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- Apr 17, 2010
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- Collingwood
Good to be back in the winners circle but the way we got the win left a lot to be desired. One theory this and the Melbourne games can put to bed at least is the idea that our drop of form between between before and after the bye was due to the fact we avoided the top 8 teams pre bye and got found out after. Playing like we've played against Melbourne and Carlton shows it was more than just the fixture. I think we were really good in the Freo and Hawks game and parts of the Port one but our last 4 games have been really poor in level of play, structure and intensity and this regardless of whether the end sheet shows a W or a L and what opposition we faced. Hopefully this time the fact it's a W gives us a bit of confidence going forward.
As for the Carlton game itself, I think there was a difference between our first and second halves. We were pretty poor in both but for different reasons:
In the first half, we dominated every stat possible and were much better in general play, we just failed to capitalise by over-handballing and being shy in the way we drove the ball forward, and really gifted Carlton their goals through our mistakes in defence (Adams' terrible backwards kick, Maynard's dropped mark, our stuff up on the boundary line after a poor long kick out of defence). We should have been further in front at half time.
In the second half it was a conjunction of:
- Our very poor clearance game. Carlton got the first 5 clearances of the second half and we were gone after that, let Murphy and Cripps dominate at stoppages. To me that's due to putting the wrong midfield mix there, with Williams spending way too much time at centre bounces, Langdon too much time in the midfield and Pendles not enough; and to the fact that Grundy tired and struggled to hit it out to advantage in the second, which to me says he needed a realy back up ruck and not Reid to spent 10 seconds there and Moore 5 seconds, when Grundy isn't yet capable of rucking a whole game or even 90% of a game
- Poor ball us (Pendles excluded) and our inability to create chains of play when transitioning from defence to offence.
- Horrible umpiring.
I think Reid and Fas showed that with them, Elliott, Cloke and with the emergence of Moore, along with a serviceable White we do not have a forward line problem. I've been thinking and saying this all season but our main problem to me is that our midfield lacks offensive power and lacks to ability to force the opposition to go defensive. I don't really see the solution in our current playing list so that's what I'd like to club to put as a priority for this trade period.
-- The match winners:
Swan - Massive performance and what a last month he's had. 22 kicks fron 41d, game high 10 marks, team high 6 clearances, 3 goals and 2 goal assists. Really in this instance there's nothing more to say, Carlton let him free and he made them pay for it.
Pendlebury - 37d, a team high 5 inside 50s and 7 tackles, but mainly his ball use stood out many times because every one else was butchering the ball and he was the only one creating space. He spent a lot of time on the outside as his UP count attest, and I think it costs us a little when he's out of the centre bounce mix.
Fasolo - Fantastic forward with 4 goals and 2 assists and could have even got a couple more, just kept leading, getting in to right places and created space and opportunities for others, loved that he knew when to play as a marking option and when to crumb someone else's contest.
--- The great contributors:
Reid - Funny what happens when you have a top 10 pick and elite talent on the park... 4 goals and a very good game for someone who hasn't played at this level for more than a year. His marking is top class. Disappeared a little bit but I'm very excited about him being part of our next assault at the flag.
Blair - Showed he was a cut above VFL level last week and came and had an impact at the level above. I thought he played an important role today and played it well. Tougher than our average and cleaner than our average. He's got 22 disposals, 1 goal, 2 goal assits and an equal team high 5 I50 to show for it.
--- The solid performances:
Greenwood - Good tough game as an inside mid and I really liked the fact that he made an impact at half forward, getting 2 assists through some smart short kicking. Fitting nicely in the midfield but probably part of a bigger problem where we're too defensive oriented with Crisp/Adams/Greenwood.
Sidebottom - He did his job on the outside, got us going forward through some smart kicks on a wing and displayed decent skills in a day where there weren't that many on display. Really bad miss directly in front though, our outside players should have the skills to put these through.
Crisp - Decent winger's game and got his goal thanks to Darcy's efforts and a Carlton defensive mistake. Would have liked to see him more invovled in driving the ball forward (only 2 I50s) as I think we were often second guessing our way to go forward and someone like Crisp with his long clean kick should provide an avenue for the team there.
Elliott - Good for him to get a couple on the scoreboard. Someone of his level should offer a bit more against such poor opposition but he's coming back from an injury and that's his first full game since.
Langdon - Got really good numbers playing mostly as a mid and plenty of the ball but what he made of it was dubious. He looks slow and tired which impacts his ability to make the right decisions, just like he looked before the bye and with the rest of the bye he had an epic game against Freo. He's the only one of our youngsters to have played every single game of the season and it's taking its toll I think.
Varcoe - More quiet than usual and didn't manage to get involved forward as that's where he started but his toughness was on display again as well as his good vision and clean skills. Very important player for us this year, I'd be interested in playing him more on a wing than forward to utilise his two way running best.
Williams - He took the game on in the back when others didn't so you've got to give him credit for that. But he got sent to the midfield in what I assume was a move from the coaches to try and counter Cripps and their centre bounce dominance but didn't do that well at it. Tackled heaps but got 0 clearances as when he got the ball there he often dished out a poor handball. He's just not a mid, keep him in the back.
Maynard - He had a bit of a horrible patch with poor defensive efforts topped up by his dropped mark. But credit to him he ran really hard to make amends and get his first goal for the club and steadied after. I have queries on his speed, both speed of making a decision and foot speed as he appears slow to me at times and that's an issue for a small defender but that run on the wing shows he has a bit of pace and hopefully he progresses there naturally.
Toovey - Was judging him from the TV last couple of weeks and at the game it's pretty clear he doesn't ply a lock down role on one particular player, that's not the way we defend anymore it seems. He had a good game, really smart defender when it comes to positioning.
Sinclair - I remember thinking his injury came at a very wrong time because he was really good in R1 against Brisbane. His pace was useful and he didn't butcher the ball so he seems to have made progress there
Grundy - Got to give him credits for his constant efforts (9 tackles, 7 1%ers) but thought he rucked poorly in the second half and got outbodied, understandably tired from the lack of support from a second ruck. He's part of our problem in clearances as we just can't seem to read and anticipate what he does.
Brown and Frost - 5 marks inside 50 to Carlton means the tall defenders did their job, Brown more so than Frost who had a couple of late contest as has been his trademark in the past weeks I felt but tall defence was the least of our issue today.
Marsh - Nice game on debut, felt like he was a bit late to the contest in the air sometimes and gave away 3 frees, but he provided really good efforts on the rebound. I think in time he can become Frost with better rebounding ability and better marking, and that's exciting.
--- The Disappointing performances:
Adams - Spent quite a bit of time at half forward for little impact. Made one really good short kick forward, but 5min later had his horrible turnover kicking it backwards which gave Everitt a goal. Just not influential today, perhaps he got injured, I don't know when so can't take it into account.
Moore - Like him in the team, but I preferred his game against the Dogs (obviously) and even his game against Melbourne. Was calling for the ball a lot but it looked to be to the wrong places as his team mates found it much easier to go to Fas or Reid. For our second tall forward, 0 goals is not a good result.
--- The Sub:
Scharenberg - I think a sub should either be someone with really good X factor/pace to change the momentum of a game or someone with really good versatility so he can come an fix an issue wherever it may be on the ground. Scharenberg's versatility was one of the reasons we took him at pick 6 so I understood the choice. He made a couple of strange decisions ball in hand and gave off that free against Walker but other than that had a great impact playing in only the one quarter, getting 9 disposals and 3 tackles.
-- A few notes on form overall:
Trending up:
*Swan is on three great games in a row.
*Fasolo is on two great games in a row, and his season has been very underrated by Pies fans I feel, there aren't that many players who have been consistently as good as he has been since he entered the line up against GC.
Trending down:
*Moore is on two disappointing games in a row but I think he is learning each game. If anything I would like to see how Reid, Moore, White go together in a forward line without anyone but White needing to do some back up rucking.
* Adams' knee in the head of Westhoff has cost and him and cost us. Before that game against Port and including it he was on 4 fantastic games in a row, after his 2 weeks off in the Melbourne and Carlton games he hasn't regained that pre-suspension form, not even close.
As for the Carlton game itself, I think there was a difference between our first and second halves. We were pretty poor in both but for different reasons:
In the first half, we dominated every stat possible and were much better in general play, we just failed to capitalise by over-handballing and being shy in the way we drove the ball forward, and really gifted Carlton their goals through our mistakes in defence (Adams' terrible backwards kick, Maynard's dropped mark, our stuff up on the boundary line after a poor long kick out of defence). We should have been further in front at half time.
In the second half it was a conjunction of:
- Our very poor clearance game. Carlton got the first 5 clearances of the second half and we were gone after that, let Murphy and Cripps dominate at stoppages. To me that's due to putting the wrong midfield mix there, with Williams spending way too much time at centre bounces, Langdon too much time in the midfield and Pendles not enough; and to the fact that Grundy tired and struggled to hit it out to advantage in the second, which to me says he needed a realy back up ruck and not Reid to spent 10 seconds there and Moore 5 seconds, when Grundy isn't yet capable of rucking a whole game or even 90% of a game
- Poor ball us (Pendles excluded) and our inability to create chains of play when transitioning from defence to offence.
- Horrible umpiring.
I think Reid and Fas showed that with them, Elliott, Cloke and with the emergence of Moore, along with a serviceable White we do not have a forward line problem. I've been thinking and saying this all season but our main problem to me is that our midfield lacks offensive power and lacks to ability to force the opposition to go defensive. I don't really see the solution in our current playing list so that's what I'd like to club to put as a priority for this trade period.
-- The match winners:
Swan - Massive performance and what a last month he's had. 22 kicks fron 41d, game high 10 marks, team high 6 clearances, 3 goals and 2 goal assists. Really in this instance there's nothing more to say, Carlton let him free and he made them pay for it.
Pendlebury - 37d, a team high 5 inside 50s and 7 tackles, but mainly his ball use stood out many times because every one else was butchering the ball and he was the only one creating space. He spent a lot of time on the outside as his UP count attest, and I think it costs us a little when he's out of the centre bounce mix.
Fasolo - Fantastic forward with 4 goals and 2 assists and could have even got a couple more, just kept leading, getting in to right places and created space and opportunities for others, loved that he knew when to play as a marking option and when to crumb someone else's contest.
--- The great contributors:
Reid - Funny what happens when you have a top 10 pick and elite talent on the park... 4 goals and a very good game for someone who hasn't played at this level for more than a year. His marking is top class. Disappeared a little bit but I'm very excited about him being part of our next assault at the flag.
Blair - Showed he was a cut above VFL level last week and came and had an impact at the level above. I thought he played an important role today and played it well. Tougher than our average and cleaner than our average. He's got 22 disposals, 1 goal, 2 goal assits and an equal team high 5 I50 to show for it.
--- The solid performances:
Greenwood - Good tough game as an inside mid and I really liked the fact that he made an impact at half forward, getting 2 assists through some smart short kicking. Fitting nicely in the midfield but probably part of a bigger problem where we're too defensive oriented with Crisp/Adams/Greenwood.
Sidebottom - He did his job on the outside, got us going forward through some smart kicks on a wing and displayed decent skills in a day where there weren't that many on display. Really bad miss directly in front though, our outside players should have the skills to put these through.
Crisp - Decent winger's game and got his goal thanks to Darcy's efforts and a Carlton defensive mistake. Would have liked to see him more invovled in driving the ball forward (only 2 I50s) as I think we were often second guessing our way to go forward and someone like Crisp with his long clean kick should provide an avenue for the team there.
Elliott - Good for him to get a couple on the scoreboard. Someone of his level should offer a bit more against such poor opposition but he's coming back from an injury and that's his first full game since.
Langdon - Got really good numbers playing mostly as a mid and plenty of the ball but what he made of it was dubious. He looks slow and tired which impacts his ability to make the right decisions, just like he looked before the bye and with the rest of the bye he had an epic game against Freo. He's the only one of our youngsters to have played every single game of the season and it's taking its toll I think.
Varcoe - More quiet than usual and didn't manage to get involved forward as that's where he started but his toughness was on display again as well as his good vision and clean skills. Very important player for us this year, I'd be interested in playing him more on a wing than forward to utilise his two way running best.
Williams - He took the game on in the back when others didn't so you've got to give him credit for that. But he got sent to the midfield in what I assume was a move from the coaches to try and counter Cripps and their centre bounce dominance but didn't do that well at it. Tackled heaps but got 0 clearances as when he got the ball there he often dished out a poor handball. He's just not a mid, keep him in the back.
Maynard - He had a bit of a horrible patch with poor defensive efforts topped up by his dropped mark. But credit to him he ran really hard to make amends and get his first goal for the club and steadied after. I have queries on his speed, both speed of making a decision and foot speed as he appears slow to me at times and that's an issue for a small defender but that run on the wing shows he has a bit of pace and hopefully he progresses there naturally.
Toovey - Was judging him from the TV last couple of weeks and at the game it's pretty clear he doesn't ply a lock down role on one particular player, that's not the way we defend anymore it seems. He had a good game, really smart defender when it comes to positioning.
Sinclair - I remember thinking his injury came at a very wrong time because he was really good in R1 against Brisbane. His pace was useful and he didn't butcher the ball so he seems to have made progress there
Grundy - Got to give him credits for his constant efforts (9 tackles, 7 1%ers) but thought he rucked poorly in the second half and got outbodied, understandably tired from the lack of support from a second ruck. He's part of our problem in clearances as we just can't seem to read and anticipate what he does.
Brown and Frost - 5 marks inside 50 to Carlton means the tall defenders did their job, Brown more so than Frost who had a couple of late contest as has been his trademark in the past weeks I felt but tall defence was the least of our issue today.
Marsh - Nice game on debut, felt like he was a bit late to the contest in the air sometimes and gave away 3 frees, but he provided really good efforts on the rebound. I think in time he can become Frost with better rebounding ability and better marking, and that's exciting.
--- The Disappointing performances:
Adams - Spent quite a bit of time at half forward for little impact. Made one really good short kick forward, but 5min later had his horrible turnover kicking it backwards which gave Everitt a goal. Just not influential today, perhaps he got injured, I don't know when so can't take it into account.
Moore - Like him in the team, but I preferred his game against the Dogs (obviously) and even his game against Melbourne. Was calling for the ball a lot but it looked to be to the wrong places as his team mates found it much easier to go to Fas or Reid. For our second tall forward, 0 goals is not a good result.
--- The Sub:
Scharenberg - I think a sub should either be someone with really good X factor/pace to change the momentum of a game or someone with really good versatility so he can come an fix an issue wherever it may be on the ground. Scharenberg's versatility was one of the reasons we took him at pick 6 so I understood the choice. He made a couple of strange decisions ball in hand and gave off that free against Walker but other than that had a great impact playing in only the one quarter, getting 9 disposals and 3 tackles.
-- A few notes on form overall:
Trending up:
*Swan is on three great games in a row.
*Fasolo is on two great games in a row, and his season has been very underrated by Pies fans I feel, there aren't that many players who have been consistently as good as he has been since he entered the line up against GC.
Trending down:
*Moore is on two disappointing games in a row but I think he is learning each game. If anything I would like to see how Reid, Moore, White go together in a forward line without anyone but White needing to do some back up rucking.
* Adams' knee in the head of Westhoff has cost and him and cost us. Before that game against Port and including it he was on 4 fantastic games in a row, after his 2 weeks off in the Melbourne and Carlton games he hasn't regained that pre-suspension form, not even close.
So good to see Swanny cruising again. We can't celebrate this man enough.
