Review Dees v Tigers - the Good, the Bad & the Fugly

[Proper Gander]

Did you read my whole post, or just the first line that you bolded?

Go back and read the post that you quoted. Because I literally said in the very next sentence that it wasn't intentional for them to have as many Inside 50's as they did. They were beating us up around the ground, that was clear and I admit that, no problems.

What I actually said was, we adapted to the way the game was being played, and made the best of the situation with a superior defensive structure and game plan. Which we did. And we've done it against 2 other teams this year as well, where said team has been playing better up the ground, but we've managed to defend their entries and hit them on the rebound with efficiency.

The fact that we've done this in 3 of our 5 games, tells me that we have contingency plans in place for when the game isn't being played on our terms, and that we're a very capable defensive side. Surely that has something to do with it happening 3 out of 5 times this season. Unless you're suggesting that this exact style of play and game has just happened randomly on all occasions?

So what I think is harsh, is to say that the game was won and lost on Melbourne's terms, because I don't believe that to be the case at all.

Melbourne smashed us in general play for the better part of 3 quarters, but we were good enough to limit the damage that they put on the scoreboard, and when it was our turn, we made the most of our chances.

I do think Richmond deserve at least SOME amount of credit for that.

You got 4 points which passes for SOME credit in AFL circles I'm given to understand.

So why are you seeking some kind of further confirmation here?

Go away and play elsewhere.

 

[Big Crow]

Pardon the intrusion folks, looking to add my two cents.

I had the pleasure of attending the game last night, it was an incredible experience to be there with 85,000 other footy fans. A credit to both clubs and supporter bases.

I realise there is some frustration around here, and fair enough, but regardless of how the next month or two pans out don't lose heart. It's no secret you've been unlucky so far, big Maxy missing a large chunk of the season hurts but these things happen. Being two men down for half the match last night really hurts especially when one is the back up ruckman, and this undoubtedly cost you the match.

Despite this, as an impartial observer I saw some great signs last night. A win from that situation would have been one for the ages, and you nearly pulled it off. It's a shame, because I reckon that could have been the spark to really get things going, but it will happen. You've obviously done the right thing by putting a Crow in charge and Oliver looks to be a player.

In any case, happy to give the Tigers a whack at the beautiful Adelaide Oval next Sunday for you!

 

[ThePuppetMaster]

Pardon the intrusion folks, looking to add my two cents.

I had the pleasure of attending the game last night, it was an incredible experience to be there with 85,000 other footy fans. A credit to both clubs and supporter bases.

I realise there is some frustration around here, and fair enough, but regardless of how the next month or two pans out don't lose heart. It's no secret you've been unlucky so far, big Maxy missing a large chunk of the season hurts but these things happen. Being two men down for half the match last night really hurts especially when one is the back up ruckman, and this undoubtedly cost you the match.

Despite this, as an impartial observer I saw some great signs last night. A win from that situation would have been one for the ages, and you nearly pulled it off. It's a shame, because I reckon that could have been the spark to really get things going, but it will happen. You've obviously done the right thing by putting a Crow in charge and Oliver looks to be a player.

In any case, happy to give the Tigers a whack at the beautiful Adelaide Oval next Sunday for you!

Please do - 10 goals would be nice!

 

[ReaperX]

You got 4 points which passes for SOME credit in AFL circles I'm given to understand.

So why are you seeking some kind of further confirmation here?

Go away and play elsewhere.

I don't really understand your hostility. I haven't come on here seeking anything, if anything I came here originally to give YOUR boys credit for playing well. Please read my original post on this thread if you don't believe me.

The post you have quoted is me replying to somebody else (a Carlton fan actually) who was saying that Richmond essentially had no part to play in the outcome of the match, which I believe to be a tad harsh, and I was explaining my reasons for this in a respectful and polite manner.

Be humble in victory and gracious in defeat mate, your boys will bounce back, you're too good of a team to not be playing finals this year.

 

[stretcharmstrong]

Good
Drank 12 beers and half a bottle of Jamison before 3 quarter time. Aggressively trolled every Richmond supporter I've ever met. Lost my phone and missed the last quarter. Egg this morning, tastes like s**t and IT'S SERVED ALL OVER MY FACE.
I don't look at our backline and think "**** this s**t" any more, that's nice son.
???Imagine if we didn't have Jack Watts???
Richmond supporters, what a bunch of ****in' deadshits! Let's all point at them and laugh!
I'm not Jake Spencer- that's good right?
@cannon62's commentary in the gameday thread... very very good.
In: Tomas Bugg. My three favourite words!

Bad
Goodwin! Mate! I'm all for giving the depth a bit of a kick around to see if they're worth a contract but can we hold off until we've wasted the season already? 5 weeks in and we've giving the guy from neighbours a gig. Kennedy-*******-Harris, you're kidding me.

Fugly
You're fugly!


... For the first time ever I'm following a team that a) I genuinely believe can win and b) actually look like they're trying to win. HOW ******* GOOD IS THAT?!??!??! Loving the journey right now- so much so that I even like using the word journey, especially when it's in italics. "blah blah sick of losing blah blah why aren't we winning blah blah should have ten flags by now blah blah blah injuries no excuse blahblahblah melbourne sux blahblahblah let's set fire to everything that's red or blue blahblahblah".

I've got a sore head.

Yeah buddy, that's what I needed to read, good man

 

[schmuttt]

I feel like Crimea when these oppo clubs have their proxy arguments on our board.

 

[Proper Gander]

I truly don't get it. Why here?

 

[PerfectFooty]

I truly don't get it. Why here?

At least it's entertaining

 

[Topkent]

Don't come here spouting all your logic mate .... isn't there an ice hockey game you should be watching?

It's play off time and the Canadian teams suck so I've tapped out

 

[Captain Jack]

Ouch
Some indifferent feelings
On one hand I'd love to blame injuries and say we ran out of legs and to an extent that's true.
But there were some tactical things as well.

When the Tigers broke through our forward press they scored almost every time. Riewoldt 1 on 1 or 2 on 2 was the difference as when the situations were reversed Hogan was pathetic and Garlett tried hard but isn't a 1 on 1 key forward that should have the footy bombed on his head

Our last quarter stoppage work was horrible, tigers just walked it out every time with little to no pressure. I saw one occasion when Oliver jogged off too slowly and Tyson couldn't get on the ground which left Cotchin free at the back of the stoppage

Our forward structure is hideous, 20 inside 50s to 4 and barely in front. We don't have any dangerous forwards when there is congestion

Good thoughts re: tactics. Our style looks great when it's on but I think it has shown to be quite deflating when teams get out the back and score easy goals. Geelong did it plenty of times, Richmond did it last night, Essendon will do it next week with their accurate footskills and speedy small forwards. It must be a drag on team morale to play such a high pressure, aggressive press, lock it in our 50 for a few minutes, and then get slapped in the face by a quick break.

I'm no expert (hi this is BigFooty, welcome) but surely we can take the foot off the pedal a little and guard against that sort of easy scoring a bit more. It keeps teams in the game against us despite our periods of midfield dominance, and allows them to then take full advantage when they gain the momentum. Even Carlton did it a few times.

Again, Essendon will love doing this against us this weekend. Their backline is strong enough to hold up, and they have the skills and personnel to counterattack and score quick goals. I had been confident about beating the Bombers but now I think they will cover us easily unfortunately, with the caveat that they have a 5 day break and hopefully on a post-ANZAC comedown.

Re: stoppages, I was astounded that we seemingly kept up with the aggressive positioning that comes from having a good ruckman. Hindsight is great and all, but surely we could have tweaked it a little at 3QT and tried to make it a proper in-tight scrap, rather than letting Nankervis dictate every stoppage and then trying to catch Martin and co on the way out. Of course you wouldn't want to go too defensive because being negative and over-cautious is an equally good way to lose the game, but the lack of adjustment seemed to really help the Tigers inevitably running all over us.

Forward structure is also confusing at times. Hard to say exactly because we don't watch the off-the-ball work/running that the forwards do, but it seemed ineffectual in several different ways throughout the game. Early on it was way too congested, then later we tried to fix that but ended up kicking straight to Rance and whoever else was loose. Hogan was trying for big overhead marks in slippery conditions, and far too often it was "Long Bombs to Garlett" because he's generally the deepest forward on the fast break.

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

Good thoughts re: tactics. Our style looks great when it's on but I think it has shown to be quite deflating when teams get out the back and score easy goals. Geelong did it plenty of times, Richmond did it last night, Essendon will do it next week with their accurate footskills and speedy small forwards. It must be a drag on team morale to play such a high pressure, aggressive press, lock it in our 50 for a few minutes, and then get slapped in the face by a quick break.

I'm no expert (hi this is BigFooty, welcome) but surely we can take the foot off the pedal a little and guard against that sort of easy scoring a bit more. It keeps teams in the game against us despite our periods of midfield dominance, and allows them to then take full advantage when they gain the momentum. Even Carlton did it a few times.

Again, Essendon will love doing this against us this weekend. Their backline is strong enough to hold up, and they have the skills and personnel to counterattack and score quick goals. I had been confident about beating the Bombers but now I think they will cover us easily unfortunately, with the caveat that they have a 5 day break and hopefully on a post-ANZAC comedown.

Re: stoppages, I was astounded that we seemingly kept up with the aggressive positioning that comes from having a good ruckman. Hindsight is great and all, but surely we could have tweaked it a little at 3QT and tried to make it a proper in-tight scrap, rather than letting Nankervis dictate every stoppage and then trying to catch Martin and co on the way out. Of course you wouldn't want to go too defensive because being negative and over-cautious is an equally good way to lose the game, but the lack of adjustment seemed to really help the Tigers inevitably running all over us.

Forward structure is also confusing at times. Hard to say exactly because we don't watch the off-the-ball work/running that the forwards do, but it seemed ineffectual in several different ways throughout the game. Early on it was way too congested, then later we tried to fix that but ended up kicking straight to Rance and whoever else was loose. Hogan was trying for big overhead marks in slippery conditions, and far too often it was "Long Bombs to Garlett" because he's generally the deepest forward on the fast break.

Garlett is very good one out but even my ability to believe this is fading based upon how many contests he's lost in the last two weeks just because he's had no chance to take a ridiculously ambitious kick to im

 

[Captain Jack]

Garlett is very good one out but even my ability to believe this is fading based upon how many contests he's lost in the last two weeks just because he's had no chance to take a ridiculously ambitious kick to im

Yeah I agree, he's good for his size one-on-one but as a get-out option the long bomb to small forward is a low-percentage option.

 

[Topkent]

Garlett is very good one out but even my ability to believe this is fading based upon how many contests he's lost in the last two weeks just because he's had no chance to take a ridiculously ambitious kick to im

Especially on his head. The long kick over the back is fine but kicking to the goalsquare while he's against a taller opponent is dumb footy.

 

[Ando727]

Fair enough, but I've never claimed it was a masterstroke of coaching as such though, and that goes for any of those 3 types of wins I've mentioned, as I too don't want to give us TOO much credit, because there is definitely an element that isn't fully in our control, at least to some extent.

We didn't go in specifically with a plan of "let's wear them down and let them attack, and we'll overrun them", HOWEVER, when it became apparent that you were on top of the contest up the ground, we were able to make the necessary adjustments to prevent you from heavily scoring against us.

Fact is that you guys were PUMPING the ball into your attacking half almost non-stop for the better part of 3 quarters, and we held up enough to limit your scoring. At one stage in the middle of the 3rd quarter you had about 3x the Inside 50's to us, but were only a goal or two up.

You can bring that down to a number of factors I suppose, but ultimately to give almost no credit to our defense (as some on here are doing) is a little bit harsh for mine. But that's the prerogative of the individual I guess.

If the game was played again from the start, I'd tip you guys to win it, just as I tipped you at the start of the game last night, and my honest feelings when watching the game live at the ground were that your dominance would continue in the last and you'd win by 30+ as we tired out and couldn't hold back the flood anymore. But we proved that we could overcome a poor game for 3 quarters and still eek out a win, and regardless of opposition circumstances, it's a good effort to win from 20 points down at 3 quarter time in a low scoring contest.

I'd be giving Melbourne the same credit if things were in reverse as well.

I never said I don't give your defence credit - I do. I think we screwed up a lot of our forward 50 entries, but your defence also applied a lot of pressure which limited our scoring. You did weather the storm for 3 quarters, yes. But I also think those injuries had a huge effect because if we had had a full bench, I think that storm would have continued well into the last quarter. I think we had the better end of the general play and therefore I think we would have held on for the win. But them's the breaks. I'm not too pissed off about the loss or Richmond - apart from that knee to the back, I did think that was crappy. The best thing Richmond did all night was score from counter attacks. It was very efficient and it was probably the biggest reason you got the win. We are too error prone and we don't capitalise on the scoreboard when we are dominating play. That has to change before we can play finals.

 

[stretcharmstrong]

Especially on his head. The long kick over the back is fine but kicking to the goalsquare while he's against a taller opponent is dumb footy.

Yet we do it so ducking often. It's almost like the mids/half forwards expect Jesse to be there...

 

[Topkent]

I've seen a few Melbourne supporters complain about the Rance knee.
Hogan did the same thing to Rance. It's a footy field. s**t happens

 

[TheCount]

It's play off time and the Canadian teams suck so I've tapped out

I'm still absolutely ******* fuming at what the Blackhawks served up for 4 games. 2 weeks out we were playing some of the best hockey in the comp, then we booked our spot at the top of the West, put our feet up to relax for the last 4 games, and never came out to play again, just making me angry talking about it again!

 

[PerfectFooty]

I've seen a few Melbourne supporters complain about the Rance knee.
Hogan did the same thing to Rance. It's a footy field. s**t happens

Yeah i'm not agro about it either, my guess is it's pent up anger from last years head slap. A lot of talk about booing him prior to the game, glad to see only 5 out of 85,000 were probably that stupid

 

[Topkent]

I'm still absolutely ******* fuming at what the Blackhawks served up for 4 games. 2 weeks out we were playing some of the best hockey in the comp, then we booked our spot at the top of the West, put our feet up to relax for the last 4 games, and never came out to play again, just making me angry talking about it again!

One of me best mates loves the Blackhawks. Jonathan Toews being a Winnipeg boy which is where I'm living. Been a few surprises in this playoffs.

Did go an watch about 10-15 games this season which was fun. Jets were good without being great. They are kinda building the same as Melbourne

 

[Topkent]

Also we are complaining about our injuries

Dogs are missing Crameri, Dickson, Roughead, Morris, Redpath, Wallis, Cloke

Not sure we can complain to much

 

[mrmonkey]

Also we are complaining about our injuries

Dogs are missing Crameri, Dickson, Roughead, Morris, Redpath, Wallis, Cloke

Not sure we can complain to much

Dogs have a lot more depth. But I get your point. Injuries happen.

 

[LeverPuller]

Also we are complaining about our injuries

Dogs are missing Crameri, Dickson, Roughead, Morris, Redpath, Wallis, Cloke

Not sure we can complain to much

But they haven't lost both their senior rucks. Wake me when Boyd is rucking full time again

 

[DemonTim]

But they haven't lost both their senior rucks. Wake me when Boyd is rucking full time again

Stupid post is stupid

Kinda like in the prelim last year?

Apparently Melbourne was question pre season about what happens if Gawn goes down, we didn't have a response.

 

[Djcjdees]

Stupid post is stupid

Kinda like in the prelim last year?

Apparently Melbourne was question pre season about what happens if Gawn goes down, we didn't have a response.

Everyone was asking what this question in preseason because it was so obviously a huge gaping hole. Ah well, as people have said, injuries happen. This is where Goodwin can prove if he is actually any good.

 

[DemonTim]

Everyone was asking what this question in preseason because it was so obviously a huge gaping hole. Ah well, as people have said, injuries happen. This is where Goodwin can prove if he is actually any good.

I was more concerned that we didn't have an answer