Preview Round 1 - Dockers v Lions

[Dalions]

Preview – Round 1 – Freo v Lions
Sunday 17th March 5.50pm AEST Optus Stadium
Have had a pretty busy weekend so haven’t had a chance to post my 2 cents worth about the disappointing Opening round performance of our team.

So here is just a small review of the game and my thoughts on what was an extremely disappointing night overall.

Off to a scintillating start, pressure was good, skills were great and everything just worked.
I think the worst thing that could have happened was that we kicked the first 2 goals of the second quarter and from that point you could see that everything began to fall away, first it was the skills that fell away and the ball movement forward was sloppy at best and then the opportunities that we did happen to create and shots at goal were missed, then it was the pressure and run and defensive organisation that fell off to a point where early in the third quarter it was non-existent. Carlton didn’t have any resistance to move the ball so freely from end to end that goals were easily created.
I know that some would be talking about fitness, but it was clear at the game that this was a mental breakdown like I have never seen before during the current era. There were times when there were at least three or 4 players close to the play who were jogging back with their backs to the play and just so slowly that the ball was already gone before they had time to set. This was not a fitness issue at all and it was a complete mental block.
I didn’t notice any sort of a lift until they were around 8-10 points behind but it was too late to kill the momentum straight away and they kicked the next 2 and got in front before we were able to really kill the momentum and the game was extremely close from that point on. In fact from that point on in the game I felt as though we were once again the better team but were unable to kill off their spirit that we had handed to them on a Silver platter. If this was a fitness issue we would not have been able to play out the game the way we did and to finish the game with a pressure rating of 201 in the last quarter will a test to that.
Now to things that we (apparently) worked on over the summer:
Reaction time – Fail
Moments – Fail
Leadership – Massive Fail

The only thing in that game that I think we were successful in doing, was give one of our main competitors a leg up, handed them a Silver Platter and gave them a Launching Pad and the confidence to kick start their season in the way they required, especially with key personnel out. They will now be very hard to beat in the early parts of the year after the springboard we gave them.

Now on to Freo:


Strange thing to say I know, after what we have just witnessed but I am excited to be taking the trip over to Perth for the first time in about 35 years and for the first game ever at Optus Stadium. My 90 year (young) Mother has decided that this is likely her last year of footy so wants to go and see a couple of away games for the first time for both of us (other than the Grand Final last year) this will be the first Home and Away game for both of us outside of Qld. Have also booked a trip to see us play the Hawks at Marvel in Round 11 and Port inAdelaide in Round 15.

So this better not be the year that we fall away after the trouble that we are going to.

For what it is worth I think we will bounce back for a pretty good win against the plucky Dockers which will be their first game of the season and I think that is why we will win and win reasonably well. They will be rested after a pretty piss poor performance against Port in their Pre-Season game last week, but we will no doubt have a bit more to play for after our own piss poor performance on Friday night.
Freo will be without Ruckman Sean Darcy

4

Sean Darcy

Age

25

Ht

203cm

Wt

111kg

Pos.

Ruck

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.1

3star

K

3.4

1star

HB

6.6

4star

CL

2.4

4star

HO

28.8

5star

D

6.8

1star

K

2.0

1star

HB

4.8

3star

CL

1.8

4star

HO

20.3

5star

D

11.4

3star

K

4.6

2star

HB

6.8

5star

CL

2.6

5star

HO

32.0

5star

and winger Nathan O’Driscoll with Brennan Cox

36

Brennan Cox

Age

25

Ht

195cm

Wt

97kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.1

3star

K

5.8

2star

HB

5.3

4star

M

4.2

4star

T

2.1

4star

MG

182.8

3star

D

12.3

3star

K

7.5

3star

HB

4.8

3star

M

4.0

4star

T

1.0

2star

MG

182.8

3star

D

11.0

3star

K

5.8

3star

HB

5.2

4star

M

4.2

4star

T

1.8

4star

and Michael Frederick both a test.
Nat Fyfe will play his first game for Premiership points as a full time mid in Sundays game for the first time in God only knows how long ‘and he ain’t telling me’! Will be interesting to see how he Brayshaw and Serong can combine in their first real hit-out together and Hayden Young

26

Hayden Young

Age

23

Ht

189cm

Wt

88kg

Pos.

D/M

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.0

3star

K

6.6

3star

HB

3.4

3star

M

3.2

3star

T

1.4

3star

MG

160.0

3star

D

10.0

3star

K

6.6

3star

HB

3.4

2star

M

3.2

3star

T

1.4

2star

MG

160.0

3star

D

10.0

3star

K

6.6

3star

HB

3.4

3star

M

3.2

4star

T

1.4

4star

MG

160.0

3star

training as a mid all pre-season will likely see him play a role on Lachie as he did with success last year and worried the s**t out of Lachie.

That is one thing that Lachie really needs to learn how to work his way through (A Tag) because he tends to go missing for long periods of time under duress and doesn’t do much to change things up at all, it would be good if he can move forward or back at times to try and minimise the influence of the tagger, but unfortunately that is not really his go.
And unfortunately we will be without Kiddy for the Season after doing an ACL on Friday night in a blow that will be hard to cover.

We might need to Get Richy fit and firing ready for the mid-season draft to come back for that elusive flag chance. (Not sure we can do that because I think he would need to have applied for the National Draft to be eligible).

If Carter Michael can get himself on the track it might be the best opportunity yet to cement a spot in the team in the second half of the year. He has shown an ability to put himself In the hole and take an intercept mark and also has good skills to go with that, in a similar vain to Kiddy. So would be a possible replacement later in the year.
In the meantime I think we are left with Connor McKenna to be a straight in or we role AhChee or Zorko back. McKenna will come in if fit but he is more of a running type of player but can be very creative with his kicking.

Payney and Harris both had stinkers against Carlton and the midfield in general were down, I thought that it was the worst performance live that I have ever seen Lachie play (So indecisive) every time he got the ball, especially in tight. That will have to change if we are to be any chance of bringing home the 4 points. So many player went missing during the period of carnage and where were the leaders to steady the ship.

It is a really hard game to preview because we have no real form of Freo to go by, which is why I have come up with all of the other spin.
I think the odds are around about right with the Dockers at $2.79 to the Lions $1.45.

It is one of those games that even although we are away we should win comfortably but we all know the Lions and it might be a ‘strap yourself in moment’ because anything could happen.
I know a lot of the blame will be put on Fages and the Coaching staff, but I am inclined to think that this was all on the players and it will be up to them to rectify the wrongs that were written and re-write the seasonal script from the start, with a new beginning in Round 1, (how ironic), of all places to start a season.
Lions by Plenty 36 points and then some.
Go Lions

 

[M Malice]

Great preview Dalions , and by the way myself, my son, daughter and granddaughter are flying down for the Round 11 clash v the Hawks as well.

We are going to go to the Suns game too, and catch a musical theatre show.... Oh and best of all going to my all time favourite Carnivore restaurant ie. San Telmo in Meyers Place, 10/10 rating from me for that place.

 

[martinson]

View attachment 1924625View attachment 1924626
Preview – Round 1 – Freo v Lions
Sunday 17th March 5.50pm AEST Optus Stadium
Have had a pretty busy weekend so haven’t had a chance to post my 2 cents worth about the disappointing Opening round performance of our team.

So here is just a small review of the game and my thoughts on what was an extremely disappointing night overall.

Off to a scintillating start, pressure was good, skills were great and everything just worked.
I think the worst thing that could have happened was that we kicked the first 2 goals of the second quarter and from that point you could see that everything began to fall away, first it was the skills that fell away and the ball movement forward was sloppy at best and then the opportunities that we did happen to create and shots at goal were missed, then it was the pressure and run and defensive organisation that fell off to a point where early in the third quarter it was non-existent. Carlton didn’t have any resistance to move the ball so freely from end to end that goals were easily created.
I know that some would be talking about fitness, but it was clear at the game that this was a mental breakdown like I have never seen before during the current era. There were times when there were at least three or 4 players close to the play who were jogging back with their backs to the play and just so slowly that the ball was already gone before they had time to set. This was not a fitness issue at all and it was a complete mental block.
I didn’t notice any sort of a lift until they were around 8-10 points behind but it was too late to kill the momentum straight away and they kicked the next 2 and got in front before we were able to really kill the momentum and the game was extremely close from that point on. In fact from that point on in the game I felt as though we were once again the better team but were unable to kill off their spirit that we had handed to them on a Silver platter. If this was a fitness issue we would not have been able to play out the game the way we did and to finish the game with a pressure rating of 201 in the last quarter will a test to that.
Now to things that we (apparently) worked on over the summer:
Reaction time – Fail
Moments – Fail
Leadership – Massive Fail

The only thing in that game that I think we were successful in doing, was give one of our main competitors a leg up, handed them a Silver Platter and gave them a Launching Pad and the confidence to kick start their season in the way they required, especially with key personnel out. They will now be very hard to beat in the early parts of the year after the springboard we gave them.

Now on to Freo:

View attachment 1924628
Strange thing to say I know, after what we have just witnessed but I am excited to be taking the trip over to Perth for the first time in about 35 years and for the first game ever at Optus Stadium. My 90 year (young) Mother has decided that this is likely her last year of footy so wants to go and see a couple of away games for the first time for both of us (other than the Grand Final last year) this will be the first Home and Away game for both of us outside of Qld. Have also booked a trip to see us play the Hawks at Marvel in Round 11 and Port inAdelaide in Round 15.
View attachment 1924627
So this better not be the year that we fall away after the trouble that we are going to.

For what it is worth I think we will bounce back for a pretty good win against the plucky Dockers which will be their first game of the season and I think that is why we will win and win reasonably well. They will be rested after a pretty piss poor performance against Port in their Pre-Season game last week, but we will no doubt have a bit more to play for after our own piss poor performance on Friday night.
Freo will be without Ruckman Sean Darcy and winger Nathan O’Driscoll with Brennan Cox and Michael Frederick both a test.
Nat Fyfe will play his first game for Premiership points as a full time mid in Sundays game for the first time in God only knows how long ‘and he ain’t telling me’! Will be interesting to see how he Brayshaw and Serong can combine in their first real hit-out together and Hayden Young training as a mid all pre-season will likely see him play a role on Lachie as he did with success last year and worried the s**t out of Lachie.

That is one thing that Lachie really needs to learn how to work his way through (A Tag) because he tends to go missing for long periods of time under duress and doesn’t do much to change things up at all, it would be good if he can move forward or back at times to try and minimise the influence of the tagger, but unfortunately that is not really his go.
And unfortunately we will be without Kiddy for the Season after doing an ACL on Friday night in a blow that will be hard to cover.

We might need to Get Richy fit and firing ready for the mid-season draft to come back for that elusive flag chance. (Not sure we can do that because I think he would need to have applied for the National Draft to be eligible).

If Carter Michael can get himself on the track it might be the best opportunity yet to cement a spot in the team in the second half of the year. He has shown an ability to put himself In the hole and take an intercept mark and also has good skills to go with that, in a similar vain to Kiddy. So would be a possible replacement later in the year.
In the meantime I think we are left with Connor McKenna to be a straight in or we role AhChee or Zorko back. McKenna will come in if fit but he is more of a running type of player but can be very creative with his kicking.

Payney and Harris both had stinkers against Carlton and the midfield in general were down, I thought that it was the worst performance live that I have ever seen Lachie play (So indecisive) every time he got the ball, especially in tight. That will have to change if we are to be any chance of bringing home the 4 points. So many player went missing during the period of carnage and where were the leaders to steady the ship.

It is a really hard game to preview because we have no real form of Freo to go by, which is why I have come up with all of the other spin.
I think the odds are around about right with the Dockers at $2.79 to the Lions $1.45.

It is one of those games that even although we are away we should win comfortably but we all know the Lions and it might be a ‘strap yourself in moment’ because anything could happen.
I know a lot of the blame will be put on Fages and the Coaching staff, but I am inclined to think that this was all on the players and it will be up to them to rectify the wrongs that were written and re-write the seasonal script from the start, with a new beginning in Round 1, (how ironic), of all places to start a season.
Lions by Plenty 36 points and then some.
Go Lions

That was a very intelligent and insightful summation Dalions.

What a great story as well. Let's hope the boys bring home the bacon for your Mum.

 

[Dalions]

That was a very intelligent and insightful summation Dalions.

What a great story as well. Let's hope the boys bring home the bacon for your Mum.

Thanks martinson,
We are both really looking forward to the away trips.
And really keen to check out the other stadia around the country.
Love the Gabba for a boutique type of stadium by today’s standards. There isn’t really a bad seat in the house except I don’t like being at ground level at the Gabba.
Metricon is just poo.
We went to the MCG for the Granny last year and that was an amazing experience. (Pity about the result obviously)
Really looking forward to going to Optus this week, it looks like an amazing but smaller version of the MCG, got some pretty good seats in the top level on the wing but pretty sure we will be in amongst the Freo mad house.
Round 11 we thought we would go to a game at Marvel to check it out.
And also Adelaide Oval for Round 15 against Port to check out the Stadium and the ferals.

 

[martinson]

Thanks martinson,
We are both really looking forward to the away trips.
And really keen to check out the other stadia around the country.
Love the Gabba for a boutique type of stadium by today’s standards. There isn’t really a bad seat in the house except I don’t like being at ground level at the Gabba.
Metricon is just poo.
We went to the MCG for the Granny last year and that was an amazing experience. (Pity about the result obviously)
Really looking forward to going to Optus this week, it looks like an amazing but smaller version of the MCG, got some pretty good seats in the top level on the wing but pretty sure we will be in amongst the Freo mad house.
Round 11 we thought we would go to a game at Marvel to check it out.
And also Adelaide Oval for Round 15 against Port to check out the Stadium and the ferals.

Optus is awesome except there isn't going to be much love for the Lions there.

The Freo mob are a bit feral on their own turf and mostly have it all to themselves.

Similar demographic and level of pig headedness to the Port mob , though I think Port win it by a length or two.

Above all else the Freo supporters hate West Coast so you won't see the full extent of their capabilities.

 

[Dalions]

Optus is awesome except there isn't going to be much love for the Lions there.

The Freo mob are a bit feral on their own turf and mostly have it all to themselves.

Similar demographic and level of pig headedness to the Port mob , though I think Port win it by a length or two.

Above all else the Freo supporters hate West Coast so you won't see the full extent of their capabilities.

That will be the highlight of the trips I think.
Looking forward to it.

 

[twhowler]

How is everyone’s confidence levels on this one?

Odds seem crazy to me. I guess we are 2-1 vs freo in recent years. The win last year was very tight though. I reckon they are better at day time over there so a shame the sun will still be up at 350 local time.

If we play well we win. what sort of mindset will we take after that galling loss though?

Last year after port loss we have the comfort of the gabba - we were excellent though.

I guess the glass half full year is 2021. Lost by a point but robbed v cats in geelong. Worth noting we started awfully though.

If Fagan gets them up and they play well this week i will tip my hat to him. 0-2 going in to the pies game would genuinely be disastrous.

 

[martinson]

How is everyone’s confidence levels on this one?

Odds seem crazy to me. I guess we are 2-1 vs freo in recent years. The win last year was very tight though. I reckon they are better at day time over there so a shame the sun will still be up at 350 local time.

If we play well we win. what sort of mindset will we take after that galling loss though?

Last year after port loss we have the comfort of the gabba - we were excellent though.

I guess the glass half full year is 2021. Lost by a point but robbed v cats in geelong. Worth noting we started awfully though.

If Fagan gets them up and they play well this week i will tip my hat to him. 0-2 going in to the pies game would genuinely be disastrous.

This will be a decent test . Freo's first game on their home turf ,they'll have done their homework and be keyed up.

But we need to be winning this game and I'm sure the boys had a massive wake up call on the weekend. So I don't think there's any danger of us slacking off here.

 

[Dalions]

This will be a decent test . Freo's first game on their home turf ,they'll have done their homework and be keyed up.

But we need to be winning this game and I'm sure the boys had a massive wake up call on the weekend. So I don't think there's any danger of us slacking off here.

Freo never make it easy for us over there.
I am hoping we have worked out some of the first game rust and they will still have that to work through this week.
That’s why I think we should get the win and reasonably comfortable in the end but it may only be late that we break them.

 

[martinson]

Freo never make it easy for us over there.
I am hoping we have worked out some of the first game rust and they will still have that to work through this week.
That’s why I think we should get the win and reasonably comfortable in the end but it may only be late that we break them.

Having the run under the belt will help us. You had to get the impression that we lapsed badly in concentration on Friday thinking we were still having a practice game halfway through the 2nd quarter. It's hard to get your energy levels going again once you let down mentally.

 

[DreadBat5701894]

Hopefully we are better having gotten a serious game under our belts.

 

[Berrygood]

I was just wondering if this opening round concept has cruelled us. We already had a shortened preseason because of the GF and then another week shorter because we start a week earlier than most.

It's only a week I know but would Neale, Berry n Payne have been so underdone? We would have had McKenna and Dev right to go. We could have started the season v Freo or whomever at full strength. It's gotta be tough to fit in post season surgeries and recovery as it is but over an even shorter preseason it's gotta be even tougher. We also would have had another week to evaluate or refine the Dizzy experiment. It also means we're now coming up against a team that hasn't been belted around and suffered injuries, a team that's starting fresh with an extra week to prepare.

Carlton had an extra week of preseason because of their earlier exit in the finals. Did that make a difference? Same with Collingwood and GWS. It's certainly not proof of what I'm trying to get at here but it does open it up for consideration.

I just want every team to start on as equal a footing as possible. I don't think this opening round concept does that and I don't think an early bye compensates for that in any way. It also seems the AFL are intent on continuing this opening round in the future. So regardless where we finish our preseason will be shorter than most as long as they continue with it.

Anyway v Freo I'm hopeful of an improvement and a win we definitely need.

 

[martinson]

I was just wondering if this opening round concept has cruelled us. We already had a shortened preseason because of the GF and then another week shorter because we start a week earlier than most.

It's only a week I know but would Neale, Berry n Payne have been so underdone? We would have had McKenna and Dev right to go. We could have started the season v Freo or whomever at full strength. It's gotta be tough to fit in post season surgeries and recovery as it is but over an even shorter preseason it's gotta be even tougher. We also would have had another week to evaluate or refine the Dizzy experiment. It also means we're now coming up against a team that hasn't been belted around and suffered injuries, a team that's starting fresh with an extra week to prepare.

Carlton had an extra week of preseason because of their earlier exit in the finals. Did that make a difference? Same with Collingwood and GWS. It's certainly not proof of what I'm trying to get at here but it does open it up for consideration.

I just want every team to start on as equal a footing as possible. I don't think this opening round concept does that and I don't think an early bye compensates for that in any way. It also seems the AFL are intent on continuing this opening round in the future. So regardless where we finish our preseason will be shorter than most as long as they continue with it.

Anyway v Freo I'm hopeful of an improvement and a win we definitely need.

I raised it a couple of times. Definitely a factor . Softish pre season due to time constraints and taking it easier on guys recovering from surgeries.

Early March is way too soon for the season to start ,especially for those in the GF.

 

[Bucking Beads]

Surely we come out breathing fire after being embarrassed a bit on Friday night. It really frustrates me how often this team decides to just stop running when they feel they've got a big enough lead.

 

[Elixuh]

Freo are close to bottom of the list in terms of watchable teams in the league. Hopefully they've updated their boring gameplan to play some entertaining footy.

 

[Section 5]

Great preview and i hope your mum will get to see a few away Lions wins this year.

Any team that makes the GF will have at least 1 week more than the rest of the competition.
In my opinion starting early March is not an issue that some BF posters think it is.
The other option is never making the GF so you have more lead in time to game 1 which i doubt anyone would want that.

Opening round or round 1 is always a hard game for most teams.
However, lack of effort on our part and lack of respect to the opposition during the 2nd and 3rd quarters is concerning.
One thing is we now don't have a big Gabba winning streak that would have had to come to an end at some stage.

Another loss will make things more difficult, so the boys need to get the win.
They should not be holding back as the have a week off to recover and get ready for the Pies game.
Just need to win at all costs even if we play badly and move on to the next round.

 

[Grasshopper17]

It also means we're now coming up against a team that hasn't been belted around and suffered injuries, a team that's starting fresh with an extra week to prepare.

And if we were in Freo's position we'd be saying "it's not fair cos we're always cr@p coming off a bye".

There's always excuses for everything. We just need to be better, tougher, more ruthless, whatever, in the upstairs department. It's as simple as that.

 

[dlanod]

Freo are close to bottom of the list in terms of watchable teams in the league. Hopefully they've updated their boring gameplan to play some entertaining footy.

To be honest, I hope they're willing to just get out of the way and let us play some entertaining footy.

 

[Elixuh]

To be honest, I hope they're willing to just get out of the way and let us play some entertaining footy.

They do have a player that does backflips which is entertaining. And who can forget the Sea Shanty men who sing before games.

 

[Grasshopper17]

They do have a player that does backflips which is entertaining. And who can forget the Sea Shanty men who sing before games.

I can see this becoming an annual expedition for Dalions.

 

[Dalions]

To be honest, I hope they're willing to just get out of the way and let us play some entertaining footy.

You mean like we did for Carlton?

 

[Dalions]

I can see this becoming an annual expedition for Dalions.

I do love back flips.
But that’s only because I can’t do them.
Don’t want to see any on Sunday.

 

[twhowler]

And if we were in Freo's position we'd be saying "it's not fair cos we're always cr@p coming off a bye".

There's always excuses for everything. We just need to be better, tougher, more ruthless, whatever, in the upstairs department. It's as simple as that.

Not to mention the fact we got so far up.

And to my eye at least were clearly on top for most of the last quarter, just a lack of system and poise cost us

It was a great time to get Carlton - an opponent who only had one week fewer than us to prep, had several key players out, and had to travel.

If we had played say Freo on the weekend in Perth - who had 5 weeks extra prep - sure you would say that's rough.

We lost through mental weakness and it has to be a major worry for a losing grand finalist i think. lose this week and the narrative will be lions are mentally shot. True or not it's hard to shift a narrative and will get in the minds of some players.

12 point game this week*

*worth 4 premiership points

 

[dlanod]

You mean like we did for Carlton?

They let us do it in the first, and then we returned the favour. Quid pro quo, it's only fair given we both did the same in reverse in the prelim final.

 

[Berrygood]

And if we were in Freo's position we'd be saying "it's not fair cos we're always cr@p coming off a bye".

There's always excuses for everything. We just need to be better, tougher, more ruthless, whatever, in the upstairs department. It's as simple as that.

We are crap coming off a bye and now we have 2 of them, lol.

I agree, I've said earlier too that a better attitude and greater commitment was needed. We seem to fire up after a loss, I expect the same this week.