Toast The Positives

[BrunoV]

not to be defeatest or anything but i was talking with a few today and i was saying when i first looked at the draw i was happy to take 2-2 pre season, now we know we probably should have been 3-1 but the first month has been pleasing, time to build against some lesser opppnents.

At the end of the preseason I was hoping that we'd at least have been a competitive 0-4/1-3.

People get carried away with the record over Ross Lyon when the reality is that there have been a few flukey wins over his really good teams (and an emotion charged comeback over 2013 Freo before it hit its straps is included) and he hasn't actually coached a really good team for at least two of the last 4 years.

Freo are an imposing, disciplined team capable of brilliance on the back of some pretty special players. Good form aside we never had a right to go over there expecting a win.

 

[HirdyLannister]

Brisbane toweled us up last year in what was probably our most disappointing game of the season (although the GWS game was terrible as well), it will be interesting to see how we go up there. We should be favourite but the one thing we really haven't shown in the last decade is any kind of consistency.

The week when the ASADA interviews started, they had other issues on their minds than Brisbane.

 

[BrunoV]

I've watched Pav pretty closely (didn't see the Hawthorn game though) and the only thing missing was his kicking boots (and some delivery v GCS in the rain).

Played a lone hand against Hawthorn and kicked four. Had a case for being in the top few players on the ground.

 

[eth-dog]

Don't like Colyer that much as a player but I don't like the way we have handled him either. He is a guy who lacks touch at the best of times and this time around he was thrown into the pressure cooker having not played a game for three weeks.

Like you've said, his running is or should be elite and something that could be a real weapon for us. If it is going to work out he just needs to be left in a side that is functioning properly rather than getting a game here and there after the wheels have already fallen off.

Have not seen the game yet but his games looks pretty good by the numbers (17 disposals, 1 goal, 2 goal assists and 4 tackles) so I'll watch with interest.

He butchered the ball 4/5 times, but so did most.

 

[efcboy]

Bomber Thompson not being asked if he is coaching better than Hird.

 

[Jade]

Yeah no need for the sky is falling crap this week.

We got beat by a solid side.

Lots to like about our midfield, forward structure and depth. Our injury list is (relatively) light and we are taking a near full strength side into nine VERY winnable games. After thirteen games if we are anything less than 10-3 I'd be disappointed.

 

[militiaa]

I love the no fear attitude in all of our young blokes! Very promising.

 

[carnthedons]

Thought it was an ok effort. Lacked composure and skills but with 4 of our best ball users out (Chappy, BJ, Myers, Fletch) and no ruckman it was always going to be tough.

As said above, Gleeson is a gun. Doing the no.35 proud like Barry Young.

Thought Hurley had a dip, but was just outpointed through some very good finishing from Pav. Heppell good again but his floating kicks are starting to worry me, guess that's the thing if you get so much of the pill.

Zaka and Melksham disappointing. Zaka's really learnt to fumble in the last few weeks.

 

[Smokin]

we are taking a near full strength side into nine VERY winnable games.

why cap it at nine? we are the only team who has Freo and Hawthorn out of the way.

The rest of the season should be viewed as very winnable.

 

[Jade]

why cap it at nine? we are the only team who has Freo and Hawthorn out of the way.

The rest of the season should be viewed as very winnable.

Round 15 we face Geelong.

A LOT can (and will) change between now and then, but right now we'd start favourite for every game in between.

 

[Lance Uppercut]

I dunno about anyone else, but I'm not interested in engaging in a week of Chicken Little responses to a game between half of our side and half of Freo's side. Yes, it's disappointing, but I'm more interested in what our full side will do against their full side in September.

Firstly, full credit to Freo. Their depth is much better than ours, and their depth players like Simpson, Taberner etc. are clearly more in tune with their structures than our depth players. But I'm not reading much more into the result than a comparison between player 30 on our list and player 30 on their list.

On the other hand, for just shy of an hour in the first half, our structures were just as good as theirs, possibly even better given we were controlling play and only really getting hurt on the counter. There's plenty we can take out of that half, and that's what I think is the most important thing to bring into a run of games where we should be winning all of them. St Kilda, Collingwood, Footscray, Brisbane (H), Sydney (H) - that simply has to be 5 wins heading into the bye, then Richmond, GWS (A), Melbourne, Adelaide (H) should be another 4. Anything less than 8 wins is underselling a side which, for 14 quarters out of 16, has played top 4 standard footy.

- Joe Daniher has a crack! For a bloke with his prodigious talent, he works so hard, commits himself so fully and competes so desperately that I can't see him not succeeding at AFL level. He may not reach the standard this year, but he will, and he will soon.

- Martin Gleeson is a jet. His speed isn't something that was really pumped up post-draft, but he'd be one of our quickest over 5m for sure. His footskills and composure are just so impressive for a veteran of about 12 quarters of senior footy, and I'm certain he's now best 22.

- Michael Hurley is a natural in defence. His man was close to BOG, but despite having zero support, Hurley was in the contest all the time. Many defenders wouldn't have even been on the screen for half of Pavlich's marks, let alone making body contact. I can't wait to see the contest with Riewoldt next week, it should be an absolute cracker.

- Jackson Merrett finds space and finds the footy with absolute ease. Obviously he struggled in the second half, as did all of our outside mids (barring some junk time from Zaharakis), but in the first half, he was the everywhere man.

- Brent Stanton has been somewhere between 5th and 12th best for us in every game so far, so it was pleasing to see him really step up and dominate, especially in Goddard's absence.

- Kyle Hardingham should probably give Joey Daniher a few goalkicking lessons. 9 straight for Hardy now I believe, with every game having at least 2 goals. An absolute revelation up forward.

- Dyson Heppell is going to be a top 10 player in the competition.

All in all, there's plenty to take from this game, and despite the third and start of the fourth being a rout, when the game was competitive, we were right in it, controlling play. We played a very, very good side, and best 22 v best 22 (let us not underestimate who they had missing) I suspect we'll give them a run for their money.

outstanding post Ben. I couldn't agree more. Said elsewhere, I've rarely been less concerned with a loss. So many positives. Even more confident we're a good team after that.

 

[Despair]

Positive: We aren't Carlscum.

 

[Despair]

Round 15 we face Geelong.

A LOT can (and will) change between now and then, but right now we'd start favourite for every game in between.

Very true. If most things go our way in the form of injuries (lack of), form and development we are a serious top 4 side.

Teams rarely ever have their absolute best 22 on the park, but when we do, our best 22 is glorious.

 

[Pweter]

Heppell good again but his floating kicks are starting to worry me, guess that's the thing if you get so much of the pill.

Brent Stanton board. Would be nice if people recognised the same thing about Stanton.

 

[Vander18]

Injuries to best 22, injuries to the guys who would have replaced them, injury to pretty much our best player in the warm up, players apparently sick during the week, 2 days less preparation than Freo and 30+ degree weather....Not too concerned re the loss...so much went wrong it's hard to know what, if anything to read into it.

One thing that has concerned me for a while....we might be short on pure speed in the midfield. Think Smith and Hill at Hawthorn and Hill and D Pearce for Dockers. Think Daggers is the only guy on our list who has it.

First world problem, suspect only 2-3 teams could potentially exploit it.

 

[Andronicus]

Looks far more Doogie Howser than Barney Stinson.

 

[daffo]

The boys got a good reality check.
We're getting some stars back next week which will help.

 

[rines]

Well 12 hours + later.. and you can watch a replay and realise that we were just beaten by a better side.

Freo has better depth, as they are probably where we want to be in 2-3 years.

We were blown away with one quarter of blistering footy.. very similar to the Hawks game except this time, with key outs, the heat etc etc we couldn't mount a come back. Broke even in key stats for most of the game and there were some really good performances that probably go unnoticed in a 50+ point loss.

The key to transitioning from an 'average' side to a 'good' side is playing good footy 65% of the time. The key to transitioning from a 'good' side to a 'great' side is playing good footy 85% of the time. The key to becoming a Premiership side is playing good footy 95% of the time.

At this stage, against the best, we have played about 75% good footy.. so that puts us firmly between 'good' and 'great' which is exactly where I see us. We will be good enough to beat all below us and probably most that are around us on the ladder too.

If we were to put our best 22 against Freo's best 22 at the MCG tomorrow for a GF.. I think we would be a 40-50% chance.

 

[yaco55]

Good post Rines.

Give me a choice and I would rather beat Fremantle and lose to StKilda. It's OK to drop one or two games to bottom teams, who you won't meet in the finals, rather than dropping games to serious premiership contenders.

 

[rines]

I thought Craig letter thing was interesting.. essentially the need to 'test' yourself against the best..

ie don't get ahead of yourself belting up teams like St Kilda.. find out where you stand against the good sides.

Freo is the biggest 'pressure' team in the AFL.. and for 3/4 with no ruckmen and a depleted side.. we stood up to that pressure OK.. we can build on that.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

Freo has better depth, as they are probably where we want to be in 2-3 years.

I think this has been overstated. 'Depth' is thrown around a lot, but it's all relative to who you're playing and where your injuries are. We didn't get beaten by Simpson, Crozier, Tabaner, or C.Pearce. We got beaten because Sandilands gave their mids first use all day and we didn't have the players to go with Hill and D.Pearce. The sides respective bottom 5 players had very little to do with why we lost and they won.

 

[fishardansin]

Not such a good comparison now!

 

[rines]

I think this has been overstated. 'Depth' is thrown around a lot, but it's all relative to who you're playing and where your injuries are. We didn't get beaten by Simpson, Crozier, Tabaner, or C.Pearce. We got beaten because Sandilands gave their mids first use all day and we didn't have the players to go with Hill and D.Pearce. The sides respective bottom 5 players had very little to do with why we lost and they won.

Yes.. meaning we didn't have the ruck DEPTH to cover Ryder and TBell going down...

If you don't understand depth, list management and squad development.. then you don't understand modern footy.

It is not simply 22 v 22 anymore.. hence why the strong clubs are at the top and stay there. It is about having enough players to come in and fill roles as injuries occur.

The reality is that there are probably 10 teams that can win 'on any given day' with their best 22.. the key is execution, depth and game plan.

 

[eth-dog]

To win a premiership you need the right coaching panel, the right gameplan, the right best 22 and at least another 10 players who can come in and play their role to aplomb. It's incredibly tough.

 

[carnthedons]

To win a premiership you need the right coaching panel, the right gameplan, the right best 22 and at least another 10 players who can come in and play their role to aplomb. It's incredibly tough.

you forgot about "teh druggzzz"