Autopsy Round 13, 2025: Positives and Negatives vs North Melbourne

[BSD]

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Mate, we basically keep them scoreless for a half of footy, while we kicked something like 4-12 (and a few out on the full).

Reverse that or even halve it and you are saying something completely different.

Clarko with the big flood is big brained move, problem is they were unable to generate any sort of sustained ball in the forward half for 2 qtrs of footy (probably 3 if we include the 1st). You ain't winning many games like that.

Yes poor kicking is poor footy, sometimes for what ever reason it happens

The tackle intent was insane, not weak.
If you can't see the gameplan we are running with, I dunno, I can't help you. But maybe go back and watch any random game from the past 3 years and compare it to yesterday and tell me which one is better/more attacking and suites to winning games.

I'm as filthy as the next with the loss, but I can see past that and acknowledge that we were the far better team for 3qtrs and have improved as a team massively from where we were at 9months ago.

Relax, bruz.

We're improving. We have some players who are starting to win their position more often than not - Harley, Ginbey, Waterman. Other players are coming on and it's only a matter of time. What more do you want?

Nothing more than they have a functioning forward line and kick straight and hit targets and kick more goals than points.
Is that too much to want or expect from full time professional players that are getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars?

 

[BSD]

Not seen many players improve their kicking ability in my lifetime, once it is inbuilt which it generally is by the age of 16 then it is what it is.
You can however teach and improve decision making so you use the skills you have to fit in with who you are as a football value to the group.
These clubs don't do nothing, the players practice these things. The problem is that practicing at training is always different to a real game situation. Fatigue, Pressure can do funny things to players, some handle it much better than others.
It's just footy, bad day yesterday kicking for goal.

To put a little context on it. The Pies who are the best side in the league have kicked 162-153 for the year so they miss almost every second shot.
We have kicked 126-136 so we miss a little over every second shot.
Not a great deal of difference.
That doesn't make it right but it's where the modern game is unfortunately.

So there isn't a great deal of difference between the team at the top of the ladder and us at the bottom .

 

[Ruben Grubarb]

Nothing more than they have a functioning forward line and kick straight and hit targets and kick more goals than points.
Is that too much to want or expect from full time professional players that are getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars?

We didn't have a top 10 pick for a decade. We didn't jag any good players with later picks as we'd liked. We didn't have any gun FS or NGAs. Our senior player were old and mostly fell over.

What are you going to do?

You know we got Harley, Hewett, and Ginbey as reward for being shit? Sometimes you're just shit and have to rebuild.

 

[eaglesnutcase]

The fitness is there, if you make the amount of errors that we currently make then you need to run double what is required because of the error. We constantly are moving forward in good shape then make an error and then all get caught out and look unaccountable. This extra running from mistakes is what is killing us. Good sides don't make these mistakes, handballs to the ground, missed targets, poor decisions to centre the ball and missing targets etc etc. if you keep doing this you will run twice as far as your opponents all day. That is whats happening. It's not a fitness issue.

Well said.people can’t seem to see the bleeding obvious.
The extra work is of our own making

 

[greatwhiteshark]

So there isn't a great deal of difference between the team at the top of the ladder and us at the bottom .

There is a huge difference in how we play. It takes time to become a complete product and then a great deal of character to stay up and committed for years on end.

 

[UseR2006]

Ok, With a little time now between the game and being able to cool off and reflect there were so many positives to take out of that match. Still a lot to work on but as a young team growing and still rebuilding it gives me a lot of hope for the future of this squad.

Positives:

Hewett - Looking really good, moving well. Even after he kicked a shin he came back and was still able to impact. Threatening to tear a game apart.

Hedwards - 12 months ago he was delist material and the only thing saving him was our complete lack of Key Back replacements. Now he's a solid defender who is making good decisions on when to mark and when to spoil. He'll always have deficiencies with players on the lead but he's playing much more within his abilities and having a great season so far.

We absolutely monstered a team for 3 quarters without getting the reward for it. To be able to be:
+23 i50, +5 Marks i50, +15 Tackles (+23 over our average in 2025), +17 Tackles i50 (23 for the match), Be even in Clearances at 3Qtr time.
We haven't had a game like that this year and it shows the wheel is turning and the guys are buying in.
If we kick straight we blow them out of the water and win that match.

Brock - Quietly going about his business and has slotted pretty seamlessly into that backline. Love his pace and isn't afraid of the contest.

I was skeptical of the impact Both Baker and Graham would have at the start of the season, 100% a 180 view of them. Perfect pick ups for this squad. Players that crash in, give no excuses, fly the flag for their team mates, that sort of desperation and passion has been lacking for a few years and to see it back on the field and be infectious, seeing the kids pushing is great.

Things to Improve:

Archer Reid - Is not a key forward. The kid cannot kick for goal to save his life. He's a pretty decent Ruck and should be developed as such, Otherwise he has the skills to be a pretty good Key Defender and should be developed there. You can't miss from 25m out on barely an angle as a key forward, let alone be sitting in the forward line missing shots every single week. He hasn't kicked a goal in 8 weeks.

The Sub - Mini has finally acknowledged that he's not using the sub well and apologized to Allan for it.
Maybe finally we will see that used better going forward but geez has it been annoying so far.

Bad goal kicking is bad footy - Need to do better there lads.

Overall:

It's a good kind of frustration, We should have won that match. It's nice going to work and for once being able to winge that we should have won instead of the complete apathy about our results that we've had for the last 2-3 years.
Still heaps to improve on but I can see the end of the tunnel and it isn't just a little speck of light.

 

[Ruben Grubarb]

Ok, With a little time now between the game and being able to cool off and reflect there were so many positives to take out of that match. Still a lot to work on but as a young team growing and still rebuilding it gives me a lot of hope for the future of this squad.

Positives:

Hewett - Looking really good, moving well. Even after he kicked a shin he came back and was still able to impact. Threatening to tear a game apart.

Hedwards - 12 months ago he was delist material and the only thing saving him was our complete lack of Key Back replacements. Now he's a solid defender who is making good decisions on when to mark and when to spoil. He'll always have deficiencies with players on the lead but he's playing much more within his abilities and having a great season so far.

We absolutely monstered a team for 3 quarters without getting the reward for it. To be able to be:
+23 i50, +5 Marks i50, +15 Tackles (+23 over our average in 2025), +17 Tackles i50 (23 for the match), Be even in Clearances at 3Qtr time.
We haven't had a game like that this year and it shows the wheel is turning and the guys are buying in.
If we kick straight we blow them out of the water and win that match.

Brock - Quietly going about his business and has slotted pretty seamlessly into that backline. Love his pace and isn't afraid of the contest.

I was skeptical of the impact Both Baker and Graham would have at the start of the season, 100% a 180 view of them. Perfect pick ups for this squad. Players that crash in, give no excuses, fly the flag for their team mates, that sort of desperation and passion has been lacking for a few years and to see it back on the field and be infectious, seeing the kids pushing is great.

Things to Improve:

Archer Reid - Is not a key forward. The kid cannot kick for goal to save his life. He's a pretty decent Ruck and should be developed as such, Otherwise he has the skills to be a pretty good Key Defender and should be developed there. You can't miss from 25m out on barely an angle as a key forward, let alone be sitting in the forward line missing shots every single week. He hasn't kicked a goal in 8 weeks.

The Sub - Mini has finally acknowledged that he's not using the sub well and apologized to Allan for it.
Maybe finally we will see that used better going forward but geez has it been annoying so far.

Bad goal kicking is bad footy - Need to do better there lads.

Overall:

It's a good kind of frustration, We should have won that match. It's nice going to work and for once being able to winge that we should have won instead of the complete apathy about our results that we've had for the last 2-3 years.
Still heaps to improve on but I can see the end of the tunnel and it isn't just a little speck of light.

Edwards and Brock looking solid. I'm not bringing Gov back while these guys are taking strides.

 

[Mulldogg]

Edwards and Brock looking solid. I'm not bringing Gov back while these guys are taking strides.

Gov ain’t coming back. ToastieBoy18 has a very good record with his mail and suggested that it is almost a fait accompli that Gov will be medically retired at his meeting with the concussion panel this week.

Sad but clearly the best thing for his long term health. He’ll finish as a club legend.

 

[Tyberious Funk]

Edwards and Brock looking solid. I'm not bringing Gov back while these guys are taking strides.

Even if McGovern comes back, and I feel like that's unlikely, I can't imagine him playing past his 200th.

 

[Ruben Grubarb]

Even if McGovern comes back, and I feel like that's unlikely, I can't imagine him playing past his 200th.

How many games is he on?

 

[garlic munchers]

We REALLY need to stop letting ruckmen kick across goal. Or just sideways. In fact no kicking at all. Aaron Sandilands tactics. Just be tall and if you get the ball handball it to someone else.

Have u watched us handball?

 

[BSD]

Edwards and Brock looking solid. I'm not bringing Gov back while these guys are taking strides.

Let's not get carried away we played the 17th worst side in the competition and we couldn't beat them.
Where are the positives in that. We can't kick and we can't handball and according to some of the so called experts on this forum, if players haven't learnt to execute these skills correctly by the time they are 16 they never will.
So to get players who can kick the ball our talent scouts should only be out looking at the under 16's competitions around the country.

 

[bzparkes]

Let's not get carried away we played the 17th worst side in the competition and we couldn't beat them.
Where are the positives in that. We can't kick and we can't handball and according to some of the so called experts on this forum, if players haven't learnt to execute these skills correctly by the time they are 16 they never will.
So to get players who can kick the ball our talent scouts should only be out looking at the under 16's competitions around the country.

There's plenty of positives if you look at the process instead of the outcome.

 

[Cuzz09]

Let's not get carried away we played the 17th worst side in the competition and we couldn't beat them.
Where are the positives in that. We can't kick and we can't handball and according to some of the so called experts on this forum, if players haven't learnt to execute these skills correctly by the time they are 16 they never will.
So to get players who can kick the ball our talent scouts should only be out looking at the under 16's competitions around the country.

Most days we win that by 5 goals with half decent accuracy

 

[BSD]

We didn't have a top 10 pick for a decade. We didn't jag any good players with later picks as we'd liked. We didn't have any gun FS or NGAs. Our senior player were old and mostly fell over.

What are you going to do?

You know we got Harley, Hewett, and Ginbey as reward for being shit? Sometimes you're just shit and have to rebuild.

Have Geelong had any top 10 picks in the last decade ? When was the last time that they finished at the bottom of the table for 4 yrs in a row.?

 

[BSD]

There's plenty of positives if you look at the process instead of the outcome.

Kicking for goal is also supposed to be a process and we can't execute that skill properly and we saw the outcome of that on Sunday.

 

[davidgoes4wce]

Exactly.

Run harder for longer.

Better skills, some a result from development, decision making and also not being as fatigued.

= less mistakes.

That leads to more energy spent attacking not defending.

That doesn't happen over one or two seasons when we have turned the list over so much.

2026 we will start the climb up the ladder. And with some luck with injury, trading and drafting it could be a decent climb.

The expectation for the Eagles was to win 5 or 6 games. It looks like they will fall short of that. Im not convinced the Eagles will climb up the ladder . Think there is still a fair gap between the bottom 3 sides in the comp and the 15th best side.

e process instead of the outcome.

And how long will this process be? It seems like we have been talking about them gelling for a long time. I cant see a clear window of the Eagles rising for at least another 2+ years. The Eagles competitive performances in 2025 have mostly come against the cellar dwellars: Roos, Tigers and Saints.

 

[bzparkes]

Have Geelong had any top 10 picks in the last decade ? When was the last time that they finished at the bottom of the table for 4 yrs in a row.?

Jhye Clark a couple of years ago.

They been very good at identifying mature-aged talent to complement what was already on their list but, and I know people have been saying this for a decade, they massively rely on their older players, like Collingwood are.

They've also done very well to trade in players on the cheap, although they've been burning bridges with other clubs doing that method. Bruhn, Henry(Ollie), Dangerfield, Cameron, Bowes, Smith, Stanley and Stengle are the notable ones off the top of my head who have contributed decently in recent years(sans Martin, who just debuted for the senior team) and a few of those have serious question marks about their off-field character, which Geelong seem more than happy to 'manage'.

They've also drafted a fair bit from their own VFL side, so clearly that's a focus for them.

Geelong also have the advantage of having minimal travel but being the only Vic side with a true home ground advantage, as well as playing plenty of games at the 'G. They play at the MCG more than most Marvel tenants do, for example.

Will be interesting to see how they manage in a post Dangerfield, Blicavs, Stanley, Cameron, Stewart, Duncan era though.

They'll be fine for midfield talent but Neale's bog average and they don't currently have a player like Dangerfield, which is why they'll be desperate to make a play for Reid. Then there's Stewart and their ruck situation, which they've tried to address for as long as I can remember but haven't been able to find anyone decent to replace Stanley. It has led to the interesting tactic they deploy with Blicavs and Stanley though, which has been recently highlighted in the media. Other clubs should take note.

 

[bzparkes]

Kicking for goal is also supposed to be a process and we can't execute that skill properly and we saw the outcome of that on Sunday.

And?

You can work on that, especially considering we've been mostly accurate in every other game this year.

Weird thing to cling onto, IMO.

 

[bzparkes]

And how long will this process be? It seems like we have been talking about them gelling for a long time. I cant see a clear window of the Eagles rising for at least another 2+ years. The Eagles competitive performances in 2025 have mostly come against the cellar dwellars: Roos, Tigers and Saints.

We've got a new coach and more than half our best 22 each week has played 50 games or less.

Not sure what your expectations are but you probably need to adjust them a bit.

In case you haven't noticed though, we've improved massively from last year, despite rolling out the least experienced best 22 week to week(the weekend's median games played was 49 compared to North's 70, with the age being 23.7 to North's 26).

Clearly we're playing a completely different style to the outdated kick/mark that Simpson used when we were playing finals and have been able to adjust to the more modern style Simpson was unable to get the team to play.

We are getting far more forward 50 entries than previous years, where we couldn't even get the ball in there to begin with.

Shots on goal are up.

Tackling efficiency is massively up.

Our rucks suck but we have a battler in there, so not much we can do until we get better personnel in there but despite that we've gotten better at preventing the opposition from getting clean exits from clearance. We even broken even with North in the centre clearances on the weekend and we won the clearances vs Geelong by 8 last weekend, despite them having a far superior midfield.

If we didn't spray all those gettable shots on the weekend, we'd be sitting here pretty chuffed with ourselves after smashing North but alas, the players bottled it in front of goal but were vastly superior in every other facet.

It's incredibly disappointing to lose in that manner but WCE were the sole reason we lost the game, North didn't win it. They were massively inferior for 3 quarters, we just ran out of steam and got overrun, which wouldn't have happened had we nailed just 3 more shots.

McQualter would be pissed that we lost, but probably happy with everything else.

 

[eaglesnutcase]

The expectation for the Eagles was to win 5 or 6 games. It looks like they will fall short of that. Im not convinced the Eagles will climb up the ladder . Think there is still a fair gap between the bottom 3 sides in the comp and the 15th best side.

And how long will this process be? It seems like we have been talking about them gelling for a long time. I cant see a clear window of the Eagles rising for at least another 2+ years. The Eagles competitive performances in 2025 have mostly come against the cellar dwellars: Roos, Tigers and Saints.

If we hadn’t lost our two big men we could easily have beaten Brisbane.Very competitive against Geelong.
Remember a guy called Stewart Lowe aka Buckets. Great mark shit kick for goal.
Went on to be a legend.

And?

You can work on that, especially considering we've been mostly accurate in every other game this year.

Weird thing to cling onto, IMO.

Stewart Loewe says hello

 

[bzparkes]

If we hadn’t lost our two big men we could easily have beaten Brisbane.Very competitive against Geelong.
Remember a guy called Stewart Lowe aka Buckets. Great mark shit kick for goal.
Went on to be a legend.

Stewart Loewe says hello

We need that bloke back who fixed our goalkicking a few years ago.

 

[cacik]

POS
Hewy and harry were amazing. Jilliams pretty decent.
9 times out of 10 we would be 6 goals up at 3qt. (Albiet still might have coughed up the lead) Outplayed them for 75% of the game

NEG
Very fumbly in the last 10 mins, lacked belief polish and fitness.... and grit.. the Tackling really dropped off hard in the last

 

[ziad]

Kicking for goal is also supposed to be a process and we can't execute that skill properly and we saw the outcome of that on Sunday.

Macro not micro processes is our issue. we are just bad at the basics - which I suspect goes back to talent selection.

 

[Cuzz09]

Everyone going on bout Pies and Cats but in the last 7 years:

Flags:

Pies: 1
Cats: 1
Eagles: 1

Hopefully a new team wins it in 2025 for the LoLs