Autopsy 2023 Preliminary Final Blues brave season comes to an end

[Blue Pulse]

To be a fly on a Saady's head when the boys gathered in for a chat after the game on Saturday night to hear what he had to say

 

[thylacine60]

To be a fly on a Saady's head when the boys gathered in for a chat after the game on Saturday night to hear what he had to say

No flies on Adam Saad.....

 

[Sheephead]

We played the hardest task in football currently and like others, we succumbed. Temperature, weeks rest, small ground, good flamin team, good coach and no more petrol tickets - we succumbed, so be it.

Let’s not get out the concrete umbrellas coz the sky is falling though. Let’s embrace the improvement, the stability and the positive future prospects. Again, injury curtailed us a bit, but not as much. We are a better team, a good team. I’m happy with the year. Brisbane will do the same to Collingwood, even on the G.

What would I do - mostly stand fast. Ok - Grab a kid out of the draft OR go after E. Hollands in a trade for Dow and our first with one of their 2nds coming back ?!?! Our depth is there - Kemp, Young, Williams, SOS, Durdin, Cunningham, Owies, Cowan, Binns, Carrol, even Plowman and Dow can play 1st footy. We need continuity and opportunity, not mutiny.

 

[AB_Blue]

To be a fly on a Saady's head when the boys gathered in for a chat after the game on Saturday night to hear what he had to say

Was it Saady who got the boys in?


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[JoeyPBLUES]

Was it Saady who got the boys in?


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yep apparently so - dragged the boys together & had a chat.

 

[AndyLucimitis]

We haven't lost a final at home for 22 years.

I think the small ground really hurt the team. We ran 20kms less for the game compared with our other finals, despite having the 5 top distance runners on the ground. At the G we would spread and it would take the some of the speed out of the Lions legs. Players like Rayner( who ran a 8min 2km at the combine) would get exposed but at the Gabba he is able to get around and still have the power to burst out of congestion. We couldn't link up as there was no space as their quicker players closed it down.

Was always going to be tough interstate where Brisbane are 5 goals better than away. Hopefully the Lions don't get exposed on the G on Saturday.

That said I do think we need to look at how we defended with our zone. Backed off way too much and let them have too many uncontested marks.

One area I reckon we were out coached particularly in the 2nd quarter. May sound like Under 11s tactics but feel we needed to have a player anchored about 25 out from the Brisbane goal as a 'goalkeeper' to stop those out the back goals they got (or at least apply pressure).

I'm sure we did that with Weitering the week before against Melbourne.

 

[Robbo's my hero]

yep apparently so - dragged the boys together & had a chat.

It looked that way unless the boys said “Adam this is your fault. Stand in the middle and we’ll tell you why”.

 

[Blue Pulse]

Was it Saady who got the boys in?


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Apparently, the footage wasn't great, very short from what I saw, he was in the middle of the group and back was to the camera, but most comments on twitter pointed the finger at him. Not sure how vocal he is with the group, but in my mind he would be one of those blokes that doesn't say much, but when he does, you listen.

 

[BringFevBack2021]

One area I reckon we were out coached particularly in the 2nd quarter. May sound like Under 11s tactics but feel we needed to have a player anchored about 25 out from the Brisbane goal as a 'goalkeeper' to stop those out the back goals they got (or at least apply pressure).

I'm sure we did that with Weitering the week before against Melbourne.

We tried playing Weitering in that position but they kept rolling big targets back into the hole infront of him or on his back shoulder to prevent him from cutting the ball off. Weiters got done 3x in a row, he was playing his role but it looked very ordinary. They played through Weitering because of how we played him the two weeks prior.

I really do think the game was won/lost in the 2nd quarter and that game day adjustment by Fagan was genius. We needed to adjust but didn't do enough to regain ascendency until late in the last.

 

[Sector 7G]

One area I reckon we were out coached particularly in the 2nd quarter. May sound like Under 11s tactics but feel we needed to have a player anchored about 25 out from the Brisbane goal as a 'goalkeeper' to stop those out the back goals they got (or at least apply pressure).

I'm sure we did that with Weitering the week before against Melbourne.

I think we were just outplayed.

If we said at the start of the game we lose clearance by 14, I would be asking how much did we lose by. Were on the back foot after qtr time.

 

[JustaBattler]

Better ball control and increased ability to control the tempo of the game would be the two areas of focus for improvement. Easy to say harder to execute because the kicking skill levels required as well as overall team running patterns between the arcs need work.

I was disappointed by the massive swing achieved in the second quarter tbh. That was a break down in all three areas of the game at the same time: forward pressure contested ball and defensive effectiveness. The disappointment was turned down a few levels as I watched Docherty/Acres and Cripps physically struggle and they weren't alone - the team was battered and sore - and that is what you get when you dont have the luxury of finishing top4 on top of every game since the bye being an elimination final.

All that said - the team managed to make a game of it - just not enough wins in a few key moments in the 4th and it was a bridge too far in the end - they never gave up, unlike Carlton teams I have watched for 20 years now....

The experience and standards set now will hold the team in good stead - looking forward to watching a fit and hungry Carlton smash the tuggers in round one - bringing back normality to the start of the season!


We will fear no one anywhere anytime in '24 and that is for sure.

 

[AB_Blue]

yep apparently so - dragged the boys together & had a chat.

That’s fantastic…gee whiz i assumed it was Crippa…another leader developing


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[Coops93]

I want to preface this by saying how much I enjoyed the back half of the year. The Blues played with a heart and hardness that I haven't seen for a long time. As someone born in 93 I haven't enjoyed a lot of Carlton football, but that 12 or so weeks is probably the most enjoyable 3 months of footy I've had.

Getting into the review... I haven't watched a replay so I'm basing this off what I saw at the ground, I'll just do . points to keep it easier.

• Something we know, we don't have enough run. It's great to be a contest dominant team, but Brisbane showed if you can break even on the contest we don't really have anything else. It's something we know already so it isn't shocking to anyone, but we looked slow outside the contest. We need to find some more dynamism in the middle
• I was defending Charlie until seeing him live. He didn't look to play with a lot of intensity and he didn't seem to will himself to contests like he normally does. He constantly was 70m away calling for long balls, wrestling/engaging with his opponent instead of getting on the move, and hoping for long balls over the top instead of hitting up on leads. I'm not sure what happened to him as it didn't look like normal Charlie. Maybe he was just cooked, but I don't want to make excuses for him. It doesn't matter in finals you just have to get it done, and he didn't give much of a shout.
• Our 2nd tall defender position is still a weakness. Marchbank looked miles, miles off the pace. Kemp would've been a better inclusion imo. Marchy got cooked.
• Boyd was just a bad inclusion. He looked like someone who hadn't played football for 2 months. To bring him in for a prelim final was just a bit cheeky.
• As a whole those changes to the back 6 (Kemp out, Boyd in, Marchy staying in as no.2) I think messed with the chemistry. Marchbank hasn't been there as long as Kemp and is still finding his touch, Boyd hasn't been in for a long time, just hurt communication. The structure broke down several times. Would've been better sticking with what was working instead of out-thinking ourselves.
• Our sub choice was almost as bad as Schache last week. Look, we all like Kennedys endeavour etc. etc... but he shouldn't be within a mile of being a sub. Early in the season we were bemoaning the choices of Hewett, Kennedy and Curnow as being the sub as they're not running impact players. That played out in this game, we needed more run painfully, and our only choice was to bring on another slow, inside midfielder... I think Dow would've been a good sub choice, not Kennedy - who fwiw has also hardly any game touch.
• I think we missed Owies up forward. Motlop got a bit lost being the sole small forward.
• Martin was disappointing. Did his usual disappearing act. I hoped that this past few months he'd FINALLY turned the corner on his career, but instead again showed he can't be relied on. Just didn't get to contests and when he did he had no impact on them
• H was good. He kicked well, even the misses he made good connection. Good to see the mental demons weren't too bad
• The crowd, woo boy. I've got to say it must've been bloody close to 50-50 split. We really showed up this game, it was amazing to see.
• Even though Cripps was being beaten around the ground I loved that he went forward and nailed a couple of shots. That's something that separates him at his size, if he's being beaten in the middle go forward and exploit them. He didn't have a great game but he found a way to have a couple of moments.
• I didn't mention it pre-game but it was in the back of my mind, we haven't been a good travelling team the past couple of years. I wondered if it would be a factor and maybe it was but its hard to quantify. It could've been a factor, and it is the hardest road trip in the AFL right now. For all the talk about "can you do it at the MCG", this showed that you also need to do it elsewhere...

In the end I suppose we were beaten by what we know. We aren't fast enough, we're too contest dependant, we don't have great transition from D to attack, or have great craft or nuance going forward and our tall defenders are somewhat suspect after Weiters.

It also didn't help that we brought in several players who haven't really had much game touch lately. We sort of went away from the guys who brough us to finals for the guys who were out over that period late. The lack of game touch certainly showed in a few of them and it definitely messed with the connection.

Still though, even with those deficiencies, we managed to go on an all-time great run and finish 3rd. 15th in rd 15 to a pre-lim final is just an unbelievable ride. If Kemp and Marchy can take some steps in the off-season, both have big scope for improvement so I'm not overly worried there. Mostly I think we really need to target another mobile midfielder or 2 and perhaps a more dependable medium sized forward with some x-factor, those additions alone would take us a long way imo.

 

[Stamos]

• Our 2nd tall defender position is still a weakness. Marchbank looked miles, miles off the pace. Kemp would've been a better inclusion imo. Marchy got cooked.
• Boyd was just a bad inclusion. He looked like someone who hadn't played football for 2 months. To bring him in for a prelim final was just a bit cheeky.

As someone who watched on TV, not at the ground, these 2 takes are very surprising.

 

[Robbo's my hero]

As someone who watched on TV, not at the ground, these 2 takes are very surprising.

Only two from that summary?

 

[thylacine60]

Only two from that summary?

Yep. There's opinion and there's plain wrong.

 

[Coops93]

At the ground was obviously different by the sounds of things which is fine, hence why I prefaced it with that and said I haven't seen the telly. Clearly some have come up very different

I saw Marchbank get turned around several times, and particularly in the first qtr Boyd had a couple of crucial fumbles and unclean moments.

 

[Stamos]

At the ground was obviously different by the sounds of things which is fine, hence why I prefaced it with that and said I haven't seen the telly. Clearly some have come up very different

I saw Marchbank get turned around several times, and particularly in the first qtr Boyd had a couple of crucial fumbles and unclean moments.

You're going to be shocked when you see our MVP voting

 

[JoeyPBLUES]

That’s fantastic…gee whiz i assumed it was Crippa…another leader developing


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So did I watching on TV, however all the reports indicate Saady

 

[Aphrodite]

To be a fly on a Saady's head when the boys gathered in for a chat after the game on Saturday night to hear what he had to say

Was it Saady who got the boys in?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

yep apparently so - dragged the boys together & had a chat.

Apparently, the footage wasn't great, very short from what I saw, he was in the middle of the group and back was to the camera, but most comments on twitter pointed the finger at him. Not sure how vocal he is with the group, but in my mind he would be one of those blokes that doesn't say much, but when he does, you listen.

That’s fantastic…gee whiz i assumed it was Crippa…another leader developing


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So did I watching on TV, however all the reports indicate Saady

 

[James_Blues]

I'm sure a lot of this has already been mentioned in the review but we just weren't able to sustain the pressure bar the first quarter given how bruising the first two finals have been. Certainly shows the benefit of the extra week off finishing top four.

To me the key to our turnaround has been our front half defensive pressure which allows us to stop/slow transition and build repeat I50's. The drop off in our defensive pressure in the second quarter negated our ability to lock the ball in the front half and allowed Brisbane to get their transition game moving which is one of their biggest strengths as a team.

Another thing I've noticed throughout the finals is we haven't been hitting up leads like we were earlier in the season. I'm not too sure if that was a consequence of not having Harry for a few weeks. Charlie definitely seemed to be more interested in locking into one-on-one contests with his direct opponent rather than leading up to the players going inside 50. Hitting up leading targets for shots on goal rather than scrapping for ground ball gets gives a much easier avenue to goal and should give us another 3-4 goals each game.

Certainly a few things to work on through the off-season such as our ability to control ball movement and add layers to that (eg. overlap run/ playing on from marks / 45 degree kicks to open up the corridor/fat side) will also pay dividends next year.

I'd said to a few mates halfway through the year that I've learnt as a Carlton supporter to not have hope/expectations and that this year was the first that I'd had that. So to see our turnaround from the Essendon game until now has been bloody awesome and makes me excited for where we can go next year!

 

[thylacine60]

Seriously gbatman the stuff in the coach thread. You're writing yourself into a lather and losing so much credibility. This "it's such a fine line" silliness and "Voss hasn't learnt". Fair dinkum, let it go. You're hanging your hat on a series of ifs, buts & maybes. If you can't see us progressing again next year then what is it you can't or don't wanna see? Everything about us will be better, our list, our coach, our final's experience. Bring it on.

 

[AB_Blue]

That’s awesome Aph


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[Michael Jezz]

Rigid thinker is spot on. He is also pretty clueless around getting the messaging right. In his own words he tells the players that you have to win games and finals multiple times. And they play just like it. Get in a good position and then let the opposition back in so they can ‘win the game again’. Time and time again.

Why not drill them to put the foot on the throat at the first opportunity and don’t let up? Never hear anything like that within all his fluffy word salads. I think half the time he’s not even thinking it’s just saying words for the sake of it.

Best performance by any Carlton coach in 24 years and you are critical of him. All Voss's flaws and he finishes 16 points off a grandfinal in his 2nd year. All coaches need complimentary assistants. What you call rigidity is just one great tactical assistant away from a premiership

 

[Coops93]

Having a look at the stats for the first time it seems Boyd and Marchbank did well contrary to what I thought watching live.

The fumbles from Boyd must have solely been early in the first qtr and stuck with me throughout. Similarly with Marchbank he had the only 1v1 loss for our team so a moment or 2 must be clouding the overall as well. Boyds kicking efficiency has surprised me as I certainly remember 1 or 2 kicks that were poor. But again it must be legitimately 1 or 2 (11 effective kicks, 13 overall) that have stuck with me clouding the overall.

8 clangers from Walsh certainly wasn't something I noticed, oof.