Autopsy Round 10 - GWS Giants vs Essendon Bombers Saturday May 26th 2018, 7.25PM - Spotless Stadium

[dlanod]

Brisbane has a proud history though, and a culture of winning big in the threepeat years. Even in these very lean years for you, you have something to fall back on as do your players.

Honestly we have nothing like that at all at GWS. In fact without some real hardship I don't think success is anyone near as sweet. This whole Leon Cameron squandering our chances and us getting rid of him could be the sourness we need to have a sweeter premiership next year.

It's nice to say but it doesn't really play out that way. That was 15 years ago, and we had some absolutely poisonous attitudes at the club over the intervening years, especially after the last player links with the premiership teams finished.

Having said that I think Cameron has done some great work:
- he's brought a team from a bunch of kids into being a contender and arguably ahead of schedule (would we be so focused on him if 2016 was a slower ramp up instead of straight into top 4?).
- he's built a great culture at the club where it does feel like a team and family even if things aren't going swimmingly.

The negative is that he doesn't seem willing or able to adapt his game plan for the reality of the players he has available to him this year. That link up player to get ahead of the ball movement and deliver into the forward 50 has been missing with Kelly, Scully and Whitfield out of the midfield, and that was the oil that made our plan move freely. Instead we've resorted to ineffective and static ball movement.

 

[Smartest Brain]

It's nice to say but it doesn't really play out that way. That was 15 years ago, and we had some absolutely poisonous attitudes at the club over the intervening years, especially after the last player links with the premiership teams finished.

Having said that I think Cameron has done some great work:
- he's brought a team from a bunch of kids into being a contender and arguably ahead of schedule (would we be so focused on him if 2016 was a slower ramp up instead of straight into top 4?).
- he's built a great culture at the club where it does feel like a team and family even if things aren't going swimmingly.

The negative is that he doesn't seem willing or able to adapt his game plan for the reality of the players he has available to him this year. That link up player to get ahead of the ball movement and deliver into the forward 50 has been missing with Kelly, Scully and Whitfield out of the midfield, and that was the oil that made our plan move freely. Instead we've resorted to ineffective and static ball movement.

IMO we would have won the premiership in 2016 if not for Ward getting knocked out by the bulldogs and ruining our run in that prelim. We should have still won it even without him as on paper our team was a lot more talented and I think that is somewhat culture/coaching/club related as to why we didn't.

2017 rolls around and they implement changes which make us play uglier instead of utilizing our advantages, which makes the players seem uninterested in the gameplan. Shiel looks like he would rather be doing his taxes right now instead of playing.

Cameron had his chance to build his brand in 2016 and failed, maybe if he did he wouldn't have abandoned the thing which made us sexy and so hard to beat in 2016. Either way we can talk about maybes and ifs all we want the only thing that matters now is what do you do to fix it.

 

[Simmofreo]

The AFL and all the clubs love the money we bring in from TV rights. Regardless of what is said in the media the fact is the AFL is better with us in the comp than without.

The trouble we have is that some of the key tenants of the game would rather we were a feeder club that was competitive but doesn’t actually win which is why there have been knee jerk actions on the Academy and the “registration error” on Todd Marshall.

They don’t want us anchored on the bottom but would also hate for us to be dominant and have put people in the right places to ensure it doesn’t happen.

I think the coaching situation is now critical and will really tell us where we are. If the AFL doesn’t do everything within its power to get Alastair Clarkson to GWS it risks missing an opportunity of a flag with a talent laden team.

At the end of this year we will be picked off again not so much with uncontracted players but with a few contracted guys seeking to go home. It will thin out the talent again and really put pressure on us.

The club has made a lot of errors but still come out ok but the coaching issue needs to be fixed right now or this could end up really ugly.

I was talking about this last night.

We have had the likes of Johnson, delideo and Griffen come to our club looking for a flag.

I don't care what anyone says, but no one comes to a non AFL town to play in front of 10k crowds for the fun of it.

We finish out of the 8, we won't have anyone requesting the move this year

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[Yoda_]

http://www.gwsgiants.com.au/news/2018-05-26/selfless-whitfields-sacrifices?



Luke Power on Whitfield:

"For a number one draft pick, he was always willing to sacrifice his own game to make the team better," he said.

"In this day and age people see all the tricks players have got and they probably look at his elite kicking, but Lachie has always known the value of doing things like covering for teammates and running defensively."

"That’s pretty impressive because usually when young players come into the AFL, especially when they're high-end talent, they're the other way around."

Sorry to intrude. Way back when, in Lachie's draft year, went along to a TAC Cup game at Shepley oval (Dandenong's home ground) and even though Whitfield didn't have a heap of the ball, you could just see it with him. The running, the gliding across the ground. He was always willing to sacrifice his own game for others.

The Dandenong guys knew from a very early age they had a special kid on there hands and one always destined for greatness.

 

[Smartest Brain]

Sorry to intrude. Way back when, in Lachie's draft year, went along to a TAC Cup game at Shepley oval (Dandenong's home ground) and even though Whitfield didn't have a heap of the ball, you could just see it with him. The running, the gliding across the ground. He was always willing to sacrifice his own game for others.

The Dandenong guys knew from a very early age they had a special kid on there hands and one always destined for greatness.

Thanks for the info you provided, nice to know.

 

[Andre the Giant]

Sorry to intrude. Way back when, in Lachie's draft year, went along to a TAC Cup game at Shepley oval (Dandenong's home ground) and even though Whitfield didn't have a heap of the ball, you could just see it with him. The running, the gliding across the ground. He was always willing to sacrifice his own game for others.

The Dandenong guys knew from a very early age they had a special kid on there hands and one always destined for greatness.

Defo my fav Giant. Always plays his heart out and comes across as a terrific bloke too.

 

[fridgeman]

Another poor performance and for the negatives
Tackles/pressure I saw Heppell have so much time around the stoppages and is it time to have a designated tagger as the team defence didn't work
Bombing it long
Hitouts to advantage/clearances is Lobb injured or underdone fitness wise? I know he has had issues injury wise so maybe he has come back too early?
Discipline The 50 Tomlinson gave away was a sign of frustration and with JC doing the same last week at a critical time it indicates a lack of leadership in the team and that may be on the field and also in the coaches but they have the experience in the squad but maybe it needs to be focused on more
Goalkicking all 3 of HH, Patton and Cameron missed crucial set shots that were not gimmes but they needed to be made and were crucial to stay in the game

The good
The midfielders found some better decision making and to have Kelly back was good
Buntine in was good to see and with another 2 games to the bye hopefully he stays in the team and then he will hopefully have a good run to the end of the season

 

[Scanlens Man]

Was hard to watch. Next week the top 8 all play teams outside the 8, making it imperative that we win or slip further behind

 

[Scanlens Man]

What was the thought about Coniglio's goal celebration? I personally didn't like it, we were behind, not playing brilliantly and probably needed to focus and get set up, rather than indulge in an individual moment. Too 'rock star' for this old-timer

 

[Colonial]

What was the thought about Coniglio's goal celebration? I personally didn't like it, we were behind, not playing brilliantly and probably needed to focus and get set up, rather than indulge in an individual moment. Too 'rock star' for this old-timer

I think we have more worries than a pretty minor goal celebration

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[Scanlens Man]

I think we have more worries than a pretty minor goal celebration

Maybe, it does show where the players minds are - a celebration like that has to be planned, possibly even practised int he mirror - just when we are trying to impress the "team" culture and shake the "collection of very good footballers" tag

 

[Colonial]

Maybe, it does show where the players minds are - a celebration like that has to be planned, possibly even practised int he mirror - just when we are trying to impress the "team" culture and shake the "collection of very good footballers" tag

When he kicked that we were on a bit of a comeback yeah?
Each to there own i guess but i didnt think anything of it

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[Gigantic]

It was a good goal, worthy of a bit of subtle celebration. He has been doing the celebration for a while now so it's not like it was the first time.

 

[Danny88]

Maybe, it does show where the players minds are - a celebration like that has to be planned, possibly even practised int he mirror - just when we are trying to impress the "team" culture and shake the "collection of very good footballers" tag

Jesus.... The goal was special. Dont knock him for celebrating, I don't want to watch emotionless robots play the game

 

[Scanlens Man]

Jesus.... The goal was special. Dont knock him for celebrating, I don't want to watch emotionless robots play the game

Interesting point, I wonder if the AFL actively encourages players to celebrate or otherwise act in an "entertaining way" for the sake of the general spectacle?

 

[Danny88]

Interesting point, I wonder if the AFL actively encourages players to celebrate or otherwise act in an "entertaining way" for the sake of the general spectacle?

The whole thing is entertainment

Doubt the governing body actively encourages it

 

[Determinant]

Interesting point, I wonder if the AFL actively encourages players to celebrate or otherwise act in an "entertaining way" for the sake of the general spectacle?

I liked it, I liked it a lot more when I knew what it meant, it was quite tasteful compared to Mathieson's "shotgun".

 

[Isaac Cumming No 1]

I liked it, I liked it a lot more when I knew what it meant, it was quite tasteful compared to Mathieson's "shotgun".

Poor imitation of Mark Williams. Still pissed that Clarkson threatened to discipline him over one aimed at the Port coaching box. Clarkson had just come from Port and his "respect" demand rang a bit hollow.
I've got no problems with celebrations I general, I read Cogs as maybe the vice captain trying to lift his teamates. Not sure though.