Good & Bad things

[E Shed]

Random things which I haven't seen (much) noted yet (judged from my view at the ground at the Subi end) I haven't watched the replay.

Farmer was better
Jonno coming good. A few glitches still but some really nice things too. I really rate Jonno.
Grover was awesome
Sandi is becoming a force to be reckoned with.
Heath did some better things (and some bad things)
Peake continues to improve
Keps is recruit of the year

Solomon was awful (was staging for frees wtf?)
Mayne's skills were pretty poor. I notice in the warm up his kicking is not really AFL standard. Love his hardness and endeavor but this boy cannot kick. (maybe it was a bad day?)
Tarrant went missing for long periods. Some of his decisions when he had it were poor too. A shame as he has been on the improve.
Scotty continues the handball into trouble move. It's getting worse!
Ibbo made some clangers but made up for it.

There has been enough comment on other threads re Schammer and Macca. Schammer has really lost me. He just isn't good enough & he really does fall over when he goes near it!

I though Drum was good, others seemingly didn't.

We just really aren't good enough to cover players like Headland, Hayden. Dodd & Bell not to mention Hase.

As a couple of others have said, I'm just shell shocked, found myself laughing during the game. It's tough to watch at the moment but like everything it will pass and what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

 

[summerthebat]

Also, I loved them bringing the huddle to the Subi end, that was some inspirational stuff (in theory)

After that, I thought there was no way we could lose, then of course Motlop kicked that freak goal and the atmosphere just left the place.

The Bad:
I can't believe I made a thread before the Carlton game about how we were in with a small chance to play finals. I hate myself.

 

[sumavich]

Random things which I haven't seen (much) noted yet (judged from my view at the ground at the Subi end) I haven't watched the replay.

Farmer was better
Jonno coming good. A few glitches still but some really nice things too. I really rate Jonno.
Grover was awesome
Sandi is becoming a force to be reckoned with.
Heath did some better things (and some bad things)
Peake continues to improve
Keps is recruit of the year

Solomon was awful (was staging for frees wtf?)
Mayne's skills were pretty poor. I notice in the warm up his kicking is not really AFL standard. Love his hardness and endeavor but this boy cannot kick. (maybe it was a bad day?)
Tarrant went missing for long periods. Some of his decisions when he had it were poor too. A shame as he has been on the improve.
Scotty continues the handball into trouble move. It's getting worse!
Ibbo made some clangers but made up for it.

There has been enough comment on other threads re Schammer and Macca. Schammer has really lost me. He just isn't good enough & he really does fall over when he goes near it!

I though Drum was good, others seemingly didn't.

We just really aren't good enough to cover players like Headland, Hayden & Bell not to mention Hase.

As a couple of others have said, I'm just shell shocked, found myself laughing during the game. It's tough to watch at the moment but like everything it will pass and what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

Early in the second quarter, Sandi's kIck from a set shot for goal was very casual, he kicked a point, as did the wiz & peake albeit from harder shots.
If we are EVER going to be a force, we need to kick these goals.
We were goalless in the second quarter BTW.

 

[dominguez]

The biggest positive is that tomorrow's a public holiday.

 

[Chops_a_must]

Sandi is becoming a force to be reckoned with.

Despite busting his gut, Sandi was well and truly beaten in the 2nd and last quarters by Lade.

Lade was instrumental in the shifts of momentum for Port. And if he wants to be at that next level, he has to be able to beat those kind of players.

And unfortunately, made a few crucial skill errors...

 

[Sman-21]

Maybe it is fitness.

I thought i remembered hearing the dockers having a huge preseason an were fitter than ever.

But halfway through the 2nd quarters we seem seem to struggle an let teams back in it late or like today kick away.
Then again around halfway through the final quarters we let teams run riot.

 

[Angus McFuttock]

1. Schammer set a new PB for the number of times he slipped and fell over - FFS choose your boots a bit better.
2. Duffield was not up to it again.
3. When is Macca's farewell game???
4. Ray Chamberlain - a strong argument for bringing back dwarf tossing. Learn the holding the ball and play on rules you gimp!

 

[dont bowl there]

Despite busting his gut, Sandi was well and truly beaten in the 2nd and last quarters by Lade.

Lade was instrumental in the shifts of momentum for Port. And if he wants to be at that next level, he has to be able to beat those kind of players.

And unfortunately, made a few crucial skill errors...

Im sure the same could be said about any player out there today, for either side. The thing is that Sandi was in the top 5-6 players from both sides, his contested marking was amazing and his work around the ground both back and forward was nothing short of amazing. Give credit where its due and dont let your feelings for the guy cloud how you view his game.

 

[Chops_a_must]

Im sure the same could be said about any player out there today, for either side. The thing is that Sandi was in the top 5-6 players from both sides, his contested marking was amazing and his work around the ground both back and forward was nothing short of amazing. Give credit where its due and dont let your feelings for the guy cloud how you view his game.

I didn't.

For mine, he was in our best 2 by an absolute mile. 1 of only 2 of our players worthy of a mention today IMO, and 1 of only 2 of our players on the ground to even win their position or break even. And if he had of kept Lade quiet in the times Brogan was rotating off him, he would have been best on ground out of both teams by a mile. Check my votes if you don't believe me.

 

[dont bowl there]

I didn't.

For mine, he was in our best 2 by an absolute mile. 1 of only 2 of our players worthy of a mention today IMO, and 1 of only 2 of our players on the ground to even win their position or break even. And if he had of kept Lade quiet in the times Brogan was rotating off him, he would have been best on ground out of both teams by a mile. Check my votes if you don't believe me.

Ok fair enough, its just you singled out his name in the opening post and said he was beaten by Lade and made errors. I read it as a very negative post on a player that just about had the only positives in the match for Freo.

Oh and im very touchy when it comes to Sandi as I think he is the second most important player in our squad and is having a career best season.

Against Brogan and Lade it was the time for Warnock to come in and lend a hand, not playing against Port (one of the only teams with two genuine ruckmen) tells me that Warnock is gonski.

 

[pinkus maximus]

good -
palmer
sandilands improving but needs assistance

bad -
the whole vibe from the team. i never really thought they would win
pav tightening up again

 

[Chops_a_must]

Ok fair enough, its just you singled out his name in the opening post and said he was beaten by Lade and made errors. I read it as a very negative post on a player that just about had the only positives in the match for Freo.

Oh and im very touchy when it comes to Sandi as I think he is the second most important player in our squad and is having a career best season.

Against Brogan and Lade it was the time for Warnock to come in and lend a hand, not playing against Port (one of the only teams with two genuine ruckmen) tells me that Warnock is gonski.

As opposed to other players, Sandi's errors looked like the result of exhaustion. The kick in the last quarter was symbollic of that. Looked like he literally needed a lie down.

He is without doubt having his best season, and as I've pointed out elsewhere, is really our only mature age player to improve this year. Has been one of the few shining lights. I'd rate him about 5th in importance, but that's probably my view on ruckman in general, rather than anything.

And I agree about Warnock. Was surprised he wasn't playing given the weather. Thought he would if it was dry, purely, because of arguably the best ruck duo in Bogan and Lade. And it did hurt unfortunately. Sandi beat Bogan, but could not beat them both.

The only other opportunity I can see for Warnock, barring injury, is against Blake and Ottens. If they even bother playing Ottens against us...

 

[Lach72]

I question why the move is made wth McPharlin forward every week and then we get towelled up back...especially with Dodd and Hayden out...all very well trying to kick a winning score, but if you're bleeding at the other end, you will lose.

Westhoff tore Drum a new arse, and Drum needs to understand that trailing your man to the contest by >5m is unacceptable...Drum is a good lead and mark and has kicked goals, and as he was getting reamed, leaving Luke down back and moving Drum, may have been the better option...

 

[chook2734]

I question why the move is made wth McPharlin forward every week and then we get towelled up back...especially with Dodd and Hayden out...all very well trying to kick a winning score, but if you're bleeding at the other end, you will lose.

Westhoff tore Drum a new arse, and Drum needs to understand that trailing your man to the contest by >5m is unacceptable...Drum is a good lead and mark and has kicked goals, and as he was getting reamed, leaving Luke down back and moving Drum, may have been the better option...

I thought the move of McPharlin forward in the third quarter was good and part of the reason we were able to fight back and go in with a lead at three quarter time. We were attacking at all costs and he was providing a pretty good target with Pav spending more time on the ball. I took it as a message from Harvs that he wanted the boys to just keep sending the ball forward. Agree that Drum struggled, but unfortunately when you play the kids, sometimes they let you down. I don't think we have much choice but to persist with him though.

 

[Belnakor]

some of the kicking into the forward 50 was absolutely ____ing terrible. I"m not sure it was a stucture problem (ie: they didn't know where to kick it) or harvs was just getting out coached, but shit. If you have 13 more inside 50s you shouldn't lose a game.

Most of the goals we got in the first half were pack marks - you cannot expect to win games taking pack marks.

I thought the Wiz was still a liability. Must be in his last season.

 

[chook2734]

some of the kicking into the forward 50 was absolutely ____ing terrible. I"m not sure it was a stucture problem (ie: they didn't know where to kick it) or harvs was just getting out coached, but shit. If you have 13 more inside 50s you shouldn't lose a game.

Most of the goals we got in the first half were pack marks - you cannot expect to win games taking pack marks.

I thought the Wiz was still a liability. Must be in his last season.

I'm not quite sure how these two fit together Belnakor? What on earth is Mark Harvey supposed to do if the players don't kick the ball properly? He can't drop them once they run out on the ground, and we don't have too much in reserve to pick from anyway.

I think Harvs has realised that he's doing all he can - he's giving them every opportunity to get into a winning position, they just can't close it out. It's up to the the players to find a way through this now.

 

[theGav56]

And I agree about Warnock. Was surprised he wasn't playing given the weather. Thought he would if it was dry, purely, because of arguably the best ruck duo in Bogan and Lade. And it did hurt unfortunately. Sandi beat Bogan, but could not beat them both.

The only other opportunity I can see for Warnock, barring injury, is against Blake and Ottens. If they even bother playing Ottens against us...

We already looked like we outsized PA, so having Warnock (who has not actually contributed much in the games he has played) would have been of little assistance. At this stage Bradley looks like a better option, which is not to say anything about the rucking potential of those two players, but the actual value of them on the field atm. I would definitely stick with Bradley until Warnock can show that he is of WAFL standard. if he does that then he may be ready for AFL.

 

[theGav56]

I think Harvs has realised that he's doing all he can - he's giving them every opportunity to get into a winning position, they just can't close it out. It's up to the the players to find a way through this now.

Just checking the logic here;

1) "Harvs" is doing all he can, which gets us into a winning position, not the players.

2) Then the players take over in the last quarter, and "they" can't close it out?

Maybe Harvs should not coach for the first quarter, then do all he can in the last.

 

[wehavethepassion]

I though Drum was good, others seemingly didn't.

.

He played a schocker loped behind westoff all day and was beaten badly in one on one clashes.

 

[chook2734]

Just checking the logic here;

1) "Harvs" is doing all he can, which gets us into a winning position, not the players.

2) Then the players take over in the last quarter, and "they" can't close it out?

Maybe Harvs should not coach for the first quarter, then do all he can in the last.

My point was moreso that for the last 5 weeks we have been in a position to win every game - he can't be doing too much wrong based on that. The players are doing the work on the field, but obviously the things he can control are not too far wrong. I think he's tried many things to work out what is going wrong, but at some point, the players have to work through it themselves, they are the ones falling apart in the last quarters. Harvey needs to support them to get through it, but they are the ones who need to find the answer.

 

[dont bowl there]

Just checking the logic here;

1) "Harvs" is doing all he can, which gets us into a winning position, not the players.

2) Then the players take over in the last quarter, and "they" can't close it out?

Maybe Harvs should not coach for the first quarter, then do all he can in the last.

The same kind of logic was used in 2006, CC coached the first half of the year and then when we went on our run it was Harvey that took over.

 

[PalaceGun]

It's tough to watch at the moment but like everything it will pass

What makes you say that?

 

[E Shed]

What makes you say that?

Everything passes eventually. The days of the Drum shockers are long gone as is the Roman Empire. It's one of those philosophical expressions that supposedly makes things easier to bear. As the Greek philosopher Hippocrates put it, "The only permanent thing is change."

 

[wce4premiership]

Didn't manage to see the game but it look like palmers disposal is improving from the stats. He will get the nab rising star i reckon.

 

[theGav56]

My point was moreso that for the last 5 weeks we have been in a position to win every game - he can't be doing too much wrong based on that.

Quite a reasonable point if a couple of those teams weren't Melbourne and Carlton, which are two of the most humiliating losses in our history given the state of those teams and that they have rookie coaches. Plus you are only looking at the streak of 5 we are currently in, when outside of that little piece of history we have had a couple of coaching masterclasses from Richmond and Collingwood.