Round 1 Report - Brisbane Lions @ Gabba, 28/03/2009

[Dylan82]

Match Report: Brisbane Lions vs West Coast Eagles,
Season 2009, Round 1.
Venue: Gabba
Date: 28/03/2009

I guess I’ll use some of my post-game emotions as a basis to begin a review of this match against the Lions. Still even today I’m feeling a bit “grey” as it were about the final result – we lost narrowly in a match that we should have won due to a number of silly mistakes in 15 minutes of madness, when coming into this game I was expecting us to go down by a margin closer to nine goals rather than nine points.

We got to the Gabba about an hour before the scheduled start of play to avoid any traffic hassles that constantly tend to pervade the suburb of Woolloongabba only find that the ground was all but empty – seems to be part of the ingrained mentality of people in Queensland to never plan anything in advance. So therefore we had absolutely no problem in getting some food, drinks and footy record before getting cozy in our seats at the away (eastern) end in the first row of the first tier – the gf did very well indeed getting the seats


An empty green Gabba less than an hour before start of play...

About 15 after we arrived, four Brisbane Lions players - Merrett, Hooper, Bradshaw and Patful came out for a bit off kick-to-kick and set shot / kicking out practise down our end of the ground so was able to get a good look at them – was impressed with the speed of Merrett, whom looks quicker this season than last (which did not bode well for our big men up forward whom have tended to fade out in the past in the latter part of games against more athletic opponents), and particularly impressed with Hooper whom looked VERY sharp – only missed one shot at goal which hit the post from outside the boundary, everything else went straight through including three crazy snaps over the shoulder whilst running at pace sailed straight through. I remember the gf going “Wow No.33 is carving it up, who’s that?” After telling her it was the aforementioned player I agreed that yes he looked very sharp and could be a worry for us. Later on it proved those words would come to haunt me.

The four Lions, happy with their informal warm-up then left the ground to (I assume) join up with their team-mates in the training rooms leaving the bizarre spectacle of an empty stadium being paraded by a lap of honour for each of the junior club premiers 2008 in the regional leagues for Qld – one club had just four representatives – which provided some mocking remarks from those whom had obviously started their drinking before noon upon the pool of available talent in country Qld.
With less than 30 minutes before the start of play the Gabba was still pretty empty – the crowd only seeming to fill at one end – the away end! It was appearing more like an Eagles’ home game for a pre-season match regarding the attendance...

 

[Dylan82]

Finally both sets of teams came out for warm ups – first Brisbane and then a few minutes later West Coast and then I could see if any late changes had been made. Almost immediately I became a lot more optimistic about our chances when I couldn’t find Simon Black amongst the Lions group – he always rips us apart every time; until I saw a No.7 guernsey doing circle work with the Eagle’s group... Fletcher’s in?... but he’s only an emergency... Who’s missing?... Damn it who is it?... Come on guys, up this end so I can you all... Oh carp Bones is out ... The defence looks light for pace now without him back there... Nico and Wirra will have to play blinders now for us to have a chance in this...


The boys warming up

Players then left the field to have their final rev-up from Woosha and Vossy respectively – and also allow the groupies to get the banners up. Brisbane came back out first once again to burst through their banner led by captain Jono Brown well ahead of the rest of the squad – no arguments over the pecking order at the Lions that’s for sure. Eagles came out as applause for the Lions was diminishing, huddled behind the banner for a good 30 seconds or so before Kerr burst through followed closely by Cox and then the rest of the squad. Not meaning to insinuate anything about the playing group but you would generally expect that the first through the team banner, particularly in the first game of the season would be the captain and not somebody else.


Teams through the banners...

Not much to report on regarding the warm up for either team – both squads appeared to be taking it easy to make sure of no injuries, mostly just jogging drills and circle work. However a couple of things that stood out were a great shot from LeCras out where the 50m arc meets the boundary and a huge kick-in from Hurn that landed just short of the centre square.

I missed the toss of the coin as I was too busy watching the boys’ warm up – whatever the result was, we ended up kicking towards the western (home / empty) end of the ground for the start of play. By the way I should mention the weather conditions – beautiful autumn day in Brisbane fine, little to no breeze 28C with humidity actually quite low for this of year here at 50% which would mean there would be little chance of dew occurring on the surface later on in the evening – in other words conditions were perfect for footy...

 

[Dylan82]

Some further photos of pre-match warm up...

 

[Dylan82]

Final address before taking positions...

As the sirens rang out for the start of the game right on time at 6:00 pm local as the sun was setting behind the ghastly looking Telstra building to the stadium’s NW, it seemed everyone in the crowd (which still was at least 60%-40% in West Coast’s favour) was asking where is Mitch Brown going? That was soon answered when he ran straight to Jono Brown at CHB; Glass went to Bradshaw as FB with Mackenzie moving to Clark. Nicoski went to McGrath which left Wirra to take Hooper. Hurn appeared to be left off at the start as it seemed he was the preferred matchup for Sherman whom was on the bench for Brisbane.

In the middle Cox of course took the ruck duties against Charman whom had question marks over fitness coming into the game, whilst Selwood went to Kerr for his customary tagging role on him which he does so well. Rischitelli went to Priddis, Fletcher to Johnstone and that left Masten to take Power, a matchup that I was uncomfortable with. Also having the hard running pair of Adcock and Dalziell left to match up the underdone Rosa and Butler was something I was trying not to think about.

Forward setup appeared to be to utilise Hansen as a mobile CHF with Lynch operating in a “Richo” role providing a target up the wings leaving LeCras as the FF target against Patful with Stenglein, Embley and Staker playing “defensive” forward roles upon McDonald, Drummond and Stiller respectively as a strategy to apply more forward pressure and prevent Brisbane’s rebounding style of play.

With Brown down back and several traditionally defensively minded players up forward there was a feeling amongst the Eagles’ fans that the “new game plan” was going to be on show for us to see – after last year, we could only hope...


Opening bounce...

 

[Dylan82]

Mitch Brown onto Jono Brown...

 

[Dylan82]

First Quarter
Brisbane Lions 2.1 13
West Coast Eagles 6.2 38

“A revelation”. “Genius”. “Masterstroke”. “Woosha’s got his contract renewed already just for that”.
Those were some of the words I heard amongst our fans after a stunningly one-sided first quarter in which the Lions were beaten across the ground by an Eagles team playing a brand of football not yet seen during the Worsfold coaching era.

After going down to an early goal from Bradshaw with a great kick from the pocket after losing his man, the quarter was all about the Eagles, the new gameplan and how Brisbane were unable to deal with it.
First thing that could be noticed instantly is that man-on-man all over the park was in the bin – the Eagles under Worsfold were zoning; and not just zoning, they were doing it well.

Glass, M.Brown and MacKenzie rotated through J.Brown, Bradshaw and Clark – Glass and EMac manning up upon whoever was moved closer to the goalsquare and M.Brown playing a more mobile role. Then depending upon whom was on the ground and matchups, two of either Wirra, Nico or Hurn would zone off from manning the two small forward positions that Brisbane started with (filled with either McGrath, Hooper or Sherman). Wirra would zone off to the middle off the defensive 50, which pushed the leads for J.Brown and Bradshaw out wide and put him in a position where he could put his ability to read the play to good use. Nicoksi or Hurn would zone off in the corridor on the defensive 50m arc which again would push the Lions wide when attacking. The result was when the ball came in the tall defenders did their job and spoilt the mark and Wirrapunda was there to get the ball off the deck and then someone was available in space in the corridor at CHB to dispose to.

Additionally it appears there may have been instruction for certain mids (definitely so for Fletcher, I’m assuming likewise for Spangher, Butler and Rosa for the way moved when off the ball) to run directly to the centre square as soon as our players in defence got possession of the ball in order to provide a link further down the corridor. Lynch and Hansen pushed up the ground to provide a lead but also removed the tall defenders from the forward 50 and leave LeCras with space to operate and lead into.

It was a very Hawthorn-looking gameplan, and indeed for that first quarter we looked like Hawthorn. Wirra was inspired, nobody could get past him and come close to catching him and obviously relishing the “Hodge” role assigned to him. Every time we got the ball were looking inside and playing on quickly and trying to get the ball on by foot first rather than hand.
Brisbane on the other hand looked lost. I had heard reports that their skills had been poor during the preseason and they brought that form into this game – they were missing targets all over the ground and were unable to play the game they way they wanted. Being unable to gain any run out of defence, they were pushed out wide by the zone and resorted to a chip-mark-chip game to try and keep from losing possession – because as soon as they did lose the ball, it was two kicks and five seconds later that the ball would be back within The Eagles’ attacking 50.

Mitch Clark was moved back to go on Hansen, whom was dominant being essentially a spare man up forward for the first 15-20 minutes of the match due to his marker, MacDonald being tagged and shepherded out of the contest by Stenglein. Hansen’s influence waned thereafter, but he still had a great quarter scoring two goals and setting up two others as well. Merrett looked uneasy so far away from goal chasing Lynch whom was getting easy touches between midfield and half forward and then pinging long 70m kicks to a LeCras that Brisbane did not have a match up for.

It was so easy – too easy in fact. We kicked six when could easily (probably should) have been ten or more. The amount of times players were in metres of space by themselves and were either ignored or kicked to too late was frustrating to say it nicely. Umpires even giving Hooper a late goal to a very dubious holding the ball decision on Glass when he was already over the goal line did little to dampen the high-spirits of away support at quarter time. When the sirens rang there was a standing ovation of blue and gold from the eastern end of the Gabba. The West Coast Eagles were four goals up and they deserved it too.

 

[Dylan82]

The quarter time break as always comes and goes very quickly – and as usual several fans got caught out missing the start of the second quarter before getting back into their seats. Luckily for them though not too much was missed scoreboard-wise but they did miss some outstanding pieces of individual skill from Wirra whom was rapidly becoming a one man wall rebounding everything that Brisbane put forward. The setup stayed the same and Brisbane still were unable to cope, going wide and hoping for an outlet rather than looking for a target with the Eagle’s midfield coming out on top when the ball was on the deck. Regarding the midfield, Cox (as we are accustomed to) was dominating in the ruck, Charman was clearly underdone and probably should not have played and Big Cox said thank you very much, tapping everything to the advantage of Kerr, Masten and Priddis, giving us a higher number of clearances despite being outnumbered in the middle.
Kerr was particularly impressive, every time he got the ball something happened – he seemed to have that “magic” as it were about him that he has when he is near his best. He was everywhere, being vocal, directing traffic, laying tackles, getting the ball out somehow from under a pack whilst being tackled – all the things we as supporters want to see, and when he kicked a beautiful running goal from the pocket you couldn’t help to start think that maybe that could be our night after all. Two minutes later, LeCras marked out in front on the lead to kick his fourth and we were amazingly six goals up and looking great.


Ebert takes a shot

It was about at this time one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen at a football match happened. The large electronic scoreboard at the western (home) end displayed the scoreline as Brisbane Lions versus FREMANTLE (talk about a way to insult, punching below the belt with that one Lions). This lasted for a good five minutes only for the scoreboard to switch off and then come back on with Brisbane Lions playing FREMANTLE again! However now the scoreboard at the other end of the ground now displayed Brisbane Lions versus COLLINGWOOD! WTF? For about ten minutes we were the West Coast Dockerpies. It was surreal, everybody saw it, players included – in fact it was a momentum killer for us – another one or two goals and Lions may have rolled over.


Some shining examples of “smart” state technology...

Then Kerr was flattened by a Lions player (Rischitelli?) in a legitimate bump (I think he may actually have glanced at the scoreboard and thought WTF and then became distracted from the coming hit), but he got up looking pretty ginger and didn’t cover much ground for the next five or so minutes, in which time Power was able to win some key balls and move to Johnstone and Rich whom setup easy goals for J.Brown and Bradshaw respectively. Leuenberger was moved into the ruck and used essentially as a tagger upon Cox, following him closely wherever he went. Leuenberger impressed me very much last night, he ran everywhere with Cox covering massive amounts of territory and was not disgraced in the hitouts by any means. In fact by the end of the game Cox looked completely exhausted and Leuenberger was beginning to run off him into attack. I’ve talked him up before, but the kid has a massive future ahead of him and upon this performance will surely be the number one ruck choice at Brisbane before the end of the season if his development continues. Seaby however, unfortunately cannot be described in such words. Cox was rested in the forward line midway through the quarter and Seaby had the chance to prove some doubters wrong. If anything those whom are doubtful of what he currently offers the club were given more ammunition as he was soundly beaten by the underdone Charman and part-time ruck Mitch Clark. Without taps to advantage, the Lions midfield began to get on top, find space from the stoppages and get some run. Things were starting to look dangerous and a bad sense of déjà vu I could tell wasn’t just happening in my mind either. Faces that were elated just 20 minutes earlier were now faces wrinkled in concern and worry.
Desperate defending combined with poor kicking from Brisbane kept them to just two further points until Johnstone found space and slotted home coolly to bring it back to three goals – but it felt much closer. There seemed to be feeling that if the Lions were able to get another goal then things may fall apart and it could be all even or worse at half time. The crowd atmosphere (which was during the first quarter and a half more akin to that of a game of cricket interceded by Eagles chants) began to come alive too for the home support with the LIIIIIONS LIIIIIONS chant starting to echo around the ground. (I would say easily 10,000 turned up during the second quarter – maybe it was that Queenslanders not planning ahead for the traffic happening again, or maybe people thought it started at 7:30pm because that was the time Channel 10 were televising it? Either way there were a LOT of latecomers to this game).

Cox was of course thrown back into the ruck and Seaby removed and things stabilised somewhat with the midfielders getting first bite to the ball at the stoppages preventing the Lions from surging forward in numbers and also giving our own forwards some opportunities to get involved again. The half ended positively with LeCras kicking his fifth and giving us a four goal buffer and something to smile about because for all of Brisbane’s control of the latter part of the quarter they hadn’t won it, and the margin was the same as it was at quarter time and we were 25 points up – which I can assure you I would gladly have taken before the match.


Half time Score
Brisbane Lions 5.3 33
West Coast Eagles 9.4 58


However there was still the nagging feeling that a four goal margin would not be enough, especially when neither J.Brown nor Bradshaw had been an influence upon the game despite them both being well held so far and the most dangerous player on the ground with five goals was in the Eagles attacking 50. I guess after last season after seeing them capitulate so many times I wasn’t going to take anything as a win until the final siren of the final quarter.

 

[Dylan82]

Half time passed by much quicker than expected – maybe that is what nerves do to you. Although waiting in-line for chips at the Gabba is a time consuming process so t wasn’t long after I got back into my seat that the players were already back on field.

The Eagles had lined up the same as in the first half (I guess Woosha thought if it aint broke don’t fix it), however Brisbane had changed things up. Sherman was up forward covered by Wirra, and Hooper was up the ground alarmingly 15 metres from an opponent. Both J.Brown and Bradshaw were starting much closer to the goalsquare. It was obvious what the Lions were going to try and do – play J.Brown and Bradshaw one-out “Vossy’s Paddock” style with fast agile crumbers running forward to pick up the spilt ball.

Additionally the midfield setup was changed. Power was kept on Masten whom had done well in the match so far, the match-up probably 60-40 to Power going into the second half. T.Selwood onto Kerr as before but Adcock was alongside him as well – at every stoppage Kerr was going to be double tagged now. The much larger Rischitelli had Priddis again, and debutant Daniel Rich was moved into the centre square onto Fletcher, whilst Johnstone was moved out to the southern wing where he was picked up by Rosa(?) was hard to tell, he was 20 metres from an opponent for the opening bounce.


The effect was devastating. Within 50 seconds two behinds were scored.
Holes were opening up everywhere down back. Targets in the corridor were no longer available, Plan A was short-circuited. What was Plan B? Er...Umm...Nothing. There was none. The horrors from 2008 came back to haunt us as the same mistakes happened again and the team wilted under applied pressure. Every kick was out wide to a contest, every handball was a foot away to a teammate under pressure. Possession was coughed up too easily and players panicking forgot about zoning up and just went to a man – any man – which consequently left acres of space for Lions players to run into and pose a threat.

Hooper started causing havoc around half forward and Wirra was moved onto him to curb his influence. But without Wirra in the defensive 50 zoning off to help out the tall defenders the backline was looking shaky against J.Brown and Bradshaw. Travis Johnstone had a wing to himself (I saw Rosa, Butler, Spangher and Nicoski on him but not one of them stayed with him) and was loving it getting involved in every Brisbane forward foray and delivering cleanly making it impossible for the Eagles defence to stop the rising Brisbane tide.

Ten minutes into the third quarter scores were level. In another ten minutes we were three goals down.

The only glimmers of hope were a sixth to LeCras and a booming “set-piece” like goal from Hurn in a manner similar to what Dew used to do when he was with Port.

The quarter was a protracted agony (over 33 minutes) in which three quarter time could not soon enough. 9.3 to 2.4, outscored by 41 points. Several key players went missing across the ground. Kerr was double tagged at stoppages so couldn’t assert himself there, but Masten simply vanished – his fitness is very much a concern. I agree he is talented and can play well but he won’t be able to step up at all unless he can begin to run for four quarters. In fact all of our midfielders apart from Cox and Fletcher looked stuffed and unable to run during the third term when Brisbane steamrolled us. I know Fletcher gets a lot of hate from these boards because his disposal is poor a lot of the time, but I can see why Woosha picks him – without Cousins and Judd, Fletcher is the only midfielder at the club that is capable of gut-busting running through all four quarters. It is why he gets so many touches – during the second half on many occasions there simply was no-one else even offering a lead into free space on the open side of the ground so he was the only option and received the ball. I guess from Woosha’s point of view it is better to at least have someone providing an outlet for the defence to get it out, even if he has poor skills of disposal than to not be able to get it out from defence at all. Priddis worked hard and got to the ball first at the stoppage time after time (12 clearances and 13 contested possessions for the night) – but unless there was a teammate unmarked within two feet of him, his disposal never came out cleanly and Brisbane were able to pick it off and roll forward again.

Lynch faded from the game, let his opponent run up the ground and rack up possessions, lost his confidence and then was unable to provide much at a ground where he previously kicked eight in a game. Stenglein and Embley became liabilities as any opponent they were put on simply ran off them and set up waves of attacks from defence. The Eagles’ defence did the best they could – indeed if it were not for the heroics of Glass, MacKenzie and Wirrapunda particularly, a nine goal quarter for the Lions could easily have been 15 or more.


Three Quarter Time Score:

Brisbane Lions 14.6 90
West Coast Eagles 11.8 74

 

[Dylan82]

Down by three goals after a disheartening quarter like the previous had most Eagles supporters wondering how big the final margin may end up being. Worrisome silence would I guess be the best way to describe the mood of the blue and gold contingent during that brief pause.

The final quarter was not one for the ages.
It was two teams with players running out of fuel and going back to pre-season form with disposal. I remember at one stage thinking that it was at least better than Carlton vs Richmond, but it was a very very long way from Geelong vs Hawthorn.

Woosha setup for the last relatively unchanged – Stenglein was off however and Embley was pushed up forward (not sure whom they switched with/for, pretty sure Spangher was up forward though)

A scrappy goal to Hansen in the goalsquare due to a mistake from Merrett gave him his third and the Eagles some hope as it was back to less than two kicks in it. Woosha rolled his final dice to try and create something by moving Wirra up forward and putting Seaby on as FF. The next 15 minutes were uneventful however as Brisbane were comfortable soaking up time and keeping possession, making the Eagles earn any ball they got. The only thing of note was that Brisbane had scored a flurry of behinds which now made it a three kick margin again.


Seaby trying to be a key forward...

Then with five minutes to go Cox kicked truly to narrow the margin down to nine points, could we steal it back again late? Brisbane sent Bradshaw down back along with half of their team, for the rest of the game their forward 50 was just J.Brown by himself with Glass standing next to him.
We never manned up on the extra players sent back and the last three minutes of the game petered out with Brisbane running down the clock playing “keepies off” and just as the final sirens rang upon a disappointing result that could have been so much more, the heavens opened up and drenched us all with a cold, autumnal Brisbane rainstorm just to rub salt in the fresh wound.


Final score:

Brisbane Lions 14.11 95
West Coast Eagles 13.8 86


Attendance: 26,800 (By the end of the game it appeared to be a lot more than that, I would have guessed 35,000 easily).

 

[ROYAL EAGLE]

Absolutely wonderful work Dylan.

Must have taken ages to write that report.

Great job I hope you enjoyed the night pity we couldn't give you a win though.

 

[RhEF JC]

That is a monster effort. Well done. Especially good to hear how that game plan looked, given it's always easier to see how zones etc. are working when actually at the game.

One thing though - Lecras kicking his fourth looks suspiciously like Ebert missing his nothingth.

 

[Dylan82]

BOG:

5 Votes:
Travis Johnstone – West Coast’s backroom department obviously didn’t rate him as a major threat but he didn’t take the “insult” well carving us in the third term and setting up the win, getting 37 disposals (12 contested), 2 goals, 9 Inside 50s and goal assist in the process.

4 Votes:
Luke Power – Absolutely owned the centre of the Gabba during the second half. 35 disposals (20 contested!) 6 tackles, 13 clearances, 2 goal assists.

3 Votes:
Dean Cox – Dominated the ruck all game. Eagles unable to win a clearance without him there. 23 disposals (13 contested), 26 hitouts, 7 clearances, 1 goal, 3 goal assists.

2 Votes:
Mark LeCras – The dominant forward of the day, best performance of his career thus far. 14 disposals, 7 marks, 6 goals.

1 Vote:
Joel MacDonald – Started off quietly but became more and more dominant as the game went on. One of the main reasons why the Eagles were able to muster just four goals in the second half. 28 disposals (7 contested), 11 marks, 5 tackles, 4 inside 50s.



Umpire verdict: Umpiring during the game was appalling. Inconsistent and what was paid early in the game had no effect on what was paid later on. Holding the ball was particularly bad with several Eagles being done for incorrect disposal when they got it out from a tackle yet Lions players could seemingly (particularly during the last quarter) just hold onto it, not try to get it out and it would be deemed as a ball up. Boundary umpires were just as bad, during the third just prior to Hooper volleying a goal from the pocket the boundary rider (No.7 whoever that is) blew his whistle and signalled for a throw in, but was obviously not heard by any of the field umpires due to the noise of the Lions support following Hooper’s piece of skill. Instead of having some balls and going over to notify of the ball going out, he just stood there, did nothing and the goal stood. Later on in the final quarter, the same boundary umpire tried to call an out of bounds on the full against West Coast when it was clearly touched by Wirra in a marking contest. I still believe the only reason the decision was (correctly) reversed was that the goal umpire seeing the situation was afraid that 10,000 supporters clad in blue and gold were about to jump over the fence and start lynching people and took it upon himself to intervene. Boundary umpire then proceeded to give a wry smile which he looked to enjoy too much to the Eagles support once the decision was changed.


Brisbane verdict: Look rusty. Seem like they are still trying to find the right balance of pace and strength through the centre. Will need to improve upon this performance if they are to play in September this year. Additions of Black and Brennan will make them much stronger however. Long term things look like they are coming together well for a premiership challenge come 2010-11. Should be able to account for Carlton next week with Black back in, but their disposal by foot will need to be better.


Daniel Rich verdict: Great debut. Looked like he had been playing at AFL level for seasons; was composed whenever he had the ball and never wasted a possession. Was only second to Johnstone for his quality of disposal in hitting targets. Shoe-in for the rising star award for this year. Much was cursed amongst the Eagles’ support that he should have been on the field for us rather than Brisbane. One thing was agreed by all however – that Nicholas Naitanui better be bloody good…


West Coast verdict: Same mistakes as 2008. Several players appear unable to run out four quarters to an AFL standard of fitness. No chance of playing in September – although we knew that already. Youngsters look talented but lack of endurance is letting them down currently. The club will need to make some hard decisions regarding a number of decorated veterans whom are now well beyond their best – if the club are unable to make the finals, then what is the point of playing someone whom is likely to retire at the end of the season when a young prospect is available and can gain top-level experience to help fast-track his progression? And before you say it, no I’m inferring about just playing the kids and tanking either – just that currently in certain positions we are drastically lacking in pace and agility at the moment and becoming exposed because of it, and the easiest way to inject some of that is via youth. Next week Port Adelaide. Bogey team. Despite being at home, I will mark it down as a loss. As long as we stay competitive and not roll over meekly I won’t be too disappointed.


So on the bus after the game, dripping wet from the Brisbane rain I discussed with total strangers the things that had transpired over the past few hours and we came to similar conclusions – that we were disappointed due to the loss but not disillusioned as the performance was overall an improvement upon away games last year. There were many things to be positive about – a new style of game that was executed well until it was undone by inferior fitness and the younger brigade of players are continuing to develop. The tall defenders held their own against two of the premier forwards of the competition and if both A.Selwood and B.Jones were available then our defensive matchups upon the small mobile forwards that hurt us badly in the second half would have been so much for the better.

So a mixed result, an expected heavy loss coming into the match was turned on its head by a blazing first half playing direct in attack and zoning in defence, only to fade and resort to the same mistakes as those made last year, losing the game by conceding eight goals in 13 minutes of play.
In the end a loss by nine points away to a side with September ambitions is not a bad result for us after what happened on our travels last year. Being six goals up, we probably should have won but it so easily could’ve blown out to a double digit goal deficit during the third term so some credit must be given to the team in trying to fight back in the end and keep the match going as a contest.

 

[Dylan82]

That is a monster effort. Well done. Especially good to hear how that game plan looked, given it's always easier to see how zones etc. are working when actually at the game.

One thing though - Lecras kicking his fourth looks suspiciously like Ebert missing his nothingth.

Argh! you're right! uploaded the wrong pic...


Here is the real LeCras kicking his fourth.

 

[bigburger]

Great job mate. Cheers for picking up the slack.

 

[adagio]

Awesome report mate. The way you picked up our game plan was very impressive. Great pics too

 

[Brazen]

GREAT write-up.... a really good read

 

[mitchzz]

Bloody well done...

 

[Quinz]

Outstanding. Will copy this to the preview/reviews board later for the benefit of the rest of the site.

 

[beatlesmith]

That is one epic write up.
Puts us mere mortals to shame
Good stuff mate.

 

[daveymak]

thanks mate great effort

 

[nearlyblonde]

Fantastic Dylan, almost as good as being there. Kudos.

 

[Keys]

Free kick to Priddis for holding the man?


Great write-up

 

[lewigie]

Free kick to Priddis for holding the man?


Great write-up

Bloody hell, if he's getting tagged like that each match, kudos to him getting the ball so much!

 

[Prolix]

Fantastic write-up. Thanks for the effort.

 

[swannies]

I started reading at midday and just finished Dylan , brilliantly detailed, epic job. Thanks.