Autopsy Loss to Adelaide by 33 pts

[SonnyNight]

Dawson is like an intelligence test for footy supporters. As soon as they start the Zac bashing I know I can pretty safely discard most of what they have to say.

I feel that painting everyone that criticises Zac Dawson as unintelligent is pretty unreal.

The guy is a solid shut down defender, however after 152 games you'd think he could have developed a higher skill level. As for 2016, I do agree he's been one of our better players in a few games, and whether thats a comment on the ball spending a whole lot of time in our defensive 50m or not is another question.
Just because the guy cops a lot (some warranted, and some unwarranted) criticism doesn't mean that people need to go the complete opposite direction and falsely make claims that mistakes weren't his fault, or that free kicks weren't warranted against him.
To be honest, if Zac dawson can't hit a 1m hand pass deep in our defence, then that's not ideal for our team.

At present he is definitely necessary in our team, after Mcpharlin's retirement, johnson's injury and Ibbotson's WAFL participation. However moving forward, possibly even as close as 2017, we aren't going to be building our next assault around Zac and I daresay he probably shouldn't be apart of our next attack on the AFL. Therefore looking for suitable long term players to fill that role isn't a bad option in 2016.

 

[UFO Tatsu]

I feel that painting everyone that criticises Zac Dawson as unintelligent is pretty unreal.

The guy is a solid shut down defender, however after 152 games you'd think he could have developed a higher skill level. As for 2016, I do agree he's been one of our better players in a few games, and whether thats a comment on the ball spending a whole lot of time in our defensive 50m or not is another question.
Just because the guy cops a lot (some warranted, and some unwarranted) criticism doesn't mean that people need to go the complete opposite direction and falsely make claims that mistakes weren't his fault, or that free kicks weren't warranted against him.
To be honest, if Zac dawson can't hit a 1m hand pass deep in our defence, then that's not ideal for our team.

At present he is definitely necessary in our team, after Mcpharlin's retirement, johnson's injury and Ibbotson's WAFL participation. However moving forward, possibly even as close as 2017, we aren't going to be building our next assault around Zac and I daresay he probably shouldn't be apart of our next attack on the AFL. Therefore looking for suitable long term players to fill that role isn't a bad option in 2016.

Depends on the criticism.

 

[SonnyNight]

Depends on the criticism.

The criticism was that Dawson can't dispose of the ball effectively (true) and that whilst rebuilding you probably want to look towards youth (as freo are doing by not playing De Boer, Mzungu, Suban etc).
Is that not fair?

 

[E Shed]

I feel that painting everyone that criticises Zac Dawson as unintelligent is pretty unreal.

You're right. I'm thinking of the kind of people that sit in my block at Subi for home games and yell inspiring things like, "no don't kick it backwards!" and "just bloody kick it!". They all groan and complain whenever Dawson goes near the ball.
I agree that you should be able to have a critical discussion about anyone or anything to do with footy, just that as a general bellwether, the kind of people that start straight in with the Dawson bashing generally have a fairly simplistic and shallow view of things.

 

[sherrif]

A lot of Dawson love in the house, which is great, but he kills us when we have the ball. He panics when he is one on one and gives away stupid free kicks.
I guess i was wrong when it comes to super fist.
However If you watch the 2013 grand final, the hawks literally targetted whoever dawson was playing on.
i doubt we will win much with zac in the team. the game is evolving if you havent noticed, just look at the eagles last year, look at the games we played last year without dawson.
Good rant but Lynch kicked a bag on him, Kennedy had an off day, and boyd and jones are hardly worth mentioning.
If Dawson was going such great guns why not play him on the #1 attacker vs Adelaide like say Tex Walker. or Jarrad Wait vs North
it could be a match up, but then why play him against the #1 attacker in the previous games, even ross has lost complete trust in the man and knows he is a 2nd def at best.
Why not play a young player who may be apart of our next flag tilt (looks like Brad Johson was right) in 2018, like collins.

Just for the record Jenkins was in much, much better form than Walker coming into the game. Dawson will always be matched on the opposition's tall player that plays the deepest in the forward half for the longest period.

 

[Righteo]

The criticism was that Dawson can't dispose of the ball effectively (true) and that whilst rebuilding you probably want to look towards youth (as freo are doing by not playing De Boer, Mzungu, Suban etc).
Is that not fair?

As long as he picks the safe option (as in avoiding cute chip passes inside the defensive 50) or immediately hands it off to someone with better disposal it's not an issue AT ALL. And he does. He plays within his limitations very much like Darren Glass did. If you can't remember, Glass was one of the best FB's of his generation despite being a hack kick.

As for the rebuilding thing. Firstly, we've already begun. We have the entire year to blood and develop the players who might potentially lead us to success in the future. We should continue to introduce these players into the team at a comfy pace, I don't think playing 10+ kids by round 6 will achieve anything other than a tanking investigation, lots of smashings and constructing a toxic culture like we've seen at Carlton, Melbourne and even Richmond. To me it's akin to just throwing money at a problem in order to solve it, they have to be smart about rebuilding and implement proper planning rather than playing all da yoof and hoping for the best.

Secondly and more specifically regarding Dawson's position, the only "young" players we have who could potentially take his spot are Tanner Smith, who's not only on the rookie list but playing as a forward, or Sam Collins. Collins is the most likely candidate but needs to show more in the WAFL before selection. He's also only 194cm and if he was to come up against the gorilla forwards as he is now he'd get utterly smashed and lose all confidence and likely stunt his development.

 

[salim malik]

As long as he picks the safe option (as in avoiding cute chip passes inside the defensive 50) or immediately hands it off to someone with better disposal it's not an issue AT ALL. And he does. He plays within his limitations very much like Darren Glass did. If you can't remember, Glass was one of the best FB's of his generation despite being a hack kick.

As for the rebuilding thing. Firstly, we've already begun. We have the entire year to blood and develop the players who might potentially lead us to success in the future. We should continue to introduce these players into the team at a comfy pace, I don't think playing 10+ kids by round 6 will achieve anything other than a tanking investigation, lots of smashings and constructing a toxic culture like we've seen at Carlton, Melbourne and even Richmond. To me it's akin to just throwing money at a problem in order to solve it, they have to be smart about rebuilding and implement proper planning rather than playing all da yoof and hoping for the best.

Secondly and more specifically regarding Dawson's position, the only "young" players we have who could potentially take his spot are Tanner Smith, who's not only on the rookie list but playing as a forward, or Sam Collins. Collins is the most likely candidate but needs to show more in the WAFL before selection. He's also only 194cm and if he was to come up against the gorilla forwards as he is now he'd get utterly smashed and lose all confidence and likely stunt his development.

Collins was totally all at sea against Claremonts Cameron.

 

[wayToGo_]

Secondly and more specifically regarding Dawson's position, the only "young" players we have who could potentially take his spot are Tanner Smith, who's not only on the rookie list but playing as a forward, or Sam Collins. Collins is the most likely candidate but needs to show more in the WAFL before selection. He's also only 194cm and if he was to come up against the gorilla forwards as he is now he'd get utterly smashed and lose all confidence and likely stunt his development.

I don't disagree with you but how do Hawthorn handle the big gorillas? Their tallest back is 193cm I think. I think Adelaide only have one back over 194cm. WB similar. How do all these teams manage but we feel we need not just one but two massive 196cm+ key defenders?

 

[Righteo]

Collins was totally all at sea against Claremonts Cameron.

Yeah I'm confident that if he played on the weekend that Jenkins would have kicked many more goals and poor Sam would have quickly been sent back to the WAFL, completely deflated. Not yet his time. Typing all this has just made me extremely worried for the weekend. Patton, Cameron and Lobb. Three giants (no pun) with terrific contested marking ability. Yeah let's drop Dawson lol

 

[Righteo]

I don't disagree with you but how do Hawthorn handle the big gorillas? Their tallest back is 193cm I think. I think Adelaide only have one back over 194cm. WB similar. How do all these teams manage but we feel we need not just one but two massive 196cm+ key defenders?

Probably something to do with the fact they have less reliance on needing a watertight defence given their own incredible potency up forward as well as not having midfields that act like rusty sieves. And yes I know that comment is poorly timed given what happened to Hawthorn on the weekend but I'll stand by it! Plus, they might not have the height but they have incredibly good one-on-one defenders who can compensate effectively despite height mismatches. Both Hawthorn and Adelaide are filled with AA defenders and IMO the difference in quality renders any comparison between us and them pretty futile.

 

[Righteo]

Luke McPharlin was pretty undersized by modern KPD standards but never really had an issue standing the larger talls (or any sized forward for that matter) because he was simply awesome. We don't have the height OR quality right now I'm afraid. Zac at least ticks one box.

 

[wayToGo_]

Probably something to do with the fact they have less reliance on needing a watertight defence given their own incredible potency up forward as well as not having midfields that act like rusty sieves. And yes I know that comment is poorly timed given what happened to Hawthorn on the weekend but I'll stand by it! Plus, they might not have the height but they have incredibly good one-on-one defenders who can compensate effectively despite height mismatches. Both Hawthorn and Adelaide are filled with AA defenders and IMO the difference in quality renders any comparison between us and them pretty futile.

Yeah I think you are right. I'd think having a shorter but more mobile back line also means you can then rebound faster and better. I think we are lucky to have found a KPD in Pearce that is huge (tall) but still agile enough for ground ball gets, and probably even to launch attacks from defence as he matures. I don't think we partner him with another man mountain but instead surround him with agile defenders who are in that 190-194cm range that can not only go one-on-one but have a true rebound capability. I have no idea if Collins will be capable at AFL level but I think he's possibly the perfect height. I think Mora and Hughes are perfect instead of playing a third KPD. If all four could be playing together in our team later this season I'd be very happy.

 

[yakka man]

You're right. I'm thinking of the kind of people that sit in my block at Subi for home games and yell inspiring things like, "no don't kick it backwards!" and "just bloody kick it!". They all groan and complain whenever Dawson goes near the ball.
I agree that you should be able to have a critical discussion about anyone or anything to do with footy, just that as a general bellwether, the kind of people that start straight in with the Dawson bashing generally have a fairly simplistic and shallow view of things.

There is one feral bogan behind me with long hair and missing teeth that blasts Dawson every time he is near the ball. He yells at the top of his lungs, it's ******* infuriating.

 

[DannyTheDoorman]

There is one feral bogan behind me with long hair and missing teeth that blasts Dawson every time he is near the ball. He yells at the top of his lungs, it's ******* infuriating.

Report him to the usher as you are supposed to be able to enjoy watching the game without that sort of behaviour spoiling your enjoyment .
Sometimes a slide comes up on the big screen referring to behaviour.

 

[scon]

I've sat in about 5 different blocks over the years and the IQ's about the same.
Currently in 104 and the joker next to me is punchably dumb AFAIC;brings his own Freagle too.
Starts bleating as soon as Tabs runs on the ground.
If it's someone on here consider yourself warned
The Carlton game brought some beauties out of the woodwork.

 

[sherrif]

I've sat in about 5 different blocks over the years and the IQ's about the same.
Currently in 104 and the joker next to me is punchably dumb AFAIC;brings his own Freagle too.
Starts bleating as soon as Tabs runs on the ground.
If it's someone on here consider yourself warned
The Carlton game brought some beauties out of the woodwork.

Silent Alarm?

 

[Halfbaked]

Had to move seats this year. There are two old fools ( I'm old and a fool as well ) near our new seats and all they do is hang s**t on poor ZD. Even when he is doing his job. I'm getting very vocal with my support of Zac. It makes watching the game a lot less enjoyable. I hate supports that hate our own players. One of these old pricks even yelled s**t at Johno as he limped off.

 

[yakka man]

Report him to the usher as you are supposed to be able to enjoy watching the game without that sort of behaviour spoiling your enjoyment .
Sometimes a slide comes up on the big screen referring to behaviour.

Yeah, I actually have thought about it. There's a number to text on the back of some seats.

 

[wayToGo_]

There's a number to text on the back of some seats.

Just be careful with that If it says "for a good time" above it, it's not the right number.

 

[yakka man]

Just be careful with that If it says "for a good time" above it, it's not the right number.

It's a shame that all us Freo fans aren't having a good time at the games this year.

 

[DannyTheDoorman]

Just be careful with that If it says "for a good time" above it, it's not the right number.

I am too old to be worried about that but if I change my mind I'll call the good time number and book in with your name and put it on your tab.

 

[DannyTheDoorman]

There is one feral bogan behind me with long hair and missing teeth that blasts Dawson every time he is near the ball. He yells at the top of his lungs, it's ******* infuriating.

That could be the unnamed fella that came to Dockers training and swears all the time . Is the hair long and grey and does he wear shorts and has a knee bandage on one of his legs.

 

[Frank J Moose]

I don't disagree with you but how do Hawthorn handle the big gorillas? Their tallest back is 193cm I think.

Brian Lake?

They could have used him last Saturday.

 

[ydraw]

Stratton regularly plays on guys much bigger than him. But the real way Hawthorn handles big forwards is to simply outscore them at the other end. They aren't renowned for being a great defensive team.

 

[Unique Name]

Stratton regularly plays on guys much bigger than him. But the real way Hawthorn handles big forwards is to simply outscore them at the other end. They aren't renowned for being a great defensive team.

They had the best defence last year.

We had the second best.