Autopsy JLT 2 v Carlscum - Player review

[nahnah]

Game thoughts:

- We had a poor game in the centre clearances. On the one hand this is just a pre season match. On the other we had a strong midfield group and it's been our achilles heel in recent years. It concerns me. I think the biggest advantage of the 6, 6, 6 system will come from quick centre clearances. Our midfield group has the qualities to take advantage but we always seem to come up short. Is it the structure in there? The personnel are everything you could hope for. Hopefully i'm worried about nothing.

- Our best was far better. Whenever we upped the intensity we got a big run on. We controlled the game with half the team playing at half intensity.

- We looked somewhat listless without our medium forwards. No Stephenson, De Goey or WHE. We'll be more dangerous with them back in. Stephenson and De Goey aee important to stretch a Geelong team that looks like they will be missing some small defenders including Tuohy.

Player review:

Jordan Roughead - I thought he was excellent. Commanded the air and defended astutely. Got the decision to punch or mark right all game. I remain a skeptic but reckon he's a monty for round 1.

Callum Brown - Chalk and cheese from last week. Had real offensive impact when he won the ball with his positive forward running. First time I remember watching him play and thinking there is an AFL player lurking in there.

Jack Crisp - He was amazing the whole game. Won so much footy and gained so much territory with his possessions.

Jeremy Howe - played one half. The worst footy I can ever remember him playing. Turned over every possesion he earned. No impact as third man. Seriously lacking touch for round one. I'd seriously consider Murphy for the 22 to give Howe the time he needs to find touch in the seconds. He was that off.

Josh Thomas - Our most dangerous forward. Should hve kicked 4 or 5 with straighter kicking. Looking sharp.

Adam Treloar - A performance full of intensity. Won a lot of footy and really productive wifh his running game. Great to see before round 1.

Brayden Maynard - I thought he looked pretty sharp so disagree somewhat with the OP.

Darcy Moore - Was all over Curnow who had no answers. I think i'm modt excited by the run he offers. He was also a very safe kick in. Happy for him to do that role especially with Roughead as a long target.

Tom Langdon - Close to flawless with his intercept game. But gave up some footy with his ball use. I reckon the good far outweights the mistakes.

Brodie Grundy - That play where he took a run, took a bounce and nailed the pass was awesome. Wasnt as dominant as you'd expect but barely raised a sweat I reckon. Worry about the corkie but hopefully is okay.

Brody Mihocek - Workmanlike and effective. Just less so than last week. Like his efforts better than McGoverns!

Greenwood - Pretty poor I thought and got exposed in the air.

Varcoe - Love his intensity. Love his street smarts. Always lowers the eyes and hit up a few of our forwards. Played a bit on Jones and lost out whem he went third man up. But hit back with his own leads and goals.

Sidebottom - Class.

Pendles - Class.

Beams - Pretty good for someone playing at 40% intensity. Needs to put in defensively.

Crocker - We seem to using him off the wing and at a guess are getting him to replicate the Mayne roll. Going for some depth. Does a lot right but he is very outside, cant finish in front of goals and doesnt create. Okay game today but doesnt hurt the oppostion.

Cox - Just okay. Needed to be bigger aerial presence.

Tyler Brown - Good clearance player who needs 2 more years to bulk up.

Goldsack - He's no forward. He was okay through sheer will. But isnt dangerous and needs to go back for the regular season.

Mayne - Barely noticed him.

We actually won the centre clearences fairly convincingly (14-8), we just got mauled at the random stoppages around the ground (13-28)

 

[Tarkyn_24]

Am I turning into Dave or are you all underrating Aish?? Thought he was great and won majority of his contests today.. thought he has been one of our best this preseason

Yeah I thought he was very good today too.

 

[PicaBoo]

Someone on the Hun website commented on a Pies article and said it's time to move Mihocek back to defence because apparently 6-6-6 will be a disadvantage for him. What are people's thoughts?

We have Stephenson, JdG and WHE still to slot in compared to today. Even if we wanted too, it is already hard enough to find a spot. All 3 of them I would have in the fwd next to Thomas, Cox and Elliott before Mihocek enters the discussion. Moving to defense is not an option imho. Who is he going to replace in the back line? We are stacked there with options too . For a 2nd fwd tall he has been quite serviceable and now that Reid is down so we might as well keep him as a fwd.

 

[Quicky]

We actually won the centre clearences fairly convincingly (14-8), we just got mauled at the random stoppages around the ground (13-28)

That's good then. Around the ground I reckon is a product of the intensity more than anything. Ours was inconsistent. We are also historically pretty strong in that area of the game. I dont think that will happen again to a team like Carlton. Not in the regular season.

 

[foreigner]

Thought Howe was putrid but he was probably just rusty. Thanks goodness that Moore took the last few kick outs because Jeremy was unreliable by foot today.

Howe has consistently been terrible in kick ins, not just today. Hope he won't get kick in duties in the season proper

On SM-G935F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[nahnah]

That's good then. Around the ground I reckon is a product of the intensity more than anything. Ours was inconsistent. We are also historically pretty strong in that area of the game. I dont think that will happen again to a team like Carlton. Not in the regular season.

There’s absolutely nothing to worry about with the 6-6-6, it’s our preferred setup and is the first rule change in a long time to favour us. How many times have we almost shat the bed because the opposition has put an extra down back? A ton

 

[Kappa]

Am I turning into Dave or are you all underrating Aish?? Thought he was great and won majority of his contests today.. thought he has been one of our best this preseason

Aish was above average, definitely in the round 1 team.

 

[Quicky]

There’s absolutely nothing to worry about with the 6-6-6, it’s our preferred setup and is the first rule change in a long time to favour us. How many times have we almost shat the bed because the opposition has put an extra down back? A ton

It was JLT and it was Carlton so it doesn't convince me. We have had an issue at centre clearances against the best teams. I think it was a bigger issue than undersized key defenders in the grand final. The 6-6-6 will result in more clean clearances and if we don't win those it makes it tougher for us. We need to get it right and with our midfield group there are no excuses there.

 

[DaVe86]

Slightly concerning that we dominated possession and didn't capitalize. I think we were very complacent with our ball use.

Adding De Goey and Stephenson back to the mix will change a lot. Elliott also sat out the last quarter, and WHE is missing. So 4 of our starting 6 forwards weren't there in the last quarter, which may explain why we couldn't move the ball forward.

Looked like we shut down in the last quarter and put the que in the rack. I thought we were pretty good for the majority of the match. Overall, I'm happy with how our pre-season has gone and looking forward to the real stuff.

It's a challenging first month, so if we come out of that in good shape, then we will be well placed.

 

[magpies42]

We actually won the centre clearences fairly convincingly (14-8), we just got mauled at the random stoppages around the ground (13-28)

This makes me feel a bit more comfortable, but for a grunt team and we pride ourselves on contested possession we should be winning all those stats. It really cost us in the grand final.

 

[TradeDraft]

Am I turning into Dave or are you all underrating Aish?? Thought he was great and won majority of his contests today.. thought he has been one of our best this preseason

I think to some Fans he is a Whipping Boy

 

[Maggie5]

Aish was above average, definitely in the round 1 team.

He was also good against Melbourne. Seems to have picked up form from before his injury.

 

[Kirby]

Aish is a certainty for round 1 on what I've seen.

Can anyone tell me why Sier hasn't been playing any JLT games?

 

[Kilmo]

Aish is a certainty for round 1 on what I've seen.

Can anyone tell me why Sier hasn't been playing any JLT games?

I was wondering this as well. Maybe he isn't fit enough? I can't see why else they would play him in the VFL practice match over the JLT, especially with Adams out and no JDG to play mid to replace him... Hopefully there is some other reason and he tears it up at the MCG Round 1

 

[OniAu]

Someone on the Hun website commented on a Pies article and said it's time to move Mihocek back to defence because apparently 6-6-6 will be a disadvantage for him. What are people's thoughts?

What part of the 6 6 6 rule means he should go back ?

To me Mihocek is great 1 on 1 , would benefit him being up forward

 

[TradeDraft]

Aish is a certainty for round 1 on what I've seen.

Can anyone tell me why Sier hasn't been playing any JLT games?

Wasn't it Reported Sier had Calf Soreness?

 

[sr36]

What part of the 6 6 6 rule means he should go back ?

To me Mihocek is great 1 on 1 , would benefit him being up forward

Yeah, I'd love to hear the rationale on him being disadvantaged by the 6-6-6 rule.

 

[James1001]

Game thoughts:

- We had a poor game in the center clearances. On the one hand this is just a pre season match. On the other we had a strong midfield group and it's been our achilles heel in recent years. It concerns me. I think the biggest advantage of the 6, 6, 6 system will come from quick centre clearances. Our midfield group has the qualities to take advantage but we always seem to come up short. Is it the structure in there? The personnel are everything you could hope for. Hopefully i'm worried about nothing.

I cant remember exactly when in 2018 the stats were published but from memory our most proficient center clearance trio setup was Grundy / Sier / Degoey / Adams. I also recall that the next 2 or 3 setups all involved Sier.

With all of Sier / Adams and Degoey missing, im not too surprised our clearance numbers aren't as prolific as we expect. Most people simply base it on the caliber of midfield names not their actual defined roles.

 

[TradeDraft]

I cant remember exactly when in 2018 the stats were published but from memory our most proficient center clearance trio setup was Grundy / Sier / Degoey / Adams. I also recall that the next 2 or 3 setups all involved Sier.

With all of Sier / Adams and Degoey missing, im not too surprised our clearance numbers aren't as prolific as we expect. Most people simply base it on the caliber of midfield names not their actual defined roles.

People Rated Cats Mid as the Best in the AFL this time last season and they did not live up to the Hype

 

[Mark W]

41. Mihocek: a tad underwhelming. Likely his least game since he joined the main team.

Agreed, he was poor. Ive seen Mihocek in all 3 preseason games. He was poor against Melbourne and Carlton, very good against Freo. Perhaps its coincidence, but in the Melbourne and Carlton games we played a 3rd tall/tall flanker type; Wills against Melbourne, Goldsack against Carlton. Against Freo we played with the 2 tall structure that we used all of last year, in that game he found space and worked tirelessly. Perhaps having that 3rd tall blunts his effectiveness and he can't find space with that structure?

 

[Saintly Viewed]

Agreed, he was poor. Ive seen Mihocek in all 3 preseason games. He was poor against Melbourne and Carlton, very good against Freo. Perhaps its coincidence, but in the Melbourne and Carlton games we played a 3rd tall/tall flanker type; Wills against Melbourne, Goldsack against Carlton. Against Freo we played with the 2 tall structure that we used all of last year, in that game he found space and worked tirelessly. Perhaps having that 3rd tall blunts his effectiveness and he can't find space with that structure?

And Morwell being such a skinny ground adds weight to your theory.

All that can be said, is he won’t have the luxury of lots of lesser games with competition for spots quite tight.

That said I’d prefer him if it was between say him and Goldsack.
He knows how to find a goal.

 

[Piestration]

Bucks ran a lot of different players through the midfield. Considering our main grunt players in Adams and Sier were missing we will dominate most games out of the middle.

 

[Knightmare]

Elliott and Moore both looked terrific. They're the two going into the preseason everyone wanted to see healthy and they're healthy. Beams fit in seamlessly. It sounds like a formula that should based on Collingwood's 2018 finish and the group out on the field lead to a 100-point trouncing. Particularly with Carlton missing Docherty hurt again and the club unable to provide and run or drive without him last year.

What the game against Carlton really drove home/reinforced to me is the value of a healthy Grundy and how vital he is to winning. For mine he's the most valuable and best player in the competition. If Grundy isn't himself, Collingwood aren't a top 12 side, such is the evenness of that top group of sides. And that's not ragging on any replacements. Moore I feel would be best suited as a number one ruckman, and I feel Cox would also be highly effective through there. But just how great Grundy is. Winning the ball, tackling, finding it around the ground, with those skills and still being one of the premier tap ruckman. He's special.

I haven't heard any concerns about Grundy coming out of the game, but he just couldn't jump and looked like he shouldn't have been out there in that final quarter. It was frustrating watching him play through it.

With Grundy looking other than that one spectacular kick fairly ordinary throughout, Collingwood even with a far more talented midfielder didn't look that fantastic. It's not a great sign and it's going to take another Brownlow medal standard season from Grundy as in 2018 for Collingwood to go far - taking the club as far as he can take them.

If I had to pick out something else other than just Grundy that I was left unsatisfied with. I'd say the ball movement from defence was slower and less threatening than I would have liked. It didn't feel like 2018 ball movement and that speed and aggressiveness moving the ball offensively needs to jump up a gear.

 

[76woodenspooners]

Elliott and Moore both looked terrific.

When Elliott was on the field he looked terrific, but cramping up after around half game time is a bit concerning. IMHO that makes him doubtful for round 1.

I haven't heard any concerns about Grundy coming out of the game, but he just couldn't jump and looked like he shouldn't have been out there in that final quarter. It was frustrating watching him play through it.

Grundy is so important to us that it’s hard to imagine he would have played JLT2 if there were any clouds over him. Maybe he’s building up fitness? Maybe he was under instruction to take it easy so our midfielders would work harder?

If I had to pick out something else other than just Grundy that I was left unsatisfied with. I'd say the ball movement from defence was slower and less threatening than I would have liked. It didn't feel like 2018 ball movement and that speed and aggressiveness moving the ball offensively needs to jump up a gear.

I noticed the same thing in the first quarter - it felt like going back to the horror days circa 2015 / 2016 when we were snail slow with our ball movement ...

... but I thought as the game progressed we started to find our rhythm and were better at quickly and effectively moving the ball out of defence.

 

[Horaceg]

Someone should name a top shelf red wine “the Sidebottom” perfect representation of age bringing out the best of something.

I’d drink to that....