Autopsy Adelaide kicks the snot out of a pathetic Fremantle

[Freo Big Fella]

Looking at it in the cold, cold light of day: it's a reality check.

The midfield non-event is the biggest concern, but the chief offenders are good enough to back that up with a much better performance. In hindsight, an extra tall defender would have been great, but who would have predicted that given the conditions?

Tactically, I wonder - if confronted with that sort of situation again - whether throwing McCarthy up into the wing/midfield as a safety valve measure might be something to think about?

Thought Weller's effort was great - disposal is something that will improve. Blakely solid again. Hamling, I think, is going to emerge as our recruit of the year pretty comfortably - toiled pretty respectably given how badly we lost control of the midfield battle.

Ross' talk of Ryan and Darcy coming in is encouraging - feel sad for Griff given how loyal a servant he's been, but the game has passed him by. Ibbo can't play another game given his rock-bottom form and confidence levels.

Reset well enough and we could easily be 8-4 heading into the bye.

We're not realistically going to challenge this year, but any opportunity to get finals games into Blakely/Weller/Logue/Grey et al should be more than welcome IMO.

 

[StingBitten]

Ah,reality....
It's like being in the wrong part of town, where you are half expected to be mugged. Then reality came from the blindside and smacked you behind the head with full force. you kind of go "ah I saw that coming..." before blacking out. And didn't make it hurt any less afterwards as well...
Actually, I've never been mugged before, but it kind of felt that way yesterday. Being 5th and challenging seems too good to be true at this stage of our rebuild, and yesterday confirmed it as so.

But wow, have to give full credit to Adelaide. They are crazy good, and unfortunately for us, relentless. I'm sure RTB will be pointing to their performance yesterday and go "this is what I call give good effort!" And had the skills to back it up too. If they play like this, the Crows will be unstoppable in September.

Rain. Few years back we are literally praying for rain. Not sure what happened, but I hope they are considering putting a roof in the new stadium...
I wanted to say we played like witches hat when it started raining, but than I realized, well placed witches hat covered space better than we did...
Ross, nobody buys stuff in Hay st anymore. May want to check the internet if they sell some confidence. Remember to get the water resistance type...

On the positive side, now that we failed the litmus test, there is no longer a dilemma. let just go full rebuild. Give the other kids a go. We are not going to get anywhere with a half-arse rebuilding effort...

Pathetic is calling it kindly I think and I believe the title needs to be amended.

Heartless, insipid, incompetent, non-entity, witches hats, pissant.....that would be some of the words I would use.

Yes, last night there were some mitigating factors.

1) Adelaide played Brisbane last round in the dry while we played Carlton in the wet.
2) Adelaide had a 7 day break to recover while we only had a 6 day break.
3) Adelaide didn't lose their main ruck this week while we did.

While these factors could in some way explain last night, no way will I use them as an excuse whatsoever.

The truth of the matter is that we didn't turn up when it poured with rain and we weren't much better when it was dry.

Positives:

Weller - Yes he has a propensity to butcher it but you know what, he gave it a red hot go for FOUR quarters which is more than can be said for most
Tucker's last quarter - 2 goals when the game was done showed that at least he had some pride
Fyfe - Colours lowered badly for most of the night but at least after a horror start, he tried his heart out

Excused:

Taberner - Tried even though conditions weren't in his favour
Kersten - Reluctant to put him here but at least he presented himself (see Tabs for conditions)

Negatives:

Our defence - Under siege all night and just didn't have any answers. The amount of uncontested marks in the forward 50 was inexcusable, not knowing when to impact a contest or when to stay down and play tight on opponent was schoolboy football, ball movement out of defensive 50 was absolute garbage, just went to water
Mundy - Did he even turn up?
Brad Hill - See Mundy
D Pearce - See Mundy
Cam McCarthy - Kicked 1 goal but didn't notice him after that
Walters - Did nothing
First Quarter - I'm sick of the s**t first quarters and we dished up a ripper on the s**t scale. Had Adelaide kicked straighter, we'd have been 10 goals down at quarter-time. How this continues to happen absolutely baffles the hell out of me and frankly I think the players just weren't mentally ready or prepared to slog it out and frankly, that is a coaching issue.
Start of the Third Quarter - After a half-time bake, you would expect the team to come out with renewed vigor......2 goals to Eddie Betts in 2 minutes....what a brilliant effort by the team

Special Mention:

Umpire #30 (Shane McInerney) - Had an absolute hard on for Adelaide most of the night and missed some inexcusable free kicks which I even pointed out in the match day thread (HINT McInerney: Freo players do have necks and heads....you can pay a free kick for a high tackle you piece of s**t)

Commentary - Jesus bloody wept I felt sorry for Pavlich. Having to commentate next to Ricciuto and Anthony "Masturbating to Betts all night" Hudson.......bloody hell it was agony to listen to. Credit to Pavlich, he was neutral and not afraid to call it accurately and at least provided some balance to the incompetency of the coverage.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, I feel like last night was like watching a car crash; you just couldn't turn away from the ineptitude of what we served up. It's actually kinda ironic that I mention car crash because an hour before the game last night, there was a car that lost the front bonnet outside my place. If I had known it was an omen for the game to follow; I might've prepared better for it.

I expect and demand better and last night, I'll be perfectly honest, it was the biggest load of s**t. I feel sorry for the fans that attended that sh*tstain of a game. I feel sorry for all of us that sat through that turd of a game. As for the players, I hope they're hurting today because right now, barely any of them deserve their match payment from last night.

If you two guys were drunk when you posted this than you're legends. If you were sober then you're still legends. Keep it up

 

[estibador]

Tactically, I wonder - if confronted with that sort of situation again - whether throwing McCarthy up into the wing/midfield as a safety valve measure might be something to think about?

Our forwards seemed to be sitting around the CHB line every time we tried to break forward anyway so I don't know how much difference it would make.

 

[Gussman]

The most annoying part of the game to watch for me was seeing every Freo defender contest a mark, only for the ball to spill out because it was either too wet or they simply spoiled their own teammates, and then watch as the Adelaide players simply wait on the outskirts of the pack for the ball to drop, and mop up an easy possession and goal.

I get Spurr and Ibbotson are good marks. But if you're playing on someone like Betts. Don't give him the opportunity for an easy crumb and goal. He'll do it in his sleep. Let Hamling and MJ do the contesting FFS.

 

[scon]

Poured Tequila in SA last night.
Crows don't drink it.
We did and lost all structure and forgot all instruction.
Were wobbly early.
Hungover today.

 

[PapaJ]

I was groaning every time they switched backwards. Wasn't the night for it and you could see what was coming.

A few times we had it near our D50 line and instead of bombing it down the wing we would chip back, back again, and then when the inevitable turnover came it was still inside our 50 rather than halfway down the ground.

I know it's always easy from the stands/TV, but there was one incident in particular in the first quarter where they showed an extended behind the goals angle. The ball had been kicked to the left back pocket from the goal square. The player (can't remember who) essentially had one-on-ones up the wing. It wasn't a sure thing, but it was as good as you're going to get - didn't look like anybody free up the middle either. If he pulled the trigger straight away, you've got a chance of something decent happening even if it's a stoppage. It's wet as so territory is everything. No, doesn't do that, takes a few seconds and decides to switch back to original kicker. He then goes right, and bombs to a clear 1 Docker surrounded by 3 Crows who have held their zone. Of course, it's a turnover with the sole Docker outnumbered at the drop and a goal. It was mind boggling stupid.

I saw the exact same play in the Geelong debacle in the season opener too by the way. Is it just some sort of set play drilled into them and they stop thinking, or what, I can't work it out?

 

[Proud SJW]

Our team got what they deserved playing like that, felt sorry for Pav, having to commentate that mierda with that prosciutto sitting along side him

Didn't really listen to the commentary during this game, but I've heard Riscutto beside Pav on a few occasions and if anything, I think he's got a lot of respect for him. Always asking for his opinion on things to the point where it starts to get a bit annoying.

Probably wasn't listening to it because that game just put me in a bad mood, more than anything else.
You can make excuses for losing, but that went beyond losing.

Wish I'd had a bottle of something handy.

 

[Allikat]

I really liked Lyons presser except for one comment. He called it as we all saw it "An Embarrassment". One of his better ones I thought. The comment I disagreed with was his mention of Tom Sheridan as a possible inclusion. Both Suttcliffe and Sheridan have been had ample opportunity, it's time for someone else to come in.

The comment I disagreed with was when he said it wasn't torrential rain.
When I woke up in Adelaide on Saturday morning, it was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, it wasn't too cold. We went for a trip to the zoo and the animals were out sunbathing. I thought this would be perfect weather for the afternoon at the footy.

So later that evening we head out to Adelaide Oval. It's sprinkling a little bit, and our seats are directly in the open, but I can handle this. I have a hoodie on to protect my hair, it's all good. Our seats are a little bit wet, but we settle in thinking that's it for the evening.

The game starts. There's no signs of any more rain - or any signs of us attempting to win. All of a sudden there is a massive crack of thunder, the heavens open, and there's an absolute downpour on us. Everyone's in a mad rush to find jackets & put on ponchos. Thankfully I managed to pinch a jacket earlier, and my friend and i used ponchos to cover our legs.

Then the rain got heavier. We were miserable. My mascara was running, my feet were in water. This was the heaviest rain I'd ever sat in at the footy.

But that wasn't the end of it. It got heavier again. Someone behind me asked if it was hailing - it was that heavy. The rain had managed to leak through the zip of my rain jacket pocket - creating a pool of water. It had run down through the arms of my jacket. Every inch of me was absolutely saturated. And it was freezing cold.

So those were the conditions that our guys were playing in. But it's no excuse. It's winter in Australia, you're paid good money to play in that rain. And Adelaide were playing in that too and doing a darn good job.

I don't think it was just that we were bad - Adelaide were extremely extremely good.

Fyfe's obviously not at his best - anyone can see that - but he trooped through all day. He was still trying to win it till the end, but there were way too many passengers. Off the ball he was still working hard - and you could see his frustrations by his body language - hitting the ground and that kind of thing. If only everyone out there put in that much effort.

Weller worked hard all day. One thing that didn't make it on tv was a brilliant shepherd on Tex in the forward 50 that saved another Adelaide goal. It was beautiful work, I wish they'd captured it.

Tucker's last 1/2 was the kind of game I've been waiting for him to have. Darcy has a ton of talent, and it was great to see it out there.

Hughes' wet weather game really exposes his lack of experience and natural ability. But he'll be better for this kind of game. The effort was there, but the skill wasn't.

Our mids really suffered from a lack of quality service. They're overly reliant on Sandi but that's only because we've struggled to get good rucks on the park. I wish Clarke was fit and ready because this would be his time to shine.

Hamling did a great job keeping his players quiet, it's just a shame our backline looked terrible because everyone else was leaking goals.

 

[Nolo180]

I know it's always easy from the stands/TV, but there was one incident in particular in the first quarter where they showed an extended behind the goals angle. The ball had been kicked to the left back pocket from the goal square. The player (can't remember who) essentially had one-on-ones up the wing. It wasn't a sure thing, but it was as good as you're going to get - didn't look like anybody free up the middle either. If he pulled the trigger straight away, you've got a chance of something decent happening even if it's a stoppage. It's wet as so territory is everything. No, doesn't do that, takes a few seconds and decides to switch back to original kicker. He then goes right, and bombs to a clear 1 Docker surrounded by 3 Crows who have held their zone. Of course, it's a turnover with the sole Docker outnumbered at the drop and a goal. It was mind boggling stupid.

I saw the exact same play in the Geelong debacle in the season opener too by the way. Is it just some sort of set play drilled into them and they stop thinking, or what, I can't work it out?

Maybe the defensive style & switching was addressed during the week and / or it just unfolded due to pressure and lack of confidence? But I recall against the blues it was unusual that the switch only got used a couple of times.
Better skills and understanding the structures better would help stop the old bad habits but that will take time.
I'm convinced now more than ever freo have to continue to develop the youngsters if they wanna contend and match it with the best in the comp.
Looking forward to see how we stack up against gws, geelong, wce etc after some more debutants and game time into the kids already there.

 

[PapaJ]

The comment I disagreed with was when he said it wasn't torrential rain.
When I woke up in Adelaide on Saturday morning, it was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, it wasn't too cold. We went for a trip to the zoo and the animals were out sunbathing. I thought this would be perfect weather for the afternoon at the footy.

So later that evening we head out to Adelaide Oval. It's sprinkling a little bit, and our seats are directly in the open, but I can handle this. I have a hoodie on to protect my hair, it's all good. Our seats are a little bit wet, but we settle in thinking that's it for the evening.

The game starts. There's no signs of any more rain - or any signs of us attempting to win. All of a sudden there is a massive crack of thunder, the heavens open, and there's an absolute downpour on us. Everyone's in a mad rush to find jackets & put on ponchos. Thankfully I managed to pinch a jacket earlier, and my friend and i used ponchos to cover our legs.

Then the rain got heavier. We were miserable. My mascara was running, my feet were in water. This was the heaviest rain I'd ever sat in at the footy.

But that wasn't the end of it. It got heavier again. Someone behind me asked if it was hailing - it was that heavy. The rain had managed to leak through the zip of my rain jacket pocket - creating a pool of water. It had run down through the arms of my jacket. Every inch of me was absolutely saturated. And it was freezing cold.

So those were the conditions that our guys were playing in. But it's no excuse. It's winter in Australia, you're paid good money to play in that rain. And Adelaide were playing in that too and doing a darn good job.

I don't think it was just that we were bad - Adelaide were extremely extremely good.

Fyfe's obviously not at his best - anyone can see that - but he trooped through all day. He was still trying to win it till the end, but there were way too many passengers. Off the ball he was still working hard - and you could see his frustrations by his body language - hitting the ground and that kind of thing. If only everyone out there put in that much effort.

Weller worked hard all day. One thing that didn't make it on tv was a brilliant shepherd on Tex in the forward 50 that saved another Adelaide goal. It was beautiful work, I wish they'd captured it.

Tucker's last 1/2 was the kind of game I've been waiting for him to have. Darcy has a ton of talent, and it was great to see it out there.

Hughes' wet weather game really exposes his lack of experience and natural ability. But he'll be better for this kind of game. The effort was there, but the skill wasn't.

Our mids really suffered from a lack of quality service. They're overly reliant on Sandi but that's only because we've struggled to get good rucks on the park. I wish Clarke was fit and ready because this would be his time to shine.

Hamling did a great job keeping his players quiet, it's just a shame our backline looked terrible because everyone else was leaking goals.

I would love to hear from someone at the game what the more outside mids (Hills especially, but Pearce and Walters to some degree too) where doing. I know they rely on contested ball winners to really shine, but they didn't seem to help provide outlets or do much at all for decent parts of the game. Where they working hard but just unrewarded or unlucky or whatever, or where they just putting themselves in bad positions? It wasn't always easy to tell on the box.

 

[Yato]

Flogged after a grinding game at Subi against best team in the comp with a training drill at the gabba. We will bounce back this week. Confident!

 

[go_the_dockers]

It was the same last year when Sandi did not play, we really really struggled.

Could he be the most important player for us.

 

[Scham]

I know it's always easy from the stands/TV, but there was one incident in particular in the first quarter where they showed an extended behind the goals angle. The ball had been kicked to the left back pocket from the goal square. The player (can't remember who) essentially had one-on-ones up the wing. It wasn't a sure thing, but it was as good as you're going to get - didn't look like anybody free up the middle either. If he pulled the trigger straight away, you've got a chance of something decent happening even if it's a stoppage. It's wet as so territory is everything. No, doesn't do that, takes a few seconds and decides to switch back to original kicker. He then goes right, and bombs to a clear 1 Docker surrounded by 3 Crows who have held their zone. Of course, it's a turnover with the sole Docker outnumbered at the drop and a goal. It was mind boggling stupid.

I saw the exact same play in the Geelong debacle in the season opener too by the way. Is it just some sort of set play drilled into them and they stop thinking, or what, I can't work it out?

It's not only happening in defence. We're 96 points down and Tabs gets a free 60m out. Does he get it in long to the hot spot? Does he try and hit up a lead? No, he kicks it backwards! WTF. How dumb are these players. The fact that Tab missed his target just 20m away by 10m and kicked it straight to a Crow just made it worse but he should never have been thinking about that option. Dumb.

 

[holy diver]

Haven't dropped by since Saturday night. Is it safe to post yet?

 

[Allikat]

I would love to hear from someone at the game what the more outside mids (Hills especially, but Pearce and Walters to some degree too) where doing. I know they rely on contested ball winners to really shine, but they didn't seem to help provide outlets or do much at all for decent parts of the game. Where they working hard but just unrewarded or unlucky or whatever, or where they just putting themselves in bad positions? It wasn't always easy to tell on the box.

They were doing a lot of running around and being in the wrong places at the wrong time.
All 4 of them were virtually invisible all game

 

[scon]

Didn't really listen to the commentary during this game, but I've heard Riscutto beside Pav on a few occasions and if anything, I think he's got a lot of respect for him.

Yep that's the way it sounds.Couple of SA legends chewing the fat and comparing thoughts.Refreshingly realistic and knowledgeable commentary.No hyperbolic screaming and yelling.Don't have a problem with Roo myself and Pav certainly doesn't.
Pity about the result.

 

[Square Peg]

The comment I disagreed with was when he said it wasn't torrential rain.
When I woke up in Adelaide on Saturday morning, it was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, it wasn't too cold. We went for a trip to the zoo and the animals were out sunbathing. I thought this would be perfect weather for the afternoon at the footy.

So later that evening we head out to Adelaide Oval. It's sprinkling a little bit, and our seats are directly in the open, but I can handle this. I have a hoodie on to protect my hair, it's all good. Our seats are a little bit wet, but we settle in thinking that's it for the evening.

The game starts. There's no signs of any more rain - or any signs of us attempting to win. All of a sudden there is a massive crack of thunder, the heavens open, and there's an absolute downpour on us. Everyone's in a mad rush to find jackets & put on ponchos. Thankfully I managed to pinch a jacket earlier, and my friend and i used ponchos to cover our legs.

Then the rain got heavier. We were miserable. My mascara was running, my feet were in water. This was the heaviest rain I'd ever sat in at the footy.

But that wasn't the end of it. It got heavier again. Someone behind me asked if it was hailing - it was that heavy. The rain had managed to leak through the zip of my rain jacket pocket - creating a pool of water. It had run down through the arms of my jacket. Every inch of me was absolutely saturated. And it was freezing cold.

So those were the conditions that our guys were playing in. But it's no excuse. It's winter in Australia, you're paid good money to play in that rain. And Adelaide were playing in that too and doing a darn good job.

I don't think it was just that we were bad - Adelaide were extremely extremely good.

Fyfe's obviously not at his best - anyone can see that - but he trooped through all day. He was still trying to win it till the end, but there were way too many passengers. Off the ball he was still working hard - and you could see his frustrations by his body language - hitting the ground and that kind of thing. If only everyone out there put in that much effort.

Weller worked hard all day. One thing that didn't make it on tv was a brilliant shepherd on Tex in the forward 50 that saved another Adelaide goal. It was beautiful work, I wish they'd captured it.

Tucker's last 1/2 was the kind of game I've been waiting for him to have. Darcy has a ton of talent, and it was great to see it out there.

Hughes' wet weather game really exposes his lack of experience and natural ability. But he'll be better for this kind of game. The effort was there, but the skill wasn't.

Our mids really suffered from a lack of quality service. They're overly reliant on Sandi but that's only because we've struggled to get good rucks on the park. I wish Clarke was fit and ready because this would be his time to shine.

Hamling did a great job keeping his players quiet, it's just a shame our backline looked terrible because everyone else was leaking goals.

You had my sympathy until you revealed you wear mascara to the footy. West coast board is over that way.

 

[Allikat]

You had my sympathy until you revealed you wear mascara to the footy. West coast board is over that way.

I'm a girl. I wear mascara everywhere.

 

[Square Peg]

I'm a girl. I wear mascara everywhere.

The footy is no place for mascara, heels or chardonnay

 

[Allikat]

The footy is no place for mascara, heels or chardonnay

There was definitely no heels or chardonnay involved.

 

[electricfeel]

Allikat can wear whatever the * she wants! Mascara, no mascara, heels, no heels, ball gown, suits, whatever. Massive kudos for going, supporting us and sitting in the pouring rain watching that massacre.

 

[WilloTree]

I know it's always easy from the stands/TV, but there was one incident in particular in the first quarter where they showed an extended behind the goals angle. The ball had been kicked to the left back pocket from the goal square. The player (can't remember who) essentially had one-on-ones up the wing. It wasn't a sure thing, but it was as good as you're going to get - didn't look like anybody free up the middle either. If he pulled the trigger straight away, you've got a chance of something decent happening even if it's a stoppage. It's wet as so territory is everything. No, doesn't do that, takes a few seconds and decides to switch back to original kicker. He then goes right, and bombs to a clear 1 Docker surrounded by 3 Crows who have held their zone. Of course, it's a turnover with the sole Docker outnumbered at the drop and a goal. It was mind boggling stupid.

I saw the exact same play in the Geelong debacle in the season opener too by the way. Is it just some sort of set play drilled into them and they stop thinking, or what, I can't work it out?

Pav was pretty scathing of our decision making at the time.

 

[Allikat]

Allikat can wear whatever the **** she wants! Mascara, no mascara, heels, no heels, ball gown, suits, whatever. Massive kudos for going, supporting us and sitting in the pouring rain watching that massacre.

Other things I got from being at the game:
It was good to see us bring all 3 of the emergencies over to experience game day. Darcy's had a huge physical transformation since joining the club. If Sandi's out for a few weeks I'd like to see his hard work pay off & get a gig for Freo sooner than later.

Considering how bad we were as a team, it's easy to overlook just how good Tucker was in the last 1/2. It was almost Fyfe-esque the way he was getting his own ball, working all over the ground, and of course hitting the scoreboard.

Walters is definitely not over his ankle injury. He was limping through the end of the game. I just hope it's not something that could get worse.

 

[WilloTree]

Fyfe's obviously not at his best - anyone can see that - but he trooped through all day. He was still trying to win it till the end, but there were way too many passengers. Off the ball he was still working hard - and you could see his frustrations by his body language - hitting the ground and that kind of thing. If only everyone out there put in that much effort.

Excellent observation. I said at the time that the game just highlighted our need to re-sign him. Someone get him a pen!

 

[wild side]

The way its going, Dusty is the number 1 signature.
But that Kelly kid from GWS, JESUS, he'll be number 1 in a year or two no doubt.
Fyfe is not best in comp now! But I have faith.