Review Round 1 v Geelong

[Minz]

I was feeling super flat, but the wet toast cheered me up.

Would love to see the boys with a bit of Lyon style chase and mongrel, that’d be amazing. The lack of forward pressure has me flummoxed. FFS boys, tackling your defender and taking their fun away is one of the most fun things you can do on the field! Make their lives hell!

 

[theGav56]

More in terms of season prospects and the weekend not being the end of the world

No, not the end of the world. But it did look more that than the Dawn of a premiership season.

 

[jusjoshin]

Reid was great when the ball came near him, unfortunately that was sparse. The only other worth noting was Matthew Johnson. He was the only mid who showed a bit all game.

We should have swung Reid onto the ball in the fourth, but unfortunately he was gassed. He'll move into the midfield when he gets a bigger tank.

 

[Stinky Lomax]

I don’t care about final margins, particularly down there when we were not realistically winning this game with the players out. Anything under 36 points would have been about par. I thought we’d lose by 6 goals so at 3/4 time I was ok.
But this tackle count is the most damming stat of all. This stat is based purely on effort & forget about Sydney next week, if we turn up v WC in 2 weeks time & produce the same stat, we will lose against them.
Apparently we had the youngest squad out there over the weekend & was definitely missing the older age bracket of experience but we can’t accept lack of effort over just being outclassed.
One positive is by losing by so much means the microscope will be well & truly be placed on everyone & there has to be a response.

 

[Joao]

I don’t care about final margins, particularly down there when we were not realistically winning this game with the players out. Anything under 36 points would have been about par. I thought we’d lose by 6 goals so at 3/4 time I was ok.
But this tackle count is the most damming stat of all. This stat is based purely on effort & forget about Sydney next week, if we turn up v WC in 2 weeks time & produce the same stat, we will lose against them.
Apparently we had the youngest squad out there over the weekend & was definitely missing the older age bracket of experience but we can’t accept lack of effort over just being outclassed.
One positive is by losing by so much means the microscope will be well & truly be placed on everyone & there has to be a response.

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It's why all the rhetoric around gamestyle is pointless for this game.

You could have the best gamestyle of all time, if you give half the effort the other team does and you'll get smashed.

 

[Dale147]

 

[DeanS]

Whoever did those ratings didn’t watch the game.

 

[Stevooo3940]

I have no doubt they could have structured to lock the game down and keep it much closer but then would have had zero chance of winning. Yes it didn't work out but thats the risk you take when you have nothing to lose because you are already losing.

But why did they change anything? When you've kicked 7 of the last 8 goals, all in a short period of time, why didn't we let it roll? Why take Cox out of the back half and let their talls back on top? The cats kicked long and high in the last but the intercept marker (Cox) was down the other end probably laughing, disinterested, and enjoying the break (this kid, and his mate Ryan need a reality check). I could handle flicking the magnets after qrt one or qrt two but when you are smashing them and have the momentum, why change? Astounding.
I have been a JL supporter forever, most probably because I'm just too damn loyal and want it to work, but on the weekend, he lost me. Watching the players slappin' up and hugging before they ran out to start the match, they looked so united. But as soon as the pressure came, they folded like cheap deck chairs. Something needs to change. This list is too good to be doing this. Also, if I'm the Chad or Kozzie, my desire to get to Freo just cooled a little on Saturday arvo.
The last point I'll make is this... Every kickout we had, we never looked likely to go coast to coast and there was pressure on every kick, including the initial kick in. When they kicked back in, we allowed them the first kick who then ran to the 50m arc before having to kick. How on earth is that happening? Man up and make them kick long to a contest. Game plan sucks. The mental fortitude is missing. The belief to be great is gone. There is clearly no license to play with flair and the players are scared to make mistakes. I'd rather through caution to the wind and play a manic style and see how we go.

 

[noise36]

But why did they change anything? When you've kicked 7 of the last 8 goals, all in a short period of time, why didn't we let it roll? Why take Cox out of the back half and let their talls back on top? The cats kicked long and high in the last but the intercept marker (Cox) was down the other end probably laughing, disinterested, and enjoying the break (this kid, and his mate Ryan need a reality check). I could handle flicking the magnets after qrt one or qrt two but when you are smashing them and have the momentum, why change? Astounding.

I assume because of Chris Scott's in game coaching to negate us?

They structured to slow the game down, blunt our inside fifties, then once that was done switched back to flogging us.

Btw they did throw caution to the wind and got flogged on the counter attack in q4 , its easy to say thats what you want but the result is defense outnumbered and out of position when the contest isnt going our way.

 

[The Feeder Club]

Some of the coaches votes coming out of this game are real head scratchers. Serong 3? Neale 3? WTF?

 

[noise36]

Kornes and Kingy mentioned Geelong kicked 14 goals off turnover and 9 from their half back line. Hot potato handball clearly doesnt work as a game plan when the other team is prepared to apply the heat.

 

[Daltsy29]

Kinda sick of being a nearly club

But without the constant fear of dread and cycle of hope and disappointment what would our identity as fremantle be!!

But yes, totally agree. One day. One day we will know what it's like to be on top. Until then. Bring on the hope cycle!

 

[thistimeforsure]

Forced myself to watch the 1st half again last night

One thing I noticed that hasn’t been mentioned anywhere I’ve seen is how many of our handballs they knocked down or intercepted completely

I started counting but it was too tedious but it was around fifteen to one early on

It looked like a strategy too defend the channels to our outside players and they did it very well as it takes great game awareness not to get sucked into the contest , so we need to be prepared for this and get better at it ourselves

Doubt any of our upcoming oppo missed how bad it made us look


On iPad using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Farmerwantsawife]

This is a great summation of our struggles and some glaring deficiencies to address

2025 Roundabout, #1

Fremantle and Port show how familiarity – and novelty – can both breed contempt.

www.onepercenters.net.au

 

[Fat Nyfe]

Forced myself to watch the 1st half again last night

One thing I noticed that hasn’t been mentioned anywhere I’ve seen is how many of our handballs they knocked down or intercepted completely

I started counting but it was too tedious but it was around fifteen to one early on

It looked like a strategy too defend the channels to our outside players and they did it very well as it takes great game awareness not to get sucked into the contest , so we need to be prepared for this and get better at it ourselves

Doubt any of our upcoming oppo missed how bad it made us look


On iPad using BigFooty.com mobile app

Yeah I’m not sure what the vanilla footy from the all stars game was supposed to hide exactly. Clubs know we want to use the handball to work through congestion to find an outside player. Chris Scott did his homework, Geelong took that away. Basically we’ve seen throughout this era that any side that applies enough pressure to us on the ball gets the job done because they create easy turnovers. When that avenue gets taken away from us we get stuck and go slow, usually side to side and down the line and can’t generate anything offensively

 

[SiempreFreo]

This is a great summation of our struggles and some glaring deficiencies to address

2025 Roundabout, #1

Fremantle and Port show how familiarity – and novelty – can both breed contempt.

www.onepercenters.net.au

Thanks for that. Dead on analysis. Above all I feel sad for our talented players who - by many keen observers- are being poorly directed.

Bobby Dylan: “You’re just kind of wastin’ mah precious time - don’t think twice, it’s all right.”

 

[SiempreFreo]

Thanks for that. Dead on analysis. Above all I feel sad for our talented players who - by many keen observers- are being poorly directed.

Bobby Dylan: “You’re just kind of wastin’ mah precious time - don’t think twice, it’s all right.”

Edit for the pedants (including me): “You just kinda wasted mah precious time “ etc etc

 

[Dale147]

 

[Tommo]

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Wow that statement at the end is concerning.
Internally they believe they are “a team that deals with pressure really well”.
it has been obvious to all externally that since 2023 all a team has to do it bring significant pressure to the midfield and we fall apart.
Commentators, ex coaches, current opposition football departments, and many here have pointed this out.
For a problem to be fixed you have to acknowledge that it exists.

 

[Dump Truck]

Wow that statement at the end is concerning.
Internally they believe they are “a team that deals with pressure really well”.
it has been obvious to all externally that since 2023 all a team has to do it bring significant pressure to the midfield and we fall apart.
Commentators, ex coaches, current opposition football departments, and many here have pointed this out.
For a problem to be fixed you have to acknowledge that it exists.

It's definitely a tad concerning. I'm a pretty purple-coloured-glasses type guy but even I know we turn to water when the pressure gets applied. I've never truly seen us stand up against a furnace-type atmosphere for a full game. IF the players genuinely believe they're elite at handling pressure and nothing is being done internally about it, welp.... We're in for a VERY long season.

 

[ignoramus]

I don't see it that way at all. Pressure is not a binary. Did the teams we win against last year simply not apply pressure, whereas Geelong did apply pressure? No, it is rather that they did not apply sufficient pressure, whereas Geelong’s pressure was high enough to have an effect. In fact, they applied absolutely ELITE pressure, top of the charts pressure:


Average Pressure Acts per game. *NB: for some of these teams, this is an average over two games, given “O Round”.

Geelong’s Pressure Acts for the game were 50(!!) above the competition average*, a full 20% more than comp average, and 14 more acts than the Ross Lyon-coached Saints. I’d say you won’t see levels like that with any frequency or regularity across the season.

So it largely takes absolutely elite pressure to make it bring Freo undone. Consequently, I think it is in fact fair to say that Freo handles pressure well. I’d go further and say that the handballing, esp. in D50, is a major means by which they handle it. It is not a perfect strategy, nor impervious to counters, but what strategy is? If there were one, we’d see every side doing exactly the same thing for a 0-0 draw in every game.

What’s more, it’s not as simple as opposition teams deciding to apply elite pressure when facing Freo. Most clubs prefer to back their style / game plan rather than adapt to the opposition. Also, as Ross Lyon haters never tire of pointing out, consistently applying high pressure is hard on players and risks burning out the team. Last year we saw the stat that teams playing Freo in a given round almost always lost the following week.

Chris Scott himself said Freo are easy to scout but hard to counter. My read on Rd 1 is that Scott took advantage of the fact it was the first game (and on the back of the original first game being postponed) [edit: and also of the fact that he's got a very experienced list on his hands] to prioritise pressure. It will be interesting to see how they fare this weekend. Meanwhile, Freo weren’t ready for it.

I know the argument that finals pressure is another level, etc. Whether Freo's ability to cope even with elite pressure can develop over the course of the season (and those to come) remains to be seen. FWIW, Freo's total pressure acts for the 2013 Prelim against Sydney ("the pressure! the pressure!") was 324, one less than Geelong's in Rd1 2025.