Autopsy Round 12, 2025: Positives and Negatives vs Geelong

[Bender_]

Biceps for show, glutes and core for power

Ginbey is really strong through the arse area though.

 

[flyinghi64]

That 1st qtr. OMG. Don't know what was worse, the umpiring or commentating.
At one point it was 7 to 1 free kicks during the 1st qtr. Geelong got 9 more for the rest of the game and we got 12 more, gotta even it up a bit.
Some of decisions and more importantly non-decisions were terrible, the standout being the Miers one where he had an eternity to get rid of it and dropped it, play on. Stengle gets a goal and the commentators froth all over how great a goal it was and poor by the Eagles to allow it.
We matched, and at times beat, a hardened and experienced top 8 team coming of a week and a half rest. Junk time goals in the last blew the the score out a bit but great game.

 

[Grahame]

We certainly miss his goals but he leads the charge for not looking infield.

When he’s within kicking range. That said, he does convert well.

 

[bombard]

Ginbey is really strong through the arse area though.

Would you say, rock hard?

 

[bombard]

My take on Hutch is he has a small tank and he gets gassed trying to yeet the ball long, he doesn't have enough to get the legs behind him and then the ball.

Just my take based on watching him. Maybe he needs to stop, take a breath before sending it? Not sure.

I have a similar view of the bloke - he's been busting his gut for weeks now. A lot of thankless running and, deceptively, he finds himself in amongst it more than a lot of our other kids. He's had one proper AFL pre-season (to quote others) and his tank is probably wrecked after the last month of footy.

Bye can't come soon enough for him and I think he'll be an entirely different footy player two pre-seasons from now.

 

[DorothyG]

.

Might be a false hope but I feel like sooner or later this approach is going to click for four quarters and we're going to completely blow someone off the park.

Sooner or later? I think it has already clicked with the team.
Problem is the skills and fitness that let it down.

We improve our skill 50% next preseason and will will look a much much slicker team.
Continually improve the fitness and we don't run out of legs as regularly, we are in games longer and improving the chances of winning those games.

Honestly, next year preseason needs to have a major focus on skill at game intensity

 

[Grahame]

Mate said he hoped the sides just above us win a few games (not v us obviously) so we can both win more games AND still get number one pick. I like it.

 

[Dom sheed pocket]

Mate said he hoped the sides just above us win a few games (not v us obviously) so we can both win more games AND still get number one pick. I like it.

I don't.

I hope we beat North, and Richmond and go past at least one of them. I'd be more than happy with 4-5 wins and pick 2 (and pick 3 if Oscar leaves). Happy for Tiges to have first dibs on CDT or Sharp (or whoever else emerges).

 

[DorothyG]

Yeah, no more looser mentality for me.

 

[Grahame]

I don't.

I hope we beat North, and Richmond and go past at least one of them. I'd be more than happy with 4-5 wins and pick 2 (and pick 3 if Oscar leaves). Happy for Tiges to have first dibs on CDT or Sharp (or whoever else emerges).

Or, as under my scenario we get your 4-5 wins but still finish last. Win-win.

 

[Grahame]

Yeah, no more looser mentality for me.

Agree. Pt 1 was winning more games.

 

[Dom sheed pocket]

Or, as under my scenario we get your 4-5 wins but still finish last. Win-win.

I just don't want another wooden spoon. I don't see that as a win/win.

 

[DorothyG]

Agree. Pt 1 was winning more games.

Yeah, but the wooden spoon is basically the looser team of the year. We've had a couple now, no more please.

Everyone (maybe not everyone) remembers the Primer and the Wooden Spooner. That shit hangs over the club all the following year

 

[UseR2006]

It’s his chest and shoulders. In the close shots he just looked bigger than Cameron. Tho cameron got height and a massive reach and he’s one of the gangly types that are deceptively strong.

I loved his interview in the west where he recognises where he went wrong last time he faced Cameron and had 8-9 kicked on him and what he changed this time around.
Shows he's a smart footballer who can change between match ups and grow.

He learned that Cameron is quick, maybe even quicker than him and a little taller so he used his strength to get body on Cameron to just get him off his game. HUGE for his development.

 

[Grahame]

I just don't want another wooden spoon. I don't see that as a win/win.

Yeah, but the wooden spoon is basically the looser team of the year. We've had a couple now, no more please.

Yep appreciate that sentiment but it’s a Rebuild. We’ve got a thread of hundreds of pages on who/how we get better. Take what you can get while you can.

To be clear I’m not suggesting tanking I’m just saying if we win games (good) but the teams just above us keep above us we still get pick one (good).

And it’s might? help with a PP.

Besides I’d reckon on current form we’ll be a bit above wooden spooner next year.

 

[Dom sheed pocket]

Yep appreciate that sentiment but it’s a Rebuild. We’ve got a thread of hundreds of pages on who/how we get better. Take what you can get while you can.

To be clear I’m not suggesting tanking I’m just saying if we win games (good) but the teams just above us keep above us we still get pick one (good).

And it’s might? help with a PP.

Besides I’d reckon on current form we’ll be a bit above wooden spooner next year.

I don't want these things, and don't think it's necessary in order to rebuild.

In almost every instance winning 2-3 extra games is better long term then winning a spoon. 2023 was a huge outlier. Most drafts don't have an obvious generation talent, and this year certainly doesn't. Teams can rebuild from bottom of the ladder without winning the spoon.

 

[wce4premiership]

Actually I think this is wrong, I count 12

I listed 11, but I missed 2 players.

Dewar and surprisingly Flynn.

I never would have guessed Flynn, forgot Dewar played to be honest.

 

[Kegs15]

It's actually unbelievable that Ginbeast managed to shutdown Cameron for 3 and bit quarters.

With all the wankfest over Sheezel/Ashcroft and Wardlaw, I'm taking Ginbey over them everytime.

Ginbey in time will command the backline.

100%. I still reckon once he hits 26-27 and becomes genuinely OP he could play midfield like Yeo, but am stoked with how he's going in the backline and it's still a great pick even if he's in defense his whole career.

His drafting and early progression remind me of Hurn - pick 13 in a draft where the top 3 were Marc Murphy, Dale Thomas, Xavier Ellis. Those mids (mostly Murphy/Thomas) probably had higher peaks over brief half-seasons, were shinier players etc but I'm taking Hurn's career any day over those guys.

Also have the similarities in being man-children, captain material from day 1 and being emblematic of the way our team is eventually looking to play (Hurn very composed and footskills based, Ginbey a bit more chaos, run and dash).

 

[Godfather32]

I listed 11, but I missed 2 players.

Dewar and surprisingly Flynn.

I never would have guessed Flynn, forgot Dewar played to be honest.

Yeah Flynn was the 13th for me, I figured he'd played more for GWS than he had

 

[FKASC]

Ginbey is really strong through the arse area though.

****in beat me to it

 

[Wild Kelly]

Yeah, no more looser mentality for me.

Yeah, you should lose your looser mentality.

 

[Kegs15]

Hutchinson's turnovers are often not just garden variety turnovers. They are so bad that they often cost us a shot at goal at our end plus a goal to the opposition on the rebound. He seems to actually pick out the opposition out in space in a dangerous position when all his team mates have spread and run to give him an option.

Not sure he is worth continuing to invest in. I know he has only played 15 games, but what is he actually good at? What assets/attributes/weapons does he have that will allow him to impact games in the future? You don't have to great at everything but you have to have a one wood in your bag.

The turnovers will sort themselves out with enough time actually learning to play mid/wing IMO.

As others have said his tank could improve (also partially a factor in this new role/him not being in a professional environment long).

When those things click I kind of see him as a Jack Crisp - Crisp doesn't have a standout one wood either (except for durability to be fair) but runs all day, contests all day, can play mid, can play wing, can tag, can get touches himself without being a 30 possession type, can rotate forward or back, does the right things game in game out and lets coaches shape the rest of the team, the players who do have a one wood, around his versatility.

This contest for me from a few weeks ago showed what he could be - it's not anything amazing or mercurial but shows he's a big, quick body who can move from contest to contest and provide value that way without doing any Harley fendoffs or Hewett lightning clearances.

View attachment 20250511_115337_1.mp4

Crisp does stuff like that all the time and it lets Pendlebury/Daicos focus on doing their own thing.

 

[Mulldogg]

we're missing Cripps' delivery inside 50

What delivery? Bloke is one of the hungriest forwards I’ve ever seen.

Fair play to him as he generally is a good set shot but I don’t reckon there’s a kick for goal within about 52m that Jamie Cripps hasn’t liked the look of over the journey.

 

[Total_Juddshanks]

The thing I like about this game plan is that it keeps you in the game longer. Even with all the errors and turnovers, when we have played high pressure football we have been close to winning. Once we sort out our disposals, it will translate into wins.

I also hope that Mini is trying to create players who are interchangeable. He has hinted at this on his early pressers. Players that can play a defensive role one week and move to the midfield the next. Or get shifted around mid game without upsetting the system. He's certainly tried players out in different positions, but I'm not sure I'd this is to teach them or find out what they can and can't do.

Yeah there was a point in the first quarter where Simmo was talking about how the Eagles needed to slow down and possess the footy and even a pointed comments about how it was impossible to win games playing out of your backhalf and it perfectly summed up everything that was wrong about his approach.

Like yeah we could slow the game down and try and possess it and then Geelong knowing they were never going to be challenged would grind us down over 4 quarters to an easy 10 goal win. And worse than the margin we'd get nothing out of it. Noone would have learnt shit, the holes in our list would still be papered over, mediocre skills would still be hidden from view, the press conference would involve the same tired cliches and after two years of that the team would be on the same pathway to long term mediocrity that Simpson generated.

As i see it, the two big benefits of miniball are
-it doesn't let shit players hide. Everyone is expected to take the game on and go when it's their turn, and people who can't learn to think quick and use the ball well will quickly be found out- so it's developing a culture where elite ball movement is expected as the norm- I think its really interesting seeing some people like Brockman thrive in the system simply because whatever weakness he has as a player he absolutely can use the ball effectively under pressure, and is loving a coach who trusts and expects him to do that. Long term I think this will generate a way better list.

- it doesn't let opposition relax or play the way they want to. As you say, it helps the team stay in games because there's always a chance of a quick run of goals. And I think particularly against weak bottom 4 teams like west coast there's a preference to try and get control of a game and then just sit back and win based on quality and field position. Coaches like simmo play into that strategy because as soon as they start encouraging people to kick the ball around or hold possession to 'stop the bleeding' they cut down on their own capacity to score and just make it easier for the other team to hold the lead. An approach which means the opposition is always having to worry about what happens when the ball heads the other way might lead to some blow outs when things go wrong, but it also.means the game is never really on the opposition's terms and they always need to stay worried about what we're doing.

I don't want to get carried away with a 43 pt loss but I think this is going to work in the long term- certainly it's worth persevering with.

 

[RookiePick]

It was great how Simmo stopped all the blowouts happening with his approach.

Mini-ball gonna get it done like it's 1861.