Strategy Changes: Elimination Final v Gold Coast

[Sully90]

He’s just not it for finals. Really concerned now.

Lol based on what? He's played in zero finals so far in his career.

 

[Deathly]

Don't get the uproar over Dudleys' inclusion when we've been literally carrying other shit in the side all season long.

 

[s_wd6]

Don't get the uproar over Dudleys' inclusion when we've been literally carrying other shit in the side all season long.

The guys last wafl game he played he had 2 touches through four quarters

 

[Vintage]

So Jonno, who trained at full pace today in every exercise, is less prepared than Fyfe (who wasn’t seen) JOM (who had shots on goal for the entire training session) and Young (who completed about half of the training duties). Gotcha.

Or maybe Johnno trained at full pace as he was being tested and pulled up sore or something..

 

[kuhni]

No other players in the reserves have been playing in the forward line, Dudley the only player who doesn't change our structure.

 

[Dockeroo]

Experience is such a huge thing in finals footy. We saw it again so clearly last night. Adelaide a good team but making dumb errors and panicked decisions throughout the game.

If Collingwood or Geelong were playing the suns tonight they would belt them by at least 60 points.
Granted we aren’t either of those sides with their vast finals experience but we have moderate experience of this level of football and have somehow jagged a home final against complete novices that have no idea or experience of what it’s like to play in a game like this. On paper it’s a massive advantage for us.

We just HAVE to go after them from the first bounce and hammer the hammer early. They should be feeling like they are in hell from the first minute. We really don’t want to give the underdog the oxygen of remaining competitive well into the second half of the game. If that happens then suddenly it’s a toss of the coin and our experience advantage will be wasted.

 

[go_the_dockers]

Experience is such a huge thing in finals footy. We saw it again so clearly last night. Adelaide a good team but making dumb errors and panicked decisions throughout the game.

If Collingwood or Geelong were playing the suns tonight they would belt them by at least 60 points.
Granted we aren’t either of those sides with their vast finals experience but we have moderate experience of this level of football and have somehow jagged a home final against complete novices that have no idea or experience of what it’s like to play in a game like this. On paper it’s a massive advantage for us.

We just HAVE to go after them from the first bounce and hammer the hammer early. They should be feeling like they are in hell from the first minute. We really don’t want to give the underdog the oxygen of remaining competitive well into the second half of the game. If that happens then suddenly it’s a toss of the coin and our experience advantage will be wasted.

It looked like at the game, they just got smashed at the contest.

They were able to exit out the front of the contest far too easily, while the crows were forced to kick around the corner and bomb long. Moore had a field day.

JL isolated Moore so well.

 

[Fat Nyfe]

The ins look good to me?

Obviously we’d prefer Wags and Switta but we went as much like for like as possible and chose speed with NOD, over Johnno who would make us too one-paced with some of the other slow mids IMO. NOD earnt a recall with his performance and Duds has been a good ‘moments’ player for us throughout the year.

Not sure what else we could’ve done that would have made the side better?

 

[go_the_dockers]

The ins look good to me?

Obviously we’d prefer Wags and Switta but we went as much like for like as possible and chose speed with NOD, over Johnno who would make us too one-paced with some of the other slow mids IMO. NOD earnt a recall with his performance and Duds has been a good ‘moments’ player for us throughout the year.

Not sure what else we could’ve done that would have made the side better?

I think NOD is fully fit, while Johnson is still not 100% fit which would have had an impact on the call.

You are probably right, the loss of Switta impacts our speed so it makes sense to bring in the faster player.

 

[Dockeroo]

It looked like at the game, they just got smashed at the contest.

They were able to exit out the front of the contest far too easily, while the crows were forced to kick around the corner and bomb long. Moore had a field day.

JL isolated Moore so well.

The reason Collingwood won was the coldly and ruthlessly exposed the crows weaknesses.
That’s what good, experienced teams do in finals.

The crows had a shallow midfield, no decent small forwards and panicky, nervous players throughout their side (even their stars). On the other hand Pendles, Sidebottom, Daicos x2 Moore and Degoey had almost their best games of the season. Calm and experienced.

The question for freo is - what are the GC suns weaknesses? And how to we as a team expose them from the first minute tomorrow night?
That’s the challenge for the players AND the coaching staff

 

[go_the_dockers]

The reason Collingwood won was the coldly and ruthlessly exposed the crows weaknesses.
That’s what good, experienced teams do in finals.

The crows had a shallow midfield, no decent small forwards and panicky, nervous players throughout their side (even their stars). On the other hand Pendles, Sidebottom, Daicos x2 Moore and Degoey had almost their best games of the season. Calm and experienced.

Rankine and Rachele out hurt them a lot, but yes other than Dawson they lack another A grade mid.

They need to try to find one.

The question for freo is - what are the GC suns weaknesses? And how to we as a team expose them from the first minute tomorrow night?
That’s the challenge for the players AND the coaching staff

Shallow midfield if you limit Rowell and Anderson.

They are heavily dependent on King and Long in the forward line. If Pearce takes King, then and maybe Chapman locks down on Long then we should be pretty good.

Once again, we need to isolate there defenders and let our attackers go 1v1 against them. Who ever is on Collins needs to be on the move, and not engage in a wrestle.

I think the other 2 could be exposed if we kick to there advantage like last week.

 

[ubiquitous226]

Dudley is going to be fine, for all the talk about "da contest", finals are also won by guys that find that extra cm of space and make the most of the infrequent chances that come their way. That's Dudley

Dudley is doing well considering his lack of preparation and last minute SSP status.

However I don't think he's been that deadly in front of goal.
He's been going at just under a goal a game from what I would guess is about 2 opportunities per game.
Early on he was providing a bit of linkage as well, but that seems to have dropped off later in the season.

 

[Mags98]

Dudley is going to be fine, for all the talk about "da contest", finals are also won by guys that find that extra cm of space and make the most of the infrequent chances that come their way. That's Dudley

yep just needs to be at the drop of the ball and release reid who will conjure some bs up

 

[go_the_dockers]

Dudley is doing well considering his lack of preparation and last minute SSP status.

However I don't think he's been that deadly in front of goal.
He's been going at just under a goal a game from what I would guess is about 2 opportunities per game.
Early on he was providing a bit of linkage as well, but that seems to have dropped off later in the season.

The week off may freshen him up a bit.

 

[Ghost Pig]

We'll win by two goals and change and Dud's will kick two!

 

[rubydoomsday]

so i've decided to stop worrying about this game. we can do this.

defence wins flags.

yes, the midfield battle is gonna be crucial, and they have peak, elite talent there. but i honestly believe we have the more 'complete' game.

time and again this year, even when we take some hits in-game, we've shown the ability to reset and come back. 3/4 of the crowd will be willing us on, too.

i have the same Dockery PTSD as everyone else, and i hate to echo chad wingard

20

Chad Wingard

Age

32

Ht

183cm

Wt

80kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

18.3

5star

K

11.0

4star

HB

7.3

5star

M

3.5

4star

T

2.9

4star

G

1.5

5star

No current season stats available

D

10.2

3star

K

4.6

2star

HB

5.6

4star

M

1.6

2star

T

2.0

4star

G

0.2

3star

of all people but i think he's right; GC will likely win the midfield battle, we will win the 'war'.

 

[Alfonz]

so i've decided to stop worrying about this game. we can do this.

defence wins flags.

yes, the midfield battle is gonna be crucial, and they have peak, elite talent there. but i honestly believe we have the more 'complete' game.

time and again this year, even when we take some hits in-game, we've shown the ability to reset and come back. 3/4 of the crowd will be willing us on, too.

i have the same Dockery PTSD as everyone else, and i hate to echo chad wingard of all people but i think he's right; GC will likely win the midfield battle, we will win the 'war'.

3/4 of the crowd? That means there will be 15,000 people going for GC. They'd be lucky to have 150 supporters in the crowd.

I'm not so concerned about the midfield battle. We have the rucks and an elite trio to match GC, and then I think GC drop off more than we do.

 

[Superkoops]

Dudley’s last game at Peel was average but that was an outlier - he just couldn’t get into the game at all for whatever reason. His previous game he kicked 3 goals and was running around possessed sharking the ball of contests and snapping goals (16 possessions, 3 goals 2 behinds vs Subi). Perhaps he was under the weather a bit (vs Swans) I’m not too sure but he didn’t look his normal energetic self.

We are tall in the f50 and need crumbing small forward. Replacing Switta with Johnson is not a L4L. From what the coach was saying Johnson isn’t 100% recovered from his ankle injury.

 

[Kram]

Dudley and O'Driscoll were crap when they were last in the team but I'll trust them when they think they are the best option s.

 

[wahawk]

Could anyone please tell me what time the boys have their captains run ?

 

[E Shed]

The ins look good to me?

Obviously we’d prefer Wags and Switta but we went as much like for like as possible and chose speed with NOD, over Johnno who would make us too one-paced with some of the other slow mids IMO. NOD earnt a recall with his performance and Duds has been a good ‘moments’ player for us throughout the year.

Not sure what else we could’ve done that would have made the side better?

I would have been tempted to roll the dice on Walker as a defensive forward. He's fast & strong and could take Rioli to the cleaners and who knows what he would do with the ball in hand in the forward half. Or Banfield forward, Walker back.

But these things were suggested by others and we're on the sidelines and no clue what they are actually looking to do with structures and why they're backing in who they are. NOD won't leave anything out there for effort just worried about his confidence but hopefully the short spell in the WAFL helped with that.

 

[freo_leo29]

Could anyone please tell me what time the boys have their captains run ?

It's probably closed to public at optus if I had to guess

Sometime in the next couple of hours

 

[freo_leo29]

Dudley had a much needed week off atleast

 

[mattis117]

Dudley just isn’t the player to choose for a final imo. Would’ve done better with a bit of shuffling roles. Really shows how cooked our small forward depth is

Maybe. I kinda feel the same but also wouldn't be surprised if pops up for two goals in the first quarter. He is certainly suited to the wet ground at least.

 

[mattis117]

Experience is such a huge thing in finals footy. We saw it again so clearly last night. Adelaide a good team but making dumb errors and panicked decisions throughout the game.

If Collingwood or Geelong were playing the suns tonight they would belt them by at least 60 points.
Granted we aren’t either of those sides with their vast finals experience but we have moderate experience of this level of football and have somehow jagged a home final against complete novices that have no idea or experience of what it’s like to play in a game like this. On paper it’s a massive advantage for us.

We just HAVE to go after them from the first bounce and hammer the hammer early. They should be feeling like they are in hell from the first minute. We really don’t want to give the underdog the oxygen of remaining competitive well into the second half of the game. If that happens then suddenly it’s a toss of the coin and our experience advantage will be wasted.

I really like how the pies played in the first 5 minutes last night, they took risk almost to the point of being reckless and it paid off by getting them the first two goals. Great way to settle into the game.

Pies did a really good job of managing their effort and risk taking. A burst here and a burst there taking the inexperienced Adelaide by surprise.