Carlton v Fremantle : Game Summary

[mojo31]

Quarter 1

Shocking coverage of the game. Hard to pick everyone up and no tactics spoken about or likely matchups. Just about Freo and Fevola is the extent of “special comments”.

Carlton back 6:
Thornton / Pav
Livo/McPharlin
Lance / Longmuir
Lappin/Dodd
,McGrath/ Medhurst
Walker/Farmer

Kouta/
Betts/Schammer
Fev/Johnson
Deluca/Parker
Waite/Grover
Murphy, Black


French/Sandilands
Carrazzo/Carr
Scotland/McManus
Stevens/Crowley a tight tag
Centre Square: French, Carrazzo, Scotland , Stevens. Wings Simpson and Houlihan

Scrappy start.

Ball up in Freo’s forward line. Tapped forward by Sandilands. Stevens trailing Crowley (his opponent who is tagging him) and lets him get goal side and run forward. Runs onto the ball (2 Dockers players he could handball to as well) and Lappin leaves Dodd and bumps him instead of tackling. Crowley bounces off and of course Stevens if he was on his hammer would have been able to apply a tackle. But he is not and Crowley snaps an easy goal.

Poor play from Stevens and Lappin. You have to silence the crowd if you can and letting them get an easy goal like that is exactly the way you make it hard for yourself.

Goal to Crowley.
Freo 6 Carlton 0


Centre Bounce

Houlihan comes in for Carrazzo and is on Carr.
Houlihan about to pick the ball up. Medhurst sees the ball but decides to take the man. Arm tucked in but his shoulder hits Houlihan in the head. Heavy contact from Medhurst who is a very powerful and stocky unit for his height. Houlihan dazed and slightly concussed.
Ball on the wing. Dropped mark from Houla who has got up but is not 100% yet. Follows up and handpasses to Stevens who hits Murphy. Marc plays on right away and hits Fev with a good pass. Tough angle but Fev kicks it.

Fev goal.
Freo 6 Carlton 6.

Centre Bounce

Kouta comes in for Stevens. Bell in for Freo.

Fev gets cut after diving for a mark. Murphy is knocked down. Freo making a statement here and the senior players are not up to the task for Carlton.
AW goes for a run and drills an exquisite pass inside to Simpson who drops it.
Ball swept down by Freo and spoilt by Lance. Lappin kicks under pressure and is punched back by Freo with Headland running onto it and an easy goal.

Goal to Headland
Freo 12 Carlton 6

Centre Bounce

Stevens in for Kouta. Freo win the clearance but Walker sweeps it up. Great run from him and a bullet to Kouta. Kicks it high to Betts……. Poor decision.
Another high kick to Betts later. …………

Point to Dodd. Getting killed around the ground now is Carlton. Better movement after the kick in. Bentick hits Deluca who goes to ground and drops it. Kouta picks it up and from 45m out he kicks straight but its touched on the line. Should have drawn the man and given to Murphy.

Fev pushing back to help out. Great sign for the Fev. Simpson hits Murphy who hits Kouta. Good lead from Waite. However its kicked over his head to the trailing Grover and a turnover. Switches to Black and then McManus who is all over Scotland in this quarter. Chip it around and ends up with a snap from Farmer who kicks it out on the full. Lappin goes to switch but kicks it to Pav who kicks an easy goal.

Goal to Pav
Fremantle 19 Carlton 6.

Scotland, Stevens, Lappin and Kouta (for his turnovers and decision making) are who are not chasing, tackling and being accountable and why we are getting smashed.

Centre Bounce

McManus on Kouta now. Black and Scotland. Houlihan and Bell. Getting smashed around the clearances and Freo win another one. Livo relaxes on McPharlin and assumes he will mark but he drops it. Kick to Pav who is matched by Thornton in the body work (terrific sign for him). Umpire decides to give a free kick against Lappin to Dodd. Players have no idea what its for (on both sides). Umpire maybe does not like Lappin and his haircut perhaps and is making a political statement? Number 31 is the umpire. Looking for some instant gratification from the Freo crowd in front of goal it seems. Medhurst throws a jumper punch at McGrath. You have to love the bloke really (Medhurst). Absolute champion player and bloke. Soon he will actually go and win the ball and put his head over it. 5 years in the AFL and I am sure he will get his first hard ball get sometime soon. Nice play on Houlihan and Murphy from him. The young Carlton side do not have enough strong leaders and players with mongrel in our senior group to make a players like Medhurst think twice about these sort of things.

Goal to Dodd (because number 31 umpire says so).
Freo 25 Carlton 7

Centre Bounce

Bentick in now. Should have been in there earlier. Carr pushes Kouta too easily and wins the clearance. Marked by AW. Farmer not in the marking contest decides to grab Andrew. Then holds on for 5 seconds. Umpire comes in and asks Farmer to let go. Terrific umpiring there. I guess Jeff does not know the rules and so its okay to do that.
Switches to Lance who hits Murphy but he drops it. Mundy sweeps it up and hits M Carr who delivers to my favourite in Medhurst who plays on and kicks an easy goal.

Goal to Medhurst.
Freo 31 Carlton 7.

Centre Bounce

Clearance by French. Waite competes hard and brings it down with 3 opponents. Walker picks up the spill and kicks a low hard flat pass to Fev who is behind his opponent and gives Fev an arm chair ride to mark it. Fev marks and converts.
Andrew had nothing on and was going to chip sideways but ran forward and really penetrated with his kick. Great decision making and skill even with Freo having a flood on he backed his skill in and is showing composure and confidence.

Goal to Fev.
Carlton 13 Freo 31.

Centre Bounce

French goes too early and gives a free. Thornton marks and switches to Carrazzo and AW cruises past and hits Stevens with another bullet. Handpasses to Scotland who decides to drift along and touches the ball down and is promptly run down and its holding the ball. There is that lack of intensity again from Scotland that he needs to get out of his game. Farmer then stands over him and Scotland holds his leg and Jeff gets himself a “well deserved 50m penalty”. The umpires are being sucked in here.
I am sure Walker is very happy with Scotland for gifting his opponent a goal.
Game is over now already with our lack of accountability through the midfield and lack of a physical presence and leadership. I am talking about Kouta, Stevens and Scotland and Lappin down back. Mistakes, not enough chasing, no pressure and a couple of incidents resulting in Carlton players being hit resulted in not 1 of our senior players deciding to make a statement. These games are won between the ears and the message we are sending to Freo is that we will play fair football and if you hit us we will wear it and forget about it. They have nothing to fear if they over step the mark. Our young players can be targeted if a team wants and our senior blokes are not going to defend them.

Goal to Farmer
Fremantle 37 Carlton 13.

Scotland off.

Centre Bounce

Getting tighter in the square now. More pressure but the horse has bolted already. Ball is muscled forward by Freo and Simpson has pushed back and rebounds out but kicks poorly and it is turned over. Chain of quick kicks and Crowley kicks a long goal.

Goal to Crowley
Fremantle 43 Carlton 13.

Centre Bounce

Longmuir wins the tap. Big mass of players now and its accountable contested football now and what it should have been from the first bounce. Bentick is helping around the ball with his clearance work and hardness. Carrazzo feeds it out to Murphy who shows pace and centres it but Freo have numbers back and run it out. McLaren stands under the ball and Medhurst again shows how “brave and tough” he is by cannoning into his back.

Scrappy now and exactly the game we want instead of an open attacking affair. Sporn has come on and looks lively.

End of the quarter and Medhurst ends up with the ball and true to character throws it at McGrath who is on his knees after the siren sounds.

The game is over now. The lack of hardness and accountability has cost us around the ball. You cant have Scotland, Stevens and Kouta in the square all at once and especially against Sandilands. It is asking for trouble and we look a lot better with Bentick who wont run forward of the ball and will lock it in and apply pressure. Even Sporn has shown up some others. Actually playing tight and waiting for the tap instead of pushing forward and hoping and then not working back.
This game needed to be 2 goals a piece at quarter time and a real scrap. Then work our way into the game after that with Freo then having some doubts. Instead we attacked to much and now its all over. Crowd are in it and some of the Blues kids are overawed.

 

[mojo31]

2nd Quarter


Simpson in the square with Stevens and Scotland. Better mix. Scotland wins the clearance but butchers his kick. As does Deluca when 55m out who barely kicks 40m and Fev has Carr standing as a spare man but cant get there. Mundy pushes Deluca under the ball. Mundy is a very good young player but at his size and inexperience Deluca should be able to hold his ground.
Ball kicked to Deluca on the wing. Goes to turn inside and is shut down by Mundy who owns him in the air and on the ground. That’s the problem with Deluca when he gets a flanker sized opponent he cant out body them and use his height and size. Then gets crushed on the ground by more nimble opponents. Until he can command a key position size defender who he might be able to turn around then he is never going to be any value. That is not going to happen until he starts smashing packs and taking a few contested marks and kicking goals. He needs to be a Brendon Lade type who is smart with his leading and has good hands and takes a good mark overhead and then can ruck a little as well. Deluca cannot do any of that at this stage but that’s what he should be aiming for. It’s the hands overhead that is where he struggles.

Ball swept downfield to easily and McPharlin takes a strong mark with Livo right on him.

Goal to McPharlin.
Carlton 14 Freo 50.

Centre Bounce

More pressure now. Even across the ground but our use is terrible going forward. Betts is ineffective tonight. Parker keeps out bodying him away from the ball and his tackles are constantly being broken due to his lack of body strength. He is good when running players down who are not aware but when they see him front on they break his arm tackles easily.
Some great play from Murphy who kicks to the advantage side of Fev who takes a mark on the wing. Then runs on and Fev floats a kick over and Murphy runs on and centres 20m out which is spoilt but Simpson crumbs the ball but misses the snap.
Marc and Fev had nothing on but worked there way through that. Very good piece of thinking and Murphy continues to show his football smarts.
Dropped mark from Scotland leads to a quick rebound and a shot from McPharlin who misses.
Sloppy kick out and it’s a goal from McParlin after a poor kick from Bentick. Livo has been quite good on him and been with him every step of the way but the pressure from the Carlton midfield has not been good enough. McPharlin is getting on top now though.

Goal to McPharlin.
Fremantle 57 Carlton 16

Centre Bounce

Freo win the clearance and Sporn drops an easy mark. McPharlin tries to bust through but a senior player decides to make a tackle stick and Lappin gets him for holding the ball. No real leading targets for Carlton coming out of the D50. That’s exactly where Fisher would be pushing right up to the wing and then allowing Waite to stay at CHF and Fev deep forward and Deluca as the tall long option. At the moment we are forced into pushing 1 of those guys to far uo the ground and losing our structure.
Fisher is basically a flanker who gives us midfielder endurance and presents and will either mark or bring the ball to ground. Superb hands and motor for his height and allows Waite and Fev to hold the structure together.
Sporn makes position and gives an option as the square up kick. Waite kicks it to him and he immediately plays on and kicks long to Fev who has the lighter Johsnson on him and outmarks him with his superior strength.
Some good running from Sporn there and Waite also presented well. Its not Waites day but he is still trying even when the ball is kicked over his head. Like I said we are one tall mobile target down from what we really need for the structure to be right.

Goal to Fev.
Carlton 22 Freo 57.

Centre Bounce


French off now and McLaren is on for the tap out. Free kick to Dylan who passes to McGrath who hits Fev 55m out near the boundary line. Kicks from 58m out, clears the man on the mark, the players on the goal line and just lands before the fence. Right over the goal umpires head. No groin troubles for Fev this year and the kicks are high and long now. Superb kick near the end of the half on the big ground where he has done a power of work. Very few players can consistently kick goals from 55m out and Fev is one of them.

Goal to Fev
Carlton 28 Freo 57.

Centre Bounce

Scrappy again. Freo force it forward. McParlin is giving Livo the run around but he is sticking well to his task on the quicker man. A couple of times he has been out of the contest but retained composure and stayed with McParlin and got a hand on him and affected the kick or disrupted play. But McPharlin is learning that playing Livo out of the square is a mistake and is moving up the ground and leading at angkles and making Livo move sideways and turn him around. On a straight lead over 20m Livo is good but it’s a different proposition when the lead is longer and its lateral and Livo has to turn around and change direction. Livo sags off when Farmer gets the ball on the boundary line and kicks to McPharlin who takes a low mark and goals. Luke has been worn down here just before half time. Too much weight of possession for the Freo midfield.
Not really his fault but that was mistake there and with cover behind he needed to be right up on his opponent. He has tried hard but his lack of agility and endurance means a forward who can turn him around and lead right up the ground will gain the edge.

Goal to McPharlin
Freo 63 Carlton 28

Centre Bounce

Freo win the tap and the clearance.
Carlton very tired now and Freo are running the last bit out better. Crowley is on his own again. Played a very good game and has speed and penetration in his kicking and has given Stevens an absolute bath in the first half.
Gets a mark and passed to Headland who is 40m out converts

Goal to Headland.
Freo 70 Carlton 28. Half time.

 

[mojo31]

3rd Quarter

Grover has been moved onto Fev and is a better matchup and is a strong unit for his height (like Fev). Whats with coaches “teaching” tall skinny kids how to play KPP on powerful forwards. Anyone see the young Hawthorn twig get destroyed on Rocca and watching Johnson it would have been something similar and the only thing saving it was a dominant midfield from Freo. How about some reserves football and some gym work and then work on the third tall forward? How about that as a way to develop them. Adam Hartlett, Paul Bower, Jake Edwards are getting that sort of treatment instead of being asked to play when they are not ready (either injuries, fitness or size reasons). What would I know anyway I suppose.

Easy clearance to Freo. Bell follows in off the square (he is on the wing) and gets eaSy possession. His opponent in Simpson was hanging back a little. Small lesson for Kade to push harder in off the square.
Ball kicked forward and rebounded by Carlton and Kouta should have got a 50m penalty but not paid. Kicked llong forward and Betts is out of sorts and just getting in players ways now. Fev kicks the ball off the ground from a tap out and narrowly misses, To say the Fev is sharp is an understatement. 1 out he has destroyed Johnson and the only time he is beaten is when its kicked over his head. Got M Carr standing in front of him for most of the game blocking his way but still is effective and working hard.
When Kennedy is ready to go at CHF and Fisher back in the team Fev is going to dominate if he keeps this form up for the year.

Freo starting to over possess the ball but Deluca is there to over run the ball and give them another opportunity. Sandilands goals.

Goal to Sandilands.
Freo 76 Carlton 29

Centre Bounce

Stevens drops a sitter. Sporn continuing to really work hard sweeps it up and finds Kouta who passes to Deluca. Time for some think music …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
He decides to wait until Fev has 2 opponents and then kicks it right on his head. Maybe find another option or kick it immediately to Fev before the loose man gets time to flood back?
Fev competes hard against 2 but and is the first to react when the ball hits the ground and soccers off the ground for a point. Really added to his repertoire has Fev and is dangerous when the ball has spilt and is quick to react in both of the games this year.

Some good hands from Houlihan who picks up under pressure and feeds Stevo who is tackled and forces it to Simpson who over runs it and it’s a ball up. Not happening for Kade tonight. Working hard but has made a few errors and has made it hard for himself. Ball up and a tap back behind him from Deluca and Bentick wins the ball with his opponent Josh Carr being blocked by Stevens. Quick kick and a fine goal from Bentick.
Superb set play there from Carlton.

Goal from Bentick
Carlton 36 Fremantle 76.

Centre Bounce

Carr and Stevens now head to head. Crowley switched onto Bentick.
Tap out and heads towards Simpsons wing. Has he pushed harder in this time? Yes he has and picks it up and those small little stutter steps which make players miss him and sends them in the wrong direction (Rigby League style). Exactly what we need some speed around the ball and what we have been missing with Stevens being well held. Hits Waite on the wing who looks up and kicks long to Fev on the open side and to his advantage. Fev leaps up and takes it with 3 players about to pounce if the kick was a bit off.
Both Jarred and Kade have not had great games but there effort and work rate has not dropped away. They have both made mistakes but there body language has been good and they are not having a go at other players, disputing umpiring decisions or sulking. They are continuing to try and present and I am pleased with that.

Goal to Fev.
Carlton 42 Fremantle 76.

Centre Bounce

Freo win the clearance but good spoil from Lappin and a great attack on the ball from French and draws a free. Honest as the day is long is Barnaby. Ball kicked in front of Dewluca who goes to ground. Johnson is on him now and is the right matchup for Freo. Deluca is continuing to go to ground under any sort of physical or “implied” pressure and it means he is of no use once he does. His opponent can get the ball or apply a block for someone else. Happened at least 5 times already. Keep your feet.
Ball of course is swept down the wing and kicked long to the square.
Punched over from Lance who now has McPharlin with Livo being over run late in the 2nd quarter.

Some appalling defensive work from Carlton who keep the ball alive down the boundary line and given an opportunity to put it over for a rushed behind (Scotland) they decide to dribble the ball 30m out from goal. McManus hits the post and a very lucky let off there. This stuff belongs down the other end and not in the defensive 50.
Lance kicks to Houla who kicks long. Deluca falls over again and I am seeing a a pattern here….
Pav gets a nice cheap kick on the wing. Great to see he has to come so far out on Thornton to pad his stats out. He kicks long and McPharlin is favoured but Lance pushes back hard and spoils him and butters up with the ball on the ground and handpasses at an angle to the boundary line as he is getting tackled. Good disguise there but the umpire is sucked in again because of the crowd and a few Freo players lining up for deliberate. If an umpire cant rise above that sort of thing then they have no feel for the game. Of course they will appeal for it but there was plenty of reasons not to pay that. At an angle and he was not facing the boundary line, it went slowly over and he was about to be tackled and was being spun as he did it. Pay that and pay 20 more in a game. Appalling decision.
Thank god it was only a point.

Walker turns it over after a kickin and kicks the ball a bit high. First mistake for the night from AW. The ball is kicked to Framer on the other side and he kicks a goal.

Farmer goal.
Fremantle 85 Carlton 42.

Centre Bounce

Good pressure around the ball from Carlton. Scrappy kicks forward and a superb punch from Thornton who knocks it 30m downfield. More possessions and sideways movement from Freo and Medhurst under a bit of pressure folds like a house of cards and gives the no look handpass and some strong tackling from Carlton and especially Waite and its holding the ball. Jarred is starting to exert a physical presence off the square now and its what we need. Can only imagine when Kennedy is ready how much he will benefit with JK being able to do the main bullockng work.
Unfortunately the kick from Waite falls short of a strong lead from Fev who battles and makes it a throw in at least.
Fev wins the tap but nobody is there and its an esy take away from Freo. McManus decides to handpass out in front and being a showpony. Sporn applies pressure and is tackled as he drags it back in and its holding the ball with McManus with his hand clearly on the ball with Sporn.
Umpire 31 again with a quality decision there. 1 player was doing a KB handpass and then holding the ball in and the umpire falls for it again.
McManus kicks behind himself and turns it over and Betts gets a free and hits Sporn who runs in and waits to be closed down and hits the oncoming player with his kick. Talk about no composure. More turnovers and Houilhan picks it up 50m out and settles and goals. Ryan is working very hard both ways now.

Goal to Houla.
Carlton 48 Freo 85.

McManus off for breaking every team rule possible.

Centre Bounce

Crowley wins the clearance and kicks an up and under. Marked by Scotland and Framer is 10m away. Runs in and applies an arm across Scotland. Umpire 31 is there as Jeff needs for the rule to be explained again to him. “You touch any player AFTER the mark is taken (and you are not in the marking contest) and it is an automatic 50m penalty. Jeff has needed the rule to be explained to him twice tonight. Very thoughtful of the umpire to conduct a class on it for his benefit.

Here is a thought. You APPLY the rules and then after they are awarded then you can explain. I will look up this umpire 31 later and see if he survives for next week.

Carlton force it forward with a rugby scrum and Stevens gets a shot on goal but floats it short. Freo float a kick back in and Schammer has to stand under it with Deluca coming in. Adrian spoils the ball but makes sure his knees and body contact Schammer and his back and ribs. Best piece of play all day from Deluca. Kill the ball and take the player out fairly.
Schammer has to come off after laying for a bit.

Framer takes a mark on the lead with no pressure from the Carlton midfield making it hard for AW. Lance marks the ball and goes to kick long and the ball comes off the side of his boot and goes 55m down the line and out. Not his intention but it was poor contact. Payed deliberate out of bounds. 55m ? poor contact ? Any thoughts umpire? Enjoy your review of the game over those 2 deliberate out of bounds on Lance.

The hole is filled to late and Pav runs onto an easy mark. Poor play from Lance and Lappin to not give Thornton a chop out.

Goal to Pav.
Freo 91 Carlton 48.

Centre Bounce

Scrappy and no clearance. Medhurst again off the square and runs past the ball and hits AB. Hmmmm.
Stevens loose of the Crowley tag (is on Carr now) is starting to win the ball. Carrazzo passes to Stevens who plays on and kicks to Waite who goals. Not so much pressure on now.

Waite goal.
Freo 91 Carlton 54.

Centre Bounce

Stevns nearly breaks clear but not quite. Bell chips sideways and another useless possession from him. Nobody there and Scotland and Medhurst are near the ball. Medhurst has Carrazzo and leaves him to get Scotland. Now who do you think gtes the ball? Yes Carrazzo does of course.
He aims for Fev who goes to ground and so does Deluca …..
Ball chipped around down the wing and Gilmour has it for Freo. Turns and tries to shrug off Murphy and its holding the ball. Someone in a yellow top comes in. I spot a number its 3…………………………..1 and it’s a ball up of course.

Talk about having no feeling for the game. This umpire is about as poor as I have ever seen. Gilmour turned and Murphy pounced and instead of trying to get rid off the ball he tried to throw Marc off who brings him down.

No anybody who is wondering how impartial I am might want to know that Peter Wilson does not agree with the 2 Lance out of bounds decisions and laughed at the last 1 since it was just a porr kick rather than deliberate and then said on Gilmour “that’s holding the ball, it has got to be”

Matthew Campbell says “held to him according to umpire Troy Pinnell (umpire 31)”. You know the commentators don’t agree when they start naming them. I cant say I know this umpire and maybe the local crowd has influenced the inexperienced umpire. It has not cost us the game and Freo were a lot better when it really counted but some of this blokes decisions have been the worst I have ever seen.

Some good work from Marc to break a tackle and hits Chambers who kicks to Fev who should have been paid the mark but is not.
Parker picks it up and takes 2 steps and is run dwon from Betts and the ball spills out. Prior opportunity ? yes
Correct disposal ? no
Holding the ball ? yes
Umpires decision ? play on.

Crucified in this quarter with some decisions.
Lance outbodies McPaharlin on the wing and marks. Hits Marc who kicks to Fev who takes a strong mark. Umpire thinks about not paying it but there is only so much you can get away with and keep your place for next week I suppose.
To far out even for Fev though.

Ball kicked out of backline by Freo. Again good body work from Lance and AW comes in to win the ball and hits Chambers with a good left foot kick.
Framer comes in and makes light contact after the mark. Chambers falls over and milks it. No 50m.

Now what is player doing running in after a mark is taken and making any contact what so ever? You are not allowed to do that. That’s 3 times now on Farmer.
Peake has a long run and has some good speed. Don’t mind him and looks a player in the making for Freo.

Lappin marks and hits Lance and after a scrappy build up. Waite gives a nice handpass to Kade who cruises past for a good goal on the run. We are running harder now than Freo and the kids like Murphy and Kade are running this game out well.
Chambers is looking a bit lively as well after playing most of this quarter.

Goal to Simpson
Fremantle 91 Carlton 60.
3 quarter time.

 

[mojo31]

4th Quarter

Nothing much happening. Thornton again controlling Pav. AW continuing to run.

Both teams tired and not much going on that is constructive. Carrazzo gets a 50m penalty it’s a bit soft but like I have said any contact after the mark is an automatic 50m.
Good kick from Carrazzo.

Goal to Carrazzo.
Frematle 93 Carlton 67.

Centre Bounce

Ring a ring a rosy in the square and Freo break clear and kick to Pav who beats Thornton for the first time tonight in a 1 on 1 contest. Misses the kick though.
AW has dropped off Farmer when the ball is kicked in by Schammer and Farmer drops the mark and follows up to kick a goal.
A bit loose from AW who went back to the square and was expecting the longer kick.

Goal to Farmer.
Carlton 67 Fremantle 100.

Centre Bounce

Ugly football. Pity it was not like this in the first quarter when the game was up for grabs. This sort of game suits us and not the free flowing game of the first half.
Fev is tired now and cant really hold his marks when at full stretch and full speed.
Houlihan takes a mark and gets pushed over the boundary line? 50m penalty ? Umpire 31 says no. A free is plucked out against Scotland by Umpire 31 for ummm come on how can I be expected to know.
Kade really starting to break the lines now. Shame his kicking and decision making has not been good in the game. Kicks to Fev who has Longmuir dropping back on him. How can he take mark with a ruckman in front of him and Grover right behind punching it?

Framer decided to push up his stast with 3 short kicks. 1 of which goes out on the full.
Deluca kicks right over Waites head on the lead by 15m.

The ball is kicked to Pav who marks over the boundary line. Plays on when its out on the full and kicks it away. Umpire 31 comes in and he has to rule on whether Pav heard the whistle or not. Umpire 31 (I refuse to use his name and will be known as “Umpire 31” for the rest of the year). After a long thought “31” says its not a 50m penalty.

1 piece of play sums up the umpiring in general tonight. Gilmour has a give and go and runs with the ball and bounces. As the ball comes back on the bounce Carrazzo garbs a hold of his jumper and brings him down. That is a free 100 times out of 100. Umpire calls it play on.

Biased commentator comment “got him, ahhhhhhhhh you have got to reward the chase”.

The frightening thing is that it is not even the worst decision of the night.

Eventually the ball goes forward and McLaren marks at the 50 but misses Chambers (clearly agitated at his lack of game time). But Dylan makes amends later by going in hard after a ruck contest and gets a free when the ball hits the ground and converts.

Goal to McLaren
Car 73 Freo 100.

Centre Bounce

AW on Medhurst (out of the square). Freo win the clearance and pump it to Medhurst who has a small break on AW but Andrew closes him down with speed and jumps over the top and kills the ball with a good left handed spoil.
The future is on show. Kade comes in to lend support and gives to Carrazzo who pushes it along the line and Murphy picks it up and screws it back to Bentick who kicks long to Deluca. Great play from Houla who subtley shoves his opponent in the side to give Deluca who is a few meters clear to pick it up. But Deluca has over run the ball and the opportunity is lost.

Scotland wins a clearance and kicks high up and under to Waite who brings the ball to ground. This huge bloke picks it up in the blink of an eye at full speed and takes some small steps to turn his momentum around and snaps from 48m out and its right over the goal umpires head. Bandage around the head and number 25 on his back. Its Brendan Fevola. Best on ground easily. Superb work rate from Fev who is (asI have mentioned earlier in both round 1 and 2 a few times) dangerous when the ball hist the ground and when not blocked off it.

6 goals from Fev.

Goal to Fev.
Carlton 80 Freo 101.

Centre Bounce

Carlton all over Freo and running it out a lot better. Fev competes well and is the first to recover when its pucnched clear but cant keep it in. Clearance from Kouat who hits Betts who has a hard kick from the boundary but nails it.

Goal to Betts.

Carlton 86 Freo 101.
Full time

 

[mojo31]

Overall thoughts

Fremantle were a lot better when it really counted early in the game. They smashed our midfield and the starting 3 Kouta/Scotland and Stevens had no influence on the game. Our “second tier” of Carrazzo/Bentick/Houilhan were solid and much more accountable and disciplined. Lappin was also poor so that’s basically the reason we lost. Our senior players overall were not good enough and did not stand up to the pressure and show the way. This allowd Murphy and Houlihan to get pole axed and no return fire from some of our players.
Freo targeted a few of our youngsters and it was the right thing to do and credit to them for doing what needs to be done to win game of football. Exactly what I would have done in the same boat.

Our forward line overall was poor and ineffectual. Fev basically was 1 out against 2 or 3 opponenets. Waite worked hard but let himself down with some errors and also had some shocking delivey.
Deluca ummmm… read the goal by goal breakdown for my thoughts. Went to ground to easily. Did not impose his size on the game. Bad decision making and dropped marks. Betts tried hard but had no effect but at least he applied pressure.

Midfield was okay after 1st quarter but overall was pathetic.

Scotland: Undisciplined and soft. Did not work hard enough and was destroyed all game. Got niggled and not good enough to rise above it. Same thing for Heath throughout his career. 1 good game and then 1 bad one. No consistency of effort.
Stevens: Was he even out there? Crowley pulled his pants down when it mattered. Crowley 2 Stevens 0 in the last 2 games. No leadership for Stevo when the heat was on.
Kouta: Got some ball and ran sideways. Chipped it around and his kicking was as bad as I have ever seen. Can hardly run and was a liability at Subi. Just escorting players up and down the ground.
Carrazzo: Mainly down back and a bit of a run on the ball at times. Hard at the ball and accountable but no real flair. Workmen like and never attempts anything difficult with his average kicking. But he is very hard to get a kick on and is playing a negative role and is coming along nicely.
Simpson: Ran hard but missed targets and dropped a few marks. Some real speed when he got it and broke the lines with let himself down with the final kick. Did not let it affect his effort though and that’s a very good sign.
Houlihan: Strong game after being smashed early. Worked hard defensively and applied pressure and used the ball fairly well on the offensive side. Really giving his all and really starting to change his game around now. 2 games now he has been there and working all game. Mainly on the flank and the wing but covering a lot of ground and when its his time to compete for the ball he is doing it. A huge thumbs up from me.
Murphy: Not as good as last week. Got hit from J Carr I am reliable informed by someone I watched the VFL game with yesterday and was close enough to see it. Players have long memories is all I can say about Medhurst, Carr and a couple of others when the return game comes around. Some good decisions from Murphy who applied some good pressure and attacked the ball with conviction. Plays on quickly and kicks to advantage and will learn a lot from his first Subiaco game.
Bentick: Very steady game from AB. Good in and under and set a few guys up wuth his handball. The big wide ground does not suit him but he applied pressure and was good overall when he was in the square especially. He is coming along nicely and as a midfield group we are looking a hell of a lot better than this time last year. They are not ready yet to take over and will need 2 more years and an injection of some more class and speed to become a good unit but they are hard working and are pepared to work both ways. Unlike the 3 senior midfielders in Kouta, Stevens and Scotland who know only 1 way. When its there day they loom fine but when its not we are in trouble. Murphy,Carrzzo, Bentick, Simpson, AW, Houlihan, Betts and the kids in the VFL in Jackson, JR, Blackers and Smith are all prepared to defend and chase and be accountable. In 2 years when the ones in the senior group now plus AW moved into the midfield rotation and hopefully JR and a few others in there and some good drafting to address the skill and pace defiencies we will have a good unit which will be able to stand up to physical pressure and finals football in the future.

The back 6 were good. Lance and Thornton were quality all night and won there contests. Lance had Longmuir or Sandilands in the firsthalf and then had McPharlin after that and beat all of them easily. “31” sends his regards to Lance.
Thornton beat Pav and showed great body work. Pav is not100% yet but still Thorton was good.
Lappin was poor and unaccountable and lacked composure. Hurried his kicks and made bad errors and was not the calming quality influence he normall is. AW was good on Farmer and his run and kicking are coming along well. Real flair in his game. Push him further up the ground and then have him dropping back to help out the back 6 and you would get more out of him in my opinion. Then Carrazzo and McGrath can take the smaller forwards and we get more speed around the midfield and break the lines.
McGrath was solid and beat Medhurst when he had him. Good dependable player he is now. Livo battled hard but just let himself down at the end of the 1st half. Have to say his first 2 games this year are an improvement on last year and he is going okay still.
Sporn showed a bit when he was on. Dropped marks and fumbled and over ran it but his running and effort were at least better. Applied pressure to the Freo players.
Our rucks were not so good tonight. French got a bad hit and struggled after that. Applied some pressure and would have liked more around the ground from him when he was opposed to Sandilands.
McLaren was his usual serviceable standard. Never really makes a mistake but hardly tries anything and just jumps into taller players at the bounce and nullifies them as best as he can. Just a stop gap measure.

Not sure I missed any players and just meandering thoughts now.

Saw the VFL game and was a bit disappointed with a few but maybe I was not the best judge as I was a bit distracted talking to someone for almost all the game.

Kennedy: Kept his feet and did what I thought he would and that is present and compete. Strong overhead and not really a packmarker but brings it down and is good 1 on 1. Makes space behind him and is accountable and chases and applies pressure. Just a hard worker and wont have to get a lot of it to have an influence.

Flint: Coming along well. A touch of the Peter Deans about his composure and playing tall. Good solid old fashioned player who is hard to beat 1 on 1 and is developing the attacking side to his game as well.

Setanata: Kennedy keeps his feet but Carlos did not. Fell over a lot and was not good enough in the contest. Did some good things and some poor things and being 2nd banana to Morrell never seems to suit him.

JR: Poor decision making under pressure. Looks the part but not using his body well enough and is just drifting along and doing enough and needs to work harder. Is down on confidence but some good signs but is not playing well enough to warrant a spot uet in the AFL. Started the pre season well but is stagnating now.

Blackwell: Better than JR and using the ball better and getting a lot of it. Good attack on the man. Not far off it now.

Bryan ; Ruckwork was terrible. Better as a forward in the game but his ruck work is not coming along at all.

I think that’s about it.

Votes

Fev 5
Houla 4
Lance 3
Thornton 2
Walker 1

Also good

Carrazzo, McGrath, Bentick.

Okay

Murphy, McLaren, French, Betts, Waite, Livo, Sporn, Chambers (when on), Simpson

Poor

Kouta, Stevens, Scotland, Lappin, Deluca,


Lachlan Hansen was awesome on the weekend live at Morwell at CHB under a lot of pressure. His reading of the play and ability to stay composed and take strong marks and defend is as good as you could hope. Its one thing to do it when the team is going well and another thing to do it all together when his tyeam was getting smashed.
Boy this kid can flat out play. The best kid in the country still for mine but the gap between the top 5 of Gibbs, Thorp, Sellar, Gumbleton and Hansen is not a lot. If Gibbs go father son then that still leaves 4 and out of all of them 3 would help us a great deal with an athletic ruck who can play forward and 2 very tall versatile and athletic KPP guns. The one who would double us up a little is Gumbleton who is similar to Kennedy a little but we could still use both of them if needed.

I dont forsee any real advantage in finishing last this year and a 13th or 14th place spot would help our club a lot more and still give us a gun prospect with our pick as well as instill some pride back in the jumper with 7 or 8 wins. Much better than last and the spoon and picking out of 4 or 5 pretty equal talents.

 

[Andyt30]

i heard Paul Medhurst Copped a week for striking houlihan in the first Quarter
he deserved more then 1 he should have gotten 2 or 3 for that clearly he delibratly went for houlihan ?

 

[Pie 4 Life]

You certainly know how to analyse a game!

BTW, I've tipped you guys against the Swans this week so don't let me down!

GO VICTORIA!!!

 

[mojo31]

i heard Paul Medhurst Copped a week for striking houlihan in the first Quarter
he deserved more then 1 he should have gotten 2 or 3 for that clearly he delibratly went for houlihan ?

He was trying to hit as many players head high as possible. Kept his elbow down but still his shoulder hit Houla right in the head. The ball was close to Houla and it could be argued either way whether it was worth something or not.
All I am commenting on is that he went out of his way to run past the ball numerous times to hit Carlton players. Did nothing himself all game and just ran around trying to nail blokes. Not courageous and a player like him will get his just deserts further down the line. We dont have enough senior players who wont stand for that for him to be worried. A young team like ours can be put off and we were. But with the kids at the club that will change but this year they wont be.

Guys like Kouta, Lappin, Lance and Stevo are all good fair ball players. But you also need a touch of Cameron Mooney, Dean Solomon in your team to make sure opposition teams think twice sometimes. Josh Kennedy will be an enforcer down the line but for the moment he is not ready.

 

[Kooley]

Overall thoughts

Midfield was okay after 1st quarter but overall was pathetic.

.

very good summary mojo but this statement is a little baffling.

 

[mojo31]

very good summary mojo but this statement is a little baffling.

Q1 0/10 rating in this quater is double interstate to silence the crowd and give confidence to our young team.
Q2 4/10
Q3 6/10
Q4 5/10

overall 15/50 = pathetic.
You get behind on the road in Perth by that margin at quater time the game is over.

After quater time 15/30 = okay.

Just putting numbers to my thoughts. Would be the same in Adelaide or any interstate trip. The verbal and physical barrage you cop in the opening quater is where you can either give yourslef a chance to be in the game or have it over almost before it even begins.

For us some dodgy umpiring dod not help but it was the attack from Freo on the ball and man and our lack of hardness and run and defensive pressure which cost us. Some poor turnovers just showed we were not up to the task. Freo and other teams will keep doing it to us when we have to play them interstate. Hit us hard and do it early and target Lappin and Stevo and Murphy and hope to put us off. Until we are able to overcome it we wont be winning games interstate.

Winning the ball in junk time is not what I call a good effort. The problem was junk time was after quater time when this game was already over.

I could spin it into we were roobed by the umpiresd or a lack of experience or a number of reasons. But the fact was Freo were better, harder and wanted it more. They played better and have a better team and deserved to win the game easily and they did. What hapened after quater time is nice to analyze and talk about and I have done that and some of the young blokes were good but in reality were were about as poor as you could imagine and our senior players were not up to it.

Some new names at Carlton and kids coming through but from where I sit the same problems are still there. Houla and Fev have changed there approach and have made significant progress but all the other mid range to senior players are still the same as they have always been. Capable of playing well when they are allowed to and pressure is off but under real heat they can also go missing. Not all of them and I would not include French in that who is always trying and is hard at it but I am sure people know who I mean.

 

[BlueWorld]

i heard Paul Medhurst Copped a week for striking houlihan in the first Quarter
he deserved more then 1 he should have gotten 2 or 3 for that clearly he delibratly went for houlihan ?

The way the new system works it was assessed as being worth 2.25 games but comes down to 1.6 if he pleads guilty (assuming he does & doesn't try to defend it). He had no eyes for the ball & went for his head & is lucky he didn't KO him or worse. Full credit to Hoops for wearing it & going right on with it for the rest of the game.

 

[BlueWorld]

double post.

 

[Blues_Man]

great work Mojo ...I thought you were a tad hard on Simpson as i had him in the better players ...I agree that Scotland and Deluca were hopeless .
I also thought Chambers was as useless as **** on a bull out there ..he looked lost and his decision making was atrocious.......please hurry up and get that hammy right Fisher

 

[mojo31]

great work Mojo ...I thought you were a tad hard on Simpson as i had him in the better players ...I agree that Scotland and Deluca were hopeless .
I also thought Chambers was as useless as **** on a bull out there ..he looked lost and his decision making was atrocious.......please hurry up and get that hammy right Fisher

Fair enough Blues_Man.

I like how the kids keep trying even when its not working for them. No sooking or drop in effort. Kade made a number of mistakes but was running harder as the game went on and played better in the seond half than the first. Just did not finish off his work. He got more attention but he was still working hard.

Same for AW in the first game. Had a shocker in the 1st quater on Davey but kept working hard and got better and better. Murphy, Carazzo, AB and even Waite. They keep trying and presenting and there output varies but not the effort.

Thats the problem I have with some of the older players. On there day they are fine when the team is on top. When they can just float around doing a they please. But when they are tagged, manned up and the team is getting smashed they drop away. We got rid of 1 player last year in Campo who was all about that in the last few years but there are still a number there who are prone to it.

 

[Aussie_dude]

may have been a bit harsh on lappin. I think it was dodd that played a defensive role on him. Also a grion/hamstring/thigh injury wouldn't have helped.

 

[mojo31]

may have been a bit harsh on lappin. I think it was dodd that played a defensive role on him. Also a grion/hamstring/thigh injury wouldn't have helped.

Crowly running onto the ball and Lappin comes out and bumps instead of tackles. Crowley bounces off and snaps a goal.

Lappin kicks into Pavlich when taking the kick in after an out on the full. Turnover and goal.

All in the first quater and when the game was up for grabs.

That had nothing to do with Dodd or being tagged. All it did was place our young team under pressure and made it very hard to get back into it. Thats why I was critical of Lappin. The hamstring tightness after was incidental on the outcome. Its how players go under pressure when the game is on the line that counts the most. From my point of view not many of the senior blokes put there hands up when it was "hot".
A few did but not enough.

 

[HBF]

Mojo, you really know how to sum up a game. That must have taken you ages to get that together. Well Done.

Really liked Walkers game. It's amazing what some confidence can do for the kid.

BTW, and on another subject, great to see your boy Hansen b.o.g. over the weekend.

 

[Chezza]

I also thought Chambers was as useless as **** on a bull out there ..he looked lost and his decision making was atrocious.......please hurry up and get that hammy right Fisher

May I be so rude as to ask for specific incidents (apart from the obvious Farmer one where he was asked to play on and tried to evade him) where Chambers decision-making let him down. Seriously......please name them??

There seems to be a lot of general finger-pointing going on here and it seems to be the same old easy targets that cop it when more highly-rated players are let off the hook. And these guys play 100 plus minutes every week as opposed to Chambers/Livingston/Sporn and the like who play 55-60 if they're lucky.

Did I not see Lappin kick a 10m pass to Pavlich 15m out who goals as a result? And a pass inboard to a player under pressure inside their fwd 50 which result in a McManus spoil and a crumb by Headland who nails another. There's 2 goals worth of bad decision-making right there - both off Lappin's boot.

Maybe we need to start backing our comments up with some hard evidence. I'd put money on it there are people who comment who have not even seen the game..........

 

[audas]

Chambers was not the worst this week. Lappin did some shockers but is an AFL elite footballer, so you can lay of him mate. Genuine star in my book. If there are three categories for disposals, negative, neutral and positive. MOST of skinnies and others would actually fall into the positive, and occasionaly into the negative. (Rarely into the neutral as when they get the ball they do something special with it). Chambers, deluca and others are more often than not either neutral or negative.

So Deluca did a fair few things which were fine, nothing wich was really set us up, and did several things which cost us.

Chambers was ok, granted. Deluca was average. Sporn did quite well I thought as well. Deluca is being ravaged not just for this week, but rather for last week as well as the fact he is playing for his career, should be inspired not insipid.

Walker was awesome by the way. Just have to mention him every chance I get.
Champion.