AFL Toast Rnd 1: 6 Point win against Freo

[mad_monkey_j]

When the season's most likely to get canned I'm just gonna enjoy the shitshow of a performance and irrational wave of emotions.

 

[ScrappyCoCo]

And here’s me thinking I couldn’t love Dev any more. How did he get him?

Looked like fyfe tried to bump smith...and come off second best

 

[windyhill]

Apparently so does half of this board. All the pissing and moaning, given the current climate...stoked to win with a fairly makeshift forward line.

You can not please all the people all the time.

 

[60sbomber]

Who was our 3rd tallest player today (after TBC and BZT)? Maybe Ridley or Langford.
Add the fact that we have so many ultra short smalls (McGrath, Tippa, Snelling, Merrett, Smith, Shiel, Fantasia), and we have one very short side.

 

[Godzke]

Apparently we had a much longer warm up than Freo, so explains why we started hot and finished cold.

The forward handpassing game will be frustrating at times when we turn it over but ultimately we need it in light of our undersized forward line. However Freo showed that numbers behind the ball will expose us along with the fast inside kick from HB. McKernan will hopefully be back next week to rectify that.

 

[sameolds33]

Plenty to like in the first half - ball movement was great, we have clearly worked on moving the ball by hand from the contest and look better for it. Pressure was good across the ground and structures looked solid.

The TBC selection was ridiculous and we paid for it in the second half. Also thought we looked too short around the ground again - so many players under 183 cm who can’t compete in the air.

Hurley and Fantasia will surely get better, I’d play Ham over Zaka at this point and McKenna in for Guelfi.Smack in, Laverde the likely out.

In his presser Woosha talked about McKenna. Said he could play both forward and back but is underdone right now, particularly if played forward.

 

[ghostdog]

In his presser Woosha talked about McKenna. Said he could play both forward and back but is underdone right now, particularly if played forward.

May that serve McKenna as a kick in the pants.*















* Please stay.

 

[ScrappyCoCo]

The chaos ball entry into our small forward line worked well early.. The high ball not so much.

 

[Halftimehero]

Phillips went past Bellchambers last year. Bellchambers is the dead set battler.

When he was playing VFL? and battling in that?

 

[yodellinhank]

Langford in the ruck, who is responsible for that tactical genius?

Robert Walls

 

[ghostdog]

Are people seriously saying he had a bad game? He was vital in getting us to that early lead...

From what I can gather, people have seriously suggested he had half a bad game.

 

[Doss]

It wasn't pretty. But hey let's face it, there's no way this season won't be completely curtailed eventually, indeed, sooner rather than later, so let's just enjoy what footy we can see.

 

[BrunoV]

Thought it was a tale of two teams who, for all of the talk, are largely doing what they were last year.

I know that Freo didn't sack Lyon for football reasons but Jesus that was a garbage display of football, for the first 3 quarters, that didn't even have any defensive quality. Maybe bringing Fremantle back to Fremantle was literal and they plan on being the dogs breakfast they were until Lyon took over.

Does anyone have the break down for time spent in the thirds of the ground?

For all of the talk about pressure and smalls the ball seemed to bounce out of our forward line with the usual ease. It certainly didn't feel any different. A basic skill error resulting in the ball being kicked to a small is not the same as pressure created by the smalls turning the ball over. Commentators spend too much time trying to identify what a coach tells them they're trying to do, as though it makes up for the rest of their inability to identify what is happening.

Concerning that the Dockers ran all over us as soon as they started to hit targets and finishing the game stronger.

Have no idea why we would play Parish as we did. He's an accumulator who is not going to impact games if he's playing as a midfielder outside the 5 in the rotation. Was a complete waste.

Stringer and Shiel looked great. Ridley looked great too. Townsend did that weird thing where he lights up a game for 15 minutes, it's not a bad trick but listening to all of that drivel about Richmond and team oriented footy when he's impacting games taking contested marks is already tiresome.

Sean Darcy is so out of shape he doesn't belong on a footy field. It's like we had a gentlemens' agreement to let Bellchambers and Darcy plod around the ground together, at least for the first half. I would issue a please explain to Freo for breaching the agreement by letting Lobb torch Bellchambers in the second half.

 

[Lance Uppercut]

holy ******* s**t you lot suck arse. ******* brilliant win against a decent team, and we're able to show poise to get over the line.

* this place hasn't changed a bit.

 

[JayJ20]

Thought it was a tale of two teams who, for all of the talk, are largely doing what they were last year.

I know that Freo didn't sack Lyon for football reasons but Jesus that was a garbage display of football, for the first 3 quarters, that didn't even have any defensive quality. Maybe bringing Fremantle back to Fremantle was literal and they plan on being the dogs breakfast they were until Lyon took over.

Does anyone have the break down for time spent in the thirds of the ground?

For all of the talk about pressure and smalls the ball seemed to bounce out of our forward line with the usual ease. It certainly didn't feel any different. A basic skill error resulting in the ball being kicked to a small is not the same as pressure created by the smalls turning the ball over. Commentators spend too much time trying to identify what a coach tells them they're trying to do, as though it makes up for the rest of their inability to identify what is happening.

Concerning that the Dockers ran all over us as soon as they started to hit targets and finishing the game stronger.

Have no idea why we would play Parish as we did. He's an accumulator who is not going to impact games if he's playing as a midfielder outside the 5 in the rotation. Was a complete waste.

Stringer and Shiel looked great. Ridley looked great too. Townsend did that weird thing where he lights up a game for 15 minutes, it's not a bad trick but listening to all of that drivel about Richmond and team oriented footy when he's impacting games taking contested marks is already tiresome.

Sean Darcy is so out of shape he doesn't belong on a footy field. It's like we had a gentlemens' agreement to let Bellchambers and Darcy plod around the ground together, at least for the first half. I would issue a please explain to Freo for breaching the agreement by letting Lobb torch Bellchambers in the second half.

I actually think we played different to the two preseason games after quarter-time.
One thing about Richmond's handball/pressure gamestyle is that it suits larger grounds like the MCG better than Marvel. It's why Richmond have been ordinary at Marvel despite their success. I suspect we'll see us execute the gamestyle better in round 3 against Carlton.

Freo at times pushed back to stop our forward handballing and force us to kick down the line. Not as easy to do that at the MCG.

 

[Cold Sober]

1. 4 points
2. How can such a great coaching set up not see what BF posters see.
3. Whoever came up with the term Essington should be on the Clubs honor board.
4. We won.

 

[rumply]

holy ******* s**t you lot suck arse. ******* brilliant win against a decent team, and we're able to show poise to get over the line.

fu** this place hasn't changed a bit.

Sort of forget over the off season then first real game back, out they come,

 

[sameolds33]

I actually think we played different to the two preseason games after quarter-time.
One thing about Richmond's handball/pressure gamestyle is that it suits larger grounds like the MCG better than Marvel. It's why Richmond have been ordinary at Marvel despite their success. I suspect we'll see us execute the gamestyle better in round 3 against Carlton.

Freo at times pushed back to stop our forward handballing and force us to kick down the line. Not as easy to do that at the MCG.

See bolded - but easier to do that that at the SCG?

 

[Fridge16]

When he was playing VFL? and battling in that?

yep, where Tbell should be. Take the goggles off mate, he’s no good

 

[blitzer]

I reckon we can take some positives out of a win with no tall forwards and neither Tippa or Fantasia firing.
Plus Hurley had a shocker but he'll get better - he was actually really good through the preseason. Zaka though I think is certainly on the way out. Hopefully Ham gets some chances.
At least by next week we can swap McKernan for Laverde and that will straighten us up and give us an actual backup ruck. I'd also like to see McKenna back in the team.
Not naming Phillips was a straight up mistake though - nearly cost us in the end.

Some individual players:
Townsend - Seems like a real find. Our forward line could do with an aggressive edge and he kicks straight!
McGrath - Taking those next steps, was impactful with his clean touches.
Shiel - Probably the best game he's played for the club, not only did he won a ton of ball but his ball use was actually really good.
Ridley - Love his ball use, never turns it over.
Smith - Great to have him back, annoying people, laying tackles and just helps us bring a more physical edge.

 

[westking]

The arrogance of playing TBell.
The arrogance of playing such a small side.
The predictability of capitulating in the last qtr.
Another layer of wallpaper applied to the cracks on the wall today.

The continued stubbornness of senior players unwilling/unable to step up and do something when things don't go our way.

And yep, if we played GWS today we would of got smashed.

 

[sameolds33]

The arrogance of playing TBell.
The arrogance of playing such a small side.
The predictability of capitulating in the last qtr.
Another layer of wallpaper applied to the cracks on the wall today.

The continued stubbornness of senior players unwilling/unable to step up and do something when things don't go our way.

And yep, if we played GWS today we would of got smashed.

I don't disagree with most of what you say but we didn't play GWS today. We played Freo and we won. It's R1. Enjoy a W next to our name.

 

[Halftimehero]

Marsh 1 Hitouts ESS 24 WCE 47
Clearances ESS 36 WCE 46

Marsh 2 Hitouts ESS 29 GEE 31
Clearances ESS 28 GEE 44

Real Football Hitouts ESS 30 FREO 29
Clearances ESS 28 FREO 21

But let’s all pretend Phillips is the next Simons Madden shall we

 

[Shane Heard]

The chaos ball entry into our small forward line worked well early.. The high ball not so much.

please don’t write the phrase “ chaos ball” ..i

 

[ScrappyCoCo]

please don’t write the phrase “ chaos ball” ..i

Scrubber kick?... Shank?... Hack forward?