Are we capable?

[PantaloonRazorblade]

Well thats your opinion. I watched it to see our mistakes and learn from them. Don't learn from them and we repeat our mistakes. Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to see history repeat itself.

Yeah, but its not like you can change what the players do. Well done you for being brave enough to watch it again.

 

[im_a_lazy_sod]

I reckon Freo can Pull it off. I watched the 2013 Grand final again recently and I noticed 3 things. We were inaccurate on the day, Pav was our only tall forward on the day and Neale was the sub. I reckon Taberner is an adequate 2nd tall. Tabs in his day can get 2-3 goals and that might be the biggest difference in Freo getting the flag. Would love to see Neale have a 3 goal and 39 disposal game in a grand final like he did in the derby early this year.

#NormSmithNeale

If he started in the 2013 GF I think we may have pinched it. He was super impressive off the bench (when the game was on the line) and would have really turned it on

Fast forward 2 years and he is one of our best mids. Throw him and Barlow in the middle and we are a damn good looking team (I really hope Barlow the mid is our secret weapon for the grand final)

 

[blue shark]

Can anyone explain how we have improved from the 2013 grand final side? This is the most important question to ask, besides
Duffield being replaced, Zac Clarke? Crowley? could still yet play.
Unless Zac Clarke plays out of his skin, ie like in the earlier rounds this year, if he plays it is a Huge gamble, and posters on here
give Tabs a hard time, or will Griffen get up, be picked?
I think we are capable if Pavlich has support, isn't double teamed, and we kick straight. If we go in with pretty much the same
team from 2013, I doubt it.

 

[beetz]

Grand Finals are a whole different game. Season form can be thrown out the window because it has no bearing on GF day, players will either adapt and feed off the moment or wither. I think that should we make it, we're in the box seat for a number of reasons.

- Majority of the guys have been there before.
- Some need to make amends i.e. Ballantyne, Dawson, D.Pearce, Clarke just to name a few.
- Defensive teams are better in Grand Finals.

I am quietly optimistic and confident.

 

[StingBitten]

Other reasons why we are capable:

- Have the best Ruckman in the league (despite was AA Selection Panel says)
- Have the best Midfielder/Player in the whole competition
- Have the best Defence in the entire competition
- Have 2 of the deadliest, peskiest, effective small forwards in the game
- Have one of the greatest (albeit ageing) big forwards of all time in our squad.
- Have some other great Household names in our midfield that almost every non-Freo supporters fears and respects: Hill, Neale, Mundy and Barlow
- Have one of the best Coaches in the game.

A lot of positives - when all those guys are firing we're pretty amazing. It's our bottom 6-8 that probably make or break us

- Can Clarke be a viable second ruck who contributes in the forward line?
- Can Taberner effect the score board?
- Can Suban, Barlow and Mzungu continue to apply their pressure game and play their roles the way they're meant to?
- Can Chris Mayne play his specialised role, and also kick straight?

If the answer if Yes to all those questions than we're in like Flynn.

 

[holy diver]

Grand Finals are a whole different game. Season form can be thrown out the window because it has no bearing on GF day, players will either adapt and feed off the moment or wither. I think that should we make it, we're in the box seat for a number of reasons.

- Majority of the guys have been there before.
- Some need to make amends i.e. Ballantyne, Dawson, D.Pearce, Clarke just to name a few.
- Defensive teams are better in Grand Finals.

I am quietly optimistic and confident.

Agree with beetz.

If we make it, we can hope we go in the fittest and hungriest. Most of the team have been their before and I would hope the previous loss burns them as it does a lot of the supporters. Freo have a point to prove as much as any other side.

 

[beetz]

Agree with beetz.

If we make it, we can hope we go in the fittest and hungriest. Most of the team have been their before and I would hope the previous loss burns them as it does a lot of the supporters. Freo have a point to prove as much as any other side.

Career defining for Ross too.

As successful as he has been, he has achieved jack and won't want to rest on another might-have-been.

 

[MadDocker]

Dear Dockers,

Love always.

 

[Bicco]

Well thats your opinion. I watched it to see our mistakes and learn from them. Don't learn from them and we repeat our mistakes. Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to see history repeat itself.

That's awesome. I do the same thing when I'm watching England play South Africa in cricket. My wife asks why? I'm studying their form, looking for weakness. Then I realise I'm not playing.

 

[WilloTree]

Ever since the weekend, I've been running a series of questions through my head about our quest to win a flag, and the people on this forum will understand my passion. These questions keep popping up in other threads, so I hope Mods find this relevant. These questions are "Can we find our top gear"? , Do we have the firepower to match it with West Coast and Hawks"? "Are we selecting the team to get the job done"? My biggest worry is that players we need firing, often tend to go "missing" in the big games, such as Danyle Pearce. I thought on the weekend, he got the ball, and took the wrong option too many times, as if he just wanted to get rid of the ball. To add to this, is the pain of how well West Coast have played recently. To counter this, I remind myself of how long a week is in football. The last few years, we had amazing finals wins, but ultimately came up empty handed. On the weekend, I was extremely surprised Tabs wasn't picked, and I think Ross has since admitted it was a mistake. The most worrying thing for me, is Ross doesn't appear to have his usual self confidence. Would love to hear your thoughts.

Capable - yes. Will just need all 22 to fire on the day, quality umpiring and kick straight for goal. Actually, now I'm not so sure.

 

[danstar]

Capable - yes. Will just need all 22 to fire on the day, quality umpiring and kick straight for goal. Actually, now I'm not so sure.

sorry every single time we are in a final the AFL will influence the umpires we will never be on the right side of the ledger as far as free kicks go

 

[sij1981]

Lets all please first not talk about GF and PF first ..... as RTB says one game at a time lets not look into hypothetical.

 

[refresh]

Let's not overrate West Coast either. Just over 2 weeks ago they got obliterated by the Crows.

They are not same away from Subi. Can't wait to get them on the MCG. Just need to find a win next Friday night.

 

[refresh]

I can't even watch highlights of the 2013 grand final. I remember Walters kicking a sweet goal though and Mayne somehow kicking a goal from 50m.I can't bring myself to watch it.

Funnily enough I still have it on the Foxtel memory thing, it shows recorded but not viewed. I can't bring myself to watch it and I can't bring myself to delete it.

 

[Banker]

Lets all please first not talk about GF and PF first ..... as RTB says one game at a time lets not look into hypothetical.

PF result is a hypothetical at this stage We don't know the opponent and who is playing.

Given the stage of year I think its fair to talk about a GF, which is a real possibility.

 

[Purple Suit]

If we meet the Eagles in the GF, I say yes.

It's a neutral ground, we are finals hardened and barring the last Derby we match up well against them.

We are in this up to our eyeballs. Sure, we don't play dominant 4 quarter games, but it may only take 2 brilliant quarters to grind out a win.

2013 will still sting and motivate the playing group.

The last Derby we were in it massively, just squandered our chances while they converted and were carrying a few under done key players. It was their only Victory in the past seven derbies and the last time a Freo coach lost two Derbies in the same year, they were sacked. I have no worries about them in a GF, Prelim being the bigger task in my thought process at the minute.

 

[wafti123]

Can anyone explain how we have improved from the 2013 grand final side? This is the most important question to ask, besides
Duffield being replaced, Zac Clarke? Crowley? could still yet play.

Lets not forget that the players that we have could have improved through experience and practice. You don't necessarily need a hugely different list.

 

[Freomaniac]

Can anyone explain how we have improved from the 2013 grand final side? This is the most important question to ask, besidesDuffield being replaced, Zac Clarke? Crowley? could still yet play.Unless Zac Clarke plays out of his skin, ie like in the earlier rounds this year, if he plays it is a Huge gamble, and posters on heregive Tabs a hard time, or will Griffen get up, be picked?I think we are capable if Pavlich has support, isn't double teamed, and we kick straight. If we go in with pretty much the sameteam from 2013, I doubt it.

Can you see Freo scoring 90-100 points? I can. Pav, Walters, Mayne and Ballantyne are capable of kicking 3-4 goals in a finals game. I rather Griffin play over Clarke. He, like Taberner can kick 2-3 goals in a game too. plus the 2-5 goals from the midfield.

 

[Banker]

Can you see Freo scoring 90-100 points? I can. Pav, Walters, Mayne and Ballantyne are capable of kicking 3-4 goals in a finals game. I rather Griffin play over Clarke. He, like Taberner can kick 2-3 goals in a game too. plus the 2-5 goals from the midfield.

Our hopes really are tied to our opponent.

If the Hawks make the PF, I think the outcome really impacts our future. If we can't beat them, I can see Ross been forced to change his game plan around.

 

[Fred Ziffel]

Lets not forget that the players that we have could have improved through experience and practice. You don't necessarily need a hugely different list.

Ibbo and Clancee were big outs in 2013 as well as Luke, Johnson, Walters & Mayne playing injured.
Add to that Ballas' bout of gastro and you can begin to see why we lost.

I have also watched the game and can only say Matthew Nicholls destroyed us.

This year has to be different. It is the law of averages.

 

[danstar]

if anyone wants to see how to beat the hawks we only have to look back to round 21 last year at domain stadium, just spent the morning analysing it and watching it.

Our team was similar except for
in Ibbotson, suban, de boer, Sheridan, c pearce, ballantyne
out Duffield, silvagni, Crowley, taberner, crozier, duffy

freo spent a lot of time 1 on 1 and didn't play the spare man in defense or play a lock down roll even with Crowley in the team we played attacking. I think that if we bring that manic forward pressure back in ala freo 2013 prelim against Sydney and play the precise kicking style like we did in this match (77% disposal efficiency)I mentioned than we are a good chance to beat either hawks or Adelaide next Friday night and have Crowley in the side to.

 

[sij1981]

PF result is a hypothetical at this stage We don't know the opponent and who is playing.

Given the stage of year I think its fair to talk about a GF, which is a real possibility.

Lets not jinx our self please. PF talk only.

 

[sij1981]

Can you see Freo scoring 90-100 points? I can. Pav, Walters, Mayne and Ballantyne are capable of kicking 3-4 goals in a finals game. I rather Griffin play over Clarke. He, like Taberner can kick 2-3 goals in a game too. plus the 2-5 goals from the midfield.

I can see these goals

Forwards (Mayne,Ballaz/Son Son and Pav/Tabs) - 5 Goals minimum between these lot - More like 6-8
Rucks/Grif/Sandi - 2-3 Goals
Midfield / Backmen floating - 3-5

Thats 12-15 Goals minimum.

 

[GilG]

Anyone remember our round 21 i think it was clash against the hawks last year we went hell for leather attacking style and beat them kicked a pretty high score from memory maybe we need to do that again if we face the hawks

We kicked 17.8 to the Hawks' 13.13. Pav kicked a bag of 5 and Hilly kicked 3. The real momentum changer was a set-shot banana from the boundary by Hayden Crozier, playing in place of an injured Hayden Ballantyne. Croze's kick achieved something we hadn't previously had since 2010 against Hawthorn — a lead. Ryan Crowley went to Sam Mitchell, who ended up with 24 touches. Jordan Lewis was the leading ball-getter with 44. Fyfe ended up getting the second of his suspensions with some off-the-ball stuff.

 

[FreoRicci]

Can anyone explain how we have improved from the 2013 grand final side? This is the most important question to ask, besides
Duffield being replaced, Zac Clarke? Crowley? could still yet play.
Unless Zac Clarke plays out of his skin, ie like in the earlier rounds this year, if he plays it is a Huge gamble, and posters on here
give Tabs a hard time, or will Griffen get up, be picked?
I think we are capable if Pavlich has support, isn't double teamed, and we kick straight. If we go in with pretty much the same
team from 2013, I doubt it.

Fyfe has improved massively since that game. It's like he's hungry and blames himself for his performance. Back to Back AFLPA MVP since then.
We didn't have second tall forward, and used Clarke sparingly during that season. The biggest difference is that Taberner presents as one and that is the key behind making it this season- force players like Gibson and Lake away from Pav (which what happened ALL game and Ross couldn't do anything about it).
Sheridan, Neale, Suttclife have gone from being apart of the 22 at best to locks especially Neale who is such a cog now in the midfield.
The defence and offense this season is well ahead where we were at this stage 2 years ago. We struggled with injuries most of 2013, but this season we managed the players that were/are sore.
The key will be Ballas. He's the barometer of the team. He plays well, the team goes with him. But he struggles, oftentimes we can't score. He needs to keep his ground and not slip as much (did so many many times in the GF).