AFL 1st Semi Final Carlton vs Melbourne Post Game Prognostications

[LordLucifer]

Forgot to say, our entry into the forward 50 was appalling all night, we made it very hard for ourselves and played into May's hands as a result.

Vossy & Co need to address that issue and properly, Lions are beatable if we are on song.

[DJC]

Forgot to say, our entry into the forward 50 was appalling all night, we made it very hard for ourselves and played into May's hands as a result.

Vossy & Co need to address that issue and properly, Lions are beatable if we are on song.

I don't think so.

Lever and Tomlinson didn't really have to worry about opponents for much of the game and that allowed them to double and triple team Charlie and intercept at will.  Later in the game, May was able to take advantage of that and mark nearly everything that came his way.  It would have been a very different story with Harry and either of the Jacks in our forward line.

Many of our kicks into the forward 50 were precise and gave our forwards every opportunity; you couldn't get much better than Cripps to De Koning, Newman to Motlop, Cerra to Kennedy for Walsh to goal, Fogarty to Curnow, Cripps to Kennedy, Marchbank to Acres, Kennedy to Owies and Docherty to Acres. 

Melbourne had five goal assists to our ten and three of those five were handpasses.  Most of Melbourne's goals came from kicks to contests and scrambling ground ball gets.

[DJC]

I have watched the last couple of minutes several times now - and with all of the different commentaries    - and Weitering's decision to go across the ground to Hollands is critical.  Earlier in the season, I'm sure that Weitering would have gone down the line where Gawn and a couple of his buddies had an outnumber.  They win possession and it's game over.

Hollands could have gone down the corridor where Melbourne again had an outnumber.  The kick to Docherty left the Melbourne players out of position and out of gas.  Fritsch was able to go with McGovern but Acres had burnt off his opponent.  Kemp's opponent was nowhere to be seen and De Koning was free too.

And speaking of De Koning, how good was he to gather that ground ball and kick it to Kennedy for the last score?

It was a scrappy game with both sides making uncharacteristic errors, but that's the pressure of a close-fought final.

A final word about Sammy Walsh.  His form has been building all season after a relatively slow start but he took it to another level on Friday night with one of the best all round performances I have seen.  That is why there's really no comparison between him and Butters and Rozee.  Sure, they're good players, but they couldn't get close to what Sammy produced on Friday night. 

[Sub-Zero]

How stiff was Marchbank to be penalised for a near perfect tackle on Smith?

Smith bent his knees and dropped his shoulder in the best Joel Selwood style and Marchy’s arm just crept over the top of his shoulder.

“BALL!”

The commentators were unanimous too. Saying it was a bloody free kick. Joel Smith learning from his namesake, Selwood or something. Richo and BT having forward player bias or something? WTF???

[buzza]

Pickett was responsible for a lot of that dog act stuff and our players did well to stay disciplined, when you look back at the undisciplined stuff Melb did it probably cost them 3-4 goals and the match. Gawn will get the blame for touching that ball through that should have been a goal and losing Melb the game but it was Pickett imo who cost them the game with some of his early dirty work and justice was done.

Pickett wanted to be the hero when he had that low percentage shot on goal which hit the post in the last, Petracca was screaming for it and there were 2 Melbourne players running towards goal 20m  free.......selfish act.

[LordLucifer]

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-202...e8ff0f4ad6

Now we know why the Dees decided to be so physical in that first quarter.

[PaulP]

Melbourne's issue for a long while has been bad kicking for goal. The rest of their game is in pretty good order. Nothing to do with toughness. They should be smart enough not to be baited by Dermie's nonsense, but it seems not.

[blueboys_1]

https://www.carltonfc.com.au/video/14322...qgdN-tlK4Y

OMG, goosebumps for the entire 4 mins.

If you were not at the game and just watching on TV, the highlights just do not do that moment justice.
x100 times and your getting close

From where i was sitting, Q24, Doc's mark looked way more difficult than it was as the Melbourne player looked to be in front of him, and I thought oh no Melbourne was going to mark it or it would be a spoil and possibly a ball up.
It was such a superbly jugged mark.

[LordLucifer]

The decision to include Josh Schache as the sub after only two senior games this season appeared to backfire when the former Bulldog was not used, with Carlton sub Ollie Hollands making a significant impact with his outside run when he entered the game in the final quarter.

Fox Footy’s Garry Lyon described the call as “curious” while Jordan Lewis suggested Schache had potentially been included as injury cover for Max Gawn.

Goodwin confirmed as much post-game, telling reporters his inclusion had been necessary to cover for Gawn, who he confirmed had broken his big toe in the qualifying final.

“(Gawn) was never in doubt, he trained fully, but when you take one ruckman in … he had a broken big toe, but it was something he trained with all week and played with tonight,” he said.

“We just needed some coverage with our talls to make sure we could get through the game.”

The coach said he would meet with Brodie Grundy next week for a “really good conversation” about his impending departure from the club, while he said the Demons would again look at attracting players from other clubs to improve their list.

Gotta love Goodwin and his off the beam selection ideas, thanks Simon, enjoy the off-season now.

[ElwoodBlues1]

Gotta love Goodwin and his off the beam selection ideas, thanks Simon, enjoy the off-season now.

That was a shocking decision making Schache the sub and Goodwin really has lost the plot recently with some of his strategies and ideas. Recruiting Grundy has been another disaster and I cant see Goodwin lasting if he continues with these contrarian ideas.