Autopsy Round 13 = Melbourne 66-62 Collingwood

[unplugged]

I was at the game and unfortunately may have had a few too many beers and couldn't really analyse what happened until today.

Seemed to be just a step off the pace all game, killed on the spread. Pressured into kicking long against May and Lever which isn't what we've done against them in recent years.

Hopefully it's just a down game, lacking personnel, and illness.

And an adjustment we have to make for the next 2 games not having JDG. He's our best link-up and we struggled to link up!

 

[Vicky Park]

We lost five games in 2010. Therefore we can lose another three games.

When I got to the ground yesterday there were bad omens everywhere - in the form of happy Dees supporters in the Members. The more they smiled and encouraged each other, the less confident I became. A sense of gloom descended over me, and verily it came to pass.

I posted during the week that it would be hard to cover our mounting losses of key players - Sidey, JDG, Elliott. Add to that the erratic form of others, the mysterious late withdrawal of Ginni, the underdone Lippa, and a perfect storm formed. We played some of our worst footy for the year and bizarrely only lost by four points.

Melbourne out-planned and out-played us, and congrats to them.

Feeling very flat, but a loss now at the very least releases the pressure valve of an unbroken run of wins - if that makes sense.

And another thing - what’s with the posters who, after a loss, go from thread to thread to toss a toy out of the cot? Every player who was down today cops a spray during the tantrums. Even former captains who’ve played over 300 mostly marvellous games cop it. Sad.

 

[neilk]

Well I was thinking it might end up with me setting up a GoFundMe page, if only I was taller and stronger.

Had this terrible Melbourne supporter (4 of them but one was really a nutcase) in front of me who was already half under the weather before the game and after 6 cans was getting worse. Turning around really in my face and although none of you know me I hardly yell at the footy, too involved in who is playing where and the tactics of the game.

Would stand up and yell things like, the premiership is not played in June, colliwobbles (sigh), losers, we are the champions and more that I can't remember. I was so ready to respond but only to told him to sit down as I couldn't see and also my grand-daughter told me not to respond.

I so hate Melbourne, have never been to a game against them when I haven't had those type of supporters around me.

Had a similar guy in Q18. Was ready to turn around and tell him to STFU but resisted the temptation.

 

[stormskye]

We lost five games in 2010. Therefore we can lose another three games.

When I got to the ground yesterday there were bad omens everywhere - in the form of happy Dees supporters in the Members. The more they smiled and encouraged each other, the less confident I became. A sense of gloom descended over me, and verily it came to pass.

I posted during the week that it would be hard to cover our mounting losses of key players - Sidey, JDG, Elliott. Add to that the erratic form of others, the mysterious late withdrawal of Ginni, the underdone Lippa, and a perfect storm formed. We played some of our worst footy for the year and bizarrely only lost by four points.

Melbourne out-planned and out-played us, and congrats to them.

Feeling very flat, but a loss now at the very least releases the pressure valve of an unbroken run of wins - if that makes sense.

And another thing - what’s with the posters who, after a loss, go from thread to thread to toss a toy out of the cot? Every player who was down today cops a spray during the tantrums. Even former captains who’ve played over 300 mostly marvellous games cop it. Sad.

It’s the same regular few. I get a chuckle out of it tbh. We are primed for a big second half with some players coming back.

 

[unplugged]

Going very early with this one but HH has every chance of exceeding Oliver Henry's career

 

[Roverjg]

100% agree on Cox

The problem was he could be in two positions at once. He had to go into the ruck as Cameron was off twice with the blood rule. Frampton was needed on Van Ruyen (I thought he did well on). This is why McStay is vital to our structure. For the visitor to blame the loss on WHE is harsh when there were so many mistakes that cost us. If WHE had kickex the goal then there was no guarantee that we would have kicked the 2 later goals.

On SM-N975F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Cyclops]

Grundy was always going to play a huge game and he ran his guts out for the Dees: he was so fired up he actually stuffed up his first few touches.

They are a fair dinkum hard side and they have added hard running: Luke Jackson

9

Luke Jackson

Age

22

Ht

199cm

Wt

102kg

Pos.

F/R

Career

Season

Last 5

D

8.3

2star

K

3.3

1star

HB

5.0

4star

M

1.5

2star

T

1.0

3star

G

0.3

3star

D

8.3

2star

K

3.3

1star

HB

5.0

3star

M

1.5

2star

T

1.0

2star

G

0.3

3star

D

8.3

3star

K

3.3

2star

HB

5.0

4star

M

1.5

2star

T

1.0

3star

G

0.3

3star

was essentially a weaker and fatter version of Grundy so they have definitely upgraded.

Melbourne plays hard finals style footy, or at least they did yesterday. They bashed us up a bit too, fair play to them. Not sure why Cox was upset after the siren, maybe we wont know.

We can improve, so can they, we know who the likely opposition is if we are lucky enough to make the Grand Final. Rest, reset, go again.

 

[Roverjg]

I don't think anyone's saying that no-one else makes errors, or that defenders are more or less prone to errors. There are players whose decision making and ability to execute under pressure is far better than others (i.e. Darcy Moore) - Noble in my opinion makes more errors than our other backs, particularly when the pressure is dialled up.

As I posted earlier, Markov is worth exploring as an alternative. He also provides run and carry and seems to know his limitations.

We won't know though if certain players are immune to criticism or seen in a particular light by some who perceive him to be a 'past whipping boy'.

The very good players do the ordinary extremely well. As you mentioned Markov seems to play well within his limitations. Noble & Adams a lot of times burn the first (and mostly better) option only to turn it over

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[76woodenspooners]

The Good

• HH continues to develop in front of our eyes. IMO he’s overtaken Reef.
• Having Lippa back, he did some nice things
• I thought Crisp had one of his better games
• Nick is going from strength to strength
• Our team knows how to keep the adrenaline flowing right up until the final siren.
• Getting a bunch of players back cherry ripe in the weeks following the bye.

The Bad

* Maybe it was the loss we needed to have

The Ugly

* I wouldn’t mind if I never had to listen to another BT commentary again. Calling the game over with around 4 minutes to play - I wish we’d won just to make him look like the idiot he is.

 

[legendstatus]

People saying we only lost by 4 points with half a team out or we lost because WHE missed a goal straight in front in the last Q are kidding themselves. This should have been a 10 goal loss - what stopped this from being so was Melbourne's goal-kicking. Melbourne dominated everything....
Hit Outs 46-25
Clearances 33/29
Shots on Goal 29/17
I50 59/49
Tackles I50 17/4
Marks I50 15/7

McInnes & Johnson failed to make a marking contest/ bring the ball to ground. We continually kicked it to May or Lever and anybody would think Salem had COVID as nobody played within the same postcode as him. Beau played his worst game for the year & pressure in the forward line was non-existent. 4 tackles I50 for the entire game

The deterioration in Cameron's goal kicking has coincided with him playing more ruck time. He cannot jump & once again failed to neutralise a ruck contest. His hack kicks resulted in multiple turnover's'. His marking remains a strength

Our midfield was made to look slow, and we could not lay a tackle. we really missed JDG today

IQ, Moore, Frampton & Titch were good. Bruzz was solid but was let down with poor disposal

The bye couldn't have come at a better time. Hopefully the coaching team can take a lot of learnings from today's game

That’s one way of looking at it

The other way was we defended well and a lot went wrong for us and ended up being only 4 pts to a team with not many players out?

 

[Lifelong Pie]

The problem was he could be in two positions at once. He had to go into the ruck as Cameron was off twice with the blood rule. Frampton was needed on Van Ruyen (I thought he did well on). This is why McStay is vital to our structure. For the visitor to blame the loss on WHE is harsh when there were so many mistakes that cost us. If WHE had kickex the goal then there was no guarantee that we would have kicked the 2 later goals.

On SM-N975F using BigFooty.com mobile app

That's right about if whe kicks the goal it doesn't mean we get the other two, it's the same with Melbourne kicking so many points, if they kick the goal the ball goes back to the middle and the whole game changes, without watching a replay it felt like we really struggled to get the ball out of their fwd line so they probably got a lot of points from the ball always being in there, they still kicked poorly but those saying we should have lost by ten goals are full of crap.

 

[Vicky Park]

* I wouldn’t mind if I never had to listen to another BT commentary again. Calling the game over with around 4 minutes to play - I wish we’d won just to make him like like the idiot he is.

BT is a dinosaur. I was at the game so I’m not sure if those watching the coverage heard his introductions to the sliders. He’d obviously done his research, and had some interesting facts and insights into each slider’s career. But it was delivered in such an obsequious tone, with BT slavering over each one. I was squirming in my seat. Embarrassing.

 

[cwoodgal]

I would like to see fly give Cox more ruck time then Darcy. We just look better when he takes the ruck. I also thought having WHE in the forward line in that last quarter instead of Cox didn’t help much either.

I’m so grateful we have Moore and Q down back keeping it together and continuing to play their guts out. Also as much as I’ve been down on Elliot this year, he was badly missed yesterday for forward pressure.


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[Finnishpie]

I find the biggest problem is kicking long down the wing. Only to have opposition rucks or talls mark it and rebound. Over and over and over and over. It's Buckley football and not good enough in September.
It's mind numbing frustrating football

Yeah totally. Melbourne forced us to do that though -- their system is the perfect counter to ours. That's why I think we need to evolve a bit more. It's fingers crossed that McStay can be the player we hope because I think he might need to be the piece of the puzzle -- a hard worker who can mark down the line.

Sorry Johnson, but that means you might be out.

 

[Finnishpie]

Why shouldn't Lippa have played? He kicked 2 goals and now has a full game under his belt ..

Just felt we would have done better with one of the players from the VFL who is battle hardened.

The fact you mention he "now has a full game under his belt" tells me it was an issue. Not a huge one but one of several on the day.

 

[Finnishpie]

who would you have given a game to ahead of Lipinski that would have performed better.

I'd have played Macrae in the middle to replace DeGoey (swapping with Adams who needed more support).

 

[unplugged]

Gee there were some ridiculous decisions being made by the boys yesterday.

Maybe we didn't have any forwards in position but Noble going the unnecessary handball in the middle and turning it over for a Dees goal. We were out.

WHE missing a sitter... if he kicks that maybe we get momentum earlier than the final 2 mins and we're a chance.

Can't believe Reef didn't get a kick away.

Played like s**t and still nearly won. Nothing to see here at this stage.

 

[Chrispiesssss]

I find the biggest problem is kicking long down the wing. Only to have opposition rucks or talls mark it and rebound. Over and over and over and over. It's Buckley football and not good enough in September.
It's mind numbing frustrating football

I can’t remember one instance of kicking the ball through the corridor.

 

[Kes1984]

Was at the game yesterday. Now watching the replay this morning. About have way through the first quarter, we’re still on top. I don’t mean on the scoreboard which we were, but I mean in the contests. We were running. Applying pressure. What on earth happened?
Why did we have no run after quarter time?
I know it gets used as an excuse a lot but regardless of what fly said, they looked silent after quarter time which I feel could be explained by immune response to fighting off viruses. Even if not actually sick, when your body is fighting off a virus, you’ll be taxed.
We had a 9 day break. Even if coming off a Perth trip, it shouldn’t be that.
Did we take in unfit players? We did cop a few injuries in Perth.
I’m also very keen for McStay to come back. I wonder what sort of a difference he will make.
Biggest issue is when we can’t play our way. Teams that can shut us down then force us to just kick long to packs and we seem to come off second best.
We need a plan B if teams are learning how to shut us down.

 

[Kes1984]

on a shocking side note, I don’t think the umpiring affected the result yesterday! Don’t think there was anything terribly notable.

 

[Kes1984]

I would like to see fly give Cox more ruck time then Darcy. We just look better when he takes the ruck. I also thought having WHE in the forward line in that last quarter instead of Cox didn’t help much either.

I’m so grateful we have Moore and Q down back keeping it together and continuing to play their guts out. Also as much as I’ve been down on Elliot this year, he was badly missed yesterday for forward pressure.


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Totally agree. I admit I’ve been a bit underwhelmed by Elliot this year but that’s mainly his set shot kicking.
I totally see how much he does around the ground. The pressure he applies is exceptional and it was missed.

 

[riddick78]

Can't win em all.

Never did I feel we were in control of the game; not even in the first quarter when we had a lead. Just didn't feel like a confident lead, and turns out it wasn't. We were off, didn't play the way we knew we could.

Melbourne were clearly the better side on the day and if we had stolen that, it's what it would have been.. a steal.

Lets hope it is the loss we needed to have. We haven't really been playing 4 quarters of good football lately, and almost limping to the bye. So the break probably comes at a good time when they can refresh, then start again next week.

I'm not sure why there is critiques of Lippa playing. He admitted he was a bit nervous at first, but I thought he had a good first game. Especially given it's his first proper game since the prelim, and first compeitive game since feb. He'll be happy to have gotten through that.
Needs to play a bit higher up the ground though, as he is being wasted in the F50. We had no connection between mids and forwards, and that's what he provides.

The game today was a real focal of why we recruited Mcstay. Nobody could mark or create a contest up forward, or down the line. For someone his size. Cox kept getting outmarked when he shoudn't have.
Checkers.. was off, being forced to do it all himself, he is one that benefits from Mcstay being in the team.

HH, very solid 2nd game in his career. I think we might have found one here. Not only is he a nice kid, but has some real footy smarts. Could have easily kicked from 50, but instead found Cox closer to goal.
12 Disposals @ 100% EFF 3 tackles. 4 score involvements. His pressure was good as well.

It was a very high pressure game, and they just put the heat on and we just weren't able to handle it. It was an almost finals like game with the way it was played. We are 11-2, I think we can survive a loss here and there. it's not the end of the world.

Now we take a breath, and then go again for the 2nd half of the year.

Stop talking so much sense.

That was very smart of HH (the bolded part), i was right in front of that play and showed some very good footy smarts.

I thought Lippa and HH were very servicable and are better for the run.

I guess some supporters have gotten used to winning, they really can't handle losing. As you said, you can't win them all.

Maybe I'm being harsh and I understand people being frustrated, but I was disappointed to see some of our fans leave early today.

It just seems a little mind-blowing to me that fans would leave early for a team that's renowned for late comebacks.

It's very disappointing to see, the supporters that were around me were giving it to them.

 

[sr36]

Very different game style, but they ultimately did what we do to teams - they outnumbered us at the contest over and over again. Sideys combination of KMs and knowing where to run were sorely missed.

 

[ElliottsMaggies]

Just felt we would have done better with one of the players from the VFL who is battle hardened.

The fact you mention he "now has a full game under his belt" tells me it was an issue. Not a huge one but one of several on the day.

No it's not an issue he has a game under his belt...it means he has now played a full game on his return from injury. And he kicked 2 goals.

 

[Anzacday]

Noble also never, ever gives up. He never hangs his head after making a mistake, he just keeps going. He's one of those players who when he does make a few errors seems to really cop the ire of some supporters. He's saved us many, many times too.

I think some of the criticism might come from those watching on TV.
Countless times he leaves his man, (like Murphy) to impact a contest.
If he happens to fumble or make a mistake that is the focus.
The fact that the opposition might’ve had 2 or 3 loose players out the back is not known.