Autopsy Round 11, 2025: Positives and Negatives vs Kuwarna

[UseR2006]

Lol Baker only got Fined.
Good.

MATCH REVIEW: Eagle fined, Swans captain learns fate

The Match Review Officer's findings for Sunday's round 11 games are in

www.afl.com.au

 

[Jandamarra]

Only watched the first half which I was really pleased with. Felt like the players turned up to play and the gameplan was working. The crows were under the pump and turned it over a lot and we moved the ball quickly and directly. Some of our finishing was poor but overall positive signs. It always seemed like despite our best efforts Adelaide were always able to pull ahead and their goals
looked a lot easier than ours. Disappointing to see that we fell away in the second half but unsurprising from a young team away from
home. Reading through the game day stats are interesting. To me they say we are competing really hard but lapses in the i50 and d50 are really hurting us.

64 v 55 inside 50s
We have improved our supply
into the forward line which is really
pleasing (last time we played Adelaide it was 59 v 39 and it has been common for us to have drastically fewer inside 50s than oppo over the past few years). It means we are moving the ball far better across the ground under the new direct gameplan which is resulting in entries.

However that generated 33 v 22 scoring shots, which is concerning and speaks to a potential breakdown in the connection our mids have with our forwards and defenders.

Adding to that, our conversion in front of goal compared to Adelaide was really poor from a pure numbers perspective 19.14 (58%) plays 8.14 (36%). If you look at where those shots came from, Adelaide’s shots were focussed in a corridor in front of goal, with 8 of their goals coming from essentially inside the goal square. To me this speaks more to a breakdown in defence than the Oppo players being far better kicks than us. Our shot map in comparison is spread across the i50 so you’d expect fewer to go in.

Another interesting stat from the game is that we only took 60 marks to 107 and had 162 uncontested possessions to 231. Most games watching us play it feels like we are barely touching the ball and on the rare occasion we do, we don’t try to possess the ball but rather try to play direct but risky football which invariably results in a score for us or turnover and oppo score. That’s the new gameplan and it’s exciting when it comes off but I wonder if it is all that sustainable week to week as it seems to rely on manic effort and luck to work.

 

[Astro7]

Four Eagles fined for melee...and four Crows fined for melee.
Equalisation.

 

[WCEswift]

Our inside 50 numbers matching teams, just need cleaner supply to help forwards
would have lost by 100 last year

 

[twce13]

Lots going on early on maric lol. It's a new role, give him some time to build. He has all the tools to succeed, hopefully his defensive efforts can get better as the season goes on.

 

[BSD]

Only watched the first half which I was really pleased with. Felt like the players turned up to play and the gameplan was working. The crows were under the pump and turned it over a lot and we moved the ball quickly and directly. Some of our finishing was poor but overall positive signs. It always seemed like despite our best efforts Adelaide were always able to pull ahead and their goals
looked a lot easier than ours. Disappointing to see that we fell away in the second half but unsurprising from a young team away from
home. Reading through the game day stats are interesting. To me they say we are competing really hard but lapses in the i50 and d50 are really hurting us.

64 v 55 inside 50s
We have improved our supply
into the forward line which is really
pleasing (last time we played Adelaide it was 59 v 39 and it has been common for us to have drastically fewer inside 50s than oppo over the past few years). It means we are moving the ball far better across the ground under the new direct gameplan which is resulting in entries.

However that generated 33 v 22 scoring shots, which is concerning and speaks to a potential breakdown in the connection our mids have with our forwards and defenders.

Adding to that, our conversion in front of goal compared to Adelaide was really poor from a pure numbers perspective 19.14 (58%) plays 8.14 (36%). If you look at where those shots came from, Adelaide’s shots were focussed in a corridor in front of goal, with 8 of their goals coming from essentially inside the goal square. To me this speaks more to a breakdown in defence than the Oppo players being far better kicks than us. Our shot map in comparison is spread across the i50 so you’d expect fewer to go in.

Another interesting stat from the game is that we only took 60 marks to 107 and had 162 uncontested possessions to 231. Most games watching us play it feels like we are barely touching the ball and on the rare occasion we do, we don’t try to possess the ball but rather try to play direct but risky football which invariably results in a score for us or turnover and oppo score. That’s the new gameplan and it’s exciting when it comes off but I wonder if it is all that sustainable week to week as it seems to rely on manic effort and luck to work.

What did the backline coach do to stem the breakdown in defence , or isn't that part of his job ?
The crows were also taking uncontested marks in our forward line because we were bombing in high balls and no effort was made to change that.

 

[BSD]

+

Gutsy intense effort for a half against some of the most biased umpiring ever witnessed, i'm not one to comment on umpires but this was stratospheric levels of cheating
Brockman continues to impress in the midfield and distributing inside 50
Ball movement and gameplan slowly being pieced togther
Harley Reid enjoying himself again and doing the basics well
Waterman is a deadset gun, hate to see him injured
Elijah Hewett growing in confidence, his attack on ball and man is great, needs to be cleaner
Ginbey is all heart, cannot question his effort, same as Hewett needs to slow down and distribute cleanly
Harry Edwards a couple of big moments again, confidence and belief in himself looks to be the key
Brock shut down Fogarty, like his style
Jack Graham has lifted, would love to see what he could do with Yeo in the mix, two hard nosed campaigners

-
Tough day for defenders however the system at the back needs work, covering and blocking space non existent at the moment, sense is mcqualter hasn't focused on it too much.
Skills shocking, weather played a role but jesus christ Tim Kelly especially just kills momentum with poor decisions and execution time and time again. 2 more years hurts so bad.
Liam Ryan needs to do better than 0.4, a far better player than that.
My boy Gross unlucky early with a high tackle inside 50 but went missing until subbed out, stick with him.
Flynn and Williams uncompetitive in the air, the crom just went coast to coast with contested marks constantly throughout the game

Geelong at home a huge test this week

Isn't it part of a line coaches job to teach players how to cover and block. Not everything is McQualters job, FFS that's why he has assistants. If the assistants can't teach basic football skills and tactics then they should be given the arse.
Mini should be given the opportunity to bring in his own team of assistants instead of relying on some of the hacks he inherited.

 

[wce4premiership]

Lots going on early on maric lol. It's a new role, give him some time to build. He has all the tools to succeed, hopefully his defensive efforts can get better as the season goes on.

Considering Maric and Hutchinson were MSD picks I think both were really good pick ups.

Maric has Hurn mentoring him so I am sure he will improve. He's AFL quality but playing out of position to get games.

 

[squashface]

Maric was a beautiful long kick in his first year, it was very noticeable and a major reason why we all wanted him as the distributor.

Since he's moved back I feel like almost all of his kicks are short 15-20m kicks that are fairly useless. Hopefully it is just nerves at the new role because kicking skills are his strength and if he is not using them then he shouldn't be in the side.

 

[greatwhiteshark]

Maric was a beautiful long kick in his first year, it was very noticeable and a major reason why we all wanted him as the distributor.

Since he's moved back I feel like almost all of his kicks are short 15-20m kicks that are fairly useless. Hopefully it is just nerves at the new role because kicking skills are his strength and if he is not using them then he shouldn't be in the side.

He is still young and I agree he is a good kick in a general sense. But he is a bit slow in his decision making in my opinion. He sees the option and hesitates instead of just backing in his first sense to move the ball. The hesitation provides the defence time to cover where he was kicking it to and hence the turnover happens.
I don't think he is a natural backman and honestly believe he is just covering a hole at the minute. I don't think his long term future will be back.
Still learning and I like him.

 

[FKASC]

Hopefully it is just nerves at the new role because kicking skills are his strength and if he is not using them then he shouldn't be in the side.

Have no doubt the responsibility of his new role is making him play nervously. Would be good to rotate that role a bit to take the pressure off

 

[greatwhiteshark]

What did the backline coach do to stem the breakdown in defence , or isn't that part of his job ?
The crows were also taking uncontested marks in our forward line because we were bombing in high balls and no effort was made to change that.

How do you know that things were not put in place and the players couldn't do it? They couldn't even tackle on the weekend.

 

[Dark Sharks]

Have no doubt the responsibility of his new role is making him play nervously. Would be good to rotate that role a bit to take the pressure off

Chuck Hutchinson into defense to take over from Ginbey as an accountable/athletic 3rd tall defender and let and Maric share the attacking role.

 

[Yeahnahmate]

Chuck Hutchinson into defense to take over from Ginbey as an accountable/athletic 3rd tall defender and let and Maric share the attacking role.

This isn’t the worst call - Hutch will have decent closing speed and leap and is a great tackler. Also great effort within the contest but gets left out / doesn’t position too well in attacking chains. Don’t hate it

 

[Kegs15]

So much of the assessment of Maric and his role needs to factor in the movement up the ground. We are incredibly stagnant beyond 30m of where he's kicking it, you can visibly see no movement at all.

For Jetta at his best we had a very well drilled, experienced team - with predictable key forwards in Darling and JK as down the line options, NN (or Lycett) as the other chaos down the line options, very smart crumbers and a system where a more mobile marking target like Yeo/Redden would free themselves up for that laser kick to be an option. All the rest of the side worked in tandem, were experienced and well drilled and helped him look as outstanding as he was. Hurn was there to take up some of the kicking slack and our defensive intercept marking was better (and better set up) to minimise damage when it did go wrong.

Right now we're still figuring ourselves out and it feels most of the system education in Minis first preseason has gone into our fast runs through the middle. We don't really have a whole-team setup for slower kick-based plays (though in some games this year when we've scored nothing from stoppages, transition from the back half has been a disproportionately high part of our score which Maric's been a part of). Our rucks and key forwards have been pretty bad at consistently being in an adequate down the line position (or keeping the other ruck out of the best position) partly as a result of still figuring everything out themselves.

Think a lot of Maric's poor decision making or dinky kicks have been a result of him following instructions to a tee (get it and go, be aggressive) and taking his first 10 steps to commit to that type of play, seeing no valid options, and then Ginbey or Duggan or someone being instructed to be a 20m bail-out as backup, which oppositions are starting to read into.

Maric definitely has things he needs to work on especially defensively but in terms of his offensive game it reads IMO as practice for when we're a better side overall. Love that he continues to take the game on, keep doing what he's doing despite it likely being frustrating at times. Definitely on balance we're probably better off this year with more burst carry and thumping it long from Ginbey/Baker/Duggan while our offensive setups are still in infancy but I like that generally Mini/Maric are being proactive and positive in persisting with this option that's not always working right now. Reckon it'll come off really well in a few years.

 

[Winky]

Considering Maric and Hutchinson were MSD picks I think both were really good pick ups.

Maric has Hurn mentoring him so I am sure he will improve. He's AFL quality but playing out of position to get games.

Marci’s a good player and deserves a spot. I just question whether we can afford the luxury of having him running around loose in the backline despite his skills. Maybe wing would be better for him. Surely we have skilled defenders available. I’ve gotta say Duggan seems to have lifted his game with his disposals as well in the recent games. He needed to as he was becoming a liability hence the need for someone like Maric as a distributor. Cole has improved as well although he does lose his feet too often

 

[kranky al]

well …stinkney vs crows puts our loss in perspective…

 

[Mick63]

well …stinkney vs crows puts our loss in perspective…

I thought the same thing watching it live.

Adelaide also kept the run going from our game, they seemed to get a heap of 50/50 calls go their way.

Maybe Nicks has been catching up for coffees with the umps… Channeling his inner Clarkson!

 

[kranky al]

I thought the same thing watching it live.

Adelaide also kept the run going from our game, they seemed to get a heap of 50/50 calls go their way.

Maybe Nicks has been catching up for coffees with the umps… Channeling his inner Clarkson!

Free kick adethorn