Autopsy Round 1 : Giants 78 - 86 Saints

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Well I left home in the rain and when I arrived we had a break in the skies, the excitement was there walking to the ground

Toby's mark, Flynn's debut were massive highlights

However we butchered the ball and buckled under pressure

Saints are quality but we let that slip and will cost us at the end of the season





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Giant's huge debut was worth the epic wait
It took Giants ruckman Matt Flynn 1944 days from getting drafted to make his debut, but he's shown in one match that he can provide more than just cover for injured rucking recruit Braydon Preuss. Flynn had 34 hitouts but it was his 18 possessions, including five clearances, in the loss to St Kilda that most impressed on a day not made for big men. It looked like Flynn's game was over in the third term, when he hobbled toward the bench with an ankle issue, but he was soon strapped up and running around the boundary to huge cheers from Giants fans and played out the match. - Martin Pegan
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Round 1: AFL Report Card


GWS GIANTS

This one’ll hurt at the end of the year. Most people think the Giants won’t be returning to the top eight this year, so it was games like this - against a likely top eight contender who were gettable because of a lengthy injury list - that they needed to win to prove them wrong. And they had their chances, with a stellar performance from some of their midfielders and healthy wins in the contested footy (169-139) and inside 50s (68-58).

In the votes

They’ve been looking for a permanent ruck solution for a while; Matt Flynn (18 disposals, 10 hit-outs to advantage, five clearances) might be it. The debutant wasn’t exactly against strong opposition, with Paul Hunter replacing the absent pair of Paddy Ryder and Rowan Marshall, but Flynn was best on ground according to the Official AFL Player Ratings. His work allowed Jacob Hopper (27 disposals, six clearances and a goal), Callan Ward (25 disposals and a goal) and Stephen Coniglio (24 disposals, 602 metres gained and a goal) to have strong outings.

Room for improvement

You would’ve thought that the new man-on-the-mark rules, plus an off-season dedicated to it, would’ve solved their ball movement issues. Even in wet weather they need to do a whole lot better than 11 goals from 68 inside 50s. They’re down on star power but also down on excuses at this point - there will be enormous questions about Leon Cameron’s coaching if the issues persist.

Grade

C-


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:think:
 
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Nov 7, 2017
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Just similar issues to what we've faced in the past, can't deal with a high press from the opposition, struggle to do anything when we don't have the momentum and mentally switched off at times. I don't think it's doom and gloom for the season, I thought we'd lose by more tbh, but we can't let these opportunities slip where we've got a sniff and are in front
 

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Sep 6, 2012
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It's only Round 1 and the pressure's on already.

I think it's pretty obvious if we're not winning when Whitfield, Riccardi, Daniels and perhaps Hogan return from injury, something will happen.
 
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fridgeman

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Jan 26, 2014
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Disappointed with the result and the better team won on the say
Still poor movement out of the D50 and a couple of uncontested marks in the D50 for the Saints was very poor
Cumming needs more game time to learn the game awareness and hopefully he has a injury free season
Flynn was great and hoping he can keep it up
Still think room to improve for the mids especially playing to the potential in terms of winning the contested ball
Kelly needs to put in more effort, he just seems in 1st gear and hardly ever changes and he could be a matchwinner on his own

hoping no injuries and really I can only see a tall coming in for keefe if any of Hogan, Riccardo or TOJ are available
 
May 15, 2005
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Commiserations on the loss.

Here are the midfield frequency stats from the game - I didn't post these last season, so if you've never seen them before, these are how often each of your players were lining up as one of the 5 mids (inside + wing) at bounces.

Overall Summary - 27 Bounces

Ash 22 wing
Coniglio 19
Ward 19 (5w)
Buckley 19 wing
Hopper 16
Kelly 16 (6w)
Taranto 11
Green 9
de Boer 2

Unknown 2 wing - Both wings were off-screen for the final bounce. Ash probably would've been 1 though as he was still on the ground

Rucks

Flynn 20
Keeffe 6
Buckley 1

Centre Clearances

Coniglio 2
Flynn 1
Hopper 1
Kelly 1
Taranto 1
Ward 1
Buckley 1
de Boer 1
Hill 1

By Quarter - Q1

Ash 4 wing
Coniglio 4
Ward 3 (1w)
Buckley 3 wing
Hopper 3
Kelly 2
Green 1

Q2

Coniglio 7
Ash 6 wing
Ward 6 (3w)
Buckley 5 wing
Taranto 4
Green 3
Hopper 2
Kelly 2

Q3

Ash 6 wing
Buckley 6 wing
Hopper 6
Kelly 6 (4w)
Ward 5
Taranto 5
Green 3

Q4

Ash 6 wing
Kelly 6 (2w)
Coniglio 5
Ward 5 (1w)
Hopper 5
Taranto 2
Green 2
de Boer 2
 
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Unknown 2 wing - Both wings were off-screen for the final bounce. Ash probably would've been 1 though as he was still on the ground
I think the other was probably Buckley - he was really consistent lining up on the interchange wing in front of us, but I'm not going to swear to it. :)
 
Mar 8, 2002
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There really was not a lot in the game. Had Jack Buckley's long range shot sailed through (touched on line) and HH not hit the post and Lonie's outrageous goal not gone through then the result is different.

Giants still really continue to struggle to lock the ball inside F50. Saints mids ran back hard and it came out easily too often.

Need to see a few more games but the sameness of all these midfield players (ie all slow and most struggle to play anywhere other than in the guts) is likely to become a real achilles heel. Pacey guys like Hill and Gresham caused lots of issues breaking through the middle at vital times. Difficult to see who will do that for the Giants.

Kelly should be doing this of course but he's now a shadow of his 2017 self. That generous extension option on his contract really doesn't look great.

On the positive side fantastic to see Ward back to his old form and Sam Taylor back in the side - he's a terrific talent.
 

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Danny88

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It's only Round 1 and the pressure's on already.

I think it's pretty obvious f we're not winning when Whitfield, Riccardi, Daniels and perhaps Hogan return from injury, something will happen.
Leon will be gone by round 8. This will be a long season.
I just really doubt that will be the case

A pass Mark would be finals this year and even if they don’t perform early, just by sitting in that middle part of the pack leaves the option for a finals run. If he does get the boot (which is possible but IMO improbable) I just can’t see it being in season
 
Sep 6, 2012
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I just really doubt that will be the case

A pass Mark would be finals this year and even if they don’t perform early, just by sitting in that middle part of the pack leaves the option for a finals run. If he does get the boot (which is possible but IMO improbable) I just can’t see it being in season

The dogs have been barking about Leon for quite a while now. It started well before what happened last year.

I suspect the PF win aganst Collingwood will go down as his high water mark with us.
 

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