2019 Expectations

[theGav56]

I am an internal optimist when it comes to Freo but often young players don't have the best of games after a game like we had against GWS, this week is a danger game.

Can't be healthy mate. Let it out.

 

[SHill Shall]

Don’t want to get you all over excited, but this is pretty interesting:

http://www.matterofstats.com/mafl-team-dashboards/matterofstats-2019-team-dashboard-for-round-5

Top 4 here we come!

 

[FreoMonocle]

I am an internal optimist when it comes to Freo but often young players don't have the best of games after a game like we had against GWS, this week is a danger game.

Agreed and the team is going to be inconsistent for as long as it has a stack of new faces/multiple blokes under 21.

Having been in the dark, it's time to enjoy the sunshine - even if it's short lived. We will get thumped by someone soon enough and people will resort to "Same old game plan, sack the coach, send spud x to Peel", might as well enjoy our moment in the sun

 

[Joao]

Don’t want to get you all over excited, but this is pretty interesting:

http://www.matterofstats.com/mafl-team-dashboards/matterofstats-2019-team-dashboard-for-round-5

Top 4 here we come!

My favourite part of that site is that it tracks where visitors come from. Recently had a visitor from Burkina Faso!

 

[Unique Name]

My expectation for Brayshaw over Christmas.

Instead of completing his family tradition of 100x100m sprints he and his brothers should try kicking 100 goals in a row from various spots in and around the 50m arc. Obviously 100 goals in a row would be near impossible to do but the competition would be who can get the closest.

Reminds me of Jonny Wilkinson from the England rugby squad a few years back. He said his accuracy came from laborious repetition, doing it over and over again. Fev said the same thing a few years back, that he would go to the park after training and just kick goals, over and over. This is what Andy needs to do.

 

[salim malik]

This current side is better equipped on all lines than the 012/015 side.
Even the much maligned midfield has more class . Suban, DeBoer and Mzungu replaced with Brayshaw, Tucker and Cerra. The opposition is not as strong, there are no champion sides like the Hawks running around. Dare to believe people.

 

[theGav56]

My expectation for Brayshaw over Christmas.

Instead of completing his family tradition of 100x100m sprints he and his brothers should try kicking 100 goals in a row from various spots in and around the 50m arc. Obviously 100 goals in a row would be near impossible to do but the competition would be who can get the closest.

Reminds me of Jonny Wilkinson from the England rugby squad a few years back. He said his accuracy came from laborious repetition, doing it over and over again. Fev said the same thing a few years back, that he would go to the park after training and just kick goals, over and over. This is what Andy needs to do.

Good idea. Not that his goal kicking is necessarily the kicking issue with him though. Maybe they could combine the 100x100 sprints with kicking to hit a target at the top of each sprint.

 

[heavho]

You look at the season so far and we have been in every game into the last quarter. We beat St Kilda and they are looking good so far this season being right near the top of the ladder at the moment. A quality outfit in gws and should of won against the suns and west coast. The west coast game we just lacked some polish and accuracy at the big sticks. The suns game was the first on the road and one of the longest trips in afl but I guess that’s no excuse. If we don’t beat the dogs at home it will be a worry but with Barras 300th the boys should be putting in the effort at least. If we win we are one step closer to a finals appearance and with the addition of the likes of blakely into the guts/back half to free up the likes of Cerra into the middle. The class of Stephen hill if he can get back into the 22. Would love to see him steaming out of the back half with likes of Ryan and Wilson to create some run and quality use of the footy. Sandilands yes he looks done but if he can hang in there and get on the park. I believe we are 100% finals bound. He gives the new 666 rule a whole new meaning. His two work even in his final year would out do any other ruck we have and give first touch to our midfields creating more clearances and quick inside 50s to our tall forwards that are arguably one of the best contested marking group in the game. Looking forward to seeing how the season folds out but at the moment it’s looking promising

 

[dominguez]

Agree. Darcy’s fitness is key to this season. Sandi doesn’t look like he ll be back at all before the bye, Jones is slow and WAFL material. Plus Meek is struggling in that 3 man ruck/forward combo for Peel.
Our forward stocks look great, our ruck don’t. Lobb needs some back up at some point over the season. How long will Darcy be playing catch up is important. Can’t push him to get fit, but we need him sooner then later

The form of McCarthy and Taberner makes it hard to play another ruck and it also makes it difficult to keep Cox in the 22.

A line up including Taberner, McCarthy, Lobb, Hogan and Darcy is too top heavy to play together week in, week out.

 

[dominguez]

Who are our 5 best players?

Fyfe
Mundy
Walters
Pearce

Are clearly the top 4. Fifth spot is tricky, hard to split Hogan, Langdon, Hill and Ryan.

If those 8 players all play 20+ games for the year we should play finals.

 

[masai]

You look at the season so far and we have been in every game into the last quarter. We beat St Kilda and they are looking good so far this season being right near the top of the ladder at the moment. A quality outfit in gws and should of won against the suns and west coast. The west coast game we just lacked some polish and accuracy at the big sticks. The suns game was the first on the road and one of the longest trips in afl but I guess that’s no excuse. If we don’t beat the dogs at home it will be a worry but with Barras 300th the boys should be putting in the effort at least. If we win we are one step closer to a finals appearance and with the addition of the likes of blakely into the guts/back half to free up the likes of Cerra into the middle. The class of Stephen hill if he can get back into the 22. Would love to see him steaming out of the back half with likes of Ryan and Wilson to create some run and quality use of the footy. Sandilands yes he looks done but if he can hang in there and get on the park. I believe we are 100% finals bound. He gives the new 666 rule a whole new meaning. His two work even in his final year would out do any other ruck we have and give first touch to our midfields creating more clearances and quick inside 50s to our tall forwards that are arguably one of the best contested marking group in the game. Looking forward to seeing how the season folds out but at the moment it’s looking promising

Paragraphs ?.

Hard reading.

 

[masai]

Fyfe
Mundy
Walters
Pearce

Are clearly the top 4. Fifth spot is tricky, hard to split Hogan, Langdon, Hill and Ryan.

If those 8 players all play 20+ games for the year we should play finals.

The bottom 5 players is where we must tighten up.

This was probably our failing in 2013, good 15 or so, ordinary tailend.

 

[heavho]

Paragraphs ?.

Hard reading.

My apologies. Hope some of it was understandable lol

 

[Frigate]

This year has gone better than I thought. I hoped we would be closer to the top sides, especially when away. I also hoped we would score more with the additions to our forward line.

So far, after the Roos game expectations lifted, however with a young list you know there is usually pain after really good wins. The hard part is stringing wins together. The Suns seemed a disaster, the Saints game showed we will be competitive and can slog out 4 quarters - which was important as we have generally not been great in the 4th quarter for a few years.

The Eagles game was above expectations - I felt we deserved to win that game, however it was not to be.

Then the Giants game, a team that has not been beaten at home for 9 straight games. We were paying $6.50 to beat them. It seemed very unlikely. Then the moment. We had led the match and they finally over took us to lead at 3 quarter time. Somehow, we over ran the running team. We also scored over 100 points, and Matera kicked 4 and Langdon racked up 32. More kicks, more marks, more clearances, more inside 50's and 10% - also half the hit outs, way less tackles, less handballs and yes we had more clangers.

What is different? Everything is different I am telling you. The players that have come in have been great in Hogan and Lobb. I will be the first to say I doubted the Colyer recruitment. I thought another clanger player is exactly what we do not need, and I had nothing to believe this until around the Saints game. I am sure he will be a whipping boy as a mature recruit (that cost us next to nothing!) - I am coming around after GWS. Conca, I think this has been a steal and I believe he is a missing link with his toughness and ability to get the pill, although I am still of the opinion he is a bit of a turnover merchant, and he has made some poor decisions.

Contrary to some, I think Hughes is about to bust out as a cemented 22 player - he is reading it well and has been exceptional in my opinion. He had 1 recorded clanger against GWS from 16 disposals, but it is his marking and brave play in the hole that has been a standout.

Finally, Matera. OMG Matera. He is having an amazing year. Most of us thought he would be lucky to hold a spot in the 22, but has he produced. I am also a massive fan of Swita. Someone mentioned he can play midfield (apologies for no credit), but it was correct. He is going to be a solid contributor.

What I am getting at, is a bit of the theme in the thread and pointed out by some who are the best players. That is important, and if you have major concerns at this end then you are going to struggle as any team. We struggled the last 2 years, but as a club which gets 5 seconds of media coverage usually, it generally says we are crap without the injuries becoming a reason. We are not the fittest we have ever been (injury list), and it is amazing how the fringe players are suddenly playing well.

Crumbing forwards kicking goals.
Contested marks in the forward line.
Tall forwards linking up from defence to the forward line.

Welcome Jesse and Rory, but we can leave out our main boy Taberner, who may be the best contested mark since Cloke (reference to McKay on afl.com.au).

We have a decent team, and one I look forward to watching every week. I like seeing the training reports, the reports from the WAFL. We have some genuine depth now. The way the season is panning out, it is going to be a close finish for top 4 and top 8. We should be in the mix in my opinion, luck with injuries on our side. Thanks for reading.

 

[Joao]

I don't know how everyone is happy with the Saints game but so disappointed with the Suns game? Only 7 points (I think) separated those 3 teams across 3 games.

Similar performances IMO, and the only reason we beat Saints was because it was in Perth and the only reason we lost to GC was because it was over here. I thought Saints and Suns were very close in terms of performance for the first month of the season.

 

[Deanismyhero]

I don't know how everyone is happy with the Saints game but so disappointed with the Suns game? Only 7 points (I think) separated those 3 teams across 3 games.

TBH i wasn't happy with the saints game. That was appalling. If we kicked 1 more ball out on the full i would've lost the plot.. We were pretty lucky to fall over the line.

 

[Nothing]

TBH i wasn't happy with the saints game. That was appalling. If we kicked 1 more ball out on the full i would've lost the plot.. We were pretty lucky to fall over the line.

By extension, we were pretty unlucky against the Suns to fall short of the line.

 

[Simmofreo]

It's bloody exciting when you think about it !! Especially after how I felt after the Gold Coast game. The first 2 matches were complete opposite ends of the emotion spectrum.

And we have good players coming back

Just have to stay fit and healthy out there. **touch wood**

If we get over the Bulldogs we will probably only need to win 50% of the remaining 16 games to make finals. 12 is usually enough to make finals.

On SM-N960F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Joao]

TBH i wasn't happy with the saints game. That was appalling. If we kicked 1 more ball out on the full i would've lost the plot.. We were pretty lucky to fall over the line.

I agree to some extent but I actually give much more credit to both opposition teams in both of those games. Think people just based that performance on last years ladder which is frankly absurd since clearly neither are as bad as last year.

 

[VolgaBoatman]

I'm yet to believe fully that we will win more than 10 games, though ever the optimist - the hard grind of winter and wet and cold football awaits - we've dropped off the last two seasons after the bye quite significantly, with injuries, form and a lack of depth being the main causes.

I think we should win this week - but then we have Adelaide (A), Richmond (H) and Essendon (A), Brisbane (H), Collingwood (A) which will all be tricky matches to win. We need to win 13 matches to make the finals, we probably need to be min 6 and 5 at the bye but better if we're 7 and 4.

 

[Dump Truck]

I don't know how everyone is happy with the Saints game but so disappointed with the Suns game? Only 7 points (I think) separated those 3 teams across 3 games.

Similar performances IMO, and the only reason we beat Saints was because it was in Perth and the only reason we lost to GC was because it was over here. I thought Saints and Suns were very close in terms of performance for the first month of the season.

I think because of the timeline. The week before the suns, we destroyed north so bad it was on PornHub the next day. Then Hogan came into the fray. And we lost to GC, a team that was tipped for the wooden spoon. Then after that debacle, we were just so bloody thankful we beat the Saints after losing Fyfe and seemingly playing terrible footy.

Hindsight and context permitting, it turns out that the loss and win weren't as big a deal as previously mentioned.

GWS and WCE are probably better barometres but who knows, we could get pumped by 90 against the dogs then, later on, smash Hawks/Geelong by 100 and then lose to the Blues by 60 odd. This season is a weird one!

 

[thefreodockers]

Back to back wins - 2nd on the ladder and second highest percentage after round 6.

Expectation has to be finals now.

 

[Moonrat]

ABSOF##CKINGLUTELY we have to be aiming for finals!!! Best defence in the league. 2nd best percentage. A top 8 mid and fwd line.
The wheel is turning!
Finally!

(I had a few beers at the game but I think what I'm saying is pretty spot on lol)

 

[coldlunch]

Fyfe
Mundy
Walters
Pearce

Are clearly the top 4. Fifth spot is tricky, hard to split Hogan, Langdon, Hill and Ryan.

If those 8 players all play 20+ games for the year we should play finals.

Hamling belongs in that group

 

[FreoGirl]

Back to back wins - 2nd on the ladder and second highest percentage after round 6.

Expectation has to be finals now.

True, but most of the teams are VERY close this season, which is great for the competition