Game Day West Coast V Adelaide Friday March 3rd 4.40PM @ MRP

[eaglesnutcase]

Only watched a quarter so far but a couple of the usual things are still there.
-Gaff and Sheed should be kept as far apart as possible.Too slow.
-We need to get Edwards up to speed asap as we need a big body in defence.Fogarty loves playing us.
-Much as I like Barass with him and Duggan in the side we get exposed because neither of them is a good quick short passer and neither has a right foot.
-Defensively we are still s**t in the middle.Our midfield coach needs to develop a more defensive plan. Yes NN may come back.
-We still bomb the ball forward. Yes OA is a great mark but OA is also great below his knees.
-Waterman? Meh!

 

[WA footy mad]

It wasn't the loss that worried me, it was the ball movement it was very slow & we got caught to many times in the backline with no options. Oscar Allen

12

Oscar Allen

Age

25

Ht

196cm

Wt

96kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

9.8

2star

K

6.6

3star

HB

3.2

3star

M

3.8

4star

T

2.4

4star

G

1.1

4star

No current season stats available

D

8.6

3star

K

5.8

3star

HB

2.8

3star

M

3.8

4star

T

2.0

4star

G

1.2

4star

was in the backline leading with the rest of his forward line. This is not going to help fast ball movement, so the back had to start bombing the ball to a competition i knew this game wasn't going to finish well. They need to open up the game so our backs can move the ball faster. Our forwards should have a line marked across the CHF line and they cant pass it. Same issue as last year our backs looked poor because they only had packs they could kick too. Please open the game up even if we lose our players need to have room to move so many times i saw WCE kick out to a pack only to come back faster. I would say the backs of opposition teams kicked more goals against WCE than any other team last year.

 

[Doashuey]

This thread may prove to be a fruitful quoting source this season. Lots of melts and early racking of the cue.

I dont have any great expectations this season but suspect we will do OK, injuries permitting.
The game plan issues are something we have all been concerned with for a while now, but I dont think it is as dire as what some are making out. There was some fairly clear intent to move the ball faster but we did run into a team that set up very well behind the ball and made it difficult for us to implement so we reverted to type and what we knew. I think we will take some time to get used to it and at times things might get ugly as happens with change. There were a couple of instances (Shueys awful turnover) which just looked like a team that were still unsure of where their teammates were going to be as they were working on something new. When that happens it looks very bad. Cats didnt look much early last year until the game plan clicked (not that we are at that level)
The centre clearance work was not good, so we will be up against it without NN against teams with strong midfields. Hopefully we can work out how to minimise the damage in there and force the ball wide when we dont have it or force another stoppage.

I loved what I saw from Ginby, will be in and out of the game this year but he will be an absolute best in the next 2 years. Jamo does some really good stuff at ground level, he was getting his hands to a fair few rucks as well but there is still a disconnect between him and the mids so many of his taps went to the opposition. I suspect we are looking at raw ruck that will actually end up much better than many think. Petro did some great stuff- I didnt have a lot of faith in him but I can see him being one of our most improved this year if he stays uninjured. XON- will never be A grade but I love his effort, relatively clean hands and 1%ers. Think he will be a solid role player for us and better than what some around here give him credit for.

We wont be world beaters but melting over a preseason hit out is a bit silly. Happy to give the team a good 6 week block to see if there is any game plan change.

 

[Big_Tony]

Finally got round to watching the game. We looked like a team who were still working out how to play together. There definitely was an intent to move the ball quickly in transition, but Adelaide didn't let us. They were super impressive actually, well drilled and setup. Monstered us around the contest, and that was the game.
Other than that:

• Really impressive first up hitout from Gibney. Excited about what we have there.
• Fingers crossed Petch can finally string some games together. Clearly one of our best on Friday.
• The ruck is a massive hole for us as we all new. Jamo fought well but was clearly out-classed and sized by O'Brien, no surprise there.
• Our outside players like Gaff and Chesser never really got near it for the most part because our inside mids were getting monstered. They should get much better opportunity to impact the game if our inside work can improve.

A bit of a reality check heading into the season may be a good thing. But it reminded me that we are definitely in for another "development" year.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

Adelaide are what? 5-6 years ahead of us in their rebuild?

 

[Rowan18]

Adelaide are what? 5-6 years ahead of us in their rebuild?

Arguably 3 (they missed finals in 2018 and hit bottom 4 in 2019). Makes sense that they could have a big rebound.