AFL Rd 1 2020: Post Game Post Mortum: Carlton vs. Richmond

[townsendcalling]

They are older, more mature and confident and adapted to the ‘conditions’ straight away. We were lost until we settled. Enough positives against a very, very good team. Martin, Weitering, Docherty, Cripps, Jones (after 1/4 time) Casboult (he was enormous) SPS off limited preparation, McGovern was forced to become a presence, Murphy worked hard. Silvagni and Cunningham did little but both ended up with their quota for the night.  If you’d been told that they’d kick the first 5 and Kruezer would be cooked in the first quarter, a 10 goals defeat would not have been a surprise. I think we’re on the right track......

[crashlander]

It doesn't often happen that a team's season is over in the 1st quarter. However, if Kreuzer has broken his leg, then our season is done.
Our structural defects were on show: only one top ruckman, lack of depth in the midfield and not enough sharp small forwards.

Our tall forward can improve a lot, as the season goes on. Our ruck division, on the other hand, already looks like a point source error.
Our small forwards can improve, assuming Eddie can get fit. But our mids don't do enough (except for Cripps).
Our defence will improve as the season wears on.
Something to work with, perhaps, but our future looks grim.

[rocky]

Well I guess the positive is we played a hellava lot better after qtr time and if Jones takes his time and slots that last shot we could've been losers by only 2 goals! Who would have thunk it when they were over 50pts up.
Good job by the backline. They are not the problem. Weiters, Doc and Jones, I really thought did well. SPS good solid first game back. Simmo I'm a afraid is a liability. We have backups. Time to cut him loose.
Newnes not as bad as I thought he would be. Great first up for Martin. Levi was tremendous. Just busted his arse all night. Great game. He's turning into a real jack of all trades. Very frustrating for Kreuz. He was smashin them in the ruck. Father time has caught up with him. He looked so dejected. I feel for him.
Murphy made SO many mistakes. Cripps awesome. Ed serviceable, just can't really on his kicking.
Forward line was very poor I thought and continues to be our Achilles heel. Cunningham, waste of time. Dow, terrible. Setterfield back to his fumbling best. McG, doesn't do enough, but was probably 3 or 4 marks away from having an impact.
Fish, hmmm. Not sure.
At least we didn't fall away like we did in the practice matches.
Gives us some hope. If the season continues.

[Professer E]

I'd just about kill to get a draft freebie like Pickett... Fast,  heavy bodied,  balanced, aware in traffic,  clean hands  and a deadly user.  Instead we persist with crap trucks that tick none of those boxes and just run around fumbling, falling over,  making dumb errors, missing tackles and generally running around in a clueless manner.  And we wasted high draft picks on those blokes... Big clean out coming.

[JonDorotich]

Well I guess the positive is we played a hellava lot better after qtr time and if Jones takes his time and slots that last shot we could've been losers by only 2 goals! Who would have thunk it when they were over 50pts up.
Good job by the backline. They are not the problem. Weiters, Doc and Jones, I really thought did well. SPS good solid first game back. Simmo I'm a afraid is a liability. We have backups. Time to cut him loose.
Newnes not as bad as I thought he would be. Great first up for Martin. Levi was tremendous. Just busted his arse all night. Great game. He's turning into a real jack of all trades. Very frustrating for Kreuz. He was smashin them in the ruck. Father time has caught up with him. He looked so dejected. I feel for him.
Murphy made SO many mistakes. Cripps awesome. Ed serviceable, just can't really on his kicking.
Forward line was very poor I thought and continues to be our Achilles heel. Cunningham, waste of time. Dow, terrible. Setterfield back to his fumbling best. McG, doesn't do enough, but was probably 3 or 4 marks away from having an impact.
Fish, hmmm. Not sure.
At least we didn't fall away like we did in the practice matches.
Gives us some hope. If the season continues.

Agree with this post

To add to it, Murphy is really just a small forward now and his lack of physicality in the middle is hurting us over and over again. And all of Newman, Simpson, Dow and Curnow’s disposals/decision making is woeful - can’t win carrying that.

[31Tommys_barber]

Dow pick 3 taken after him, Uniake, cerra,Stephenson ,hunter clark,naughton, Fogarty,Ed Richards,Higgins,Oscar Allen,Tim Kelly,Liam Ryan,James worpel...........sigh maybe sos was smoke and mirrors

[kruddler]

Kreuzer going down early, along with the tigers fast start, put the result beyond doubt from the get go.

That being said, 50 points down at one point had people reaching for the remote, but i doubt anyone thought we would get it back to within striking distance.

Cripps and Doc did what we'd hope them to do. We're on the right track with them in charge.
Murphy+Ed haven't fallen off the cliff in terms of performance just yet.
Walsh was good enough.
Thats our core group performing at an acceptable level.

Weitering and Jones did well, the former was excellent.
Plowman can hold his head up IMO. Considering he had Dusty for large parts, he was not beaten as often as anyone else on the ground would've been in similar circumstances.
SPS should be played off Half back for the next 10 years. Elite disposal coming out of defence.

Our backline was relatively solid....as we'd expected from the team sheet.

Now to the forwardline....or should i say the Jack Attack.
'Jack's kicked 7 goals between them tonight.
Obviously Jack Martin was elite and exceeded most peoples expectations......and we got him for nothing thanks to SOS.
Jack Silvagni kicked 2 and should've had a 3rd (but it was gifted to someone else) as usual, tried hard.
Finally Jack Newnes managed to kick a nice long goal. More impressive IMO was his hardness and willing to stand up for his new teammates. His smarts to draw a free kick is much needed as well. Hopefully others see what i've seen in him thus far and why i've been pumping up his tires. Fills a need in our list - mature player who you can back in to play week in week out

...and cannot forget Casboult. Asked to lift after Kreuzer went down and held his end up. Kicked 2 as well.

We'll gain some confidence from that game for the season. Hopefully we get a bit of luck with injuries from here.

[Lods]

Martin will be a big asset.

One player that really impressed tonight though was SPS.
Clean and confident.
He looked really good.

[Spanner_smf2_import2]

Dow is just getting worse by the year. The inability to kick, chase, pressure or do anything meaningful for the team is an indictment on the club for playing him and Silvagni for drafting him.

The guy does not belong on an AFL field. He is totally out of his league.

F@cking horrible.

[Inboltswetrust]

Our outside ball distributors - Setterfield,  Dow,  Fisher and Newman stunk.  To the point where I'd be happy if none played seniors again, ever.    Dow is clueless,  zero awareness, real worry that bloke.  These blokes can't get it,  can't use it and apply F all pressure on the other mob when they have  it.  Murphy did better,  he at least got the pill,  but his use stank.  Curnow tried but his use was awful.    So many ineffective players, can't carry so many passengers.

Big loss was Kreuzer,  if it's a foot that might be the end unfortunately.  Levi very serviceable,  at least gives us a presence around the ground.  Before getting injured Kreuzer looked cooked.

Plowman was hopelessly out pointed,  but at least we have Willo as cover.  I don't see how we're going to fix that midfield though,  it is so far off AFL standard it's embarrassing.  Time to give some of the supposedly talented kids a rocket.

Good post.  Agree with all your comments here.  Especially with regard to the 'poor use' our mids give us.  Kernow and Murphy basically need to be replaced in the midfield with 2 excellent ball users.  E.g Coniglio etc.  If we can't get a player the ilk of that, then we need to try something different to get some class in there...e.g maybe play dok there, or obrien etc.  At least they kick well.    Nunes was poor with his feet.  Will not survive doing that with only 11 possesions.  Dow is awful. Worst number 3 draft pick i've seen.  For that pick alone, I totally understand why SOS is no longer at the club.  Throw in Setterfield, lazy cunningham, lazy mcgovern, plowman (yes Plowman, the one that small forwards always take apart but they keep playing him) and a few others and it is no wonder we were blown away by 40 at half time.  I was thrilled with Martin (real class), crippa and seton played well, although i'd like his 19 touches to be 24.  Frustrated because we have some good players now, unfortunately the spuds need to go so we are not let down by them.