Autopsy Rd 5 BELTED! Power turns the Blues lights out

[Juddrockz]

Ridiculous! How the f can you suggest such a thing. Our team will not win a game for the next four weeks. Drop Kennedy, willo, maybe gibbons, the doc, bring in stocker, Ramsay, Owies and ?

What,you think the players are giving their best each week???? Give me a spell.

 

[katmanblue]

From a supporter perspective we see the same bad habits, attitude that has cursed this team easily for the last 100 games. Enough fluff and meaningless stats, be honest and tell us what you’re doing outside of game day to improve this. Why do only 4-5 players every really seem 100% committed for a full 4 quarters.

Just keep handing out those blue pills to the membership and ask for our hard earned. I feel sorry for the poor folk that have to call us asking us if we’d like to fork out $200 for a raffle ticket, etc.

Maybe need to give the players the blue pill. They need to harden up more than the faithful.

 

[passmark]

Not going to watch the replay.

Were there any positives?

 

[Accidental genius]

Id be interested in Teauge's response to a question about SPS's kicking if some journos could actually be arsed enough to ask a hard question. His kicking is truly bizarre and our MC perpetuate what's going on with him by selecting him week after week after week. He didn't kick the ball like this when he first started so he' capable of so much better.

Next minute this topic is being discussed on footy classified.

 

[Mr_Plow]

Just a random comment but I’m sure many of you agree with this as I know my Blues brotherhood do..

We have chronically lacked players who can “explode”, with strength and speed, from stoppages, the type of speed that can give them that crucial extra split second of time to find the right option when they are free to release to outside runners. Think your C Judd type..

This is where we have missed out with Dow, LOB, Willo, Matt K, Setters, SPS not being the impact players we needed. Sadly either they’re too slow or just can’t find the footy.

My glass half full mentality, though, has me thinking Philp, Fog, Carroll, Kemp, Ramsay, Stocker could really help us going forward with this chronic issue. They’re on our list thank god!

I reckon 2nd half of the year we’ll look far better with these types of players in the team, but let’s steel ourselves that the finals dream will most likely be gone by then, but let’s at least salvage something out of this year. It could all turn around very quickly next year.

It's a shame that Dow's development has not been optimised. He literally showed more in his first pre-season match against St Kilda than he has this year, which is ******* bewildering and an indictment on the club.



At 3:09, that's why we drafted him. Didn't fumble, body behind the ball, breakaway from stoppage, and lace out delivery. He has somehow de-skilled from the age of 18 to 21-22.

 

[sparkyblue]

Here’s my theory: too much ‘almost’ going on at our club. It’s taking players away from their strengths and causing them to lose confidence.

Cripps is ‘almost’ the best player isn’t he comp. He’s fantastic as a ball winner. He’s trying to run and break lines, and doing it badly. He’s trying to push forward but can’t mark or kick. Needs to get back to playing 95% of his time midfield and get back to ‘just’ being a contested beast who feeds others

Docherty is ‘almost’ back to his AA role of floating loosely in the backline, intercepting and creating. Except his timing and confidence are out, he’s lost a step of pace and an ounce of courage, and it’s killing us. Oh, and SPS and Saad are doing similar things and it’s overkill. Docherty needs to just get back to defending well first...

Zac Williams is ‘almost’ an A grade midfielder, but he’s not there in any aspect of his game. He IS the top shelf defender we need, and could probably play wing too...

Murphy and Betts are ‘almost’ still able to do it. They’re hidden in the forward line so what does it matter if they can’t go any more if it keeps a few of the boys happy? Except we can’t have two almost guys on the one line, surely?

McGovern, Martin and Saad - all classic ‘almost’ guys we paid as if they were over the line. All 3 look stunning at times, but have their flaws, and there’s a LOT of just hoping they’ll find that switch that makes them healthy, consistent, and a match winner. Might be a bit harsh on Saad (his almost us disposal and decision making when he’s run off half-back) I guess, but he’s ‘almost’ the best HB in the league

McKay -‘almost a superstar’. But he quits on plays and goes to ground too often, and has poor timing on his leads.

SPS is almost a good hbf, but isn’t the most natural defender and has a Clanger tendency that hurts there too much.

Lm has It’s no surprise that I come away from these games incredibly frsutrated as we ‘almost’ compete with top teams. We matched Port for contested possessions, tackles, inside 50s, etc but got smashed overall.

It’s also no surprise that the players who I come away happy with are guys just playing their role, where we’re not trying to ‘almost’ them. Plowman, Ed Curnow, Jones, Casboult, Newnes, Pittonet: we know what they are, we give them their job, and they do it. We aren’t trying to play Pittonet as a forward; Plowman gets killed when for some reason we play him on resting midfielders like Martin and Gray but is otherwise rock solid, etc.

Note: we have been here before and it’s a trend. Weitering was almost ruined by being played forward in his second year. Dow has been ruined by trying to turn an accumulating mid into a forward. Cuningham and Fisher the same. We tried to make Walsh a wing last year and while he was fine enough, he’s AA calibre as a mid.

There’s a version of our team that just grows in confidence and starts winning these games imo: something like:

- Williams to the backline and into the primary small defender role. Plowman the third tall but never the extra small. Docherty more defensive, Saad run.

- Stabilise the midfield: Cripps (distributor), Curnow (stopper), Walsh (versatile) with SPS (versatile) and two of Dow/Cuningham/Stocker/Setterfield inside. Newnes, Cottrell OR Murphy, and then SPS/Cuningham/Walsh having some outside sets. Most of these guys play 90%+ of their game time midfield.

- Forward line of Fogarty, Gibbons, Cottrell or Murphy, McKay/McGivern/Casboult and then at some point Fisher/Martin forward. Again, just 7 guys (add Newnes or Cuningham now if needed) who basically play forward. None of this pinch hitting forward. All the stalls tackle hard and chase. All the talls can compete in the air.

Basically - just simplify roles, stop trying to make guys versatile and something they aren’t, stop hoping 26 year old blokes who are good/solid will become superstars and focus on getting the basics right. If we do that I honestly think we have the best depth in the league, top end talent on every line and would be a premiership threat THIS year.

Great assessment. The problem is that our coaching panel seem to have a completely different view on the potential of our playing list vs their actual talents. As per your point, we need to simplify which is what Teague was preaching when he took over. He needs to follow his own advice.

 

[Aphrodite]

Would you guys trade Walsh for our next five 1st round picks?

Ollie wines is 26 and is just becoming ready to take the captaincy, you don't want to rush this players need to respect captains and age is not just a number.

 

[thylacine60]

Here’s my theory: too much ‘almost’ going on at our club. It’s taking players away from their strengths and causing them to lose confidence.

Cripps is ‘almost’ the best player isn’t he comp. He’s fantastic as a ball winner. He’s trying to run and break lines, and doing it badly. He’s trying to push forward but can’t mark or kick. Needs to get back to playing 95% of his time midfield and get back to ‘just’ being a contested beast who feeds others

Docherty is ‘almost’ back to his AA role of floating loosely in the backline, intercepting and creating. Except his timing and confidence are out, he’s lost a step of pace and an ounce of courage, and it’s killing us. Oh, and SPS and Saad are doing similar things and it’s overkill. Docherty needs to just get back to defending well first...

Zac Williams is ‘almost’ an A grade midfielder, but he’s not there in any aspect of his game. He IS the top shelf defender we need, and could probably play wing too...

Murphy and Betts are ‘almost’ still able to do it. They’re hidden in the forward line so what does it matter if they can’t go any more if it keeps a few of the boys happy? Except we can’t have two almost guys on the one line, surely?

McGovern, Martin and Saad - all classic ‘almost’ guys we paid as if they were over the line. All 3 look stunning at times, but have their flaws, and there’s a LOT of just hoping they’ll find that switch that makes them healthy, consistent, and a match winner. Might be a bit harsh on Saad (his almost us disposal and decision making when he’s run off half-back) I guess, but he’s ‘almost’ the best HB in the league

McKay -‘almost a superstar’. But he quits on plays and goes to ground too often, and has poor timing on his leads.

SPS is almost a good hbf, but isn’t the most natural defender and has a Clanger tendency that hurts there too much.

Lm has It’s no surprise that I come away from these games incredibly frsutrated as we ‘almost’ compete with top teams. We matched Port for contested possessions, tackles, inside 50s, etc but got smashed overall.

It’s also no surprise that the players who I come away happy with are guys just playing their role, where we’re not trying to ‘almost’ them. Plowman, Ed Curnow, Jones, Casboult, Newnes, Pittonet: we know what they are, we give them their job, and they do it. We aren’t trying to play Pittonet as a forward; Plowman gets killed when for some reason we play him on resting midfielders like Martin and Gray but is otherwise rock solid, etc.

Note: we have been here before and it’s a trend. Weitering was almost ruined by being played forward in his second year. Dow has been ruined by trying to turn an accumulating mid into a forward. Cuningham and Fisher the same. We tried to make Walsh a wing last year and while he was fine enough, he’s AA calibre as a mid.

There’s a version of our team that just grows in confidence and starts winning these games imo: something like:

- Williams to the backline and into the primary small defender role. Plowman the third tall but never the extra small. Docherty more defensive, Saad run.

- Stabilise the midfield: Cripps (distributor), Curnow (stopper), Walsh (versatile) with SPS (versatile) and two of Dow/Cuningham/Stocker/Setterfield inside. Newnes, Cottrell OR Murphy, and then SPS/Cuningham/Walsh having some outside sets. Most of these guys play 90%+ of their game time midfield.

- Forward line of Fogarty, Gibbons, Cottrell or Murphy, McKay/McGivern/Casboult and then at some point Fisher/Martin forward. Again, just 7 guys (add Newnes or Cuningham now if needed) who basically play forward. None of this pinch hitting forward. All the stalls tackle hard and chase. All the talls can compete in the air.

Basically - just simplify roles, stop trying to make guys versatile and something they aren’t, stop hoping 26 year old blokes who are good/solid will become superstars and focus on getting the basics right. If we do that I honestly think we have the best depth in the league, top end talent on every line and would be a premiership threat THIS year.

Great post. Fogarty must be thinking........"um......"

Not going to watch the replay.

Were there any positives?

Just the siren.

 

[Burgers45]

Teague nailed it. The effort was there, but not the execution. We need both to be serious.

How do we fix this? It's easy to say just drop players - are they going to get better in the VFL?

The training track is where improvement starts.

If I was Teague, I'd tell all the players to bring their mouthguards to training this week to let them realise what hardness is.

 

[Elmer_Judd]

Not going to watch the replay.

Were there any positives?

Saad and esp Walsh were outstanding.

Casboult kicked a couple of nice goals.

Some grit and heart shown in the last quarter.

Honestly, you would think we lost by 80 plus the way some here are carrying on.

We were rubbish for more than 3 quarters and still lost by only 28 points to one of the flag favourites.

We have plenty of improvement and upside, just didn't have the cattle on the night to match it with Port.

 

[Sweet Seventeen]

gov swappped with Willo late in the game. It seemed to free up Jones a bit ( like the last 2weeks) , and we improved a little bit . Wonder if he will play the Parkes role next week , and try a smaller forward line ?

Kennedy can do a job in the forward line. Has great hands and is a dead eye in front of the sticks. Too slow for the AFL in midfield, maybe just short burst's. Gov back makes good sense, until Parks returns.

 

[Just Kreuzing]

4 major issues for me....

1- Effort, willingness, desperation, energy or hunger to get involved and impact when we don’t have the ball is severely disproportionate to when we have the ball or have a chance to get involved or impact offensively.

2- Decision making, poor choices and generally just do some of the dumbest things you would ever want to see on a football field.

3- Skill execution is very poor all over the ground, kicking, handballing, marking, tackling etc just nowhere near the required level.

4- Positional or Role play.
Until we recruit, develop & select players in our best 22 each week that are capable of performing the above “3 points” at an above average standard we won’t see us in a position to legitimately contend for flag #17 for a while yet.

*At the moment we are not recruiting well, not developing well and appear to pick our weekly team based on a criteria of players with highest profile or friendships and then try to manoeuvre those players into positions instead of selecting the best player to perform the requirements of that particular on field role.

 

[katmanblue]

That is as droppable as I’ve ever seen an effort, sh*t like that is what should be a non negotiable with the outcome being a game in the twos as the only outcome


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That was terrible, but he busted his ass to get to the first contest. Gives him a slight out.

 

[Sweet Seventeen]

I was at that VFL game with cookie monster

McGovern didnt want warrant a call up. He was dominant or anywhere near our best.

Jsos injury and our lack of talls, saw him in. There is no selection integrity, otherwise they would have rewarded Ramsay, who was our best listed player last week

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Some say Ramsay is not ready yet for the big time. But, we will never know unless we give him a chance. I would like to see him picked, play him for a block of four games, unless he is terrible.

 

[btdg]

Great assessment. The problem is that our coaching panel seem to have a completely different view on the potential of our playing list vs their actual talents. As per your point, we need to simplify which is what Teague was preaching when he took over. He needs to follow his own advice.

While I agree, I think sadly it isn't quite that simple for Teague.

Bolton had young guys who maybe weren't ready playing to their strengths and in their position, and the 'flex' spots and gaps filled by older guys. Ed Curnow was playing forward, Murphy all over the place, while Dow, Setterfield etc played the core mid spots. Teague certainly won games initially by putting his best midfielders in the middle rather than young developing guys. This pushed the young guys out of position - Dow forward, SPS locked into defence, etc and has no doubt hurt both their growth (lack of experience) and psyche (basically being told they weren't up to it). He also seems to really value flexibility and wants his young guys to develop either forward or defensive skills.

I think this is compounded by recruiting guys like Williams and Martin. Suddenly we have big bucks guys who play flanks but want a bit of midfield time. Now we've got even less time for a Dow/Setterfield. Oh, and we're carrying Murphy to 300 games, and playing Betts as a part-time coach/nice guy... so our forwards are part-timers and pensioners...

I think it's really hard for Teague there. Theoretically it is simple - just put guys in their natural spot. Too many conflicting agendas. Are we trying to win as a priority? Develop the young guys? Build a positive club culture and get some legends to milestones? Add flexibility and build a style of play that might take 2-3 years to 'master', while also adapting to the rule changes?

 

[Sweet Seventeen]

Sorry for the intrusion and for the loss. Just wanted to say that Walsh is becoming a phenomenal player. He is every bit as good as Selwood was in his 3rd year. Selwood was AA in year three and has obviously had a HOF worthy career since. I think Walsh is absolutely on the same path.

Good luck next week and for the season.

He is a ripper alright, we are blessed to have him.

 

[FRUMPY]

Gonna give our night games a miss for the rest of the year. Can't remember the last time we won one in Victoria and it's just too much of an investment to catch the train home at 11pm after a terrible performance.

Yep was basically my thoughts for last night's game. I could have gone but chose not to, knew we wouldn't win and not worth the effort of going (hr each way)

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[FRUMPY]

I've decided. I'm going to start hanging up my christmas decorations, and stockpiling alcohol for New Year.

What? You're telling me we're still in April?

Codswallop, I say: I read on Bigfooty that the season's over, which means it's almost christmas!

If it was Christmas then we would have so much depth, certain top 8 side, potential flag this year, 4 players will win the Brownlow and JSOS is probably the best player we've ever had.

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[btdg]

Great post. Fogarty must be thinking........"um......"

Fogarty, Gibbons, Cottrell --> geez they play their role up forward well, even when it is "try to guess whether McKay/McGovern will actually compete when the ball is shanked 60 metres off Cripps' knee, then crumb/tackle/chase desperately".

Meanwhile, Betts' role description right now is something like 'smile for the cameras, and any time you are near the ball try to tap it between your opponents legs then pick it up and try to snap goal of the year'. And Murphy --> try to get open 60m out from goal for an uncontested mark then chip it 20m to a team-mate in an arguably worse spot. IF you don't get the ball uncontested - meh, do what you like'

 

[Iamcarlton]

I was at that VFL game with cookie monster

McGovern didnt want warrant a call up. He was dominant or anywhere near our best.

Jsos injury and our lack of talls, saw him in. There is no selection integrity, otherwise they would have rewarded Ramsay, who was our best listed player last week

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Yep Cuningham was the logical in despite his concussion issue with Cas Harry and Kennedy enough tall timber up forward .
McGovern has been the very definition of gifting games since he has arrived at Carlton .

 

[FRUMPY]

Yep every time gets the ball I’m thinking “what will Superman try this time that will completely effing undo his good work”

Gone from loving when he gets the ball because he'll do some awesome handball to shaking my head before he has even stuffed up, knowing he will stuff up. Been that way for 18 months.

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[Accidental genius]

It's a shame that Dow's development has not been optimised. He literally showed more in his first pre-season match against St Kilda than he has this year, which is ******* bewildering and an indictment on the club.



At 3:09, that's why we drafted him. Didn't fumble, body behind the ball, breakaway from stoppage, and lace out delivery. He has somehow de-skilled from the age of 18 to 21-22.

here is another good example in link below (40 sec mark). burst speed and kicks truly crossing into f50. he can obviously do amazing things so he has it in him. one way or another the club needs to get him back to his best and beyond.

 

[Brackets]

Something I've noticed this year, our players love to point and direct others to do the work they're unwilling to.

Example:
This is Amon on the right, kicking out to the wing. Note the distance between he and Fogarty, along with those in the middle of the ground.



Passage 2:
In the next passage, this is also Amon, running to recieve an uncontested mark from the guy he had passed it to. Note Fogarty walking in the centre while no one else went with him or covered.



Passage 3:
Let's now put the spotlight on Williamson. You see him start here in the top left of screen. Rather than defending the next passage, he allows space for Rozee to run and take an uncontested mark.



Passage 4:
So we concede the previous play to give us an extra man in defence. Let's take a look at where this gets us.



Just to be clear, Williamson conceeded an uncontested mark and inside 50 to Rozee so he could run back and do this.



Passage 5:
For good measure I'll add the following passage of play, as Williamson has a chance to make amends using his dash off half back. Let's take a look how that turned out.

 

[FRUMPY]

Something I've noticed this year, our players love to point and direct others to do the work they're unwilling to.

Example:
This is Amon on the right, kicking out to the wing. Note the distance between he and Fogarty, along with those in the middle of the ground.

View attachment 1105387

Passage 2:
In the next passage, this is also Amon, running to recieve an uncontested mark from the guy he had passed it to. Note Fogarty walking in the centre while no one else went with him or covered.

View attachment 1105456

Passage 3:
Let's now put the spotlight on Williamson. You see him startrt here in the top left of screen. Rather than defending the next passage, he allows space for Rozee to run and take an uncontested mark.

View attachment 1105460

Passage 4:
So we concede the previous play to give us an extra man in defence. Let's take a look at where this gets us.

View attachment 1105470

Just to be clear, Williamson conceeded an uncontested mark and inside 50 to Rozee so he could run back and do this.

View attachment 1105474

Passage 5:
For good measure I'll add the following passage of play, as Williamson has a chance to make amends using his dash off half back. Let's take a look how that turned out.

View attachment 1105477

Williamson misread that ball and if he had of read it he would have intercepted the mark.

Williamson wanted to kick it and I suspect had no-one ahead of him. That would be our s**t structure.

One thing I took from the Williamson coming out of defense was Walsh wanting the handball rather than put a block on (something all the AFL do, shepherding is almost non existent in footy today)

Small things to improve but wasn't necessarily shocking play by him. .

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[Manhattanite]

We have 3 issues at the moment

1. Gameplan
2. Transitioning the footy from D50 to F50
3. F50 entries

I think there may be a bigger issue that causes these other 3 issues and that is composure under pressure.

Pom in Oz spoke about this yesterday on the Blue Abroad - specifically in training our players hit their targets perfectly and look to be the best kickers - but that’s because they aren’t facing any pressure at training. He compared that to Richmond at training where every single player is out to harass and pressure his opponent even if that opponent is Cotchin. So the Tigers get a lot of practice to have much less time to kick properly or to see open options and execute on game plan. They are trained in high pressure fast paced cut throat footy. Our players are not.

So until we sort that out I don’t think we can do much against the best sides. We are talented enough to beat the bottom and some mid tier teams. But our players aren’t sufficiently prepared by our coaches to compete with the best teams.



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