Thoughts On The Freemantle Game

[Cap]

I can’t believe more has not been said about Bock, I though for his first game back he was excellent he was the only forward who consisntenly gave an option and also (apart from this apparent chase) seemed to be the only forward capable of out running his opponent.

Doughty was excellent as well, without him and Edwards early I am not sure we would have still been in the game.

VB – what a champion

Trent – played so/so but kicked 3 goals so is that considered a poor game?

I also think people are being excessivly harsh on Stevens, the midfield pressure was pathetic, its difficult enough to hold Pavlich (someone name 1 person in our team that has successfully ?) but with the ball coming in with such ease it’s a tough job.

I was impressed with Bode today his crumbing was the best I have seen from out team in along time

Poor Maric was well and truly out of his league, however will be better for the experience.

Saw the Skippy in the SANFL – must be knocking on the door.

 

[WaynesWorld19]

I also think people are being excessivly harsh on Stevens, the midfield pressure was pathetic, its difficult enough to hold Pavlich (someone name 1 person in our team that has successfully ?) but with the ball coming in with such ease it’s a tough job.

I was impressed with Bode today his crumbing was the best I have seen from out team in along time

Poor Maric was well and truly out of his league, however will be better for the experience.

Saw the Skippy in the SANFL – must be knocking on the door.

1. Stevens and the whole backline was under pressure due to the lack of midfield pressure as you say.....wouldn't blame Stevens

2. If Bode played like he did yesterday he would win me over.....a great game.....but until he can demonstrate a degree of consistency I have HUGE queries.

3. poor Maric was so stiff he could hardly leap....was not fair on the kid....poor decision making by the AFC

 

[Cap]

1. Stevens and the whole backline was under pressure due to the lack of midfield pressure as you say.....wouldn't blame Stevens

2. If Bode played like he did yesterday he would win me over.....a great game.....but until he can demonstrate a degree of consistency I have HUGE queries.

3. poor Maric was so stiff he could hardly leap....was not fair on the kid....poor decision making by the AFC

I'm not sure about decision making, I think they just got the biglands thing wrong and needed a way out.

your right on bode, he needs to keep it up, I will be interested in seeing what happens to Porplyzia and Vince next season as they are Bodes biggest threats (IMO)

 

[jenny61_99]

1. Stevens and the whole backline was under pressure due to the lack of midfield pressure as you say.....wouldn't blame Stevens

2. If Bode played like he did yesterday he would win me over.....a great game.....but until he can demonstrate a degree of consistency I have HUGE queries.

3. poor Maric was so stiff he could hardly leap....was not fair on the kid....poor decision making by the AFC

So are you saying the back line are only as good as the mid-field keeping the ball out of the oppositions forward line???? Surely they actually have to perform what they are paid to perform... ie. DEFEND.

Stevens was hopeless yesterday IMO.

I agree with you on Maric. Poor decision making on the Clubs behalf.

Some people in here are saying how slow and ineffective our mid-field is, yet many have also been saying how they have made our defense look good by keeping the ball in our forward line. I am so confused... what is it - a good mid-field (though off the ball at the moment) or a slow one????

 

[Cap]

So are you saying the back line are only as good as the mid-field keeping the ball out of the oppositions forward line???? Surely they actually have to perform what they are paid to perform... ie. DEFEND.

Stevens was hopeless yesterday IMO.

I agree with you on Maric. Poor decision making on the Clubs behalf.

Some people in here are saying how slow and ineffective our mid-field is, yet many have also been saying how they have made our defense look good by keeping the ball in our forward line. I am so confused... what is it - a good mid-field (though off the ball at the moment) or a slow one????

I think the last few weeks our midfield has looked slow due to slow decision making which has led to mistakes and often allowing the opposition to have open spaces to run into.

as for your other question. Your defensive team can be awesome but if the midfield pressure isn't there then the ball comes in more often and is better quality delivery which is hard to defend against

 

[WaynesWorld19]

I'm not sure about decision making, I think they just got the biglands thing wrong and needed a way out.

your right on bode, he needs to keep it up, I will be interested in seeing what happens to Porplyzia and Vince next season as they are Bodes biggest threats (IMO)

These boys need another level of fitness which a second PS will help but generally Iam led to believe it takes 3 full PS to really get to the fitness level required to be a midfielder in the AFL

 

[WaynesWorld19]

So are you saying the back line are only as good as the mid-field keeping the ball out of the oppositions forward line???? Surely they actually have to perform what they are paid to perform... ie. DEFEND.

Stevens was hopeless yesterday IMO.

I agree with you on Maric. Poor decision making on the Clubs behalf.

Some people in here are saying how slow and ineffective our mid-field is, yet many have also been saying how they have made our defense look good by keeping the ball in our forward line. I am so confused... what is it - a good mid-field (though off the ball at the moment) or a slow one????

Our midfield had the reputation of the hardest running in the AFL, able to apply strong defensive pressure thru the midfield causing sloppy kicks into the opposition forward lines for our defence to mop up.....and the ability to get back into defence quickly to get players behind the ball and close spaces in the opposition forward area thru zoning.

We've actually had our fast players ...Macleod, Mattner, Stiffy rebounding off the HB line.

We don't have the quickest midfield whereas West Coast do which is why they hurt us around stoppages and clearances.
We do need a Douglas type in the midfield that can provide in-side ball winning abilities yet have reasonably good footspeed.

We have a midfield currently in transition ...we are clearly not getting first hand to enough balls at stoppages and clearances ....our figures are pushed up by our tackling which causes spillages in our favour....but that still has often meant that we have been second to the ball.

ATM IMO with all the extra training we don't have the oomph to run hard in the midfield....causing missed tackles and not getting back quick enough to help the defence which is exposing them.

 

[noddy]

Our midfield had the reputation of the hardest running in the AFL, able to apply strong defensive pressure thru the midfield causing sloppy kicks into the opposition forward lines for our defence to mop up.....and the ability to get back into defence quickly to get players behind the ball and close spaces in the opposition forward area thru zoning.

We've actually had our fast players ...Macleod, Mattner, Stiffy rebounding off the HB line.
We don't have the quickest midfield whereas West Coast do which is why they hurt us around stoppages and clearances.
We do need a Douglas type in the midfield that can provide in-side ball winning abilities yet have reasonably good footspeed.

We have a midfield currently in transition ...we are clearly not getting first hand to enough balls at stoppages and clearances ....our figures are pushed up by our tackling which causes spillages in our favour....but that still has often meant that we have been second to the ball.

ATM IMO with all the extra training we don't have the oomph to run hard in the midfield....causing missed tackles and not getting back quick enough to help the defence which is exposing them.

That's where we generated our pace & run through the mid-field restrict those players to a manageable level plus negate Goodwin & our mid-field as such is found wanting in pace & creativity.


We need a fit & in form Roo & Hudson back in the middle as soon as possible.

 

[Stiffy_18]

So are you saying the back line are only as good as the mid-field keeping the ball out of the oppositions forward line???? Surely they actually have to perform what they are paid to perform... ie. DEFEND.

Stevens was hopeless yesterday IMO.

I agree with you on Maric. Poor decision making on the Clubs behalf.

Some people in here are saying how slow and ineffective our mid-field is, yet many have also been saying how they have made our defense look good by keeping the ball in our forward line. I am so confused... what is it - a good mid-field (though off the ball at the moment) or a slow one????

Yes and that holds true for every defence in the league. Ever heard of a saying "Great midfield covers a multitude of things"? You should have because we have been living off that saying for the past decade. Any defence is only as good as the midfield they have in front of them. You could have had Stephen Silvani (FB of the century) at his peak in there yeasterday and he would have looked ordinary.

Stevens was OK yesterday. For the life of me I can't get this crap that he has been hopeless. If he was hopeless he wouldn't be getting a game and thats a fact. Sure he will never be a star. Never be mentioned in AA debate but he is a dependable defender that will win more battles than he loses and he has done that this year.

 

[Thunderstruck]

As a team yesterday we were pathetic. There was barely any cohesiveness at all between the group. Extremely frustrating to watch, only a handful can hold their heads high like Bode and Edwards.

Everytime we got the ball in the backline we ran straight into trouble, handballing to teamates standing still, under pressure or completely missing the target altogether. The crisp, smooth run out of the backline was virtually non-existent.

Our movement into the forward line was awful, just bomb it and hope for best, no purpseful movement at all. Freo ran it out easily, and then straight back down the corridor with no pressure at all. Not bloody good enough. The general level of skill was appalling. Gone is our ability to mentally outthink and outsmart them, gone is the crisp, slick movement of the footy from back to forward, gone is the relentless pressure off the ball to hound opponents into turnovers. Freo had it too easy when they had the footy!! I know that training has been upped and Craigy predicted a slump but there is NO EXCUSE for poor skills and poor decision making. NOT ONE BIT. They need to sharpen up and quick smart and given the mounting injury toll we cant get the same team week in week out. WCE and Sydney are now ahead of us for the flag imo. We need to bounce back pronto, hopefully starting this week against the dogs. I am hoping for a complete TEAM performance, not a few standouts and the rest not contributing. I want to see that RUTHLESSNESS.

 

[Cap]

I'm sorry but i can't swallow this "extra training" routine - they are professional players - I am sure this slump is mental application and maybe a bit due to unsettled team due to injury

I would also like to add that full credit to Fremantle but we lost that game more than Fremantle won it

 

[beartoo]

Seem to remember Neil Craig making the point a few weeks ago that with the harder training regime we might drop a couple of games before the finals. We've dropped a couple of games. Keep the faith, people, the flag may yet be ours.
I agree that the spate of hammies is a worry, especially Burton's.

 

[Dandy_GO]

I'm not too concerned at the moment to be honest. We'd want to be in winning form going into the finals, but there's still a few weeks left - plenty of time. Burton is a big loss, but Huddo, from my point of view, is still the player (at the top of his game) we've missed most. The strength of our midfielders around the stoppages has been exposed in our most recent 2 losses. Hudson is a key part of our side in this area. By all reports he's on track to make it back into the side in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully he'll be able to make a difference come finals. Our forward structure hasn't been great lately either - particularly yesterday, but Roo, despite looking like crap the last few weeks, is an integral part of that now, and we'll look a hell of a lot better next week with him in. His leadership and hardness alone brings a lot to the team. Burton and possibly McGregor do leave holes in our forward line, especially with Perrie looking out of sorts, but I have no doubt we can work around it.
I think we all expected a loss here, and it was very very obvious that the team was severely fatigued. Watch Hentschel in the last quarter. He could barely sprint 10 metres. Craigy announced that we'd possibly drop a few games, and we have. We're still in a better position to win the flag than anyone. To be honest, the only team I'd seriously fear come finals would be West Coast at this point. Every side in the 8 is capable of beating us, but West Coast are the only ones who seem to have the wood over us - even when we're in form. Otherwise, I'm still very confident that we'll return to form and hopefully have a good finals series.
Next week will be the first step towards that, now that our extra training has (I believe) ended.

 

[swanfan]

As a team yesterday we were pathetic. There was barely any cohesiveness at all between the group. Extremely frustrating to watch, only a handful can hold their heads high like Bode and Edwards.

Everytime we got the ball in the backline we ran straight into trouble, handballing to teamates standing still, under pressure or completely missing the target altogether. The crisp, smooth run out of the backline was virtually non-existent.

Our movement into the forward line was awful, just bomb it and hope for best, no purpseful movement at all. Freo ran it out easily, and then straight back down the corridor with no pressure at all. Not bloody good enough. The general level of skill was appalling. Gone is our ability to mentally outthink and outsmart them, gone is the crisp, slick movement of the footy from back to forward, gone is the relentless pressure off the ball to hound opponents into turnovers. Freo had it too easy when they had the footy!! I know that training has been upped and Craigy predicted a slump but there is NO EXCUSE for poor skills and poor decision making. NOT ONE BIT. They need to sharpen up and quick smart and given the mounting injury toll we cant get the same team week in week out. WCE and Sydney are now ahead of us for the flag imo. We need to bounce back pronto, hopefully starting this week against the dogs. I am hoping for a complete TEAM performance, not a few standouts and the rest not contributing. I want to see that RUTHLESSNESS.

Yes. Thankyou. Someone echoing my thoughts.

 

[Mad Dog]

This statement can't be taken lightly.

If this is what's coming consistently in future, we won't make the preliminary final, let alone get past it. We looked a very ordinary side today.

Let me throw this one into the ring.

Prior to Craig ramping up the work-load in the past month, we were unstoppable. Our football was irresistible. We were running out games like stayers, so did we need the extra work-load??

What the extra work-load has produced to date is a loss of form, 2 losses and 4 key players breaking down with ham-string injuries.

Has Craig pulled the wrong rein, by tampering with a winning formula??

Will we re-discover the white-hot form we were in prior to a month ago??

Or has there been such a loss of confidence and self-belief, that we will go out meekly in straight sets??

The next 3 minor round games will tell us a lot about the answers to these questions.

This sums it up for me...

 

[Mad Dog]

I can’t believe more has not been said about Bock, I though for his first game back he was excellent he was the only forward who consisntenly gave an option and also (apart from this apparent chase) seemed to be the only forward capable of out running his opponent.

I agree - and I don't think it's any coincidence that he is showing fresher legs than those who have been playing all season.

We just look spent atm.......

 

[WaynesWorld19]

Stevens was OK yesterday. For the life of me I can't get this crap that he has been hopeless. If he was hopeless he wouldn't be getting a game and thats a fact. Sure he will never be a star. Never be mentioned in AA debate but he is a dependable defender that will win more battles than he loses and he has done that this year.

How did he go from being almost first choice CHB to chopped mince in so short a time???

IMO all based around team performance that can enhance or destroy player reputations

 

[freo grover]

It would be good if people could actually spell FREMANTLE!

Its not FrEEmantle

 

[beartoo]

Apologies from the entire board.

 

[Mad Dog]

It would be good if people could actually spell FREMANTLE!

Its not FrEEmantle

Fremental

meh .......WGAF

 

[beartoo]

I thought Stevens played well yesterday. Maybe a few biased people ought to take off whatever mud-coloured glasses they obviously put on when he's near the ball. Pavlich went okay, but didn't lower Stevens' colours by any means.

 

[swanfan]

It would be good if people could actually spell FREMANTLE!

Its not FrEEmantle

Got something worth griping about.

 

[Drummond]

To those who have had a crack at Van Berlo’s game either on this board or on FiveAA, I actually think he was one of the main reasons we got right back into the game in the third quarter. He had 9 possessions for the term, kicked the opening goal to spark the side and overall I thought he had a pretty good game. Sure he made some poor errors and his tackling wasn’t quite as good as we’ve come to expect, but he was influential in our third quarter revival.

And can someone please explain to me why Scott Thompson doesn’t spend more time in the middle? He often starts on the bench or across the half forward flank, while our midfield is being over powered and out muscled. He needs to be in there every single time, or at the very least when things aren’t going well.

 

[birdmanptr]

I noticed you failed to mention Bode's standout performance as our biggest forward threat today.

Cant mention him this week he only gets a run when his knockers want him dropped.

 

[arrowman]

And can someone please explain to me why Scott Thompson doesn’t spend more time in the middle? He often starts on the bench or across the half forward flank, while our midfield is being over powered and out muscled. He needs to be in there every single time, or at the very least when things aren’t going well.

Beats me. If Roo can't put in a full midfield game, surely we need Thommo in the middle for that hardness. Putting him in the forward line is robbing Peter to pay Paul IMHO. Perrie to HFF, Thommo to the midfield.