Analysis Ricks Analysis (The Shinboner Blog)

Rick18

Norm Smith Medallist
Oct 30, 2007
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(1) As others have already mentioned above, we often leave midfield players free in the centre of the ground when the ball is either on the wing or on our forward flank. But even worse, I think, is what appears to be an instruction to leave opposition half-forward players free. When the game was basically over yesterday, I watched Mitch Brown a bit in the 3rd quarter. He's probably a smart guy, because all he kept doing was looking for pockets of space that our defenders consistently gave him. The bombers kicked well yesterday and you just can't afford to allow a forward such space seemingly intentionally. Is this simply zone defending and a hope that our midfield can pressure the ball carrier sufficiently to make opposition kicks into forward 50 imperfect? If so, surely when an opposition midfield gets on top, we have to revert back to tighter defending down back.

I reckon something's up with our defensive structure and there's a massive disconnect between the lines, to use a soccer term. That's (most likely) on the defensive coach, because ultimately he's responsible for the team defence. I didn't touch on it in the post because it requires some time and full ground vision to do, but everything's so out of whack it makes it easy for opponents to look more well-drilled and find the holes.

(2) (arising out of a twitter comment you made): Do you think White & Murray can effectively play in the same backcourt? It feels like I have more doubt than most. A 6-4 & 6-5 guy (short in the NBA these days) who both prefer to handle the ball doesn't usually make for a great tandem. I think 1 of them will have to turn into a heavier scorer (which is I think what Pop hoped for out of Bryn Forbes) for this to work.

If Murray just gets his outside shot to something that defences have to respect (32-33% from 3 maybe?) that'll unlock everything. I'm a massive nuffie for White though and I reckon he could be anything, so there's every chance that's colouring my vision!

Who would have guessed the Spurs' season would be alive in 2019 for longer than North's...
 
Sep 21, 2004
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I reckon something's up with our defensive structure and there's a massive disconnect between the lines, to use a soccer term. That's (most likely) on the defensive coach, because ultimately he's responsible for the team defence. I didn't touch on it in the post because it requires some time and full ground vision to do, but everything's so out of whack it makes it easy for opponents to look more well-drilled and find the holes.
Im too emotionally invested in the play, but I'd be keen to see full ground vision showing how much defensive running Polec, Cunnington, Higgins and Hall are doing. From the times Ive had an anlytical eye on, those 4 are a non-presence defensively.
 

GarnerSmash

They tried to make me go to rehab
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Jun 2, 2009
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"What it does mean is an off-season of planning with a questionable game plan – married with an inability to tailor it for the skill sets on the list – means North is currently playing at a level matching its ladder position, and 2019 is gone."

And it is with this that removing a 10 year coach os justifiable, especially considering he has recruited to build a list he wants to implement his plan. That he has so utterly failed is a clear demonstration that he is no longer capable of leading this clubs on field activities.
 
At least I know one person made it to the end of the piece
Now you know 2. :stern look

Now Rick you've correctly pointed out that the Coach has ballsed up the Preseason and now we are a mess in 2019. After 10 years in the caper how can the Board think that Scotts is still their Man when one considers how bad our preseason was? :stern look
 
Im too emotionally invested in the play, but I'd be keen to see full ground vision showing how much defensive running Polec, Cunnington, Higgins and Hall are doing. From the times Ive had an anlytical eye on, those 4 are a non-presence defensively.

Hall leads the tackle count so he'd have to be doing some defensive running.
 
New post trying to figure out what the plan of attack should be for the rest of the season, and how important it is to not make rash decisions on the playing list: https://theshinboner.com/2019/05/01...-playing-list-contract-depth-chart-shinboner/

(I specifically said playing list only before anyone comes at me)
Another good piece Rick. Interesting to look at the list in terms of the next two or three years, rather than just thinking about who comes into the team after each loss. Not sure it makes me feel more optimistic though (the lack of KPD's). Then I got sidetracked and read the Ken Early article about the EPL, he's well worth a read or listen (Second Captains).
 

GarnerSmash

They tried to make me go to rehab
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In fairness to Rick, he's saying that we should use this season to see where the young guys are at, not predicting that they will be make it
 

Billy Not Really

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Apr 7, 2018
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In fairness to Rick, he's saying that we should use this season to see where the young guys are at, not predicting that they will be make it

Weren't Geelong doing this all last season? They blooded a few new ones and kept them in there for as long as possible for a while.

I'm really over us throwing a young guy in and retracting him after 1-3 games. Theres no point to doing this in a season like the one we're having, even when we almost got the spoon in 2017 we didn't even start playing kids until the backend of the season.
 
Interesting terminology applied to our tall forwards who Rick has grouped Marking Forwards, but Key Defenders are still grouped as Key Defenders. I guess it begs the question are Key Forwards obsolete in todays game? FWIW I don't subscribe to that line of thought.
 
Weren't Geelong doing this all last season? They blooded a few new ones and kept them in there for as long as possible for a while.

I'm really over us throwing a young guy in and retracting him after 1-3 games. Theres no point to doing this in a season like the one we're having, even when we almost got the spoon in 2017 we didn't even start playing kids until the backend of the season.

On the flipside it's very hard to get a read on any new player when the team and structure around them are so dysfunctional.
 
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