AFL Autopsy Rnd 7: Loss to the Cats

[Howard Moon]

I'm just very disappointed.

that was very understated

 

[ghostdog]

I know this isn't the answer but there were a couple of moments yesterday where I lamented that Josh Green wasn't waiting at the back for a cheap goal.

 

[number 75]

We will get carved by any team if we allow them so much time with the ball, there was no pressure and they had all the time in the world to find a teammate.
They had loose players all over the place where as when we had it we struggled to keep a hold of the ball.
The same happened in the first half against Collingwood, then in the 2nd half and showed we could also apply pressure which then forced errors from them.
Geelongs pressure was immense all day and it we couldn't cope, that's the type of pressure needed to make and play in finals.

 

[mike14]

So, did we miss Myers? Considering Langord was pretty terrible as a replacement...

I don't recall ever thinking "we'd be right in this if Myers was here" so I'm going with 'no'.

 

[Howard Moon]

I was lamenting the fact we'd just bomb it time and again into forward 50 but I was only watching on TV.

Can someone who was at the game advise what the movement was like inside 50? If we have no space to lead into, or if the forwards aren't leading, doubling back, leading again etc when the ball is coming down then it's hard to blame the players pumping the ball in. Ok, we could hold onto the ball, move it laterally and wait for an option but Geelong's pressure combined with our skill also makes that a turnover prone exercise too.

a lot of hand in the air, kick it over the top stuff... not too bright those guys, they had taylor, blicavs and co just waiting to eat anything aerial...

few of the boundary criers were yelling, lead at the ball carrier! and there were spaces to do so, just don't think the fwds were playing as a unit - each just wants to take a hang instead of create space for another

 

[rumply]

Ahhh it wasn’t so bad. The 4 missed set shots by Francis and Langford really change the game. Cats kicked deadly straight. I think it’s underestimated how much scoreboard pressure changes the tone. There were stages in the game where we dominated field position and I50s. Cats very clean and classy, took chances and smashed us on the rebound. They are miles ahead of the comp at this stage. Lots of our players had their worst game, and our ball kovement inside 50 needs to change. Future of this season can still be bright.

Yep & combine those misses with the dogs breakfast that is our inside 50 entries & structure, & yeah Geelong just sit back all day laughing while waiting for us to hand the ball back to them, rinse & repeat.

There was a brief passage early in the 3rd iirc where Francis lead up, back then out toward the pocket, a bit of space was created & he was spotted up nicely, it looked clean, it looked easy. Our forwards need to start keeping out of each others way, lead & create space. Most of the day was just bomb into a cluster of players hoping for a mark or crumb which never came.

Someone remind me of the definition of insanity?...

 

[Maxabillions]

We managed. And Langford wasn't his replacement.

Could have sworn Myers went out and Langford came in

 

[Maxabillions]

I don't recall ever thinking "we'd be right in this if Myers was here" so I'm going with 'no'.

Fair enough, I've never thought he was great but some people talk a lot about the blocking work he does. Wonder if that would have helped lessen the pressure on our mids. Do we have anyone else who can do that effectively?

 

[Pweter]

a lot of hand in the air, kick it over the top stuff... not too bright those guys, they had taylor, blicavs and co just waiting to eat anything aerial...

few of the boundary criers were yelling, lead at the ball carrier! and there were spaces to do so, just don't think the fwds were playing as a unit - each just wants to take a hang instead of create space for another

I'll take the glass half full approach and say that it's good to know where creating space for each other to lead into. Getting the guys to work with and for each other to make the most of the spaces is the next challenge of the coaching staff.

Very frustrating to hear that when seeing how we played yesterday though.

 

[mike14]

Someone remind me of the definition of insanity?...

According to Merriam-Webster:
: a severely disordered state of the mind usually occurring as a specific disorder
law : unsoundness of mind or lack of the ability to understand that prevents one from having the mental capacity required by law to enter into a particular relationship, status, or transaction or that releases one from criminal or civil responsibility

Sorry but the "definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over..." quote really annoys me

 

[yodellinhank]

Could have sworn Myers went out and Langford came in

Parish replaced Myers in the middle. Had 25 at 88% and managed to get one of our 7 goals.

 

[Maxabillions]

Parish replaced Myers in the middle. Had 25 at 88% and managed to get one of our 7 goals.

Fair enough, well I'd take Parish over Myers any day

 

[ant555]

I think the game showed where we are at and the coach hit the nail on the head when he said they just had more class and used the ball better.
Having kept a keen eye on the Cats this year they are a different side this year. We defended some individual players well but our defensive zone overall was just a little off allowing them to easily move the ball around the fat side and boundary in a similar way to what GWS did. The players just seemed a little off after the Anzac day effort and allowed too much outside space. They fell into the old trick of allowing players 15 meters in the zone.

So what has to happen ? Sure we can have a crack at the usual suspects but it runs a little deeper than that. Now I make the next comments on the basis that these improvement can happen but they need to.

Joe Daniher. Only second game back but he needs to be having an upward trend towards the player he was in 2017. We can not afford to have average Joe too many week and when we do get average Joe he still needs to be taking more than 3 marks and at least kicking a goal. We can not go forward if he does not. Also need to concentrate more when we do not have the ball. One of the biggest offenders at letting the opposition escape on the outside.

Walla. Consistency. The difference between his best and worst this year has been huge. Has played 72 games now. The fluctuation between good and bad can not be as wide as it is. Also needs to strand up. Has started to slide to the ground too often. I know he is nimble and can bounce up but he can be more nimble if he stays on his feet.

McGrath. Going okay but has to start putting in a few next level games. Does some good stuff but we need him to be an A grade player. Right now he is playing B grade work horse which will get him to 200 plus games and a good player level. Had a solid game and 8 tackles which was good but we need some more A grade work.

These three have to be massive parts of us going forward.

My old chestnuts are still an issue. Defending properly and getting sucked too close to the contest allowing easy outs.

Having 1 forward kick goals is also very poor.

The ruck. T Bell is plodding around okay but Joe was very ordinary as the second option.

Question for the midfield. Why did we keep leaving Mitch Duncan standing by himself at CHF ? burnt us several times.

Question for the coach. Why do we persist with our extra at the contest ? given we have no idea around the contest anyway the extra gets sucked in and is no value at all to clear the footy. On top of that it allows the opposition to double team our forwards or get easier one on one match ups in their forward line. Time to change. Not working and is a tactic from 10 years ago. Either play one back if we are struggling a bit on the defensive side or play 6 forwards and give us a better chance of converting.

Question for the players. Are we ever going to try and block for McKenna ? or are we simply going to hand ball and sag off or run next to him looking for an easy handball ? handball and block for FFS !!!!! when he is up and running his confidence grows and he has less turn overs. When he gets run down because no one blocks for him he goes into his shell more and the kicking yips start. Help your team mate !!!!!

Finally can someone put their hand up and play well and no get injured so I do not have to witness too much more of Baguley. The bloke has been a great servant for us and carved out a good career coming from virtually nowhere but he is done. When we kick to him we may as well expect the ball to be coming back as he does not win many of the contests. Has been in the side because we have lacked other small / medium forward options I know but we really need his replacement to stand up. Hell I have just finished saying Long is no good but right now I would sooner be looking at him trying to do something in the forward half. Too bad Begley was not in sparking form earlier in the day. Looks like he needs some more work.

Anyway the challenge is on again. We have played better than early last year. If they are a serious side then they win this week.

 

[catstragic]

Thats not quite right. Cats had 9 players under 50 games today where we had 5. They had 10 guys over 100 games and we had 11.

They just fill their list a little bit better and it shows.

I'm not sure what deal is with Essendon getting experience into younger players, but quite a few of the sub 50 gamers we played have been in the system for 2-3 years and while their AFL games tally played is quite low there understanding of team structure and role is very solid and they have all earned there games. Our back 6 has been good for a few years now, this season we brought in more pressure and that's influenced disposal into an already strong def and hence we are giving up tiny scores. All the supporters of teams we have played against have bemoaned long bombs into our D, but tough to do anything else when there is so much pressure up the ground. The terrible part for us Cats fans is will probably finish on top then get bundled out in straight sets in the finals! (its how we roll)

 

[ant555]

I'm not sure what deal is with Essendon getting experience into younger players, but quite a few of the sub 50 gamers we played have been in the system for 2-3 years and while their AFL games tally played is quite low there understanding of team structure and role is very solid and they have all earned there games. Our back 6 has been good for a few years now, this season we brought in more pressure and that's influenced disposal into an already strong def and hence we are giving up tiny scores. All the supporters of teams we have played against have bemoaned long bombs into our D, but tough to do anything else when there is so much pressure up the ground. The terrible part for us Cats fans is will probably finish on top then get bundled out in straight sets in the finals! (its how we roll)

I think the minor personal changes will help you be a better finals side.

I think our issue is born from trying to turn players into something different where as from what I have seen from Geelong midfielders learn midfield and flankers learn flanks. Tough gig learning on the job at the top level.

 

[Atavistic]

Can't believe Ablett's out for a match for that hit on Shiel. It's the same penalty that Richard Douglas got for almost killing Merrett.

 

[Doss]

Yeah, quite surprised Ablett was suspended for that. It was definitely intentional, but I thought it would be assessed as reckless because it could be argued he was bracing for contact and it was only low impact, although a head hit is never good news.

First suspension of his career...

 

[Lore]

Yeah, quite surprised Ablett was suspended for that. It was definitely intentional, but I thought it would be assessed as reckless because it could be argued he was bracing for contact and it was only low impact, although a head hit is never good news.

First suspension of his career...

It's a funny one, apparently putting the arm up is almost automatically "intentional".

Geelong will fight it though, be interesting to see which way the tribunal goes.

 

[quotemokc]

If Ablett had kept his feet landed he would have been fine, the AFL has always taken the stance of if you elect to leave the ground you are going to cop it.

 

[blitzer]

We desperately need another small/medium sized player that can lead up at the ball in the forward line. I swear it feels like Fantasia is the only bloke in our forward line that actually leads. Baguley, Stringer and Tippa are all more likely to go for contact and try to get ball out the back. Tippa will sometimes lead but he's so short that he gets spoiled pretty easily anyway.

We just have so much trouble trying to create regulation lead up take a mark and kick straight goals. There's too much reliance on getting out the back with a lightning fast transition or else relying on a chaos ball.

 

[quotemokc]

We desperately need another small/medium sized player that can lead up at the ball in the forward line. I swear it feels like Fantasia is the only bloke in our forward line that actually leads. Baguley, Stringer and Tippa are all more likely to go for contact and try to get ball out the back. Tippa will sometimes lead but he's so short that he gets spoiled pretty easily anyway.

We just have so much trouble trying to create regulation lead up take a mark and kick straight goals. There's too much reliance on getting out the back with a lightning fast transition or else relying on a chaos ball.

What is Monfries up to nowadays?

 

[84859300]

What is Monfries up to nowadays?

Jackson Merrett has nominated for the mid season draft...

 

[84859300]

We desperately need another small/medium sized player that can lead up at the ball in the forward line. I swear it feels like Fantasia is the only bloke in our forward line that actually leads. Baguley, Stringer and Tippa are all more likely to go for contact and try to get ball out the back. Tippa will sometimes lead but he's so short that he gets spoiled pretty easily anyway.

We just have so much trouble trying to create regulation lead up take a mark and kick straight goals. There's too much reliance on getting out the back with a lightning fast transition or else relying on a chaos ball.

Joe being out for a year aside, I would just persist with him deep and bank on one or two clunks a match. The only negative I had from the deeper kicks we persisted with against Geelong was that we were kicking to 1 on 2 contests constantly and rarely to our advantage.

As our plan B, which came off a couple of times on Sunday, I would like the ball deliverer to drop their eyes and hit up someone in the outside 25m of the F50 arc. With 49 inside 50s and only 8 marks, I see more value in attempting a longer shot at goal to keep the scoreboard ticking over, rather than having the ball bounce out time after time.

That outside 25m has enough space for the smaller forwards and mids to get into and lose traffic among the chaos.

 

[avignon]

Every week half of the league loses. That’s sport. You don’t think that half tries to win?

There are solid indicators to giving your best, even in defeat. Players in our forward line arent plying the basics of their trade. And Zaharakis is a coaster as a prime example.