I never said he hit a target. I said he got some clearances.
Can some one tell me, is Hurleys no 1 job to stop his opponent or provide rebound?
Itās getting to the point where if weāre going to use him as completely an attacking weapon then we need to bring back in another key defender and ship off Gleeson so Hurley can play as the 3rd tall.
20 Likes
I feel I can be reasonably confident in saying that Craig Bird is not the difference between us being a top 4 threat or pinching a flag.
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Yikes
1 Like
Overall a disappointing result. Not the loss, but the magnitude. Percentage is critical to our finals chances. Our tall forwards worked brilliantly, but no other unit could say the same. Umpires hurt us, but we shot ourselves in the foot a lot.
Iāll join the selection querying. Our ātallā defenders were cut to ribbons. Hard day for Dea and Gleeson against taller guys, but it would be nice if they and Hurley could have won a marking contest. Ambrose was decent one-on-one, but gave less than Hartley the other way. Hartley was desperately required, to free up someone to be interceptor if nothing else.
McGrath did a brilliant on Betts, and I think McKenna did ok on his man. Both offered a lot of our meagre supply of run, but had some amazing stuff ups as well.
The less said about most of the midfield the better.
But back to the selectors, how on earth is Mutch, who is playing a link up outside role well at VFL level, not a better option than Colyer? Pace doesnāt matter if you donāt use it. Surely Begley was the best replacement for Raz? And why oh why is Bird never played?
Iāve been fine going for finals. But when you have multiple players who are dead weight, give well performing kids a chance.
One final thing. I donāt think it was really that close. Even during our hot periods in Q3 and Q4 I thought they were just taking the foot off the accelerator. They had too much midfield control to really allow us a major grip.
7 Likes
If howlettās tackle that was deemed ādangerousā is the future of this game, stop the ride I want to get off
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If not him, who though?
It would be good to get Begley some footy, sure, but Lav needs the games more imo.
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We essentially had one key defender tonight, and that was Ambrose.
Hurley is in the same category as Docherty and Heath Shaw. Super important rebounding defenders, but not at all key defenders.
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Did he need the five to eight games this year though?
I get that he was coming off some good VFL form, butā¦and this is just my opinion, as to who was better equipped to come into the seniors and play that roleā¦you could throw a brick and hit one.
I actually think thatās a very good idea.
Adelaide are using Lever in a very similar role. Heās KPD size, but they run Talia, Keath and Kelly to do their actual defending and let Lever just float about. Creates kind of a log jam with Hurley, Gleeson, Francis, and Ridley if we do it though.
I think both
The problem is, he is really good at one, terrible at the other
2 Likes
Pros:
Joe managed 3 without doing much.
McGrath destroyed the ābest small forward everā.
Jobe showed really good glimpses in the second half. His goal reminded me of him back in '13/'14.
Tex was well held by Paddy.
Hooker had a great second half.
Cons:
Green and Walla were really poor. Needed to lift with Raz out. Not a day for smalls.
Hurley was once again poor in 1-on-1ās. Hartley wouldāve been better suited for Jenkins.
Umpiring. So much for home ground advantage.
Lav struggled. Donāt see why we dropped him, just to bring him back without a VFL game.
Really unimpressed with BJ. Not impacting games as much as he probably should.
2 Likes
Someone explain to me what Goddard does these days? I know he racks up 25-30 most weeks but he barely impacts a game or does much that you remember or much of anything. Unless Iām missing something? I know he puts in a good game every so often but most the time heāsā¦mehā¦heās a senior player that probably doesnāt cop the flak that a lot of others do. And if anyone says anything stupid how we owe him or how he bleeds for the club or everything else intangible that means nothing on field then Iāll cry. Saying that someone is not the worst doesnāt fill me with joy, either. He should be leading out there, not just another background player.
3 Likes
Oh and can someone teach this team to spoil? How many fcking contested marks did we want to let them have? The amount of times they just plucked it with ease was embarrassing.
For about the first five minutes of the second quarter we started to flex our muscle a bit in the contest, it was encouraging. Then it all fell away suddenly and for pretty much the rest of the quarter a majority of the guys didnāt apply themselves and make things happen or so it seemed. From thereon we were well and truly playing catch up footy and no heroics could quite close the gap enough.
Genuine teams donāt switch off for extended periods and hope things will just happen and the actions of others will win the day. The lack of work ethic for most of the second quarter made me think at the time that I didnāt really want this side to squeeze into the 8 and go down in a final by ten goals. As it stands though we have two very winnable games on paper against arguably the two most out of form teams in the comp. Get it right at the selection table, win both games (possibly comfortably), no injuries, no suspensions, hope for the best elsewhere and we may just be a chance of winning a final.
I wouldnāt write us off as making the 8 til the final day of the home and away season but everyone from the coaches down will want to improve on tonight.
Ultimately beaten by a slick team and Iām not usually this harsh but I just get the feeling our hunger and will to make things happen is lacking at times.
2 Likes
Can someone send me the gif of the free kick against howlett in the last quarter for the dangerous tackle please
I couldnāt watch the game, but Iād like to know why it was paid against us
Cheers
Every single tackle on Tippa was twice as dangerous, half the time he didnāt even have the ball either
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I havenāt been able to watch the game, been out to a fundraising dinner, but from the message I received from my brother I reckon itās pretty ā ā ā ā ā ā average