Opinion Something else happened.

[Frigate]

Right now, based on that single game, Lyon is more likely to get a contract extension than to get the arse. If he eye-balled the Board and said "I have an offer from, say, Carlton; extend my contract, or I'm gone", he'd be more likely to get the extension than the "See ya later".

I think with that single game Lyon has laid out the evidence for the evolution of his future game plan, and the direction of our future. He has pretty much become un-sackable now through that one game. Maybe it goes somewhere this season, maybe it doesn't. But Lyon won't be going anywhere now.

In that game we saw that;

• the fallacy about the game plan not changing (even when the entire list has been in transition) has been shown up.
• the charge that Lyon can't run a game plan that delivers a winning score looks vacuous now.
• the mantra that Lyon only knows dour, defensive football has been exposed.
• he has laid out the case that the timeframe of 2020 is quite realistic.
• that the rebuild begins with a complete overhaul of defence, a rewire and restock of the midfield, and topped off with a rejig of the forward line was planned and is being implemented is shown to be sound, logical and on track

We aren't meandering around with an antiquated game plan. We aren't held to ransom by a coach who picks sides out of blind loyalty. We aren't locked into a strategy of bomb it long at all costs. We are a club at one of the most exciting points of our evolution, prepped with an emerging list containing a mixture of flawed geniuses, exciting youth, the old guard, misfits, foot-soldiers and wide eyed hopefuls.

They looked for all the world like they support the coach, have "bought in", that they love the club. No surprises there given how few players we have leave the club, and how many we have wanting to join us.

The season may end up becoming another development year, or it may turn out to be much more if the stars align. But we definitely got a glimpse of the future on Sunday.

Good post TheGav56. A much different take on the rhetoric over the past few years. It is very rare that a club does not bottom out somewhat before climbing again. Hawthorn and Geelong are the main exceptions to the rule. Lately it seems, once you do go to the bottom 4, it is extremely hard to climb out, partly due to free agency. Somehow, we have done well out of free agency lately, and we have made some gutsy decisions.

I believe we should keep drafting Lachie's. The two Lachie's may in fact be the big difference going forward. The Weller trade was a gift, and the Neale trade has a way to go yet to prove itself, but I suspect it will set us up for the next 5-7 years.

It is hard to not get excited after 1 round. I mentioned in a different thread, despite the losses in the JLT, I was happy with the direct game plan, and ball movement from defence. After watching that game the most impressive dynamic was the numbers running in waves, and the pressure we managed to apply. I am convinced North had an off day, and we exploited this, so it will be interesting how we play this weekend.

Our group is fairly young, so it will be interesting to see how we go when challenged, however I believe while we have such a strong defensive structure in PEarce, Hamling and Ryan (with others), the damage should be somewhat contained. The style is a lot more aggressive, and with that, the running in numbers we can get exposed on the counter attack, so we really want to improve our conversion rate. It is an exciting time to be a Docker, I believe we can comfortably expect 10 wins this season, and if we can manage the 3-0 start, and have a better run with injuries going forward, probably no reason we can aim for 12 wins. Could be getting carried away, however we kept hearing the group is united, and the feeling around the club is an all time high. I am believing it.

 

[Rion]

Calm down a little there. It's one game. He's definitely won me back over and I reckon he now gets this season at least but it's not like we beat anyone particularly good (although the manner of the win was amazing of course). I expected us to start 3-0. I'm happy to see how he goes over the season. Not expecting that every week but if we still see glimpses and he keeps playing the youngsters I think it should be a fun season and we can actually feel like we're building something.

Extending his contract would be a terrible move though. I'd just let it run down. If we don't make finals either this year or next he should obviously be booted, why confuse that? Unless we actually make finals (and then obviously he gets a contract here) no other team is going to want him anyway.

Also ballsy post, we lose to GC this week (and perhaps wrongly imo) the pressure will be back on.

 

[Steinfreo]

All I wanted was improvement. Im still fine not making finals this year, just something different and we got that.

 

[thetradesman]

Hey guys, I wasn't sure where to put this, but I wrote an article on that round one performance.

https://www.theroar.com.au/2019/03/26/the-green-shoots-are-growing-quicker-in-fremantle/

Would love to know what you guys think, and it was a super performance!

 

[maka]

Relax a little, JLT they got belted by shitty teams too, North are toast, wait till a contender rolls up

 

[Square Peg]

If this thread isn't enough to get Crippa and scon back to the board, nothing will

 

[Monument Hills]

All we really want to see week to week to be extremely entertained is:
1. a win
2. WC lose
3. a dominant, high scoring win
4. not taking the foot off the throat until the final siren (none of that putting the cue in the rack bs of a few years back)
5. making the opposition supporters sook and call for their coach to be sacked (optional)

That was 5 ticks for me last weekend making it a beautiful start to the week. Won't happen every week, but it has been few and far between in recent years so I for one am just going to enjoy it.

 

[Snuffaluphagus]

Hey guys, I wasn't sure where to put this, but I wrote an article on that round one performance.

https://www.theroar.com.au/2019/03/26/the-green-shoots-are-growing-quicker-in-fremantle/

Would love to know what you guys think, and it was a super performance!

I agree with almost everything in there but you got AP facts wrong if I'm reading that correctly.

A) He played all of last year
B) He broke his leg, didnt do an ACL in May of 2016. Missed all of 2017 when it got infected

 

[thetradesman]

I agree with almost everything in there but you got AP facts wrong if I'm reading that correctly.

A) He played all of last year
B) He broke his leg, didnt do an ACL in May of 2016. Missed all of 2017 when it got infected

Yeah, That was a pretty big mistake to make. Sorry about that.

I looked at footywire and they had him missing all of 2018.

 

[raffrox]

Not really sure why. Sure a season takes a lot more games, but the overwhelming criticism of Lyon has been answered. A bit like McCarthy's performance, but with far greater ramifications. Posters who want Hogan "in" would have been targeting him, but instead they are looking at Taberner. McCarthy is un-droppable.

It's gotta be more than one week for the overwhelming criticism of Lyon to be answered.

Likewise McCarthy will need to play well each week to keep his spot.

We've literally achieved nothing but 4 points this year so far.

People have a crack at the media for taking any event and blowing it out of all proportion. We can't do the same now.

 

[Snuffaluphagus]

Yeah, That was a pretty big mistake to make. Sorry about that.

I looked at footywire and they had him missing all of 2018.

Haha, doesnt help when 3rd party sources are making shit up =)

 

[theGav56]

Hey guys, I wasn't sure where to put this, but I wrote an article on that round one performance.

https://www.theroar.com.au/2019/03/26/the-green-shoots-are-growing-quicker-in-fremantle/

Would love to know what you guys think, and it was a super performance!

Perfect thread for that article. You gave the adjective "brilliant" a bit of an outing, and like me probably got a little caught up in the excitement of the game, but the key aspect is actually about how the team played, not the result. Taking the game on, smart decisions putting the ball into attacking/scoring positions, coupled with aggression. Love it.

 

[theGav56]

If this thread isn't enough to get Crippa and scon back to the board, nothing will

Haha, that'd be fine by me.

 

[blue shark]

All we really want to see week to week to be extremely entertained is:
1. a win
2. WC lose
3. a dominant, high scoring win
4. not taking the foot off the throat until the final siren (none of that putting the cue in the rack bs of a few years back)
5. making the opposition supporters sook and call for their coach to be sacked (optional)

That was 5 ticks for me last weekend making it a beautiful start to the week. Won't happen every week, but it has been few and far between in recent years so I for one am just going to enjoy it.

The Derby has now become Hyped, and with Gaff returning could be the biggest H&A game of the year for WA.

 

[Fat Nyfe]

^^Also, since the term 'easy draw' came up in that article and will pop up all over the
place for the next few weeks - it's only an easy 3 week start. Our draw from Round 4 onward for the rest of the season is actually pretty brutal. We still have one of the hardest rated draws overall despite our low finish last year.
Thanks for the article though, always nice to read some positive media

 

[Monument Hills]

The Derby has now become Hyped, and with Gaff returning could be the biggest H&A game of the year for WA.

well it is our grand final

 

[theGav56]

Well, that's true.

But so was this true;

 

[Freo Hitman]

Right now, based on that single game, Lyon is more likely to get a contract extension than to get the arse. If he eye-balled the Board and said "I have an offer from, say, Carlton; extend my contract, or I'm gone", he'd be more likely to get the extension than the "See ya later".

I think with that single game Lyon has laid out the evidence for the evolution of his future game plan, and the direction of our future. He has pretty much become un-sackable now through that one game. Maybe it goes somewhere this season, maybe it doesn't. But Lyon won't be going anywhere now.

In that game we saw that;

• the fallacy about the game plan not changing (even when the entire list has been in transition) has been shown up.
• the charge that Lyon can't run a game plan that delivers a winning score looks vacuous now.
• the mantra that Lyon only knows dour, defensive football has been exposed.
• he has laid out the case that the timeframe of 2020 is quite realistic.
• that the rebuild begins with a complete overhaul of defence, a rewire and restock of the midfield, and topped off with a rejig of the forward line was planned and is being implemented is shown to be sound, logical and on track

We aren't meandering around with an antiquated game plan. We aren't held to ransom by a coach who picks sides out of blind loyalty. We aren't locked into a strategy of bomb it long at all costs. We are a club at one of the most exciting points of our evolution, prepped with an emerging list containing a mixture of flawed geniuses, exciting youth, the old guard, misfits, foot-soldiers and wide eyed hopefuls.

They looked for all the world like they support the coach, have "bought in", that they love the club. No surprises there given how few players we have leave the club, and how many we have wanting to join us.

The season may end up becoming another development year, or it may turn out to be much more if the stars align. But we definitely got a glimpse of the future on Sunday.

Too Many Red Wines on a school night. There was a lot too like early doors - but lets back the truck up and revisit say round 12

 

[Mudd]

I Like your enthusiasm theGav56 but it's way too soon to make a call on Ross, if we lose the next 10 games he is definitely not untouchable.

None of us could have asked for a better R1 performance though, it was great to watch. No one is hoping for Ross to fail, we all want to finally see Freo reach the ultimate success and see Fyfe raise the cup.

 

[thetradesman]

Perfect thread for that article. You gave the adjective "brilliant" a bit of an outing, and like me probably got a little caught up in the excitement of the game, but the key aspect is actually about how the team played, not the result. Taking the game on, smart decisions putting the ball into attacking/scoring positions, coupled with aggression. Love it.

Thanks mate.

Yeah it was more about the way they played. Was a perfect balance between attack and defense.

Even teams like us, Collingwood and Melbourne need to work on the balancing act, so if you get it right early in the season, it'll go a long way towards making finals.

 

[Bad Brain]

Great game but it did still look like were just bombing the ball forward. I’d like to see what happens when we play a team with a semi-decent intercept defender before going all in on Ross.

 

[Deveraux]

Thanks mate.

Yeah it was more about the way they played. Was a perfect balance between attack and defense.

Even teams like us, Collingwood and Melbourne need to work on the balancing act, so if you get it right early in the season, it'll go a long way towards making finals.

Cool Article, good read.

Blakely is also easily B22

 

[Snuffaluphagus]

Great game but it did still look like were just bombing the ball forward. I’d like to see what happens when we play a team with a semi-decent intercept defender before going all in on Ross.

I heavily disagree. There is always going to be some bombing, every team does it since other teams generally dont like you hitting leading forwards in space or give you the time to do so.

Without studying play by play we hit up or tried to hit up a leading forward or one in space every time it was possible, more so than we've ever done before

 

[Taylor]

Even the long bombs had at least one player front and centre for the spillage.

 

[blue shark]

Great game but it did still look like were just bombing the ball forward. I’d like to see what happens when we play a team with a semi-decent intercept defender before going all in on Ross.

Lions game was also a ripper, and should give Ross some idea how to play against intercept marks, forward line setup.