Autopsy Eagles Post Match: We’re on to the Western Bulldogs

[FAIRANDBALANCED]

Best 22 that wins games 'on the day' not the best 22 on paper.. might as well turf the best 22 thread because it's not even remotely relevant.

I'm not a coach getting paid a million to figure it out.. one thing that worries me the most though.. our insistence on playing Stephenson coming out of defence at times over 3 weeks.. Greenwood plays a good tagging game.. gotta play him the next week? PLEASE! Leads my to believe that we've got a rigid approach to the game.. a lack of bravery in the box as far as I'm concerned. Buckley ain't off my radar. Didn't buy into any of the Coach of the Yr hoohaa.

This is a premiership side if we're brave enough to make the right decisions.

Dude spare me your captain hindsight, over simplified rants. We are not playing soccer, we don't have unlimited funds and Liverpool haven't won the league since 90. You are using them as something we should aspire to because they suddenly have a chance this year?

It's an overreaction to say we don't play well against good sides. If Geelong and West Coast are the best sides we have played them both and been a winning chance in both. People are just looking at things as if we are better than everyone else, which we are not.

Still, who are the best teams? Have we played them both already? Maybe GWS too? If so we are in pretty good shape.

 

[ottoman]

If so we are in pretty good shape.

We have lost 66 percent of our games and you are saying we are in good shape.
Sorry mate but that just doesn't cut it.
At the moment we are shite. It may turn around and it may not but we are definitely not in good shape at the moment.

 

[HenrikLundqvist]

Did Pendlebury get close to touching the ball once at a centre clearance? What is the point of having one out of three starting midfielders do nothing all night?

Needs to start outside the square as he's a liability in his current state. Getting awfully close to being dropped for Borthwick.

 

[jmac70]

We have lost 66 percent of our games and you are saying we are in good shape.
Sorry mate but that just doesn't cut it.
At the moment we are shite. It may turn around and it may not but we are definitely not in good shape at the moment.

We’ve only lost 2 games for the year.

 

[BringouttheGimp]

Dude spare me your captain hindsight, over simplified rants. We are not playing soccer, we don't have unlimited funds and Liverpool haven't won the league since 90. You are using them as something we should aspire to because they suddenly have a chance this year?

It's an overreaction to say we don't play well against good sides. If Geelong and West Coast are the best sides we have played them both and been a winning chance in both. People are just looking at things as if we are better than everyone else, which we are not.

Still, who are the best teams? Have we played them both already? Maybe GWS too? If so we are in pretty good shape.

We were woeful against both Geelong and West Coast because our rigid approach to the game..

Liverpool played Real Madrid in the champions league last yr. What did Real Madrid do.. play a typical Real Madrid type of game? F no.. had Zizou on the bench getting into the refs ear.. players deliberately delaying the play to stifle any sort of momentum coming from Liverpool.. they didn't play your typical Real Madrid show pony game they would have agst lesser lights.. they were brave enough to know that's not how it should be done agst Liverpool so they adjusted their game accordingly.

 

[Quicky]

Did Pendlebury get close to touching the ball once at a centre clearance? What is the point of having one out of three starting midfielders do nothing all night?

Needs to start outside the square as he's a liability in his current state. Getting awfully close to being dropped for Borthwick.

Pendlebury got the Hutchings tag. Whoever Hutchings gets is in for a rough night. I agree we ballsed up the clearance situation last night. But i'd focus more on the mids as a collective and centre clearance structure personally.

 

[Quicky]

We have lost 66 percent of our games and you are saying we are in good shape.
Sorry mate but that just doesn't cut it.
At the moment we are shite. It may turn around and it may not but we are definitely not in good shape at the moment.

I'm not too worried yet. It's a 22 game season after all. We had a nightmare first 3 weeks with the draw so this was always a possibility. I reckon we will settle into the season and find our groove. We do need to put some focus into how we unpick that West Coast game plan though because if we're any chance we're likely going to need to get over the top of them on the way.

 

[BringouttheGimp]

What works at Groove Bar at the Cas works at the top end of Collins St and works on the bars in Mykonos? You've got to adjust mate.. g bangers in Mykonos.. shirt and tie at Collins Quarter.. a decent pair of gstars and casual shirt at the Groove Bar re..

Oh no no Collingwood.. we will wear a pair of gstars no matter where we're at re.

 

[HFF]

They defintiely controlled field position.
The game was rather tight though by and large.

It looked like the same theme last time we played them early in season 2018 at the MCG.

We looked hot early and then they controlled it.

Umpiring didn’t help and we coughed up 2 soft 50m penalties resulting in goals which hurt.

I think we don’t run enough against them.
As in through their system.
Crisp off half back didn’t really break any lines.
We didn’t find enough space on the outside.

 

[Quicky]

They defintiely controlled field position.
The game was rather tight though by and large.

It looked like the same theme last time we played them early in season 2018 at the MCG.

We looked hot early and then they controlled it.

Umpiring didn’t help and we coughed up 2 soft 50m penalties resulting in goals which hurt.

I think we don’t run enough against them.
As in through their system.
Crisp off half back didn’t really break any lines.
We didn’t find enough space on the outside.

I couldn't agree more with this. I thought we under hand balled last night. We looked our best when we tried to run the ball a bit and then looked for the right hit up kick. Adams did it expertly but he had no friends on the night. We were also too cautious when we got opportunities to pull the trigger and move it quickly. It's a fine line that with West Coast though because if you get it wrong they intercept and sling shot back so well.

 

[TKiL]

We have lost 66 percent of our games and you are saying we are in good shape. ........

We’ve only lost 2 games for the year.

Gentlemen - please! there are stats and there are stats - you're both playing around with stats and maybe with each other's posts??
let's wait until we have a fair sample size...

 

[ottoman]

We’ve only lost 2 games for the year.

We've only won one

 

[jmac70]

We've only won one

But what a win!

 

[ottoman]

But what a win!

True

 

[Joeltownsmith]

Hey pies just wanted to give you blokes props for booing that snake gaff last night. Classy as always pie fans and good luck for the rest of the year.

 

[loki04]

The Eagles deserved the win. There's no disputing that and it's evident they have the wood over us and trouble us the most out of any side (outside of the Hawks).

The hype around the midfield needs to stop. We have a good group of players in the middle but the ongoing criticism of them not running both ways has legitimacy. When they're on fire, they're one of the best group of mids going around but the question is whether they can lift during times of adversity.

I think what killed us was three things. Firstly, we were dominated in the centre clearances in the second quarter when the Eagles kicked six goals in the quarter and we couldn't seem to find an answer to curtail it. Secondly, the Eagles defensive structures choked our forward line structures so opportunities felt limited and difficult and the passage into the forward 50 lacked fluidity. Lastly, the Eagles dominate us aerially which is something they did last year and we haven't been able to find an answer in countering.

The smooth transition of ball in hand from last week didn't work this week. We're trying to emulate the Eagles game style but we've yet to master it. It worked well against the Tigers, but it was ineffective this week. In the long run, I suspect we'll stick to that sort of game plan as we shift away from Richmond's tackling pressure game style and relying on the ball to hit the ground which can be effective but was countered by the Eagles game plan and is too taxing on the players.

With respect to the positives, Adams was our best midfielder of the night. Had a very good return game and took the game on at every opportunity. De Goey was considered quiet but still kicked 3 goals. One of these days, he's going to dominate and destroy a team.

1-2 isn't ideal, but we were in the same position this time last year so plenty of time to rectify things. The Eagles are the benchmark of the competition going forward. I think the hype around Geelong is overstated at this stage, but admittedly they haven't put a foot wrong so far this season.

Time to get back on track this Friday night against the Dogs.

Our draw is a bit different this year, but i guess so to is our injury profile to counter it. Will be interesting to see how it goes if we drop a game vs Dogs or Lions.

 

[Kilmo]

We have lost 66 percent of our games and you are saying we are in good shape.
Sorry mate but that just doesn't cut it.
At the moment we are shite. It may turn around and it may not but we are definitely not in good shape at the moment.

Both of the losses we were right in it up until the end. The WCE game slightly less so but 3 goals directly from 50m penalties doesn't help. They were both 50/50 games and we lost both of them, which is obviously bad for our ladder position but the real test of our mettle comes in the next two weeks against a resurgent Dogs and Lions.

 

[WillieNillie]

The mix is all wrong guys. Nothing more, nothing less. No one alive believes Collingwood dont have the talent to beat us, but yesterday it really felt like the midfield mix was all wrong.

Beams came into the club im assuming to win clearances but seems to be spending time up forward way too much. Greenwood came in to lay tackles and win the in and under so is put on a flank? Stephenson is pushed up the ground when he is clearly a goalkicker. Not everyone is meant to be a midfielder. If I was Bucks id make the following changes

- Move Pendlebury to HBF permanently instead of Aish
- Move Roughead out of defense and shorten the defense up. A bit of play when Darcy Moore ran off half back and commentators mentioned they liked that he did it. I was more like, "Why is he doing it, surely someone else should be doing that job"
- Move Stephenson back to deepest small forward and force Jamie Elliot up the ground more.
- Leave Mihocheck closer to goal and Mason Cox further up the ground
- Get Roughead to do the 2nd ruck role.
- More centre square time for J.Thomas, Mayne and Sier

The team should be

FB: Howe, Moore, Maynard
HB: Crisp, Langdon, Pendlebury
C: Sidebottom, Treloar, Phillips
HF: Elliot, Cox, Varcoe
FF: Stephenson, Mihocek, DeGoey
R: Grundy, Beams, Adams
I/C: Sier, Mayne, Roughead, J.Thomas

 

[loki04]

It said in the paper we were going to employ a similar strategy to what we did against the Tigers in keeping possession of the ball and taking uncontested marks which we did in record numbers against Richmond but we looked nothing like it against West Coast, if anything they did that to us and we couldn't get the ball or hold onto it when we got it. The Eagles close down space better than others and also if it's a marking contest they will win more often than not.

I hope Bucks has developed a Plan B of some sort because it clearly doesn't work against West Coast.

Having said that we probably do the same thing against the Bulldogs and it will work... but West Coast we need a different game plan, I don't know what but that's why I don't coach in the AFL.

Imo need to run in waves with multiple handball options on the sides before kicking to spot up a lead, no kicking to contests. It would require our forwards to learn to lead a lot more and work in cohesion. Not sure we have the personnel to do it.

Trying to beat them at their own game is a fools errand. Buckley needs to devise something NEW.

 

[Leviathan Pie]

Any danger of Steele Sidebottom turning up? Pathetic, again. Pendlebury/Treloar not much better. Midfield reads well on paper, but 2/3 games this year we’ve been fairly comprehensively done in the midfield. Time for these blokes to stop the circle jerk and get back to basics.

 

[Collingwoodity]

All in all, they're just a better side than us.

Disappointed in a lot of your players' games, but that's partly because WCE made us play poorly. Their defensive setup was brilliant. Their pressure great. We just couldn't break their shackles.

The biggest concern from the game was how their midfield smashed ours -- especially on the outside. We need a bit more pace in there. Pendlebury, Beams, Sidebottom, Mayne, Phillips -- all relatively slow.

Long term my concerns are bigger. Look at the talls:

Kennedy/Darling/That new kid with the blonde hair versus Cox, Mihiocek, DeGoey (not really a tall but plays like one).

Cox and Mihocek are both B/B+ players. But they're just not on the level of Kennedy and Darling.

Darling is barely any better than Mihocek imo. And that new blonde (Allan) is only 191 cm. That is the same as De Gooey.

The real difference between those groups is Kennedy. He marks, kicks goals, spoils, brings the ball to ground on a consistent basis. Not just 6 times a year like Cox.

In reality, it was not west coasts tall forwards that won the game, it was their tall backs (McGovern and Barrass) and midfield. Their midfield killed us. Which is amazing (embarrassing?) considering that they played so many talls.


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[Robroy22]

We need faster players to beat WCE

 

[loki04]

We will make finals. Should of beaten Geelong and out played by west coast. If we lose to the bulldogs we won’t make finals. I expect to beat the bulldogs. Not sure what you mean by our hard draw tho? The only side atm we cannot beat atm is west Coast. The rest including Geelong we can beat. Did not play well tonight but the players tried.

Remember we were 1-2 last year and premierships are not won in April ask Richmond in 2018 and Adelaide in 2017. I believe as the season goes on we will get better but I would be disappointed if we are not top 4!!

You know the worst thing? If we don't happen to make finals we dont even have a 1st round pick to help inject talent...

 

[Collingwoodity]

Pendlebury got the Hutchings tag. Whoever Hutchings gets is in for a rough night. I agree we ballsed up the clearance situation last night. But i'd focus more on the mids as a collective and centre clearance structure personally.

Therefore a coaching move should have been made to move Pendlebury away from the midfield so that hutchings’ tag is rendered less effective. Did not happen. Why?


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[loki04]

Both of the losses we were right in it up until the end. The WCE game slightly less so but 3 goals directly from 50m penalties doesn't help. They were both 50/50 games and we lost both of them, which is obviously bad for our ladder position but the real test of our mettle comes in the next two weeks against a resurgent Dogs and Lions.

Last time we played lions at Gabba we only got up by 7 points, Lions 18.6.114 vs 19.7.121 Pies. Early days but they looked to have made more improvement then us over the off season.

Wouldn't lock in a win there yet.