Fix the SSMFC

[Ultimatt]

Fix the gameplan. Every team knows how to stop the slingshot now by having a loose man back. Collingwood played a 7th defender against us, when Longmire put someone on him Buckley brought an 8th man back. Then there's the tactic used against Buddy where his KPD stays back and never follows him past 60m meaning another loose man. This quick play-on type footy is entertaining to watch but has us bombing the ball forward to an opposition that 8 times out of 10 has the extra number around the ball.

 

[Swanee]

My belief is that with the inclusion of Buddy into our team , the rest of the team thought it was all just going to happen. I don't believe they've been working as hard and basically just slacked off knowing Buddy was coming and why put so much effort in when we are going to stroll into the finals anyway. For once in our recent history the press weren't writing us off during the off season, in fact they had us up there equal with Freo and the Hawks as flag favorites, and the players started to believe the press. Its taken a couple of wake up calls (3 in fact) to make them realise they still need to put in the same effort and play the Swans game. Once our team gets settled, especially with Tippett and Goodes and Reid coming back in I've no doubt we will be able to beat any team.

 

[bungee]

Fix the gameplan. Every team knows how to stop the slingshot now by having a loose man back. Collingwood played a 7th defender against us, when Longmire put someone on him Buckley brought an 8th man back. Then there's the tactic used against Buddy where his KPD stays back and never follows him past 60m meaning another loose man. This quick play-on type footy is entertaining to watch but has us bombing the ball forward to an opposition that 8 times out of 10 has the extra number around the ball.

Before the Freo game it seemed everyone was an armchair coach....

 

[bungee]

My belief is that with the inclusion of Buddy into our team , the rest of the team thought it was all just going to happen. I don't believe they've been working as hard and basically just slacked off knowing Buddy was coming and why put so much effort in when we are going to stroll into the finals anyway. For once in our recent history the press weren't writing us off during the off season, in fact they had us up there equal with Freo and the Hawks as flag favorites, and the players started to believe the press. Its taken a couple of wake up calls (3 in fact) to make them realise they still need to put in the same effort and play the Swans game. Once our team gets settled, especially with Tippett and Goodes and Reid coming back in I've no doubt we will be able to beat any team.

You nailed it Swaneeeeee.

The game plan works but it's up to the players to put in the effort to seize control of the game and play it on our terms.

 

[Ultimatt]

Before the Freo game it seemed everyone was an armchair coach....

I don't think we played the same style as we did in our 3 losses. We must've been watching a different game on the weekend. What I saw was less "shotgun" and more chipping the ball around for easy marks and working the ball forward. Let's see what the stats say:

Rnd1 GWS - 51 i50's, 22 scoring shots, 62.5% DE
Rnd2 Pies - 50 i50's, 19 scoring shots, 71.2% DE
Rnd3 Crows - 45 i50's, 29 scoring shots, 75.5% DE
Rnd4 Norf - 66 i50's, 18 scoring shots, 59.4% DE
Rnd5 Freo - 45 i50's, 27 scoring shots, 70.1% DE

So collectively, in the 3 games we've lost we've had 59 scoring shots from 167 i50's or 35.3%. In the 2 we've won, 56 scoring shots from 90 i50's or 62.2%. The 2 games with our least i50's produced the most scoring shots and our highest scores. Obviously some of that is down to wet-weather football, but why are we bombing the ball forward when it's wet? The way we play in the wet just doesn't work as evidenced by losses to GWS, Pies & Norf and IMO needs to be addressed by the coaching staff. Just my 2c that I found in my armchair..

 

[icee]

It pretty hard to use a slick game plan when it bloody rains.

Our loses has been about the team and coach not adapting to the conditions. As soon as i saw it was a beautiful afternoon in Sydney i knew we would win.

I dont care if people dont like the weather excuse at all but it plays a big factor on how teams or players adapt. Our players have been hard wired into playing a certain style and even in the wet they coudnt switch. Buddy was at fult in the north game..why he kept wandering up the ground is becasue thats his style.

Buddy is hard wired to play up the ground rather than stay in the goal square. Horse mentioned he had to tell buddy to not roam up the ground so much.

Our game plan sucks so much in less than perfect conditions.