Skill level and Lairising

[longsuffreosupp]

I'm not sure if its a bad thing, but the players (especially in the first half) seemed to play with some overconfidence. The handballs to players with someone on their hammer, the handballs into space, the grubber kicks as a pass, the short kicks to a contest. Obviously the skill level sucked a bit due to the dew, but the casual nature of some of the dropped marks would irk a few. The one too many handballs in the backline was consequential, as were some of the ball taps into space.

Thoughts?

 

[Clay Davis]

Agree. Too much cute play and too few players putting their head over the ball. De Boer and to a lesser extent, JVB, were two of the few who consistently did it for four quarters.

 

[Nickos66]

For the most part we seemed to get away with it. There were a few blatant facepalm moments though.

 

[Higs]

Shocking skill level from both sides especially in the 3rd quarter. Was it a ground thing? Regardless, some of the mistakes were not good enough. The amount of times we ran straight past the ball and couldn't pick it up cleanly. Dropping simple, uncontested marks that directly resulted in goals a number of times. We won't beat the top 4 sides until we can fix these basic errors.

On a positive note we improved out of sight in the 4th and Fyfe has the cleanest hands in the team.

 

[believe_it]

Skill level was poor for both teams . At times it looked as if there was great difficulty judging the flight of the ball under the lights.

Have to remember if you get put under pressure you make more mistakes and the dogs put more pressure on us than any other team so far. More than Geelong.

The skill that is still letting us down is in front of goal set shots.

 

[Scossie]

Shocking skill level from both sides especially in the 3rd quarter. Was it a ground thing? Regardless, some of the mistakes were not good enough. The amount of times we ran straight past the ball and couldn't pick it up cleanly. Dropping simple, uncontested marks that directly resulted in goals a number of times. We won't beat the top 4 sides until we can fix these basic errors.

On a positive note we improved out of sight in the 4th and Fyfe has the cleanest hands in the team.

Totally agree...
We were very very lucky to scrape a win last night. I'm obviously happy that we did, but after watching the game from The G in the arvo, the skill level in that game was miles ahead of what I saw at Subi last night.

Collingwood's defensive pressure is amazing. As soon as an opposition player gets the ball near the goal, 2 guys are on him like a coat of paint. We were like that at the beginning of last season, but we don't seem to be able to do it this year.

The Dogs skill level was just as bad. It was always going to be a toss of a coin for who got over the line. Nice win, but if we had been playing Collingwood last night, we would have been flogged.

 

[yakamoto]

Apart from MJ's 20 or 30 skill errors I didn't notice anyone else stuffing up all night.

 

[tacopavlich]

The Dogs skill level was just as bad. It was always going to be a toss of a coin for who got over the line. Nice win, but if we had been playing Collingwood last night, we would have been flogged.[/quote]


is this the goal? be good enough to beat collingwood? seems a bit unrealistic. being in top 4 i think we have surpassed our expectations already.

 

[Lach72]

The Dogs skill level was just as bad. It was always going to be a toss of a coin for who got over the line. Nice win, but if we had been playing Collingwood last night, we would have been flogged.[/quote]


is this the goal? be good enough to beat collingwood? seems a bit unrealistic. being in top 4 i think we have surpassed our expectations already.

Of course it is! Top 4 is not enough. The goal is higher

 

[leeloo]

This is hard to put into words but I believe teams seem to lower/lift to each others standards. Our team against Geelong would stand up to Collingwood, maybe not win but go ok, the way the team played last night probably wouldn't have beaten North Melbourne.

What has changed? Not much other than the opposition. Just a thought.

 

[PurpleGreenRed]

The Dogs skill level was just as bad. It was always going to be a toss of a coin for who got over the line. Nice win, but if we had been playing Collingwood last night, we would have been flogged.[/quote]


is this the goal? be good enough to beat collingwood? seems a bit unrealistic. being in top 4 i think we have surpassed our expectations already.

I think it's got to be. I think you have to set your levels against the best in the competition, and that, currently, is Collingwood. How do you improve if you don't establish targets? Should we be happy to be in a slightly better position than we would have expected at this stage?

On another note...I ended up eating my words last night as I was ropeable regarding JVB in the first quarter and a half...Thought his head wasn't in the game and his attack on the ball was half hearted. As I said...ended up eating my words by the end of the game. Great effort Jay.

 

[Sman-21]

Difference between the collingwood ess game and the freo bulldogs game

1 game was played at DAY TIME while the sun was out.
Other game was played at NIGHT TIME under lights an with dew on the ground making ball slippery.

Also bulldogs are a strong midfield who are good at the close in tight stuff.
Essendon dont like the tight in close stuff there more an outside running team.

 

[Arcassius]

This is hard to put into words but I believe teams seem to lower/lift to each others standards. Our team against Geelong would stand up to Collingwood, maybe not win but go ok, the way the team played last night probably wouldn't have beaten North Melbourne.

What has changed? Not much other than the opposition. Just a thought.

The dew and slippery conditions had nothing to do with it

 

[DockerLand1]

Agree. Too much cute play and too few players putting their head over the ball. De Boer and to a lesser extent, JVB, were two of the few who consistently did it for four quarters.

I dont think that it is any surprise that both players are elevated Rookies that for some reason or another were not originally drafted. It is excellent to see that both have worked hard on areas that had been highlighted as deficiencies. De Boer is kicking better now than ever before. JVB has improved his skills as well and his dedication to a task is really pushing him into the best 22 instead of a depth player.

Competition for positions is going to be extreme when Barlow,Silvagni,Morabito and co return. It is a good place to be.

 

[IAMJUNGLEMUFFIN]

It was a tight, hard fought game.

Do you think we allowed them enough time and space to be precise with the ball? Do you think they didn't do the same to us?

When two good teams play, the pressure and tempo lift and that negatively impacts skill level.

 

[greatgatsby]

JVB showed stuff I hadn't seen, or noticed, from him. Never mind the 4 goals, his defensive work was a revelation, witness the spoil in the last quarter.

 

[Quay Club]

The game was played with both teams in the same half with the Bullies flooding back and trying to get the fast break forward. There was not much room to move and the skills suffered. It was a tough inside game which we thankfully won the battle of attrition.

 

[peppy la pew]

The dew and slippery conditions had nothing to do with it

Of course it didn't, someone must have waved a magic wand to make the 3rd quarter so devoid of skills, on both sides.

Even the umps had to throw the ball up.

As for expectations, we can only beat the teams put in front of us.

 

[yakamoto]

1. Heavy dew making ball and ground slippery.
2. Pressure
3. Fatigue

 

[Belnakor]

the way the dogs put on the press around the ball, the old freo would have gone down by 5-6 goals easy, skills nothing to do with it, simply harder at it.

 

[Arcassius]

Of course it didn't, someone must have waved a magic wand to make the 3rd quarter so devoid of skills, on both sides.

Even the umps had to throw the ball up.

As for expectations, we can only beat the teams put in front of us.

sorry, forgot my sarcasm tags again

 

[shibz_1989]

1. Heavy dew making ball and ground slippery.
2. Pressure
3. Fatigue

Yep, Bullies were applying a lot of pressure. I think the bye has come at a great time.