2018 Rd 3: Post Game Platitudes: Carlton vs Collingwood

[kruddler]

The thing I liked about him last night was that he seemed confident and attacked the ball with purpose (if that makes sense), unlike a few others. One of the few bright lights.

Made a similar comment in the in-game thread.

Never saw much in him last season. But this year he seems to be getting the pace of the game a bit better and finding confidence in a time where others cannot.

[RiverRat]

Non-contributors - time for the VFL drop:
• Polson – not ready for the big time yet
• Lamb – not a good enough player to lose focus by pushing and shoving all match
• Mullett – good impression of the invisible man

Disappointing so far:
• Kennedy – looks slow of foot and hand – hopefully the ankle injury is a factor
• Weitering – stuffed around by the match committee last year and this
• Jones + Plowman – struggling to cope with unpressured movement into the forward line

Skilled players but can we carry this many in the team?
• Fisher – best of this group so far this season
• SPS – brilliant skills but doesn’t work hard enough without the ball
• Garlett – looks the goods but needs to contribute more
• Dow – will be good but can we carry this many?

[ElwoodBlues1]

That certainly made matters a lot worse, and I'm not blaming the backline players - we just do not look like we've mastered zone defence. Over to the coaching staff.

Players guarding grass not opposing player's is what I saw.....even solid footballers like Ed Curnow look rattled and frustrated, Sidebottom carved him up but Ed looked uncertain
who to defend and where to stand, we often had mismatched players in the zone...it was more like a game of musical chairs.... when the music stops grab a player...any player?

[cookie2]

Players guarding grass not opposing player's is what I saw.....even solid footballers like Ed Curnow look rattled and frustrated, Sidebottom carved him up but Ed looked uncertain
who to defend and where to stand, we often had mismatched players in the zone...it was more like a game of musical chairs.... when the music stops grab a player...any player?

Yep and as I posted earlier EB, it let the Pies control match-ups by simply moving their players into the required patch of turf.

[ElwoodBlues1]

Non-contributors - time for the VFL drop:
• Polson – not ready for the big time yet
• Lamb – not a good enough player to lose focus by pushing and shoving all match
• Mullett – good impression of the invisible man

Disappointing so far:
• Kennedy – looks slow of foot and hand – hopefully the ankle injury is a factor
• Weitering – stuffed around by the match committee last year and this
• Jones + Plowman – struggling to cope with unpressured movement into the forward line

Skilled players but can we carry this many in the team?
• Fisher – best of this group so far this season
• SPS – brilliant skills but doesn’t work hard enough without the ball
• Garlett – looks the goods but needs to contribute more
• Dow – will be good but can we carry this many?

If you add group A and C you get seven very small or light bodied players...
The small forward lines of modern footy have messed with our taller defense, we lack quality small defenders even with Docherty in.....

[RiverRat]

Game plan - if there was one

We were so generous to the mudpies last night (or was that just inept?).

Our players generally played in such a soft defensive zone that the nearly total absence of up-field pressure allowed the opposition to deliver such advantageous foot passes that the defenders were simply not competitive. This 'plan' relies entirely on waiting for the opposition to make a skill error - instead of trying to force such an error.

Going forward, kicking long to a tall target rarely works when the forwards are outnumbered and kicking forward above the head of a small target is even less useful.

[RiverRat]

Love Cripps but his lack of pace is a worry regarding him as captain.

A few occasions last night he gave up the chase once his opponent got a few yards break on him. Not a great look for others to follow.

One particular time early in the last quarter looked terrible.....just jogged after an opponent and conceded he wasnt going to catch him.  This one looked particularly bad because the opposition fumbled the ball further up the field and Cripps' non chase meant that we were outnumbered when the ball was up for grabs.

Several of our faster players are similarly likely to give up on the chase when they don't think they will be able to catch their opponent - instead of trying to impose every possible bit of physical pressure on the man with the ball.

[ElwoodBlues1]

Game plan - if there was one

We were so generous to the mudpies last night (or was that just inept?).

Our players generally played in such a soft defensive zone that the nearly total absence of up-field pressure allowed the opposition to deliver such advantageous foot passes that the defenders were simply not competitive. This 'plan' relies entirely on waiting for the opposition to make a skill error - instead of trying to force such an error.

Going forward, kicking long to a tall target rarely works when the forwards are outnumbered and kicking forward above the head of a small target is even less useful.

We struggle when the opposing teams play the one or two tall forwards and have 4-5 smaller forward types....Tigers, GC, Pies all had the same setup same game plan, same result, same lack of nous from Bolton trying to match players up.....Zone D wont work vs a forward line based around movement/running forwards.

[RiverRat]

We struggle when the opposing teams play the one or two tall forwards and have 4-5 smaller forward types....Tigers, GC, Pies all had the same setup same game plan, same result, same lack of nous from Bolton trying to match players up.....Zone D wont work vs a forward line based around movement/running forwards.

It won't work often at all if there is no pressure applied to the kickers to force errors rather than just hoping for one.

[Jack Burton]

Exactly. At least we have a game plan, better than not having one! Zone defense, intercept mark and sweep the ball down the ground with speed to create scoring opportunities. Unfortunately that plan relies on manic pressure from small forwards and mids. Our small forwards having provided any pressure, opposition teams are just waltzing the ball out of defensive 50. And our mids are either too slow or not working hard enough, so the ball is moving very freely down the ground and our defenders are exposed