Autopsy Positives and Negatives vs Richmond

[FreeTK]

I'd give the points to Richmonds rucks. Might've been different if Williams kicked a goal or two like he probably should've.

Nic had a brilliant 2nd term, i'd say the majority of his hitouts to advantage came in that quarter when he jumped all over them. He also kicked a class goal.

Other side of that coin, he coughed up a direct goal to them, and his ruckwork was nullified in the second half. Don't recall too many clean getaways or sublime stoppage work after half time, it was all a struggle.

AFL.priddis saying he was beaten, unsurprisingly.

Let's just say if you were a Richmond fan (yuck) you'd have been very happy with Soldo and Nank.

The real disappointment from last night was McGovern IMO.

We were predictable with some of our centre clearance work. Essentially they only had to cover for 2 mids, Shuey and Kelly. If Redden and Yeo are there it becomes almost impossible to cover all of them, hence one will always get out and off we go. Having Yeo out there also means Sheed is more inclined to get off the chain, and Gaff can be purely outside.

I thought our rucks got beaten as a 2 on 2, not because Nic got beaten, but Williams has a bit more development in him. Nic was the best ruckman out there last night. Perhaps he faded in the second half, which I can understand.

 

[ziad]

We were predictable with some of our centre clearance work. Essentially they only had to cover for 2 mids, Shuey and Kelly. If Redden and Yeo are there it becomes almost impossible to cover all of them, hence one will always get out and off we go.

I thought our rucks got beaten as a 2 on 2, not because Nic got beaten, but Williams has a bit more development in him. Nic was the best ruckman out there last night. Perhaps he faded in the second half, which I can understand.

I thought Nic an Shuey were stand outs for effort to the end. Nic repeatedly chased running wing and HB opponents - others should.

 

[FKASC]

I'd give the points to Richmonds rucks. Might've been different if Williams kicked a goal or two like he probably should've.

Nic had a brilliant 2nd term, i'd say the majority of his hitouts to advantage came in that quarter when he jumped all over them. He also kicked a class goal.

Other side of that coin, he coughed up a direct goal to them, and his ruckwork was nullified in the second half. Don't recall too many clean getaways or sublime stoppage work after half time, it was all a struggle.


AFL.priddis saying he was beaten, unsurprisingly.

Let's just say if you were a Richmond fan (yuck) you'd have been very happy with Soldo and Nank.



Still won the contested possessions, clearances, tackles, and one percenters

All without Redden and Yeo.

The effort was there, the execution not so much.




The real disappointment, and glaring stat was the contested marks. We got beaten in the air, which is our one wood. Gross, humid night weather got us again.

Really bad night from McGovern IMO.

Their forwards do that a lot (aim to bring the ball to ground). Their smalls are always prepared for it too and usually have at least two players front and square. Complete contrast to our forwardline, which just continually expects Darling to take CMs

 

[FreeTK]

I thought Nic an Shuey were stand outs for effort to the end. Nic repeatedly chased running wing and HB opponents - others should.

I wasn't knocking their performance, just pointing out that without a full on ball brigade we lose the element of surprise and oppo's don't have to hedge their bets and cover every single option. It was pretty obvious that many of Nic's taps would go to Shuey and Richmond anticipated that and were able to mitigate the damage of our centre clearance work. Very few times did we have quality clearances out of the middle with players overlapping as we did in the Collingwood, or Geelong game.

 

[ziad]

I wasn't knocking their performance, just pointing out that without a full on ball brigade we lose the element of surprise and oppo's don't have to hedge their bets and cover every single option. It was pretty obvious that many of Nic's taps would go to Shuey and Richmond anticipated that and were able to mitigate the damage of our centre clearance work. Very few times did we have quality clearances out of the middle with players overlapping as we did in the Collingwood, or Geelong game.

Similarly, with Oscar, Waterman and the JK out it is easy to tripple team JD. I thought playing Ryan out of the square was innovative coaching.

 

[kane249]

If Kennedy does miss, could we potentially play Brander up forward if Allen still isn't right yet?

 

[ziad]

Their forwards do that a lot (aim to bring the ball to ground). Their smalls are always prepared for it too and usually have at least two players front and square. Complete contrast to our forwardline, which just continually expects Darling to take CMs

we out smarted them and spoiled to the front of the pack??

 

[Rowan18]

Got to give them this one.
Naitanui might've got the smallest fist to it but either the umpire was blindsided or he decided to reward the tackler (which I won't object to).
Naitanui had an opportunity to release and held on a split second too long.
There were a number of controversial frees, but I wouldn't classify this as one of them.

I agree.

The pissweak holding on Lynch with barrass and the in the back against reiwoldt were pretty soft though.

End of the day, once JK was out, we were up against it. We were missing two of our best mids, 3 of our tall forwards and a good HB.

 

[Eaglemaniac]

We always struggle against teams that provide manic pressure, because our game plan is based on maintaining possession, hitting targets, chip and mark style football etc.
Richmond and teams who play the “get it forward at all costs” style footy, are our keyptonite because they don’t give us time to settle and hit targets.
Even with our best line up playing this year, I still think Richmond would win against us away from home, because we are not the same team in the hub as we are at Optus.
We either have to change our personnel to faster players who can apply more pressure to the opposition ball carrier (which we don’t seem to have any of), or we have to work out why we can’t play our game style in the hub or we will not win the flag this year.

 

[Yoey]

When we play Richmond next I want to see us hit them, just smack them around and bully them off the ball. If we play insipid possession footy expect to lose exactly the same way as last night.

 

[Cuzz09]

When we play Richmond next I want to see us hit them, just smack them around and bully them off the ball. If we play insipid possession footy expect to lose exactly the same way as last night.

We dont have it in us. We're the keepings off, skills based side that needs delicious WA conditions to thrive unfortunately

On SM-G925I using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Vargo hoat]

Positives
- JK gets an enforced break to freshen up.
- Easy to identify our bigger bodied mids in Yeo and Redden being out as very important.
- XON Showed me he has a real future. First time a midfielder has done that in a while.
- Cole, Duggan, Ryan all amongst the best. Cole and Duggan have constantly been in this position and though out the year. Good sorry signs for our future.
- Reid showed me he doesn’t have what it takes to make it, hopefully match committee sees this also. Our FP stocks are thin, but surely Cameron, Jetta, or even Ainsworth would be better in that position.
- Shuey was great in the middle.
- Lots of injuries to top players to come back in. At full strength the game would look different.

 

[woosha24]

Having slept on it I dont feel too bad about the loss. We had a lot of B22 not playing and replaced with kids, and while Richmond did too, their depth is better than ours. Additionally we played quite well for 2 and a half quarters, but every time we kicked one the Tigers janked one out of their arses and we could never capatalise. I mean, just look at that 65m goal - thats absolute bullshit and would have been demoralising.

I feel that if we can get our best side on the park we're the better team overall. Right now though we have to dig in and win the remaining 4 games any way we can. And if we play like we did last night we can do it.

 

[Priddis Is Done]

We were predictable with some of our centre clearance work. Essentially they only had to cover for 2 mids, Shuey and Kelly. If Redden and Yeo are there it becomes almost impossible to cover all of them, hence one will always get out and off we go. Having Yeo out there also means Sheed is more inclined to get off the chain, and Gaff can be purely outside.

I thought our rucks got beaten as a 2 on 2, not because Nic got beaten, but Williams has a bit more development in him. Nic was the best ruckman out there last night. Perhaps he faded in the second half, which I can understand.

Riolio and Venners as quality forward smalls and good midfield rotations hurts us, I would like to think Venners would spend more and more time in the mid as the years roll on.

Lecras also was a phenominal mid rotation. We miss that badly.

Nothing we can do about all of them. Gotta play with the hand we are dealt with. Think we need to work on Dungan, Nelson and Cole being mid rotations.

This morning still hurts.

 

[JohnW]

We always struggle against teams that provide manic pressure, because our game plan is based on maintaining possession, hitting targets, chip and mark style football etc.
Richmond and teams who play the “get it forward at all costs” style footy, are our keyptonite because they don’t give us time to settle and hit targets.
Even with our best line up playing this year, I still think Richmond would win against us away from home, because we are not the same team in the hub as we are at Optus.
We either have to change our personnel to faster players who can apply more pressure to the opposition ball carrier (which we don’t seem to have any of), or we have to work out why we can’t play our game style in the hub or we will not win the flag this year.

BS. Our game plan can beat them.

They are a good team, we need to match their pressure, and once we win possession, and eventually get a clean possession we can switch on our standard play.

I think we weren't clean enough last night. Lots of contests we were one handpass away from a clean possession that should of allowed us to start our kick mark, but we missed that last hand pass and were under pressure again.

I dont think the team walk away from that game with any concerns about coming up against the tigers. Not saying it would be easy at all, but they would know if they do their job right they will beat them.

Im sure the tigers would do the same. They should have concerns about the few times we cut them up moving forward leading to easy goals.

 

[DanWCE]

We had a season high in handballs last night, and by a comfortable margin. That right there is the ball game, as far as I'm concerned. If you overuse the ball by hand, particularly coming out of defense, you play into the Tigers hands.

I thought the instinct to go fast was fine, even if we were playing like we had a rush of blood to the head in the first half, but handballing doesn't allow us to control the tempo because the pressure follows the ball carrier. We are far more efficient and ruthless moving quickly by foot.

It would be great if I didn't have a bad taste in my mouth from some horrible umpiring decisions, but they didn't cost us the game. They did give the Tigers momentum, however, and with a good team that's all it takes.

With Yeo and Redden I feel as though that result goes the other way, but it's good to get some games into the young guys and if we meet the Tigers in the finals I would expect we have a different line up and could catch them out.

Pretty disappointed with the result as we looked up for the fight. Have now played and lost to the top 3 in Qld. What's the chances? Bit unlucky we got none of those games in Perth. Games against 6th, 8th, 9th to come, including some bewildering disparity in days off between games. Hope we rest and recover and don't let this result define our season.

 

[illegaleagle]

If Kennedy does miss, could we potentially play Brander up forward if Allen still isn't right yet?

I think id prefer smaller forward line with Ryan at FF, was working pretty well

 

[Trouto]

I think its unreasonable to expect a team coming off a 4 day break, traveling to Brissy and playing a team who has had a 9 day break, to perform as they have been the past 8 weeks.

I tipped Richmond purely on these points.

Richmond are a quality team and we might have gotten away with playing a lesser team, but when there is such a difference in the break times, there is bound to be some lingering fatigue in the boys. Not at all unexpected. I am sure the lads thought they could beat them and were thinking "its a good test of where we are at" and "we need to win games like this" etc... but i truly believe we should have rested 5-6 of the older guys or players who look a bit jaded. Seeing as our next 3 are all with limited breaks, we would have experienced players coming off a decent break and the fatigue lag wouldnt be so bad.

i know, your saying "easy to say this in hindsight", but i said it days ago too.

Dont be too hard on the players, they have been playing AFL their whole life and this is the first ime they have had to play under such conditions.

 

[Moley27]

All in all not too concerned by this one, they were gifted a few either via poor umpiring or poor decision making by the Eagles and 14.3 is an anomaly.
Richmond play a unique brand at the moment, they don't care about aesthetics, they are dirty (reasonably), they are incredibly fast and fit and they are smart (only 1/2 flyers and plenty of men waiting for the drop of the ball). The best way to beat their style is to keep the ball away from them, i.e. play our normal game. Last night I think we got sucked into playing them at their game and for 3 quarters were able to mostly match them.

Main positives:

Cole and Duggan are both better players now than 2018 and have become essential parts of our back 6. When fit I'd throw Nelson into that mix too.
O'Neil showed signs, if JK can't get up I'd be tempted to throw Brander forward and give O'Neil the job on the wing.
Liam Ryan is an elite AFL forward now, his kicking from set shots has improved beyond recognition.
Williams did well enough against 2 very strong and athletic rucks

 

[Agent93]

A bit left field but Duggan and Cole stood out for me tonight.

I reckon a lot of us would have them in our best players this week.

 

[squashface]

I think its unreasonable to expect a team coming off a 4 day break, traveling to Brissy and playing a team who has had a 9 day break, to perform as they have been the past 8 weeks.

I tipped Richmond purely on these points.

Richmond are a quality team and we might have gotten away with playing a lesser team, but when there is such a difference in the break times, there is bound to be some lingering fatigue in the boys. Not at all unexpected. I am sure the lads thought they could beat them and were thinking "its a good test of where we are at" and "we need to win games like this" etc... but i truly believe we should have rested 5-6 of the older guys or players who look a bit jaded. Seeing as our next 3 are all with limited breaks, we would have experienced players coming off a decent break and the fatigue lag wouldnt be so bad.

i know, your saying "easy to say this in hindsight", but i said it days ago too.

Dont be too hard on the players, they have been playing AFL their whole life and this is the first ime they have had to play under such conditions.

Richmond had a 5 day break travelling from Darwin

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

Still pissed off by multiple defenders flying for marks, the bar of soap dropping front and centre instead of being smashed to the boundary line where we could reset with Nic Nat, and Richmond small forwards kicking the easiest of goals. Rinse and repeat.

We simply do not adjust for the conditions. Inexcusable.

 

[FreeTK]

I think its unreasonable to expect a team coming off a 4 day break, traveling to Brissy and playing a team who has had a 9 day break, to perform as they have been the past 8 weeks.

I tipped Richmond purely on these points.

Richmond are a quality team and we might have gotten away with playing a lesser team, but when there is such a difference in the break times, there is bound to be some lingering fatigue in the boys. Not at all unexpected. I am sure the lads thought they could beat them and were thinking "its a good test of where we are at" and "we need to win games like this" etc... but i truly believe we should have rested 5-6 of the older guys or players who look a bit jaded. Seeing as our next 3 are all with limited breaks, we would have experienced players coming off a decent break and the fatigue lag wouldnt be so bad.

i know, your saying "easy to say this in hindsight", but i said it days ago too.

Dont be too hard on the players, they have been playing AFL their whole life and this is the first ime they have had to play under such conditions.

They were off a 5 day break, but I agree with your sentiment.

We had a chance to kill off their top 4 chances, and we weren't able to do that.

Beyond that, I don't think we should walk away feeling like we can't beat them.

The biggest concern is our personnel for the next two games.

I don't believe we should be strategically resting people. Play our best 22 available. If someone comes up sore after a short turn around, they can be rested, but if you're good to go, you go.

 

[woosha24]

Negative - the BigFooty commentary team are now 0-1. I feel this loss partially hinges on the fact that HoneyBadger35 didnt tell enough Richmond players/ umpires to piss off or get stuffed during the broadcast. Also a distinct lack of rating how boofable our individual players are during passages of play.

Lift your game commentary team.

 

[RookiePick]

X'On raw but promising.
Williams raw but promising.
Reid 7th in line for a reason but tries his arse off anyway.
Hutchings, unsurprisingly, well short of a gallop.
Brander is developing but had a poor game

F all in it at half time and the third quarter was a 6.0 to 4.4 arm wrestle and we got put to sleep with a burst at the start of the 4th by a very good side.
Disappointing for sure but I doubt the Richmond coaching team think they dominated us and we are no threat in finals.

Our game seems like a higher ceiling/higher variability style that is impacted more by conditions. Richmond just bury sides with an almost indistinguishable fleet of nuggety, disciplined runners with a sprinkling of very top end talent at key parts of the ground. You don't accidently win 2 flags.


PS Tom Lynch is a colossal flog.