Analysis Mid Season Review; Where are we at and what is on the cards for us for the rest of the year?

[Laffy2Chaffey2Daffy]

The losses against the bullies and the Roos hurt. Even understrength we should have won those, especially the Roos - they really are a poor side. We wll still make the eight but top 4 has slipped out of reach.

But my concern is that the injuries have masked a bigger problem. We are the side that has been negatively affected most by the rule changes. We were never a great centre clearance team, but we won the ball back across half back and then kept the ball in our forward line till we goaled. The 6-6-6 rule means we can't load an extra across half back to win the ball back, and the kick-in rule means it's harder to lock the ball in for repeated shots at goal.

I was hoping big soldo could have strung some games together while Nank was out because I reckon he has the most potential to help out our centre clearance issues, but the suspension and illness meant he had no continuity, so will likely drop out again once Nank is back.

 

[RunningBounce]

Today

View attachment 693461

What I took out of that is that Iggy's taking Rance's cones

 

[RunningBounce]

The fact the VFL side sits atop the ladder is unbelievable. The seniors have lost mostly the best players but there’s a few of the elite still there. The VFL team loses all of its best players no matter what.

The VFL's first half of the season is something to take genuine pride in. Amazing

 

[JAKLAUGHING]

The VFL's first half of the season is something to take genuine pride in. Amazing

It is...
Well done to all!

 

[tugga]

Good summary Michaels

I reckon the big danger for us is the saints and suns games. We're getting players back for those games but we have to ensure we don't drop either of them! If we can bring in 4-7 players in that period, get the wins and also get some miles in the legs we should be well placed for GWS and beyond.

Saints will have Hannebury and Carlisle back for our game. Definitely no certainties. We play Marvel putridly.

 

[JAKLAUGHING]

Saints will have Hannebury and Carlisle back for our game. Definitely no certainties. We play Marvel putridly.

Nice...that will give a good work out and show us all where we are exactly!

 

[Dr Tigris]

Interesting selection for the next game. Players back, Shai in outstanding form and the firsts doing OK.

Reckon we could see Higgins and Dan Rioli stepping down. basically reward form. Plus add Dave and Cotch and we are a much better team in any way.

If we can win the next two solidly then the season opens up for us. Hopefully the club and players are urgent and really raring to go.

 

[JAKLAUGHING]

Interesting selection for the next game. Players back, Shai in outstanding form and the firsts doing OK.

Reckon we could see Higgins and Dan Rioli stepping down. basically reward form. Plus add Dave and Cotch and we are a much better team in any way.

If we can win the next two solidly then the season opens up for us. Hopefully the club and players are urgent and really raring to go.

Saint's game is going to be a repeat of the Doggies, LOL@NORF games...They are not skillful sides but big bodied sides playing on their home ground...
Will test us...

 

[Dr Tigris]

Saint's game is going to be a repeat of the Doggies, LOL@NORF games...They are not skillful sides but big bodied sides playing on their home ground...
Will test us...

Cotch back will be huge. We really need more inside grunt to compete.

But North were on a high that week. It was the worst week of the year to get them.

Doggies - I don't remember that game, no memory. I know the Tigers didn't turn up to play anyway.

As long as we can break even in contests then we will beat them. If we can play some more plowing football we'll cream them. Interesting to see.

 

[Dr Tigris]

Hardwick spoke about a change that we've been training for and it will take a little bit of time to implement properly, which I believe has to do with the return of those injured players that has meant we're unable to use it to it's fullest extent at the moment. IMO we've seen a glimpse of the changes in the Fremantle Hawthorn and Adelaide games where we started to become more of a hold possession and control the ball team rather than a run and gun move it forwards at all costs team.

The change is to do with losing the contested ball. He's said that it is both personnel and tactics. And that we were working on how to set up to improve our contested ball. Interesting to see how it all goes.

 

[1980GFVideo]

Could still be in the eight after next week despite the bye.

StKilda and Gold Coast wont be easy for us at the moment but if we win those then we are hanging in there

Who can we have back in three weeks time for our MCG clash against the Giants?

 

[Ralll]

I think we're about par.
Some good performances and some dissapointing.
We're still around the 8, so as we start getting players back we can make a serious run at finals if we're good enough.

 

[Roachy8]

Don't think Rance will get back by the way.
Nothing to do with his rehab which is well ahead of where it normally would be.

It's just that as part of his strengthening work, and being the global citizen he is and seeker of new experiences, Alex was last seen as number 183 in line on that east face of Everest - awaiting his turn to summit.

Might be up there a while still....

 

[chriso11]

Hope we take a “nothing to lose” attitude into the 2nd half of the season

Even if we get players back we have a far from ideal situation, they will need to kick into gear off minimal fitness and game time. Hopefully we hit 2020 with a fit list and full preseason and get past the bad luck of this year

That said, we should def roll the dice and take some risks. I wouldn’t want to be pies or cats or gws facing off against us in the finals

 

[Michaels]

take this as you want but Caddy and Grigg did a Sportsman night recently and internally the club / players are very very confident about our back half of the year and are setting themselves for it knowing who is coming back.

 

[Power Play]

Last year I was always worried that we'd run out of steam at the back end of the year, given that we set ourselves to hit the ground running from the JLT to avoid a hangover. The media played their grand final against us saying we'd have a hangover, miss finals, worst premiership side ever etc. The media lost the battle but won the war.

This year is different and feels much more like 2017 than 2018 just with a horror run of injuries, when we get our stars back and *touch wood* don't get any more injuries to key players between now and September then I'm confident that we can beat anyone.

 

[tunksy]

take this as you want but Caddy and Grigg did a Sportsman night recently and internally the club / players are very very confident about our back half of the year and are setting themselves for it knowing who is coming back.

My concern is bringing back players after missing big chunks of footy. They might not have the fitness base or game sense straight away

Remember someone saying something about too many underdone players in one part of the ground. It'll affect us for sure.

 

[mopsy]

people talk about us missing mids and i agree to some degree but of the 13 games played so far only two of the starting 22 at the start of yr have played less than 10 games.
We have midfield issues regardless of weather mids are injured or not.

 

[Tiges1229]

All duds delist
On a seriousness note we haven’t done to bad considering our injuries etc . What I’m hoping for to in second half of season is more consistency in games and stop the fade outs .

 

[_RT_]

The change is to do with losing the contested ball. He's said that it is both personnel and tactics. And that we were working on how to set up to improve our contested ball. Interesting to see how it all goes.

If we're holding possession more and not having as many stoppages then it reduces the amount of contested possessions. I also think that part of the plan is to add in some younger bigger bodied mids to the mix, in particular Vlastuin Ross & RCD who are all in the 186-190cm/87-90kg range. Ross strikes me as a dual role type who can play both attacking and defensive roles, Vlastuin more of an accountable midfielder and RCD as the attacking option. This would also allow us to use Cotchin and Martin in particular outside the square in more attacking roles where they could do more scoreboard damage. As much as some don't believe Caddy can play through there I still believe that he can, not as a number 1 mid but as part of a rotation where he has some quality mids beside him, unlike recent weeks where he has been going in when Dusty/Cotchin haven't been there.

A midfield built around inside bulls in Martin 187cm/92kg, Cotchin 185/85, Ross 186/88, Vlastuin 187/87, Caddy 186/88 & RCD 193/90 with inside/outside support in Edwards 182/81, Graham 182/81, Lambert 178/77, Stack 179/77, Higgins 177/76 Pickett 184/84 & Bolton 175/78 would be up there with the best of the midfield groups running around. At the moment though we're not getting to see all of them in the side at the same time when fully fit.

 

[Dr Tigris]

If we're holding possession more and not having as many stoppages then it reduces the amount of contested possessions. I also think that part of the plan is to add in some younger bigger bodied mids to the mix, in particular Vlastuin Ross & RCD who are all in the 186-190cm/87-90kg range. Ross strikes me as a dual role type who can play both attacking and defensive roles, Vlastuin more of an accountable midfielder and RCD as the attacking option. This would also allow us to use Cotchin and Martin in particular outside the square in more attacking roles where they could do more scoreboard damage. As much as some don't believe Caddy can play through there I still believe that he can, not as a number 1 mid but as part of a rotation where he has some quality mids beside him, unlike recent weeks where he has been going in when Dusty/Cotchin haven't been there.

A midfield built around inside bulls in Martin 187cm/92kg, Cotchin 185/85, Ross 186/88, Vlastuin 187/87, Caddy 186/88 & RCD 193/90 with inside/outside support in Edwards 182/81, Graham 182/81, Lambert 178/77, Stack 179/77, Higgins 177/76 Pickett 184/84 & Bolton 175/78 would be up there with the best of the midfield groups running around. At the moment though we're not getting to see all of them in the side at the same time when fully fit.

Well put. But we are still being slaughtered by good contested teams. Against Adelaide we are really short on numbers there. I reckon the short term plan is add Ross and maybe Vlas, with Graham trying for more possessions. But longer term our younger guys should take that over and free Cotch etc up. Dusty is great when he's able to impact contests on his own terms - i.e. not on the bottom of the pack. And Cotch is great when he has the freedom to play rather than be the ball getter.

I suspect that if we get all these guys fit and in form we could be a very different side. If we can win contested ball we will starve other teams and open our surge attacks up. But teams have really worked us out, and the injuries have been bad. Anyway, I hope that we get some guys back and at least nullify the problems.

 

[TigerMoz1973]

take this as you want but Caddy and Grigg did a Sportsman night recently and internally the club / players are very very confident about our back half of the year and are setting themselves for it knowing who is coming back.

Were you there?

 

[Michaels]

Were you there?

I wasnt but someone I know was who I fully trust.

Was very complimentary on how they both went about it (not a tiger supporter)

Interesting to hear.

 

[Tiger_Of_Old]

To the naysayers, we will make the 8 comfortably, and I have some money on it

$50 again Jayden?

 

[Tiger_Of_Old]

Hope we learnt this from the Prelim last year and we rotate the guys out who need the week to freshen up ready for a good crack at finals.

I think we've done that already and Kudos too Rance's manager for a 20 game extended holiday written in his contract.