expect him to play the bulk of next season in the midfield.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Re: What went wrong.

I think the Shannon Grant comparison is the most accurate for Higgins.

The only resemblence to Cousins is that he looks vaguely like him. As midfielders they're as different as you would get.