Autopsy Port beat Dogs 70-56

[VogonProsthetnic]

I agree their list is better now but I think we’ve had remarkably similar highs and lows over that period.

I don’t think you could say they were better - between ‘16-21 we made 4 finals series, won 1 flag lost 1 GF and didn’t win a final in the other two years, and finished bottom 8 twice.

They made one GF, zero flags, finished bottom 8 3 times including 2nd last once, outside of their GF year made 2 final series for just 2 wins.

Similar yet we had higher highs and they had lower lows. Now the core of their side is still very very similar yet we’re worlds apart on field when they haven’t really added a huge amount of quality on field outside of Daicos and have actually lost more A graders too.

The whole difference has been the turn around off field which is helping them get more output out of the same core on field. There’s no reason we couldn’t be in a similar position and our support cast is very capable but the whole side is being seriously failed right now, is what I’m getting at anyway. There just shouldn’t be the difference in ability that is showing right now but here we are going backwards with every month that goes past

What Craig McCrae does is nothing special. He plays his players in roles to maximise their strengths and does not ask players to perform roles their are I’ll-suited to. Think Daicos behind the ball and not inside the centre contest or De Goey in the centre where he uses his pace and strength then drifting forward so he does not get burnt out.

Bevo does the opposite - he tries to use certain players to plug deficiencies created by poor recruiting resulting in confusion and poor role clarity.

Remember Young in the 2021 final series being our ruck, JJ played forward when he won a Norm Smith in defence, Hannan in defence, Williams in defence then wing, Libba and MacCrae as forwards, Dunkley and Buku as second rucks - the list goes on.

He asks too much of A graders and selects players who are not good enough continually, forcing others to cover for their deficiencies.

There is minimal differences in talent between most of the leading teams, that’s why we have draft - it’s just how they are used.

 

[Dogs_r_barking]

A few observations:

I thought Hinkley coached well against Bevo, tagging Dale, so we lost his clean kicking in the wet, taking their ruck off as English was beating him anyway and replacing him with another mid, that took away the advantage of English’s round the ground impact, he also seemed to fade in that second half.

The forward line is beyond a joke, everyone bunches up together instead of spreading out or presenting for the ball. The bomb up into our forward line at the back is so predictable, Allir Allir, had a picnic.

My biggest frustration is how slow we are, midfield marks the ball, stand jogging on the spot, while the defenders sprint past to clog up our forward line. Rinse and repeat.

We missed the good Bailey Smith

6

Bailey Smith

Age

23

Ht

185cm

Wt

86kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

18.3

5star

K

8.5

3star

HB

9.8

5star

M

2.3

2star

T

3.8

5star

CL

2.7

4star

D

19.8

5star

K

9.6

4star

HB

10.2

5star

M

1.8

2star

T

3.2

4star

CL

3.2

4star

D

14.8

4star

K

7.6

3star

HB

7.2

5star

M

2.0

3star

T

3.4

5star

CL

1.6

4star

, he provides some run in the midfield, even if he does bomb it in. McCrae, love the bloke but he just looks out of sorts, is he down in confidence.

Lastly, how flat the team were, no reeving each other up, just quiet and subdued, I was thinking had something bad happened to someone from the club.

I think we let a winnable game slip through our fingers.

 

[VogonProsthetnic]

Five games down and five fade-outs in the last 10-15 minutes.

Do our fitness staff know what they are doing?

 

[Oliver G]

5 weeks in so we now have reasonable data set to look at some key points such as ball use, centre bounce attendance, score involvements and overall rankings (AFL Player Ratings, Ranking/Supercoach, Fantasy, Disposal Efficiency, Kicking Efficiency, Disposals per Clanger, Centre Bounce Attendance %, Score Involvement %, Time On Ground %)...

 

[VogonProsthetnic]

5 weeks in so we now have reasonable data set to look at some key points such as ball use, centre bounce attendance, score involvements and overall rankings (AFL Player Ratings, Ranking/Supercoach, Fantasy, Disposal Efficiency, Kicking Efficiency, Disposals per Clanger, Centre Bounce Attendance %, Score Involvement %, Time On Ground %)...

View attachment 1662809

McComb 28.6% KE - surely a mistake

 

[Snarls Barkley]

McComb 28.6% KE - surely a mistake

To be fair, he's only had 7 kicks for the season, 5 of them in the wet in his only real game for the season and a game where he didn't play very well. Looks bad because of small sample size.

Was more surprised about Treloar's 36.5%. I'm not concerned about his games, he has stepped up in the clearance game with Dunkley gone and his effort and raw numbers are there but he has been a little sloppy which would be the only reason his season is good instead of very good but I had a double take when saw his percentage.

 

[hoianbulldog]

Also, English not rucking. Lobb was rucking at the time Marshall kicked those 2 goals. When the games on the line you have to have your best in the middle.

Sounds to me it's poor management of gametime. Was always going to be tough last qrt. Needed those two having a spell leading into 3qrt time and lock the game down while they are off. Can I call it a plan B?

 

[_Mike_]

McComb 28.6% KE - surely a mistake

how he gets a game with those stats is beyond belief

 

[_Mike_]

To be fair, he's only had 7 kicks for the season, 5 of them in the wet in his only real game for the season and a game where he didn't play very well. Looks bad because of small sample size.

Was more surprised about Treloar's 36.5%. I'm not concerned about his games, he has stepped up in the clearance game with Dunkley gone and his effort and raw numbers are there but he has been a little sloppy which would be the only reason his season is good instead of very good but I had a double take when saw his percentage.

that and Daniels KE has dropped as well

 

[perro_loco]

All good it’s not like we gave him a 4 year deal and two good picks to get him. Combine with the fact he has kicked 1 set shot in five rounds, constantly missing easy shots… Freo fans must be laughing.

On the upside, if we finish 14th we get pick 5 and then another first rounder from Brisbane. That way we get rid of Hannan, McComb, and the other 7 deadweight we are carrying. Maybe even a full review of the coaching or new coaches. Either, this season is really, really even or the wheels are looking like they are about to fall off. Hope we make it up in the next three games at least.

 

[hoianbulldog]

Not really. I think the pay out is capped at 6 months. Giving an ageing Rory Lobb four years on good money and giving up two reasonable draft picks is really dumb!

Is this a case of not letting the bakers bake. I doubt list managers were the reason we chased lobb. Maybe Bevo, Grant and Darcy?

 

[The Inbetweener]

On the upside, if we finish 14th we get pick 5 and then another first rounder from Brisbane. That way we get rid of Hannan, McComb, and the other 7 deadweight we are carrying. Maybe even a full review of the coaching or new coaches. Either, this season is really, really even or the wheels are looking like they are about to fall off. Hope we make it up in the next three games at least.

True. Although if we finish 14th I reckon it becomes increasingly harder to sign up everyone we have out of contract in 2024.

 

[Dogs_r_barking]

Is this a case of not letting the bakers bake. I doubt list managers were the reason we chased lobb. Maybe Bevo, Grant and Darcy?

I think in theory it made sense going after Lobb, a forward/ruck to chop out for English and protect Marra and Darcy. I am happy to give the bloke a bit more time, considering his ankle round 1, playing in the wet, not great conditions for tall players. I am expecting him to fire up next week against his old mob.

 

[threenewpadlocks]

Last year we were rucking Cordy and Bruce and people were shining over and over about the lack of forward/ruck we had in our team.

Lobb obviously didn't play well. But structurally he's there to do a job, and clearly, it's not as if you can recruit some alternative to Lobb at 200+cm in the same way you can pick between any of 10 179cm-186cm forward/mids. A 4 year deal is not that absurd given there's all sorts of triggers and that Lobb was drafted as a mature ager. And as others have pointed out - criticism wouldn't have come from him if he had kicked straight, but in the wet and given and entire career of kicking accurately, we just have to cop it as the one-game variance of bad luck.

I'm not Lobb's biggest fan either but understand the tactical and list management scarcity of resources why we needed to go out and get him. Don't lost the plot people.

 

[doggiesin08]

View attachment 1662090

I’m curious how we average 22.0 FA but our opposition only average 21.8 FF.

 

[Snarls Barkley]

Last year we were rucking Cordy and Bruce and people were shining over and over about the lack of forward/ruck we had in our team.

Lobb obviously didn't play well. But structurally he's there to do a job, and clearly, it's not as if you can recruit some alternative to Lobb at 200+cm in the same way you can pick between any of 10 179cm-186cm forward/mids. A 4 year deal is not that absurd given there's all sorts of triggers and that Lobb was drafted as a mature ager. And as others have pointed out - criticism wouldn't have come from him if he had kicked straight, but in the wet and given and entire career of kicking accurately, we just have to cop it as the one-game variance of bad luck.

I'm not Lobb's biggest fan either but understand the tactical and list management scarcity of resources why we needed to go out and get him. Don't lost the plot people.

I've never been a big Lobb guy, and going through my post history would confirm that, but after going through last year with Cordy, a 50% fit Bruce, Buku, Sweet and Martin in the fwd/ruck role it was clearly a position that had to be addressed and he was potentially the only viable option out there. I don't think the price was ridiculous at the time but I did think we were closer to premiership contention than we appear to be.

He has always been that type whose good is very good and bad can be very bad. He's had reasons why his form has been so poor (ankle issue not properly addressed during preseason, late surgery, rushed back from surgery, multiple wet weather games), I'm not too worried about it yet and I'm sure some big games are around the corner. If this form is continuing towards the bye then maybe different but some premature angst right now.

A four year deal does seem too much to me though. I would expect Darcy to go well past him in that role before that contract ends. Darcy is not ready now and getting someone like Lobb for a couple of seasons while Darcy is still developing is a wise move.

 

[Pugz89]

This is now 5 games with absolutely no fluidity between our midfield and forward lines. We keep waiting for it to turn but there’s enough of a sample that it won’t.

Weightman returned and starred with 4 goals but we still kicked a terrible score. We’re going to lose significantly more games than we win on current trajectory. 4 out of 5 games we’ve kicked 10 goals or less. Pretty deplorable.

We have no excitement with our ball movement at all. Just a boring team to watch.

And to think our forward 50 connection was supposedly one of the main things we'd trained during preseason.. a country mile off and honestly, outside of 2015, I can't remember us being a successful team in offence. 2016 and largely 2021 was built of defence and midfield.
Add to that we can't hit a barn door when there's pressure on to kick a goal, so for me it's coaching, structure and skill all contributing.

 

[Pugz89]

Staggering incompetence by our coaching staff. Unbelievable to have Bont off for almost 7 minutes during the middle of the last quarter and to have English on the bench also for much of that time is indefensible. We can't blame the players for this loss.

It's official. We're tanking, but Bevo is hiding it better than Bailey/Neeld ever did

 

[the dog's kennel]

5 weeks in so we now have reasonable data set to look at some key points such as ball use, centre bounce attendance, score involvements and overall rankings (AFL Player Ratings, Ranking/Supercoach, Fantasy, Disposal Efficiency, Kicking Efficiency, Disposals per Clanger, Centre Bounce Attendance %, Score Involvement %, Time On Ground %)...

View attachment 1662809

Who would have thought Caleb Daniel would have a lower Kicking Efficiency % than Lobb and Naughton!?

 

[Dogs Rule]

Five games down and five fade-outs in the last 10-15 minutes.

Do our fitness staff know what they are doing?

No. I don't think they do. The run ons are so predictable that I'm almost at the stage where I take bets with my family about what time of the match it will happen. Total ineptitude.

Anyhow, on the injury front, is it just our club that has had so many injuries over the last few years that are either 'indefinite' or turn from 1-2 to 4-6 and beyond. Seems like we get an injury and we've got NFI about how long they'll be out or when they might get back.

 

[grassman75]

I’m curious how we average 22.0 FA but our opposition only average 21.8 FF.

#FreeKickAgainstBulldogs

 

[Unorth]

I will say it’s been mostly negatives this season but I am appreciating watching Liam Jones

19

Liam Jones

Age

33

Ht

199cm

Wt

98kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

9.4

2star

K

6.5

3star

HB

2.9

3star

M

4.3

4star

T

2.0

4star

MG

134.5

2star

D

7.6

2star

K

6.1

3star

HB

1.4

1star

M

4.1

4star

T

1.4

2star

MG

116.3

2star

D

9.4

3star

K

7.4

3star

HB

2.0

2star

M

4.0

4star

T

2.2

4star

actually beat opponents in contests. He’s dicey with ball in hand, but no more than our other kpd options. Duryea and Keath in 21 were the last we saw of anyone in our backline putting in that kind of defensive work every week. And before that Moz.

 

[JTCWBFC]

Footy aint fun anymore & save for the finals run in 2021 hasn't been for a while

Even the wins are stressful af because they're close & you're just expecting this group to drop their bundle.

Slow, predictable with little to no exciting talent coming through sans Darcy.

Bad place for a footy club to be.

Hannan got back into the team after doing sweet FA.

McComb will get another run doing nothing.

Rinse & repeat.

Bevo has been great but he should be under serious heat without a contract & fighting for his life as the coach, rather we gave him 2 years when even he didn't want it.

Without the re-signing they could have moved quickly in the year & gained something out of this year.

It'll more than likely fade into nothingness pulling the same levers, he'll get the boot & the year is a write off.

Club needs a gutting from top to bottom but who has the chops to do it?

 

[HK_Bulldog]

Even though we got beat, I thought we looked better than our previous 4 matches. Not playing finals quality football but still higher quality than what we've dished up so far this season. We'll hopefully continue to improve but I still see us as an 8-12 side because we fall away so badly after our top 8 or so players.

 

[LondonBulldog]

I've never been a big Lobb guy, and going through my post history would confirm that, but after going through last year with Cordy, a 50% fit Bruce, Buku, Sweet and Martin in the fwd/ruck role it was clearly a position that had to be addressed and he was potentially the only viable option out there. I don't think the price was ridiculous at the time but I did think we were closer to premiership contention than we appear to be.

He has always been that type whose good is very good and bad can be very bad. He's had reasons why his form has been so poor (ankle issue not properly addressed during preseason, late surgery, rushed back from surgery, multiple wet weather games), I'm not too worried about it yet and I'm sure some big games are around the corner. If this form is continuing towards the bye then maybe different but some premature angst right now.

A four year deal does seem too much to me though. I would expect Darcy to go well past him in that role before that contract ends. Darcy is not ready now and getting someone like Lobb for a couple of seasons while Darcy is still developing is a wise move.

Wise move? I would argue the opposite. For every game the Lobb plays in the next few years and Darcy doesn't, it just delaying the development of Darcy. The thing is Darcy will be a star, is a number 1 pick and I will argue that he could offer just as much if not more in a dynamic sense then Lobb even this year. What are we going to do next year, keep Darcy back at Footscray again. Its a running game, you cant play the 3 of them in 1 team. I was always against the Lobb move, said we needed to keep those picks and draft runners. Listen he will play some good games for us, I'm sure of that, yet from a list management sense, no I would not have gone down that path.