Review Fremantle vs Melbourne

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Apr 8, 2008
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PollieCentral
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One of our better wins recently IMHO. Ross looked delighted in the walk down to the rooms, as well he should be.

Melbourne were pathetic in the second half, but only because we made them look pathetic.

Given we were two down by halfway through the second quarter, got no goals from Ballas/Pav/Walters, yet still comfortably broke 110 points, and kept them to one goal in the second half, I'd say that was a decent day at the office.

Yes, we butchered a lot of it going forward in the first and third quarters, and we looked a bit out of synch in the second quarter.

Yes, we didn't score 200 points.

Yes, Lach72 still found plenty of areas we could get better in.

But we still won comfortably, got a bunch of our guys to have another run at the G (where we will need to play to win a Granny) and had a few guys stand up and have great fill in games when needed - C Pearce, Tabs, Suban, Mayney as key forward for nearly 3 quarters, Sandi as more of a forward than normal, and Ibbo and Duffman playing different roles than over the last few weeks.

Plus we made the tanking scum look like what they are.

Pathetic.
 

theGav56

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Oct 11, 2004
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I seriously wrote Freo off this year. Thought they were past it. based on the finals exit last year. Please note Freo supports i'm not a RL hater loved him as our coach also happy he left. (we played such s*^t ugly footy 2011.

Well I owe you purple b@stards:) a massive apology you're smashing it. form team of the comp atm.
Nothing ugly about how the Freo boys are playing. Really love how Lyon has evolved what he does.
 

jusjoshin

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Oct 22, 2008
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It's what a mouth guard is for.
Mouth guard protects your teeth. It will not stop a blow to the jaw from rocking your head back on your neck (which is what causes concussion). If you really want to protect your brain, you have to build up your neck muscles to stop your head from whipping around (which is why rugby players can take the battering they do).
 

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ydraw

Norm Smith Medallist
Apr 27, 2015
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Ross pointedly mentioned it was two steps after the marking contest and he was being generous. Was it intentional? Probably not. Was it stupidly reckless? Yes.

Again, it was a head clash. Those are pretty much always purely accidental.
 

couldhavebeen

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Jun 6, 2012
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What I loved about this game was the way we have learn't that the forward pockets are almost impossible to kick goals from and that the members wing is the only side of the ground to play .
We lowered our vision and only looked for forwards when they where 20 to 30 metres in front of the goal mouth or on a slight angle unlike the Grand Final . I loved Mundy's goal but even with a slight breeze those pockets are as hard as to get the chocolates from .
 

arrow_dactyl

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Aug 26, 2013
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What I loved about this game was the way we have learn't that the forward pockets are almost impossible to kick goals from and that the members wing is the only side of the ground to play .
We lowered our vision and only looked for forwards when they where 20 to 30 metres in front of the goal mouth or on a slight angle unlike the Grand Final . I loved Mundy's goal but even with a slight breeze those pockets are as hard as to get the chocolates from .

Exactly. Some people will look at the game and say the Dockers got such a big win because of the Dees inaccuracy compared to ours. But if you look at the areas where the shots were taken you will see that most of the Dockers shots were from straight in front or on only a slight angle. The Dees, (particularly Howe) had a lot of shots from right on the boundary. I'm not sure if we were intentionally giving them space to lead close to the boundary or if it just ended up like that, but that certainly helped generate such a large discrepancy between the two sides.
 
Jul 15, 2007
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Exactly. Some people will look at the game and say the Dockers got such a big win because of the Dees inaccuracy compared to ours. But if you look at the areas where the shots were taken you will see that most of the Dockers shots were from straight in front or on only a slight angle. The Dees, (particularly Howe) had a lot of shots from right on the boundary. I'm not sure if we were intentionally giving them space to lead close to the boundary or if it just ended up like that, but that certainly helped generate such a large discrepancy between the two sides.

Good defenders and good team defenders always open up the boundary side for the lead before anything else. Freo have/are both (have good defenders and are well organised as as defensive team). If you look at our play from a wide angle (not available on TV), you'll see us do it very well. It was one of the first things Ross tightened up and it's been a key plank of our game plan since.

As for the game overall, I don't buy that it was all us making Melbourne look bad. I thought their last 2/3 of the game was bog ordinary. If they were even slightly better with ball in hand they would have been a good few goals closer to us in the end - and I'm not talking about missed shots, their ball use coming out of the back half was crapiola and their pressure was relatively week too in the last quarter especially.

But I'm not moaning, we were very solid and jumped on them and played like a top side should for much of the game and finished really really well.

Special mentions (besides our dominant midfield): Loved Suban's game, Tabs as well, and of course Mayne was king of the day when Pav and Walters went out.
 

Topkent

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Got a new found respect for the dockers midfield after that game, The 3 of Mundy, Barlow and Fyfe are just brutal men who cant be tackled by just one bloke

As soon as the second bloke comes in to stop them then that leaves your outside runners free and thats what good inside midfielders should do, not just shovel it out to another inside mid like we have

This is the best Ive ever seen Freo including in the GF year, I would have you guys down as early flag favorites at this point

Also about our inaccuracy, its exactly what we have been doing to other sides, alot of our wins have come off the back off the other sides missing shots but thats because we dont allow any easy shots at goal and they are all hard fort when they come

Full credit to you guys we have a long long way to go
 
Oct 3, 2006
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I think the Gu should come in for the pig , De boer gave away numerous free kicks and at best was very average. Also think Sutcliffe is off the boil now for some time. Suban is actually getting better and starting to have a real influence in the game. Ballas was really out of sorts out there. Not sure what has happened to him this year? same but to a lesser extent to sunny, out key small forwards not really firing ,luckily the Mayne man has stepped it up. I think tabs is starting to grow. Sandy is not quite where we know he good be, Hendrix is starting to belong. Pharlap is back to his old days as is johno.


Sutcliffe ...off the boil??? He was the epitomy of class.
 

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Feb 15, 2015
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Congratulations on a sensational win. Fingers crossed for injury free in the later season - I was there yesterday and thought I was probably looking at the 2015 premiers. Fife, Mayne & Mundy are guns.
 
Feb 15, 2015
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Careful buddy, it's the death penalty for misspelling Fyfe on this board ;)
Holy s**t! Yeah - sorry about that. 2015 brain cells taken over by remembering to say H instead of Harry O.
 
Jan 5, 2012
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Congratulations on a sensational win. Fingers crossed for injury free in the later season - I was there yesterday and thought I was probably looking at the 2015 premiers. Fife, Mayne & Mundy are guns.

Your team is improving and you guys have some dead set guns coming through the ranks. There is a light at the end of the tunnel mate with some of your young players coming through. Absolute rippers in Vandenburg, Brayshaw and Hogan.
 

Mr Peabody

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Sep 3, 2014
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Just watching the replay and the pre game interview with Ross. Always find these interesting as perhaps an insight into some of the messaging he has given the players for the game:

- We're a bit more mobile with a bit more distribution down back without Dawson and Silvagni.
- Work without the ball could be stonger. The better teams at the minute are getting it back off the opposition a bit more frequently than we are so that's a focus today to stop the ball in the midfield and create some more scoring opportunities.
- We're moving the ball quite well out of stoppages but it's carrying other elements of our game.
- We've changed Pav's role. Akin to Roughie, he's more stay at home, running a lot less, a lot fresher and he's got his legs back in his kicking.


So you don't want to lose your spot in this team right now as it gives the Coach a new perspective (e.g Ibbo for Dawson, Clancee for Crowls). Wants more pressure around the ball when the opposition has it and the likes of Pav (and I think Mundy too) have had their roles varied to keep them fresh.
 
First time seeing the lads live for the year. Some impressions:
  • Our midfield are massive, both literally & figuratively;
  • The simple things are quite often the best. When we get the ball out move it forward quickly it's a delight to watch, but when we get too fancy & fiddle around with the ball (which we did particularly in the middle quarters) the ball's crying out to be turned over;
  • Fyfe one on one is unplayable. He is on another level. I don't mind admitting it, but in the third quarter when he took a mark over his opponent on the southern wing and took a couple of bounces running towards where I was sitting on the 50m line, framed by the afternoon sunlight, I got a semi;
  • There were quite a few instances of players slipping over & dropped marks that you'd expect to be taken. Maybe due to the local conditions (slipping especially);
  • Couple of instances of our backline looking a bit lost when the ball was coming in - not looking at the ball or positioning themselves properly. Best example was the Spurr stepladder for Garlett. Other times though we attacked the ball & got good value - Suban (I think) in the last quarter was one example;
  • Speaking of Garlett, when he missed that sitter in the third the way that both Melbourne players & supporters dropped their heads you knew the game was over for them;
  • I liked Tabs taking the angry pills;
  • Hardly noticed Barlow yet he had 30+ touches. Kinda like that about his game;
  • Thought I saw us with 82% disposal efficiency on the scoreboard after the game. Doesn't seem right given point 2 above but great if it was;
  • Kick to kick on the 'G is awesome but bloody dangerous. Many a young kid got falconed. The MCG staff should play some Funniest Home Videos sound effects over the PA for added value. Liked the bloke who sprinted to the centre square only to stop & touch the rope (old mate on security was bracing in vain for a tackle), he gave great effort;
  • Melbourne supporters believe that quite a few of our players "should get bloody haircuts". Great to see that they're concerned about the appearance of our players;
  • More second half Sutcliffe would be good;
  • Loved Chopper's game;
  • Lastly - kudos to Melbourne for using Hells Bells pre-game.
Think that's it...
 

Spoken4

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  • Kick to kick on the 'G is awesome but bloody dangerous. Many a young kid got falconed. The MCG staff should play some Funniest Home Videos sound effects over the PA for added value. Liked the bloke who sprinted to the centre square only to stop & touch the rope (old mate on security was bracing in vain for a tackle), he gave great effort;

Pure gold!!
 

StingBitten

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May 31, 2012
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If you read certain pages on our Game Day threads every match this season you'd think we were bottom of the ladder... it's good for us to have high expectations for our boys but think it's a little on the nose upon occasion.

I don't think it's any coincidence that Mayne went on to kick 4 goals after Pav went off. Not to say Pav hinders the Mayne-man, but winning the one-on-one deep in attack reminds me of the first half of 2013 when we were completely Pavless. Good signs for the club.

Tough calls on Walters being out of form when he was out for the majority of the match; same for Ballantyne who's been away the last two. I think it's because the manner of our attack is different; it seems that just about every goal we kick either comes from: 1. Big contested grabs deep in forward (ala Pav, Clarke, Fyfe, and now Mayne) 2. Hawthorn-like precision short-kicking to targets just inside 50 or 3. On-the-burst Midfield goals (ala Hill, D. Pearce, Neale, Fyfe etc). Hasn't been as great an opportunity for the crumb off the spoil sneakgoals that Ballantyne and Walters do so well. All this means is that like any other player in the side, they need to adapt to the new gameplan and find other ways to contribute.
 

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