Autopsy Round 8, 2025: Positives and Negatives vs Melbourne

[Carbine Chaos]

Stuck in the past when the bloke who led us into the darkness is there literally the next season telling us how to fix things and what's gone wrong.

Nobody is saying it's entirely his fault but good god have some self awareness man, just **** off to Melbourne for a few years and once we are on the up he would be welcomed back with open arms.

I find it weird how upset people get over Simmo and Schoey. They're just doing their jobs.

 

[TY24]

I find it weird how upset people get over Simmo and Schoey. They're just doing their jobs.

But I don’t like it therefore they have to move to Melbourne and LET THE WOUNDS HEAL!!!1!11!1!1

 

[bzparkes]

I find it weird how upset people get over Simmo and Schoey. They're just doing their jobs.

Nisbett was the biggest issue anyway.

Didn't want to spend the money to bring in a list manager after Glass and just half-assed the job between himself and RoB.

 

[Shuestar13]

Simmo seems like a genuinely good human being. You can feel he may have hung on too long as coach, but not sure how you can have an issue with him as a person and commentator

Please don’t read last nights game day thread The triggered, unhinged group (re: Simmo) were at their best (or worst) to put it mildly.

 

[Ruben Grubarb]

Kelly either isn’t right physically. Just has no run or burst, or, he’s just given up.

Either way he shouldn’t be playing in the seniors.

He doesn't like contact. He's like Barbie, but not as good looking.

 

[Dark Sharks]

Flynn just came up against the best ruckman in the comp, Barnett is still developing. The rest of your analysis yes i agree

That's a stretch, to say the least.

NOTHING about that bloke and his football suggests development. He's going backwards at a rate of knots.

Can't get him off the list quick enough IMO. Pay him, cut him, move on from that mistake and start getting someone who we can actually develop in his spot.

 

[SAweagle]

I find it weird how upset people get over Simmo and Schoey. They're just doing their jobs.

Schoey Ive never had an issue with, he's a born troll and larrikan.

Simmow is different, not hard to grasp why supporters would prefer not to hear his theorising so recently after his disastrous last 5 years and lessons in how to run a club into the ground post the premiership.

Like traffic controllers he can be just doing his job and we can still call him names for it.

 

[Ruben Grubarb]

Wasn’t there a lot of BS about how foolish the recruiters were to split that pick?

Not that I recall. I'm a "never split your top 5 pick" man, and even I was on board. Sheezel was a flight risk and Wardlaw was an injury risk. From pick 4 to 10 was a bit of a lottery. Not much in it.

 

[Dark Sharks]

Bit hard to leave Simpson "in the past" when he's constantly rolled out each home game to tell us how shit we are and what we should be doing instead.

Just like the Barrass to FF move, this just rubs salt in the wound when fans are clearly fatigued.

 

[Wce17]

• Ginbey worked his butt off all night
• Hewitt popped up with some nice work
• Maric got a glut of it in the first half, some good, some bad.
• Baker I thought did some nice stuff.

• Gawn just absolutely creamed Flynn - worse than Witts did in R1 and that is saying something.
• Losing Gov killed us.
• Oscar completely ineffectual.
• Harley, Owies, Kelly, Graham, Cole, Hunt (a half only admittedly) were all poor.
• Bo Allan had a night to forget, which is a real shame.

- A big one for me - incessant chopping and changing at the centre bounce attendances with no consistency of who is in there. This is on the coach and concerns me. I don’t mind trying different things but this has been excessive and is not working.

But it’s not working in there. If Mini did nothing he’d be called out as Simpson 2.0 & having no plan B

 

[GoEaglesGoSGIO]

Bit hard to leave Simpson "in the past" when he's constantly rolled out each home game to tell us how shit we are and what we should be doing instead.

Just like the Barrass to FF move, this just rubs salt in the wound when fans are clearly fatigued.

Good news is he is heading back to Victoria and wont be a part of the W.A coverage in the long term. Pretty sure this starts mid year as his house is up for rent

If you got a spare 1800 a week handy you can give it a crack if you want

 

[Bender_]

It may be me who misinterpreted it then but I thought Simmo said that he started as a backman out of necessity? One of the flogs asked if Simmo was surprised that he was playing mid then he said no and that he was drafted as a wingman so I interpreted that as he came in as a mid then played back because he had to.

Ahhh okay I see what you're saying, he kinda tacked the drafted as a wingman on the end - he was a bit arse about in the way he explained. My mistake.

 

[Marlin01]

I consider myself a Simpson fan, but having him describe our problems as though he wasn’t a co-author of them is sickening.

 

[juice568]

For all the praise archer Reid has got this year he has only kicked 3 goals in 8 matches.

 

[dinnaz]

Ahhh okay I see what you're saying, he kinda tacked the drafted as a wingman on the end - he was a bit arse about in the way he explained. My mistake.

Didn't I say this in the trade thread and got savaged for it?

 

[jesterwester]

At the game last night, first time seeing us live this year. I walked away disappointed, but not necessarily disheartened.

Firstly, Boy do we make things hard for ourselves. Couldn’t win a contest tonight to save our lives, then when we got the ball back we burnt it badly. Yeo really can’t come back quick enough- we need that bigger body to shield our younger boys that got beaten tonight.

Some of our decision making and turnovers were terrible. Jack Williams kick on the 45 to the first gamer who wasnt in any way calling for the ball (which will see Allen now cop weeks) on a 1x3 a prime example. I also noticed our work rate with ball in hand was pretty listless- we didn’t work for each another enough to provide options.

But overall, I thought the defensive effort post clearance was good, definitely an improvement since the GC game. Gov going down at half time really changed the game, I feel. The contest numbers were terrible, but I think whilst Gov was patrolling we were in with a chance. That weight of numbers in the 3rd was just too much.

Not playing BBW in tandem with Flynn this week definitely cost us. Gawn is stymied to an extent by mobile rucks which Flynn isn’t. Flynn just couldn’t get near him and we didn’t help him, either.

I love Elijah Hewett & Reuben Ginbey. I feel better days are coming, and they will be the main reason why.

Allen down back I felt was good. And the best part of the night was clearly Hunts Karate kick.

 

[Yeahnahmate]

In what galaxy was Allan in our best can I ask?

 

[Tyberious Funk]

Clearances were a massive problem. Going 18-10 on centre clearances was flattering, because it doesn't show how easily they waltzed the ball out of the centre square and into their forward 50. Meanwhile, most of ours were ugly, scrappy clearances that didn't really offer much value.

Last year when we beat Melbourne, the team put a significant effort into countering Gawn. They made it difficult for him just to get around the ground... he would have been battered and bruised from all the bumps he got. This time? Nothing. Didn't get touched. And he was barely even made to earn his "contested" marks. And Pickett? I get it... he's quick. But how is he running out of the CDB with no-one anywhere near him?

This team is weak. They play "bruise free" football.

Ok, so we're shit. The game plan is still evolving, and we make simple skill errors all the time. But bugger me, make the bastards earn it.

 

[VicBased]

Stuck in the past when the bloke who led us into the darkness is there literally the next season telling us how to fix things and what's gone wrong.

Nobody is saying it's entirely his fault but good god have some self awareness man, just **** off to Melbourne for a few years and once we are on the up he would be welcomed back with 0pen arms.

My self awareness tells me to look to the future and not dwell in the past.
It's his job as special commentator to critique teams.
Did you like him when he led us to the light?

 

[Bender_]

Didn't I say this in the trade thread and got savaged for it?

Sorry mate I don't read every post on the site so I'm not certain.

 

[jesterwester]

I thought they did OK on Pickett. He didn’t get off the chain the same way that Freo let him a few weeks back. Just the dominance Gawn gave them meant he could be proactive and that’s what he can do.

Another plus I found last night- Brockman in the middle at times did some nice things. Same with Ryan. Feel there is a bit to work with there.

 

[Dom sheed pocket]

So, Reid isnt in the best condition. We know this, we have known this since November when he came back from break.

There is no point constantly rehashing this. Whats done is done.

The way the train and load during the season means there is almost zero chance he can get his conditioning up to scratch during this season. Getting injured in the preseason really didn't help either.

He will need a massive preseason, maybe even a couple to rectify. Balls in his (and the club to help him) court now.

But continually bringing it up as a point to shit on the guy (who is 19 an made a pretty big blue) is getting tedious.

People keep bringing it up every week because it is a feature that impacts on games every week and will continue to discuss until it isn't an issue anymore. It might be tedious for some, but there is no way to talk about our game, what's going wrong, and what needs to improve without talking about Harley being unfit and overweight.

 

[Dom sheed pocket]

Positive is our game around the ground is in good nick.

+14 in Post clearance CP
+10 in post clearance ground ball

Overall we lost contested possession 133-150(-17) and ground ball 86-92 (-6)

Means in and around clearance we were MINUS 31 in contested possessions and MINUS 16 in pre-clearance ground ball.

Our game is being let down in one area and one area only, stoppage and clearance, but it's hard (not possible) to fix with the personnel we have.

 

[EvilBeagles]

I'm not at games often but here's a few things that stood to me from the stands...

*Maric was not great at all despite apparently having 26 disposals. Was a lost chicken tonight.
*Graham's kicking is actually so ****ing bad. Maybe it's this bad every week but it stood out a hell of a lot more tonight.
*TK appears to do everything he can to avoid opposition players or any physical contact.
*I see some people praising Oscar Allen's game but he looked like a fish out of water in defence all night.

But what stood out the most was the fact Melbourne would have free players at every contest somehow. There'd be a 3v2, we'd halve it or get the ball forward, and then another 3v2 would happen. Where the **** are our extra guys hiding? I only counted one time that we had an extra at any point.

I was at the game too, pretty much bang on with all your comments. I thought Oscar competed well enough, though.

Tim Kelly however, an absolute masterclass in jogging and looking disinterested.

 

[Seadog]

Schoey Ive never had an issue with, he's a born troll and larrikan.

Simmow is different, not hard to grasp why supporters would prefer not to hear his theorising so recently after his disastrous last 5 years and lessons in how to run a club into the ground post the premiership.

Like traffic controllers he can be just doing his job and we can still call him names for it.

You call traffic controllers names? Why am I not surprised.