Football Department Review

[LP]

The whole team is confused EB. 

I don’t accept that our list is rubbish or that there’s a cultural problem.  We’re not challenging for the eight because our selectors are influenced more by what’s good for boosting membership numbers and protecting reputations than winning games.  How else does Jack Martin get games?

I've been arguing this for some time and get howled down, some even casting racism aspersions. But exclude one good debut game and his stats are softer than LoB.

[Baggers]

The whole team is confused EB. 

I don’t accept that our list is rubbish or that there’s a cultural problem.  We’re not challenging for the eight because our selectors are influenced more by what’s good for boosting membership numbers and protecting reputations than winning games.  How else does Jack Martin get games?

The coach needs to lift his game at pressers, admit that his gameplan isn’t working, tweak it where possible, and insist that team selection is based on merit.

The coach deserves nothing more than what he and his assistants put into the team and I think that Teague has a way to go before he can expect his team to match it with the better sides.

Take last week’s game; our best player was subjected to a hard tag and had no influence at all until he was moved to the wing for the last quarter.  It’s not the players’ fault that the coaches haven’t anticipated the hard tag and come up with tactics to defeat it.

The coach gets what he deserves and he needs to lift his game.

Yep.

The question I ask myself is how come The TT is only now throwing around the word 'passion'? How come we're only now playing with vigour, commitment, defensive intent and passion? Where was this round 1 to kick off the season with? Where was this round 2 when we were coming off a loss and playing a traditional rival? Where was this against a decimated Weagles, a struggling GWS? How come only now are we waking up to the truism of probably the number 1 attitude you want your blokes to play with - passion, ruthless intent, etc? The best strategies in the world won't work without these inner fires burning and motivating blokes. How come only now are we beginning to be not so nice? These are the things I suspect the review will answer.

Until only recently we've not played with enough passion or respect for the defensive side of the game. The Pussycats will sure test how fair-dinkum our passion is this weekend.

[LP]

Hard to play with passion when you are turning it over too much, it's demoralising.

It takes a lot of experience to be able to let go of your mistakes and remain positive, we don't have anywhere near that level of experience yet. It's probably the main reason to persist with guys like Betts and sMurph, because they can impart some perspective and resilience on the kids. I think Jones improvement is in part due to this accumulation of age based experience, you can communicate it but you can't reallly teach it, players have to learn to recognise it in their own game. Cripps still doesn't have it, you can see in the way he panics with the football that he is yet to deal with the accumulated pressure of mistakes. Walsh is an exception, he had this from day one, Weitering is just starting to to get hold of the concept now.

The bad thing from a team perspective, is that the negativity can be contagious, it takes a deliberate concerted effort to block out those thoughts and get on with the next contest.

[Lods]

I'll ask the question, and I'm not sure I really know  the answer...but are we playing  a lot differently to the way we were playing  before  the bye?
Some of the same lapses and mistakes are still there. Is it the fact that we're  winning means that we're  witnessing what looks like a rise in confidence and passion. If Freo had run over the top of us I suspect we'd  be seeing things in a vastly different  light. As Kruddler's been pointing out for some time, when we start playing teams around us rather than teams above us the wins are coming with pretty much the same play (and issues) that were part of our pre-bye games.

[Gointocarlton]

I'll ask the question, and I'm not sure I really know  the answer...but are we playing  a lot differently to the way we were playing  before  the bye?
Some of the same lapses and mistakes are still there. Is it the fact that we're  winning means that we're  witnessing what looks like a rise in confidence and passion. If Freo had run over the top of us I suspect we'd  be seeing things in a vastly different  light. As Kruddler's been pointing out for some time, when we start playing teams around us rather than teams above us the wins are coming with pretty much the same play (and issues) that were part of our pre-bye games.

To me, it seems the defenders are playing a lot closer to their man. Our defenders also dont seem to be getting isolated as much, players come across at the right time and help (eg Stocker filling the hole of a Lobb lead when he had Weiters beaten). Both Jones and Weiters also have the balance right between punching/spoiling and marking.

[Lods]

To me, it seems the defenders are playing a lot closer to their man. Our defenders also dont seem to be getting isolated as much, players come across at the right time and help (eg Stocker filling the hole of a Lobb lead when he had Weiters beaten). Both Jones and Weiters also have the balance right between punching/spoiling and marking.

Yep
I'd agree they looked more organised and definitely more supportive.
Jones (apart from a few lapses) and Weitering (outstanding) have been very good for us the last few weeks. Stocker now looks like he really belongs.
So to the next question....Is that because there has been much less pressure the last few weeks.
With less pressure you have more time to get organised and hold structures.
When  the Freo midfield got on top things suddenly didn't look as settled.
Extending it further....would players like Dow and Kennedy have been able to make the same contribution if they were playing against the Bulldogs mid-field?

I guess the point I'm getting at is, maybe we weren't as bad as we thought earlier in the season, but a few wins might have us thinking we're a little better than we really are, and skill issues and lapses aren't the issues they were.

The quality of the opposition is a huge variable.
This weeks game may tell a story.

[LP]

I'm not the sure the defenders have changed much, but the mids and onballers certainly have, which leaves less space for the defenders to cover so the whole D50 setup looks more compressed and stable.

The result of the reduced space is that you also see Jones and Weitering involved in more contested marks and less clean intercepts, but that also reduces the oppositions easy targets from turnovers. While Weiters and Jones are marking the way they are it's a good setup, but start losing contested marks and it won't seem so good. This week against Hawkins is a huge test.

Last weekend, all three of Weiters, Jones and Plowman took some ridiculously good defensive contested marks, the Freo coach would be livid, we might not see things so easy against the Handbaggers.

[PaulP]

David King reckons he is seeing a shift in how our defence works post bye :

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2021/07/04/d...ive-shift/

[LP]

David King reckons he is seeing a shift in how our defence works post bye :

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2021/07/04/d...ive-shift/

It's his way to publish an "I told you so!", "If only they had listened to me sooner!" and "I'm a genius give me a pay rise!"

The AFL Expert commentary version of fortune telling.

[Gointocarlton]

David King reckons he is seeing a shift in how our defence works post bye :

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2021/07/04/d...ive-shift/

There you go