bondiblue wrote:
Watched the Carlton Saints game again this morning; 3rd time.
There was a lot of easy goals Saints scored: out the back.
No Carlton defender out the back on the last line.
Saints waltzed in for 5 easy goals.
That came from their hard running to be the next option ahead.
Very Richmond like: circa 2020.
Docherty had a mare of a game.
His disposal has never this bad, so I expect a heap of improvement.
The direction and positioning of the backline was missing, but I guessed Teague was trying things.
Cripps spent too much time forward and couldn't clunk them.
I expect both our leaders to step up.
Cripps as a dominant inside bull. Docherty as the sweeper and organiser.
Agree with others that Martin's touch wasn't spot on, as I thought on the night.
He presented and attacked and tackled with fierceness and showed a bit of #unt, but he too can step up round 1.
I thought Newnes wasn't great either, and played like a peripheral player.
He does give us body strength, but not speed.
I also thought the forward line pressure was weak too.
Yes there was a few tackles laid by some, but the Saints waltzed out with ease; as if we were letting them do so.
I hope our forward pressure is applied with a frenzy when in that space.
This sort of strategy requires a fantastic fitness level to maintain the pressure and run back defensively.
Then there's this corralling we have to stop doing.
Players must attack the man with the ball, maintainthe pressure to create perceived pressure.
And, its a game of centimetres, as it is kilometres, so stand the mark...not 3 metres behind it.
Make them jog backwards to give themselves room to kick...and play on.
When umpire calls play on, attack and close the space; make them hurry their kicking.
Turnovers will win this for us with Doc, Saad and Williamson gaining precious metres and breaking lines.
Setterfield was a star on the night with his hard defensive running, high marking and tackling.
I really didn't think much at all of Fogarty's output. He wasn't as good as some suggest.
Yeah he laid a few tackles, but I expect the same from every player as a minimum.
I didn't think Ed was much more superior to the other Mids, and did his job.
Ed's physical presence and pressure is great, but Walsh and Cripps offer similar grunt imo.
What stands out is other than Williams and Setterfield, the other supporting cast of mids playing cameo roles/ chop out there need to get more physical/ dirty ie Dow Cunners, Fish, Betts and Murph to spread the load.
I reckon if we step up another level we can push these Tiggers over.
4 more sleeps. Go Blues
I couldn’t agree more with most of what you have summarised.
The funny part is we lost by 4 goals. I can’t get my head around it because we weren’t good in so many areas. Interesting year coming up.