Aftermatch Thoughts: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

[Nico]

Originally posted by SWANSBEST
NMWBloods

A good summary of our players , although I think that you are too hard on Saddo. IMO he went OK and took some nice relieving marks and linked well with other players. . A reasonable performance by Saddo. I am not the only one who thinks so. Please see below.



Essendon: 5.6, 7.8, 12.10, 16.12 (108)
Sydney: 4.3, 4.6, 8.7, 15.8 (98)

GOALS: Essendon: Solomon, Lloyd 3, Peverill 2, Hird, J.Johnson, Lucas, Murphy, Stanton, Dyson, Lovett-Murray, Rioli 1
Sydney: Hall 4, Williams, O?Keefe, Schneider 2, Davis, C.Bolton, Maxfield, J.Bolton, Kirk 1
BEST: Essendon: Solomon, Hird, J.Johnson, Bolton, Hille, Murphy, McPhee
Sydney: Hall, Kirk, J.Bolton, O'Keefe, Fosdike, Saddington, Williams
INJURIES: Essendon: None
Sydney: Schneider (hamstring)
CHANGES: Essendon: Bullen (calf) replaced by Misiti
Sydney: Ablett (ill) replaced by McVeigh
REPORTS: None
UMPIRES: Meredith, Ellis, Goldspink
CROWD: 38,946 at the MCG

Whoever put this together watched the game through the bottom of a glass in the pub round the corner as they surely were not at the game.

How in holy hell could they put Bolton and Fosdike in the best. Laughable.

I am staggered at my own astonishment.

[Nico]

Originally posted by barry
I would say that Goodes has a dicky groin. The way he is kicking and his form point to something wrong in that department.

Maybe that's why Roos is playing him more up front. We badly miss his run around the ground and midfield work. I believe he is the missing link in the midfield and why we are getting little drive from there.

[Nico]

The Good

Bevan - a real find. He hard at it. Put him in the midfield.
Leo Barry - great game on LLoyd. LLoyds stats were bloated by a couple of doubtful frees but Leo beat him on most one on ones.
Hall - now in top 10 in comp. As good as I have seen him play.
O'Keefe is becoming a genuine forward and maturing and more damaging with every game.

The bad

Kennelly - left his form in Ireland. Looks stiff and injured to me. Getting caught all the time and fumbling something shocking.
Bolton and Fosdike - enough is enough. I hate watching them they make so many errors.
Matthews - a real worry against good opposition. Works and kicks within too small a zone and creates no run through the midfield. Back to his mistake ridden days. Has plataued.
Why was Heath James on the ground for less than 10 minutes the whole game. At least he makes a contest.

The Worry

Goodes playing up forward just takes too much away fro our run and midfield go to options, that are about nil at the moment.

[chammond]

Originally posted by Nico

How in holy hell could they put Bolton and Fosdike in the best. Laughable.

I am staggered at my own astonishment.

The ABC commentators also mentioned Jude Bolton as among Sydney's best . . .

[ScottH]

Goodes would struggle to hit the side of a barn at the moment. Something is not right there.

And Hille was just fantastic, and we had no answer to him.

Mathews kicked to no one and out of bounds. There were a number of shockers in the 2nd Quarter. I was sitting right behind the goals and they looked ordinary. I guess that was why we kicked 0.3.

[ugg]

Just a few comments in reply

- Sure Saddo got a bit of the ball, but his main job was to stop Lucas and Lucas took some telling marks in their forward 50.
- Don't agree on Mathews, his role is to play as the sweeper, and I think he has done well earlier this season. But he is just a tad slow at times in disposing of the ball (mainly to hit the target) and he was just crunched today because of it.
- Leo did great, but we need him rebounding from halfback not playing from the goal square. The sooner Schauble returns the better our team will look.
- that best on ground list is laughable. No Bevan!

[BAM_BAM]

Good

Hall - and his bulldozing runs, my heart's in my throat each time, but he just gets away with it.
O'Keefe - his work rate didn't change much, but he was sought as an option in the first half and final quarter. Just disappointing goal kicking. Accurate shots at goal could have seen him with 5. (how big a factor is the construction work as Hall also missed some I thought he should have got?)
Bevan - This kid can play and he's got guts throwing himself into contests and backing into marks.
Barry - without the umps assistance, Lloyd would not have had much impact.
C Bolton - it's extremely difficult to nullify Hird and I wasn't expecting him to be taken out of the game, but Craig certainly got in his face. Particularly when Hird played forward.

Bad

The umpiring was shocking. There is no other word to describe it. I don't usually comment that much on the umps as usually what goes around comes around, but yesterday! But I've already wasted enough precious time on them.

Playing out to the wings most of the game. We just got lost out there. We needed to be more direct. As much as I can't stand the ten commentators, they had it right.

I was also miffed as to why Heath spent so much time on the bench.

Ugly

Pevrill. His side profile!!!!!

[Foreign Legion]

Originally posted by barry
I would say that Goodes has a dicky groin. The way he is kicking and his form point to something wrong in that department.

I reckon you're right Barry. A couple of times he was just at 3/4 pace when chasing players - one incident in the 3rd qtr I think had Goodesy jogging after a player who kicked a goal. He may have a bad corky or something like that. I asked a few "who should know" at the aftermatch and they were tight lipped about it.

It is very worrying. I also asked why we have some many BLOODY HAMMY injuries - blank looks were given!

[liz]

Originally posted by barry
I would say that Goodes has a dicky groin. The way he is kicking and his form point to something wrong in that department.

I've just forced myself to sit through the first 3 quarters of the game and have to agree that something isn't quite right with Goodes at the moment.

Just as one illustration, at the 10min 40s point of the second quarter (in case anyone else wants to check it out) he was heading for a contest and rarely got out of second gear. That meant he got to the ball much later than he should and wasn't able to control the ball. It is just one illustration of how slowly he is moving at the moment.

Has anyone seen him leap up for a mark recently. He was jumping at centre bounces but pretty half-heartedly compared to his normal style.

If he has a problem surely they need to rest him. Not just because he's becoming a liability out on the ground but because he should have another 8-10 years of top football ahead of him and playing him injured helps neither him nor the team.

[chammond]

Originally posted by lizz
I've just forced myself to sit through the first 3 quarters of the game and have to agree that something isn't quite right with Goodes at the moment.

I was so pissed off with yesterday's effort that I didn't even consider that Goodes was carrying an injury . . . but it does make sense.

All through the first half, I was consoling myself that Roos was keeping Goodes out of the game to save him for the second half . . . what other reason could there be for him constantly being 100 metres from the ball and hardly running at all?

I'm so used to seeing him find space at the MCG that it never occurred to me that he was injured . . . I just assumed he was doing it deliberately . . . how stupid is that.

Mind you, in my own defence, have a look who's on the ball when we made that final quarter surge . . .

Something certainly doesn't add up. But one thing's for sure . . . that's not the Adam Goodes I was watching last year!

[CureTheSane]

dicky groin

[Bear]

Good

These guys can be really proud of their day - Hall, Schneider, Barry, O'Keefe

Bad

The Game Plan
The fact that Roos thinks we are playing well
Saddington was again badly beaten in most important marking contests
Schneider's hammy
Maxfield's diminishing impact as a midfielder and player, for what ever reason
Kennelly slipping over the first four or five times he went near the ball

Other

Mathews - over-rated by some, but not as bad as others suggest. Just an average footballer with some good strengths and BAD weaknesses. I would choose a fully fit Fixter any day. Much harder at the contest and more reliable IMO.

Bevan - has a real go and gets the ball but needs to improve his disposal skills and decision making. Also struggles at this stage in markeing contests. Naturally is still building the belief that he is a senior AFL player so has much room for improvement which is promising.

James - why didn't he take Lloyd?? We robbed Peter to pay Paul and therefore lost the drive of Barry.

C Bolton - Gave 100% all day and did fairly well.

Umpires- forget the umpires, we didn't deserve to win because we played stupid football for 3 quarters

[liz]

Originally posted by Bear

Bevan - has a real go and gets the ball but needs to improve his disposal skills and decision making. Also struggles at this stage in markeing contests. Naturally is still building the belief that he is a senior AFL player so has much room for improvement which is promising.

Gee you're a harsh critic on a weekend when there is so much to choose from. Bevan's kicking looks awkward but I can only recall one bad kick yesterday. I know his kicking has let him down in earlier games but it looked like he was really concentrating hard yesterday and almost all his disposals hit their target.

He also took a handful of very good, pressured marks where he had to stand his ground and keep his eye on the ball. I recall Lovett-M taking a couple of very clever marks on him early and Lucas taking one over the top late in the game but those things happen to even experienced players.

[Bear]

Originally posted by lizz
Gee you're a harsh critic on a weekend when there is so much to choose from.

So on that logic no-one should single ANYTHING out to comment on??

[liz]

Originally posted by Bear
So on that logic no-one should single ANYTHING out to comment on??

That was not what I was trying to imply, merely that IMHO, based on yesterday's game your criticisms of Bevan (re his disposal and marking ability) were harsh for a player who was arguably our BOG, certainly in the top 4.