Autopsy 15 point loss to Carlton

[Nuggetz]

I felt that our team of coaches performed very poorly on Friday night.
How Carlton consistently won centre clearances with a kid and Silvagni as their two rucks beggars belief. At every centre bounce Carlton had 2 of their 3 midfielders on the defensive side of the circle and the ball constantly went there. Whether it be by a handball or just punching it there or even worse, our ruckmen hitting it there. It wasn't until the second half where we finally put one of our players there to counter it. Secondly, we had one of the best centre clearance players of the past decade sitting out on a wing where he was like a fish out of water. I understand that we need to look to the future hence give more midfield time to the likes of Warner, Rowbottom (didn't play) etc but what about the NOW?
Weitering certainly had the better of Franklin whereas McDonald was on top of his opponent. Why wasn't Franklin instructed to lead up to the 50 meter arc or beyond when we we coming through the midfield to take Weitering out of the play? The ball then bypasses the two of them leaving McDonald with a likely one on one.
Why on earth is the ball regularly kicked to Franklin in the air as he can't mark anything above his head? The simple uncontested mark that he dropped in the centre of the ground which led to another Carlton goal was simply horrendous.
McDonald has to be our number one forward target henceforth with Franklin playing a minor role. Otherwise, we will continue to be an ordinary side.

I don't think we should have a clear no.1 forward target as we become too focused on that player (mostly Buddy) but our tall forwards like buddy/mcdonald & to an extent Heeney/Hayward need to work up & down the ground, they need variety in their game rather than purely staying in the forward 50. When we have a spread of goal kickers is when we play our best footy imo.

We are fortunate that Logan & Buddy have the mobility & ability to play up the ground, it should be utilised more. I'm thinking rotate one tall deep in the forward line, basically around the goal square (resting ruck or resting mid like Parker), the other around the 50m arc and another further up along the wing (who can work back into our forward 50).

 

[Bandicoot]

I don't think we should have a clear no.1 forward target as we become too focused on that player (mostly Buddy) but our tall forwards like buddy/mcdonald & to an extent Heeney/Hayward need to work up & down the ground, they need variety in their game rather than purely staying in the forward 50. When we have a spread of goal kickers is when we play our best footy imo.

We are fortunate that Logan & Buddy have the mobility & ability to play up the ground, it should be utilised more. I'm thinking rotate one tall deep in the forward line, basically around the goal square (resting ruck or resting mid like Parker), the other around the 50m arc and another further up along the wing (who can work back into our forward 50).

I do agree with your thoughts of having multiple targets up forward. The comment I made about McDonald being the number one target was more along the lines that if the ball is to be bombed in long, I'd rather he being there than Buddy.
In fact, I firmly believe that our forward line functions better when Buddy is not playing as the mids then look for the best option rather than just kicking it to Bud,

 

[Bandicoot]

Upon review, the third quarter resurgence was underlined by 3 players almost exclusively: Mills, Campbell and Paddy. They had by far the most influence by my count.

Campbell had a massive influence considering he only played 2 quarters. He should be in the team all the time, and needs to be our Dawson now. His kicking is understandably not as good as Dawson but he has the aggression and is more consistent by foot than Blakey.

The fact that Bell gets selected in lieu of Campbell is one of football's biggest mysteries.

 

[Nuggetz]

The fact that Bell gets selected in lieu of Campbell is one of football's biggest mysteries.

Fixed it for ya Bell seems like a great team guy but he's just not afl standard. We definitely need to pick others over him.

 

[Bandicoot]

Fixed it for ya Bell seems like a great team guy but he's just not afl standard. We definitely need to pick others over him.

Doesn't say a lot for our recruiting team if our number 6 pick of 2019 and our number 5 pick of 2020 are not in our best 22.

 

[Bandicoot]

In close losses thing like this stick out to me:

• Bombing the ball on Buddy's head - particularly when logan was looking good tonight.
• Still too easy to score against - This is both a defence and mid issue imo. Need a true lockdown small/med defender. If I was laidler I would be whispering in Sheather's ear that there is a spot for him in the 1s if he can string together a couple more consistent performances. Along with a lockdown, would love to uncover a marking third tall (rampe replacement)
• Lacking a big body in the midfield stares out window Miss you George...
• We are just generally a very frustrating side. Would back our best quarter of a game against one but unfortuantely we can very rarely deliver for more than 2-3 quarters.

We actually had a big bodied midfielder whose been pretty successful over the past decade but refused to put him there. Put him out on a wing instead where he was useless.

 

[Bandicoot]

You know the ****ing rort is in when a Hawks supporter comes to this board and states this. Thanks for the support btw but this competition is very near to earning the tag of the most corrupt sporting body in the World. They want us to respect umpires ? Yeah sure. Its just like being told to drop your strides bend over and take what is coming and then say thanks.

The AFL IS the most corrupt sporting body in the world.
If you want confirmation just get your hands on the book called "The Boy's Club".

 

[Bandicoot]

A really good description.

too often tonight we as a whole played like they saw the first option discounted it because they saw something else and went back to the first option when it was actually even worse than when they discounted it.

too often the second guess was a turnover. Professional soccer at the highest level should be pass forward and move. Going east west achieves little but retention of the ball. I keep harping on it because Blakey kick to heeney which was the turnover leading to the sealer - heeney had been free for about 30 seconds but by the time Blakey decided to kick it to him the Carlton player was literally standing on him.

Totally agree. As good as Blakey is as a half back running to the wing and then smacking it to someone's chest 50 meters downfield, he is equally poor as a deep defender. When he has to think about what to do with the ball, his decision making is far too slow and regularly makes the wrong call. Of all the players we could use to kick the ball out after a point, he is one of the last I would be choosing.
We have far too many players at the moment playing outside of where they are best at. Blakey as mentioned. Heeney should be a roving forward, not being wasted in the midfield. Kennedy should have been in the middle when we were getting slaughtered there in the second quarter. Campbell should be on a wing or even half forward, not half back.

 

[Bandicoot]

500k

No more than $400K. When you consider he was payed over $2M for two years without even playing, maybe he should consider it's payback time and take even less.
To be honest, his days of turning a match as a key forward are pretty well over. I see his only value if he were to play next year would be as a wingman.