Preview Changes V Geelong.

[sunsofanarchy]

Also - let's not get too carried away with Shaw. Could've - and should've - put us in front.

He had 15 disposals and 8 marks in a quarter and a half, credit when credit's due?

Rocket was saying Mckenzie was gonna run around with Bartel today.. Would have liked to see that play out a bit more. Seemed he was relishing some time in the middle early on.

 

[Sunizzle]

I thought Smith was very good. He hardly had anyone else cover for him in the ruck all day. He did look lazy in the final term but he was just wrecked i think. Champion data has him as the 3rd best ruck so far this season, which is good to see.

 

[Dammit]

He had 15 disposals and 8 marks in a quarter and a half, credit when credit's due?

Rocket was saying Mckenzie was gonna run around with Bartel today.. Would have liked to see that play out a bit more. Seemed he was relishing some time in the middle early on.

Totally. But we would've won if he kicks that 35m, directly in front gimme. He played well, but like the rest of the team, is too scared to win.

Same here. Didn't mins Trent in midfield either.

 

[Corkie]

Yeh agree McKenzie really relished his role out of the backline. He did seem to have become a bit stale back there/not enjoying his footy.

That mark running back with eyes on the ball was gutsy stuff.

Oh and being dropped might have helped him pull his finger out as well. Best game I've seen him play in a loooong time.

 

[exile]

how did saady go?

 

[kreglze]

Martin was crisp with the ball today. Looked sure of it whenever he had it in hand.

 

[SandyToes]

Rocket Presser
"I've been told that Trent's a very competitive guy and he's got good courage, but just sometimes he tends to get lazy and tends to walk and trot," Eade said.
"

You don't say LOL

 

[SandyToes]

Where's Sunny?

 

[Herbs]

Kicking straight, a concept lost on this mob.

 

[TheSunGod]

I thought Smith was very good. He hardly had anyone else cover for him in the ruck all day. He did look lazy in the final term but he was just wrecked i think. Champion data has him as the 3rd best ruck so far this season, which is good to see.

Yeah he was stuffed in the last. Would like to see Nicholls in for Gorringe to help him out against Mumford.

 

[TheSunGod]

how did saady go?

Played well without getting a huge amount of it. He is one of those players that when he gets the ball you just feel he is going to use it to our advantage. Does he have some wheels as well!!! Can't wait to see him after he's played about 80 games. He's a gun. Allah be praised

 

[Sunizzle]

Played well without getting a huge amount of it. He is one of those players that when he gets the ball you just feel he is going to use it to our advantage. Does he have some wheels as well!!! Can't wait to see him after he's played about 80 games. He's a gun. Allah be praised

He's pretty good a creating space over the first 10m. Makes them look like witches hats.

 

[Stroppy]

Some comments from watching the TV:

Most of the team - struggle to make good decisions and hit targets when under pressure, but that is true of many younger players across the AFL; the bigger problem is missing targets/making poor decisions/dropping marks when in the clear. Both of these will take time and effort to fix (Rocket as said this several times) so I don't think we should expect a consistent improvement this year.

The good and the bad of key forwards that can mark - Lynch can take a mark (good) but several times the ball was bombed long into the teeth of the defense while the kicker was not under much pressure (especially this game with Taylor, Lonergan, Kelly) and where they had an extra to run it out after the spoil. Even while we had shorter targets in the clear! Can fix that in the short term. Would help if Sam Day would start clunking more marks (Lynch did that last year and Dixon 2 years ago, and both immediately got much better all around).

Saad (1st year player) - looks good but like a lot of 1st year players seems to be running out of legs in the last quarter while on defense (still seems to have some wheels when he has the ball); keep seeing him in the background of the play in the last quarter trailing his player towards goal. Hoping his relative tank improves over the season.
KK (2nd year player) - I think he looks OK as he plays a different role this year and is running more around the ground (he is not sitting back across the last line as the designated kicker). Looks harder at the ball than last year and can stand up better with contact. Expect he will get more of the ball as the season continues.
Shaw - runs as hard as anyone and surprised he was the sub. Need players who can run!
Matera - seemed to be trying very hard on defense and was running around a lot; improvement!
McKenzie - good stuff and good game. Atm, need his size in the midfield and he shut down Stevie J while he played on him. Also some better kicking (not great, but much better). Hoping he does not need to be dropped again.
Malceski - did anyone else notice him limping around a bit in the 2nd half; looked like he was having trouble running. Might explain absence of influence in the 2nd half.

Overall against Geelong.
During the game I kept forgetting we only had 2 players who had played more that 77 games and we had 5 1st or 2nd year players on the field all game. And we should have won given the opportunities we butchered and the opportunities the Cats took (6 goals in the 3rd quarter from only 9 inside 50's iirc).

 

[SandyToes]

2nd time in a row Selwood has beaten us on his own
Makes you wonder if Rocket is itchy to play a tagger like Raines

 

[Iva Bigun]

2nd time in a row Selwood has beaten us on his own
Makes you wonder if Rocket is itchy to play a tagger like Raines

He had plenty of it in the reserves on Sunday, might be a sneaky chance

 

[Iva Bigun]

Watched Rockets presser, cool, calm and fact based. Impressive again considering he must of been able to taste victory

 

[nutstar]

The more I think about it, the happier I am.
Disappointed with the result, but happy with the game.
I do stand by my belief that we are going backwards to go forwards.
Not having Gaz in the team is a blessing in disguise, previous weeks we have been looking for a one armed Gaz, and with him not in the team, he is no longer the focal point.
The final details need a lot of work, but was really happy to see the effort shown.

 

[Suns of Anarchy]

There needs to be a Royal Commission into how Aaron Hall kicked 5 against the hawks at the G in 2013. Seriously frustrating player to watch. Twice he was out bodied by a 3rd gamer when in the box seat to mark inside 50.

 

[Iason]

The more I think about it, the happier I am.
Disappointed with the result, but happy with the game.
I do stand by my belief that we are going backwards to go forwards.
Not having Gaz in the team is a blessing in disguise, previous weeks we have been looking for a one armed Gaz, and with him not in the team, he is no longer the focal point.
The final details need a lot of work, but was really happy to see the effort shown.

I really don't understand this. Geelong had injuries left and right and were ripe for the taking, and we let them off the hook.

 

[nutstar]

Like I said, didn't like the result, but happy with the effort, the endevour.
Didn't finish it with the polish required to win the game, but not unhappy with the game in general.
That's all, nothing more to it.

 

[SUNS]

There needs to be a Royal Commission into how Aaron Hall kicked 5 against the hawks at the G in 2013. Seriously frustrating player to watch. Twice he was out bodied by a 3rd gamer when in the box seat to mark inside 50.

Only had 5 kicks though

 

[exile]

only just watched the game. i'll chuck in a few random comments about it.

one thing that bothered me a lot was how chris scott gets more angry at the umpiring decisions than his players actions haha.

i liked it when mckenzie was in the midfield (also, how about that mark!!!). i reckon you need a bit of balance, most teams will throw in a more defensive player in at the centre bounce, i reckon mckenzie could be that for us. richa occasionally does it. thought he was bloody great against the cats, though.

i think we should keep day in for one more game. it'll to give charlie another full game under his belt in the neafl, and give day one more chance to show something. although i could see gorringe going out for dixon and day keeping his spot...

i'm really torn on gorringe. that period in the game against melbourne where he held his own against jamar was enlightening. but it seems like it was a one off. hard to get him involved in games. but at this stage, gotta send him back to the neafl. we need everyone contributing each week, and currently it seems like everytime he's named we're already a man down. :/

regarding our defence, our kick-in's still need some work. we still seem to feel that finding a short target into the back pocket and then kicking it long up the line to a contest is the way to go. we desperately need more movement. running into space at half pace is not good enough.

i'm glad matera is back. brought a bit of spark to our forwards. will work well with bennell and martin. garlett and touky were good too. loving how they've been able to come into our squad and play good footy.

also, i think at times we get caught ball-watching a bit, getting dragged into the contest, only to have the opposition get the ball and handball out to a runner in space.

a big point for me from the game was that even though in the 3rd quarter we were outscored heavily when the cats got a run on, we were still providing a big effort. think we had like 15 inside 50 entries for no score at one point in the quarter.
but it wasn't just the 3rd quarter, the effort was there throughout the entire game as well. we really should have won, considering the limited cats rotations. just came down to some wrong decisions and kicking innaccuracy. need to lower the eyes more and hit up a target rather than kicking it long.

may (mainly in the second half), lynch, martin, prestia & shaw all played really well i thought. from a cats point of view, selwood was pretty bloody good, again. seems like he always is against us. i really like guthrie as a player too.

 

[SUNS]

Game Preview

Geelong Cats v Gold Coast Suns
@ Simonds Stadium at 3:20pm

Last Week

*It’s Stats Time!*

Gold Coast somehow managed to top the round one effort with something even worse however… Gold Coast had 2 more scoring shots than the Saints who were crazily accurate in comparison, with a conversion rate of 66.7% to the Suns paltry 38.5%. What’s worse is that in the second half the Suns hit the scoreboard just over double the amount of times St Kilda did, only to have a conversion rate of 37.5% (12.5% in the 3rd Qtr). St Kilda had 4 more inside 50 entries proving that the Suns can create their chances but couldn't convert them. Defending was an issue and they have to learn how to curb momentum, take out that second quarter and the Suns win 69-54. One last thing… Learning a new game plan, especially for a young team is never easy. It took Fremantle half the year in 2012 to finally learn Ross Lyon’s game plan, they were 6-7 and then went 9-1 until being eliminated in the second week of finals. It’s ugly now but a few backwards steps can become leaps and bounds forward later on.

Geelong were beaten by the aforementioned Fremantle side and fell to their worst loss at Simonds since round 3, 2006. The Cats are low on confidence but they’ll be hungry to get their first win of the season and atone for that loss, especially as the cats haven’t started a season 0-3 since 2003.

The Game

It’s crucial for the Suns to get out to a good start, or at the very least be competitive and stay with the cats. Gold Coast have only scored 7 goals in the first half compared to the 16 they've kicked in the second, if the Suns can stay within touch till half time then they may be able to run over the top of the old cats. The heavily rumoured exclusion of Tom Hawkins (For which reasons are unfortunate) is very fortunate to the Suns chances of snagging a win, The cats attack won’t stretch out too far beyond Clark and will turn to more of their smaller types ie. Motlop. The main goal today win or lose is simple “Disposal Efficiency” whether it’s to a teammate or having a shot on goal, be on target !

Ones To Watch Out For

Geelong: Steve Johnson - Steve J has put the Suns to the sword in the past, especially early on averaging 27 disposals and 2 goals against the Coast. Has the ability to destroy a sides defence and confidence with his unpredictability and goal scoring habits.
Gold Coast: Harley Bennell - Was an absolute star in the last meeting against Geelong kicking an equal club record 6 goals and picking up 27 disposals. Could again be the wildcard that the cats struggle to contain or at least provide a big enough distraction to let another slip under the radar and do the damage.

Head to Head History

Played 5 - Gold Coast 1 Geelong 4
At Simonds 2 - Gold Coast 0 Geelong 2

Final Verdict

Both Geelong and Gold Coast have had poor starts to the season but it’s the quality of opposition they've faced that separates these two teams, plus the Cats haven’t lost two in a row at Kardinia Park in the same season since 2006.

Geelong by 28

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gold-Coast-Suns-Football-Club-Supporters-Page/1480386215519060

I wanna see mor eof this in 2016 from you squire