To be honest, most of those close losses have been the result of a too-little-too-late comeback from four goals down, not a titanic 2-hour tussle.
Autopsy Cats lose by 8 points to Pies.
- Thread starter dazbroncos
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To be fair some of the Pies comeback wins last year and close wins this year have been on the back of being down 20points end of the third etc and running over the top of teams.
fpm84
Brownlow Medallist
From memory we had the lead halfway through the last quarter in all three of the Swans, GWS and Freo (KP) games. Desperately disappointing to have only gotten two premiership points out of a possible 12, and if we miss finals, we can point to that collective 45 mins of footy over those three games as to what cost us.
Which, if nothing else, shows we are always having a crack at winning the game whatever the result.
And we have just not quite gelled in too many of those comebacks when we needed to.
There's always a chance
Plus both teams have a chance. Whoever takes advantage of it will win.
Mattttty
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I heard Atkins recently talking about what he's working on in his game. Said the defensive side of things is pretty good (which I agree with) and that he's working on his offensive side. With that in mind, I reckon you can see him really stepping up that side of his game in these highlights - a somewhat different energy and intent to his usual. Makes me think he's got more improvements in him yet. Impressive.
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I agree.
He's really grown into the season well after a bit of an underwhelming start. And trust me, when he does have ineffectual games, we now really feel it.
Rated equal 3rd best player on the ground on Friday, in a losing side.
I'd love to see how he goes with an in form Guthrie and, in dream land, with Parish. I actually think his ceiling is a little higher than most people on here would see.
Atkins is not really fast but when he has the ball with space in front of him but with an opponent running right on top of him, he takes a step to the side and gets his kick away.
Mattttty
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Yes, agree about his ceiling. I wasn't sure but seeing some new tricks recently has me hopeful.
CatToTheFuture
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The year we've gotten into his legs has been huge for him and will be a great return on investment for us next year when he goes back I his 1 wood of defence first but can go on the attack much more readily
Update
Here is the leaderboard for number of times listed in the coaches votes (only multiples included):
1. Tom Stewart (10)
2. Patrick Dangerfield (7)
3. Jeremy Cameron (6)
3. Tom Atkins (6)
5. Tom Hawkins (5)
6. Gryan Miers (5)
7. Esava Ratugolea (4)
8. Max Holmes (4)
8. Mark Blicavs (4)
10. Brad Close (3)
10. Isaac Smith (3)
11. Gary Rohan (2)
12. Mitch Duncan (2)
13. Oliver Henry (2)
13. Mark O'Connor (2)
This time I've separated those on the same number of times listed based on frequency (relative to games played) where applicable.
Or expressed as % of full games played this season (not counting mid-game injury contests):
1. Tom Stewart (10/19 = 53%)
2. Patrick Dangerfield (7/17 = 41%)
3. Jeremy Cameron (6/18 = 33%)
4. Tom Atkins (6/21 = 29%)
5. Esava Ratugolea (4/14 = 29%)
6. Tom Hawkins (5/18 = 28%)
6. Gryan Miers (5/21 = 24%)
8. Max Holmes (4/18 = 22%)
9. Mark Blicavs (4/18 = 22%)
10. Brad Close (3/20 = 15%)
10. Isaac Smith (3/20 = 15%)
12. Gary Rohan (2/13 = 15%)
13. Mitch Duncan (2/15 = 13%)
14. Mark O'Connor (2/19 = 11%)
14. Oliver Henry (2/19 = 11%)
This time I've separated players on the same % by total number of times listed where applicable.
Takeaways: Atkins is going from strength to strength as the season develops. Dangerfield remaining this high after an interrupted season and his bad back issue is a credit to him - and he's nowhere near ready to be written off. Cameron finally adds to his tally for the first time since round 8.
Here is the leaderboard for number of times listed in the coaches votes (only multiples included):
1. Tom Stewart (10)
2. Patrick Dangerfield (7)
3. Jeremy Cameron (6)
3. Tom Atkins (6)
5. Tom Hawkins (5)
6. Gryan Miers (5)
7. Esava Ratugolea (4)
8. Max Holmes (4)
8. Mark Blicavs (4)
10. Brad Close (3)
10. Isaac Smith (3)
11. Gary Rohan (2)
12. Mitch Duncan (2)
13. Oliver Henry (2)
13. Mark O'Connor (2)
This time I've separated those on the same number of times listed based on frequency (relative to games played) where applicable.
Or expressed as % of full games played this season (not counting mid-game injury contests):
1. Tom Stewart (10/19 = 53%)
2. Patrick Dangerfield (7/17 = 41%)
3. Jeremy Cameron (6/18 = 33%)
4. Tom Atkins (6/21 = 29%)
5. Esava Ratugolea (4/14 = 29%)
6. Tom Hawkins (5/18 = 28%)
6. Gryan Miers (5/21 = 24%)
8. Max Holmes (4/18 = 22%)
9. Mark Blicavs (4/18 = 22%)
10. Brad Close (3/20 = 15%)
10. Isaac Smith (3/20 = 15%)
12. Gary Rohan (2/13 = 15%)
13. Mitch Duncan (2/15 = 13%)
14. Mark O'Connor (2/19 = 11%)
14. Oliver Henry (2/19 = 11%)
This time I've separated players on the same % by total number of times listed where applicable.
Takeaways: Atkins is going from strength to strength as the season develops. Dangerfield remaining this high after an interrupted season and his bad back issue is a credit to him - and he's nowhere near ready to be written off. Cameron finally adds to his tally for the first time since round 8.
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If we rated any of the rucks available we would've picked them given Ceglar and Stanley's age. We clearly didn't see any ruck available as a long term prospect.
Stanley was almost ready to go by the time of the mid season draft (only missed 2 games between the draft and playing against Melbourne). Ceglar and Blicavs were both fit at that point.
Even if you're conservative and say Stanley and Ceglar were each a 65% chance of being available for any game once back and Blicavs 90%, the chances of missing all 3 at once would be just over 1%.
You don't change your recruitment policy based on such incredibly slim chances given we clearly didn't rate any of the rucks available
Oh, no doubt. But if Wells could go back in time four months and talk to his younger self he'd probably say, "By the last few rounds Blicavs, Ceglar, Hawkins, JHenry, and Conway will all be injured, and Stanley will be on one leg. We've been reduced to putting Gary Rohan in the ruck and now he's done a hammy too. On top of that Mitch Hardie isn't close to playing seniors." Knowing all that we'd probably recruit Naismith.
I know a lot has been made of sav and kolos blunders… but the truth of the matter is we were 20 points up and let collingwood get on a 7 goal in a row rampage and absolutely dominate us in the late second and third quarter…
They stepped up when the game was to be won and put us away. You can’t just it down to just sav and kolo.. the real question is why were we in that position in the first place.
They stepped up when the game was to be won and put us away. You can’t just it down to just sav and kolo.. the real question is why were we in that position in the first place.
- Jan 25, 2008
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2021 and 2022 Stanley played 78% of our games. Hardly injury prone.
Blitz rarely missed a game for 10 years.
Durability in our ruck stocks has never been an issue until this week.
You are forgetting that Stanley had very concerning vision problems and it was unclear when he would be able to play. His return kept getting postponed.
Ceglar was constantly dismissed on this site as unable to play two games in a row, and this was proved to be correct.
That meant we were relying on Blicavs to stay fit.
We took a mid who hasn’t got close to a game and now we face going into a finals series with no experienced specialist ruckman.
The difference is there was a mid season draft where we could have got cover, but instead we took yet another mediocre midfielder who is every chance to be delisted come the end of the year and is a mile off being able to contribute for us this season.
That decision could easily cost us a spot in the 8 when Marshall and English inevitably absolutely smash us.
