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

[GameofSloanes]

I just don't buy you have to have finals experience to win.
We beat these guys 3 weeks ago, and we proved over 9 weeks we were good enough.

Simply didn't play to the level we had set for ourselves. That's what's disappointing.

Gold coast didnt have finals experience and won, its a mindset thing I agree

 

[Daniel6]

Gold coast didnt have finals experience and won, its a mindset thing I agree

Apples with oranges.

Collingwood had significantly more finals experience over Fremantle, and Craig McRae is a much better coach compared to Justin Longmuir.

You cannot compare the 2 games. Far too many different variables to make a direct comparison.

 

[Gtowncrow]

There's no doubt all of that is true, however you cannot place the blame solely at the feet of the coaching staff.

We knew what was coming, and the players didnt handle the heat. No one did.

Nah...
That's like blaming the soldier for being killed because he was ordered to charge a machine gun.

Our coaching staff devised their game plan and taught this to the players. Deliberate, considered and calculated.

Sometimes you have to look at the officers who gave poorly devised orders.

 

[Cromulant]

Nah...
That's like blaming the soldier for being killed because he was ordered to charge a machine gun.

Our coaching staff devised their game plan and taught this to the players. Deliberate, considered and calculated.

Sometimes you have to look at the officers who gave poorly devised orders.

Little bit different.

When your best players are making basic errors, that isnt on the coach. I get Nicks isnt super popular amongst certain fans and im not sold either completely. But you cannot absolve the players of any blame.

 

[davos44]

Gold coast didnt have finals experience and won, its a mindset thing I agree

The pressure was all on Fremantle; home final, big crowd, big expectations, against a side who was just "happy to be there". Perfect ambush conditions.

Matt Rowell too.

 

[1990crow]

Gold coast didnt have finals experience and won, its a mindset thing I agree

Out of all the teams this weekend Adelaide played the worst compared to its normal level.
If that's not choking i don't know what is.

 

[Billy Cart]

This is literally the opposite of the Board zeitgeist in the late Craig and Sanderson era.... "We never bottom out for picks, we will always be around the mark but never get top end talent"


Then we do.....

They hardly ever do bottom out yet they always find the talent to keep them on the top. Just being a destination club combined with a GF win every so often should be sufficient I would have thought.

 

[Scorpus]

I'm still furious at this result and the way we played.

More so after this weekend's results. Would have opened right up for us, a home prelim against a battered Brisbane missing key players, or a first time Gold Coast.

Instead we're shunted to play our three bogey sides.

An even worse result than 2012 or 2005 where winning the QF would have seen us up against Collingwood or Sydney respectively in the home prelim

 

[Billy Cart]

Yep we seem to have become more stagnant with our ball movement over the season. Less release handballs from marks/free kicks, hack kicking from stoppages rather than releasing outside. Plus going down the line from any stop ball situation. Feels like fewer switches

Yes earlier we were the hunter and now because of our minor premiership position, we are the hunted.

 

[George CantStandYa]

There's no doubt all of that is true, however you cannot place the blame solely at the feet of the coaching staff.

We knew what was coming, and the players didnt handle the heat. No one did.

I don’t think anyone is doing that though

 

[BunjiMC]

I'm still furious at this result and the way we played.

More so after this weekend's results. Would have opened right up for us, a home prelim against a battered Brisbane missing key players, or a first time Gold Coast.

Instead we're shunted to play our three bogey sides.

An even worse result than 2012 or 2005 where winning the QF would have seen us up against Collingwood or Sydney respectively in the home prelim

Don't discount Brisbane just yet.

 

[Billy Cart]

Yeah inclined to agree but I think the gameplan lacked any imagination as well

Oh it was imaginitive enough, but poorly thought through. Perhaps in a season game, but not in a final where you havent used it before. That was the silly part.

 

[GreyCrow]

Little bit different.

When your best players are making basic errors, that isnt on the coach. I get Nicks isnt super popular amongst certain fans and im not sold either completely. But you cannot absolve the players of any blame.

Not absolving the players of any blame

But you seem to be absolving the coaches

 

[Coopers]

Not absolving the players of any blame

But you seem to be absolving the coaches

Maybe they did execute the game plan properly.

Maybe Nicks instructed them to get crushed in the midfield and kick the ball to the spare Collingwood defender. In theory it would have confused Collingwood so much that they messed things up, like that one goal Moore coughed up. I reckon that was the plan all along.

I mean, he left the defenders spare for long enough to mean it had to be intentional, right?

 

[GreyCrow]

I mean, he left the defenders spare for long enough to mean it had to be intentional, right?

Like a deer in the headlight it was like looking at Tom Stewart all over

 

[Slippery Pete]

I'm still furious at this result and the way we played.

More so after this weekend's results. Would have opened right up for us, a home prelim against a battered Brisbane missing key players, or a first time Gold Coast.

Instead we're shunted to play our three bogey sides.

An even worse result than 2012 or 2005 where winning the QF would have seen us up against Collingwood or Sydney respectively in the home prelim

As Blighty said after losing a qualifying final: “At least we didn’t waste a good game on a loss.”

 

[rocket18]

What a shame the AFL robbed is two years ago of a finals series.

The experience might have been handy about now.

No doubt underachieving the last two years will cost us a bit now that we are contending.

2023 - one final, last year we should've been looking at a couple of finals - most of lads would've had a taste.

Bloody Rouge Bonkers gameplan.

 

[Scorpus]

Maybe they did execute the game plan properly.

Maybe Nicks instructed them to get crushed in the midfield and kick the ball to the spare Collingwood defender. In theory it would have confused Collingwood so much that they messed things up, like that one goal Moore coughed up. I reckon that was the plan all along.

I mean, he left the defenders spare for long enough to mean it had to be intentional, right?

Jokes aside though I've seen reasoning along these lines a lot. "Nicks didn't instruct the players to turn the ball over"

No, he didn't. But he would have implemented a specific structure for them to adhere to. Did that give the players the best chance of success?

For example, Collingwood keep getting Moore free and intercepting our inside 50s. Maybe we are rushing and turning the ball over to him, which is a player execution issue.

The coaching solution is NOT to just expect the players to magically start executing better. They're under pressure, it's a final, you can't just flick a switch like that during the game, it's bloody hard.

The solution is to look at structures and go, okay we wanted X player on Moore with a spare in this position but so far that hasn't worked. Can we put Y player on Moore? He's spare a lot, where is our spare? Can we shift the position of that spare to be more influential? Can we instruct the players to use set plays D, E, F instead of A, B C? Can we ask for more switches instead of straight line play? What about game tempo, should we instruct slower/faster plays? Dawson is off his game, can we move him to half back or forward to make him more influential and bring in player X or Y into the contest?

When the players are off, they're off. So help them out structurally. A player isn't getting into the game? Shift them into a different position for a bit. An opposition player is too influential? Change the matchup, consider a tag. Struggling with turnovers under pressure? Adjust the tempo, change the level of press, tweak the spare.

And you want options up your sleeve to adjust in game. Brodie Smith as the sub hamstrung us from a player position perspective because our side was stacked with one type of player and the sub was the same type. Didn't allow for any creativity with the "impact" player. That's a coaching (selection) problem.

 

[Slippery Pete]

Bit too much black pilling here.

Should beat Hawthorn. If you can’t beat Hawthorn at home you don’t deserve to be contending anyway.

A prelim final at the MCG is the best possible preparation you can have for a premiership. I honestly believe that.

You don’t want the GF to be your first game at the G in three months.

 

[WeeBlake]

They hardly ever do bottom out yet they always find the talent to keep them on the top. Just being a destination club combined with a GF win every so often should be sufficient I would have thought.

They had a period where their drafting went bad, but they have been great again in the last 6 or seven years. Miers, Atkins, Close, Holmes, SDK, Dempsey, Neale, Humphries, Mannagh. All very good players, drafted with lower picks (even Holmes was a very late first).

Jezza, Stengle, Bailey Smith would have kept them competitive, but those picks make them a contender.

 

[triggyscrewedus]

Gold coast didnt have finals experience and won, its a mindset thing I agree

They looked solid from the first bounce,
Definitely deserved the win.

 

[GreyCrow]

For example, Collingwood keep getting Moore free and intercepting our inside 50s. Maybe we are rushing and turning the ball over to him, which is a player execution issue.

I said through the match thread that it looked like they were happy with Quaynor on Thilthorpe as in their book its a win

The solution is to look at structures and go, okay we wanted X player on Moore with a spare in this position but so far that hasn't worked. Can we put Y player on Moore? He's spare a lot, where is our spare? Can we shift the position of that spare to be more influential? Can we instruct the players to use set plays D, E, F instead of A, B C? Can we ask for more switches instead of straight line play? What about game tempo, should we instruct slower/faster plays? Dawson is off his game, can we move him to half back or forward to make him more influential and bring in player X or Y into the contest?

I would have sat Fog on him. Would have got Fog into the game after his 1st quarter

 

[Interloperer]

Brodie Smith as the sub hamstrung us from a player position perspective because our side was stacked with one type of player and the sub was the same type.

The funny thing is Smith has played across half-forward before in 2019. He got 31 touches and 3 goals. The club naturally decided the experiment was a failure and never repeated it.

Coincidentally the exact area that needed a hail mary structural change.

 

[Mattrox]

Gold coast didnt have finals experience and won, its a mindset thing I agree

They also didn't play Collingwood.

 

[Cromulant]

Not absolving the players of any blame

But you seem to be absolving the coaches

Not at all, selections were wrong, on field starting positions were wrong and I would have evened up the number ahead of the ball. Thats despite Woz being our best afield.