Haven’t won either of our first two games since 2012. There’s maybe one or two 1-2 starts since then. It’s just so frustrating that we had the opportunity to get a win against a garbage side and we decided to not show for 1.5 quarters. The lack of pressure, intensity and effort in that first quarter was so far off the required standard that we shouldn’t expect to beat anyone playing like that.

What do people think of Ed beginning his post-football coaching career (I'm just guessing...) by teaching Gibbons the art of being a lock-down mid?

I know Gibbo is not tall but neither were Libba/Hogg and I know it was a different era

I reckon Gibbo is so desperate to succeed as an AFL footballer, he could be taught (and be driven enough) to make it work. He's certainly more skillfull and quicker than Ed as well

2013: 0-3
2014: 0-4
2015: 0-3
2016: 0-4
2017: 0-2, 1-4
2018: 0-7
2019: 0-4
2020: 0-2 and counting.

What do people think of Ed beginning his post-football coaching career (I'm just guessing...) by teaching Gibbons the art of being a lock-down mid?

I know Gibbo is not tall but neither were Libba/Hogg and I know it was a different era

I reckon Gibbo is so desperate to succeed as an AFL footballer, he could be taught (and be driven enough) to make it work. He's certainly more skillfull and quicker than Ed as well

2013: 0-3
2014: 0-4
2015: 0-3
2016: 0-4
2017: 0-2, 1-4
2018: 0-7
2019: 0-4
2020: 0-2 and counting.

Gibbo was, the 5th mid throughout the game.
He won 5 posessions in the first, some at HB.
He gets around, as an outside mid role.

With Cripps being held by Oliver (literally) all game, Murph and Ed were too small to contain Petracca, as would Gibbo in the guts.

Its a case of horses for courses. We needed to match Petracca with a bull sized player ie Cripps.
I think we were outcoached from the first bounce.

Like. A lot. I feel we need to run Gibbo thru the middle more now, so why not kill 2 birds with one stone and give him Ed's position.

I thought Ed was moved onto Petracca sometime in the second quarter and was the one who shut him down?

Petracca did damage right up to 10 min mark on Murphy, then went to the forward line. Ed did take him on for parts,when Petracca ventured to the middle, but Petracca wasn't shut down. He kicked 2 goals and assisted 2 other goals. Petracca ran out of gas imo.

I don't think you can compare Ed and Murphy in terms of strength, there's a clear difference.

Yep. Curnow likes the physical battle and is a strong little bugger.

I agree we were outcoached form the start, matching up Petracca with Murphy made Petracca look like Koutafides.

As others have said, Murphy should not be in our starting on ball setup ever again. Wing or half forward are his caper for the rest of his career....

So, this is currently our equal best start to a season since 2013?

From memory Petracca started on Walsh, not Murphy.
Walsh was better value when he was moved to the wing. Petracca torched him in the first 10 minutes.
And yes, Ed did reduce Petraccas influence significantly.

Looks like lots of major momentum swings over the weekend. Carlton wont be happy with their first 30mins. Pies and dees struggle to get it past halfway for over a half of football. Tigers slow start on the back of slow second half against us. I doubt this will be the norm for the whole carnival. Common for first round over the years and even after byes too.
Looking forward to the rest of the games to get a true indication of where we are at.

Would like to experiment with a smaller team. Maybe only one of Caz and H. Insert some pace and excitement. Philp/Honey

I reckon we will build a decent year once we get into it. Id like to see us get more efficient and score more when we have momentum. We completely smashed the Dees for over a half but didnt get enough reward on the scoreboard. It will be something that gives us more confidence and make it easier to be consistent over 4qtrs. Im not sure harping on about slow starts and making it a major focus is going to resolve the issue long term.

From memory Petracca started on Walsh, not Murphy.
Walsh was better value when he was moved to the wing. Petracca torched him in the first 10 minutes.
And yes, Ed did reduce Petraccas influence significantly.

At centre bounces if Cripps is being a scragged and Ed Curnow is doing a tagging job without a thought of actually trying to win the ball then a bigger bodied midfielder like Petracca had a field day on his lighter framed opponents like Walsh or Murphy. Coaches did not address this at all, but the problem is they don’t really have the cattle to address this - until we have a bigger bodied midfielder who can win his share of the ball to assist Cripps, we are essentially rooted and we’ll be exploited with these perennial slow starts.

2013: 0-3
2014: 0-4
2015: 0-3
2016: 0-4
2017: 0-2, 1-4
2018: 0-7
2019: 0-4
2020: 0-2 and counting.

Your memory's going BV. Petracca started on Murph.



Crippa just shouldn't be physically matched for strength by someone of Olivers size. If he's lost strength due to the loss of body mass then that's a howler from Russell.