Autopsy Round 18 Review - The Winner Is… Not Us. Freo 65, Sydernee 82

[Fyfe! The Musical]

Personally I found the lack of energy & creativity in our defense very disturbing.
From the view behind the goals no one was leading or trying to create opinions & after the 3rd or 4th kick from Ryan to the same spot for a turnover my blood was boiling.

It reminded me off our worst periods in the last 10 years or so.

IMO we were trying for a specific play to break the Sydney zone defence from our kick ins, and had Darcy, Lobb or Taberner clunked a couple marks doing so we'd have been off to the races and Sydney would have had to adjust. Either that, or had the ground balls that resulted been clean breaks, we'd have worked out the back to get a goal. But we weren't taking contested marks, and Sydney were all over us once the ball hit the deck on half back. One interesting stat is that we won the tackle inside 50 count but lost the total tackle count. What I saw happening is Sydney absolutely pressured us through midfield - the same way Collingwood and Gold Coast did. Our biggest weakness remains that when the heat goes up our mids, wingers and half forwards wilt a little bit. We really need some steel through there and the two senior players, Fyfe and Mundy, aren't providing it.

Our defenders were playing to the game plan and executing as best they can, our midfield and talls let us down big time. I still believe that had two or three moments turned the other way for us, not free kicks or missed shots, but easy contested marks taken and kicks inside 50 nailed, we'd have won.

 

[Snuffaluphagus]

Here’s an idea. How about people who are hurting from the game & saw a lot they didn’t like are allowed to vent a bit & write their criticism while people who see it as a speed bump & are still happy with where we’re at can write that without one side or the other insisting theirs is the only correct response.

Different strokes & all that.

Personally I found the lack of energy & creativity in our defense very disturbing.
From the view behind the goals no one was leading or trying to create opinions & after the 3rd or 4th kick from Ryan to the same spot for a turnover my blood was boiling.

It reminded me off our worst periods in the last 10 years or so.

From what I’ve seen, people who post reasoned criticism with thought behind it (such as yourself) are met with reasoned discussion. There are literally people saying we might miss the 8, our season is done or my personal favourite “sack the coach if he wastes this year”.

I swear I have actual whiplash from how quickly its going from positive to negative to positive to negative around here

 

[Fyfe! The Musical]

IMO we were trying for a specific play to break the Sydney zone defence from our kick ins, and had Darcy, Lobb or Taberner clunked a couple marks doing so we'd have been off to the races and Sydney would have had to adjust. Either that, or had the ground balls that resulted been clean breaks, we'd have worked out the back to get a goal. But we weren't taking contested marks, and Sydney were all over us once the ball hit the deck on half back. One interesting stat is that we won the tackle inside 50 count but lost the total tackle count. What I saw happening is Sydney absolutely pressured us through midfield - the same way Collingwood and Gold Coast did. Our biggest weakness remains that when the heat goes up our mids, wingers and half forwards wilt a little bit. We really need some steel through there and the two senior players, Fyfe and Mundy, aren't providing it.

Our defenders were playing to the game plan and executing as best they can, our midfield and talls let us down big time. I still believe that had two or three moments turned the other way for us, not free kicks or missed shots, but easy contested marks taken and kicks inside 50 nailed, we'd have won.

Darcy shaking his head in disgust at his first mark being taken in the last quarter after so many nearly chances will stick with me as a player knowing what is going wrong with the team.

 

[WaywardSonSon]

I'm the first to admit I don't know enough about the intricacies of football tactics, to state that Longmuir was comprehensively "out-coached" last night. It was infuriating to witness Sydney being able to hit fifteen metre passes at will though. Perhaps it wasn't the fault of the coaches after all, and it could just have been a lack of two-way running from our players. Hopefully in the future, a technology that attaches to the ball, will immediately notify the umpires via a vibration on their wrist or some such thing, that the ball has not traveled fifteen metres. It would eliminate those bullsh*t ten metre kicks they often pay.

 

[SiempreFreo]

Sydney played some excellent football and put plenty of pressure on Freo.
I don't think Sydney's win had as much to do with their uncontested marks or coaching which seems to be all the talk.

In the last quarter Freo were still 9 points up before Sydney then kicked 5 of the last 6 goals of the game, so really, to be fair, one only needs to analyse that period of football and how Sydney got those 5 goals.
Two of them came from excellent kicks from about 40m out on the boundary line. Freo didn't do much wrong with either of them.
Heeney's goal from about 40m out, set shot from a mark, came from a 10m pass from Papley who had marked a superb 40m field kick from centre field.
The other two goals came from turnovers due to Sydney's tackle pressure (Walker & Young who both have a tendancy to get caught at times).

Which leads me to my concern that for Freo to be a serious Finals contender in 2022, they need to up their pressure game.
Sydney played like a finals team plays in September and it was a little too good for us (that together with some precision field kicking).
Sydney players had 5 of the top 7 in Pressure Acts, while Freo had 4 of the bottom 5 ... and on this topic, Fyfe, Walters and Mundy were 3 of Freo's top 4 for Pressure Acts (Brayshaw, as is often the case, was our top), so be careful when advocating replacing some of our older greats with younger players.

This - my take also after careful re-watching at home. Sonny barely let up all day, Mundy had a good first half and even Fyfe on a frustrating day provided some handy link-ups.

Sure, there's plenty to work on - including the major issue of our tall forwards' lack of cohesion and consistency. But so much to like too. Ok, Walker, Young, Chappy had turnovers. But Walker mostly held a far more seasoned opponent, put his marvellous speed to good use and I remind us all, is still only 19!

Young's in the thick of the action so often, he's also bound to make mistakes. Chapman, still a relative AFL newbie and in his first game back after weeks, gave glimpses of sublime potential. Acres is guaranteed to deliver more next week. I reckon the whole team is guaranteed to deliver more next week - apart from Logue who already delivered 110%.

 

[SiempreFreo]

Personally, I think Rebecca from membership services should go. Not happy with the pen I got this year.

You got a pen?! I didn't

 

[estibador]

Thoughts on the new Quokka mascot?

Not really feeling it, to be honest. It came out of nowhere with no fan consultation. There’s the rhyme of the name, but that’s about it. There aren’t any Quokkas in Fremantle - and three mascots is too many. I bet they get rid of the other two in the off season.

Three mascots is three too many for as much as I care.

 

[PurpleEyes]

This - my take also after careful re-watching at home. Sonny barely let up all day, Mundy had a good first half and even Fyfe on a frustrating day provided some handy link-ups.

Sure, there's plenty to work on - including the major issue of our tall forwards' lack of cohesion and consistency. But so much to like too. Ok, Walker, Young, Chappy had turnovers. But Walker mostly held a far more seasoned opponent, put his marvellous speed to good use and I remind us all, is still only 19!

Young's in the thick of the action so often, he's also bound to make mistakes. Chapman, still a relative AFL newbie and in his first game back after weeks, gave glimpses of sublime potential. Acres is guaranteed to deliver more next week. I reckon the whole team is guaranteed to deliver more next week - apart from Logue who already delivered 110%.

Our younger defenders are doing very well given their ages and game experience.
Turnovers will happen and will look worse when you are playing against a good team playing good footy.

I did point out Walker and Young turnovers in the last quarter cost us a couple of goals, but I didn't mean that to be pointing the blame at them for our loss. Both of those turnovers came about because of the high quality pressure Sydney was putting on us at the time.
The games stats tell me that our defenders performed about as good as they generally do. And for that matter, our Forwards were not woeful either.
I believe the game was won and lost in the overall team performance. It would be unfair to blame the midfield given they won the hitouts, clearances and Freo won the contested possessions.

JL mentioned Freo's energy ... and I think that was a very accurate summary of what cost us the game.
We lost the stats in tackles, one percenters & pressure acts ... which is why we also lost the stats for turnovers and intercept possessions.
Pressure Acts were something like 255 (Freo) to 298 (Syd). Last week against the Saints Freo had 307 ... that is 52 more.
The AFL Tracker stats also showed Sydney outran us in distance and sprint efforts.

And I'll say it again, Freo were up by 9 points in the final quarter before Sydney kicked 5 of the last 6 goals of the game. It is fair to say none of those Sydney goals came from a series of small kicks and loose checking by Freo. There was 3 small kicks in total that were part of the lead up to those goals and 2 of those were certainly less than 15m (about 10m) and the umpires wrongly allowed them.

So when JL says the energy was down, that wasn't some dismissive comment.
Sydney were up and about and Freo weren't at their best.

 

[bushchook]

But if you give a faster player 5 metres start and the kick he receives is low flat and quick that 5 metres quickly becomes 15 and the opposition is of to the races.

The point is that guarding space rather than playing man on man takes that pace advantage away from the player. It now becomes up to the kicker to pinpoint the pass. If teams are able to do that constantly for half a game, then good on them, there really isn't much you can do about it. That is what made Hawthorn such a great team for so long.

Going man on man just doesn't solve the issue, which is why nobody does it. Teams would just exploit your slowest player and kick to his opponent every time. And to be truly man on man would mean that all 18 players on the field would have to do it, including your ruckman, who would usually be the most easily exploitable in this situation.

 

[salim malik]

The point is that guarding space rather than playing man on man takes that pace advantage away from the player. It now becomes up to the kicker to pinpoint the pass. If teams are able to do that constantly for half a game, then good on them, there really isn't much you can do about it. That is what made Hawthorn such a great team for so long.

Going man on man just doesn't solve the issue, which is why nobody does it. Teams would just exploit your slowest player and kick to his opponent every time. And to be truly man on man would mean that all 18 players on the field would have to do it, including your ruckman, who would usually be the most easily exploitable in this situation.

Sure man on man isn't a full game tactic but when a team is cutting you apart with accurate short kicks surely the zone becomes a liability and to break the short kicks you instruct to go stand on your man. As some famous coach said just do something, anything. Stand on toes , start a skirmish, push and shove.
The short kick by Sydney was allowed to take control of the flow of the game.

 

[Fyfe! The Musical]

Three mascots is three too many for as much as I care.

Dear Fremantle Football Club. Please eliminate three mascots. I am not a crackpot

 

[arsesmart]

I'm the first to admit I don't know enough about the intricacies of football tactics, to state that Longmuir was comprehensively "out-coached" last night. It was infuriating to witness Sydney being able to hit fifteen metre passes at will though. Perhaps it wasn't the fault of the coaches after all, and it could just have been a lack of two-way running from our players. Hopefully in the future, a technology that attaches to the ball, will immediately notify the umpires via a vibration on their wrist or some such thing, that the ball has not traveled fifteen metres. It would eliminate those bullsh*t ten metre kicks they often pay.

One of the things that was noticeable about what Sydney did was to really use the boundary. They always had at least one, often two or three players boundary side so they could have a safe and predictable out from contested situations. This also helped them to use the full width of the ground and have a good go at really stretching the zone.

It was also interesting their tactic for Freo's long kick to Darcy or Lobb to exit defence. I'd need to examine it a little more closely, but it seemed as though they wouldn't go like for like in the contest with them, but rather place a tallish but more mobile type to go in the air (who focused on "tangling" - aka grabbing - arms non-umpire side) who could then switch quickly to deal with the crumbs. So with little intent on ever marking the ball, instead have mop up as a priority and \ strategically positioned players at the contest and with waves of players coming through shortly after to work it away.

It would've been great to switch that up a little more, with a bit more running it further out of defence, decoy Darcy/Lobb (particularly if Lobb's shoulder was bodge), and kick it 30-40 metres further, maybe via the corridor. It's probably something better worked on at training first, but might just help counter those tactics, which no doubt will be used again, maybe even as soon as this week.

 

[Glaucus]

One of the things that was noticeable about what Sydney did was to really use the boundary. They always had at least one, often two or three players boundary side

Yes was very noticeable, when Acres was playing before his injury he always looked to hold his width, our “break glass” wingers not so much.

 

[ignoramus]

It was also interesting their tactic for Freo's long kick to Darcy or Lobb to exit defence. I'd need to examine it a little more closely, but it seemed as though they wouldn't go like for like in the contest with them, but rather place a tallish but more mobile type to go in the air (who focused on "tangling" - aka grabbing - arms non-umpire side) who could then switch quickly to deal with the crumbs. So with little intent on ever marking the ball, instead have mop up as a priority and \ strategically positioned players at the contest and with waves of players coming through shortly after to work it away.

Yeah, they were well prepared for the kick to the tall. A token player (Reid?) to make Darcy/Lobb work for the mark, and a third running in from the side to mark in front of the contest.

 

[WilloTree]

meh - wasn't as bad as I first thought. We were ahead in the last quarter and probably should have hung on.

We dropped marks we normally would have taken, missed kicks we normally hit and slipped tackles that normally stick. We were 5% off all day, yet in it up to our eyeballs against a team who played their best game all day (except accuracy). There were more howlingly bad turnovers into the corridor than any game I've seen us play this year. We also completely butchered the ball in our front half. Bit of a perfect storm of shitness but only lost by a couple of kicks.

We're a better side than that.

As a side note, I'm not losing my s**t about the 'short game' Sydney played which was apparently our undoing. It wasn't. Sydney's 8 meter kicks won't work in finals because A) The game is faster and B) Umps should call play-on.

 

[Dale147]

Game summary and ratings

 

[s_wd6]

Game summary and ratings

I always wonder if the people who compile the ratings actually watched the game

 

[ilikepotatoes]

The point is that guarding space rather than playing man on man takes that pace advantage away from the player. It now becomes up to the kicker to pinpoint the pass. If teams are able to do that constantly for half a game, then good on them, there really isn't much you can do about it. That is what made Hawthorn such a great team for so long.

Going man on man just doesn't solve the issue, which is why nobody does it. Teams would just exploit your slowest player and kick to his opponent every time. And to be truly man on man would mean that all 18 players on the field would have to do it, including your ruckman, who would usually be the most easily exploitable in this situation.

I don't think anyone is advocating for man on man as a whole, but in the last quarter Sydney took the piss with possession football as soon as they got a 3 goal lead.

We kept playing a zone and left 2-3 Swans players behind the the ball whilst they had possession so they chipped it around freely and chewed up the clock.

That was clearly the time to go man on man.

 

[SiempreFreo]

I always wonder if the people who compile the ratings actually watched the game

Quite often I can actually agree with much of the ratings, especially if it's Duff. But this time what the hell??

Weags another shocker but 13 players rate 6 and above. We lead for most of the game so objectively must have been doing much right, yet only 7 players merit 6 or above.....

 

[s_wd6]

Quite often I can actually agree with much of the ratings, especially if it's Duff. But this time what the hell??

Weags another shocker but 13 players rate 6 and above. We lead for most of the game so objectively must have been doing much right, yet only 7 players merit 6 or above.....

I don't remember cox going forward at all, but that could just be me. 4 for a defender who kept his man goalless and lead the team in intercepts is also very strange. Chapman was quite poor and logue was a clear best on.

 

[Van_Dyke]

I don't remember cox going forward at all, but that could just be me. 4 for a defender who kept his man goalless and lead the team in intercepts is also very strange. Chapman was quite poor and logue was a clear best on.

he went forward with like 2 minutes to go i think

 

[s_wd6]

he went forward with like 2 minutes to go i think

Makes sense bc I started walking out with two minutes to go

 

[TheLastCall]

Dear Fremantle Football Club. Please eliminate three mascots. I am not a crackpot

We are transitioning to One, and courting HBF as a sponsor. (hopefully)
I liked the Dokka the Quokka as a mascot. As good as any. Better marketing toy for the kids.

 

[Freoforever86]

3 player injuries have caused most of what we miss.

• AA form wingman. Acres link up work was elite all year, and we’ve got nothing out of the guys who have played in his role. When he finds form we will be much better off.
• swittas pressure. Missing it so badly. Freddie and Colyer have been poor lately with tackle pressure. Switta averages almost 2 tackles more than next best fwd.
• Chapman intercept work. Allows young and Clark to roll off into higher positions. Plus Chapman forward kicking is usually elite with good vision, though he had a few bad moments sat night.

Few hard calls to be made before finals imo.

• If Odriscoll gets back to form in wafl, does he come in? I’d argue him on one wing and acres on the other is our ideal setup.
• who’s spot does Switta take if he’s fit?

I’ve said all year Banfield isn’t best 22. But atm he’s playing better footy than Colyer Freddie and Walters. I just don’t think JLo has the stones to drop one of those 3

 

[Snuffaluphagus]

3 player injuries have caused most of what we miss.

• AA form wingman. Acres link up work was elite all year, and we’ve got nothing out of the guys who have played in his role. When he finds form we will be much better off.
• swittas pressure. Missing it so badly. Freddie and Colyer have been poor lately with tackle pressure. Switta averages almost 2 tackles more than next best fwd.
• Chapman intercept work. Allows young and Clark to roll off into higher positions. Plus Chapman forward kicking is usually elite with good vision, though he had a few bad moments sat night.

Few hard calls to be made before finals imo.

• If Odriscoll gets back to form in wafl, does he come in? I’d argue him on one wing and acres on the other is our ideal setup.
• who’s spot does Switta take if he’s fit?

I’ve said all year Banfield isn’t best 22. But atm he’s playing better footy than Colyer Freddie and Walters. I just don’t think JLo has the stones to drop one of those 3

I think Banfield is more competing with Logue for a medium tall spot, not those three. Contrary to belief, Banfield isnt actually a good pressure forward, in fact, his pressure is comfortably the worst of the non-KPF forwards. Switta will likely take one of Walters or Colyers spot, Logue, IMO still offers more up front than Banfield despite his knack of kicking goals.