Review Freo bully the Blues

[WeaselWJ]

I quite like Kersten in defence, has worked well so far.

 

[ydraw]

Who comes out for Alex Pearce if he is fit?

Nyhuis or Kersten.

 

[Superkoops]

I beg to differ. Had some ordinary body language and performances during some of those losses. Last two weeks have been better both offensively and defensively.

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I haven’t spoken to Lachie but I know I saw him in the Collingwood game early on he copped a significant hit to his calf - like a big corkie to that muscle belly. Struggled for the whole game. I saw Lachie chatting at length with Webber at half time changerooms whilst limping around. Must have been close to being pulled from the game. It was a fair effort him playing on and his frustration and body language was more a reflection of his difficulty running. Still got over 20 possessions and played fwd a fair bit.

 

[TheMcManusNose]

I quite like Kersten in defence, has worked well so far.

Yeah look i'm one of the very vocal detractors of Kersten but he does look pretty reasonable in that role. Could work very well as a 3rd tall defender. Fast, good kick, reads the ball well but gets lost up forward.

Dunno if he fits there future-wise with Logue seemingly earmarked for that role but if he settles there and improves then I can't see why we wouldn't keep him there

 

[theGav56]

Kersten certainly looks like he's enjoying himself more.

 

[StingBitten]

Carlton are witches hats but under any circumstances it’s wonderful to see us play champagne football.

There are a couple of standouts for me:

- Blakely in the guts is a thing of beauty. I am so, so glad Ross persisted this after Fyfe’s abscence.

- I’m convinced of Brayshaw and Cerra, I didn’t expect Giro would be the next truly genuine purple prince. His decision making under pressure is Magic, he seems to have a ‘real time’ elite footy awareness that translates to immediate success. There was an unconventional side kick he made late in the match that looked amateurish but was timed to absolute perfection.

- Neale played a disposal high game in the forward patch and the midfield realm. The scary thing is, he could literally play Ballatyne’s game of limited minutes whilst also impacting the midfield. Utilise this guy well and you’ve literally invented three players.

Minor negative:

- just an observation; Sandi destroys the tapouts and even gets it to the right players, but I noticed so many kicks-to-da-pack where he tries to take the big contested mark and it ends up falling into oppo hands. Jones is no pro but one thing he did was bear hug his ipppnent and bring he ball to ground, somehow we almost got it every time. **** the mark Sandi, treat it like a well placed hit-oit and we’re fine.

 

[Arcassius]

Kersten certainly looks like he's enjoying himself more.

He gets to play right next to his best bud. I wonder if there's some friendly competition between them back there

 

[sherrif]

its amazing seeing kersten play in defense. In attack he never seemed to know where to go.

He brings speed and kicking ability to the back half. The two players with the highest maximum speed for us this year are actually Alex Pearce and Kersten coming into the round. Considering Luke Ryan was also in the top three a couple of rounds ago there is an underated amount of speed in our back half, particularly when consider S.Hill and Wilson are playing there and Hamling is a quick key position player as well. Im really liking what Kersten has bought to the team. It is pretty absurd that some of his consistent bashers on here have in the past referred to him as being slow. The reality is he is the top 15 for maximum speed in the whole of the afl this year despite only playing a handful of games.

 

[Arcassius]

It might be less factual if Arcassius had directly spoken to Lachie's manager about the subject in negotiations for the latest Q&A.

There are boundaries around what we chat about. I do follow Lachie very closely though, and still have photos floating around from the Adelaide game with the amount of work they were doing on his right calf. He was wearing a compression sock (why his right sock was pulled right up) and they were taping it back up at every break, and working on it for the duration of the breaks. I mentioned it then as well, about being proppy in the warm up.

I haven’t spoken to Lachie but I know I saw him in the Collingwood game early on he copped a significant hit to his calf - like a big corkie to that muscle belly. Struggled for the whole game. I saw Lachie chatting at length with Webber at half time changerooms whilst limping around. Must have been close to being pulled from the game. It was a fair effort him playing on and his frustration and body language was more a reflection of his difficulty running. Still got over 20 possessions and played fwd a fair bit.

^ This. 'attitude' with our players isn't always as cut and dried as not being interested, just as running out on the park doesn't mean they'll always perform to the best of their abilities. There's usually something behind it. That's all I've been trying to point out.

 

[theGav56]

He gets to play right next to his best bud. I wonder if there's some friendly competition between them back there

I reckon Hamling would be doing everything possible to make Kersten look good. Possibly oils his beard for him.

 

[Arcassius]

I reckon Hamling would be doing everything possible to make Kersten look good. Possibly oils his beard for him.

It's been an inspired move. I do wonder why it's taken so long for Blakely to move back into the midfield though. What the reason was for having him run off HB for so long. In his early seasons he looked good in the middle, and attacking. Maybe it was an accountability lesson he needed to learn around defending?

 

[theGav56]

It's been an inspired move. I do wonder why it's taken so long for Blakely to move back into the midfield though. What the reason was for having him run off HB for so long. In his early seasons he looked good in the middle, and attacking. Maybe it was an accountability lesson he needed to learn around defending?

The Ross moves in mysterious ways.

I think it was more about getting Wilson and Ryan to do a little less grunt work. I love our pace from defence. We were terrible last season.

 

[Taylor]

There are boundaries around what we chat about. I do follow Lachie very closely though, and still have photos floating around from the Adelaide game with the amount of work they were doing on his right calf. He was wearing a compression sock (why his right sock was pulled right up) and they were taping it back up at every break, and working on it for the duration of the breaks. I mentioned it then as well, about being proppy in the warm up.

I was just taking a guess at the situation

The sock on Lachie against Adelaide fooled nobody, it wasn't like he was going up in the ruck haha

Lachie is a tough man, he played out years with niggles before surgery. It's the percentage play to assume Neale has a niggle. When he is moving freely he dominates like Tom Mitchell.

And you can't expect a F1 car to win the race with a cylinder dropped.

 

[Arcassius]

The Ross moves in mysterious ways.

I think it was more about getting Wilson and Ryan to do a little less grunt work. I love our pace from defence. We were terrible last season.

Do you think that Wilson and Ryan are still vulnerable defensively? Moreso Wilson? Being more attacking he was prone to coming off his man too much in the earlier games and was exposed a bit.

 

[theGav56]

Do you think that Wilson and Ryan are still vulnerable defensively? Moreso Wilson? Being more attacking he was prone to coming off his man too much in the earlier games and was exposed a bit.

Definitely Wilson, but neither are poor. It is just you want to get them into the transition work.

I actually really value the crash and bash style Blakeley had back there, but it is more valuable in the guts.

 

[Steinfreo]

It was reported as him being doubtful for at least a couple of matches recently. I suspect being under a cloud would affect your chasing and tackling ability during a game..

He got called out by commentators a couple of weeks ago. Hes turned it around and im sure if you had a look at some of the more 'advanced' stats over the last couple of games they may tell a story of improved form. Maybe not but the eye test told me that our much hyped midfield leaders were getting beaten regularly and many times neale would be standig around in there not doing a lot. I dont know what happened but the adelaide game lit a fire under the squad and its continued into this game. I wouldnt be surprised if some of our leaders got a rocket.

 

[ydraw]

Yeah look i'm one of the very vocal detractors of Kersten but he does look pretty reasonable in that role. Could work very well as a 3rd tall defender. Fast, good kick, reads the ball well but gets lost up forward.

Dunno if he fits there future-wise with Logue seemingly earmarked for that role but if he settles there and improves then I can't see why we wouldn't keep him there

I see him in the Michael Johnson role, the quarterback who can also defend a bit, but mainly a mid-tall distributor, with Hamling and Pearce taking the 2 main defensive roles. You are right though that it seems to be a role that he'd be competing with Logue for. Logue might end up being anything though. He could end up a tall mid or a forward, it's too early to tell really.

 

[Crippa]

second thing that comes to mind is how impressed I was by Fyfe's pregame interview when he talked about how good the kids were last week and how it was up to him and Sandi to fit into the chemistry created last week. Shows such a creative and flexible intelligence.
My criticism of Lyon over the journey is his that his strength is also his weakness. He believes in process over everything. Sometimes changing the dynamics can produce results that can't be predicted with performance indicators or numbers.
Fyfe's words proved to me he understands this.

To me Fyfe's words showed he now understands that he needs to stop insisting on doing everything himself and allow Ross to change the structures in such a way that allows others to spend more time in the midfield with Fyfe spending more time forward. Fyfe has been strenuously resisting the coach's calls in this respect (see Lyon's pre-season interviews in 2016 and 2018) but the youngsters' win in Fyfe's absence last week seems to have forced Fyfe's hand.

Being out of the running for the Brownlow has been a godsend in my view inasmuch as it's clearly helping Fyfe focus less on his individual career and more on the need to be fully onboard with what the coach thinks is best for the development of the team. I never want to see another match where we lose by 100 points but Fyfe racks up midfield possessions and wins himself 3 Brownlow votes and a perfect 10 votes from the coaches. Fyfe gains plenty but the team gains nothing from this.

I'm fully aware that's an eccentric and unpopular view and that everyone will be in furious disagreement.

 

[Unique Name]

To me Fyfe's words showed he now understands that he needs to stop insisting on doing everything himself and allow Ross to change the structures in such a way that allows others to spend more time in the midfield with Fyfe spending more time forward. Fyfe has been strenuously resisting the coach's calls in this respect (see Lyon's pre-season interviews in 2016 and 2018) but the youngsters' win in Fyfe's absence last week seems to have forced Fyfe's hand.

Being out of the running for the Brownlow has been a godsend in my view inasmuch as it's clearly helping Fyfe focus less on his individual career and more on the need to be fully onboard with what the coach thinks is best for the development of the team. I never want to see another match where we lose by 100 points but Fyfe racks up midfield possessions and wins himself 3 Brownlow votes and a perfect 10 votes from the coaches. Fyfe gains plenty but the team gains nothing from this.

I'm fully aware that's an eccentric and unpopular view and that everyone will be in furious disagreement.

I said to my wife after he got suspended that he'll probably be more open to playing in the forward line now the Brownlow is off the table.

 

[ozzie69]

I see him in the Michael Johnson role, the quarterback who can also defend a bit, but mainly a mid-tall distributor, with Hamling and Pearce taking the 2 main defensive roles. You are right though that it seems to be a role that he'd be competing with Logue for. Logue might end up being anything though. He could end up a tall mid or a forward, it's too early to tell really.

However Kersten tears Johnson to shreds for pace. With the pace we are building in defense, we are going to rip some zone defenses apart as we transition from our defense. But we can't rely on just X defenders - there will always be injuries and form slumps, so Logue will get his opportunity (another speedy jet)

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[rgauci]

However Kersten tears Johnson to shreds for pace. With the pace we are building in defense, we are going to rip some zone defenses apart as we transition from our defense. But we can't rely on just X defenders - there will always be injuries and form slumps, so Logue will get his opportunity (another speedy jet)

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Kicking length too, Kersten has a huge boot. I see him as a more athletic Shanon Hurn who can actually jump more than 30cm off the ground. He could play 3-4th tall, 2nd tall doesn’t suit him.

 

[wayToGo_]

Just had a quick skim of the Carlton board. Gotta say, they (mostly) don't seem a bad bunch given what they've had to endure in recent years. We might talk about how bad it's been for us... Carlton fans are now talking about having their kids asking to support other clubs. A few of their youngsters in the stands even started supporting Freo by quarter time apparently.

Loved this post from one of them at half time as well.

“St Kilda last week was the worst first half of footy ever played”

Carlton: Hold my beer...

 

[purplepassion82]

- just an observation; Sandi destroys the tapouts and even gets it to the right players, but I noticed so many kicks-to-da-pack where he tries to take the big contested mark and it ends up falling into oppo hands. Jones is no pro but one thing he did was bear hug his ipppnent and bring he ball to ground, somehow we almost got it every time. **** the mark Sandi, treat it like a well placed hit-oit and we’re fine.

He’s a beast, that’s for sure. And has been such a great player for us for so long. But, to back your point, he was the only player in our team to have ZERO tackles yesterday.

 

[yyou]

That's actually a tactic as our extra is usually running off the defensive square into the middle at the centre bounce. So while initially it looks like we have one less it is only for a split second to get the extra number through the midfield defensively.

Michael Prior discusses it in this video http://www.fremantlefc.com.au/video/2018-06-02/big-stage-awaits-young-team-prior @ 2mins 30

Thanks for that, but I personally don’t like it (& of course I know more than an AFL team’s brains trust) for the simple reason that we seem to win our fair share of centre bounce clearances, so we end up clearing it to an area where we are outnumbered

 

[Superkoops]

^ This. 'attitude' with our players isn't always as cut and dried as not being interested, just as running out on the park doesn't mean they'll always perform to the best of their abilities. There's usually something behind it. That's all I've been trying to point out.

Agreed. He is a tough little bugger and he was obviously cut down pretty badly.

Aside from the Collingwood game I noticed him limping around in the North Melbourne game and his output was done in that one.

Hopefully the bye serves him well.