Autopsy Rd 9 review vs Geelong

[electricfeel]

Matt DeBoer played a very good game as sub last night. He was better in a quarter last night then he had in any full game all season.

I thought he played well too. I was a bit apprehensive about the impact he would have as a sub but to my surprise he did well. In all honesty I think I noticed him more than Sheridan. Although Sheridan wasn't too bad either.

 

[refresh]

Emergency umpire deserves a punch to the head, that was a dreadful decision on Crowley.

I was on the other side of the ground and can't put together what happened with this. Can someone help?

 

[hoss]

He's not flashy and many people miss him completely but Barlow was outstanding in the stoppages - and that's where we beat them.

 

[freoextra]

I thought Sutty had a great game. He's developing into a fine little player.

Provided lots of run and was very solid. Just needs to eliminate those two kicks to the middle corridor each game that get picked off and cost goals and no one will question his place in the team.

Must be well thought off to being keeping Ibbo out!

 

[slicedndiced]

I was on the other side of the ground and can't put together what happened with this. Can someone help?

Long story short. SJ pushed/scragged Crowley into Selwood and over the interchange line. Crowley stepped back into the field of play and the dickhead 4th umpire pinged him for an interchange infringement instead of giving Crowley a free kick.

Bond had to restrain Crowley as he went apeshit.

Clever, but underhanded by SJ.

 

[freoextra]

I'd like to add to the endorsements for Silvagni. His kicking was precise and penetrating and his other work was pretty much flawless.
Will be very very stiff to lose his spot when McPharlin and Ibbotson are back, couldn't really have performed better when given opportunity.
Was quite stunned he was subbed, perhaps its because we had their measure down back and Ross wanted more run I guess.
Other than that I thought Hill was superb. Just ran and ran, tackled, chased and seemed to really want the footy.
Balla was incredible, to play after his injury and play the way he did. Remarkable effort.
Pav lit the fuse and everybody followed. So glad I was there for such a milestone game and the players got it done.

I think we were all surprised when Silvagni was subbed off but was he or the Geelong player subbed off first? Because it was his opponent that came off the ground.

 

[refresh]

Long story short. SJ pushed/scragged Crowley into Selwood and over the interchange line. Crowley stepped back into the field of play and the dickhead 4th umpire pinged him for an interchange infringement instead of giving Crowley a free kick.

Bond had to restrain Crowley as he went apeshit.

Clever, but underhanded by SJ.

Did the umpire just make a mistake or is there some rule that you can't enter the field of play through the interchange gates if you are not interchanging? Also is it the role of the fourth umpire to call "interchange infringements" or is that for the interchange stewards? So many officials!!!

I know you may not have the answers, just general questions.

 

[freoextra]

I think Suban and DeBoer remaining in the 22/23 player realm (along with Sheridan). Suban was solid to begin with, loved his fight but typically had a very quiet spell after half time where he just did not impact on the game.

The real worry and it will be a real worry for Matty is that the team functioned fine without DeBoer as a strong lockdown forward. So where does that leave DeBoer? In a world or worry I would have thought, because you just see more value in a Ibbo, Morabito or dare I say an inform ( when it happens) Sylvia.

 

[slicedndiced]

Did the umpire just make a mistake or is there some rule that you can't enter the field of play through the interchange gates if you are not interchanging? Also is it the role of the fourth umpire to call "interchange infringements" or is that for the interchange stewards? So many officials!!!

I know you may not have the answers, just general questions.

From memory he went over/through the Geelong interchange gate which is a no-no. As far as I understand the 4th umpire makes the call for an infringement. Stewards are there for the paperwork side of things.

Crowley was clearly infringed and he should have got a free imo.

 

[Jezzitizle]

I thought our effort early papered over our weaknesses a bit, far too often is ballas used as a marking target isolated outside 50 against taller opposition, or the ball is floated to him inside 50 giving him no chance. He should almost never be our best leading option inside 50, he just isnt tall enough. I think if that's the best option we have in the forward 50 we should slow the play down like we were doing last year and move the ball around outside the arc until we can either spot up passes or get some better options deep. Or at least just kick it to space in front of him and let him beat his man on the ground.

Was a great win, with some great moments, but we aren't going to win the flag using Ballantyne like a key forward. With the way we monstered the contested possies I feel like we should have been a bit more damaging. I don't feel quite as negative as I probably sound, but I want us to win the flag this year and its frustrating seeing the same problem every week. Luckily our midfield was on fire most of the game, loved seeing some great field kicking by fyfe in a big match. If we can get our forward line functioning better, we will be hard to beat.

 

[Jezzitizle]

Oh and did anybody else notice Fyfe accidentally elbow somebody in the head after jumping into a hip and shoulder? Happened so quickly, in the second quarter I think or maybe late first, near the centre of the ground, and I haven't seen a replay of it. I don't know how heavy the contact was but Im sure the cats player was grabbing his head afterwards, but nobody seems to have seen it. Hopefully it was nothing..

 

[estibador]

I'm normally pretty critical of us kicking to Ballas as a marking target too often, but at one point last night I thought it was a deliberate ploy to clear out the 50 and leave him one-on-one while he was on a bit of a hot streak.

 

[slicedndiced]

Oh and did anybody else notice Fyfe accidentally elbow somebody in the head after jumping into a hip and shoulder? Happened so quickly, in the second quarter I think or maybe late first, near the centre of the ground, and I haven't seen a replay of it. I don't know how heavy the contact was but Im sure the cats player was grabbing his head afterwards, but nobody seems to have seen it. Hopefully it was nothing..

Are you sure it wasn't Zac Clarkes albeit accidental elbow to SJ?

That'll get scrutinised no doubt.

 

[Jezzitizle]

Are you sure it wasn't Zac Clarkes albeit accidental elbow to SJ?

That'll get scrutinised no doubt.

Certain, it happened in broken play, but as I said I didn't see a replay so hopefully it was nothing.

I saw Zac Clarke on that dirty sook and there was nothing in that I thought. Johnson just knows he can't get a kick on Crowley unless he gets them given to him by the umpire.

 

[Grape Bear]

It was atrocious umpiring both ways, but we didn't get too short an end of the stick as we always do when we play Geelong.

Really glad we won this one. It will be good for our confidence. I really think the 4 six day breaks have ****ed us over big time. Even RTB, who normally does not mention the fixturing as such, mentioned that we haven't been able to train as we wanted to with all the 6-day breaks. Later in the season when you have the game plan in hand, it may be less of a factor, but early in the season when you are tweaking it, it is a significant loss not to be able to drill on the new aspects of it.

I'm going to watch the full game and maybe come back here later. In the meantime, I just wanted to say again...

 

[Jezzitizle]

I'm normally pretty pretty critical of us kicking to Ballas as a marking target too often, but at one point last night I thought it was a deliberate policy to clear out the 50 and leave him one-on-one while he was going through a bit of a hot streak.

It often is, and it only works when the ball hits the deck and isn't kicked high into him. He positions and leads so well its hard for the mids to ignore him, but its not the percentage play imo, especially when teams drop a man back as was happening last night a bit. Surely our brains trust can come up with a better tactic than that. Even send ballas high and leave Fyfe deep in space more often, at least he has the size and leap to compete. Whatever they do, the high kicks to Ballantyne should never happen but it does about 5 times each game

 

[slicedndiced]

It often is, and it only works when the ball hits the deck and isn't kicked high into him. He positions and leads so well its hard for the mids to ignore him, but its not the percentage play imo, especially when teams drop a man back as was happening last night a bit. Surely our brains trust can come up with a better tactic than that. Even send ballas high and leave Fyfe deep in space more often, at least he has the size and leap to compete. Whatever they do, the high kicks to Ballantyne should never happen but it does about 5 times each game

I agree with what you are saying about Balla and have mentioned it before, but I reckon that Balla contributes to this a bit as well. Trying to spot up a tiny energizer bunny going hither and tither at 100% pace is rather difficult.

 

[salim malik]

The silence on Zac D's game is deafening.I thought he was brilliant .

 

[Latro]

The silence on Zac D's game is deafening.I thought he was brilliant .

Except at rushing behinds.

 

[Outshined]

The silence on Zac D's game is deafening.I thought he was brilliant .

Our defense was excellent in restricting them to 9 goals, but their task was made easier by our midfield domination. Barlow, Fyfe, Mundy and Hill were immense.

Great game overall, probably our equal best of the season (tied with Collingwood). Pressure on the ball carrier was probably the highest it's been all season, and we had a discernible forward structure for most parts of the night. Ball use was also good in greasy conditions, and we generated 31 scoring shots. Play like that every week and we'll finish top 4. Consistency is the key from now on.

As an added bonus, we didn't go to sleep for a quarter like we've been doing for the last month. Too early to tell after a slow start to the season, but it looks like Lyon has us building towards the end of the year.

 

[PapaJ]

It often is, and it only works when the ball hits the deck and isn't kicked high into him. He positions and leads so well its hard for the mids to ignore him, but its not the percentage play imo, especially when teams drop a man back as was happening last night a bit. Surely our brains trust can come up with a better tactic than that. Even send ballas high and leave Fyfe deep in space more often, at least he has the size and leap to compete. Whatever they do, the high kicks to Ballantyne should never happen but it does about 5 times each game

I agree with what you are saying about Balla and have mentioned it before, but I reckon that Balla contributes to this a bit as well. Trying to spot up a tiny energizer bunny going hither and tither at 100% pace is rather difficult.

Correct me if I'm wrong, and I may well be because I only remember a couple of games, but before he was drafted, in his Sandover year, he was a pretty good lead-up mark when one-on-one. I remember him doing it often enough. Not sure why, but it's one of those things that doesn't seem to have translated to AFL level.

Whether it's the pace he goes at, or the pace of the game in general and the difficulty it is to co-ordinate leading and delivery - not sure. I never expected him to be a consistent marking fwd, but I always expected Balla to get 1-2 marks inside 50 a game when he first started with us, and it's never really happened.

 

[estibador]

As an added bonus, we didn't go to sleep for a quarter like we've been doing for the last month. Too early to tell after a slow start to the season, but it looks like Lyon has us building towards the end of the year.

And in the meantime Hawthorn are dropping like flies after their choice to commit to a heavier workload earlier in the preseason.

Could just be a coincidence of course, but either way the lesson is it's always better to wait a while before slashing your wrists early in the season. They don't hand out premierships for bursting out of the blocks in the first month (unfortunately for our feathered friends down the road).

 

[MrBomb]

Who's SNOS?

 

[estibador]

Who's SNOS?

Silvagni.

Second Nephew of Serge (SNOS), aka Second Cousin of Steve (SCOS).

 

[slicedndiced]

And in the meantime Hawthorn are dropping like flies after their choice to commit to a heavier workload earlier in the preseason.

Could just be a coincidence of course, but either way the lesson is it's always better to wait a while before slashing your wrists early in the season. They don't hand out premierships for bursting out of the blocks in the first month (unfortunately for our feathered friends down the road).

But it would make this board far less entertaining to read.