Autopsy 2024 Rd 7 Blues Go Down To Classy Cats In A Belter

[Opium]

Chris Scott’s presser was interesting said their clearance work was not the best however when they turned the ball over in our forward line the transition to their forward line was clean and efficient happened for the greater part of the night.


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I blame our midfield. Our defence had little support when they were transitioning from defence.

 

[windows1]

It was a deadset push in the back, how the ******* hell the umpire didn’t see it was criminal


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Maybe. But Young is pisswesk and allows that sort of thing way too often.

Weitering never does.

 

[Rosscoe 17]

I can’t remember a game of footy; that I was more proud of our boys went about it.

 

[windows1]

Pretty clear sides almost concede the contest and clearance to us when we are at our best. And play a loose spare back and run and gun on turnover.

The strategic question of consideration is:

When they do concede the extra at the stoppage do we really need to keep it or should we throw a spare of our own behind the ball and go man on man at the stoppage? I’d still back us to win the stoppages more often than not and suspect this strategy would massively quell the fast break risk.

Not going to go back to the “midfield is too slow” routine (I’ve recanted) but we should consider changing it up IN GAME when we get into these shootouts.

We would win 95 percent of “slowed down” games IMO.

 

[LastGanginTown]

Don't like to dwell on the umps, they're going to make mistakes, but their refusal to apply the rules as written today beggars belief.

They paid 24 free kicks for the game (league average is 38). Of those, maybe 2 holding the bl decisions were paid.

We rely heavily on front half pressure and repeat entries. We had 24 inside 50 tackles to 8. I counted zero holding the ball free kicks. 4 or 5 tackles should have been rewarded with free kicks.

How the umpires are so inconsistent week to week in their application of the rules is infuriating.

Extremely frustrating considering fans understanding of how the rules are to be applied. I do think there is a directive to the umps to let the incorrect disposal aspect of holding the ball go because the game will generally flow on to another play.

They’re coached to an aesthetic of how the game is to be played ie. less stoppages/better flow of play equals a better viewing experience.

I don’t like it personally, good tackling pressure needs to be rewarded but if this is how they want it to look could AFL house at least let us punters know this is a rule change they’ve implemented?

 

[sosos]

Such a shame our total ruck dominance was wasted.

Everything I thought about the game has already been said, so I will simply compare and contrast the two teams.

Geelong: Efficient. Carlton: Inefficient.
Geelong: Accurate. Carlton: Inaccurate.
Geelong: Composed. Carlton: Not composed.
Geelong: Good decisions. Carlton: Bad decisions.
Geelong: No injuries. Carlton: Heaps of injuries.
Geelong: Disciplined. Carlton: Undisciplined.
Geelong: Looked after by umpires. Carlton: Not looked after by umpires.
Geelong: Classy small forwards. Carlton: Not classy small forwards.
Geelong: Clean hands. Carlton: Not clean hands.

All that and we only lost by 13 points.

 

[JJBagger]

Maybe. But Young is pisswesk and allows that sort of thing way too often.

Weitering never does.

Reckon you should go into the club next week and say that to his face

 

[Worm4]

Yep... and these are the heads I reckon will roll:


OUT - Durdin, Owies, Binns
IN - Fanta, Cunners, Cerra
SUB - Carroll

I don't think Ollie survives another week. There's only so much protection a winger can have by his coach, but that's exactly where Geelong beat us on transition

 

[windows1]

Reckon you should go into the club next week and say that to his face

Christ almighty. Here you go:

Young does not hold his own very well in a body contest and is often found calling for “push in the back” because he does not have the leg strength / and or footy smarts to prevent it.

I suspect many opponents know this and play him often from behind.

Better?

 

[JJBagger]

Christ almighty. Here you go:

Young does not hold his own very well in a body contest and is often found calling for “push in the back” because he does not have the leg strength / and or footy smarts to prevent it.

I suspect many opponents know this and play him often from behind.

Better?

I mean calling a professional athlete “pissweak” on a nameless, faceless forum is, might I say, pretty “pissweak”.

He does struggle to hold his own at times, but every player has their limitations. Fans just don’t like his limitations. Hes clearly good enough to play a role, but can struggle against the better players in the comp (in this case, the best player in the comp).

Also that push against Henry was incredibly blatant, and the fact that it didn’t get called is pretty disgraceful

 

[Worm4]

Christ almighty. Here you go:

Young does not hold his own very well in a body contest and is often found calling for “push in the back” because he does not have the leg strength / and or footy smarts to prevent it.

I suspect many opponents know this and play him often from behind.

Better?

Young is no good on the gorillas. Not even sure how he is matched up against Henry in that contest. Maybe he switched with Kemp. But let's face the reality of it all and that is he wouldnt even be in the team if not for injury list we currently have so we just have to put up with it until the reinforcements come back healthy

 

[charred_fate]

It's very very rare that people will hear me say anything about umpires after a loss, but despite our poor conversion, we'd have been a good thing to win that match if not for being on the wrong end of terrible calls and non-calls by the umps. Frustrating, bc our players put in a huge effort considering personnel available etc. I really like Geelong, so losing to them doesn't phase me compared to most, but I don't like any game where the umpires' mistakes add up against any team like they did yesterday.

Anyway, things within our control: small forwards are not doing enough, clearly. Owies I've never rated, but I've got big doubts on Durds now, unfortunately. He seems to have most of the ingredients, except that I think he tends to panic/rush and that generally doesn't bode well for a small forward. I question his ability to read a crumb as well. I'd bring Fantasia back (probably for Owies), if for nothing else than the bit of class/x-factor he can bring (even though he's not produced much so far). I think we have less zip and x-factor in our current small forwards than any other team in the comp, including North Melbourne. Such a shame Motlop is injured and Martin as well, although not a typical small forward.

Charlie - mentioned it pre-game, not playing with full confidence at the moment imo. Going ok, but not attacking the ball like he would at his best - lots of attempts to get the ball out the back. The times he did attack it, the better he looked. Defensively, he was better yesterday which is usually a good sign of things to come. Growing tired of the unwillingness to stop and think about his next move - he's definitely gotten carried away with the mark, turn and roost. The one from 50m directly in front was deflating. The only time he did stop and think was when we needed him to move it on fast before the HT siren. At the time, I questioned adding him to the leadership group. Not because he's not leadership material, but bc I just question giving any key-forward extra responsibility/burden when there is enough pressure on them as is. Not saying it's contributing either, but it's curious.

Williams is the other for me - interesting to read others with a similar take. I was chatting to my mate about it at half-time - reckon he's producing at a standard about 30% of what we're paying him. It's the 'softness' that bothers me and not something I ever recall seeing at GWS. I thought we were better against GWS when he went off as well. We have a team mostly of competitive beasts who will throw their bodies in but we also have two highly paid players who shirk the contest too often - Gov and Williams. Gov does enough to compensate, Williams not so much atm. Hopefully he can find something extra with a few more games/confidence, but he had the same tendency pre-injury. Can be wasteful with his kicking too and goes to ground (or slips) too easily.

 

[BeijingBlue]

It wasn't a high quality game.

We butchered the ball - time and time again.

Geelong did what Geelong do - play the percentages....minimise mistakes. They were professional, we were not frankly.

We played poorly - how many times did we cough up the ball when we had possession?

Acres, Kemp, Weiters a few that I can recall....no team can defend against sloppy, repeated turnovers.

Some of our lesser lights eg O. Hollands - simply invisible....too many passengers.

Then there's the goal kicking. 2.7 or 2.8 in Q1, 4.5 in Q4 (0.3 at the start of the quarter).

Then there's the umpiring.

Always moaning about the umpiring. We were not good enough. Simple.

 

[BeijingBlue]

It's very very rare that people will hear me say anything about umpires after a loss, but despite our poor conversion, we'd have been a good thing to win that match if not for being on the wrong end of terrible calls and non-calls by the umps. Frustrating, bc our players put in a huge effort considering personnel available etc. I really like Geelong, so losing to them doesn't phase me compared to most, but I don't like any game where the umpires' mistakes add up against any team like they did yesterday.

Anyway, things within our control: small forwards are not doing enough, clearly. Owies I've never rated, but I've got big doubts on Durds now, unfortunately. He seems to have most of the ingredients, except that I think he tends to panic/rush and that generally doesn't bode well for a small forward. I question his ability to read a crumb as well. I'd bring Fantasia back (probably for Owies), if for nothing else than the bit of class/x-factor he can bring (even though he's not produced much so far). I think we have less zip and x-factor in our current small forwards than any other team in the comp, including North Melbourne. Such a shame Motlop is injured and Martin as well, although not a typical small forward.

Charlie - mentioned it pre-game, not playing with full confidence at the moment imo. Going ok, but not attacking the ball like he would at his best - lots of attempts to get the ball out the back. The times he did attack it, the better he looked. Defensively, he was better yesterday which is usually a good sign of things to come. Growing tired of the unwillingness to stop and think about his next move - he's definitely gotten carried away with the mark, turn and roost. The one from 50m directly in front was deflating. The only time he did stop and think was when we needed him to move it on fast before the HT siren. At the time, I questioned adding him to the leadership group. Not because he's not leadership material, but bc I just question giving any key-forward extra responsibility/burden when there is enough pressure on them as is. Not saying it's contributing either, but it's curious.

Williams is the other for me - interesting to read others with a similar take. I was chatting to my mate about it at half-time - reckon he's producing at a standard about 30% of what we're paying him. It's the 'softness' that bothers me and not something I ever recall seeing at GWS. I thought we were better against GWS when he went off as well. We have a team mostly of competitive beasts who will throw their bodies in but we also have two highly paid players who shirk the contest too often - Gov and Williams. Gov does enough to compensate, Williams not so much atm. Hopefully he can find something extra with a few more games/confidence, but he had the same tendency pre-injury. Can be wasteful with his kicking too and goes to ground (or slips) too easily.

Williams is a significant disappointment. I have watched him live and nothing special. Needs to deliver.

 

[Accidental genius]

Pretty clear sides almost concede the contest and clearance to us when we are at our best. And play a loose spare back and run and gun on turnover.

The strategic question of consideration is:

When they do concede the extra at the stoppage do we really need to keep it or should we throw a spare of our own behind the ball and go man on man at the stoppage? I’d still back us to win the stoppages more often than not and suspect this strategy would massively quell the fast break risk.

Not going to go back to the “midfield is too slow” routine (I’ve recanted) but we should consider changing it up IN GAME when we get into these shootouts.

We would win 95 percent of “slowed down” games IMO.

Do you remember a few years ago hawks (Mitchell coaching) ran over the top of us using turnover as a strategy - they also lost clearances (no match for our mids) but slingshot off their d50.

I think we still won that game but we should have won way more comfortably. It exposed a deficiency that we still seem to be carrying

 

[blues4flag]

I mean calling a professional athlete “pissweak” on a nameless, faceless forum is, might I say, pretty “pissweak”.

He does struggle to hold his own at times, but every player has their limitations. Fans just don’t like his limitations. Hes clearly good enough to play a role, but can struggle against the better players in the comp (in this case, the best player in the comp).

Also that push against Henry was incredibly blatant, and the fact that it didn’t get called is pretty disgraceful

More than just being weak in the contest. He's a destabilising influence down back and is playing due to poor list management and an unfortunate suspension to Sam Durdin.

Poor in the contest, panics with ball in hand, bad positioning and loose checking. Used to be a solid interceptor but that part of his game has disappeared. When he does spoil, careless with direction (unlike Weiters who kills the ball every time).

 

[Broadside]

Do you remember a few years ago hawks (Mitchell coaching) ran over the top of us using turnover as a strategy - they also lost clearances (no match for our mids) but slingshot off their d50.

I think we still won that game but we should have won way more comfortably. It exposed a deficiency that we still seem to be carrying

Cuningham Saad McGovern returning would do a lot to redress speed or lack of.

 

[Accidental genius]

Cuningham Saad McGovern returning would do a lot to redress speed or lack of.

saad and guv yes

Cuninghams lack of availability is a big concern imo.

 

[4flagsin5yrs]

This is the reality of what we have available.

Cerra - available next week
Cunners - available next week
Gov - 1 more week
Fog - accessed after round 11
Marchy - accessed after round 9
Saad - 4 weeks
Martin - 5 weeks
Motts - 4-5 weeks

Hope Gov available after pies game (I’m done with Young)

Only change will be Cerra for Binns, Carroll back to sub.

But that’s all the defensive coverage we have coming back which is where we struggle the most.
Our i50s
Crows 25 shots from 49 i50s (26 from 52)
GWS 27 shots from 51 i50s (34 from 54)
Cats 28 shots from 45 i50s (30 from 66)

We are getting looks and scoring enough we just can’t stop the op from scoring, this now becomes a coaching failure as much as personal, the coach’s have had the evidence infront of them and failed to address this. (Yes players back will help but reality is they aren’t and won’t be yet)

Our stoppage game has gone back to the best in the game, our transition once we get it in d 50 to score is top 2 but we need something in place to stop the op from easy scores. Look at the cats last night always had a plus one in general play and we always seem to leave our backs 1v1 in transition. Why don’t we try TDK as the spare down back when Pitto is in the truck to maximise our midfield dominance?

I love Voss and he is the man for us but I just feel he is stubborn and doesn’t like to adapt when things aren’t working the way we like.

Anyway we are a very good football team and this will be another fun season, just need to win another 2 of the next 4 to stay in touch with top 4 once we get players back.

Go Blues!

Not quite up to date.

Cuners, Cerra (and maybe Guv) for the Pies next Friday.

Martin for the Dees game, at worst Sydney. Maybe Marchbank too.

 

[myblueroan]

I mean calling a professional athlete “pissweak” on a nameless, faceless forum is, might I say, pretty “pissweak”.

He does struggle to hold his own at times, but every player has their limitations. Fans just don’t like his limitations. Hes clearly good enough to play a role, but can struggle against the better players in the comp (in this case, the best player in the comp).

Also that push against Henry was incredibly blatant, and the fact that it didn’t get called is pretty disgraceful

I think he is a player who is handy when we need him to fill in. Has had plenty of opportunity to show us his best and I'm grateful we have him as a back up player when needed. Nothing wrong with the level he is at. It's a huge accomplishment. We need another level again though, as our best 22. Defence is suffering terribly.

 

[4flagsin5yrs]

Always moaning about the umpiring. We were not good enough. Simple.

I didn't say it was the main, or only, reason we lost.

But any objective blind freddie saw it was a factor.

 

[Accidental genius]

I didn't say it was the main, or only, reason we lost.

But any objective blind freddie saw it was a factor.

Swings and round abouts with umpiring decisions…you win some you lose more

 

[myblueroan]

Yep 4 losses on the trot are coming, we have that same feel as early last year.Saad Gov and Fog only players we have of any quality to come back too, 3 players not 8 like some posters on here think.

We'll beat the Pies.
Feel it in my fingers
I feel it in my toes

 

[skadoosh]

Does anyone else notice how ineffective our defensive strategy is when the opposition are running the ball down the middle of wing of the ground? Our player will leave their man to run up to the ball carrier, have essentially no effect then the ball is passed to the player just left free.

 

[4flagsin5yrs]

Swings and round abouts with umpiring decisions…you win some you lose more

There were a handful of horrendous non decisions last evening.... nothing more to add on this topic.