Review Freo defeat Dees by 2 pts

[free at last]

Just watched full replay (from start this time) and yeah you're absolutely right. Jumped the gun on a fair bit of that, but still stand by the praise for (most of) the older brigade.
I also think Sandi was better throughout than I gave him credit for.

I do have to say though, that against a quality team applying the type of pressure we were once famous for, we're not going to do well. We've had two games in a row now where the effort and intensity has been consistent, but the composure is still to come.
Derby is going to be interesting, and Adelaide are currently scaring the bejesus out of me.
See how we go against North first, I suppose. We're going to have to rely on a fair amount of midfield dominance there I think.

I think we'll have to rely on our midfield dominance all year imo now that we probably won't have AP playing at CHB.

 

[Dump Truck]

My buddy did amazing yesterday! People seem to forget this kid is 20 and had a year off footy. His first touch in his first 2 games is still a bit off but when he finally adjusts to the speed of AFL he will explode. His goal just showed the composure and poise that he has. He also has a fair bit of swagger about him which is exciting to watch.

However in this thread I'm surprised no one has mentioned it (unless I missed it) but Crozier... That man just creates something from nothing. His goal from outside 50, his mark, he constantly was lurking and you could see the Demons defenders nervous around him. Grey was quiet but my god, I NEVER want to feel what it'd be like to be tackled by him. We should keep him for at least 10 games, worst case he'll just scare the opposition sh**less.

If someone told me we'd be 2-2 with a win at the MCG, a win against the reigning premiers and above the Hawks, Sydney and North on the ladder I'd be content with that. The fact Balic, Logue have debuts is also not a bad place to be. If we can beat North next week I reckon that'll give us a huge amount of confidence for the derby.

 

[meima]

After watching replay , can see a bit of hawthorn flavour game plan with players switching position (fyfe,neale,mundy) , langdon in the centre square for the cam mac goal .

 

[wayToGo_]

Well the lid is somewhat off. Not because we are storming back in to premiership contention this year but because all the pieces of our rebuild are looking very promising...

• Our 4 trade ins have already exceeded my expectations:
  • Cam was always going to be a gun and it won't be long before he is. Really liked his effort right from the first bounce.
  • Thought Hamling would be solid but his leadership in the back line seems outstanding.
  • We knew Brad Hill could run all day but he seems to be relishing more responsibility at Freo.
  • Kersten is easily the biggest surprise for me - maybe all he has needed in his career was more responsibility?
• Fyfe is such a natural leader - ticks all the boxes. But perhaps even more encouraging is how Mundy has supported him. Those rumours about the culture issues were clearly BS. And how much has Neale grown (not height wise) since he won the Doig? All three have led from the front the past two games.
• The rotations with our midfield (and forward line) is brilliant. With Balic added to the mix, we have a great mix of youth and experience on the inside. This should only get better the more they play together. And on the outside it looks fast - we look almost unstoppable when we work the ball inside to out cleanly and directly from a stoppage (Sandi > Fyfe > BHill ).
• I am honestly shocked our forward line has managed to be functional given the somewhat randomness of the personnel in it. Really thought we'd struggle a lot without a big primary key forward but add Mundy (and Logue looked promising also today) in to support McCarthy and Kersten and we not only have a bunch of decent targets inside 50 but our capacity to forward press and keep the ball locked in, win the ground ball, and share the load to keep the opposition guessing is excellent. Give them more time to gel and surround them with Walters, Crozier, Grey, Neale etc and it's starting to be pretty dangerous. Add Bennell (please please please) and wowee!
• They're pretty easy to single out when they make a mistake but I think overall our defenders have been very good the past two games. They held up well in the first half when Melbourne was rebounding more easily. I thought quite a few of their mistakes in the first half were because of a lack of spread up field. Thought Weller's second half was sensational. Also really liked some of Hughes' body work and tackling. Can only ask them both to keep improving and they are.
• Excitingly we also still have some class to come back in with Bennell, APearce and Tucker. Collins, Tabs, Apeness and Sutcliffe will all put their hands up over the coming weeks as well. And I'm still backing in Luke Ryan when he gets back from injury. It's pretty hard to know who would come out of the team for them at this stage. Are we starting to have a list where the fringe is decent quality?

tl;dr - Melbourne are a quality team, they had some outs, so did we, but our whole team stood up and our recruits, youngsters and whole team is improving with every game. The future looks bright.

stl;dr -
(fremantle football club rebuild looks on target, cool man)

 

[elsleevador]

I love Balic and think he will grow into a serious weapon as this season unfolds. He did make a serious blunder which the coaches will hopefully point out this week.
If you watch the last minute Balic kicks it out on the full which was a mistake however, he lies on the ground for about 5 seconds, freeing up melbourne in the corridor and almost costing a harmes late goal. Very lucky boy.

 

[elsleevador]

I love Balic and think he will grow into a serious weapon as this season unfolds. He did make a serious blunder which the coaches will hopefully point out this week.
If you watch the last minute Balic kicks it out on the full which was a mistake however, he lies on the ground for about 5 seconds, freeing up melbourne in the corridor and almost costing a harmes late goal. Very lucky boy.

You're no good to anyone on the ground boy!

 

[DudleyDocker]

Well the lid is somewhat off. Not because we are storming back in to premiership contention this year but because all the pieces of our rebuild are looking very promising...

• Our 4 trade ins have already exceeded my expectations:
  • Cam was always going to be a gun and it won't be long before he is. Really liked his effort right from the first bounce.
  • Thought Hamling would be solid but his leadership in the back line seems outstanding.
  • We knew Brad Hill could run all day but he seems to be relishing more responsibility at Freo.
  • Kersten is easily the biggest surprise for me - maybe all he has needed in his career was more responsibility?
• Fyfe is such a natural leader - ticks all the boxes. But perhaps even more encouraging is how Mundy has supported him. Those rumours about the culture issues were clearly BS. And how much has Neale grown (not height wise) since he won the Doig? All three have led from the front the past two games.
• The rotations with our midfield (and forward line) is brilliant. With Balic added to the mix, we have a great mix of youth and experience on the inside. This should only get better the more they play together. And on the outside it looks fast - we look almost unstoppable when we work the ball inside to out cleanly and directly from a stoppage (Sandi > Fyfe > BHill ).
• I am honestly shocked our forward line has managed to be functional given the somewhat randomness of the personnel in it. Really thought we'd struggle a lot without a big primary key forward but add Mundy (and Logue looked promising also today) in to support McCarthy and Kersten and we not only have a bunch of decent targets inside 50 but our capacity to forward press and keep the ball locked in, win the ground ball, and share the load to keep the opposition guessing is excellent. Give them more time to gel and surround them with Walters, Crozier, Grey, Neale etc and it's starting to be pretty dangerous. Add Bennell (please please please) and wowee!
• They're pretty easy to single out when they make a mistake but I think overall our defenders have been very good the past two games. They held up well in the first half when Melbourne was rebounding more easily. I thought quite a few of their mistakes in the first half were because of a lack of spread up field. Thought Weller's second half was sensational. Also really liked some of Hughes' body work and tackling. Can only ask them both to keep improving and they are.
• Excitingly we also still have some class to come back in with Bennell, APearce and Tucker. Collins, Tabs, Apeness and Sutcliffe will all put their hands up over the coming weeks as well. And I'm still backing in Luke Ryan when he gets back from injury. It's pretty hard to know who would come out of the team for them at this stage. Are we starting to have a list where the fringe is decent quality?

tl;dr - Melbourne are a quality team, they had some outs, so did we, but our whole team stood up and our recruits, youngsters and whole team is improving with every game. The future looks bright.

stl;dr -
(fremantle football club rebuild looks on target, cool man)

Mate, this is all just dumb luck. Our recruiters are useless and we have a coach who is too stubborn to develop youth.

Mark my words, it's only a matter of time before I'm proven to be clever and insightful and edgy.

 

[DudleyDocker]

I love Balic and think he will grow into a serious weapon as this season unfolds. He did make a serious blunder which the coaches will hopefully point out this week.
If you watch the last minute Balic kicks it out on the full which was a mistake however, he lies on the ground for about 5 seconds, freeing up melbourne in the corridor and almost costing a harmes late goal. Very lucky boy.

I thought that was Hughes?

 

[Spoken4]

Skillswise, had to give it to Melbourne who I thought played better overall.

Yeah, don't agree. That third quarter was absolutely exceptional by Freo. Melbourne didn't show that quality.

 

[meima]

Pretty happy with grey and croz addition , you can only learn that much playing wafl , but playing alongside fyfe, Neale and mundy actually make you appreciate their (grey and croz) tackle and pressure act among the freo squad .

Croz- 6 tackle
Grey - 7 tackle

 

[holy diver]

those who are critical of Gerard Healy commentating on the dockers have either not been watching for the last 10 years or have nfi.

/\This premise you see alot with the Gerard Healy apologists. Attack the poster.
The bloke is a flog with his commentary. He would do better to call the game rather than carry on Ad nauseam over analyzing mistakes. He could take lessons from the Premier League or NBA commentary. Just call the game. Many other AFL commentators are guilty of this sin as well. The MMM radio call on 94.5 is worse. They are wannabe pro wrestling callers. Gerard is a flog - and he has done it for more than ten years.

 

[sansian]

So happy to see the team playing the way they are. Plus they won me $50 last week and another $68 this week!

 

[Cobbler]

/\This premise you see alot with the Gerard Healy apologists. Attack the poster.
The bloke is a flog with his commentary. He would do better to call the game rather than carry on Ad nauseam over analyzing mistakes. He could take lessons from the Premier League or NBA commentary. Just call the game. Many other AFL commentators are guilty of this sin as well. The MMM radio call on 94.5 is worse. They are wannabe pro wrestling callers. Gerard is a flog - and he has done it for more than ten years.

Agree.
I don't care if he is anti-Freo or pro-Freo. His actual calling of the game is horrendously negative and he continues to highlight errors rather then, as you say, just call the game.
Robert Walls is another I can't stand because he does the same thing.
I can't stand this type of commentary.

 

[Nightrain]

I thought that was Hughes?

Nah twas Balic. I thought the same as elsleevador.

On a side note, how good does it feel to beat a welfare club like Melbourne? Can't stand the way they have been looked after since the tanking debacle. No way the AFL would have looked after us had we been in the same position.

Umpiring needs to improve. The amount of times they were quick to award a free for HTB against us and not pay it the other way. There were at least 2 occasions in the 3rd qtr we should have been lining up for goal. Added to that, they seemed too happy to play us on quickly from a mark or free whilst giving the Dees all the time in the world. Just go to professional umpires already.

 

[Freo Shark]

Plenty of 1v1 where he ran too far.
Maybe the team should put it out in front of him instead of dropping it on his head.

Yes, we're turning him into Pav#2. Thats why we need Tabs to come on and be an effective co-target so Cam avoids 2/3 vs 1's.

 

[meima]

Yes, we're turning him into Pav#2. Thats why we need Tabs to come on and be an effective co-target so Cam avoids 2/3 vs 1's.

Tab in ,less speed , less pressure . Fast rebound from opposition , more height marking option , helping Sandi in the ruck , run out the game better with his endurance.

 

[elsleevador]

I thought that was Hughes?

number 24

 

[DudleyDocker]

number 24

Yep, my bad - maybe I was just looking to use Hughes as the scapegoat

 

[Seppo]

Melbournes best... the Umpires.

 

[ChimpaWompa]

I'm almost certain it was hughes that kicked it out of bounds and Balic that was the one going for the mark?

 

[Carnthedockers]

Said it before, but Cam needs a big forward to work with.

His best work is lurking behind the packs or not enough attention paid and sneaking off. sure he can take some grabs, but he is a tall crummer.

Logue will get there, but isn't AFL ready. We need Tabs or Griffin (or Ape when uninjured) for structure, as long as the ball goes to ground, they don't need any goals etc (but preferable) - but Cam and Kersten and the whole forward line in turn will work better.

Completely agree. Taberner for me. Griffen is just too slow.

 

[poshman]

What a win!! Mundy and Fyfe rotating forward is huge. Can only imagine what adding Bennell there and swapping into the middle each 1/4 would look like!

Sheridan made some absolute howlers - led to two direct goals. And as some say there is heaps of improvement in lots of aspects to come which is encouraging. Some of our sequences of play are stunning

Brad Hill has been great - he's only a youngster still and we don't use him as much as we could.

Having said that - pre injury S Hill may be our best performer over the season. Winning it in tight. In the air and breaking loose. If his confidence keeps building you can expect more long running goals too. Absolute gun player!! Underrated imo!

A future hamling and Pearce backline partnership is looking golden.

Also cam is just such a pure footballer with an amazing skill set. Long kicking. Quick. Tackles. Smothers. 20 possessions - marks and goals... in expecting a 7 goal breakout game soon! Hopefully at subi!

 

[freo1]

Win or Lose, it's these sort of effort based performances which help you see why Ballas wanted a trade out - with our young guns providing this effort as a minimum, I cant find a spot right now for Ballas and he probably knew this would come. He will have to wait until someone drops in form or effort, (which is highly likely to happen anyway). If he was fit tomorrow i'd hope he would be made to bide his time at Peel.

 

[elsleevador]

I'm almost certain it was hughes that kicked it out of bounds and Balic that was the one going for the mark?

30 seconds to go in the last qtr. Balic

 

[Cobbler]

Win or Lose, it's these sort of effort based performances which help you see why Ballas wanted a trade out - with our young guns providing this effort as a minimum, I cant find a spot right now for Ballas and he probably knew this would come. He will have to wait until someone drops in form or effort, (which is highly likely to happen anyway). If he was fit tomorrow i'd hope he would be made to bide his time at Peel.

This is a hard one. The difference is we're playing a different style and his ability to stay deep forward could actual benefit him and our team as he does have that uncanny sense.
As a true crumbing forward is easily our best player for this position.
As a hybrid? He probably falls behind many as he is really only a true small forward.
Put it this way. Put him in yesterday instead of Crozier or Grey. He makes a much larger impact IMO. 58 inside 50s, many balls brought to ground. With our style yesterday he has a place in our best 22 easily.
Our old style? He unfortunately had little role to play.