AFL Autopsy RND 12: Beaten By The Lions

[joey_jo_jo]

can we all take moment to put the "hip drop" tackle on notice as well?

Kai Lohman did one in the first quarter, Durhams injury was caused by a hip drop tackle

not cool

Ive always found it weird how the afl is so focused on outcome that they penalise good tackles like curtis' but allow spear tackles like newcombes and hip drops like lohmans to go unpunished or just get a fine when those two tackles are the most likely to cause injury and arent a normal footy action. In league and union the book is thrown at players who make these tackles.

 

[WABomber]

Great game to watch, lots of positives. I rekon wicks and clark will turn out to be future stars out of the crop of kids coming through. Couple of times last night the way wicks weaved through traffic and made everyone stand still was amazing, I think he needs to stay in the side for the rest of the year if hes able. Clark has the confidence in himself and his ability that you don't see that often in a kid he's going to be a problem as he gets bigger and more comfortable at afl level.

Heaps of other great moments in the game. Not happy they risked a hobbling durham in the forward line rather then sub in tsatas early. He was in visible discomfort, ****ing get him off! If he had of done more damage Scott would have to go into hiding from the backlash he would have received.

 

[Squeaky]

Apart from that first quarter, that's probably some of the best footy we've played all year.

Play like that next week and we should beat the Blues.

"Happiness is... beating the Blues"

 

[Lance Uppercut]

could've been worse.

needed someone to run with McCluggage instead of McGrath

EFA

 

[EnolaGay]

I deem that an acceptable loss.

The perfect tank result. Honourable, against a top team and great experience for the Baby Bombers Mk III.

 

[ant555]

Like the fact we stayed in the game and got to play a bit of our brand in the third quarter but 5 goals from turnovers in the first quarter and 11 for the game. We are going to struggle to go anywhere giving away 40+ extra points (40 because most sides give up 20 odd points on turnover most weeks).
Anyway could have been worse and they young blokes got some good game time.

 

[ant555]

Well I sure as hell didn't expect that. I'm more than happy with that - a real show of effort. There were a few passengers like Guelf, Perkins ... Hobbs was very costly. But man I'm liking some of these kids, and that has to be Caddy's best overall game for us. Also nice to see Calders get back some of his pre-injury form too

Geulfi ? okay not much offensive output but play most of the night on Zorko and kept him under reasonable control and he has been running pretty hot in recent weeks from half back.
Hobbs was interesting. Couple of real clangers by foot but also a couple of real classy passes and 4 score involvements

 

[ant555]

Should have subbed Tsatas on in the third for any of Gresh, Perk or Guelf.

Tsatas did ok I thought but impossible to impact with 15min to go.

Harsh on Geulfi. Zorko has been pretty hot the last 3 weeks. Not a lot of impact last night.

 

[thepokey]

Geulfi ? okay not much offensive output but play most of the night on Zorko and kept him under reasonable control and he has been running pretty hot in recent weeks from half back.
Hobbs was interesting. Couple of real clangers by foot but also a couple of real classy passes and 4 score involvements

Maybe a little harsh on Geulf, especially since he's probably still finding his feet after injury, but Hobbs was definitely more costly than helpful

 

[MiguelM]

Like the fact we stayed in the game and got to play a bit of our brand in the third quarter but 5 goals from turnovers in the first quarter and 11 for the game. We are going to struggle to go anywhere giving away 40+ extra points (40 because most sides give up 20 odd points on turnover most weeks).
Anyway could have been worse and they young blokes got some good game time.

Turnovers are how games are lost. There were a few where we were in good positions going forward but turned it over and the result almost a 12 point play the other way.

Coach killers.

Recruitment of skilled players that can comfortably kick both feet and hit targets lace out is a need plus skill development in pressure situations.

Watching the Pies last night dismantle Hawks with pinpoint kicking. Houston is a gun in this area. Hawks also had heaps of turnovers too.

 

[ant555]

Turnovers are how games are lost. There were a few where we were in good positions going forward but turned it over and the result almost a 12 point play the other way.

Coach killers.

Recruitment of skilled players that can comfortably kick both feet and hit targets lace out is a need plus skill development in pressure situations.

Watching the Pies last night dismantle Hawks with pinpoint kicking. Houston is a gun in this area. Hawks also had heaps of turnovers too.

Hawks are a really strong kicking side as well so it is not just skills. No argument from me about skill level in our side and the need to be better at all but the Pies have the combination of skill , pressure and team defense working. The team defense is their key again. Last year it fell away and sides got a hold of them. This year it is back to 2023 level so the confidence to take the game on and execute is back.Good sides are now putting pressure on the Hawks kicking game and not allowing them to run the likes of D'Ambrosio behind the footy without any pressure. The fact that Sicily and Scrimshaw are down a bit on form is not helping. It is almost like bringing in Battle and Barrass has upset the system they had. Sicily has basically lost his role in defense with the other two playing.

 

[MiguelM]

Hawks are a really strong kicking side as well so it is not just skills. No argument from me about skill level in our side and the need to be better at all but the Pies have the combination of skill , pressure and team defense working. The team defense is their key again. Last year it fell away and sides got a hold of them. This year it is back to 2023 level so the confidence to take the game on and execute is back.Good sides are now putting pressure on the Hawks kicking game and not allowing them to run the likes of D'Ambrosio behind the footy without any pressure. The fact that Sicily and Scrimshaw are down a bit on form is not helping. It is almost like bringing in Battle and Barrass has upset the system they had. Sicily has basically lost his role in defense with the other two playing.

Yeah, Pies pressure and tackling intent was huge.

McRae gets them on mentally and inherited a side that has defensive pressure in their DNA.

 

[ant555]

Maybe a little harsh on Geulf, especially since he's probably still finding his feet after injury, but Hobbs was definitely more costly than helpful

Thought Hobbs was even. A few very ordinary kicks but then a couple of decent ones that set up scores and some good handball. When you have 15 odd possessions the couple of real clangers simply stand out more. I do think his kicking and lack of pace that hurts his outside game may end up seeing us trade him out if a few of the other small forwards step it up. Bith Unwin and Davey where good in patches in the VFL on Friday but they are not doing enough to force Hobbs out of his spot.

 

[FootyGuru]

foot and hand skills are a great attribute, but you don’t need them at an elite level if your composure and awareness are good.

Tsatas kick to Roberts for example, wasn’t a low bullet, but tsatas had the composure and vision to execute it.

Kicking in general is having awareness, vision and knowing how much your skill level allows you to bite off.

Parish for example used to be a horrible kick, then he realised that if I take kicks I can make it’ll show up that stat wise I’m kicking better. During his high periods he was touted to have fixed his kicking but it was more knowing what kicks he can make.

Looking up a players kicking % is only telling a small part of the story, because the best kicks are taking a lot more riskier kicks than the average ones.

This is why I think Hobbs has a long way to go, he is a cat on a hot tin roof.
It isn’t that he can’t hit targets by hand or foot it’s that he isn’t composed or have the vision to execute the right pass.

So yes we need better skills, but also awareness vision and composure are lacking too.

 

[Wahooti Fandango]

Our best game of the year, despite that first quarter.

 

[faible]

Our games against Adelaide and Collingwood looking a bit more respectable in hindsight. They’re both tracking to be genuine top 4 sides.

Was good to see the players really fight it out after struggling in the first, would have been very easy to drop their bundle and let the Lions run away with it.

A couple of highlights for me:

Roberts looked very nice up on a wing once they swapped him there, has a similar work rate to Duursma where he works the full length of the ground.

Caddy seemed to grow in to himself during the game, looked to really gain some confidence and you can see the kind of player he’ll be now, will be an exciting watch.

Martin taking CBAs was impressive, Caldwell’s 3rd quarter shows why GWS rated him so highly, Wright has really stepped up as a physical presence when we’ve needed it from him, Redman had one of the best games I’ve seen from him for a while even with a few dropped marks and fumbles.

Hope Johnson stays in, he took a quarter or so to get the pace but his running and kicking started to translate.

 

[eDPS]

This Lions side was stronger on paper than their GF winning side but looking at both sides named you can obviously see where the big gaps where.

The quality of small forward talent and having access to first choice key defenders certainly helps. Safe to say our midfield when fit stacks up against the best, going into 2027/8 with Caldwell/Durham/Martin as the main core is a great start and adding another quality ball user/goal kicking midfielder to that mix should be more than enough.

 

[ghostdog]

This Lions side was stronger on paper than their GF winning side but looking at both sides named you can obviously see where the big gaps where.

The quality of small forward talent and having access to first choice key defenders certainly helps. Safe to say our midfield when fit stacks up against the best, going into 2027/8 with Caldwell/Durham/Martin as the main core is a great start and adding another quality ball user/goal kicking midfielder to that mix should be more than enough.

So we're trading up for Duursma? Approved.

 

[Darealrath]

This Lions side was stronger on paper than their GF winning side but looking at both sides named you can obviously see where the big gaps where.

The quality of small forward talent and having access to first choice key defenders certainly helps. Safe to say our midfield when fit stacks up against the best, going into 2027/8 with Caldwell/Durham/Martin as the main core is a great start and adding another quality ball user/goal kicking midfielder to that mix should be more than enough.

I think it's 2 real quality players short of the Lions.

 

[windyhill]

Side note, our best performance, zero Brownlow votes.