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Clean ball use

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MushroomRocket

MushroomRocket

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Is the main reason for our losses. We were smashing adelaide in the 1st half but our ball use was awful. We should have been 40 points in front, instead we let them back in the 3rd quarter.

There is no point in winning the contested footie if we cant use that football.
the worst offenders were richards, crouch and barlow. we are trying pretty hard but the talent just isnt there. which is very worrying. :(
 
MushroomRocket said:
Is the main reason for our losses. We were smashing adelaide in the 1st half but our ball use was awful. We should have been 40 points in front, instead we let them back in the 3rd quarter.

There is no point in winning the contested footie if we cant use that football.
the worst offenders were richards, crouch and barlow. we are trying pretty hard but the talent just isnt there. which is very worrying. :(
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Grundy was by far the worst offender. I counted at least five occasions where he put the ball directly on an opposition chest by either hand or foot, usually under no pressure.

But yeah I agree. Our intensity is great. Our tackling and clearance work is usually pretty good. We definately get enough of it, but we butcher the ball far too much for a professional football team. Time and time again we giftwrap the ball and hand it straight back to the opposition, completely killing our run and setting us up to be slaughtered on the rebound.

I said it last week... Skill. Skill. Skill.
 
Costanza_ said:
Grundy was by far the worst offender. I counted at least five occasions where he put the ball directly on an opposition chest by either hand or foot, usually under no pressure.

But yeah I agree. Our intensity is great. Our tackling and clearance work is usually pretty good. We definately get enough of it, but we butcher the ball far too much for a professional football team. Time and time again we giftwrap the ball and hand it straight back to the opposition, completely killing our run and setting us up to be slaughtered on the rebound.

I said it last week... Skill. Skill. Skill.
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It's sad because we need some skill in our midfield. i just wish we tried for farren ray last year at the draft. jude and kirk try pretty hard but they aren't exactly "skilled" at breaking the lines.

I think shaw has been great at HFF but we need to play him in our corridor so we can break our lines. maybe roos should switch shaw to centre and put jack at half back.

we are deperately missing a defender that takes a key forward every game and will release richards to his more traditional role at the wing back. maybe we should try to trade in mcguire at this year's end.
 
Good post.

Far too many players who turn the ball over under very little pressure.... Grundy, Mattner, Jack, Barlow, Ablett, Crouch, Buchanan
 

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RUNVS said:
Jack and Barlow aren't going too badly at the moment.
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Both were okay today I thought. Barlow still made some very poor mistakes but at least he managed to impose himself on the game and find a bit of the footy. It would be good to see him busting his gut a little more when the ball goes the other way though, sometimes he just looks like he's standing around spectating.
 
Yep, though I think you're harsh on Barlow. Aside from one smothered kick, his ball use wasn't bad. I thought Barlow's intensity was down from last week, but his ball use didn't worry me.

Richards is becoming a bit of a worry. Previous to this year, his work under pressure was probably average. Not great, but I wouldn't have called it bad. But this year, it's really become a feature of his game. I'm hoping it's just a phase, because he is a really important player to us when up and firing (and, as Mushroom Rocket said, properly released into his roaming role across half back).
 
MalceskiFan said:
Good post.

Far too many players who turn the ball over under very little pressure.... Grundy, Mattner, Jack, Barlow, Ablett, Crouch, Buchanan
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I think Jack's really turned a corner lately. His ball use over the last few weeks has really been quite good. And there's nothing wrong with Barlow's ball use as well. I'd say he's one of our better users.

As for Grundy, boy, I've seen him make some beautiful passes to teammates, and I've seen have some absolute shockers. I didn't think he was bad today, keeping Taylor Walker absolutely silent, but he had way too many clangers. Another in the clangerboat for today is Craig Bird. I want it known that I love this kid, but he had a few shockers today. The other stuff he did was all class, he won 3 clearances, did some good stuff, but he did butcher a bit of ball.
 
bloodstainedangel5 said:
I think Jack's really turned a corner lately. His ball use over the last few weeks has really been quite good. And there's nothing wrong with Barlow's ball use as well. I'd say he's one of our better users.

As for Grundy, boy, I've seen him make some beautiful passes to teammates, and I've seen have some absolute shockers. I didn't think he was bad today, keeping Taylor Walker absolutely silent, but he had way too many clangers. Another in the clangerboat for today is Craig Bird. I want it known that I love this kid, but he had a few shockers today. The other stuff he did was all class, he won 3 clearances, did some good stuff, but he did butcher a bit of ball.
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On Barlow... It's not so much his kicking I have a problem with (although it is also poor at times), it's his decision making and handballs in close.
 
Here's the problem with our team:

LRT is the best kick in the defence. That's not a dig at LRT, because he's really improved his disposal. But I mean honestly, everyone else absolutely butchers the ball.

Grundy CANNOT, I repeat, CANNOT, be allowed to play in defence any longer. Either he gets a spot in the forward line, or he doesn't play at all. And this wasn't even due to his defensive efforts, which I thought were very much improved. But he just cannot dispose of the ball with any sort of skill. He tries to do these little dodgy kicks off one step, and turns it over every single time.

I think we've really been hurt with the loss of Kennelly and Malceski's poor form. People like to say that they've been convered with Mattner and Shaw, but only in part, I think. At the peak of their powers, Kennelly and Malceski were the best kicks in the team. Without them, we've lost the ability to bring the ball out of defence efficiently.
 
bloodstainedangel5 said:
I think Jack's really turned a corner lately. His ball use over the last few weeks has really been quite good. And there's nothing wrong with Barlow's ball use as well. I'd say he's one of our better users.

As for Grundy, boy, I've seen him make some beautiful passes to teammates, and I've seen have some absolute shockers. I didn't think he was bad today, keeping Taylor Walker absolutely silent, but he had way too many clangers. Another in the clangerboat for today is Craig Bird. I want it known that I love this kid, but he had a few shockers today. The other stuff he did was all class, he won 3 clearances, did some good stuff, but he did butcher a bit of ball.
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I was disappointed with Bird's game today. That's the worst I've seen him use the ball. Hopefully it was just an off day.
 

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RUNVS said:
Bird didn't have a good game. He seemed to butcher the ball a lot.
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He wasn't too bad. He was a few clearances, and especially in the first half he was busy. Really went quiet in the second half, but showed all the same signs he has in the past. But yes, he did butcher the ball too much. Especially that first piece of play! Handball receive from Kirk, kicked it straight to a Crows player, tried to make amends by laying a strong tackle, but unfortunately the Crows player didn't have the ball! Good signs, just didn't quite work out for him. :o
 
bloodstainedangel5 said:
He wasn't too bad. He was a few clearances, and especially in the first half he was busy. Really went quiet in the second half, but showed all the same signs he has in the past. But yes, he did butcher the ball too much. Especially that first piece of play! Handball receive from Kirk, kicked it straight to a Crows player, tried to make amends by laying a strong tackle, but unfortunately the Crows player didn't have the ball! Good signs, just didn't quite work out for him. :o
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His tackling and work rate were absolutely sensational today I thought. There was one piece of play where we chased and harassed about 5 crows in a row. He's a little machine. Disposal was well down on his normal standards, as has been pointed out.
 
grimlock said:
I hate to crash everyone's party but I thought there were some very good clean ball use in patches today in amongst all the other crap.
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Agree totally. Our current side has all the ability, it's just consistency that seems to be the problem. You see guys like Barlow crash between two players, collect the ball cleanly and spear a bullet into Micky O, and the same player miss a set shot badly from 25 out on a 45 degree angle, or guys like Grundy spear low passes to teammates, or take a big strong marks with vicelike hands, and then moments later miss a teammate 15 metres away by about 5 metres, or Shaw spearing 50 metre passes onto the chest of teammates without them having to break stride, followed minutes later by up and under kicks to players 30 metres away that completely miss the target and fall into the lap of an opposition player.
 

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bloodstainedangel5 said:
Agree totally. Our current side has all the ability, it's just consistency that seems to be the problem. You see guys like Barlow crash between two players, collect the ball cleanly and spear a bullet into Micky O, and the same player miss a set shot badly from 25 out on a 45 degree angle, or guys like Grundy spear low passes to teammates, or take a big strong marks with vicelike hands, and then moments later miss a teammate 15 metres away by about 5 metres, or Shaw spearing 50 metre passes onto the chest of teammates without them having to break stride, followed minutes later by up and under kicks to players 30 metres away that completely miss the target and fall into the lap of an opposition player.
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Sounds like the problem is most prevalent when we try to pinpoint a short pass. Apparently we're no. 1 in long kicks this year, a very surprising stat.

http://www.pro-stats.com.au/psw/web/team_rankings?yr=2009&ts=TA&sr=17
 
mr patrick bateman said:
... I thought this was another thread about MalceskiFan and his unpleasant habits.
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Hahahaha. I'll pay that.

I'll have you know I wash them quite regularly. In fact, anyone who's invited me over for dinner knows it's not unusual to see me bathing them in the kitchen sink before sitting down to eat.
 
MalceskiFan said:
Hahahaha. I'll pay that.

I'll have you know I wash them quite regularly. In fact, anyone who's invited me over for dinner knows it's not unusual to see me bathing them in the kitchen sink before sitting down to eat.
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I'm guessing the dinner invitations dried up some time ago ...

But thanks for sharing ... and with that image embedded in my mind, I may not eat again for some time. Or sleep.
 
I second that PB.
 

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