Review Round 2, 2021 - Geelong vs. Brisbane Lions

[lioninthesand]

Now that I've slept on it and calmed down...

We didn't deserve to win that game. Yes, the final quarter fightback was great, but we'd been garbage for the entire first half. You generally don't win games of football by only playing properly for half of it. And yes, the umpires screwed us over repeatedly for obvious calls, but we should never have been in that position to begin with, considering the number of scoring shots we had. We were getting caned in the midfield until we moved Neale out of there, and we gave up far too many easy goals. The defence was like a sieve at times, completely failing to cover players or shut off their avenues at goal.

Someone said in the game thread that we'll be right once McStay and Gardiner are back. They have a point that we miss those two players a lot - Gardiner could have covered Hawkins and let Harris play as a roaming intercept marker, and McStay would have held down CHF while Joe rucked. But it's not that simple. We need some serious work on our midfield brigade. Neale got tagged out of the game far too easily. Usually our response is to protect him with big bodies, but we didn't have any available once Berry Sr went down pre-game. This led to us shifting Robbo inside, which isn't ideal. Going forward I want to see McCluggage and Berry Sr in there a lot more, or failing that, Matho or CEY come in. I really think they could have made the difference.

Lyons had a good game, no issues with him. Our wingers were poor though. Sharp shouldn't be playing right now. Yes he's got endurance and did a couple of good things last night, but it's not enough to justify his selection when he gets shrugged off so easily by physically more developed players. He's a high schooler with some talent and he looks like it right now, in a game of men. Prior seemed to be playing wing too, I wonder why when he was drafted as a defender. In the past we've done well with Robbo as a winger, whose hack kicks were fine because we played chaos ball, but I don't think that's going to work any longer. We need better kicks there than Sharp, Robbo and Prior. Next week I'd shift Ah Chee up there, and maybe give Ely a chance there too.

Some say we lost this game at the selection table, and I have to agree. We know that Geelong have big bodies in midfield and we need big bodies to counter them, but we didn't pick enough. We even brought in Prior to cover Berry Sr instead of a like-for-like player in Matho. We know that Harris doesn't play well on Hawkins and yet we put him on Hawkins again instead of selecting Adams. We know Birchall is incredibly slow, and that playing him alongside Lester and Rich cost us dearly against Sydney, and yet we did it again. We know teams like to tag Neale and yet we had no answer to it for an entire half of football. Half this loss is on the players, the other half is on the coaching staff for defeating themselves in selection and strategy.

Some good things came out of this game though. After spending six quarters trying to turn him into a midfielder, we finally seem to have learned again how to use Charlie best - get the other forwards to draw away defenders, giving him the space to use his pace and leading ability. Joe stepped up big time in the final quarter. McCarthy, Bailey and Berry Jr did their jobs. Zorko looked pretty impressive at times, aside from stupidly giving away that 50. Payne worked his way into it after an unimpressive start.

There's a lot to build on going forward. But Fagan really has to swing the axe and change things if he wants to make this team play to its potential.

Really? watching the game now and I think we are clearly the better team.

 

[Johnny Bananas]

Really? watching the game now and I think we are clearly the better team.

That's your opinion, but I disagree. Geelong were all over us in the first half and the beginning of the third.

 

[martinson]

That's your opinion, but I disagree. Geelong were all over us in the first half and the beginning of the third.

I only watched the game live and haven't revisited but I thought we got on top of Geelong in the 2nd quarter and basically maintained that ascendency throughout the game without putting it on the scoreboard. They got an after the siren one off goal after we dominated for a period. We basically had them done like a dinner in the last quarter and just couldn't nail our chances . As for the last 5 minutes overall that was a bit of a joke. The umps really gave them everything.

Just the way I saw it on my one viewing.

 

[luthor]

I only watched the game live and haven't revisited but I thought we got on top of Geelong in the 2nd quarter and basically maintained that ascendency throughout the game without putting it on the scoreboard. They got an after the siren one off goal after we dominated for a period. We basically had them done like a dinner in the last quarter and just couldn't nail our chances . As for the last 5 minutes overall that was a bit of a joke. The umps really gave them everything.

Just the way I saw it on my one viewing.

I agree with that assessment.

They were shot to pieces in the last quarter and only got out of jail thanks to very generous umpiring and of course that absolute howler near the death.

Umpire #10 clearly choked

 

[dlanod]

I only watched the game live and haven't revisited but I thought we got on top of Geelong in the 2nd quarter and basically maintained that ascendency throughout the game without putting it on the scoreboard. They got an after the siren one off goal after we dominated for a period. We basically had them done like a dinner in the last quarter and just couldn't nail our chances . As for the last 5 minutes overall that was a bit of a joke. The umps really gave them everything.

Just the way I saw it on my one viewing.

I remember thinking at half time that I felt we were definitely in it, we just hadn't converted.

Unlike after the first quarter where I just about turned it off.

 

[Tom14]

I remember thinking at half time that I felt we were definitely in it, we just hadn't converted.

Unlike after the first quarter where I just about turned it off.

We still conceded 100ish more uncontested possessions to them, which was the second week in a row we've lost that stat badly. I agree we were right in the game but I do worry about our gamestyle under the new rules.

 

[T Rick]

We still conceded 100ish more uncontested possessions to them, which was the second week in a row we've lost that stat badly. I agree we were right in the game but I do worry about our gamestyle under the new rules.

So we had 100 less possessions and still managed more scoring shots than Geelong and except for some appalling umpiring decisions we would have rightfully won the game. I am not sure if that suggests a gamestyle problem against last year's grand finalists at their home ground - a quite remarkable effort really. If that free had been paid and Bailey had slotted the goal on the siren I think the analysis of our game style would have been very different this week.

 

[Tom14]

So we had 100 less possessions and still managed more scoring shots than Geelong and except for some appalling umpiring decisions we would have rightfully won the game. I am not sure if that suggests a gamestyle problem against last year's grand finalists at their home ground - a quite remarkable effort really. If that free had been paid and Bailey had slotted the goal on the siren I think the analysis of our game style would have been very different this week.

Yeah, but being at the ground it was very noticeable that Geelong were spreading harder from the contest, and making sure to hold their width better than us. Again, clearly its not a complete disaster and our game style can still work, but I am concerned about conceding uncontested ball so much every week.

 

[SacksonvilleJags]

I’m glad Fagan has (somewhat) called out lachie neale

9

Lachie Neale

Age

30

Ht

178cm

Wt

84kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

27.0

5star

K

11.5

4star

HB

15.5

5star

M

4.0

4star

T

3.7

5star

CL

5.9

5star

D

28.3

5star

K

13.9

5star

HB

14.4

5star

M

4.6

4star

T

4.0

5star

CL

5.9

5star

D

12.0

3star

K

4.6

2star

HB

7.4

5star

M

2.0

3star

T

1.0

3star

CL

0.4

3star

’s treatment during the game.
there was a lot of holding bs going on.
I was annoyed when McCarthy was called for holding, I mean he was definitely, but geez the cats had been doing that and more for most of the game. I know they are gonna miss some, some while definitely holding aren’t really impeding the other player but there was one that completely stopped Cameron’s run. The player clearly holding Charlie’s hips and stopped him from being able to chase the loose ball.

 

[BangyBangy]

I’m glad Fagan has (somewhat) called out lachie neale’s treatment during the game.
there was a lot of holding bs going on.
I was annoyed when McCarthy was called for holding, I mean he was definitely, but geez the cats had been doing that and more for most of the game. I know they are gonna miss some, some while definitely holding aren’t really impeding the other player but there was one that completely stopped Cameron’s run. The player clearly holding Charlie’s hips and stopped him from being able to chase the loose ball.

I just rolled my eyes at the amateur footy journalism this last week.

I know journalism is a dying profession & it's all about click bait rubbish now, but still.

We've found out how to stop Lachie Neale. Put a hard tag on him.

Yep, you think no one thought about doing that last year when he was the short priced favourite for the brownlow after five rounds. Give me a spell.

Made me think that Neale was well under done or there was some Brett Kirk / Crouch esque tagging style going on. Or possibly both.

 

[Lionheart182]

I just rolled my eyes at the amateur footy journalism this last week.

I know journalism is a dying profession & it's all about click bait rubbish now, but still.

We've found out how to stop Lachie Neale. Put a hard tag on him.

Yep, you think no one thought about doing that last year when he was the short priced favourite for the brownlow after five rounds. Give me a spell.

Made me think that Neale was well under done or there was some Brett Kirk / Crouch esque tagging style going on. Or possibly both.

Fagan mentioned this today, was tagged in half his games last year so pretty sure he knows how to handle a tag. But he's clearly underdone and was probably being scragged a bit as well. Collingwood fans would be annoyed his form has been highlighted this week.

 

[M Malice]

I just rolled my eyes at the amateur footy journalism this last week.

I know journalism is a dying profession & it's all about click bait rubbish now, but still.

We've found out how to stop Lachie Neale. Put a hard tag on him.

Yep, you think no one thought about doing that last year when he was the short priced favourite for the brownlow after five rounds. Give me a spell.

Made me think that Neale was well under done or there was some Brett Kirk / Crouch esque tagging style going on. Or possibly both.

Amen, and not just footy journalism.

 

[Hollow Knight]

The aim of the game is to score more than the opponent.

If the opposition is getting less scoring shots despite having a significant advantage in uncontested possessions, I think that says more about the increasing uselessness of the uncontested possession statistic than it does about our game style.

 

[Scubaveg]

I remember thinking at half time that I felt we were definitely in it, we just hadn't converted.

Unlike after the first quarter where I just about turned it off.

I honestly thought we were lucky to get close. And remember thinking gee we might get away with this toward the end of the 4th. That certainly wasn’t a feeling of having outplayed them.


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[jackess]

We had more inside 50s as well

 

[luthor]

The aim of the game is to score more than the opponent.

If the opposition is getting less scoring shots despite having a significant advantage in uncontested possessions, I think that says more about the increasing uselessness of the uncontested possession statistic than it does about our game style.

Geelong should be more worried about their chipscab style of game than we should be about any so called structural problems

With 101 more uncontested possessions, they snuck in by 1 point at their boutique home ground and only after one of the worst umpiring howlers of all time.

And we really only played to our full potential for one quarter

On SM-G973F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Dalions]

Chris Scott

Chris Scott

Age

47

Ht

182cm

Wt

89kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.6

4star

K

11.2

4star

HB

5.4

4star

M

5.1

5star

T

1.6

4star

G

0.4

3star

No current season stats available

D

13.2

4star

K

10.2

4star

HB

3.0

3star

M

2.2

3star

T

2.8

5star

G

0.4

3star

cops his whack!

And intern, I imagine it has cleared any of our players and Fages in any wrong doing.

https://www.afl.com.au/news/574537

 

[T Rick]

Chris Scott cops his whack!

And intern, I imagine it has cleared any of our players and Fages in any wrong doing.

https://www.afl.com.au/news/574537

The most fascinating thing about this "whack" is that the AFL didn't even speak to Fages about the incident. Clearly, the AFL have put the blame squarely on Scott for initiating the nonsense.

 

[Hollow Knight]

The Geelong board has unfortunately drunk the Kardinia Kool-Aid.

Utterly unable to accept all week that Scott did anything wrong or that they benefited from some very curious umpiring.

Their board is basically a synchronised reenactment of this...

 

[bungalow_bill]

The Geelong board has unfortunately drunk the Kardinia Kool-Aid.

Utterly unable to accept all week that Scott did anything wrong or that they benefited from some very curious umpiring.

Their board is basically a synchronised reenactment of this...

View attachment 1091256

They are having a tantrum over there but it's a high brow tantrum compared to the North fans. And I do agree with them being upset about the AFL saying something about Scott (as seen above) and others showing too much emotion in the coaches box and I assume at ground level.

 

[Dalions]

Magpies could have done with Trelour and Stephenson tonight