Watched the Final vs Dees today followed by replay of last night.
Sure we were missing Weitering Marchbank in defence, Walsh and Kennedy in midfield, Martin in forwadline and Williams, and they will make a huge difference to our 2024 team, but what was obviously missing in the praccy game was the appetite for the contest and closing down space. Exception was Ollie, Saad, Hewett and Harry
Vossy prefers the HHF to add numbers to midfield which leaves us one short in the forwardline. We don’t seem to have added any layer or anything new to our forward entry and bombing it high To Harry and Charlie calling for the long bomb vs 3, basically giving the ball back to Dees to start their charge forward and kick goals from turnover. Not smart against a top 4 team. The forward press wasn’t evident and Dees waltzed out with ease.
Dees changed their forward entry with diagonal kicks in forward half for forwards to lead into. Pretty obvious only Harry has a height advantage against May and Lever, and taking Harry out of the ruck provided discussion for commentators but robbed us of a genuine marking target forward. Harry is quick and should lead more. Ditto Charlie albeit not as quick as Harry.
The other thing I noticed was Pitto did not play anywhere near the contested game vs Gawn in the praccy where in the Final he crashed and bashed Gainey every chance he has and wore him down for TDK,s jump to be more effective against Gawn. A reflection of the lack of contest last night.
What happened to the forward handball we practised in the preseason and the manic run with handball. Speaking of handball we are still one of the worst skilled teams by handball; have been for 2 decades. Get Wayne Britain back to teach them
I saw a lot of players jogging yesterday, including our mids. In the Final there was more energy and a sense of urgency no one jogging. It was very not yesterday. Same for the Dees.
It’s only a praccy game.
Mad if we play Gov and Kemp on Daniher and Hipwood. They are not KPs and rarely win body on body and allow their opponent to jump freely. That wasn’t Young’s fault. I didn’t mind Young’s game. Some good spoils. A couple marks and I witnessed a dirty knee into an opponent.
Sure Kemp improved in 2nd half but imo he’s peripheral and lacks poise to play defence against good teams. Sam Durdin played his first game in a long long time and just got through in VFL. Let’s not make out he’s our saviour. He’s no better than Young. I wish he was fit enough to play whilst Weiters and Marchy are out. Lions KPs are huge and bloody quick. We might need both tall KPs. Doubt Sam is ready though.
I expect the tempo to increase next week and expect a good year from the Baggers. Move the ball quicker and stop bombing it to a 3 on 2…and Charlie should lead to open areas instead of calling for it with his nemesis May standing next to him….I hope he learns how to play against May.
Tweak it Vossy. We will learn from last night. A solid hit out against a Top 4 team before we play another top 4 team next week.
Go Blues.