Review Derby Post-Mortem

[Farrand]

Well yeah, that's more or less what I said.

I suppose the question would have to be, why bother? It's not like he's going to read and go, 'hey at least E Shed has my back!'.

 

[pinkus maximus]

Yes questions need to be asked. People keep pointing to injuries....and that may be valid looking purely at results, but the way we've lost the last two weeks has been absolutely pathetic. Players should be ashamed of themselves imo.....haven't seen a freo team lacking intensity and desire so much for quite a while, and thought those days were gone tbh. I agree with the passengers calls....too many are not comiited enough.....

have you forgotten the second half of last year? got spanked by the kangaroos, Bulldogs and others. Also happened to coincide with us losing key players

We simply don't have the depth to cover the players we have out right now

 

[TheLoris]

What do you suppose the admin spent money on last year? I said it last year:



We've gone backwards, footy department wise. Struggle with all improvement in tactics for a number of teams. A real worry.

Yeah, god knows where the money has gone, hopefully it hasn't. While Harvey has been great for us with discipline and getting rid of the 'tail wagging the dog' mentality, I don't think tactics are his strength. We really need a strong group of assistants and should move heaven and earth to get the right people in. Even if we have to get them in mid year. We have the money and need to spend it while Pav and Sandi are still major weapons.

 

[believe_it]

1. They suffocated us around the stoppages nullifying Sandis advantage
2. We didn't react to this tactically and thus we let them control the game.
3. Our skills under pressure were poorly executed.
4. They were far more desperate and outnumbered us when the ball was
being contested. Individually they worked harder.


Annoyances - we often went back around the half back line instead of trying to force the ball forward quickly and maybe upset them.
Crowley- Probably one of his better games( and thats not saying much) but his up and under kicking gives me the shits so much. It helps opposition defenders - get it in there quick and low.

 

[Chris25]

We need speed. Or at least someone willing to run.

Today we had nothing in the midfield or across half back, guys like Mundy and Fyfe are good enough at winning the contested ball that they will have an impact regardless. The others aren't that lucky, and they need to be running hard all game. Most didn't even run out the first quarter.

Hill wasn't his usual self, but he was still one of the few who were actually looking to take the game on. We need another option to ease the pressure on him.

 

[jmadrox]

There are two options that I can see; we can persevere until the injured start returning or we do what we did over the last couple of years and blood guys like Michie, Bucovaz, Mellington and maybe Sibo. Of course, none of them seem to be setting the world on fire in their respective WAFL teams but maybe the big stage could bring out the best in at least one of them.

no-one realy is standing up. i remember a couple years ago, i cant remember who we were playing but plamer, hill, suban etc got together after a 1/4 time or 1/2 time break, with no prompting by the coaches or anything else, and made a pact to make a difference. what happened to that team?

such a crap day....

 

[Clay Davis]

Yeah, god knows where the money has gone, hopefully it hasn't. While Harvey has been great for us with discipline and getting rid of the 'tail wagging the dog' mentality, I don't think tactics are his strength. We really need a strong group of assistants and should move heaven and earth to get the right people in. Even if we have to get them in mid year. We have the money and need to spend it while Pav and Sandi are still major weapons.

Even if tactics are Harvey's strength, in modern footy you need a fleet of coaches analysing each line, each strategy, each player and opposition player. We went backwards in coaching numbers and quality. One coach can only do so much.

We were destroyed on our kick ins. How? Do we not have the coaching talent to strategise through the press?

 

[Clay Davis]

Also, thank god we didn't kick with our usual accuracy.

 

[prattsta]

We need speed. Or at least someone willing to run.

Today we had nothing in the midfield or across half back, guys like Mundy and Fyfe are good enough at winning the contested ball that they will have an impact regardless. The others aren't that lucky, and they need to be running hard all game. Most didn't even run out the first quarter.

Hill wasn't his usual self, but he was still one of the few who were actually looking to take the game on. We need another option to ease the pressure on him.

Palmer.

When the upside includes having Pavlich forward I struggle to see a downside.

 

[yakka man]

Was it just me or did that not even feel like a derby? There were no spotfires, no physicality and it was not a traditional close game. NO INTENSITY at all from us.

I wasn't expecting us to win but without Embley and Kerr we should of done a lot bettet. That was really upsetting and we have now been exposed.

 

[MadMac]

They've pretty much copied our game plan from last year and we've gone back to our shitty ways . There's no fluency, foot skills have dramatically dropped and conversion in front of goal is probably the worst in the comp.

The problem is further compounded by lack of alternatives. One look at our injury list tells you that there's not much left over past the 22 that played today. There's no one pushing for selection, hence the underperforming players being picked every week.

If I look for positives, well, every team goes through bad patch every year, even the best of them. If this is ours [let's hope], I'm happy to get it out of the way this early in the season and come back firing in the second half.

I still have faith, however we need to change the way we go about the footy by 180 degrees.

 

[malpaso]

Tactics, moving players back and forth or in and out won't matter if the players out there don't want to work for the ball or their teammates, simple.

No one wanted to continually run hard today. I don't care what tactics the coaches had employed nothing would have worked with that effort.

The eagles hunted us all day and we let them..

 

[electricfeel]

Too many passengers. Crichton, van Berlo, Pitt, Pearce, Crowley add nothing to our team.

 

[Rob]

I haven't seen the word mentioned, so i'll bring it up now.

We were bloody SOFT. Around stoppages we were simply second to the ball much more often than not because they wanted it more and were prepared to put their bodies ont he line to get it. Whilst I thought the umpires were the usual rhinocerous pizzle with their insistence on paying bullshit kicks, they took full advantage of it by being on the bottom of the pack more often. Outside the usual passengers costing us goals, that's why we lost. It wasn't poor skills or gameplan.

It reminded me of the footy we used to play under Cuddles. Feel good stuff where everyone gives each other hugs and flowers and eats marshmallows around the campfire. **** that. Time to harden up.

 

[rgauci]

Ask yourself the following questions:

Would you swap Cotchin for Pav? Would you swap Priddis for Pav? Would you swap Boyd for Pav? If you answered no, you have to wonder why not. The answer is simple, none of the aforementioned can go forward and kick 60 goals. None have the flexibility to be put in the midfield for a quarter and tear apart a game. Yet all of them have ripped our midfield a new arseh*le in the last 3 weeks. If we are using Pavlich purely as a midfielder his worth becomes less than the aforementioned. Put the big fella forward for the majority of the game then unleash him on the midfield in parts. Our other midfielders aren't going to learn about life after Pav if they don't get a chance. Pavlich's effectiveness is diminished because he isn't built to run out 4 quarters for a whole year. He does his best work in spurts. Play him in that role.

If we lose the midfield for the 3/4 he's not there at least the club and coaching staff can see the weakness. They are trying to fill big gaps in the team with wall paper. It's falling apart in front of us.

One of two things is wrong with Hill. He's either believing the hype or he's being played injured. The 69kg kid who started in his first year was reknowned for repeat efforts. You'd see him chase and chase, upto 4 players before eventually laying a tackle. It was infectious and the rest of the team hunted the opposition ball carriers with intent.

Hill seems to be running at half pace when the opposition have the ball and only turns the after burners on to get onto the end of a chain of passes from teammates. That's not the Stephen Hill i remember, hopefully he's playing injured because if he starts turning into a 1 directional player he'll never reach the heights of super stardom.

Mundy is a gun, Fyfe is a gun. Duffield drops his head if tagged. Broughton looks to be playing injured.

Injuries are excuses, our pressure is non-existant and needs rectifying ASAP.

 

[Freeeoo]

I't's a combination of our second tier players being exposed to and unable to cope with the excellent pressure that WC applied, and a number of our senior players/leaders being down on form.

At full strength and our good players, well, being good players we would brush that forward pressure aside.

But how about a bit of credit for the opposition today, yes they turned the game at times into a game of rugby but it worked.

 

[Clay Davis]

I haven't seen the word mentioned, so i'll bring it up now.

We were bloody SOFT. Around stoppages we were simply second to the ball much more often than not because they wanted it more and were prepared to put their bodies ont he line to get it. Whilst I thought the umpires were the usual rhinocerous pizzle with their insistence on paying bullshit kicks, they took full advantage of it by being on the bottom of the pack more often. Outside the usual passengers costing us goals, that's why we lost. It wasn't poor skills or gameplan.

It reminded me of the footy we used to play under Cuddles. Feel good stuff where everyone gives each other hugs and flowers and eats marshmallows around the campfire. **** that. Time to harden up.

I read this post and can't help think of Hill.

 

[Clay Davis]

Ask yourself the following questions:

Would you swap Cotchin for Pav? Would you swap Priddis for Pav? Would you swap Boyd for Pav? If you answered no, you have to wonder why not. The answer is simple, none of the aforementioned can go forward and kick 60 goals. None have the flexibility to be put in the midfield for a quarter and tear apart a game. Yet all of them have ripped our midfield a new arseh*le in the last 3 weeks. If we are using Pavlich purely as a midfielder his worth becomes less than the aforementioned. Put the big fella forward for the majority of the game then unleash him on the midfield in parts. Our other midfielders aren't going to learn about life after Pav if they don't get a chance. Pavlich's effectiveness is diminished because he isn't built to run out 4 quarters for a whole year. He does his best work in spurts. Play him in that role.

If we lose the midfield for the 3/4 he's not there at least the club and coaching staff can see the weakness. They are trying to fill big gaps in the team with wall paper. It's falling apart in front of us.

This part of your post needs to go in the Pav is a liability thread. It's what you, me, Avid Avenger, etc have all been seeing.

And I agree with the rest that I excluded. Absolutely spot on.

 

[Superkoops]

In the gun: Anthony, Pearce, Lower, Johnson, JVB, Pitt
In the mix: Ballantyne (Test), Walters (Test), Palmer, Mitchie

Pav to CHF
Mitchie in as sub
Palmer in the middle
Hoping one of either Walters or Ballers gets up
Bradley FF

I think it is likely that Johnson, Lower and JVB will stay due to injuries/depth issues, but if Johnson has an injury as has been suggested by Haze on the radio then Faulks can have a run.

Anthony, Pitt and Pearce to be relegated to WAFL.

 

[FD2646]

We need speed. Or at least someone willing to run.

Today we had nothing in the midfield or across half back, guys like Mundy and Fyfe are good enough at winning the contested ball that they will have an impact regardless. The others aren't that lucky, and they need to be running hard all game. Most didn't even run out the first quarter.

Hill wasn't his usual self, but he was still one of the few who were actually looking to take the game on. We need another option to ease the pressure on him.

There is a kid called Morabito who would be handy, also another by the name of Barlow - missing these 2 is really hurting us.

 

[Righteo]

We desperately need Silvagni back too.

 

[Spoken4]

Last year we were the hunter. Now we are acting like the hunted - without the right to be so. When have the Eagles wanted a derby win more than Freo? Cannot believe that we did not take this game on like it was our last.

I do not share the popular view that everthing will be fixed once our players come off the injury list. I predict that Michael Barlow will not play anyway near what we are missing this year to make a major difference. Neither will Silvangi - heck he was never an A or B+ grader anyway - and the amount of footy he has missed will limit his capacity to capture any sustained form and make a difference. I don't rate Hayden and wouldn't put him into our best 22. Of those out, I would only count on Ballentyne (and he is still an emerging player) and Suban (who finally found form this year after two pretty bad years).

So what is the cure? That's what the coaches are paid the big bucks for. Get back the hunger which sees Freo boys first to the ball everytime. Get back confidence which is clearly lacking. Make it a requirement for every player to play at 100% for 120 minutes or they are dropped the next week. I think back to last year when Harve's dropped Duffman for shirking a contested mark. He was sent back to the WAFL and came back to play his best season yet. If we wouldn't tolerate it then, why now?

I say drop all our main underperformers - MJ, Crowley etc - and play some kids who while lacking in skill and experience, will make up for it with the hunger to seize their opportunity.

 

[believe_it]

Was it just me or did that not even feel like a derby? There were no spotfires, no physicality and it was not a traditional close game. NO INTENSITY at all from us.

I wasn't expecting us to win but without Embley and Kerr we should of done a lot bettet. That was really upsetting and we have now been exposed.

I thought it was maybe going to kick off at the half time siren. However it kinda looked like the players were thinking well we are supposed get aggro....ahh **** it can't be bothered.Lets go to the change rooms and recharge with some interpretive dance.

 

[prattsta]

There is a kid called Morabito who would be handy, also another by the name of Barlow - missing these 2 is really hurting us.

This comes bacK to the question a few of us have been asking all year. Are we just killing time until some key players return? A lot of the structures/tactics that have been in place since the as early as the pre-season seem to suggest we are...

 

[Proud Bogan]

The biggest difference between this season and the last
Chris Scott