Sydney Blue wrote:
Blue Vain wrote:
Sydney Blue wrote:
Worrying stat I heard today
Our midfielders of Kennedy Cerra Hewett Acres Cripps have only kicked the ball 3 times into the forward 50 where it has resulted in a mark and goal.
The way Harry and Jack kick for goal, that may be a skewed statistic.
Harry wins almost 50% of his one on one contests but then can't kick it for shit.
Yes it's amazing how stats can be manipulated.
Funny thing is Harry kicks 3 of those 11 misses he has had no one would be talking about it.
Cripps on the other hand well that is a whole new topic of conversation
Correct. By my calculation we had 10 marks inside 50 against the Saints for 1 goal! And that was kicked by a midfielder (Cerra)
Harry is terribly out of form. Lacking confidence significantly. Dropping easy chest marks. Attacking the ball up the ground but hesitant when inside 50.
Our mids were good against the Saints IMHO. They gave us every opportunity to build a winning lead by dominating play in the first half but our back half personnel and forward conversion cost us the game.
Voss is coming in for plenty of criticism but some of our strategies worked well. Wilkie had minimal effect in the first half (except when Jack kept inexplicably taking him to the contest), Ed did a job on Sinclair and forced the Saints to put him into the midfield. We were the first team to dominate them at contested possession this year and our centre clearances were back to a solid level.
IMHO, our backline failed on several levels. The Saints loaded up their forward line with small runners and we dissent have the personnel to counter it. Hill, Higgins, Butler, Gresham killed us with 8 goals/goal assists between them. Our options were Kennedy, McGovern, Cincotta, Cowan and Newman. Nic Newman has had a great year but he was poor on Sunday. His turnovers especially were very costly on the scoreboard. The Kennedy move was a MC blunder but the loss of Docherty, Saad, Williams and Boyd was significant and structurally pulled our defence apart.
I keep hearting the Saints had plenty of injuries. Out of interest, who are they? King? Who else would be a top 10 player in their team? The rest are all fringe players.
Andrew Russell has a big job ahead of him. We need continuity in our structure. Saad, Docherty and Boyd are best 22 at the moment. Martin comes in for criticism from some but he's our best pressure forward when fit. Owies has also become a best 22 player.
Cowan is a good prospect but he needed a rest weeks ago.
I can't believe we're already getting the ridiculous sack Voss calls. We led the top team at half time and really, we should have been several goals up. Had it not been for the Kennedy/Butler match up, the Saints were largely impotent. Get something back near a reasonable structure and then see how we go.