That was some weak sh*t. Can't even put that down to one or two things. Coaches and players got rattled and exposed.
Coaches/game plan:
Goes to show last week had nothing to do with playing Michalaney forward. We got absolutely annihilated second week running in all areas of the ground. Structure around the contest was horrible. Structure up forward horrible. Defensive cohesion lost. Some serious questions need to be asked about the people calling the game day shots.
Midfield the biggest concern. Haven't seen such dominance against a midfield in a long time. Second to the ball, allowing space outside the contest, poor tackling.
Ground ball gets appeared woeful up until the last 10 minutes. Just no where near the ball once it hit the ground.
Honestly thought we tried to use the middle more and get creative with our ball movement. It just seem to fail almost every time we tried and would then go into our shells for a bit. Think it was part execution, part lacking the nous to create space. We're still kicking it 15 meters and getting called play on. Didn't adjust to this new 'rule'.
Players:
Out of all of our players that got found out in finals, didn't think it would be Dawson. Hard to be positive going forward when your best player and captain falls apart in his first finals series.
Keays just brought none of his strengths in either game.
Soligo I think did one good thing all game. Wouldn't even call his goal good given he almost stuffed it. Terrible year from a pretty talented player. Went missing in finals as well. Not a good sign.
ROB would be laughed at so hard by every other supporter. Dropping marks and forgetting how to drop the ball on your foot. I don't think we need a superstar ruck, but that was putrid.
Fogarty hopeless two games in a row. Poor decisions and skills to go with his lack of presence in the air. Hope this doesn't kill his confidence.
Berry/peatling combo failed in the middle. Peatling really faltered in finals after a really good year. Berry isn't bad, but he lacks polish. Wouldn't be so bad if he had players on the outside to hand it off to, but he often just had to go himself.
Walker stinker after a decent crack last week. Hard to comprehend getting pansted by scrimshaw. Had a decent 2025, but had a number of games like tonight where he just looked cooked. Prob should hang up the boots unfortunately.
Keane fell apart. Reminded me of some of his earlier season games where he was poor defensively and made really poor errors. Think he can turn it around next year. Still inexperienced.
Murray average. A few good moments but also coughed the ball up a few times too easily.
Hinge a shadow of his normal self this year.
Cumming more present, but largely ineffective. Need him to be cutting it up with his kicking, but rarely does.
Laird bog. Not doing well if he's our bog.
Worrell not far behind laird. He's a keeper. Milera pretty good game as well despite that second goal he gave up.
TT was good for the most part. Battled hard. Took his opportunities and looked to be our only game breaker. Couple of average moments again though. Didn't have the same influence around the ball as normal. Need two of him.
Curtin OK. Would like to see him have more confidence in his leg. Plays it too safe.
Taylor has midfield craft and I hope we develop him there more in the offseason. He was the only one who looked calm with the ball. Kicking a bit sloppy tonight though. He's much better than that.
Michaelaney pretty good second game back after a rusty return. Pity that's it for him this year. Think he's a finals player.
Pedlar, like cook, has something that you just really wanna harness. Not a lot of possessions, but hard when you're midfield gets so dominated. Think he can hold his head higher than a lot of others this finals series.
Rachele good. Not a lot to say really when he gets 2 quarters in our last game of the year. Showed how bad we need forward craft.
ANB wasn't our worst, but like Keays he didn't really bring his strengths this finals.
Coaches/game plan:
Goes to show last week had nothing to do with playing Michalaney forward. We got absolutely annihilated second week running in all areas of the ground. Structure around the contest was horrible. Structure up forward horrible. Defensive cohesion lost. Some serious questions need to be asked about the people calling the game day shots.
Midfield the biggest concern. Haven't seen such dominance against a midfield in a long time. Second to the ball, allowing space outside the contest, poor tackling.
Ground ball gets appeared woeful up until the last 10 minutes. Just no where near the ball once it hit the ground.
Honestly thought we tried to use the middle more and get creative with our ball movement. It just seem to fail almost every time we tried and would then go into our shells for a bit. Think it was part execution, part lacking the nous to create space. We're still kicking it 15 meters and getting called play on. Didn't adjust to this new 'rule'.
Players:
Out of all of our players that got found out in finals, didn't think it would be Dawson. Hard to be positive going forward when your best player and captain falls apart in his first finals series.
Keays just brought none of his strengths in either game.
Soligo I think did one good thing all game. Wouldn't even call his goal good given he almost stuffed it. Terrible year from a pretty talented player. Went missing in finals as well. Not a good sign.
ROB would be laughed at so hard by every other supporter. Dropping marks and forgetting how to drop the ball on your foot. I don't think we need a superstar ruck, but that was putrid.
Fogarty hopeless two games in a row. Poor decisions and skills to go with his lack of presence in the air. Hope this doesn't kill his confidence.
Berry/peatling combo failed in the middle. Peatling really faltered in finals after a really good year. Berry isn't bad, but he lacks polish. Wouldn't be so bad if he had players on the outside to hand it off to, but he often just had to go himself.
Walker stinker after a decent crack last week. Hard to comprehend getting pansted by scrimshaw. Had a decent 2025, but had a number of games like tonight where he just looked cooked. Prob should hang up the boots unfortunately.
Keane fell apart. Reminded me of some of his earlier season games where he was poor defensively and made really poor errors. Think he can turn it around next year. Still inexperienced.
Murray average. A few good moments but also coughed the ball up a few times too easily.
Hinge a shadow of his normal self this year.
Cumming more present, but largely ineffective. Need him to be cutting it up with his kicking, but rarely does.
Laird bog. Not doing well if he's our bog.
Worrell not far behind laird. He's a keeper. Milera pretty good game as well despite that second goal he gave up.
TT was good for the most part. Battled hard. Took his opportunities and looked to be our only game breaker. Couple of average moments again though. Didn't have the same influence around the ball as normal. Need two of him.
Curtin OK. Would like to see him have more confidence in his leg. Plays it too safe.
Taylor has midfield craft and I hope we develop him there more in the offseason. He was the only one who looked calm with the ball. Kicking a bit sloppy tonight though. He's much better than that.
Michaelaney pretty good second game back after a rusty return. Pity that's it for him this year. Think he's a finals player.
Pedlar, like cook, has something that you just really wanna harness. Not a lot of possessions, but hard when you're midfield gets so dominated. Think he can hold his head higher than a lot of others this finals series.
Rachele good. Not a lot to say really when he gets 2 quarters in our last game of the year. Showed how bad we need forward craft.
ANB wasn't our worst, but like Keays he didn't really bring his strengths this finals.
