Autopsy Season 2021 review

[MSB ROYS]

Lastly, I've recently joined this forum after lurking for a few years now, this board seems to genuinely care about the club, and differing opinions are generally well respected amongst the lions fans here. Hoping to join in with more discussions going forward. Go Lions!

Welcome TS13!

1. What went well?
Stretches of good games.
Improvement of several players like Bailey and McCluggage.

2. What didn't?
Couldn't win the close games.
Poor start to the season.
Injuries to key players at key times, especially in the two finals.
Losing Darren Burgess to Melbourne.
Bottom six players played poorly in many games.

3. How to improve and other next steps?
Get help for Oscar and recruit at least one midfielder.
Draft well (!) and pick up one player ready to play AFL.
Improve the VFL team with a few top-ups and hope for some continuity in 2022.
Getting one new assistant coach, hopefully with a bit of an edge.

4. Next year.
AFL Top 8. The rest is a lottery.
It is likely that COVID will play a bigger role in the 2022 AFL season as Australia tries to establish a new COVID normal. I hope that the AFL schedules the team to play each other in the first 17 games and there is likely to be some weeks where games will will hard to play.

5. Anything else from the season gone
I thought that we might be able to click in the finals but it never happened, which in retrospect wasn't a surprise. Anyway, we were nowhere near Melbourne especially this year. Last year we were more chance.
Our AFLW team are inspiring and all that you could want in team. We should reflect and celebrate their amazing achievement. Also, I was really hoping that we would do the AFLW/AFL double - may be in 2022.

It was cathartic writing this.

 

[Shaq attack]

Our midfield mix needs work. We are missing a big bodied elite mid. Berry was supposed to be this but injuries have limited him and will have to see if he can recapture his potential.
We also need to find some more speed out of the backline.

 

[AFLQLD]

There are plenty of learnings to come out of this season. The 2021 version of the game rewards fast transition from defence because teams have become so good at getting numbers back and forward to apply pressure to the opposition. Midfields win close games by changing the numbers in your favour.

So, the midfield first:

Our midfield pressure is variable and patchy, especially at centre clearances which are increasingly the key to getting on top of the opposition. Either winning the centre clearance decisively or stopping the opposition winning decisively gives a team a large advantage while the 6-6-6 formation is a factor. Negate the advantage for the opposition and take the advantage yourself and you have a huge benefit because the ball is either going your way fast and clean or getting bogged down in more stoppages that you can get numbers around.

Our midfield is probably only mid-table in winning decisive centre clearances. We have good games and poor games, and terrible patches in games. We certainly need a dominant big body and a strong second ruck. Oscar now looks the part as the first ruck, he has weaknesses but overall he holds his own except against the top couple of ruckmen. Most importantly he can compete well around the ground. The next ruckman needs to be developed. Fullarton is not there yet but not terrible - just young, inexperienced, slight. Henry Smith and Lane look like OK prospects but are several years off unless they can really be developed quickly. A second ruckman must have other strings to his bow.

The rest of the midfield is good at what it does but what it is best at can easily be dealt with by a good opposition midfield. We can win the ball but not necessarily spread very quickly. Against weaker midfields it works OK but against the best we get into arm wrestles that we often lose based on the lack of damaging breakaway speed and tackle-breaking size. In the mix of players we have, we need size and speed in the middle that can break a game apart.

Bailey and Zorko seem our most explosive midfield types but both spend time forward. More midfield time for Bailey is probably on the cards. McCluggage is best playing and creating in space so needs to play an in-out midfield role. Less at the bottom of the pack and more as first receiver out of the contest. Lyons and Neale are probably the guys we want their heads over the ball most of the time.

Getting Berry back to his best will help a lot next year. He needs to be winning the ball, busting out and finding guys like Clug and Bailey. I want Berry to be breaking five tackles a game and making ten. It would be nice if we had another body like that but CEY hasn’t panned out, Cockatoo looks a fair way off that role at present, Matho is an inside player but not really explosive. Joyce might be able to come on with a little more time but hard to tell.

Robertson is definitely one to develop. Not sure I can define his role exactly yet, perhaps as a high pressure defensive mid who takes out the best opposition midfielder in a pseudo tagging role. Keep a star midfielder to 15 possessions and get 15 himself. He has excellent instincts and will only get better. And he can tackle.

I seriously like the idea of Starc having midfield time but it is really dependent on the backline improving enough before that could be contemplated. I think he has the body, attitude and skills to make it as a big damaging midfielder.

I think we are one quality mid short as things stand at the moment. Robbo plays a role well but won’t last forever and his disposal is not elite. Prior as a winger is coming on, Sharp also but further away. I am hoping for some real development from both over the next year. Neither has elite pace. Coleman could develop into a wing but I think he has found his niche down back now.

Overall I would consider the midfield in the top eight in the comp but not top four. Another midfielder of genuine quality would make us a top four midfield. Two more midfielders, a big body inside player and fast on the spread player would make us a top two midfield. We could potentially draft one but I think our needs in the midfield have to come from what we already have in the medium term.

We have a midfield that can compete with the best but not dominate. That’s the next challenge.

 

[dlanod]

Interesting table of the previous four years' finals results before making the GF (didn't pick "premierships" because that's pretty limiting given the recent streaks):

• Geelong - 2-5 before making the 2020 GF.
• GWS - 3-4 before making the 2019 GF.
• Collingwood - 0-0 before making the 2018 GF.
• West Coast - 3-3 before making and winning the 2018 GF.
• Adelaide - 2-2 before making the 2017 GF. Only made finals the two previous years.
• Richmond - 0-3 before making and winning the 2017 GF.

The most common denominator was consistent finals appearances - two or more on the run, and most had three on the run. None had four on the run. None had a winning record in finals in those years either, and we're a couple of straight kicks from being on par with GWS and Geelong when they made it.

 

[Gadzorks]

Bodies take years to harden up once they reach their peak, and it is not unusual for elite athletes to crack the international scene then have a run of injuries and poor form.

I believe our slow start this year was that period. Playing through the season took the guys to new levels.

This off season is critical - players need to go hard and train like they have in the past two off seasons to consolidate. Expect to see a much more physically controlled bunch of players next season.

 

[fugitive]

Interesting table of the previous four years' finals results before making the GF (didn't pick "premierships" because that's pretty limiting given the recent streaks):

• Geelong - 2-5 before making the 2020 GF.
• GWS - 3-4 before making the 2019 GF.
• Collingwood - 0-0 before making the 2018 GF.
• West Coast - 3-3 before making and winning the 2018 GF.
• Adelaide - 2-2 before making the 2017 GF. Only made finals the two previous years.
• Richmond - 0-3 before making and winning the 2017 GF.

The most common denominator was consistent finals appearances - two or more on the run, and most had three on the run. None had four on the run. None had a winning record in finals in those years either, and we're a couple of straight kicks from being on par with GWS and Geelong when they made it.

There is also the danger of becoming what could have been like Geelong of early 90’s, bulldogs of late 90’s, port of early noughties to some degree or Saints of late noughties. 3 top 4 finishes is as much opportunity you’d want to use I reckon to learn and take the next step.

 

[martinson]

We haven't taken the chances we've had to date in finals games that we could've won with more composure and obviously a couple of better players.

Forget injuries. You're always going to have injuries. Who says next year will be any better. When you're lucky enough to have very few injuries you need to capitalise on it . Like in 2020 when we didn't.

We would expect natural improvement from many players . I think that's true for a few clubs . We are short one classy midfielder , a gun and run player out of defence , a backup ruck if Fullarton doesn't get much better, and Hipwood back though he'll struggle to be a factor next year. Give us that and we're genuine flag contenders. If not we look for big improvement from those already on our list.

Like others I'd like to see us get more games into those on the cusp. It's all very well to say they're not good enough but that's just a convenient excuse for not being ruthless enough at selection , a cultural thing that helps continuity and consistency but doesn't necessarily allow any left field improvement of the type Richmond have enjoyed over a few years.

 

[Nuggo]

If we haven't been already we need to plan and train for close final games. Train hard until you get it right. Train even harder until you can't get it wrong.

 

[M Malice]

Besides Eric Hipwood

30

Eric Hipwood

Age

26

Ht

203cm

Wt

94kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.0

3star

K

7.4

3star

HB

2.6

2star

M

3.9

4star

T

1.3

3star

G

1.5

5star

D

11.1

3star

K

8.4

3star

HB

2.7

2star

M

4.1

4star

T

1.1

2star

G

1.1

5star

D

10.6

3star

K

8.4

4star

HB

2.2

2star

M

3.6

4star

T

1.6

4star

G

2.4

5star

will everybody else on our list be up and about in near enough to full fitness to hit pre season running in mid November?

I wonder if we have any/many players who will require off season surgery and a delayed start to training. 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

?

A full off season of training into as much of the list as possible is so so important re prospects for the 2022.

 

[Berrygood]

I think we finished the year exactly where we are as a team, squad and the way we played. The 4th or 5th best team in the comp but with plenty of internal improvement.

The good and the bad for the season is the same. Injuries. Bad was the in and out injuries to best 22 players thru the year, and season ending injuries to Rayner, Hippy, Answerth and Sharpie. Good was from those injuries we developed depth and the future with players like Matho, Devrob, Prior, Coleman, Payne, Madden and to a lesser degree T Berry. It also exposed a cpl of players that aren't really up to it, Ballenden and Fullerton. Another big bad for the season was the loss of development another messed up vfl season caused.

Where we improve is just a bit of tinkering to the list, nothing serious, upgrade our tall fwd and ruck/fwd stocks. They don't have to be stars, just better. This isn't the thread to go into the ins n outs, but it's glaringly obvious we need improvement there. Then we go to the draft and get the very best talent we can. In other areas of our squad there is there is still plenty of natural improvement to tap into. I would write all of next season off for Hippy. Give him the whole year and another preseason to heal as perfect as he possibly can get. Long term view. I also hope Birchall retires. I'd rather see him go out with a final loss than see him go out playing in the 2's. There can't be a guarantee of best 22 for him going forward, he will be overtaken next year by youth.

Fix the fwd, fwd/ruck hole, have a good rest n recovery, get a full productive preseason into the players and I gave no doubt we will be top 4 again at worst. But a harder, deeper squad that owns it not just earnt it. Window well and truly open for the next 3yrs and beyond if we're smart and evolve properly.

 

[martinson]

If we haven't been already we need to plan and train for close final games. Train hard until you get it right. Train even harder until you can't get it wrong.

We were exhausted to be fair but there were some train wreck moments in the last quarter where a bit more composure would've gotten us over the line.

 

[CarterS]

It shows how far McStay has come along that his absence was huge and Richardson and Leppitsch on the TV coverage were calling him a "class act" and a big loss.

 

[Clarkythelion]

I'll admit I'm more the glass half full supporter, I had the lid well and truly off with this team before many others with Fagan's arrival.

What went well. We continue to develop. Daniher was a good deal, thanks Joe. Cockatoo was a promising deal, he can go into the midfield with another preseason. Bailey, McCluggage, Starcevich, continued great development. Keidean Coleman, well we found one and it took a while but he is at home in the backline and is most likely the running back we wanted. James Madden also is a keeper now back there. Prior, Dev Robinson, Harry Sharp - yes please they look to have solid futures. Payne is coming on, he needs more games but his is a big fast monster and we need him. Fullerton with some weight and development will make it, he is a big man that is good at his feet, we forget he had time out of the game with basketball but I believe he will be a handy player. Richy Rich - he is the man this season, I think we can let Birchell retire now with our thanks for the help, we have kids ready.

What went bad. Our luck ran out on the medical team. Big injuries and big outs for long periods and players playing hurt. The inconsistency of our pressure around the mid field. We all knew the reputation of Jarrod Lyons not running both ways but at times he was not alone, he could have been holding hands with 2 or 3 others. It's almost like we need a Gridiorn Strategy - an offensive team and a defensive team. To many games we let an opposition team change momentum and kick 4 or 5 in a row. We cant flick the switch quick enough to go into defence we just head for the boundary and kick down the line and become predictable.

Improvements- Send the boys away on a full off season and let them heal. We got this with a healthy list. We also have to find a defensive combination in the midfield we can flip around when other teams surge. I'm thinking like Starcevich, J Berry, Mathieson, Madden, have a combination we know can put the breaks on just when we need to for a 5 minute period to kill momentum. The good news is I think we have the players on the list to do what we need. CEY was to be our man, Eli was to be our man, not happening so maybe we can play a money ball type recruitment and go find a tackling machine that another club thicks might be limited in offensive work and is on the market for cheap. Wont play every game for us but will be a horses for courses approach with different opposition. **** get rid of the ground announcer at home games - she is fingernails on a blackboard, I'd rather go to the dentist.

Next year - The cup is coming home to Brisbane.

Great administration, great coaching team, great list and mix of players, great culture.

 

[martinson]

I think we finished the year exactly where we are as a team, squad and the way we played. The 4th or 5th best team in the comp but with plenty of internal improvement.

The good and the bad for the season is the same. Injuries. Bad was the in and out injuries to best 22 players thru the year, and season ending injuries to Rayner, Hippy, Answerth and Sharpie. Good was from those injuries we developed depth and the future with players like Matho, Devrob, Prior, Coleman, Payne, Madden and to a lesser degree T Berry. It also exposed a cpl of players that aren't really up to it, Ballenden and Fullerton. Another big bad for the season was the loss of development another messed up vfl season caused.

Where we improve is just a bit of tinkering to the list, nothing serious, upgrade our tall fwd and ruck/fwd stocks. They don't have to be stars, just better. This isn't the thread to go into the ins n outs, but it's glaringly obvious we need improvement there. Then we go to the draft and get the very best talent we can. In other areas of our squad there is there is still plenty of natural improvement to tap into. I would write all of next season off for Hippy. Give him the whole year and another preseason to heal as perfect as he possibly can get. Long term view. I also hope Birchall retires. I'd rather see him go out with a final loss than see him go out playing in the 2's. There can't be a guarantee of best 22 for him going forward, he will be overtaken next year by youth.

Fix the fwd, fwd/ruck hole, have a good rest n recovery, get a full productive preseason into the players and I gave no doubt we will be top 4 again at worst. But a harder, deeper squad that owns it not just earnt it. Window well and truly open for the next 3yrs and beyond if we're smart and evolve properly.

I don't agree that Fullarton and Ballenden aren't up to it at all. All Ballenden needs is a run of games.

Fullarton stood up well last night and all he needs is to build his strength and confidence. He shows signs of being a decent versatile player to me.

 

[CarterS]

Overall I would consider the midfield in the top eight in the comp but not top four. Another midfielder of genuine quality would make us a top four midfield.

We certainly need a dominant big body

Rayner?

 

[Gadzorks]

Besides Eric Hipwood will everybody else on our list be up and about in near enough to full fitness to hit pre season running in mid November?

I wonder if we have any/many players who will require off season surgery and a delayed start to training. Lachie Neale?

A full off season of training into as much of the list as possible is so so important re prospects for the 2022.

Harris.

 

[dlanod]

There is also the danger of becoming what could have been like Geelong of early 90’s, bulldogs of late 90’s, port of early noughties to some degree or Saints of late noughties. 3 top 4 finishes is as much opportunity you’d want to use I reckon to learn and take the next step.

Absolutely a possibility. I'd throw GWS over the last half decade there too. But you can never tell that one way or another unless in retrospect.

 

[Gibbo_88]

1. What went well

• We achieved what was expected of us during the home and away season...just
• Wins against Geelong and Port. We never allowed them a chance to get going
• Our forward line with Hipwood, Joe, Mcstay, Charlie & Linc functioned well and that combo is extremely difficult to contain all of them. Unfortunately we only had that combo from round 5 to round 14 due to injury.
• Kiddy and Dev showed that they belong in the team

2 What didn't

• Our defensive set up wasn't effective against top teams from stoppages. I think the better teams worked out that a long kick from a stoppage ~ 100 metres from their goal put us under a lot of pressure and resulted in goals over the back far too often. Rich, Birchall, Andrews looked very slow and our defenders played in front a lot which meant a goal over the back was not difficult against us
• Our Brownlow medalist had a season he'd rather forget. Had a significant number of setbacks and saved his best effort to the final against the Demons but still didn't hurt the opposition like he has the previous few years.
• VFL season was a disaster, not only was it stop/start with Covid but we also were flogged too many times due to having so many injuries.

3. Improve and next step

• Couple of tweaks in our defensive set up from stoppages.
• Need to have a VFL team that can play a whole season. Need to be at least a mid table team and be competitive (be in the game at 3/4 time as a minimum)

4. Next year

• It's hard to see us not being a top 4 team. As Fagan mentioned in the presser - this has been our best season, first time we've been really challenged and still made top 4. A better run with injury and less covid interruptions and I think we're the team to challenge this years grand finalists.
• Another year of not making the prelim and I think the criticism of our finals record is fair

5.

• Birchall - He was a fantastic player in his time and he had a few really good games where he changed the angles in attack, but it was only a few. I struggled to see why he is in our team every week in the end as i'm sure most did. He is slow and when he is kicking the ball inside 50, it's a high kick so its not really to our advantage, especially when Joe was the only experienced tall near goal. Having Rich and Birchall meant we couldn't cover quick attacking teams well. It's time to retire and let someone like Madden or Answerth have that position.
• Bit of a random fact but I always checked the GPS tracker and generally the team that's faster in defence wins. We lost 9 of 24 games for the year and 8 of those was because our workrate in defence wasn't better than our opposition. The only one we lost and worked harder in defence was the loss against Geelong in round 2. We were marginally slower in defence against North and if their team took advantage of their forward 50's they would have beaten us. That's not a premiership team work rate, we need to be more consistent.

 

[BRAB]

**** get rid of the ground announcer at home games - she is fingernails on a blackboard, I'd rather go to the dentist.

HARD agree.

I hate sitting there trying to take in the build up to a big final and then having the moment ruined by ACDC played at FULL VOLUME with some rando screaming "COME ON BRISBANE, WE CAN'T HEAR YOU, WHY AREN'T YOU CHERRING, SCREAM LOUDER BRISBANE".

Just give up and let the game build up on it's own. Piss all the pregame stuff off, it's not the BBL.

 

[M Malice]

No need to be down on our performance over the last 3 seasons, look at Geelong post 2011, they have continually made top 4 and Preliminary Finals but have been unable to win another flag in the ensuing 10 years.

Lets hope we can look back at the end of this decade and we have a few flags in the bag, luck with injury re your best 22 come finals time is vital, things didn't fall our way in that area this season, losing KPFs probably has the most affect on team structure, losing Lachie/Harris over the last few seasons for extended periods were covered very well.

 

[Macca225]

HARD agree.

I hate sitting there trying to take in the build up to a big final and then having the moment ruined by ACDC played at FULL VOLUME with some rando screaming "COME ON BRISBANE, WE CAN'T HEAR YOU, WHY AREN'T YOU CHERRING, SCREAM LOUDER BRISBANE".

Just give up and let the game build up on it's own. Piss all the pregame stuff off, it's not the BBL.

100% the best atmosphere pregame was when the PA system was down in the final against the Tigers and the crowd chants were organic LIONS LIONS...shivers

 

[BRAB]

100% the best atmosphere pregame was when the PA system was down in the final against the Tigers and the crowd chants were organic LIONS LIONS...shivers

The 2019 Qualifying Final was the best build up to a game I've ever experienced.

I am like RoyLion and Fitzroy on this topic.

Decades out of finals, all the OG fans there. Genuinely electric atmosphere. Special night.

Nobody was thinking when the PA system was down "Oh wow I really need some ACDC to get excited about the game of football I paid $150 to get into"

I'm breaking into the Gabba next Matchday and torching the PA system.

 

[POBT]

HARD agree.

I hate sitting there trying to take in the build up to a big final and then having the moment ruined by ACDC played at FULL VOLUME with some rando screaming "COME ON BRISBANE, WE CAN'T HEAR YOU, WHY AREN'T YOU CHERRING, SCREAM LOUDER BRISBANE".

Just give up and let the game build up on it's own. Piss all the pregame stuff off, it's not the BBL.

I’m not opposed to the club utilising a “hype” person but that particular woman is just awful. She literally shouts into the microphone and if you are sitting near a speaker, it is painful to listen to. Worst since Mugsy.

 

[M Malice]

The 2019 Qualifying Final was the best build up to a game I've ever experienced.

I am like RoyLion and Fitzroy on this topic.

Decades out of finals, all the OG fans there. Genuinely electric atmosphere. Special night.

Nobody was thinking when the PA system was down "Oh wow I really need some ACDC to get excited about the game of football I paid $150 to get into"

I'm breaking into the Gabba next Matchday and torching the PA system.

I like Thunderstruck in the last minute or so before bouncedown, but I could definitely live without it if it meant getting rid of all the other manufactured shrieking build up from our warm up lady.

 

[fugitive]

No need to be down on our performance over the last 3 seasons, look at Geelong post 2011, they have continually made top 4 and Preliminary Finals but have been unable to win another flag in the ensuing 10 years.

3 heartbreaks is just about as much finals pain I’d wanna take I reckon it was much easier when we were a rabble for better half of last 10 years as there was no expectation.