Autopsy 2025 Rd 1 Most Embarrassing Loss in Years

[Beer n Skittles]

Okay, this is good approach and starting point

It's difficult to emulate real games at training or practice matches

We saw last week with the Pies, if you pressure is low or can't combat opposition pressure, you won't get a positive outcome

To me, this is the starting point of the modern game, pressure. This also is shared responsibility.

Players with high footy IQ adapt and drive on field standards to drive the collective group. Coaches need to act quicker with messaging to either take the heat out of the game and or make tactical change to increase pressure levels

Not one player was was responsible for our lack of intent, not one coach, it's a collective approach

Ultimately, it rests on the coach to change his mindset and approach, to change player buy in

I watched a clip of Sam Mitchell talking to his other coaches, where the entire focus was around training with extreme pressure & aggression to instill confidence in the players. I can't say for sure, but watching both teams play - Hawthorn look like they've trained to perform under extreme pressure, and Carlton look like they've trained to perform in perfect conditions under no pressure.

The uncontested kick-mark style played in the first quarter and a half was perfect for taking the heat out of the game but they could never get back to that. Even that needs work because for all the careful buildup we still ended up bombing it long inside 50 each time.

 

[Arr0w]

Big week for the footy department and players, non negotiable aspects need to be set

 

[4flagsin5yrs]

Games are won or lost in the middle....

Our midfield - TDK, Cripps, Hewett, Walsh, Cerra, Lord... with a few cameos.

Crippa was Crippa, TDK was just ok (average for a million dollar man), kicked very poorly and let Nank take too many marks forward.

The rest - a f'n disgrace.

 

[Blue_Fusion]

Hence, I'm interested in the response, coaching and players

Ok, so in terms of the coaching, what are you hoping for here?

Voss swings the axe on some notable players who were undisciplined majority of the game?

Or

Keeps them in the side with the hope that he can fire them up?

Are you hoping for better f50 entries? Because they've never really been up to standard under this coaching group.

What changes do you want Voss and co to apply compared to our last approach v the Hawks?

 

[Just Kreuzing]

Exactly. The skills are there

So why do you think we keep dropping away? Is that skills or coaching/culture

Unfortunately our skills are adequate when the opposition apply little to no pressure on us……

It was evident in the practice games, dominated GWS who were not fully wound up a week out from 1st game and also succumbed to St.Kilda’s pressure when they ramped it up also after looking a million bucks early!!

Even last night when Richmond’s pressure was low we looked great but wilted when they cranked it up!!

Flat track bullies atm.

 

[Just Kreuzing]

Games are won or lost in the middle....

Our midfield - TDK, Cripps, Hewett, Walsh, Cerra, Lord... with a few cameos.

Crippa was Crippa, TDK was just ok (average for a million dollar man), kicked very poorly and let Nank take too many marks forward.

The rest - a f'n disgrace.

Using Cripps as a back up ruck option is lunacy, takes away his burst/power and effectiveness as the game goes on.

If Harry was underdone and couldn’t ruck perhaps Young should of played in his place!

 

[4flagsin5yrs]

Coaches need to DRILL it into our players - if you see a FREE player in our forward line get it to them.
It doesn't matter if it's not Harry or Charlie. Just get it to them for God's sake.

yep, it shouldn't be a novel idea right, but with our blokes it appears to be....

 

[4flagsin5yrs]

Using Cripps as a back up ruck option is lunacy, takes away his burst/power and effectiveness as the game goes on.

If Harry was underdone and couldn’t ruck perhaps Young should of played in his place!

Yes, using Cripps like that is beyond dumb.

 

[blueblooded]

Unfortunately our skills are adequate when the opposition apply little to no pressure on us……

It was evident in the practice games, dominated GWS who were not fully wound up a week out from 1st game but succumbed to St.Kilda when they ramped it up.

Even last night when Richmond’s pressure was low we looked great but wilted when they cranked it up!!

Flat track bullies atm.

Which means that our skills aren’t adequate for AFL football… if all it takes is a bit of a pressure and we miss targets en masse it means our skills aren’t up to this level.

 

[Revenant1995]

This side is currently Jeckle and Hyde, but ultimately this falls back on coaches to get consistent buy in

This was what I was thinking... not to let players off the hook - they have to own their mistakes, etc, too.

 

[DangerousD]

If I was TDK I’d be be a bit more worried about getting taken to the cleaners by an ageing Nankervis.

Harsh here, Nank is the ne of the most underrated players in the game, he is a great player and is a lot stronger than Tom

 

[Blue_Fusion]

Welcome to the club. I’ve been here for years. Seats are filling fast.

I so badly wanted to believe that sticking with him was the right decision. I'm tired of this playing group stinking it up only for us to change coaches.

I was cautious when we got him. When we started seeing success, I started believing. I didn't always agree with his decisions, but hopeful he'd learn from past mistakes...

But enough is enough now. He hasn't learned a damn thing and the fact he couldn't get this playing group to turn up to round 1 with the right intensity and attitude against let's face it, a team that'll probably won the wooden spoon speaks more volumes than any position or tactical game plan changes he could have made.

 

[Blue since 72]

Exactly. The skills are there

So why do you think we keep dropping away? Is that skills or coaching/culture

I really think its in their heads. Cripps gives his all for four quarters, Weiters, George thought Ollie did maybe a couple of others but a lot of the players staying consistent over four quarters seems to be a bridge too far.

I believe they are fit enough but pushing yourself when you are fatigued isn’t about pure fitness it’s primarily about how you approach it mentally.

The cliche “hitting the wall and pushing through it” is real.

This is no knock on Cowan I thought he had a good game but that last run to goal where the tigers player went past him, he was struggling until the guy went past then he accelerated. Why didn’t he run like that from the get go?

Maybe he thought he had him covered but regardless if he had pushed through that fatigue barrier from the start of his run he would have stopped that goal.

 

[Arr0w]

I watched a clip of Sam Mitchell talking to his other coaches, where the entire focus was around training with extreme pressure & aggression to instill confidence in the players. I can't say for sure, but watching both teams play - Hawthorn look like they've trained to perform under extreme pressure, and Carlton look like they've trained to perform in perfect conditions under no pressure.

The uncontested kick-mark style played in the first quarter and a half was perfect for taking the heat out of the game but they could never get back to that. Even that needs work because for all the careful buildup we still ended up bombing it long inside 50 each time.

Plenty we need to work on. You also have a similar approach from Fly/Pies in the way they want to play, but it didn't show on the park

 

[Blue Pulse]

Any idea when the club sausage sizzle is going to be to apologise to the fans?

Not enough cows in India for that to work

 

[blues4flag]

Games are won or lost in the middle....

Our midfield - TDK, Cripps, Hewett, Walsh, Cerra, Lord... with a few cameos.

Crippa was Crippa, TDK was just ok (average for a million dollar man), kicked very poorly and let Nank take too many marks forward.

The rest - a f'n disgrace.

Lord did well before fading in the third. Held his own physically.

 

[DangerousD]

Weitering was fantastic in the first half, was every where.

Them guess what, their coach changed his teams approach and bypassed our best defender and took him out of the game.

Once they adjusted we didn’t offer a yelp.

 

[Matty411]

Sad to say that - with totally apathy - I said to my Blues-loving 7 year old this morning: "You don't have to support the Blues anymore if you like, buddy. You can support the Lions or Hawks or anything else. I don't want the same for you."

Not sure how we come back from this. Feeling down as shit today.

 

[Earls Smother]

I'm a bit meh about this one.
Yes, we should've won and won easily (8+ goals was my benchmark), but sometimes it just doesn't happen.
This may be the Tigers only win for the year. It won't be our only loss, but it also likely won't really change what we achieve this year. It's game 1 of a 23 game season.
Lions lost their 1st 3 last year and were 2-4 after 6 rounds, with their only wins against North and an average Demons.
Those first 3 losses were against the teams who finished 8th, 9th and 10th. They also drew with Adelaide and barely beat WC.

We don't get too high and we don't get too low. Not an ideal start to the season, but we move on.

Speaking of Brisbane, it's amazing the different psychology going into the first round in 2024, and then this year.

Last year we spent the whole preseason knowing we had the toughest trip in football - Lions at the Gabba. Get 46 points down when the game was "hot", Lions take foot off the pedal, we come back and win.

This year we spent the whole preseason listening to everyone say Richmond would be the worst team since Fitzroy '96. When the game was "hot", the difference between the sides was pretty clear. We took the foot off the pedal and we got what we deserved.

Voss had us up for the start of the game. If we started terribly, it would be more on him. We simply have too many that cannot be described as mentally tough. We still should have found a way from three quarter time, but the reality is we never looked like it.

 

[Arr0w]

Ok, so in terms of the coaching, what are you hoping for here?

Voss swings the axe on some notable players who were undisciplined majority of the game?

Or

Keeps them in the side with the hope that he can fire them up?

Are you hoping for better f50 entries? Because they've never really been up to standard under this coaching group.

What changes do you want Voss and co to apply compared to our last approach v the Hawks?

So you believe that game was only based on coaching ?

Does need to make some changes to the side, can't accept certain behaviours

Main response I want to see is an acceptable consistent level of pressure, at which point I believe it will give us a better understanding of what is failing and what are our strengths

 

[CaptainCharisma]

Worst performance of the Voss era by a mile.
How we didn't have the leadership in the coaches box or on the field to arrest that momentum from quite frankly a sub standard Richmond side is an indictment on the whole club.
An even further indictment is Richmond may only win another 2 games for the year. If they are that bad after a deep cutting rebuild, how ****ing bad are we!?

Haynes is washed.
I love the man but I think Doc isn't far behind him.

McGovern and Saad vary between B+ and D+ players without consistency. Not good enough.

Motlop is just not our guy.
Frankie another small forward who doesn't do enough. Cotts and Fogarty unreliable role players. If you can't be relied upon to fulfill your role are you even a role player?

I am hoping Cerra and Walsh can build back into it but also worried we have cooked them both.

How are we this deep into the list build and truly only know what we are going to get out of Cripps, Weitering and maybe TDK?

The minor positives:
Congrats to L Campo on a solid debut. Cooper Lord tried pretty hard and looked OK for a 3rd gamer. Well done to Jack to get back after 600 days out.

 

[kingkingston]

Bad kicking is bad football. Richmond kicked straight and we didn't. That is the story. We missed some easy shots on goal.

 

[charred_fate]

Games are won or lost in the middle....

Our midfield - TDK, Cripps, Hewett, Walsh, Cerra, Lord... with a few cameos.

Crippa was Crippa, TDK was just ok (average for a million dollar man), kicked very poorly and let Nank take too many marks forward.

The rest - a f'n disgrace.

Yep - I don’t like our approach of investing so much $ in so few. Especially two key-position forwards (which is why I’ve always been willing to trade one of them).

I actually consider TDK the least expendable and probably the one we’re likeliest to lose.

Ultimately, we too often get B-grade performances from our A+ paid players.

The return on investment kills us.

 

[Sinjin Smith]

Watching on TV and turned off in the last qtr.

What has happened to Cerra and Walsh, they are a shadow of the former players they were. Stats might stack up but they are as damaging as being slapped with a wet lettuce leaf. Walsh especially, his disposal is awful.

And with the slipping, what boots were they wearing compared to Richmond.

In any event, even being the first game that is a coach killer, losing to the spooners from 41 points up.

 

[DangerousD]

I thought Fog played a good game, halved or won most of the shanked scrubbers or hospital balls that came his way.

SOS was good too.

We are, however, actually so shit and are zero chance of making finals, I feel like some people still don't fully appreciate that.

I repeat: zero chance of making finals.

What position does es Fogarty play for us? 12 touches 3 tackles and no scores doesn’t really tell good game.