Review Round 6, 2023 - GWS vs. Brisbane Lions

[Grasshopper17]

Yeah so we just weren't good enough to kick straighter or getting easier shots

Perhaps. But we shot the lights out earlier in the game. So much so that our expected score was only 102, even after missing all those easy ones in the last quarter.

I'm at a bit of a loss I must admit, but our accuracy seems to decline throughout the game, indicating fatigue may be a contributing factor?

 

[dlanod]

We need to be more ruthless in these types of games. You only have to look at what the Cats did to the Swans to see the difference between Premiers and Wannabes.

Someone tell West Coast, Dogs, and Richmond they need to give back their premierships because neither had a winning margin anywhere near Saturday's game during their winning season, so they were obviously just wannabes.

 

[Grasshopper17]

I'm sorry, I was there - it really did not pick up a lot.

Yeah there was no breeze at all. So little in fact that fog was coming in late in the game.

 

[Nathan Barley]

Yeah there was no breeze at all. So little in fact that fog was coming in late in the game.

Must have just been some tired boys with kicks not carrying or having much penetration

 

[Bucking Beads]

Someone tell West Coast, Dogs, and Richmond they need to give back their premierships because neither had a winning margin anywhere near Saturday's game during their winning season, so they were obviously just wannabes.

Fair point but I'm comfortable with my belief that sometimes we just aren't ruthless enough. I'd like to see teams fear us a bit more.

 

[Grasshopper17]

Someone tell West Coast, Dogs, and Richmond they need to give back their premierships because neither had a winning margin anywhere near Saturday's game during their winning season, so they were obviously just wannabes.

Richmond won a Grand Final by 89 points and their opposition only managed 3 goals for the whole game. That will do me.

 

[martinson]

Is it a case of not being ruthless or just not being good enough?

I don't understand what people say when they say we're not ruthless enough. Maybe we're just not good enough to control the games for long enough.

Our expectations are high for a team that has yet to be a Grand Finalist.

 

[dlanod]

Richmond won a Grand Final by 89 points and their opposition only managed 3 goals for the whole game. That will do me.

Different year, 2019 was sufficiently ruthless by the metric of "won a game by more than us last week" (since apparently we're not ruthless enough) with a 92 point win over the Suns in Round 16. Interestingly, we also met that ruthlessness threshold in 2019 (Suns), 2021 (Pies) and 2022 (Roos), and would have this year if only we'd kicked an extra point last week.

In case it's not obvious, I think using a margin in a random regular season game as a proxy for "ruthlessness" is silly and not reflective of much in general especially when we're just coming off a massive win.

 

[Grasshopper17]

Say what you like about Aker, but I think he's pretty much on the money when he says this is the best team we've had since 2004.

 

[M Malice]

Richmond won a Grand Final by 89 points and their opposition only managed 3 goals for the whole game. That will do me.

LOL! I would be happy with a golden point win in the GF... preferably over a heartbroken Collingwood, Dogs, Demons or Tigers after we kicked the last 6 goals in the last 5 minutes of regulation time to even the scores.

BTW I know there are now no more GF replays but is it actually golden point or do you need to kick a golden goal to win?

 

[Haso]

Kicking 2.7 in the last quarter was the biggest reason the margin wasn't bigger. Just as kicking 22.20 rather than 26.16 was why we didn't win by 100 last week. Pretty simple really.

Score goes up, score goes down. Never a miscommunication. You can't explain that!

 

[M Malice]

Say what you like about Aker, but I think he's pretty much on the money when he says this is the best team we've had since 2004.

When did he say that Grassy? Recently? I'd love to read/watch it if you have a link.

 

[M Malice]

Score goes up, score goes down. Never a miscommunication. You can't explain that!

Thanks Bill..... Bread goes in toast comes out.. you can't explain that. LOL!

 

[martinson]

I'm in the camp of being happy with any win. And keeping our injury list somewhere where it is now would be an unbelievably outstanding outcome.

It's not much use smashing teams by 100 points at this stage of the season except for your percentage. Likewise who says 1 point wins can't be 'ruthless' .You might have had to be really ruthless at some point in the game to get that win.

Neale in particular is playing a bit within himself this year . Last year he wanted to win the Brownlow, this year he is focused on his leadership and the ultimate prize . Bringing on younger players who can take M/F minutes.

The finals is virtually a whole new season . What you did to get there is immaterial and you get no free shot at it because you've smashed the opposition during the year. The idea for us is to get the advantage of home finals and try to keep our list in the best physical and mental state possible.

I like the way we're going about it this year. Our list has more depth . I like the idea of resting players where appropriate . I'm happy to bank any win however we do it . Playing not so well and banking a win is awesome.

Whether we're good enough and fit enough in September is the question .

 

[lioninthesand]

It's ingrained into the "Ozzy culcha." Blame the victim, not the perpetrator.

I don’t know why people are being defensive at the suggestion. If anything (if true) it just suggests Lachie is an absolute animal who is willing to do anything for the team to get an advantage. It’s not like the ‘ducking’ label players recieve. He didn’t seek to instigate or cheat, no one is suggesting that. If anything it’s a brave thing to do, like standing under ball hoping someone takes you out.

Like EVERY rule in the AFL that gets a focus or is introduced, players will always explore how best to put themselves in a position to get that freekick.

It’s slowly happening more league wide, I noticed lesser versions on a few occasions last week, players when held up in a tackle appear to be going deadweight which dares the tackler to dump them. Why wouldn’t you if you have been caught - you fight it’s holding the ball, you stand still it’s a ball up, you get slung or dumped… it’s a free.

We will never know what Lachies intention was, it looked to me like he went still and dared the tackler to drop him off his feet - the tackler did and he got the free.

I am SURE this will be the first of many examples/discussions where players appear to use this tactic.

 

[M Malice]

I'm in the camp of being happy with any win. And keeping our injury list somewhere where it is now would be an unbelievably outstanding outcome.

It's not much use smashing teams by 100 points at this stage of the season except for your percentage. Likewise who says 1 point wins can't be 'ruthless' .You might have had to be really ruthless at some point in the game to get that win.

Neale in particular is playing a bit within himself this year . Last year he wanted to win the Brownlow, this year he is focused on his leadership and the ultimate prize . Bringing on younger players who can take M/F minutes.

The finals is virtually a whole new season . What you did to get there is immaterial and you get no free shot at it because you've smashed the opposition during the year. The idea for us is to get the advantage of home finals and try to keep our list in the best physical and mental state possible.

I like the way we're going about it this year. Our list has more depth . I like the idea of resting players where appropriate . I'm happy to bank any win however we do it . Playing not so well and banking a win is awesome.

Whether we're good enough and fit enough in September is the question .

Is he playing within himself or is it the arrival of Ashcroft and Dunkley that has lessened his raw numbers output?

BTW I think spreading the load is a fantastic thing for September, we will be harder to shut down through the midfield.

 

[M Malice]

I don’t know why people are being defensive at the suggestion. If anything (if true) it just suggests Lachie is an absolute animal who is willing to do anything for the team to get an advantage. It’s not like the ‘ducking’ label players recieve. He didn’t seek to instigate or cheat, no one is suggesting that. If anything it’s a brave thing to do, like standing under ball hoping someone takes you out.

Like EVERY rule in the AFL that gets a focus or is introduced, players will always explore how best to put themselves in a position to get that freekick.

It’s slowly happening more league wide, I noticed lesser versions on a few occasions last week, players when held up in a tackle appear to be going deadweight which dares the tackler to dump them. Why wouldn’t you if you have been caught - you fight it’s holding the ball, you stand still it’s a ball up, you get slung or dumped… it’s a free.

We will never know what Lachies intention was, it looked to me like he went still and dared the tackler to drop him off his feet - the tackler did and he got the free.

I am SURE this will be the first of many examples/discussions where players appear to use this tactic.

I could be wrong but to my ear the whistle went a split second before Lachie submitted to the tackle, IMO he did nothing wrong or unsportsmen like either way.

 

[martinson]

I don’t know why people are being defensive at the suggestion. If anything (if true) it just suggests Lachie is an absolute animal who is willing to do anything for the team to get an advantage. It’s not like the ‘ducking’ label players recieve. He didn’t seek to instigate or cheat, no one is suggesting that. If anything it’s a brave thing to do, like standing under ball hoping someone takes you out.

Like EVERY rule in the AFL that gets a focus or is introduced, players will always explore how best to put themselves in a position to get that freekick.

It’s slowly happening more league wide, I noticed lesser versions on a few occasions last week, players when held up in a tackle appear to be going deadweight which dares the tackler to dump them. Why wouldn’t you if you have been caught - you fight it’s holding the ball, you stand still it’s a ball up, you get slung or dumped… it’s a free.

We will never know what Lachies intention was, it looked to me like he went still and dared the tackler to drop him off his feet - the tackler did and he got the free.

I am SURE this will be the first of many examples/discussions where players appear to use this tactic.

Don't go along with that at all Lionsinthesand. No sane player wants to be dumped into the ground with no protection and hitting their head.

Lachie knew there was nothing he could do and was just going to hold the play up if the free went against him or hope for a ball up . IMO.

 

[Dalions]

Someone tell West Coast, Dogs, and Richmond they need to give back their premierships because neither had a winning margin anywhere near Saturday's game during their winning season, so they were obviously just wannabes.

Richmond were at their most dominant in the 2018 season where they lost a Prelim to the American.

 

[M Malice]

Richmond were at their most dominant until the 2018 season where they lost a Prelim to the American.

USA USA USA.

 

[martinson]

Is he playing within himself or is it the arrival of Ashcroft and Dunkley that has lessened his raw numbers output?

BTW I think spreading the load is a fantastic thing for September, we will be harder to shut down through the midfield.

He recognises that the more the load is spread across players with different attributes the more lethal we're going to be . He's done everything in footy ,won B/F's ,won a Brownlow , now Captain of a team. He wants a flag. To me he seems in tip top shape and is playing like a cruiser battleship. Just doing what he has to , honing his skills which we saw on full display against NM. And not getting himself knocked around too much like he has been in the past 2 seasons.

 

[M Malice]

This from an article on lions.com >

In 825 games Brisbane have been beaten in the team possession count by 97 possessions or more 53 times. The first 52 times they lost by an average of 64 points, and then there was Saturday’s visit to Canberra.
__________________________________________________

Is Chris Fagan revolutionising the way the game is played?

 

[DERRINALPHIL]

He's definitely showing signs of age, Richy was never lightning fast and he's probably lost a little bit more pace but he normally makes up for it with his positioning in defence. Sometimes on kick-ins, he resorts to the long bomb down the line, but when he plays smart and aggressively like he did yesterday he works to get that short 1-2 to clear the opposition's defensive press or picks out a difficult 30-40m kick that leads to us opening the corridor. Still in the Best 22 for mine.

I was at the game and in the first quarter Rich played right in front of me and what was noticeable was his physical presence.
He doesn’t get knocked off the line of the ball but knocks opponents out of the way.

 

[Grasshopper17]

LOL! I would be happy with a golden point win in the GF... preferably over a heartbroken Collingwood, Dogs, Demons or Tigers after we kicked the last 6 goals in the last 5 minutes of regulation time to even the scores.

BTW I know there are now no more GF replays but is it actually golden point or do you need to kick a golden goal to win?

I believe the Grand Final is 5 minutes each way plus time on, while the other finals are all 3 minutes each way plus time on. 3 minutes is a bloody lottery but anyway.

I believe golden point comes into it if scores are still level at the end of both 3 minutes periods. Play continues until the next score. You'd hope there isn't a howling gale to one end...

Not sure if this is the same in the Grand Final. They might go for two more 5 minute periods if they're still level there. But I don't know either way.

 

[Grasshopper17]

Score goes up, score goes down. Never a miscommunication. You can't explain that!