Positives and Negatives vs Melbourne

[jesterwester]

-We played two rucks against one and both were thrashed. Truly ugly.

Fairly decent opposition though. Gawn dominated, but we only lost the clearances by 4 against a very strong inside team.

We didn’t expect to win the ruck contests, just provide enough of a contest so they weren’t able to waltz out of the contest with clear ball. We don’t have NN yet to provide us with that clear attacking skill yet. So we have to do what other teams have been when we’ve had Nic; concede the hitout but try to disrupt it just enough so the opposition can’t break free.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

I thought Oscar showed a lot of character tonight. Terrible early but got a lot better as the match progressed. Would have learned a lot tonight.

 

[HoneyBadger35]

Sorry for being so negative but that's what's staring at me as well.

Anyways, Melb are a rubbish team, yet,:

They won i50 - 62 v 47
They won contested marks 15 v 9
They won 24 scoring shots v 20

We had 65% scoring accuracy v their 38%

A better team would have belted us.

100.0% on the ladder

Adelaide flogs us to kingdom come next week.

Cheers

That's a pretty strange argument. Melbourne's record is bad, but that doesn't make them bad in all areas. The areas you've listed are actually some they've been fairly good at this year. Contested, high entry footy is what led them to a prelim last year. It's almost the polar opposite of our approach. I'd argue they're always likely to win those numbers, just as we're always likely to win uncontested marks, kicks, intercept possessions and forward efficiency numbers.



They are always a highly contested, high i50 team. Despite being 3-5 coming in, they were +42 in i50 this season. I mean look at the game they lost to Geelong: 72 - 48 inside fifties, but they lost by 80. Only two teams have beaten Melbourne for inside 50s this year, seven have lost that category, and yet Melbourne are 3-6.

They're 11-11 on the season in the three categories you outlined, breaking even with most sides. 5-2 in inside 50s. 3-5 in contested marking. 3-1-4 in scoring shots.

Yes, Melbourne were inefficient going forward today. That's not luck, that's not 'oh a better side would have made us pay'. 62 Melbourne inside 50s are not worth the same as 62 Eagles inside 50s, or 62 Collingwood inside 50s. We beat them in uncontested posessions. We beat them in marks 116-75. We had more intercept possessions. All areas emphasised in our game style - I wouldn't expect Melbourne to complain about that, that's not in team's DNA.

Let's not sit back and pretend everything's perfect and we've got nothing to work on, but the take away from today's game wasn't "we got lucky it was only Melbourne". They challenged us in a lot of areas that are their strengths and our weaknesses, and we held tough. Melbourne vs West Coast is a clash of styles, and ours won. Again.

 

[Gizza]

-Vardy giving it to Gawn pissed me off. He’s getting roasted on Twitter atm.

Kinda feel that Gawn is a bit chirpy and might have been giving Vards and Hicks some lip service and hence the reaction.

I'm really surprised at the amount of s**t he's getting over that. Players used as step ladders are always given s**t afterwards.

 

[TOA.]

Melbourne really set themselves for this game and tried hard to implement the Port/Essendon (last year) game plan. In the end we did well to get over the line as it was looking doubtful.

It is hard to stop sides that use the run and gun method because when the risky first couple of touches come off there isnt much you can do to stop it (its basically a play sides would use in the last minute of a game). We need to learn to stop it, and hopefully tonight helps us later in the year.

 

[wce4premiership]

I wouldn't question Redden's tackling ability or toughness though. Sheed's effort in the forward pocket near the boundary was pretty shocking.

Elliot Yeo - Clear BOG ... like an absolute animal he hunted the ball and when he didn't get it he made people pay. That game was phenomenal because nobody else seemed to be willing to lift a finger for a half and he just kept going, putting his head over it and putting people into the ground. That's how you tire out their mids, that's how you make them fumble and second guess themselves. Had three HTB calls I think, maybe even four.

Shuey - Tackling aside, the way he lined up those two shots was brilliant. The confidence to back himself and just know that there's no better option than himself in the moment is good to see and he nailed them perfectly. Such a high impact player on offence and defence.

Hurn - Last quarter he just flicked the switch, played on and kicked aggressively. His kicking was on all night but in that 4th quarter his decision making was obviously more attacking, pulled it off with ease and made others follow his lead. He was also great in the air, only Gov was better I'd say, perhaps Shep equal.

McGovern - His kicking tonight was sublime, picks off some pretty attacking kicks off one step, so it always sort of takes the opposition by surprise. His defensive work was much needed with the makeshift FB we had in Allen.

Gaff - Tough as nails, standing in the hole, tackling much bigger players, getting smashed all over the shop. He's gutsy and it's inspiring.

Hutchings / Redden - The two least prolific midfielders were also the two that ran the furthest. I will reserve judgement until I watch a replay but I thought Redden did some good things, Hutchings had some glaring errors early, was involved in some bad plays.

Vardy - Not up to scratch at the moment, just can't take the simplest of marks. Shouldn't have touched Gawn after he'd done * all all game.


(Not so) Interesting notes:
- We ran 13 kilometres further as a team tonight but the Dees ran 7 kilometres further 'at high speed'.
- The Demons had 195 sprint efforts to our 123 and they had 12 repeat sprints to our 3.

Says a bit about the way the game went through the corridor there.

Will watch a replay and perhaps add some gifs as visual aids if I have enough time tomorrow.

 

[avishka5]

H

I thought Oscar showed a lot of character tonight. Terrible early but got a lot better as the match progressed. Would have learned a lot tonight.

He was thrown to the wolves last minute and it's no surprise he struggled early. Tonight just highlighted his talent and smarts as footballer. Not many 19 year old KPP's would be able to swap ends and make a contest against a much bigger forward. He got better as the game got on.

 

[RookiePick]

+ 4 more points

+ got them from the backfoot being a rotation down

+ great to see Willie back out there

+ Kennedy building ominously.

- our connection between our lines is really bad. The backs work well, the mids work well and the forwards are class but gee they make a dogs breakfast of linking up.

- Venables injury. Bloody nasty KO. I hope he pulls up OK.

- our defensive work on turnovers. If it wasn't a team fill of crabs, like Melbourne, ownership of the corridor like we saw would have resulted in a 10 goal mauling.

 

[ep2018]

I get it. We won the flag. The playing group are premiership players. But

+ lets go back to back!!! Lets be known as a great team and not just as a good team. Step up as I reckon our best is better than anyone elses.

 

[CM9000]

Sorry for being so negative but that's what's staring at me as well.

Anyways, Melb are a rubbish team, yet,:

They won i50 - 62 v 47
They won contested marks 15 v 9
They won 24 scoring shots v 20

We had 65% scoring accuracy v their 38%


A better team would have belted us.

100.0% on the ladder



Adelaide flogs us to kingdom come next week.

Cheers

I think you're expectations are a bit unrealistic. We simply can't just switch on premiership mode instantly and play champagne footy, we've had to build up to it this year. That's just happens when you have a complete lack of preseason and quite a few youngsters in key positions - we're slowly getting back to the form that won us the premiership.

 

[TOA.]

Also, what were the match committee thinking going with Vardy over Hickey. I hope they always planned to play both because Vardy isnt anywhere near standard.

 

[Ishmael_]

Didn’t like Vardy going to him, though. Maybe Gawn said something to him prior, so happy to let it go, but it’s not a great look. Takes away from a beautiful play from Ryan.

Ya but how good was Rioli's pat? The little sweetie.

From anyone else it would be incredibly patronising, but with Willie he's got a heart of gold.

 

[TOA.]

I think you're expectations are a bit unrealistic. We simply can't just switch on premiership mode instantly and play champagne footy, we've had to build up to it this year. That's just happens when you have a complete lack of preseason and quite a few youngsters in key positions - we're slowly getting back to the form that won us the premiership.

There is no doubt in my mind we have lost some desire, which i think is only natural. I hope it just clicks into place more later in the year when finals come around and the chance of doing it again becomes real.

 

[ioppolo]

That last quarter was amazing, but the first three had some glaring negatives.

-Vardy needs to go. Hickey can ruck 80% and Oscar/Gov can do 20%.
-Darling is worse than 2017 levels this season.
-Jetta's fresh in prison cut is hideous.
-The lack of pressure for three quarters was... embarrassing.

On the flip side, Kennedy, Yeo, Hurn were immense, Cole had a better outing, Hickey is one crazy lad doing Brennan like one handed pick ups.

 

[twinkletoes#17]

+ Yeo was huge. Smashing blokes in tackles left right and centre.
+ Hurn
+ JK - All you campaigners going on and on about how he is passed it. G A G F
+ Mongrel in Vardy, good he gave Gawn s**t after the Ryan mark. He is a sook.
+ Cripps work rate

- smashed in the ruck.
- Vardy and Darling cannot hold a contested mark between them at the moment.
- commentators (could they barrack any harder?)
- so called fans cheering our player being knocked out on social media. Should be ashamed of themselves.

 

[Gazeah78]

Are any of you actually going to give us a chance for once and not go into complete meltdown for being behind? I mean how many times does the team have to prove it? Also it is pretty spoilt and entitled to expect us to thump teams every week and peak in ******* April.

Yep we did this s**t all last season. Expectations.....

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[Gizza]

From a so called fan. We seem to have a fair few **** fans going around.
View attachment 675829

Yup, suddenly played better 1 and a half quarters after he left the ground. What a ******* knob.

 

[DanWCE]

From a so called fan. We seem to have a fair few **** fans going around.
View attachment 675829

You know what's good about this place? Not many FB nuffies. Please do less of sharing their ridiculous ramblings round these parts. I didn't create an account here to get angry over Facebook posts from the idiotic minority of our fans.

 

[Gazeah78]

+ Neroli liked my tweet
+ Won ugly again
+ Yippie Yi YEEEEEEOOOOO
+ Willie ruined my Willie
+ JK should retire
+ Liam Moorcroft used Gawn as a sunlounge
+ Shannon Hurn 2019 AA captain
+ Tom Cole played his best game of the season
+ Tackling intent was great
+ That last quarter
+ 4 more points, 3 wins on the trot

- Venables injury
- Vardy and Hickey were both pretty poor
- Gawn dominated
- Vardy getting in Gawn's face made him look like a Grade A flog
- Everything about Redden's game, can't think of a thing he did right
- Jetta probably having a little holiday

JK should retire? What are you on aboug mate?????

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[DanielKerr4]

Touching on Oscar, like many have said he started poorly but finished the game very well. Absolutely no mention of him keeping McDonald, a much more senior and bigger player, goalless. Feather in the cap young man, got a huge future with us.

 

[TY24]

JK should retire? What are you on aboug mate?????

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Taking the Mickey out of all the people saying he was finished last week


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[DanWCE]

Thanks for the Yeopreciation, too. My boy and I just had to build a mini late preseason. We are coming for the Brownyeo. And the BnF threepeat.

 

[Gizza]

Melbourne really set themselves for this game and tried hard to implement the Port/Essendon (last year) game plan. In the end we did well to get over the line as it was looking doubtful.

It is hard to stop sides that use the run and gun method because when the risky first couple of touches come off there isnt much you can do to stop it (its basically a play sides would use in the last minute of a game). We need to learn to stop it, and hopefully tonight helps us later in the year.

Exactly. Teams are finally learning that you can't kick long to our defence. And when it comes off it's dangerous. Bombers figured it out last year. Thankfully everyone else has taken until we won the flag to catch on.

 

[avishka5]

HoneyBadger35 I reckon they'll give you POTY if you make make a Yeo highlights package form this game. Make sure you include every tackle.

 

[The Falcon Strike]

Positives; we won

Rinse and repeat