Where are we at?

[meima]

So you're saying that we are waiting for our ruck to get into position before we bring it in?

They are using a mobile ruck that act as an extra mid or having good second effort to provide pressure to get back the ball from opposition as soon as possible . Griffin weakness is he struggle getting the ball from ground level (second effort) ,he also had problem dealing with ball coming out of freo defensive 50 , any ball he can't mark provide opportunity for opposition relaunch another attack .

 

[Freomaniac]

Mathew Lloyd says Freo is playing the worst football in the competition at the moment and he says we will finish bottom 4.

What do you all think of Lloyd's assessment?

Freo playing the worst footy at the moment? Far from it. Start of the season, only way would accept bottom 4 in 2017 was if we finished 15th with 7-8 wins. No chance in hell we will finish with 4 wins and 18 losses in 16th spot like 2016. Last year we were in free fall because so many thing went against us.

 

[Freomaniac]

Overall, we are better than where were we are this time last year. But it has been an unpredictable season. Right now, Freo are 6-6 after 12 games. This time last year Freo were 2-10.

This year, freo scored 919 points or averaged 76.5 points a game while conceding 1171 points or 97.5 points a game from 12 games

In 2016, freo scored 1574 points or averaged 71.5 points a game while conceding 2119 points or 96.1 points a game from 22 games

Given the choice if you were given 2 options....

Option 1: Belt the Lions by 83 points but lose 3 games by under 3 goals including 1 game by under a goal like freo did in 2016

Option 2: Lose to the lions at the Gabba 121-64 but win 4 games by under 3 goals including 3 games by under 1 goal like freo did in 2017.

I would take option 2 any day. Plain and simple. As I said, Freo were crap in 2016 but should of won 7-9 games, not 4. Our Recruiting an trading in the off season has contributed in freos improvement and where Freo currently sit. McCarthy gave us the winning goal vs the demons, Kersten kicked the winning goal vs the Roos. Brad Hill has been very good in the midfield. Hamling showed how he got a premiership medal at the dogs by playing well in our back line. We have given debut games to Logue, Balic, Ryan and Cox. Darcy is close to playing his 1st game too.

I was hoping Freo were going into the bye at 8-4 with a decent chance to make the finals. We are now 6-6. Freos % hasn't done us a favour. Freo need 13 wins to sneak a spot in the finals. Freo will end up with 9-10 wins.

 

[Nightrain]

Overall, we are better than where were we are this time last year. But it has been an unpredictable season. Right now, Freo are 6-6 after 12 games. This time last year Freo were 2-10.

This year, freo scored 919 points or averaged 76.5 points a game while conceding 1171 points or 97.5 points a game from 12 games

In 2016, freo scored 1574 points or averaged 71.5 points a game while conceding 2119 points or 96.1 points a game from 22 games

Given the choice if you were given 2 options....

Option 1: Belt the Lions by 83 points but lose 3 games by under 3 goals including 1 game by under a goal like freo did in 2016

Option 2: Lose to the lions at the Gabba 121-64 but win 4 games by under 3 goals including 3 games by under 1 goal like freo did in 2017.

I would take option 2 any day. Plain and simple. As I said, Freo were crap in 2016 but should of won 7-9 games, not 4. Our Recruiting an trading in the off season has contributed in freos improvement and where Freo currently sit. McCarthy gave us the winning goal vs the demons, Kersten kicked the winning goal vs the Roos. Brad Hill has been very good in the midfield. Hamling showed how he got a premiership medal at the dogs by playing well in our back line. We have given debut games to Logue, Balic, Ryan and Cox. Darcy is close to playing his 1st game too.

I was hoping Freo were going into the bye at 8-4 with a decent chance to make the finals. We are now 6-6. Freos % hasn't done us a favour. Freo need 13 wins to sneak a spot in the finals. Freo will end up with 9-10 wins.

Those options are like having to choose between death by firing squad or death by electric chair.

I think the deflating thing about the losses this season have been the manner. We showed no ticker against Port, Eagles, Crows and Lions. Game plan seemed to go out the window as soon as a little pressure was applied by the opposition. I would gladly give up four of our wins this year to have made a contest out of all of our games this year, not necessarily win them but at least show we can compete.

Whilst it seems our running game plan (when we have the ball) seems to be the area we have worked on the most, other areas like defence and strategy when we don't have the ball, skill and fitness seem to have gone backwards. Forward structure and F50 entries are still as bad as the last few years and have not improved.

If we don't improve in all areas then it doesn't matter how many wins we get this season or next; we are no closer to winning a flag.

If I have one frustration towards Lyon it is; how can we be so bad defensively? Surely our revised game plan would include an element of defence. In all our bad losses this season our defence has been non-existent, and I am not just talking about the back 6; I'm talking all over the ground.

 

[Freomaniac]

Those options are like having to choose between death by firing squad or death by electric chair.

I think the deflating thing about the losses this season have been the manner. We showed no ticker against Port, Eagles, Crows and Lions. Game plan seemed to go out the window as soon as a little pressure was applied by the opposition. I would gladly give up four of our wins this year to have made a contest out of all of our games this year, not necessarily win them but at least show we can compete.

Whilst it seems our running game plan (when we have the ball) seems to be the area we have worked on the most, other areas like defence and strategy when we don't have the ball, skill and fitness seem to have gone backwards. Forward structure and F50 entries are still as bad as the last few years and have not improved.

If we don't improve in all areas then it doesn't matter how many wins we get this season or next; we are no closer to winning a flag.

If I have one frustration towards Lyon it is; how can we be so bad defensively? Surely our revised game plan would include an element of defence. In all our bad losses this season our defence has been non-existent, and I am not just talking about the back 6; I'm talking all over the ground.

Serious question.... Which option did you enjoy more?

the 1st 12 rounds of 2016 when we lost he 1st 10 games in a row and being relentlessly copped s**t on a weekly basis and Not geeting our 1st win until round 11 vs Essendon?

The 1st 12 games of this season where we lost our 1st 2 games by 40 and 89 points yet got our 1st win vs the reigning premiers at Subiaco with a younger and more hungrier squad. No to mention the thrilling wins we got vs the Demons, Tigers and Roos.

Yeah Port, eagles, crows and Brisbane were deflating losses. Nothing was more soul destroying than that infamous round 5 home loss to Carlton last year. That loss was even worse when Sandi, Fyfe and Johnson didn't play and games in 2016 after that season.

I have said it before and I will say it again. Freo are better than a bottom 4 team that got 4 wins last year.

 

[Dormammu]

Good assessment Deathly, but what about the coaching, gameplan? Sure the players were down but
our structures, zone defense were horrid.
The coach, gameplan should also be graded, how many times were our players guarding space, as the pies
just kicked short, sliced us to pieces?
We just bombed it long going the other way, we create congestion, our forwards, tall and small uncohesive.
The midfield is a one trick pony, soft tackles, we really lack heart, hardness at the contest.
I accept there will be losses, but a lack of hardness, mentally, physically is on the coach, not the players.
Why havent we fixed our kick outs, leak so many goals? Our defense should be a strength not a liability.

It frustrates me that we don't have the knowledge to determine whether it's players incorrectly executing a well designed game plan or if they're properly executing a flawed game plan.
When you look at the media analysis in the NFL and NBA or even ARL you get a better sense of where the fault lies. In the AFL we are poorly served by our media "experts".

 

[Tazmania]

Watching the games it looks to me like the team has lost motivation. I've been thinking about it and have a sneaking suspicion that fyfe has told his team mates he's gone.

 

[Taylor]

Watching the games it looks to me like the team has lost motivation. I've been thinking about it and have a sneaking suspicion that fyfe has told his team mates he's gone.

That explains why he is playing under so much duress when he could just sit out a few weeks to protect his brand and body for the next club..

 

[meima]

That explains why he is playing under so much duress when he could just sit out a few weeks to protect his brand and body for the next club..

Either way there will be rumours.

 

[Lach72]

Something that's been annoying me strategy wise is we seem slow-minded.

Watching the Melbourne game last night (who are very good at it) is every time a point is kicked their rebounds are super quick. The guy kicking out of the square has usually kicked it before the opposition even has time to adjust.

This means even if he kicks a long bomb to the boundary line a player has spreas quick to mark it. They set up for a rebound very, very quickly.

It's not even that hard to do (be prepared for a point a RUN to space when your team mate is kicking out) but our team just is soooo slow to set up. Everyone is pretty familiar with Ibbo or Spurr taking yonks but it's a team wide thing. I think this a reason why our rebounds are so average.

Perhaps its the fact that our half backs are not quick
Jayden Hunt would be on center wing before Spurr had dusted himself off after being fifth man up to spoil his own man and leave two opponents down for the crumb

 

[M_rash]

Perhaps its the fact that our half backs are not quick
Jayden Hunt would be on center wing before Spurr had dusted himself off after being fifth man up to spoil his own man and leave two opponents down for the crumb

LOL. As Spurrs buddy, I wish I could defend him here. Alas, fair bump, play on.

 

[Freomaniac]

It frustrates me that we don't have the knowledge to determine whether it's players incorrectly executing a well designed game plan or if they're properly executing a flawed game plan.
When you look at the media analysis in the NFL and NBA or even ARL you get a better sense of where the fault lies. In the AFL we are poorly served by our media "experts".

I didn't mind David Kings opinions. Then he brought up the Osteoporosis rant or.....Rossteoporosis rant. This was late in 2015 he was partially true about our ageing squad in late 2015 when we had a lot of blokes on our list aged 28 and over.

But this is 2017 a fair few guys retired in that time. Yeah I read some sort of stat that freo has the 3rd or 4th oldest squad in the comp. But that is deceiving too. It doesn't read how many decent player that are aged 25 or under being played.

 

[FreoMonocle]

If I have one frustration towards Lyon it is; how can we be so bad defensively? Surely our revised game plan would include an element of defence. In all our bad losses this season our defence has been non-existent, and I am not just talking about the back 6; I'm talking all over the ground.

Lot's of new faces, the main squad will take time to gel, it's not like we are only bringing in 1 or 2 people. Also lot's of young players without a tank sitting on the bench are wearing out the rest of the team and they are not yet at their peak AFL skills.

 

[meima]

Lot's of new faces, the main squad will take time to gel, it's not like we are only bringing in 1 or 2 people. Also lot's of young players without a tank sitting on the bench are wearing out the rest of the team and they are not yet at their peak AFL skills.

But freo got top 3 runner in the team , b hill, sherriden and sutty .

 

[Freomaniac]

But freo got top 3 runner in the team , b hill, sherriden and sutty .

Add Stephen hill. Possibly Bennell if he returns

 

[meima]

Add Stephen hill. Possibly Bennell if he returns

Stephen is just ok , not sure about bennell.

 

[FreoMonocle]

But freo got top 3 runner in the team , b hill, sherriden and sutty .

Other teams have their top 3 runners too...

If kids are sitting on one of the 4 bench positions for 30%-40% of the game, doesn't give everyone else much of a breather. No wonder they look knackered

 

[Freomaniac]

Stephen is just ok , not sure about bennell.

Stephen Hill, along with his brother Brad is one of the quickest mids in our side.

 

[meima]

Stephen Hill, along with his brother Brad is one of the quickest mids in our side.

There is still a possibility of bottom 4 , honestly I don't mind it , as this year competition is more even . As much as I like Sean Darcy, logue,nyhuis, deluca to play i don't mind them playing for peel at all.

 

[rgauci]

Where we are at?

2006/7 off-season ultimately cost us a flag. We overrated our 2006 list, tried to top up, Tarrant and Solomon, and missed finals. We should have kept Medhurst and grabbed a key position tall (J.Riewoldt / Ben Reid) with our first pick.

I feel like history nearly repeated itself in 2015/2016 and we got lucky GWS dug their heels in. 2016/2017 was a great off season but I feel like we need 1-2 amazing off seasons to fix the holes in the list.

 

[Nightrain]

Lot's of new faces, the main squad will take time to gel, it's not like we are only bringing in 1 or 2 people. Also lot's of young players without a tank sitting on the bench are wearing out the rest of the team and they are not yet at their peak AFL skills.

I think you have oversimplified. I could buy the bolded bit if it was an issue we suffered regularly in the 3rd or 4th quarters but our defence and defensive zones were a shambles from the very start in all our bad losses.
4 new faces we have bought in are experienced heads and 2 play in the forward line.
We exhibited similar in the first 2 rounds when we were playing with the old list.

 

[sportsmaniac89]

Freo playing the worst footy at the moment? Far from it. Start of the season, only way would accept bottom 4 in 2017 was if we finished 15th with 7-8 wins. No chance in hell we will finish with 4 wins and 18 losses in 16th spot like 2016. Last year we were in free fall because so many thing went against us.

Who would you say is playing worse footy than us then?

I've just mentally gone through every team and I'm finding it hard to disagree with Lloyd.

Our football at times this season has been fantastic but that has been few and far between. Most of our football has been slow, pedestrian and lacking heart.

 

[Freomaniac]

Where we are at?

2006/7 off-season ultimately cost us a flag. We overrated our 2006 list, tried to top up, Tarrant and Solomon, and missed finals. We should have kept Medhurst and grabbed a key position tall (J.Riewoldt / Ben Reid) with our first pick.

I feel like history nearly repeated itself in 2015/2016 and we got lucky GWS dug their heels in. 2016/2017 was a great off season but I feel like we need 1-2 amazing off seasons to fix the holes in the list.

When I look back at the Chris Connolly era of 2002-7, I look back in that era mainly with frustration. 13th with 9 wins in 2002, 5th with a finals loss in 2003, narrowly missing out on finals in both 2004-5, Prelim in 2006 then Connolly was sacked in 2007. Some of the trades I look back in Anger too. Trading picks 11,27 and 43 for Josh Carr was one of them. Then when Connolly left, Our list was the most ageing squad in the league and only had 7 guys aged under 23 by 2008.

 

[Freomaniac]

Who would you say is playing worse footy than us then?

I've just mentally gone through every team and I'm finding it hard to disagree with Lloyd.

Our football at times this season has been fantastic but that has been few and far between. Most of our football has been slow, pedestrian and lacking heart.

Despite them beating us recently, Brisbane. Go look at every lions game except rounds 1 and 12. Some games they look disinterested. Carlton, North and Gold coast has played some horrible footy as well.

Yeah we are played some horrible footy, but got some results.

 

[TheMcManusNose]

Who would you say is playing worse footy than us then?

I've just mentally gone through every team and I'm finding it hard to disagree with Lloyd.

Our football at times this season has been fantastic but that has been few and far between. Most of our football has been slow, pedestrian and lacking heart.

Well I mean it depends which games you look at.

Brisbane have been pretty diabolical all season and then played a very good game against us coming off the bye. The Hawks have been oscillating 50/50 between utter trash and a reasonable imitation of their previous dominance. The Eagles played easily the most insipid game of the year against the Bombers but are probably a better side over all. Carlton were more woeful against Port than we were yet have beaten GWS. Norf and Sydney have been playing consistently better footy than us but haven't been able to buy a win at times.

Right at this second, sure we're probably the worst. On the season? Nah probably not.