Autopsy The Meltdown thread (Autopsy vs Geelong)

benbanjo

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Aug 16, 2009
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Good question, and all while having the services of a Ruckman who at worst breaks even, usually wins comfortably, and occasionally completely dominates the hitout statistic. A complete change of assistant coaches that handle midfield, stoppage/clearance, and Ruck should be high on Rhyce's to do list. We are nowhere near using available assets wisely.
Crazy, Goldy was providing silver service and we still got smashed in clearances.
 
Mar 16, 2001
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A response from Rhys is a must this week (even with little to bring up from the 2's he just has to be seen to be concerned about the loss.)

If he is prepared to 'forget about it - its a once off' then we are in huge trouble going forward.

We have lost 4 out of the last 5 and been smashed in 2 of those games. The one win came from an emotional boost of the 150th.

Things have gone pear shaped quickly and a line in the sand is required.
It took a lot more than emotion to win last week. Take each week on its merits and there’s no pear shaped trend. It was a s**t night. Move on. I do not see how bringing VFL players in who aren’t going to result in any improvement is in any way showing concern or drawing a line in the sand. And if you think he should drop players who underperformed to prove he cares, where TF would you start and end? Keep Scooter and JMac and maybe Goldy and do we have 19 available to bring in?
 
Jun 9, 2001
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As much as the loss wasn't our worst ever, the low score is still a milestone in humiliation.

I do think the club need to make some public declaration around the fact and show some primal anger around this.

If there's no consequence to posting the club's lowest score in modern history - and that includes so many sub-par eras - then we might as well plonk ourselves back in the most consequence free Brad Scott phase.
 
Oct 16, 2004
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As much as the loss wasn't our worst ever, the low score is still a milestone in humiliation.

I do think the club need to make some public declaration around the fact and show some primal anger around this.

If there's no consequence to posting the club's lowest score in modern history - and that includes so many sub-par eras - then we might as well plonk ourselves back in the most consequence free Brad Scott phase.

Not sure "primal anger" is needed but I get the sentiment. I wouldn't say anything in public outside of the norm. Talk's cheap and we've heard it before from the previous coach. The response I want to see is one we rarely got from the previous coach. Coolly and calmly make a wordless response on Thursday night which amounts to "Well, if you aren't going to do some non-negotiables on match day, we'll pick players who will" and then back it up on Saturday night.

We've seen nice-Rhyce the laid-back friendly Interim coach. Now he's got the main job, he's got to implement his standards around the whole team and let everyone know what he stands for. Whatever last Saturday was, it can't be that so Rhyce has to let his actions do the talking.
 
As much as the loss wasn't our worst ever, the low score is still a milestone in humiliation.

I do think the club need to make some public declaration around the fact and show some primal anger around this.

If there's no consequence to posting the club's lowest score in modern history - and that includes so many sub-par eras - then we might as well plonk ourselves back in the most consequence free Brad Scott phase.

It's actually a real test.

It's a largely meaningless game this week and if he's ever going to head on a pike style selection he s not going to get free hits like this often.
 
Nov 25, 2014
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We've had our two most important losses in 20 years this year.The Sydney loss and Saturday. When Rhyce even remotely gets ahead of himself over summer, the cold heart that lurks within all the Shaws will remind him of Saturday. We need to be ruthless in our pursuit of our 5th premiership. We need to hit this draft hard, weed out those below average players getting regular games and completely ignore the selfish and disloyal club hoppers baying only for our cheque book. Only then will we build on the impressive bunch of young players in our midst. Saturday night was not the end folks. It's not even the beginning of the end.
 

roojor

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Jul 5, 2015
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The frustrating part is that we got smashed in Centre clearances most of this year which is supposed to be our strength. As we have no outside run, As much as I like Dumont he is not a winger in the modern game. We went back to the basics which worked for a few weeks but that is not sustainable and sides work it out match us in contested football and we have no plan B
 

lockheed

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Oct 22, 2005
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It's actually a real test.

It's a largely meaningless game this week and if he's ever going to head on a pike style selection he s not going to get free hits like this often.
I agree, but other than Campbell, Hrovat, Hosie and Durdin, who is there that we can bring in that will make us a better side?
 
I agree, but other than Campbell, Hrovat, Hosie and Durdin, who is there that we can bring in that will make us a better side?

In a next to worthless game that's the point.

Through the game review we should pick the 3 worst on and drop them.
 

amaz199

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Apr 5, 2015
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The Geelong game is the perfect exposure of the underlying hidden issue that was patched for 10 years under Brad. The midfield.

On a good day, it can slaughter the best of sides.

On a bad day, the backline will be thrown into the fire with petrol poured over. Ben Brown will struggle to even get a goal next to his name.

It still needs a dynamic, a different mix of speed and grunt as well as some form of class in areas where the ball needs to hit the target dead perfect.

  • JZ needs to make his mind up. Unless he becomes the bull he once was, go forward.
  • Cunnington's fitness is woeful, takes too much of the heat and can't sustain his form for long enough. Needs to hit 2020 really hard.
  • Higgins is being over-worked. Needs to find another role where he can be the 3-4 goal guy when the young guys are down on form. He can be the difference on a off day.
  • Simpkin needs a big preseason and he should be fine.
  • Anderson loves the rough stuff and we all do, but the body can only take so much. Reckon he might need to hit the gym or do extra sessions with trainers. Who knows what he is capable of doing to opposition when he lines em up bigger and better.
  • LDU and TT will come good. They are Mr. Composures when we need them.
  • Dumont and Polec have cemented their positions on the wings but it wouldn't hurt to change things up. Maybe put Higgo on the wing and have Polec go forward or even rotate Jmac/Dumont/Higgins/Polec. Potential dynamic there.
  • Shaun Atley is a question mark for me. I don't know if he needs to even leave the backline anymore... he usually plays well on his opponent. On a bad day he can get the ball to ice the game but no one presents so his speed is useless. This shits me more than anything.
So far this year the backline has been our most improved despite the higher PA. Rhyce Shaw fixed that s**t up. Watching our games, we set up exceptionally well once the ball got loose to opposition. And what frustrates me is a bit of pressure can break chains opposition develop to run forward, our midfield gets lazy sometimes.

If only we weren't so unusually hesitant to see ball and get ball or even take a instinctive risk when the game was getting out of reach, we might still be in a finals position. So many games this year where opposition wasn't the reason they won, but we were just abhorrently worse. Much worse.

2019 is the season that hurts the most, but was the season we had to have.

I hope when Thommo retires, he can mentor Durdin. The kid can football with the right guys around him.
 
If only we weren't so unusually hesitant to see ball and get ball or even take a instinctive risk when the game was getting out of reach, we might still be in a finals position. So many games this year where opposition wasn't the reason they won, but we were just abhorrently worse. Much worse.
Brad Scotts' legacy.
 
May 15, 2005
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Commiserations on the loss.

Here are the midfield frequency stats from the game. If you haven't seen one of these posts before, this is an overall summary of how often your players were lining up as one of the 5 mids at bounces.

Overall Summary - 14 Bounces

Dumont 13 wing
Polec 13 wing
Higgins 12 (2w)
Cunnington 10
Simpkin 9
Garner 4
Thomas 4
Anderson 3
Ziebell 2

Rucks:
Goldstein 13
Larkey 1

Centre Clearances (as per Champion Data/AFL.com.au)
Higgins 2
Cunnington 1
Thomas 1

1st Half - 6

Dumont 6 wing
Polec 6 wing
Cunnington 5
Simpkin 5
Higgins 4
Anderson 2
Garner 1
Thomas 1

Goldstein 6

2nd Half - 8

Higgins 8 (2w)
Dumont 7 wing
Polec 7 wing
Cunnington 5
Simpkin 4
Garner 3
Thomas 3
Ziebell 2
Anderson 1

Goldstein 7
Larkey 1


Notes:
- Highest ever starts for Garner in an analysed game surpassing the 3 wing starts he had in Rd 6, 2017
- Lowest starts for Anderson in an analysed game since Rd 22, 2016
- Lowest starts for Ziebell in analysed games since Rd 5
 
Commiserations on the loss.

Here are the midfield frequency stats from the game. If you haven't seen one of these posts before, this is an overall summary of how often your players were lining up as one of the 5 mids at bounces.

Overall Summary - 14 Bounces

Dumont 13 wing
Polec 13 wing
Higgins 12 (2w)
Cunnington 10
Simpkin 9
Garner 4
Thomas 4
Anderson 3
Ziebell 2

Rucks:
Goldstein 13
Larkey 1

Centre Clearances (as per Champion Data/AFL.com.au)
Higgins 2
Cunnington 1
Thomas 1

1st Half - 6

Dumont 6 wing
Polec 6 wing
Cunnington 5
Simpkin 5
Higgins 4
Anderson 2
Garner 1
Thomas 1

Goldstein 6

2nd Half - 8

Higgins 8 (2w)
Dumont 7 wing
Polec 7 wing
Cunnington 5
Simpkin 4
Garner 3
Thomas 3
Ziebell 2
Anderson 1

Goldstein 7
Larkey 1


Notes:
- Highest ever starts for Garner in an analysed game surpassing the 3 wing starts he had in Rd 6, 2017
- Lowest starts for Anderson in an analysed game since Rd 22, 2016
- Lowest starts for Ziebell in analysed games since Rd 5
The balance is wrong again. Too many football chasers and not enough respect shown to an opponent.
Jy not winning a clearance all night is disappointing.
 

FlyHigh18

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May 8, 2017
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The way I’m interpreting this is that we were getting smashed in the middle so we added more Higgo for the 2nd half?... and that made it worse?
 
The way I’m interpreting this is that we were getting smashed in the middle so we added more Higgo for the 2nd half?... and that made it worse?
Yep. Even tried more Garner, more Thomas and more Ziebell and it did nothing.
Interestingly we never tried the Cunners, Jed and Simpkin combo that treated us well in Higgins absence.
 
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