AFL 2023 Preliminary Final Carlton vs Brisbane Post Game Prognostications

[DJC]

Walsh obviously did well enough again as he just won the AFLCA Player of the Finals.

Well-deserved!

[kruddler]

Marchbank was one of our better players on the day.  I was surprised that Kemp was omitted and Cincotta stayed in the side but not at all surprised by Marchy's selection.  Cincotta's form had really tapered off towards the end of the season and Kemp could have done his job while providing some extra marking/spoiling grunt.

As i said, i am a fan of Marchbank, but i would've played Kemp who has simply played better up to this point.
Cincotta and kemp play a different role IMO.
Whereas Marchbank and Kemp play the same role.

The two ruck combination worked really well and made life difficult for McDonald, and Daniher and Hipwood when they rucked.  Pitto might be a bit of a plodder but the King provides plenty of run and energy around the ball.  Harry was good but Charlie was well off the boil and allowed Andrews to do as he liked.  It wasn't lack of run that cost us, it was our inability to clunk marks and/or bring the ball to ground, and to make Brisbane's defence accountable.

It made life difficult, sure, but did it really work well?

Team A  vs Team B
38 vs 33 Hitouts
14 vs 7 Hitouts to advantage
14 vs 18 Disposals
2 vs 4 marks
1 vs 2 contested marks
6 vs 6 clearances
11 vs 13 pressure acts
3 vs 1 shots at goal
2 vs 0 goals
280 vs 306 meters gained
3 vs 3 tackles
104 vs 90 fantasy points
106 vs 169 Minutes played

Pretty consistent yeah?
Team A = McInerney
Team B = Pittonet + De Koning

An extra hour of game time from our 2 blokes matched McInerney on his own. They were well beaten, especially if you wanna throw in Joe Danihers efforts as backup ruck.
Take one of our rucks out and put Jack Silvagni in, and those numbers look a lot different and more in our favour IMO.

Owies and Cuningham both lost form towards the end of the season and didn't deserve a place in the team.  Yes, in form they could have made a difference, but they were both under-performing in terms of possessions, tackling, applying pressure and hitting the scoreboard.

We were too banged up and fired all of our bullets in the first quarter; hopefully a learning experience for the coaches, players and fitness staff.

Some of them were underperforming sure.
What form did Boyd have?
Kennedy?
Hollands?
Not everyone will deliver every week, but you pick a TEAM. The team who got us there was broken up for the prelim, and it showed.

Nobody will ever know if we won or not with some of the changes i suggested, but i voiced my concern the night we won against Melbourne that we didn't need Harry in the side and that Marchbank should go out too.

Ultimately, Lions were too good on the run and spread and we couldn't go with them. Had we been smaller.....

[Lods]

You can't argue with 'what-ifs'.
And yep, you can only guess on whether different players or structures would have made a difference.
That's just a personal theory.

The end result was pretty much what most of us expected, that it would be a "bridge just a little too far"
In fact the first quarter I suspect  exceeded everyone's expectations.
Play that kind of football for a more sustained period and there is no coming back for the opposition.

[Thryleon]

Our season recovery came off the back of taking risks and backing ourselves in, and now fans want safety!

Newman expressed it the best when after one game BT tried to get Newman to concede he was nervous about repeating mistakes, or trying to embarrass Newman into a concession of a mistake, but Newman told BT not a chance he'd stop taking the risks that saw our season switch around.

It's pretty easy to make retrospective judgements, but if Voss wants them to take the game on, then given what happened in the 2nd half of the season I'd say they should take the game on!

Leave the harrumphs, hand wringing and regrets to the fans.

No, I want players to know that we need multiple modes to win the game, and understanding that situations don't have an automatic good bad result.  We kept going long and quick in the preliminary final.  It wasn't on that frequently but we did it anyway, and it contributed to not being able to arrest momentum.

The one thing I learned from the grand final is that you need to be able to play catch up when it counts, slow to arrest momentum, fast when you have momentum, and above all else be able to go through those gears, recognising WHEN to do it.  The moment is one of few that sticks in my mind. 

I'm not hanging anything on anyone here but simply talking facts.

[DJC]

No, I want players to know that we need multiple modes to win the game, and understanding that situations don't have an automatic good bad result.  We kept going long and quick in the preliminary final.  It wasn't on that frequently but we did it anyway, and it contributed to not being able to arrest momentum.

The one thing I learned from the grand final is that you need to be able to play catch up when it counts, slow to arrest momentum, fast when you have momentum, and above all else be able to go through those gears, recognising WHEN to do it.  The moment is one of few that sticks in my mind. 

I'm not hanging anything on anyone here but simply talking facts.

I’m sure that’s the way we’re headed Thry … and that’s what got us over the line in a few close games.

The team will learn from that and Crippa will continue to push the envelope, when appropriate.

[LordLucifer]

1. I thought we lost it at the selection table.

Correct !!!

[LordLucifer]

We are up by 5 goals.  Second quarter, first ruck contest, Pittonet goes up against Mcinerny, free kick blown, ball in Cripps hand and he either misses the whistle (I heard it from row D in the forward pocket) and he bombs it long without looking. 

If he thought it was a free kick to Pittonet he should have quickly looked back & checked before kicking. There is no way known he didn't hear the whilstle, the umpire was only metres away.

Poor leadership, totally irresponsible & lacking in game awareness.

That was a game-changing moment that never should have happened.

[Gointocarlton]

If he thought it was a free kick to Pittonet he should have quickly looked back & checked before kicking. There is no way known he didn't hear the whilstle, the umpire was only metres away.

Poor leadership, totally irresponsible & lacking in game awareness.

That was a game-changing moment that never should have happened.

Moment Management is the current buzz term, its the new black. Coll did this better than every other club.

[LP]

That was a game-changing moment that never should have happened.

Not really, I think it has been somewhat over-dramaticised by Carlton social media.

Stuff like that happens multiple times per round, maybe even more than once per game, and the problem as a "moment to manage" it is really an issue of umpiring consistency as much as player behaviour, sometimes they call it a penalty and other times they don't, the chance of a free is arbitrary!

We saw Cripps get belted high multiple times throughout the finals series, yet I recall him only receiving one free kick for his pain. If fans want to pile on some aspect of the finals that cost us, pile on that by asking more and more public questions about why the 195cm Mid cannot get free kicks for being hit in the head inside stoppages!

[DJC]

Imagine if we had gone with one ruckman.  It doesn't matter which one because McInerney would have given either one a touch up.  Playing two rucks curbed his influence.  Playing one ruckman is virtually conceding the ruck contests, allowing McInerney to do as he likes around the ground, and giving Brisbane's midfielders a boost.

Playing one ruckman would mean rucking McKay, a role he hates and is poor at.  It also means taking McKay, our only truly competitive tall forward on the day, away from the forward line.  That would leave Charlie being double-teamed by Andrews and Gardiner ... or we could have had a cooked ruckman "resting" in the forward lne.  That would work well - not, particularly if it was Pitto.  Meanwhile, Daniher would be enjoying little opposition when he gives McInerney a breather and comes up against Harry.

So, we concede an advantage in the ruck and weaken our forward line to bring in a player to add some zip.  Who would that be?  Cuningham finished the season as if he'd had no pre-season.  Fisher did OK when brought back as a loose man in defence but forgot about the defensive part of the role.  Paddy Dow gets a few clearances but doesn't do much else.  Binns is worth considering but it would be tough to debut in a prelim.  Then there's O'Brien and Honey ... wait!

Another option is to bring in Jack Silvagni, despite his lack of match fitness.  He'd provide more of a contest than Harry and maybe get the odd clearance but he certainly wouldn't have the Big O and Daniher quaking in their boots  ...  and the first ruck would still have to do the bulk of the work against a dominant opponent.  The Silvagni as a ruck option should be sealed and labelled "for emergency use only".

I would have played Kemp in place of Cincotta.  Yes, they have different roles but Kemp is quick and agile enough to perform Cincotta's role.  The latter's form dropped off as the season progressed. That's perfectly understandable, but doesn't help when the opposition is running away from him.  Marchbank was one of our better players on the day and I don't understand the criticism of his selection.  It's a bit like the "supporters" who continually criticised Plowman and who were called out by Weitering in his season review.

Jordan Boyd did his job on the day too and his inclusion was a logical response to Brisbane's forward structure.

We didn't lose the game at the selection table, we lost it in our slump when we gave up the chance of home finals.