Review QF: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly vs. Collingwood

[Ciao Giacomo]

I said it earlier but if we were so insistent on playing Max forward, then don't worry about Jaicos, worry about the guy marking every ball inside D50

I said all this week that we wouldn’t play Max forward, I was wrong. I just don’t get what we expected Max to do.

Max wasn’t use as a tagger on Jaicos, who was allowed to float around on his own. Max wasnt used to reduce the influence of the Collingwood intercept marker (like his role on Vlaustin).He just seemed to float around without influencing the play. Meanwhile, Elliott looked like kicking a goal every time he went near the ball.

Our game plan evened up the clearances (35-33 our way) and the inside 50s (50-49 our way) but except for a short period in the second quarter, Collingwood always looked in control. They out tackled us (56-65) and we almost set a P.B. for turnovers (78-64). Was it lack of final’s experience or a true reflection of where we sit?

We will know after next Friday night.

 

[George CantStandYa]

Maybe the Adelaide media will stop blowing smoke up our arses. The players had a wakeup call.

Brainfades cost us. Despite playing poorly in general, if there was composure we were a chance to jag it.

Fog not taking the shot. Even if he misses we try to apply fwd half pressure.

Thilthorpe the same with the Keyes handball.

Thilthorpe centreing the ball into an intercept mark.

Thilthorpe not taking his full 50m.

The play-on straight after.


Regroup and learn from this.
The OOF in our D50.

Even with some general scrappy fumbly poor play, composure or lack thereof was the nail in the coffin.

Maybe the media and some supporters will stop blowing smoke up our coach’s arse hey?

 

[budget]

One thing I thought really stood out tome last night was worrells blind hacks out of defence. I realize he has to react quickly but I hope someone is trying to coach this out of him.

 

[bigman]

I am detecting a trend whenever we lose. Immense pressure from the opposition around the ball impacts many of our players who resort to hack kicks and a complete loss of composure. We also kick the ball high to our forwards and stop lowering our eyes and looking for shorter kicks on the angles.

Last night these things occurred but we also lacked the offensive run when we play at our best. We gave their players too much time and space in defence and the midfield

I am not critical of nicks trying Max up forward but he should have released him from his half forward role earlier either to match up on Moore or go back to defence on Elliot

Bond was ok on Elliot - he kicked at least one on worrell but at least he had some composure when he had the ball. I think we have missed a trick not trialling him as a run with player in the midfield earlier in the year

I was also not critical of Laird going into the middle but not Keays who was struggling all night and whose days asa mid are over. I would have given Taylor and peds a run through there instead

A number of players will want to lift and in particular work on their decision making.

I also felt we gave too much time and space to players like Sidebottom who used the ball so well to his teammates

I hate to say it but Cox was imp for them. He forced 3 of our players to often go the spoil and their smaller players constantly picked up the loose spilt ball with not enough of our boys in position to halt their movement

Lots to work on and some gaps in our squad hit home. We haven’t been playing that well in recent weeks too which needs to be turned around. Not confident we can do it but we have to work on the things that we did not get right last night next Friday night

 

[Not Darryl Moss]

If we face Hawthorn next week we are cooked

Happy to go in as the underdog and show plenty of bite.

 

[TheLeftFist8]

Maybe the media and some supporters will stop blowing smoke up our coaches arse hey?

As ANB said, we've achieved nothing.

 

[TheLeftFist8]

One thing I thought really stood out tome last night was worrells blind hacks out of defence. I realize he has to react quickly but I hope someone is trying to coach this out of him.

It's a last resort but many times there's no other option. We have such a defensive team structure atm there will be no one running into space anticipating us winning the ball.

 

[weekend at bernies]

Really thought our players would come out as fired up as the crowd and get into the Pies players, but pies did all the dictating.

 

[weekend at bernies]

Ugly: i paid for a seat and the guy next to me felt in-tilted to take half of my seat as well as his own.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

What's going on with Keays?

Carrying something?

He's been down for a while except in a couple of towelings. Never the most polished performer but usually an ever-present workhorse, always up and about, always involved.

 

[TheLeftFist8]

I am detecting a trend whenever we lose. Immense pressure from the opposition around the ball impacts many of our players who resort to hack kicks and a complete loss of composure. We also kick the ball high to our forwards and stop lowering our eyes and looking for shorter kicks on the angles.

Zac Taylor is the one with the attributes we need in there.

 

[George CantStandYa]

As ANB said, we've achieved nothing.

What about Coach of the Year?

 

[CrowBloke]

Just got home and lets be honest it was a smashing, Nicks was a deer in the headlights and changed nothing until the game was over....mate out midfield has been smashed the last 4 weeks and you still try nothing....we need proactive not reactive. .. this midfield will not win a final under Nicks

I'm pretty sure that I had a false hope going in to the game, because:
--- we won 9 on the trot, annihilating PA in a Flood.
--- we only just beat WCE and NM, winning ugly, but I put that down to extra-hard training and
--- I had convinced myself that Nicks had taught them a three-paced game ie back off, hold, and Flat-out,
but after last night I think the latter is an illusion.

Our midfield is ineffective (and that's being kind) which starts from an ineffective ruckman who often gets first hand to the ball upon which oppo mids feast. I would have liked to have seen RoB thump the ball forward a couple of times just as a change-up from his usual hand-dribble down.
The pressure from Collingwood 3, 4, 5 times in a row in close until we coughed it up was relentless; then they waltzed the ball away.
NO composure; so many panicked hack-kicks last night! On the few occasions we had a slower buildup and/or paused just long enough to lower eyes and find a mate, we scored more easily.

We saw the worst of our Crows and Nicks last night.

 

[Moonwatcher]

GOOD: We won the inside 50s 50 to 49

 

[TheLeftFist8]

Really thought our players would come out as fired up as the crowd and get into the Pies players, but pies did all the dictating.

I wonder if Nicks spent a lot of time discussing the Pies intimidatory tactics and to not get sucked in? Result...we come out on the back foot waiting to be dictated to.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Lots of players were down but I was probably most disappointed in Milera

He's one who can break lines, run and carry, take on tacklers, provide spark. Offered nothing.

 

[TheLeftFist8]

Lots of players were down but I was probably most disappointed in Milera

He's one who can break lines, run and carry, take on tacklers, provide spark. Offered nothing.

Time to move our invisible wingman back to where he's best

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Any little issues that raise their head during the minor round get magnified tenfold in finals.

We've thought our midfield is maybe a bit thin during the season. Lacking a blue chipper. But we've got by. The mids have done just enough, strong defence, efficient forwards.

In September that little nagging thought becomes a full blown problem.

 

[Moonwatcher]

Lots of players were down but I was probably most disappointed in Milera

He's one who can break lines, run and carry, take on tacklers, provide spark. Offered nothing.

I thought he worked in traffic under immense pressure well.

This game came down to Nicks v McRae. McRae has a premiership winning structure and it was able to secure a top 4 spot even with a significant form slump. Nicks at the moment has no real strategy to counter it.

 

[Elder van Berlo]

The footy

Parallels have been drawn with Sydney 2012 and I can definitely see it in terms of performance vs list profile and experience. A fortnight later we played at our absolute maximum and almost pulled off an incredible upset. So I'm simultaneously (a) incredibly disappointed, (b) sad that what I thought deep down - that we would not beat Collingwood, Geelong or Brisbane when it mattered - looks like it was true all along, (c) not giving up hope.

But here's the thing. We usually select 7-7-7 backs-forwards-mids + a ruckman and a sub. Last night we picked 8 backs and 6 mids. So we found ourselves short of numbers in the middle (to say nothing of the quality gap in the players that were there), and forced to give Laird, Keays and Michalanney their first CBAs of the season or close to it. Why?

This is multi-faceted.

It starts at list management/development. Were we always a Matt Crouch

5

Matt Crouch

Age

30

Ht

181cm

Wt

85kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

28.4

5star

K

12.0

4star

HB

16.4

5star

M

3.3

3star

T

3.9

5star

CL

4.8

5star

D

24.9

5star

K

9.7

4star

HB

15.1

5star

M

2.4

3star

T

2.4

3star

CL

4.4

5star

D

21.2

5star

K

10.4

4star

HB

10.8

5star

M

4.4

4star

T

3.4

5star

CL

2.0

4star

injury and an Izak Rankine

23

Izak Rankine

Age

25

Ht

179cm

Wt

82kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

13.0

3star

K

9.0

3star

HB

4.0

3star

M

2.7

3star

T

2.7

4star

CL

1.7

4star

D

13.0

3star

K

9.0

4star

HB

4.0

3star

M

2.7

3star

T

2.7

4star

CL

1.7

4star

D

13.0

4star

K

9.0

4star

HB

4.0

3star

M

2.7

3star

T

2.7

5star

CL

1.7

4star

suspension away from having literally no midfield options such that we would prefer to play an extra defender? If so, have we done nothing about investigating our list to see who else might be an option there? We drafted Edwards as a mid and played him there last year, but shifted him to be 11th in line on a half back flank...when we were two injuries (one, since Matt went down in April) away from literally deciding that NOBODY was a better option than our SANFL mids? Dowling has always played his best footy on ball. I can see how he might have limitations that mean he doesn't do it at the highest level, but would it have been worth having a look rather than using him as a 4th in line for two spots wingman? Hell even Schoenberg... did coming into the season's hottest game for one quarter justify putting a line through his name?

Then we get to selection. Picking Max as a forward was too cute and it didn't need hindsight to say so. He had to play on Elliott. Bond actually did ok - other than the first goal not much that Elliott did was his fault. But we can't be sacrificing the game of one of our better players, and the entire balance of the team, to fit around Hugh f-ing Bond.

But even if playing Max forward did work, it doesn't fix the fundamental problem at selection. We still only had 6 mids. And three of those touched the ball 28 times between them. One of Dowling, Draper, Schoenberg, Jones is essential next week - limited though those players might be. Or a positional shift that makes Laird, ANB, Taylor or even Rash a full time mid either individually or by committee.

Then we get to in game. If you ignore everything that happened to get us to this point, here I have some sympathy for Nicks. He wasn't blessed with options. And I actually think getting Laird in there was a good move given the limitations of the 23 we had available. He got his hands on the ball, his hands were constructive in close and if we had taken a couple of those half to good chances early in the last quarter, we could be talking about Laird's shift to the midfield being instrumental in a come from the clouds win.

TLDR: our midfield is no good, we haven't done anything about making it good, Laird actually did make a positive difference.

 

[BunjiMac]

Our failure was assuming regular season and finals would be the same

 

[GreyCrow]

I hate to say it but Cox was imp for them. He forced 3 of our players to often go the spoil and their smaller players constantly picked up the loose spilt ball with not enough of our boys in position to halt their movement

It seemed as soon as he gave the 50m to RT he then went into beast mode

 

[beartoo]

Allowing Sidebottom so much room all night
He is a major influence every time
Why the **** don't we get someone to go near him? Has he got a raging case of viral ****ing herpes or someyhing?

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Time to move our invisible wingman back to where he's best

In the off season we need to overhaul how we use the ball. There were some good signs earlier in the season but we've gone back to grinding, even in our wins.

We completely bypass our wingmen. Curtin had a good patch on the wing this season only by becoming a roaming CHF and clunking pack grabs.

Not by being an outlet for mids to use as we spread from contests.

We bomb forward while the wingmen watch. The best teams turn inside ball into outside ball so that the ball can be used effectively more often.

Good teams also switch the ball through their wingmen and half backs. GWS get the ball into Whitfield's hands at every opportunity for example so that he can set up play. When we switch it's only ever though our key defenders.

 

[GreyCrow]

It's a last resort but many times there's no other option. We have such a defensive team structure atm there will be no one running into space anticipating us winning the ball.

This is where I felt our composure went missing

There were times when a player had clear air and instead of kicking - looked up saw nobody - then handballed into pressure