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Analysis Strategy and Game Plan

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BALL MOVEMENT

in 2022 we would switch the ball side to side in defence and use quicker players FREDERICK and COLYER on the open side to transition the ball defence to attack. ACRES would also run, drag players with him and create space.

we struggled in 22 in wet games when we couldnt do this. We also struggled when opposition began denying us the switch.




When we play long kick and straight lines, we lack the players to win the contests to continue to progress the ball. DARCY, JACKSON and FYFE are crucial players in this regard. We also need improvement from JOHNSON.

BRAYSHAW et al, need to feed off these bigger guys winning contests and also run to support and DEFEND if we lose.




so, in 22, we could get the ball into our forward line, from there we became good at PRESSING UP and denying the oppo exits. Hence we had some excellent games. ( north @ optus, Saints @ Etihad, Cats @ Dump )


i think the plan is still the same, we just cant execute.




STOPPAGE STRENGTH will assist us to be less reliant on BALL MOVEMENT.

i actually believe, BRODIE should play, and YOUNG back to Defence, we need to be able to move the ball from the back half, YOUNG, CLARK, RYAN, COX are all capable, RYAN can hit switch and be a switch option. OMEARA and BRAYSHAW more to the OUTSIDE.
 
BALL MOVEMENT

in 2022 we would switch the ball side to side in defence and use quicker players FREDERICK and COLYER on the open side to transition the ball defence to attack. ACRES would also run, drag players with him and create space.

we struggled in 22 in wet games when we couldnt do this. We also struggled when opposition began denying us the switch.




When we play long kick and straight lines, we lack the players to win the contests to continue to progress the ball. DARCY, JACKSON and FYFE are crucial players in this regard. We also need improvement from JOHNSON.

BRAYSHAW et al, need to feed off these bigger guys winning contests and also run to support and DEFEND if we lose.




so, in 22, we could get the ball into our forward line, from there we became good at PRESSING UP and denying the oppo exits. Hence we had some excellent games. ( north @ optus, Saints @ Etihad, Cats @ Dump )


i think the plan is still the same, we just cant execute.




STOPPAGE STRENGTH will assist us to be less reliant on BALL MOVEMENT.

i actually believe, BRODIE should play, and YOUNG back to Defence, we need to be able to move the ball from the back half, YOUNG, CLARK, RYAN, COX are all capable, RYAN can hit switch and be a switch option. OMEARA and BRAYSHAW more to the OUTSIDE.
can I ASK why you FEEL THIS WAY?
 

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Wagner has severe defensive limitations and kicking can be questionable but his one wood is running fast towards our goal which is something you cant say for many others in the team. Two of Clark, Wagner and Walker are required every week.

Williams, Stanley and to a lesser extent, Draper (having size, speed and skills is a massive help) also have scope to fix us here and I was surprised Stanley was kept out of that Port game. I hope he really pushes his case for a spot moving forward because his speed, kicking and decision making could be an absolute weapon
Agree with most of that but most of our backline has severe defensive deficiencies when the ball hits the ground. Draper and chapman may fix things in time. Stanley looks good.
 
Regularly. Go and check out the r23 game against Port at the end of last year.
So he weaves to finds space to run into, gains 40 and then kicks or handballs. I'd take that. Better than watching Ryan stand there for 20 minutes contemplating before kicking it to the same place every time. Clark and Hughes are just as bad.
Not sure if you have any respect for the opinion on Schmook but he has him in our team against Brissie for the same reason as some on here have expressed.
 
Agree with most of that but most of our backline has severe defensive deficiencies when the ball hits the ground. Draper and chapman may fix things in time. Stanley looks good.
Wagner is on a different level really, borderline terrible actual defender. Wish they had have started to bite the bullet and played Draper ahead of Hughes. If he’s as promising as he seems to be, the sooner they get him to 50 games, the better
 
So he weaves to finds space to run into, gains 40 and then kicks or handballs. I'd take that. Better than watching Ryan stand there for 20 minutes contemplating before kicking it to the same place every time. Clark and Hughes are just as bad.
Not sure if you have any respect for the opinion on Schmook but he has him in our team against Brissie for the same reason as some on here have expressed.
No. He marks a short get-out kick, stops, looks around, waits then kicks back/sideways. Quite a few times. You haven't looked at that game (or a few others in that same period), have you?

Late last year I wanted to check my positive impression of his late season cameos, when previously he'd been but up to the level with his involvements. Was keen to see how it might help our back line transition for '24. So I looked up his statistically better games and went on a Wagner Watch.
 
Wagner is on a different level really, borderline terrible actual defender. Wish they had have started to bite the bullet and played Draper ahead of Hughes. If he’s as promising as he seems to be, the sooner they get him to 50 games, the better
Wagner is kinda an average version of what we badly need. Some of the other options are averages versions of what we don’t need (guys that stand for 3 seconds then turn and chip it 20m backwards or to the boundary line). Give me the Wagner option between those two choices every day of the week.

An elite version of Wagner would be great but we don’t have one so we are stuck with him until then.
Agree that Draper is promising but not sure he was anywhere near the level required last year in the end so would not be too critical yet that he hasn’t got any opportunity. He should get a few games in 2024 to show what he can do.
 
Wagner is kinda an average version of what we badly need. Some of the other options are averages versions of what we don’t need (guys that stand for 3 seconds then turn and chip it 20m backwards or to the boundary line). Give me the Wagner option between those two choices every day of the week.

An elite version of Wagner would be great but we don’t have one so we are stuck with him until then.
Agree that Draper is promising but not sure he was anywhere near the level required last year in the end so would not be too critical yet that he hasn’t got any opportunity. He should get a few games in 2024 to show what he can do.
Would be great to see Draper get to the stage to be attacking off half back as a 198cm defender in the firsts. I think probably a couple of years off yet but there is plenty to work with
 
Wagner is kinda an average version of what we badly need. Some of the other options are averages versions of what we don’t need (guys that stand for 3 seconds then turn and chip it 20m backwards or to the boundary line). Give me the Wagner option between those two choices every day of the week.

An elite version of Wagner would be great but we don’t have one so we are stuck with him until then.
Agree that Draper is promising but not sure he was anywhere near the level required last year in the end so would not be too critical yet that he hasn’t got any opportunity. He should get a few games in 2024 to show what he can do.
All team defences do careful exits to some extent. Even Collingwood.

Wagner isn't a 100% run and gun quick line cutter by any extent. Far from it. He's as inclined to do parallel kicking as anyone. In fact doing that can be good judgement and set up line breaking plays after. We just need to develop more off the half back who can see the game clearly and break the lines.

Clark is universes ahead of Wagner in driving backline transition. Obvious to say I would've thought.
 

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All team defences do careful exits to some extent. Even Collingwood.

Wagner isn't a 100% run and gun quick line cutter by any extent. Far from it. He's as inclined to do parallel kicking as anyone. In fact doing that can be good judgement and set up line breaking plays after. We just need to develop more off the half back who can see the game clearly and break the lines.

Clark is universes ahead of Wagner in driving backline transition. Obvious to say I would've thought.
True but Clark is also a shut down target by Oppo coaches so he either needs to work through this or we work through it with other options
 
No. He marks a short get-out kick, stops, looks around, waits then kicks back/sideways. Quite a few times. You haven't looked at that game (or a few others in that same period), have you?

Late last year I wanted to check my positive impression of his late season cameos, when previously he'd been but up to the level with his involvements. Was keen to see how it might help our back line transition for '24. So I looked up his statistically better games and went on a Wagner Watch.
I watch all our games and our wins multiple times. He is the only one that gives us some serious zip through traffic and unpredictability from the backline. You can go on about all the rest of the stuff but in reality we are staid and stagnate from the backline and he, at present, is the only one who gives us some run out of defense. I can't count how many mistakes Hughes makes (game turning errors) and yet he still plays. I would take a lesser defensive side from Wagner to finally get some run from defense. No doubt when he takes off sometimes he realises he is in trouble and has to make it up as he goes along. But that's ok. That's what we want. You people keep whingeing about our slow ball movement but when someone actually takes things on you start dragging up how imperfect he is.
 
I watch all our games and our wins multiple times. He is the only one that gives us some serious zip through traffic and unpredictability from the backline. You can go on about all the rest of the stuff but in reality we are staid and stagnate from the backline and he, at present, is the only one who gives us some run out of defense. I can't count how many mistakes Hughes makes (game turning errors) and yet he still plays. I would take a lesser defensive side from Wagner to finally get some run from defense. No doubt when he takes off sometimes he realises he is in trouble and has to make it up as he goes along. But that's ok. That's what we want. You people keep whingeing about our slow ball movement but when someone actually takes things on you start dragging up how imperfect he is.
Great post. Ethan Hughes is on the list for a decade (10 ****ing years - goodness me) with all his Cat 10 mistakes and people are giving Wagner a hard time? lol
 
I tried to explain this below somewhere else & probably didn’t do a very good job of it.

The very best teams get this concept & are able to move the ball with freedom & speed on most occasions because they play a significant role without ball in hand.

You hear of smart footballers or high iq footballers & these guys are the very best at this concept. They know where their next possession is coming from well before they get it. Collingwood have a heap of them, unfortunately.

The reason some players not in the first 22 struggle, like we saw v Port is they don’t work smart enough without ball in hand. It’s hard to move the ball quickly when there’s no where to go.

Anyway, I don’t want to say our ball movement was crap without suggesting a reason why it was crap. We have to work harder & smarter without ball in hand.

Lots of basketball terms, but you should be able to replace them with footy terms.

 

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There's a really interesting segment on Freo at the 26 minute mark here:

Basically - as some of us have suspected, our defence is not as good as the raw numbers suggest, and we play in a way that protects the defence from being exposed to too many 1 on 1s. This isn't surprising and there is clearly a significant impact being felt by having Draper out there instead of Cox. The dogs game and the profile they're describing here really highlights just how much Cox's absence is being felt, to the point that if our midfield numbers drop off even slightly, we're getting smashed because we're terrible when our defence is exposed 1 on 1 (which we saw first hand last weekend).

We're absolutely no chance against the top teams without a fit Cox and Chapman in this side. Further, Pearce has dropped off, which is possibly due to the heavy load on his shoulders without Cox there, and teams have figured out ways to nullify his strengths.

In some ways, kudos to Freo for doing well with Draper filling in a key post. They've found a way to win despite having a sizable disadvantage in that area of the ground. Importantly though, we're getting to the business end of the season and this isn't going to stack up for much longer.

I believe the loss of Chapman before the game had a massive impact both psychologically (adjusting play style) and in real outcomes. He's just about our most important player structurally.
 
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There's a really interesting segment on Freo at the 26 minute mark here:

Basically - as some of us have suspected, our defence is not as good as the raw numbers suggest, and we play in a way that protects the defence from being exposed to too many 1 on 1s. This isn't surprising and there is clearly a significant impact being felt by having Draper out there instead of Cox. The dogs game and the profile they're describing here really highlights just how much Cox's absence is being felt, to the point that if our midfield numbers drop off even slightly, we're getting smashed because we're terrible when our defence is exposed 1 on 1 (which we saw first hand last weekend).

We're absolutely no chance against the top teams without a fit Cox and Chapman in this side. Further, Pearce has dropped off, which is possibly due to the heavy load on his shoulders without Cox there, and teams have figured out ways to nullify his strengths.

In some ways, kudos to Freo for doing well with Draper filling in a key post. They've found a way to win despite having a sizable disadvantage in that area of the ground. Importantly though, we're getting to the business end of the season and this isn't going to stack up for much longer.

I believe the loss of Chapman before the game had a massive impact both psychologically (adjusting play style) and in real outcomes. I believe he's just about our most important player structurally.

Agree. Our defense overall are not good 1 on 1. So, when the ball comes in quick they get exposed

They do get out marked or give away frees quite a bit

Realistically we can't play fast all the time and depends on Oppo. Otherwise, under pressure we lack skill to execute and need to protect our defense
 
There's a really interesting segment on Freo at the 26 minute mark here:

Basically - as some of us have suspected, our defence is not as good as the raw numbers suggest, and we play in a way that protects the defence from being exposed to too many 1 on 1s. This isn't surprising and there is clearly a significant impact being felt by having Draper out there instead of Cox. The dogs game and the profile they're describing here really highlights just how much Cox's absence is being felt, to the point that if our midfield numbers drop off even slightly, we're getting smashed because we're terrible when our defence is exposed 1 on 1 (which we saw first hand last weekend).

We're absolutely no chance against the top teams without a fit Cox and Chapman in this side. Further, Pearce has dropped off, which is possibly due to the heavy load on his shoulders without Cox there, and teams have figured out ways to nullify his strengths.

In some ways, kudos to Freo for doing well with Draper filling in a key post. They've found a way to win despite having a sizable disadvantage in that area of the ground. Importantly though, we're getting to the business end of the season and this isn't going to stack up for much longer.

I believe the loss of Chapman before the game had a massive impact both psychologically (adjusting play style) and in real outcomes. He's just about our most important player structurally.


Great post, I wish this sort of discussion dominated the landscape rather than only made barely 5% of it. I'm guessing this also relates to why Jlo is always banging on about the contest. Basically our entire game depends on winning clearance and contest, which allows our defence structure up. Lose the contest / quick clearance the other way, opposition gets quick ball inside 50 which leaves our defence extremely vulnerable, I'm interpreting this as?

Draper is definitely starting to give me the icks whenever I see the ball heading to a 1 on 1 contest. He's been panicking a lot more recently and giving away shots left right and centre. Which is totally understandable given his experience, but god I can't wait for Cox to return.
 
Agree. Our defense overall are not good 1 on 1. So, when the ball comes in quick they get exposed

They do get out marked or give away frees quite a bit

Realistically we can't play fast all the time and depends on Oppo. Otherwise, under pressure we lack skill to execute and need to protect our defense
Teams that are able to shift gears and go tempo at strategic times will rule the roost as the whips start cracking. We've clearly shown that capacity for multi-tempo mode several times this year.

I think it's safe to say our defence has been one of the best performing in '24. It's also fair to say no defence is going to control every phase or eventuality. Trust the process is probably the message.

At any rate our forward line has the most room for improvement.
 
Great post, I wish this sort of discussion dominated the landscape rather than only made barely 5% of it. I'm guessing this also relates to why Jlo is always banging on about the contest. Basically our entire game depends on winning clearance and contest, which allows our defence structure up. Lose the contest / quick clearance the other way, opposition gets quick ball inside 50 which leaves our defence extremely vulnerable, I'm interpreting this as?

Draper is definitely starting to give me the icks whenever I see the ball heading to a 1 on 1 contest. He's been panicking a lot more recently and giving away shots left right and centre. Which is totally understandable given his experience, but god I can't wait for Cox to return.
What icks me is walkers obvious 'it wasn't me' , makes it look guilty and draws attention to it. That weightman free, he played for it but walker puts up his hands and exaggerates it
 
Umpires definitely tend to blow the whistle on young noname players at a much lower threshold than say Darcy Moore or even Alex Pearce.
 

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