Review Rounds 1-6: Rate Our Form

[reg_lower91]

On paper, our form seems to have been great so far this year. We won the 'expected' wins in Richmond and GCS. Were extremely competetive against last years premiers and we are 2 wins and 1 draw from our '50-50' games. However, while we sit 3rd on the ladder with a healthy percentage, our form hasn't really been THAT good.

I really think that, at the moment, we are very much like Collingwood in that we are just doing what we have to do to win games at the moment, and then we should be peaking at the right time (around round 18-20ish). I say this because the only game where I have felt that we have really dominated the whole game from start to finish is against the GCS. Other than that, we havn't yet been able to string 4 quarters together which, to me, creates the feel that ATM we are not going above 2nd-3rd gear.

In my opinion the only part of our team that is functioning to its full capacity ATM is our midfield. Judd and Murphy have been in stellar form, Curnow has been a great pick-up, Robinson has shown some great form with his hardness at the footy, Simpson just continues to be Simpson, and Ellard has been great since he came in. I would say that just about every player thus far who has come through our midfield (probably with the exception of Gibbs) has more than done their job.
Midfield Rating: 8.5/10

Second to our midfield would be our backline, which has been pretty solid so far this year. The form of Jamison has been magnificent, Yarran has shown some great form off the HBF and Russell has been solid, but other than that, we are wearing pretty thing. We are 12th for points conceived (with four other teams still yet to play today). This, for me, is sightly allarming, but I don't think it really reflects just how our Backline is going that the moment. But, as I mentioned, there is some questions marks on those backmen outside of our best 3:

• Simon White: is good in patches, but I really do have doubts on how well he can consistently beat his opponent. Is generally 2-3 meters behind his man on the lead and often gets outmarked in pack/ contested situations.
• Duigan: Been so impressed by this guy so far this year. Solid in the contests and stays with his man, but can he continue his whole form for the rest of the year?
• Laidler: Been a great pick-up so far this year. I have loved his work BUT he works best as the 3rd tall type player and I have serious doubts over his ability to play as a KPD should we ever need it (see the Adelaide game)

All-in-all though, I think we are doing pretty well so far this year down in defence especially considering our CHB is out of the game.
Defence Rating: 7/10

Lastly, I think our forward line has the been the most poorly performed part of our team so far this year. We really are missing another KPF at CHF/FF and we desperately need Henderson to come in to form. Waite has been doing pretty good so far this year, but he can be so frustrating his his Frees Against and undisciplined play. As well as this, I would like to see Waite take a few more of his marks. In addition to this we havn't really had another marking forward and our set-up has just been strange at times. BUT, similarly to our defence, his hasn't really been reflected in that we are secondly (only to collingwood) in Points For so far this year. I think we can thank most of this to the great work of some of our crumbing forwards who have been great down there so far this year.
Forward Rating: 6/10

So, I am happy with our form ATM, but I think we are playing anywhere near to our full ability either. We are sort of just going through the motions and doing what we need to do in order to win. As long as we keep winning, I'm happy with continuing with this form as, with another 18 weeks left in the year, we need to make sure we are peaking at the right time before finals.

Final (Total) Rating: 7/10

 

[Alpha1]

Our form has been patchy if you want to be honest, struggled to beat Richmond, couldn't beat Essendon when they had two injuries and were a man down, struggled to put the Crows away, but I think the Crows are a very good team.

The Swans game we weren't very good in the first half, but the second half was a joy to behold, something clicked with the team and out of all the games the Swans game is going to be the biggest turning point.

Gibbs started to get creative and use the ball well in the second half, some of his work was awesome, would rate his work up there with Judds in the second half.

Eddie is back and that's one of the biggest ++ for us, Irish is a work horse and we need him in the team, adds so much and frees up Eddie as well with his bang and crash style.

Overall I would rate us a 6 at the moment, I hope they keep going the way they did against the Swans in the second half.

We are known to fall away, will be interesting to see how they back up, we still need to beat teams like the Hawks, Dogs, Freo, Essendon, Geelong etc.

But very happy to be in the top 4 right now, shows we are maturing as a group and we have added some backbone in defense and in the middle, good signs.

 

[jonoman89]

Agreed, it has been patchy. Some aspect of a total performance has been lacking in all matches. But it's very hard to obtain that "perfect performance".

The important thing is that, though we have been patchy, we have still been winning. The hall mark of a good side is being able to grind out wins when you aren't at your best.

That said, we need to put on a few more 4 quarter performances before i think we're top 4.

Our 2011 "bad form" is much better than the the 2008-2010 era "bad form". The gap between our best and worst is closing.

 

[Claypigeon]

Defensive Pressure 9/10
Contested Possession 8/10
Full Game Effort 7/10
Running Game 8/10
Goal Kicking 6/10
Field Kicking 8/10
Blocking and 1%ers 7/10
Depth 8/10

Overall 7.5/10 for mine. ..

 

[Banga19]

Defensive Pressure 9/10
Contested Possession 8/10
Full Game Effort 7/10
Running Game 8/10
Goal Kicking 6/10
Field Kicking 8/10
Blocking and 1%ers 7/10
Depth 8/10

Overall 7.5/10 for mine. ..

Yep fair enough

Now we need to improve by that 25% and time it perfectly for September and we'll be laughing

 

[reg_lower91]

Defensive Pressure 9/10
Contested Possession 8/10
Full Game Effort 7/10
Running Game 8/10
Goal Kicking 6/10
Field Kicking 8/10
Blocking and 1%ers 7/10
Depth 8/10

Overall 7.5/10 for mine. ..

After today's result, it may be time to get rid of that sig

 

[thylacine60]

Lot of posters been riding that sig home like a 40ft putt. Be sad to see it go but great calls regardless.

 

[Claypigeon]

Lot of posters been riding that sig home like a 40ft putt. Be sad to see it go but great calls regardless.

Tempted to leave it there for the week, would be like a dummy spit if I took it down straight away. .. I could also attempt to pick when the media will realise the the Dons under achieved last year and are over achieving now. ..

 

[Big Red is back]

We are flying will finish top four.

I had a big bet on us before round 1 to finish top 4 and more confident now.

Once we replace White and AJ in ours side who knows what we could do.

 

[Claypigeon]

We are flying will finish top four.

I had a big bet on us before round 1 to finish top 4 and more confident now.

Once we settle our KPD down who knows what we could do.

Fixed. ..

No need to single players out that need to be dropped to improve us, how about if they just improve and improve us. ..

 

[Sin City]

Defensive Pressure 9/10
Contested Possession 8/10
Full Game Effort 7/10
Running Game 8/10
Goal Kicking 6/10
Field Kicking 8/10
Blocking and 1%ers 7/10
Depth 8/10

Overall 7.5/10 for mine. ..

Agree with most of it but the goal kicking is 85.90 at 48.85% for the season. That's including the pressure free walk in the park against GC, some weeks it's been abysmal and overall not good enough. 4/10 from me and something they really need to improve on.

 

[SeVi]

On paper, our form seems to have been great so far this year. We won the 'expected' wins in Richmond and GCS. Were extremely competetive against last years premiers and we are 2 wins and 1 draw from our '50-50' games. However, while we sit 3rd on the ladder with a healthy percentage, our form hasn't really been THAT good.

I really think that, at the moment, we are very much like Collingwood in that we are just doing what we have to do to win games at the moment, and then we should be peaking at the right time (around round 18-20ish). I say this because the only game where I have felt that we have really dominated the whole game from start to finish is against the GCS. Other than that, we havn't yet been able to string 4 quarters together which, to me, creates the feel that ATM we are not going above 2nd-3rd gear.

In my opinion the only part of our team that is functioning to its full capacity ATM is our midfield. Judd and Murphy have been in stellar form, Curnow has been a great pick-up, Robinson has shown some great form with his hardness at the footy, Simpson just continues to be Simpson, and Ellard has been great since he came in. I would say that just about every player thus far who has come through our midfield (probably with the exception of Gibbs) has more than done their job.
Midfield Rating: 8.5/10

Second to our midfield would be our backline, which has been pretty solid so far this year. The form of Jamison has been magnificent, Yarran has shown some great form off the HBF and Russell has been solid, but other than that, we are wearing pretty thing. We are 12th for points conceived (with four other teams still yet to play today). This, for me, is sightly allarming, but I don't think it really reflects just how our Backline is going that the moment. But, as I mentioned, there is some questions marks on those backmen outside of our best 3:

• Simon White: is good in patches, but I really do have doubts on how well he can consistently beat his opponent. Is generally 2-3 meters behind his man on the lead and often gets outmarked in pack/ contested situations.
• Duigan: Been so impressed by this guy so far this year. Solid in the contests and stays with his man, but can he continue his whole form for the rest of the year?
• Laidler: Been a great pick-up so far this year. I have loved his work BUT he works best as the 3rd tall type player and I have serious doubts over his ability to play as a KPD should we ever need it (see the Adelaide game)

All-in-all though, I think we are doing pretty well so far this year down in defence especially considering our CHB is out of the game.
Defence Rating: 7/10

Lastly, I think our forward line has the been the most poorly performed part of our team so far this year. We really are missing another KPF at CHF/FF and we desperately need Henderson to come in to form. Waite has been doing pretty good so far this year, but he can be so frustrating his his Frees Against and undisciplined play. As well as this, I would like to see Waite take a few more of his marks. In addition to this we havn't really had another marking forward and our set-up has just been strange at times. BUT, similarly to our defence, his hasn't really been reflected in that we are secondly (only to collingwood) in Points For so far this year. I think we can thank most of this to the great work of some of our crumbing forwards who have been great down there so far this year.
Forward Rating: 6/10

So, I am happy with our form ATM, but I think we are playing anywhere near to our full ability either. We are sort of just going through the motions and doing what we need to do in order to win. As long as we keep winning, I'm happy with continuing with this form as, with another 18 weeks left in the year, we need to make sure we are peaking at the right time before finals.

Final (Total) Rating: 7/10

I think you might be guilty of being overly criticial of Gibbs. Yes, he hasn't been a consistently high possession gatherer over the last 5/6 weeks, but there are few reasons for this. A) Our midfield is loaded, and Gibbs is always on the outside, because his ball use is elite. B) His job on Goodes was very good, bordering on elite, which made him on of the best of our midfielders in that game vs Sydney. He does what the MC tell him to do, and that may not be getting 30+ touches a game.

As for Murph, he has been solid - but he is not yet elite. But he works hard, earns his own ball, and I'm confident he will get there.

 

[Mr.X]

Agreed with a 7/10 rating.

Been a good start by winning the games we're expected to win.

They'll learn from the Essendon and COllingwood games

I reckon the team would have got a lot of out Friday's win in Sydney, they are the kind of wins which can help them take the next step

 

[AndyLucimitis]

I'm really not convinced with our form yet - great win on Friday but some ordinary performances versus Adelaide and Essendon.

My big concern is our inability to put four quarters together. These come from behind wins versus Richmond, Sydney, Adelaide and to a lesser extent the draw versus Essendon are not indicative of a 'good' team and are basically hard on the body.


We need to be able to churn out some 'easy' wins during the middle part of the year - jump to an early lead and hold it for the game. Top 4 sides should be able to do this.

Our win versus St.Kilda last year was our best win because we lead all night.

Very hard to judge this early in the year but I'd still only give a 6/10.

 

[SeVi]

I think it's worth noting that we were ranked no 1 for marks inside the forward 50 until round 6.

Clearly getting Kruezer back into the side later on in the year should help improve our I50 marking, especially when contested.

 

[chaser1]

We are a forward and defender short of being a very good side. That is top four on a consistent basis. Great win against Swans i picked them to lose. We still rely on JUDD to much, Gibbs has to take it to the next level for us to be a top four side. BIg ins to come Kreuzer is the biggest not bc he is going to star but he will be taking the best defender of opposition sides. All he has to do is compete.

Henderson is way off, at the moment no confidence or fitness. Would play Thorton as an extra tall, keep Setanta in the team offers a lot more than Hammer. Need Bower back but looks like he has the injury curse.

So far so good, beat Saints then we have the bye we are a favorites and that is what i am afraid of.

 

[Claypigeon]

Agree with most of it but the goal kicking is 85.90 at 48.85% for the season. That's including the pressure free walk in the park against GC, some weeks it's been abysmal and overall not good enough. 4/10 from me and something they really need to improve on.

I had it at 5 and changed it to 6 because I thought I was been harsh. .. AFL average is only about 52% (from memory) this year, so I took that into perspective. ..

Edit: Just did a quick calculation and the average is 50.06%

 

[Sin City]

I had it at 5 and changed it to 6 because I thought I was been harsh. .. AFL average is only about 52% (from memory) this year, so I took that into perspective. ..

Edit: Just did a quick calculation and the average is 50.06%

It nearly cost us two games against teams that we should've put away as we were dominating them all over the ground. I don't care about league averages, for the amount of supply it gets from our midfield it hasn't been good enough.

 

[Claypigeon]

It nearly cost us two games against teams that we should've put away as we were dominating them all over the ground. I don't care about league averages, for the amount of supply it gets from our midfield it hasn't been good enough.

I agree but it didn't cost us the games and league averages are just there to put it in perspective. .. 4/10 is a fail score and I can accept it but I still think its more a 5/10 or 6/10 at the moment. .. We're probably splitting hairs a little though as its one rating I gave out of 9 areas. ..

 

[Sin City]

I agree but it didn't cost us the games and league averages are just there to put it in perspective. .. 4/10 is a fail score and I can accept it but I still think its more a 5/10 or 6/10 at the moment. .. We're probably splitting hairs a little though as its one rating I gave out of 9 areas. ..

It didn't save us either, our dominance over the ground did. When it's not good enough it deserves a fail score, just because it hasn't cost us a game yet doesn't mean it won't in the future.

 

[Claypigeon]

It didn't save us either, our dominance over the ground did. When it's not good enough it deserves a fail score, just because it hasn't cost us a game yet doesn't mean it won't in the future.

Actually looking at the games, it probably cost us against Essendon, even though both sides had similar issues. ..

Edit: Just out of curiosity I looked at who our biggest culprits are and as I guess in another thread its our midfield (mainly). .. From Carlton FC stats G% (takes into account out of bounds too)

Name		%
Jeremy Laidler 	100
Dennis Armfield	100
Aaron Joseph	100
Bret Thornton 	83.3
Edward Curnow 	75
David Ellard 	66.67
Kade Simpson 	62.5
Andrew Walker 	61.9
Eddie Betts 	57.89
Simon White 	50
Setanta O 	50
Jordan Russell 	50
Jeff Garlett 	50
Andrew Carrazzo	50
Jarrad Waite 	44.44
Robert Warnock 	42.86
Bryce Gibbs 	28.57
Chris Judd 	27.27
Marc Murphy 	25
Chris Yarran 	25
Shaun Hampson 	25
Mitch Robinson 	22.22
Heath Scotland 	0
Andrew Collins 	0
Nick Duigan 	0

 

[blues4flag]

Pleased with 4.5 from 6.

I don't think we're playing our best footy, but our defensive structures are so much sounder.

Tackling and consistency of effort have improved astronomically in such a short period of time. Last year we looked weak at times and were shrugged off and let teams past far too easily.

This year we've been sticking our tackles and keeping the ball inside our 50 with relentless pressure, even if we haven't fully capitalised on our opportunities when inside 50, mostly through hasty/inaccurate kicks on goal.

It's often said a good defence is the key to a great side and what pleases me most is that we've conceded the second least amount of inside 50 to our opponents this season, as well as the least number of opposition possessions.

Some other stats:

Statistically, we're traveling brilliantly too. We haven't been out tackled once this season (including vs. Sydney, who average almost 20 more tackles than the next best team), we're first for forward 50 tackles, we've conceded the least amount of inside 50s to our opponents.

According to pro-stats, we're 3rd in 1st possessions, 2nd in clearances, 3rd most inside 50s, 4th for contested possessions.

Meanwhile, our opponents are last for possessions, 4th last for tackles, 4th last for goals, 3rd last for 1st possessions, 2nd last for clearances, 2nd last for inside 50s.

No doubt skewed by the Gold Coast game but promising nonetheless.



Stats can only give an indication and never the whole story but there's no doubt in my mind that we're a stronger side mentally this season. It seems the penny has finally dropped for the players and they're beginning to understand just what it takes to be a premiership.

We've been far more focused and haven't as yet been down after a good performance, as we did so often last year. We haven't dropped off and been blown out of the game once this year. We've fought through to the end each time.

Are there things to improve upon? No doubt. Better structure up forward, somebody to help Jamison down back, better accuracy at goal.

Have we laid the foundations for what could be a great 2012? Absolutely.

So far, I'd give us an 8-8.5/10.

The next two rounds will be very illuminating, particularly against Geelong, who are still a formidable opponent. I've no doubt that at our best we can match either side but whether we'll show up at our best is a different story. If we can stay 'up', it'll speak wonders about the improvement of our group mentally.

 

[blues4flag]

I doubt we'd lose to Geelong.
They've started well but their forward line will start to show cracks soon.

As long as Ottens does not suddenly become a consistent world beater we should have them.

If we do beat them it'll reflect more on us than it will on them. They're still a quality side who'll in all likelihood finish top 4. I'd back us in but it's very much a danger game.

 

[The_Wookie]

Id just like us to have a little more settlement up forward. thats all. Im content with the club onfield in most other aspects. Setanta the saviour i think...if he plays hge'll kick 5 against the saints!

 

[Claypigeon]

I doubt we'd lose to Geelong.
They've started well but their forward line will start to show cracks soon.

As long as Ottens does not suddenly become a consistent world beater we should have them.

Two factors will work against us for Geelong. .. Docklands Stadium (they have a good record there against us) and coming off the bye (most teams struggle and our history with the split round shows we do). .. If we can win that game, it will definitely set us up for the following weeks. .. A competitive loss wont do us too much harm either. ..