hille should have played, our fwd structure was farked without tbell fwd and jd got bent over whenever i went into the ruck.
nice to see we were friendly about giving them a spare down back for large chunks of the day, i love how it allows us to completely control the game, you know just like it did last week.
i also liked how we handballed to eachother's feet all day. that was great, even jobe got in on the act by the end of the day it was so much fun.
we also kicked over people's heads particularly well today, another tick.
the team team is so devoid and confidence and form, pretty damn frustrating going to the footy at the moment, hard to blame the players though.
we need to find something quick, and trb needs to fix the fwd line and ball movement.
Ivan, agree Hille should have played.
Our forward line structure was stuffed because we insisted on playing 7 defenders and a spud like Hansen had a picnic in Q1. Everyone knows he is hopeless 1:1 and we should have gone 7 forwards to ensure he is manned up and instructed the players to play though Hansen's opponent.
Players up the field hesitated often because we didn't have any forwards to kick to and could only see free North jumpers. This started the cycle (again) of sideways football with silly handballs & very short passes by foot.
Bizarrely, we seemed to play much better with JD in the ruck in Q4 - he was now worse than Bellchambers in the ruck but seemed to know instinctively where to run to and be part of the play. He must be perservered with going forward.
Dalgleish was a breath of fresh of air in 1H with his kicking and a couple of great runs from half back. Did disappear completely after half time but that's not surprising for a youngster in his first game.
Most disappointing is that North went in with their two best inside mids (Swallow, Ziebel) and best tall defender (Thompson) with both Harvey & Thomas well held by Hocking & Baguley respectively.
Pears & Hardingham are not AFL standard, that much is very, very obvious. Zaka is either not right or needs a game in the seconds to realise its a privilege, not a given right, to play in the seniors. Melksham copped that much earlier this year and came back a vastly improved player.
Nick O'Brien looked lost and unsure of what role he was meant to be playing. Jetta teased as always that he might do something but, as always, managed to choose the wrong option or execute the wrong way just when you thought he might cause the opposition some real damage.
Jobe won a lot of the ball but even he seemed to fumble occasionally. Thought he tackled well though & did seem to play better as the game went on.
I thought our work ethic, whilst still not good enough, was far better than last week. We certainly did not drop away in Q4 like last week and fought the game right out.
I do not see the point in playing Pears or Hardingham given the number of repeated stuff ups. Zaka needs a rocket via a run in the seconds. Heppell is injured and will miss I assume.
Hopefully we have all of Ryder, Hurley & Myers back to replace Pears, Hardingham & N'OB. I would also bring Kavanagh in for Heppell. Not sure whose left to bring in for Zaka given Colyer may be injured. I'd be very tempted to replace B'chambers with Hille. Three talls down back would be Carlisle/Hurley/Hooker. Three talls forward would be JD/Crameri/B'chambers (Hille).
What we seem to have, as with the last 3-4-5-6+ years is a crisis of confidence with about 6 rounds to go in the season. We have a combination of some injuries and the investigation to thank for that. We just have to keep working at it, eliminate the clanger kings (why Pears & Hardingham have to go), play 6 forwards and remember not handball to a player who is flat footed or under more pressure than you. Just the basics, that's all. There were a few brief signs during Q4 of a shadow of confidence returning but they got swamped by a few more errors. We have to hang in there and tough it out, there is no other way.