Rd 12: Post Game Purgatory: Carlton vs St. Kilda

[crashlander]

There was only one real opponent that J Steven should've had, and that is Armfield.

After having some time to reflect it was plain for all and sundry to see, too cute with the footy.

Armfield would have been a good match-up, and could have hurt them the other way with his pace. Perhaps Kieran Byrne would have been another option, even though he probably hasn't spent time as a mid much: he has the pace and the tank. But yes, we were badly out-thought on this one.

Over-possessing the pill just allowed the saints to close up space defensively and smash us on the rebound.

They put a lot of pressure on us and forced us to go backwards in possession. It was awful to see the lack of attack. But the 'Aints had done their homework and started with a spare defender.

Honestly i reckon Cripps goes 3rd man up too often, if its effective more often than not im all for it but its 50/50 at best and leaves us a man down on the ground around the stoppage.

Both Cripps and Gibbs went up as 3rd man up and each time they were ready for it. Cripps got pinged twice for throwing the ball, while St. Kilda roved each one of Gibbs' efforts. They were ready for us.

Sharking Hickeys taps was a must, didn't happen.

Our present midfield structure doesn't allow for sharking taps that are seriously to advantage. Alas, most of Hickey's taps really were to their advantage. Sometimes only St Kilda players were in the section of ground where Hickey tapped the ball to. They got a HUGE advantage out of that: none of our players was in position to defend and keep the ball in.
Hickey also rucked in a way that seemed to confuse our rucks. he often jumped up and out his hand on Kreuzer's shoulder to change direction in the air and keep him up. He was never penalized for it, so he continued it. It was very effective and hurt us in a number of ways. He even managed to interpose his body between the guy he tapped to and our mids at times.
We did NOT do our homework there. Hopefully we can learn from it and beat him next time.

Weitering should've been our 7th man in defence, not on Membrey whom i rate highly. The Irish boys were the perfect match up for him.

Probably right. Weitering has the judgement to be in the right spot at the right time, but he struggled when St. Kilda just stuck the ball down Membrey's throat. Tuohy might have been a better match, or maybe even White, as he does usually make a LOT of body contact.
Weitering lost a lot of confidence as the day went on: it was clear in his decision making and approach to his marks. It was the first time he was really towelled up and he will learn from it.

Our team structure/defence fell down, which meant our backs were inundated.

Yes. The ball moved down so quickly that nobody was in the position to support anyone else. It is the Achilles' Heel of the 'team defence' approach.
On the other hand, we moved the ball poorly and picked out St. Kilda defenders.

Kreuze has lost the ability to jump over opponents which wasn't his strength anyway but he mistimes a lot of jumps. He's great around the ground but he struggled against Hickey yesterday.

He was butchered in the middle. Having only the single ruck option hurt us very badly. Gorringe wasn't up to the task and didn't really get an opportunity to show his wares elsewhere. Kreuzer also struggled in the air: he did not take a single mark for the day.
Bolton was right a few weeks back when he said that Kreuzer was a barometer of the team. When he is competitive, we usually do well. We he isn't, we get badly beaten. He had a down day and we suffered.

We looked really bad yesterday, got beaten by a bunch of no names apart from Steven and Membrey.

No-names often seem to play well against us. I hate that. it usually means we haven't done enough homework.