Pros:

Out tackled the opposition. Something we rarely manage.
Newman was good.
Cerra got us back in the game.
Solid return from Walsh.
Ed applied some pressure around the ball.
SOJ contested well, when forced to become back up ruck.
Hollands tried hard.
Small forwards again among the goals.

Cons:

Again badly exposed by manic spread and ball movement. We need more pace.
Somehow we weren't ready for the inevitable opening whirlwind.
Arrogant, arrogant coaching performance. We keep getting exposed by the same opposition in the same way, and we don't seem to prepare to counteract it. The 3 keys to Adelaide's ball movement are Dawson, Laird and Smith. And we allowed them to control each of those match ups. We also allowed our key rebounder (Saad) to again be shut down and exposed by Keays.
Slaughtered out of the centre bounces again.
Cripps, Hewett, Young, Plowman, Weitering, Fisher.
Forward entries were rubbish. Don't really want guys like Ed to be the final kick.
After getting a good run with the umps in recent weeks, inevitably we didn't this week.

Don’t think SOS will fix our issue of transition from defence to forward 50

Not enough pace and is a suspect kick

The player we are really missing is Williams

McGovern and Williams would have been a great combination with Saad as rebounding defenders

Pity both are injury prone and unlikely to offer what we really need

There's a lot of developing players selected for the same game imo.
Hollands Cowan Honey Motlop Durdin all learning their trade.

There's good reason to select these players and we have to acknowledge the coach sees something in all of them: a role.
Of the above, I would say Durdin is the best in many ways, followed by Hollands.
At least one must be dropped. Honey will have to make way for more experienced player.

Having said that, I don't think Honey is going to do well playing HF, until our ball movement improves.
Defensive HF is a grave yard the way the ball is moved playing 'our way'. We are too Charlie and Harry centric

I watched Fisher and Honey very carefully from a great seat at the ground.
I am convinced Honey played his role as instructed to.
He played a defensive HF role on Pedlar when he was on the ground (only 50% game time). He defended OK, but...

The role Honey played was to sit 5 metres off the marking contest and to run in and to the front and square position for the spoils.
There were no spoils. That happens in games.
The other role he had was to run back and fill holes in defence and when the ball was in our hands Honey looks to be instructed to run at speed to the fall of the ball and collect the handball running past. Often he wasnt rewarded. That happens.
I see Honey as a powerful tackler and he didnt show any of that, or was instructed to stay on the outside.

Things didnt go his way, but be mindful the 21yo was selected by Voss ahead of higher draft picks in the VFL to replace Owies, and that is a show of confidence in him regardless of what you think of him.
Just because he didn't hit the stat sheet, doesn't mean he didn't do his job. That's footy. Sometimes all the running in the world isn't rewarded. He's a developing player and who knows if he will be retained come 2024?.

I'm just saying this because its obvious to me many posters on TC and BF make judgement based on stats, and I get they don't focus on an individual in a team game, but I'm just pointing out what I saw from my vantage point, its not the fault of developing kids.

I've read most posts since the game and I haven't noticed anyone excessively bagging Honey.

That's a good thing isn't it? Have I missed your point?

Maybe you missed the point of my post BV and you're still thinking about last week's essay. I'm just sharing my observations.

Honestly why do we even bother working ourselves up when the players don't even care.

Disappointing from someone who was apparently "sick of failure" last week.

The point is following a paragraph about Josh Honey, you're saying "many posters" are "making judgements based on stats".
I've seen no evidence of that. No doubt you observe things other posters don't see but perhaps they view things you don't see. Just dismissing their opinions as being based on stats appears a tad unfair.
But good on you for going to the game and giving us your thoughts on Honey's role.

Come on Bondy….

no need for that mate…!

we’ll all sort this out together…if we don’t need each other
as supporters now…when will we…!

have a couple of days rest if you want…and freshen up
for later in the week for the big game…!

you’re a big part of TC…as is Bee Vee…!

our opinions all differ….and yet we’re on the same side…!

funny world…!


kindest regards tommi

We're not playing good footy but I wouldn't be giving away the season just yet.

Our coaches and players need to re-focus and play to our strengths. For starters, forget the bullshit of playing midfielders at half back to plug holes and play system over personnel.


Whilst Cripps was getting a flogging in the middle of the ground and the game was slipping away, Adam Cerra was filling in for Sam Docherty at half back.
Cerra has been a midfielder from day 1. He didn't train pre-season with the defenders. He doesn't know our defensive systems. That's why we drafted Cincotta.
If you're not going to use the bloke, why list him? Especially when he's coming off a 37 possession game. (And no it's not hindsight, I called for it before the game).

Cerra isn't fast but he's a lot faster than Cripps, he's tough and he runs both ways. But instead of bringing in a defender to replace Doc, we went with names instead of system. Just play Cerra, George and Kennedy at half back. What @#$%&! genius came up with that idea?
Cripps should have been removed from the midfield after the first 10 minutes. There were 11 centre bounces in the first quarter. Cripps attended 10. Adelaide kicked 8 goals.
He's great when he's on song but he's a ball hunter. He'll too often go into a contest when he probably can't win it and leaves his opponent on the outside unattended.
We need to forget the hero worshipping and make moves if the system isn't working. Cripps to the bench or forward pocket. Cerra into the middle with Ed and George and shut it down.

Play man on man in the centre square to take away the momentum.

Leadership. FFS, don't wait for the runner.

If Cripps knows he's being beaten, make the move yourself. Weitering. Don't punch the ball when you're one out. Show some balls and take a hit if it's coming. To see Hollands, Young and Weitering punch the ball when they thought contact was coming makes me sick. Same for Acres kicking the ball out of the air instead of grabbing it. Players fumbling because they feel the pressure coming.
That's the stuff I'm talking about when you play Blokes like LOB. You send a message that half hearted efforts are accepted. They're not.
Culture is more than running ability and kicking efficiency. Standards have to be set and met by everyone in the jumper.

The strategy of pushing a half forward up to the stoppages is acceptable if he's doing more damage than his opponent but unless it's Sam Walsh, I'm yet to see anyone else succeed. Sheezel looked like a world beater last week in the last quarter. My mother could get possessions running around without an opponent. Meanwhile people talk up Fisher's game last week. Look at who he played on.

Same with our strategy of running a half back into the square at centre bounces. (Doherty's role). It works for Nick Daicos so the rest of the sheep follow suit. You need to win centre clearances for it to work.
How about we come up with some strategies that allow our midfielders to win some contests without everyone coming to bail them out. If they can't, replace them.
I look at Rachele, Papley and other small mids creating havoc at centre bounces. Nimble, fast feet, clean hands. Why not give Durdin a go? He was a mid, he moves well. When your 6,7 or 8 goals down in the first quarter, the status quo needs to be re-addressed.

In saying that, we're still top 8 and we've shown we can compete against the best (Collingwood, Melbourne Rounds 22 and 23 last year)
We just need to get some flexibility into our side, start trusting players to flourish in other roles and forget the hero worshipping.
We have the talent, we just need to find the hunger. Half arsed smother attempts, piss weak tackles. It's time for Vossy to lay down the law. Our soft underbelly was exposed last night and its time to eradicate it. We're still well in the hunt if we can get some issues ironed out.

Spot on BV.

Most of you can type... I can't... Slow thumbs too
There is a million strategic things which aren't happening

My question and worry is that I could see the highlighted parts in the first 10 minutes....heck my wife said we have to clog up /tag and slow down the momentum... why can't the players and coaches...

And as for sending yhe runners out... Well... Tgere werevat least q0 opportunities to do so in the first quarter...AAARRGGG

(second quarter was better BTW, closed in the contest more... Nice if it happened 20 minutes earlier)


Go Blues

My g/f is pretty new to AFL (she has a soccer background) and has been watching with me for a few years now. Even she "gets it" and points out tactical issues as they happen. It's so @#$%&! obvious. I seriously do not understand what our coaches are doing - we seem to have reverted to playing Teague-ball.