AFL Rd 17 2023 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Fremantle

[RiverRat]

Well beaten in rucking contests but I thought the game plan for our rucks was very effective.
Harry was very good rucking up forward.
Young was very effective dropping into defence and contributed a lot at ground level.
Silvagni seemed to spend less time in the ruck but was an excellent contributor around the ground.

Freeing up Weitering, from the last line of defence, continues to pay dividends and the rest of the defenders are developing into a real collaborative team with a willingness to contribute in attacking runs.  The other big difference with the defence is the long-overdue midfield pressure on the ball carriers.  This was massive in each of the past 3 games and it really shows the difference if it drops off even a little bit.  Probably one of the reasons for Dow, LOB and Fisher languishing in the ressies.

[LoveNavy]

Lets not forget something very important about the game plan, Voss and the coaches developed it around what the players thought about how they wanted to play and what they felt best suited them. The reason for it was so that there was total buy in (ie they all owned it).

This resonates with me.
Recall much of Vossy's commentary over his tenure being about layering.
That process lends itself to creating a strong suitable foundation. From there you integrate the best the progression brings, and intervene to trim or train the rest. All the while there are many moving parts. Some are static. Some variable. Some controllable, others not so.

I know I repeat this, but consistency is crucial. Any chance we had 22 was eroded by injury when the foundations were still wet. This year may show the aspects of the various layers requiring attention. Therefore adjusting and stabilising takes time. It also causes confusion, breading anxiety for the individual.

Thinking systems, I'm hopeful we've endured the bulk of the instabilities. I'm hopeful our greatest challenge now is to maintain, sustain, and find methods to add those final touches consistently. Then we earn the right to enter the F equation.

Go Blues

[ElwoodBlues1]

Well beaten in rucking contests but I thought the game plan for our rucks was very effective.
Harry was very good rucking up forward.
Young was very effective dropping into defence and contributed a lot at ground level.
Silvagni seemed to spend less time in the ruck but was an excellent contributor around the ground.

Freeing up Weitering, from the last line of defence, continues to pay dividends and the rest of the defenders are developing into a real collaborative team with a willingness to contribute in attacking runs.  The other big difference with the defence is the long-overdue midfield pressure on the ball carriers.  This was massive in each of the past 3 games and it really shows the difference if it drops off even a little bit.  Probably one of the reasons for Dow, LOB and Fisher languishing in the ressies.

Interesting how we setup this week and how Weitering goes vs big bad Charlie Dixon, I always feel Dixon needs a second player to help Weitering as he is too much for one defender and if TDK returns it may not be at the expense of Young who I think will be needed down back.

[Milhanna13]

How hard, and important is Jack Martin! Fumbled early, but put in a great second half, his pressure is elite! (That bump!!)

And McGovern is slowly playing well (and playing each week)...  maybe our list of disaster recruits is thinning out??

[31Tommys_barber]

Went to the game and one thing stood out was the relentless tackling. We had a real appetite for the contest and body contact where earlier in the season we were playing a bit of bruise free stuff.

[LoveNavy]

Sorry for your loss LoveNavy but that would have been a lovely day for you yesterday to see your Dad's contribution remembered in such a fashion.

And then to come home to see a good win.
Groundhog day.

Thankyou.
It was indeed sweet.

To add, the rain held off all day (a rarity) and the reserves and league won in true 'never say die' fashion. The colts were going to forfeit with - 6. In true country style, a few juniors pulled on the boots and they played in the similar fashion. This is the club culture.

[kruddler]

A lot of talk about the ruck so you know i have to post the stats.

Hitouts:
Freo - 70
Carlton - 18

Centre Clearances
Freo - 9
Carlton - 8

Total clearances
Freo - 35
Carlton - 41

Hitouts to advantage
Freo - 22 (20 to Darcy)
Carlton - 4

To me that showed Darcy was most effective in the centre bounces with Freo getting more clearances from there, but our mids were clearly best on the day getting a lot from around the ground. It shows that although Freo got first use (through Darcy) our relentless pressure on the ball carrier meant that they did not get any easy possessions

In terms of individuals.
Young had 58 ruck contests, 10 hitouts, 2 to advantage - 3.4% RC-HTA%
Harry had 26, 6 and 1 - 3.8%
Jack had 20, 2 and 1 - 5%
(Darcy had 85 - 58 and 20 - 23.5%)
(Jackson had 20 - 11 and 2 - 10%)

Freo ruck stats are good.....if they are up against a recognised ruck.
They are very poor considering who their opponents were.

As an example, Pittonet vs Dogs (English w/ Lobb) had 21.6% RC-HTA. I think i read that English was in someone AA team right now.
So Pittonets ruck work vs AA ruckman is/was as good as Darcys vs nobody's.

[madbluboy]

Hitouts are useless it seems.

[kruddler]

Hitouts are useless it seems.

Which is what i've been saying all year.
Hitouts to advantage are the only thing that is worth looking at, but even that can be counteracted if you have elite pressure for the entire game, which we did.
How do you get elite pressure? Well it starts by not carrying 2 rucks!

[madbluboy]

Which is what i've been saying all year.
Hitouts to advantage are the only thing that is worth looking at, but even that can be counteracted if you have elite pressure for the entire game, which we did.
How do you get elite pressure? Well it starts by not carrying 2 rucks!

I have come around on that but unfortunately I'm going to disagree on who the one ruckman is.