Autopsy The 2021 preseason is done and we've learnt heaps

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Am I right in thinking with the new rule, a player taking a free kick could walk right up to the man on the mark, and run around him and past him, and the defender couldn’t move until the umpire calls play on? Freddy would put 5 m between them.


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kp junior said:
Am I right in thinking with the new rule, a player taking a free kick could walk right up to the man on the mark, and run around him and past him, and the defender couldn’t move until the umpire calls play on? Freddy would put 5 m between them.


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got it
 
Schultz will be there Round 1, and likely all season provided he avoids injury. Judging his form off of a pre-season match when he was good last year doesn't make sense. He's better than Henry at this point in time and you could argue Switkowski too.
 

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The key players constantly being injured is so unbelievably frustrating. You look at Brisbane - their side is so durable. their top players back up week in, week out to play, and there is stuff all injuries. Neale, mcluggage, Rayner, berry, Cameron all extremely tough and durable. Hell - they even seem to be able to turn previous crocks like Birchall, Daniher and McCarthy into reliable players.
Their 22 barely changes all season. Dev Robertson was sitting in their emergencies all last season (22-26 players effectively) and barely got a game all year. Imagine a luxury like that at freo?

Harris Andrew’s gets a hamstring injury last year and he’s back at 100% performance for finals after missing a couple of games. If only future durability could me measured on draft night.
I’m still pleased we drafted Logue and Sturt but these guys are now approaching 50 AFL games less than players of similar talent from those drafts purely due to availability 😥 at some point the opportunity cost is really gonna hurt us. Right now if I’m travelling back in time to 2018 draft night im taking Durssma over Sturt, he’s probably less talented than Sturt but he’d have had 40 games pumped into him already instead of 3 and we’d have a very good AFL winger in place for the next decade instead of stopgaps like Acres that will need to be replaced in the next year or two anyway. Meanwhile even if Sturt does get fit he’s probably 40 games away from being a game breaker in big finals..
 
Lots of over reaction on here over a pre season game. And lots of scapegoating whilst mostly ignoring pretty much all our senior/key players (sans Fyfe) were pretty s**t. But it is pre-season, players are allowed to be s**t, it means nothing. The injuries are the only things we should be pissed off with.

Walters was woeful before he got injured. Mundy has been pretty terrible the past two weeks. Did a single thing go right for Taberner in his first game back?

Our defenders (sans Cox, who is definitely our best KPD atm) looked like they couldn't hit the side of a barn for most of the game but looking down field (something that is night and day to see live vs tv) they rarely had good options presenting. Poor Young had way too much responsibility with Ryan out and struggled but I suspect he will learn a heap from the review - he was in the right place a lot. Hughes would have had a heap of intercept marks if they'd had stopped calling frees for his teammates in same contests continually (I remember at least 4 times). Inject Ryan back in and it makes a massive difference to distribution, takes the pressure off Young and everyone else and provides a reliable outlet to utilise. Not sure what is going on with Wilson but it needs him as well given SHill is unlikely to play anytime soon.

The mids were very ordinary. I'm not sure why we persisted letting WC have a player out the back alone at stoppages that they got the ball to a heap (often by throwing/dropping) who then had time and space to find a target? Meek was good again. Tucker blew out the cobwebs. Fyfe was Fyfe. Aish was reliable as usual. Acres did not help his cause - just wtf? Blakely - ummm. Thought Brayshaw missed having Cerra and Serong out there with him but still worked hard. There was such chemistry last week and not a lot in the midfield yesterday comparatively imo. Looked a bit of a mess on the transition. Not enough movement making it tough on our defenders to find good options. I'll be disappointed if it isn't vastly improved in 12 days times - we should expect it to be.

I've made my thoughts known about David Hale's ability to coordinate a forward line on here plenty of times but in fairness Lobb going down early would have no doubt screwed up any plan they had. Especially when a JobSeeker from Bizircus dressed up as Tabs had found their way on to the field and we decided to anoint them the sole key target up forward irrespective of how many players they had on them - the more the better to kick it to them seemed to be the strategy. Which maybe wouldn't have been as much of a problem if our small forwards had any clue how to position themselves for the crumb. If an 80 year old Hurn can get him and his walking frame front and square time and time again then surely one of our young whipper snapper smalls could?

Liam Ryan was the difference in the two teams yesterday imo. Lock him down and their avenues to goal become a lot more limited. Not exactly rocket science given Peel realised it was the smart move against Subi back in their premiership years. Not sure why we weren't respecting how good he is by giving him so much space yesterday? Darling, who was strangely auditioning for a role at Bizircus at times, managed to kick the ball through the sticks when given a chance unlike our 'professional' entertainer at the other end. Our Tabs impersonator didn't do any ninja-flips but was far superior comedically.

Although I think Cox could be a decent forward I am not aligned with the panic and shift him forward groupthink. I'd commit to the long game. Cox is a brilliant KPD, it is where he feels most comfortable, don't * with it. I think there is enough potential with the players we already have available to have a more functional forward line than last year - we just need to see some improvement, not expect miracles. Give them time play together and gel. Tabs can't be worse than he was yesterday (you'd hope). I have no problem giving Treacy a Rd 1 debut. The team was off yesterday - coming into that game half way through is tough enough for a seasoned player let alone a youngster. Frederick was great yesterday - some wrote him off - shows we need to be patient with talented youngsters.

We won the game that mattered yesterday. Other than the injuries there isn't that much to worry about ahead of Rd 1. If you are expecting our forward line to suddenly become amazing you need to lower your expectations.
 
I think your looking to much into a pre season game like we all do when we lose , I was at the game and half the boys didn’t give a s**t if they missed a kick or goal!
They where just getting the minutes in , Tabs and Acers were the least interested. The girls on the other hand was up for the fight , but you would expect that with 4 points on offer.
 
apuchar said:
I thought Wilson was very good in the second part of the season. Don't get the attitude towards him on here. He isn't a stopping type of defender, he offers run and carry...which is why we recruited him.
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He should be tried on the wing , I think he would be a awesome winger for us.
 
We had 2 of our best 5 mids out of the rotation & it showed through the middle of the game as we were off around the contest & got sucked into the where the ball was.

WC were able to get the ball to the outside with sharp hands, which drew our players to the ballcarrier & gave them easy access to goal side. 1st qtr & the beginning of the second we were able to win the ball on the inside, but as Fyfe, Mundy & Bradshaw we’re rested, WC gained ascendancy & we were chasing.

Get Serong & Cerra back in as part of the rotation along with Tucker’s extra game time & we will stay relevant around the ball for longer. This means we can move the ball into the forward 50 quicker with more room to move. Hopefully Tabs will be ready to go.

We have an excess of KPD & we have 42 (or whatever) players on a list for a reason. One of Cox, Hamling or Pearce have to go forward, Treacy will be a very good player, but he will get beaten against the 2nd best defender from opposing teams as an 18yo.

How far off is Logue? Him Ryan & a fit running Wilson will strengthen our defence even further allowing for more dare & turnover capabilities across half back. Our 2 best matchups for Liam Ryan were our Ryan & Logue.

The intensity of that game was far greater than any of the others & will go well for round 1 albeit the 2 injuries are going to hurt. But don’t write us off yet because WC are still a very good side & had fewer out of their best 22 than we did.
 
Kapow!!! said:
Not a good take imo. Only Cerra and Serong were out. Fyfe, Mundy, Brayshaw and Tucker were all still in.

I'm not more pessimistic about our prospects going forward...purely because I thought most people on here overrated our chances this season to begin with for the exact reason we were controlled in this game: Inexperience and still no forwardline. The only thing that changed my view of our season ahead are the injuries to Lobb and Walters.

We just won't score enough to be competitive and it's a continuing blemish on our drafting. Too many natural defenders.
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Yeah that was half a thought, didn’t mean to post it.

What I meant was, Cerra and Serong add much more than just themselves to that midfield. Also, Tucker is coming back from a lot of time off and Mundy is 35. Anyway, preseason. Only thing that matters is those injuries. Fingers crossed for Lobb.
 

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Tucker should improve after his first game in 9 months. Still has upside and is a B22 player for sure when at full tilt.
Didn’t think Mundy was that bad to be honest. 23 disposals and looked ok in traffic at times unlike quite a few others.
Hopefully Tabs was just minding himself as that was a woeful effort by him.
Looking at the defence I think Wilson is a must now in the back 6. Too many of the others are too similar, intercepting types. Wilson is the only one with run and carry as someone mentioned earlier and needs to come in. Despite all our extra defenders, when you think of players like Adam Saad and Conor McKenna, good exponents of that style of play - Wilson is the only player like that that we have.
Conca should be actually banned from kicking the ball and I’m seriously not joking. Just lockdown their best defender and if you get the ball Reece - handball to literally any other docker player immediately. A total liability kicking out of the defensive 50.
 
They are called practice matches for a reason. To blow out the cobwebs, try new combinations, and give guys opportunities and see if they can take them.

My thoughts:
Tabs - Will be fine. Blew out the cobwebs and rust from an interrupted preseason

Acres - I said in another thread I can't get past his Geelong game last year. Same issues yesterday, seemed to hear footsteps a few times.

Blakely - I'll be disappointed in the rest of the midfield group if Blakely can force his way into the side this year

Young - Played a couple of games last year before a season ending injury. Can any more expectations be placed on a player with 4 or 5 games under his belt?

Lobb - Hopefully he is OK but looked like he might be out for at least 6 weeks best case, season worst case. Interesting to see who the coaches have as plan B... Darcy/Meek interchange up forward? Cox up forward? Treacy on debut?

Put Cerra, Serong plus a few others and we look way better.
 
I thought we only got smashed once Meek ran out of puff and before that our ball movement for a quarter and a half was actually pretty good.

Also - The boys took the foot off the pedal once the injuries started mounting. I wouldn’t read much into it TBH.

Young took the game on. This is a GOOD THING. He is an elite kick but he was rusty after a long lay off. There is no way he gets dropped to Peel for doing the thing we recruited him for. When he nails those kicks we are off. He set up our best Coast to Coast goal yesterday.

Shut down Liam Ryan and we win that game. Logue and our Ryan will be big inclusions in that regard.

Deep breath people. Brad Johnson sees us as an imminent premiership contender based on the first half and he generally reads it well. We are on track and we will win the derbies that matter. Then we can all throw Canpaigner’s bookmarked quotes back at him for fun during the real stuff as an added bonus.
 
wayToGo_ said:
Liam Ryan was the difference in the two teams yesterday imo. Lock him down and their avenues to goal become a lot more limited. Not exactly rocket science given Peel realised it was the smart move against Subi back in their premiership years. Not sure why we weren't respecting how good he is by giving him so much space yesterday?
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Easier said than done. He does it all the time, not just against us. Players like him just have "it". Natural forward with all the tricks in the book. Regardless, I wouldn't bother in a scratchie, leave it until the regular season. Conca or Logue would be the options.
 
Piggy Smalls said:
I thought we only got smashed once Meek ran out of puff and before that our ball movement for a quarter and a half was actually pretty good.

Also - The boys took the foot off the pedal once the injuries started mounting. I wouldn’t read much into it TBH.

Young took the game on. This is a GOOD THING. He is an elite kick but he was rusty after a long lay off. There is no way he gets dropped to Peel for doing the thing we recruited him for. When he nails those kicks we are off. He set up our best Coast to Coast goal yesterday.

Shut down Liam Ryan and we win that game. Logue and our Ryan will be big inclusions in that regard.

Deep breath people. Brad Johnson sees us as an imminent premiership contender based on the first half and he generally reads it well. We are on track and we will win the derbies that matter. Then we can all throw Canpaigner’s bookmarked quotes back at him for fun during the real stuff as an added bonus.
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You nailed it! Once Lobb went down the boys just took it easy , you could tell in the body language when they made a mistake.
 
There was plenty to like but our achilles heel has been forward connection for about a decade. It doesn't look any better than this time last year or the 4 before it. The rest I could care less about including normally good players being spuds the whole game.

My expectations were that we might scrape into the top 10 for scoring and combined with top 4 defense makes us decent. I think we stay bottom 6 for scoring.

Lobb being out is a massive problem. He's not great most games but teams at least have to respect him. No other tall (bar maybe Cox or Fyfe) will get similar respect in the forward line. Means Tabs effectiveness goes down too.
 
I feel sorry for Lobb. I want people to be fit and healthy and it will be very unfortunate for him if he spends an extended period on the sidelines.

So what I say isn't personal to Lobb, but just how I see the forward line today.

I really don't think his absence will be a big problem for our forward line. He has been pretty damp ineffectual forward across his entire GWS/Freo career. His best contributions across his career have been as an around-the-ground ruck.

If it allows us to pump games into someone who can become a bona-fide forward (maybe Tracy, maybe a re-worked tall defender) or give space to "weaponise" Fyfe, then from a team point of view there may be a big silver lining, even though it is very unfortunate for the individual.

Now Walters on the other hand ...
 
I wish we had more info on club decisions sometimes. Would it have been that bad to have given McCarthy one more year? At least he kicked goals.

Didn't watch the game but watching the replay now, it doesn't look that bad. A lot of these players haven't played together, like for example has Pearce and Cox ever played together down back?
 
Also with the way Cox is going Port Adelaide are going to be putting a massive offer in front of him, he is exactly the player they need at the moment
 
-Sturt completes our forwardline, never have such high expectations been placed on a 3 game player, apart from maybe Hayden Young...
-Tabs is a player you just know needs a build up to be at his best
-It’s going to be difficult reconciling the fact that Chapman is a gun but * me we need some pure forwardline talent.
-“It’s never as good or as bad as it seems” and through pre-season we belted a top 8 side and just lost to a top 8 side so it’s not that bad is it?

Pass mark remains top 8 and close finals loss or a win.
 
wayToGo_ said:
Although I think Cox could be a decent forward I am not aligned with the panic and shift him forward groupthink. I'd commit to the long game. Cox is a brilliant KPD, it is where he feels most comfortable, don't fu** with it. I think there is enough potential with the players we already have available to have a more functional forward line than last year - we just need to see some improvement, not expect miracles. Give them time play together and gel. Tabs can't be worse than he was yesterday (you'd hope). I have no problem giving Treacy a Rd 1 debut. The team was off yesterday - coming into that game half way through is tough enough for a seasoned player let alone a youngster. Frederick was great yesterday - some wrote him off - shows we need to be patient with talented youngsters.
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Agreed that Cox needs to stay where he is (and also that Frederick was great).

But I can't help but feel that someone like Chapman or Watson needs to come out of defence to train as a forward. Both medium tall with agility, intercept marking skills and (mostly, from what I've seen) good decision making. Rather than moving one of our best tall defenders forward, I'd like to see improvement in the forward line through increased options to choose from, increased competition for spots — precisely a a long game strategy.

It'll never happen because of Longmuire's philosophy of having players play in their "preferred" positions. But Watson and Chapman seem to me smart and capable enough ("natural footballers") to adapt to a new role relatively quickly and effectively.
 
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