Walsh wrote:
Everything went against us that game. Wouldn't read too much into it - good lessons for Teague and the playing group.
From playing against the wind for three quarters to Geelongs scrubby kicks from clearances hitting the chest at stupid-like efficiency.
Need lots of work to be more aggressive moving the ball forward than yesterdays efforts. We desperately missed Gibbons and desperately need Papley, Martin and Coniglio.
Yep but we have to address a number of issues going forward. We continually get told the game is 90% above the shoulders and although the percentages are debatable, momentum and confidence are genuine match winners.
I love Paddy Dow but his misses early and from other culprits were absolutely critical. We had the chance to get ourselves into the game and we continually shot ourselves in the foot.
Paddy has to improve his kicking/composure or he needs to get bigger and tougher around the contest and become an inside ball winner or there won't be a role for him in the game. Harry needs a big off season as well. It's pointless having a key forward who can take strong grabs but can't convert.
6.13 to 14.6 at 3/4 time told the story. Yes Geelong were more composed and take far greater advantage of their stoppages but we dominated the game for reasonable lengths of time and kicked like shit.
We saw how conversion can kill you off or help you win games against the Bulldogs. They couldn't hit the site of a barn and as a result, we had easily our biggest win of the season. Not that we dominated the game but we took our chances and gained confidence from it.
The midfield is the other issue which I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. The reliance on 4 players not only takes a toll on them but it prevents other players from developing. When Ed went down, we bought Kennedy into the rotation. When did he last play reasonable midfield minutes with Cripps and Murphy?
Yes it will win more games playing the old heads but the youngsters will struggle to come on. If Fish and Dow aren't playing midfield in the AFL, play them there in the VFL so they can hone their craft and gain experience and confidence.
The apparent lack of ability to recruit a specialist small forward is doing my head in. Either SOS doesn't believe in the role or he can't identify one. Whichever it is or whoever is struggling to get one on our list, push them aside and give someone else an opportunity to identify one. Just dumping midfielders there and expecting to "become" a small forward isn't working. Especially when those same midfielders are not actually getting any time in the midfield to develop their midfield skills.
I agree that the misses by Dow & McKay in the first quarter were deflating. Dow had 2 opportunities which, had he nailed them, I reckon would have energised the group. And the McKay miss was as predictable as it was frustrating. Not saying we would have gone on to win the game, but I reckon it would have been a much more competitive match if we’d been within a couple of goals at quarter time.
As a team, we need to be more ruthless in capitalising on our opportunities when we have the momentum. Dow & McKay have been repeat offenders; they definitely need to address that area.
Not quite so sure about your point re: Dow & Fisher’s midfield minutes. Both had plenty of time in the midfield in the first half of the year, arguably too much. When Dow was dropped to the VFL, he played midfield. I think it was reasonable to give Dow & Fisher a block of games playing predominantly forward later the year, given our needs. I don’t think that means that will be their long term positions necessarily.
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