Review Season 2024 Review

[Dockeroo]

Yes genius, if we fixed our fourth quarters we would have challeneged for a flag. Whoever wins the flag this year with either be a) a team we've beaten or b) a team who we've had within one goal in the final quarter and gone on to lose.

If.

If my aunt had balls she’d be my uncle.

 

[s_wd6]

If.

If my aunt had balls she’d be my uncle.

If we fixed glaring problem with team then team would win more games. Are you dense?

 

[PowerToThePurpl]

Our players need to train how to kick a ****ing goal while running inside 50. Way too many times did we pass it off to a lower percentage option or miss altogether.

That and are just not clean enough in the big moments

 

[s_wd6]

Our players need to train how to kick a ****ing goal while running inside 50. Way too many times did we pass it off to a lower percentage option or miss altogether.

That and are just not clean enough in the big moments

Serong the worst offender. 3 behinds and a miss today.

 

[Lach72]

Serong the worst offender. 3 behinds and a miss today.

Was weird because he’s been very good second half of the year with that.

 

[Snuffaluphagus]

I wonder if reddit or this place is a closer reflection of general Freo supporters

 

[Lach72]

I wonder if reddit or this place is a closer reflection of general Freo supporters

Reddit is dockerland adjacent

 

[SAFCDownUnder]

Season was pretty good until the last 4. jl needs a mongrel assistant like Sam Mitchell and Josh carr were - he’s too nice. Also need more ice in the veins

Watching his press conferences I just can't see how he'd inspire anyone - he's just bland, and we have badly missed Josh Carr.

With the team caving in whenever the opposition starts getting "hard at it", we have no mongrel - Carlton (Gather Round), Pt Adelaide away, Essendon away, Geelong here, GWS away, Hawthorn in Tassie, when the Eagles got at us first half in the 2nd Derby, and even the end of the Sydney game, which we'd have lost had it gone for another couple of minutes.

We just can't cope with aggression from the opposition, especially when individuals on their team really drive them on (eg Daniels, Dangerfield, Horne-Francis, Blakey, even Reid and Yeo).

The team is obviously good enough to compete and build leads, so we're either short of fitness or just lacking in mental fortitude, and I can't see JLo changing the latter.

 

[jerms]

So as far as I'm concerned, I'll take this season at face value. It's an enormous missed opportunity, and particuarly telling that with it all back in our hands, we couldn't get it done. We had our chances and the game was ours if we wanted it enough. That's been the case each round for a month, with results going our way that we've never been able to capitalise on.

It's not a question of talent. We so often see our peeps say this is the most talented list we've had, and I probably don't disagree. But we're missing two crucial aspects that every good side has: a player who, through their sheer willpower and desperation, drags us over the line in the close ones; and a mercurial livewire who bobs up with a goal or two out of their ass when we need it most (x-factor, if you will). We've had both - and they're both still on our list - but neither at that any more. In the absence of those, we're a talented list, not a talented team.

If anyone truly thinks we're not a far better side with Bolton, you've got rocks in your head. Call him flakey, sporadic, inconsistent - but he'll do it when it matters, and because he can, it'll cause oppo defences to pay attention to him even when he doesn't. Don't let his performances for a crap Richmond cloud your judgment - if he's a downhill skiier, fine, because we need to be a bully.

Anyway, add him - ideally add Warner the season after. I'm not too fussed with draft picks, both because of the Tassie distortion and because if we don't have the bulk of a premiership list right now, we have no window at all. In any event, I think with some x-factor, the list is damn close.

The bit that worries me is culture. Hunger. Aggression. Fight. Have we got enough of that?

Part of that is unteachable. You'll never teach the meek (other than Lloyd) to be mad. But the other half of it is on the coach. JL, you've got to engender some spirit, mate. It's so frustrating to observe the level of visible passivity in the coaches' box, that manifests itself in this absolute stubbornness to react to changes in the game. JL is clearly a strong and strategic coach with good man management. But on game day, against the best in that respect, like Bevo and, dare I say, Ross? With JL, it always seems that the plan is the plan - there's no plan B (let alone plan C) on the day, if what was conceived midweek doesn't work out. It's incredibly frustrating to watch, because so often, they're elementary things that us mug punters can see sitting in the stands. Of course, there's reasons why coaches are coaches and punters are punters, but I'm not saying he doesn't see it - just that he refuses to act on it.

Anyway, I was going somewhere with this meandering rant that I've forgotten because I've had about 43 standard drinks tonight. I guess the tl;dr is that next year is it, and I won't have much patience. The club put out a bold strategic plan in 2021 that set out both AFL and AFLW premierships by 2025. Right now, we're not even close - we've just missed the eight, and on projections, the AFLW side will do the same.

I'm not absolutely spewing about missing the eight, other than the comprehensive choke over the final month that led us there. I never expected to absolutely contend this year, but I did at least expect a final or two into our kids. We're gonna have to skip that, because if we don't genuinely contend next year - not just make the eight, but legitimately give it a crack - we are in danger of blowing our supposed youth and nuking another generation of Freo premiership chances.

I hope the boys are really f*cking hurting right now.

[edit: oh yeah, I was going to say something about assistant coaches, with particular reference to [PLAYERCARD]Josh Carr[/PLAYERCARD] and Sam Mitchell when he was at the Scum. I'll do it in the cold, hung over light of day...]

 

[FreoRicci]

Fremantle finishing 10th whilst Port snagged 2nd and Geelong 3rd.
Culture makes a club

 

[Freomaniac]

That Essendon game is what truly ****ed our season.

Nope... there were other games....

Round 4 vs Carlton in gather round. We were robbed in that game. That was the 8 pointer.

Round 5 vs Port in Adelaide. Lost by under a goal

The narrow loss to the hawks hurt too.

Then the last 4 games of the season.

The essendon game you mentioned. We lost by a point. It didnt kill our season but it knocked the wind out of us.

Losing the the cats by 2 goals in perth hurt. Win that and there would be 4 non vic sides in the top 4. Cats beating freo helped them get top 4.

Losing to GWS by 9 points. yep how we lost that was cruel. That delayed 50 metre penalty sucked.

THen losing to Port by 20 points 9.13.67 to 13.9.87.

 

[Dockeroo]

So as far as I'm concerned, I'll take this season at face value. It's an enormous missed opportunity, and particuarly telling that with it all back in our hands, we couldn't get it done. We had our chances and the game was ours if we wanted it enough. That's been the case each round for a month, with results going our way that we've never been able to capitalise on.

It's not a question of talent. We so often see our peeps say this is the most talented list we've had, and I probably don't disagree. But we're missing two crucial aspects that every good side has: a player who, through their sheer willpower and desperation, drags us over the line in the close ones; and a mercurial livewire who bobs up with a goal or two out of their ass when we need it most (x-factor, if you will). We've had both - and they're both still on our list - but neither at that any more. In the absence of those, we're a talented list, not a talented team.

If anyone truly thinks we're not a far better side with Bolton, you've got rocks in your head. Call him flakey, sporadic, inconsistent - but he'll do it when it matters, and because he can, it'll cause oppo defences to pay attention to him even when he doesn't. Don't let his performances for a crap Richmond cloud your judgment - if he's a downhill skiier, fine, because we need to be a bully.

Anyway, add him - ideally add Warner the season after. I'm not too fussed with draft picks, both because of the Tassie distortion and because if we don't have the bulk of a premiership list right now, we have no window at all. In any event, I think with some x-factor, the list is damn close.

The bit that worries me is culture. Hunger. Aggression. Fight. Have we got enough of that?

Part of that is unteachable. You'll never teach the meek (other than Lloyd) to be mad. But the other half of it is on the coach. JL, you've got to engender some spirit, mate. It's so frustrating to observe the level of visible passivity in the coaches' box, that manifests itself in this absolute stubbornness to react to changes in the game. JL is clearly a strong and strategic coach with good man management. But on game day, against the best in that respect, like Bevo and, dare I say, Ross? With JL, it always seems that the plan is the plan - there's no plan B (let alone plan C) on the day, if what was conceived midweek doesn't work out. It's incredibly frustrating to watch, because so often, they're elementary things that us mug punters can see sitting in the stands. Of course, there's reasons why coaches are coaches and punters are punters, but I'm not saying he doesn't see it - just that he refuses to act on it.

Anyway, I was going somewhere with this meandering rant that I've forgotten because I've had about 43 standard drinks tonight. I guess the tl;dr is that next year is it, and I won't have much patience. The club put out a bold strategic plan in 2021 that set out both AFL and AFLW premierships by 2025. Right now, we're not even close - we've just missed the eight, and on projections, the AFLW side will do the same.

I'm not absolutely spewing about missing the eight, other than the comprehensive choke over the final month that led us there. I never expected to absolutely contend this year, but I did at least expect a final or two into our kids. We're gonna have to skip that, because if we don't genuinely contend next year - not just make the eight, but legitimately give it a crack - we are in danger of blowing our supposed youth and nuking another generation of Freo premiership chances.

I hope the boys are really f*cking hurting right now.

[edit: oh yeah, I was going to say something about assistant coaches, with particular reference to Josh Carr and Sam Mitchell when he was at the Scum. I'll do it in the cold, hung over light of day...]

Great comment. Particularly agree about the lack of fight.

We are one of the softest teams in the league. When the big alpha males of this comp turn up the heat against us, we go to water. The evidence is overwhelming for some time now.

Thats nothing to do with talent and everything to do with toughness and mental fortitude.

Right now we are the kind of team that could go to a grand final in future and lose by over 100 points. We have seen a few of those type of meek passive sides over the years, stinking it out on the biggest day in the game. We are 100% in contention to be one of them in future.

 

[Freomaniac]

Great comment. Particularly agree about the lack of fight.

We are one of the softest teams in the league. When the big alpha males of this comp turn up the heat against us, we go to water. The evidence is overwhelming for some time now.

Thats nothing to do with talent and everything to do with toughness and mental fortitude.

Right now we are the kind of team that could go to a grand final in future and lose by over 100 points. We have seen a few of those type of meek passive sides over the years, stinking it out on the biggest day in the game. We are 100% in contention to be one of them in future.

Agreed....

Just look at how Carlton just bullied us from 2019 until now. Except for 2022 win in Perth, Carlton have bullied us and Freo doesnt do anything about it.

 

[Jezzitizle]

I think there are some positives, but too raw just now to be objective.

 

[DOCKERZ]

Agreed....

Just look at how Carlton just bullied us from 2019 until now. Except for 2022 win in Perth, Carlton have bullied us and Freo doesnt do anything about it.

Cripps loves using smaller kids as punching bags, he doesn't do it to the big boys.

 

[go_the_dockers]

It is interesting we are considered soft but give away numerous 50's and off the ball frees.

2 vs GWS. 2 vs port.

Baker seams adept at the dark arts of being dirty with giving away goals. He would be good for us.

 

[purplerunsdeep2]

The day after feeling is even worse. Reality setting in and the afl is laughing at us. Dockery at its finest


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[bushchook]

We've got a lot to look to look forward to next season.

We found 2 genuine stars in Josh Treacy and Josh Draper this year.

We're only losing Fyfe, Walters and Taberner who had zero impact between them all year.

Throw in Cooper Simpson and [PLAYERCARD]Shai Bolton[/PLAYERCARD] and that's a much more dangerous looking forward line next season.

 

[Dockeroo]

It is interesting we are considered soft but give away numerous 50's and off the ball frees.

2 vs GWS. 2 vs port.

Baker seams adept at the dark arts of being dirty with giving away goals. He would be good for us.

Being hard and tough is notthing to do with giving away 50s and pushing and shoving.

It’s winning tough 50:50 ball. Being clean by hand and foot under intense pressure. Clunking huge marks when the game is on the line. Tackling with ferocity the entire game.
Not having a bottom 4 in the league ranking for pressure.

 

[bushchook]

Serong the worst offender. 3 behinds and a miss today.

At least he's having a shot. 4 months ago they were trying to pass those.

 

[s_wd6]

There isn’t a single team this year that we didn’t either beat, or get within two goals of. So obviously there’s a lot that we’re doing right.

The fact that we had so many opportunities to learn from those close losses and yet every other game went the exact same way is the concerning aspect.

After Adelaide we had the dogs game that was within a goal all of the last quarter and we broke away to win, and then the Collingwood game where we dug in and came from 25 down, and even the saints game that was within a goal the entire fourth quarter until we broke away a bit. Even the Sydney game we held on for long enough just. That’s four games where we were in the same position as our final 4 and went on to win/draw. Just because the margin wasn’t close at the end doesn’t mean we weren’t in the exact same position as the ones we went on to lose.

Wasn’t until the Hawks game that those 4th quarter issues started to come back out again and were compounded by the loss of multiple Key Players whereas the four in between we had at least 2/3 of them.

Clearly there’s way too big of a gap between them and their replacements and we don’t have enough leadership or X factor to compensate

 

[Retzlaff]

Telling that Jack Higgins delivered the greatest highlight of our season

 

[PowerToThePurpl]

Clearly there’s way too big of a gap between them and their replacements and we don’t have enough leadership or X factor to compensate

I think this is the biggest thing.

Not enough from our leaders in the big moments - Treacy is probably our most vocal player & oozes leadership while Pearce is our captain, without these two on the field there was a lot to be desired.

This is where Brayshaw, Young and Serong can step up a level. Great teams simply find a way in the close games, where ultimately this was where our season was lost.

 

[Ge3ks]

I think this is the biggest thing.

Not enough from our leaders in the big moments - Treacy is probably our most vocal player & oozes leadership while Pearce is our captain, without these two on the field there was a lot to be desired.

This is where Brayshaw, Young and Serong can step up a level. Great teams simply find a way in the close games, where ultimately this was where our season was lost.

This is a great point. While Brayshaw and Serong are natural leaders in the midfield, they offer little during a match to our forwards and backs. Pearce is a great director and motivator down back, and like you said, Treacy has risen to be the same up front. With both missing, our attacking and defensive structure seemed to fall apart a bit.

 

[dropbear101]

this might sound weird given how talented we are throughout the ground but i think we lack talent or talent depth around the ball compared to other teams.

so when it comes time to win a game we can't go with teams. our A graders are darcy (missed a lot of footy), brayshaw, serong and young. but at anyone period of time one of those players is in the forward line or on the bench.

thus today and the last 4 weeks. we had 2/3 of our A graders vs JHF, butters, wines, boak, rozee, drew or dangerfield, stewart or [PLAYERCARD]tom green[/PLAYERCARD], cognilio (GWS have a million) or merrett, stringer, parish. before we get to our next best midfielder.

mono amono we aren't able to be better than the opposition midfield. its a draw or marginally better. our midfield excels because its high workrate, diligent and able to get lots of clearances.

not the same as go and win us a game. collingwood last year and melbourne 2021 won a flag off this.

i think we get a flag when, jackson, odriscoll, sharp, johnson, erasmus, fyfe, omera, switta become a better group.