Unofficial Preview West Coast v Fremantle FEB 27th: Scratch Match **LIVE STREAM SAT 27th FEB 10am

[eagles rule]

Loving the melts! Keep it coming

they are keeping me up to date , missed the 3rd quarter .

 

[Eagle Wrath]

I'm starting to flip on Edwards.

Been bullish about him for a couple seasons now, but he really just doesn't look up to standard at this level. His development appears to have stalled.

Darling and JK constantly flog him in DEF, but that's hard to really gauge given their quality. He looks fairly average against other forwards in praccy games, like today.

He's terrible in the ruck, so I hope we nip that idea in the bud real quick.


Will be watching him like a hawk for the Beagles this year, because he looked bloody good at WAFL level in 2019.

Ive always wondered where this Edwards excitement has come from. Yeah he grew a bit.

 

[FreeTK]

Brander turning it on when no one is looking and it matters most.

 

[FKASC]

Well we're comparing late picks like Brayden and O'Neil, hell even Trew was a rookie pick.. to the Cockburn first rounders like Cerra, Brayshaw, Young and Serong.


Seeing big boy Treacy who was also a rookie pick, is going to be painful each week though. He looks amazing for Cockburn.

Brayden and ONeill were hardly late picks

 

[nameless]

Seeing big boy Treacy who was also a rookie pick, is going to be painful each week though. He looks amazing for Cockburn.

We'd play him on a wing

 

[WCErevival]

Brander finishes with a goal.

Final score 107 - 60

If it went another 5 minutes we probably would have won

Crowden the difference between the 2 teams

 

[Taylor]

Well we're comparing late picks like Brayden and O'Neil, hell even Trew was a rookie pick.. to the Cockburn first rounders like Cerra, Brayshaw, Young and Serong.

That's fair. The total of the draft picks of the four you mentioned is six picks higher than Xavier was drafted. That has a material impact, except if you're Melbourne.

 

[FreeTK]

Brander seemingly only comes out to play when the cameras are put away.

 

[BlueandGoldforever]

I really hope that when the season proper commences our game plan has changed from the past two seasons.
If we continue with the slow movement out of the backline coupled with kick it down the line, we will finish bottom four.

 

[groga]

Not too concerned, more disappointed that it seems we are dealing with similar issues since 2019. Really need Bailey in the squad as the second ruckman and connection between mids and fwds still a concern.

Good tough hit out with hopefully no injuries!

 

[15yearmember]

After reading 20 years of melts on here they are roughly the same as every other pre-season.

Need to definitely fold the club

 

[Sw3Et]

Anybody got stats?

 

[DigUpStupid]

I thought pre-season melts were delicious.....practice match ones are even better!

Congrats to Freo for winning the MRP Community Shield.

Don't change BigFooty.

 

[WCE_phil]

Freo clearly want it more. I hope to the lord above that bailey williams post injury is ahead of vardy as he was either completely outdone in the ruck by a zero gamer and when he did get free taps they were straight to freo boys. The team looked sloppy and well behind freo in close, freo much cleaner extracting the ball and feeding it out to advantage. Brayshaw I thought was very good and freo's younger players and fringe 22 looked much better than ours.

Of the limited amount seen our fringe 22 players don't look to really have improved at all. Freo's youngsters look much classier. Exxon has shown a bit and maybe a Redden replacement in 2-3 time (redden won't last that long but that's the peak level i have exxon pegged as).

Ainsworth looked decent in close in a couple of passages of play but my word he just can't ******* kick to the advantage of the team. A ball drop where the ball is sitting on your hand and the is outside the line of your body is just abominable. It can't be fixed, it's not some quirk.

Duggan to the midfield looks good with his intensity but again looks either rusty or that he doesn't have the footy IQ going from the middle forward. Looks much better coming from HB.

Rotham a shining light, clearly looks best 22 and building into his career. Almost a shep clone but more assured and less errors at the same age. Needs to be a bit more offensive as he has the skills.

Brander, sorry i mean Staker was all over the shop and either doesn't understand his role, isn't comfortable in it or isn't up to standard. The only positive out of him was him putting a knee into Luke Ryan (something about Ryan just pisses me off)

Liam Ryan

1

Liam Ryan

Age

27

Ht

181cm

Wt

76kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.3

3star

K

8.6

3star

HB

2.7

2star

M

3.0

3star

T

2.0

4star

G

1.3

5star

D

9.9

3star

K

8.0

3star

HB

1.9

1star

M

3.3

3star

T

1.6

3star

G

1.3

5star

D

11.4

3star

K

9.0

4star

HB

2.4

3star

M

3.8

4star

T

1.8

4star

G

1.6

5star

clearly our best on ground, everything positive from half forward to goal was coming through him. He and walters very similar with Ryan being a better mark and not a diving prick.

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

can play anywhere but lets keep him out of the ******* ruck before it destroys his body.

Senior players like Darling and Shep put out what I expected.

Hurn continues to look more and more one dimensional. Almost as though as his kicking depth slowly gets shorter he has become more unsure of opening the play and plays safe.

McGovern clearly played as though being out there was below him. Did he use his left on every kick?

Shuey looked to use his left every time bar 1 small right foot kick.

Cripps had a mare.

Cole and Nelson both pretty much what I expected. They both look best 22 but in the last couple picked. I would have Rotham ahead of both as a small to mid sized defender now.

Witherden tried opening it up but a bit like some lions games bit off a bit more than he could chew on a few occasions and his kicking depth wasn't quite as good as i'd hoped. Still needs to improve defensively. The one thing I will also say here is with a cross breeze and a first hitout for a new team I wasn't disappointed.

Langdon looked borderline best 22 as a pressure and running player. Didn't look like anything more than that though.

Barrass was meh.

Gaff and Sheed both about as much as expected but they look like a good teams fourth to 6th best mids.

Petch, ******* back yourself. The mark on the outer side 50. With his speed and the open space behind the mark he should have tried running through with a sidestep and then kicked for goal.

JJ had great intensity but didn't show much.

Ah Chee I saw very little of and what I did didn't inspire confidence.

I've missed a couple but really didn't have comments on their games.

Our gameplan doesn't seem to have improved at all, still greatly lack transition from midfield through to the forward line. However without our first choice mids we were destroyed out of the middle which makes it difficult. Also makes it hard to give a read on the forwards. Also continually beaten at the fall of the ball. Freo on the other hand looked to have made significant improvements and holding sweepers back as part of the on the mark rule. It could genuinely stop me watching footy it pissed me off that much.

We are 3 weeks out and without our best mids and Nicnat we don't look like a team that can contend. Even then I'm not sure we are at the level anymore. Our best 22 fully fit with the right gameplan are premiership contenders, but to me our best 30 (the coverage you need for a season) aren't and we don't look to have improved structurally.

Looks to me like 5th to 12th is our mark depending on whether things go our way or not. We genuinely looked impotent out of the middle. Of the top 4 that finished above us last year I question whether port can back it up, particularly as their gameplan pushes so far up, the new man on the mark rule could really hurt them. If Brisbane with their age trajectory continue to improve I see them finishing around the mark again. Richmond the incumbent and I don't see their gamestyle being hurt, Geelong have put everything on this upcoming season I think and with their inclusions if everyone is fully fit i think they are the best side in the comp. Will their lack of ruck ability or having so many older players hinder them?

I'll just leave it with two questions.
1. For all his positives in accumulating the ball and hard running is gaff actually a structural weakness in our ability to move the ball forward?
2. Do we actually have a single player who can run the ball out of defence If Duggan and Yeo are mids?

 

[TOA.]

I really hope that when the season proper commences our game plan has changed from the past two seasons.
If we continue with the slow movement out of the backline coupled with kick it down the line, we will finish bottom four.

The truth is that a bloke like Hurn is a bad culprit for the slow movement. Whenever he gets an intercept he’s slow to move it on, and despite being an amazing kick, loves to just chip it 20m to the boundary. We need him to just turn and go. If nothing is there, he’ll at least get ground. Shepard similar.

This is why we will miss Jetta because he took kicks that others won’t.

 

[Dark Sharks]

Brayden and ONeill were hardly late picks

Bah?

Brayden pick 33. O'Neil pick 28.

Well they aren't 4th rounders I guess but late 2nd is a fair difference to all these early first rounders.

Brayshaw pick 2
Cerra pick 5
Young pick 7
Serong pick 8

 

[FKASC]

Bah?

Brayden pick 33. O'Neil pick 28.

Well they aren't 4th rounders I guess but compared to these guys it's a fair difference.

Brayshaw pick 2
Cerra pick 5
Young pick 7
Serong pick 8

Compared to those they’re later picks, yeah. Tbh I wasn’t following the conversation, just thought you were comparing them to rookies like Edwards and Trew

 

[TOA.]

Bah?

Brayden pick 33. O'Neil pick 28.

Well they aren't 4th rounders I guess but late 2nd is a fair difference to all these early first rounders.

Brayshaw pick 2
Cerra pick 5
Young pick 7
Serong pick 8

Yeah, hard to compete with those sort of picks

 

[FKASC]

Yeah, hard to compete with those sort of picks

Thing is they traded out two guys who wanted to leave to get two of those high picks. Not just a case of finishing low on the ladder. Maybe our list managers need to be a bit more savvy in that regard?

 

[Dylan82]

Well that was underwhelming.

Need to pull some very large tactical strings to be within a shout of challenging this year.


Have a week now to come up with something different.

 

[WCE_phil]

As much as I hate to say it, Freo looked good. Do their young mids taper off as the season goes on and can Lobb have a full season inpact as a tall forward? They could definitely play finals. They will have a star midfield group in their prime even as fyfe retires.

The dockers with a fit Alex Pierce look to have a strong, balanced defence. All their young players look like they have something.

If the dockers back it up next week I will have money on them making the 8.

 

[FreeTK]

Well that was underwhelming.

Need to pull some very large tactical strings to be within a shout of challenging this year.


Have a week now to come up with something different.

Did you really have expectations that Simmo was going to change the game plan?

I think the disappointing thing is we didn't learn anything new about anyone. Plenty of chances for young blokes to step up and impress, and on this occasion, few of them did.

 

[eagles rule]

I've seen the whole game and not concerned at all.

Cockburn clearly want it more - which is fair enough given any win against us is good given their recent record.

WCE have been slow starters in the preseason games and the guys can go to another level ..Freo are playing close to their best footy

Freo clearly want it more. I hope to the lord above that bailey williams post injury is ahead of vardy as he was either completely outdone in the ruck by a zero gamer and when he did get free taps they were straight to freo boys. The team looked sloppy and well behind freo in close, freo much cleaner extracting the ball and feeding it out to advantage. Brayshaw I thought was very good and freo's younger players and fringe 22 looked much better than ours.

Of the limited amount seen our fringe 22 players don't look to really have improved at all. Freo's youngsters look much classier. Exxon has shown a bit and maybe a Redden replacement in 2-3 time (redden won't last that long but that's the peak level i have exxon pegged as).

Ainsworth looked decent in close in a couple of passages of play but my word he just can't ******* kick to the advantage of the team. A ball drop where the ball is sitting on your hand and the is outside the line of your body is just abominable. It can't be fixed, it's not some quirk.

Duggan to the midfield looks good with his intensity but again looks either rusty or that he doesn't have the footy IQ going from the middle forward. Looks much better coming from HB.

Rotham a shining light, clearly looks best 22 and building into his career. Almost a shep clone but more assured and less errors at the same age. Needs to be a bit more offensive as he has the skills.

Brander, sorry i mean Staker was all over the shop and either doesn't understand his role, isn't comfortable in it or isn't up to standard. The only positive out of him was him putting a knee into Luke Ryan (something about Ryan just pisses me off)

Liam Ryan clearly our best on ground, everything positive from half forward to goal was coming through him. He and walters very similar with Ryan being a better mark and not a diving prick.

Oscar Allen can play anywhere but lets keep him out of the ******* ruck before it destroys his body.

Senior players like Darling and Shep put out what I expected.

Hurn continues to look more and more one dimensional. Almost as though as his kicking depth slowly gets shorter he has become more unsure of opening the play and plays safe.

McGovern clearly played as though being out there was below him. Did he use his left on every kick?

Shuey looked to use his left every time bar 1 small right foot kick.

Cripps had a mare.

Cole and Nelson both pretty much what I expected. They both look best 22 but in the last couple picked. I would have Rotham ahead of both as a small to mid sized defender now.

Witherden tried opening it up but a bit like some lions games bit off a bit more than he could chew on a few occasions and his kicking depth wasn't quite as good as i'd hoped. Still needs to improve defensively. The one thing I will also say here is with a cross breeze and a first hitout for a new team I wasn't disappointed.

Langdon looked borderline best 22 as a pressure and running player. Didn't look like anything more than that though.

Barrass was meh.

Gaff and Sheed both about as much as expected but they look like a good teams fourth to 6th best mids.

Petch, ******* back yourself. The mark on the outer side 50. With his speed and the open space behind the mark he should have tried running through with a sidestep and then kicked for goal.

JJ had great intensity but didn't show much.

Ah Chee I saw very little of and what I did didn't inspire confidence.

I've missed a couple but really didn't have comments on their games.

Our gameplan doesn't seem to have improved at all, still greatly lack transition from midfield through to the forward line. However without our first choice mids we were destroyed out of the middle which makes it difficult. Also makes it hard to give a read on the forwards. Also continually beaten at the fall of the ball. Freo on the other hand looked to have made significant improvements and holding sweepers back as part of the on the mark rule. It could genuinely stop me watching footy it pissed me off that much.

We are 3 weeks out and without our best mids and Nicnat we don't look like a team that can contend. Even then I'm not sure we are at the level anymore. Our best 22 fully fit with the right gameplan are premiership contenders, but to me our best 30 (the coverage you need for a season) aren't and we don't look to have improved structurally.

Looks to me like 5th to 12th is our mark depending on whether things go our way or not. We genuinely looked impotent out of the middle. Of the top 4 that finished above us last year I question whether port can back it up, particularly as their gameplan pushes so far up, the new man on the mark rule could really hurt them. If Brisbane with their age trajectory continue to improve I see them finishing around the mark again. Richmond the incumbent and I don't see their gamestyle being hurt, Geelong have put everything on this upcoming season I think and with their inclusions if everyone is fully fit i think they are the best side in the comp. Will their lack of ruck ability or having so many older players hinder them?

I'll just leave it with two questions.
1. For all his positives in accumulating the ball and hard running is gaff actually a structural weakness in our ability to move the ball forward?
2. Do we actually have a single player who can run the ball out of defence If Duggan and Yeo are mids?

thanks Phil, I liked for the effort and dedication applied to this game review , personally I was a tad disappointed also but I didn`t really think we would be wound up to play a high class game ..

Now for next week I`m expecting a better and cleaner gamestyle ..

 

[FreeTK]

 

[new breed]

Dockers have the young talent for sure , WCE we have good depth in our tall younger players .,...Freo need to make the most of their squad maybe they need just a superstar ruckman ala Sandilands but see what happens Freo can stuff things beautifully at times . West Coast we can be competitive get games into younger players and still make finals Again !!!!