Sydney V Geelong

[Foreign Legion]

Originally posted by Mike_B
A 2nd was Monty - came back from injury, didn't reinjure himself, and showed the same form as before the injury.

Yep, Monty is a keeper in my opinion, hard at it and pretty skilled too.

Here's a big call: HE IS BETTER THAN SCHNEIDER AT THE MINUTE!

[ugg]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
I don't care who does it - someone needs to. It was one of the things that cost us the game. Goodes was free but didn't have the defensive smarts to move into the goal square in the 3rd qtr to stop the goal.



No - not good. Just 'half decent' yet we were unable to beat them.

It shows that our scrappy wins over some very ordinary sides is a good indication of where we are this year. We are barely middle of the table.

Goodes can hardly turn or bend over to pick up the ball at the moment. The situations were quite different too, the Johnson goal was in the 3rd quarter, while Kirk's shot was near the end when Geelong were doign everything they could to protect their lead.

[Foreign Legion]

I would give Goodesy a week or two off - he needs it

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by ugg
Goodes can hardly turn or bend over to pick up the ball at the moment.

Then he shouldn't be on the ground. Basic football - protect the square in those situations.

The situations were quite different too, the Johnson goal was in the 3rd quarter, while Kirk's shot was near the end when Geelong were doign everything they could to protect their lead.

Nothing to do with it. Geelong had just the one man back - it's not like they had especially stacked their backline. We were in front in the 3rd qtr, trying to protect our lead in the last few minutes of the qtr, we had men back, but they were in the wrong spot.

Originally posted by Foreign Legion
Yep, Monty is a keeper in my opinion, hard at it and pretty skilled too.

Here's a big call: HE IS BETTER THAN SCHNEIDER AT THE MINUTE!

Schneider is next to useless at the moment. Needs some time in the reserves, as has been said every week since he came back and did nothing!!

[ugg]

Well I agree with you with Goodes, I'm still not sure where to play him at the moment.

Again, I still reiterate the point you can't compare the two situations. There have been times in the past where there has been a defender sitting in the goal square. Johnson's goal from a ballup meant that each defender definitely had to man up whereas Kirk's hurried kick was from open play. IIRC, Nicks earlier managed to dribble one through with no Geelong defender in sight.

Monty along with ROK were two big positives for us today. I just love his tackling and chasing, its so infectious.

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by ugg
Again, I still reiterate the point you can't compare the two situations. There have been times in the past where there has been a defender sitting in the goal square. Johnson's goal from a ballup meant that each defender definitely had to man up whereas Kirk's hurried kick was from open play. IIRC, Nicks earlier managed to dribble one through with no Geelong defender in sight.

You're right in that it is hard to compare situations. However, when the ball is only 20m out from goal, there has to be a couple of free Swans players, given we have more guys back in defence, and one of them needs to be smart enough to be back in the square for the quick kick out of the pack. As it was, Goodes was by himself and could have been that man.

[monopoly19]

Schneider - get him into the 2's. He's one of my favourite players, but adds nothing to the team at the moment. Buchanan showed him up today, I thought (although Monty could have done with keeping his feet a little more often) and it was only his first game back after Schneider's been there for 3 weeks and has done just about no improving.

O'Loughlin did a lot of running, but he's there to score goals and didn't do it. Bazza was relatively ordinary - dropped at least one mark he should have taken and missed some goals. O'Keefe was magnificent. Him and B1 were the only ones vying for BOG IMO. No-one else had much of a (positive) effect on the game.

I know Geelong are finals material, I know they haven't been beaten at Skilled, but we lost a game we should have won today. Bad kicking in the first quarter and a lapse in the last half of the 3rd quarter won them the game (with the help of some more than dubious umpiring, but I always feel like it's a bit of a cop-out to blame the umps).

Skill errors are pretty much unforgivable at this stage of the season, if you ask me. Two missed handballs consecutively at one stage (they weren't long ones either) when we were under no pressure highlighted a problem we had all day. Combine this with poor decision making (how many time can we sell someone into trouble using a handball when a kick would be more effective?) and we've got trouble.

Really, really disappointed with the game, because it was there for us to win, and we stuffed up. Too many experienced players had no effect (or an adverse one) on the game Kirk, Maxfield, B2, O'Loughlin, Goodes, Fosdike, and young guys like Ablett, McVeigh and Schneider were quiet as well.

[Foreign Legion]

Monty's biggest positive is that he tries his guts out - pure and simple.

He is pretty skilled too

[Mike_B]

Great post monopoly

[Tooth Fairy]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
What is it with Schneider and his set shots - another easy miss from in front.

terrible, terrible!

[NMWBloods]

We desperately need to do something to create a game plan that can score goals. We are in 13th place in total goals scored - averaging only 12.5 per game. Once we fell behind by a couple of goals I thought it looked unlikely we would make up the difference.

A game plan that relies on winning through low scoring is very dangerous as just a little bit of bad luck can be costly. For example a couple of free kicks to Geelong and a couple of snaps when a player gets a little bit of space or a fortunate bounce.

Sure we are mssing Davis and Schneider, but we should still be able to kick more goals.

[Bear]

Originally posted by monopoly19
and young guys like Ablett, McVeigh and Schneider were quiet as well.

Was hoping Ablett would play a decent game today and con Geelong into thinking he was worth sacrificing something for.

A bit of wishful thinking considering he has rarely been anything but a passenger. Was at the back of the bus again today.

So much for the "NOG has arrived" (after one good game) theory.

[Mike_B]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
We desperately need to do something to create a game plan that can score goals. We are in 13th place in total goals scored - averaging only 12.5 per game. Once we fell behind by a couple of goals I thought it looked unlikely we would make up the difference.

Agree - and when you consider the teams that are ranked below us - Collingwood, Richmond and Hawthorn are 13th, 14th and 16th on the ladder, we do have issues.

We have only scored over 100 points 3 times this year - we are not kicking winning scores often enough. Today was the 5th game this year where we have kicked 10 goals or less.

I am aware that we haven't had our full first choice forward line on the field at the same time at all this season, but we can't be relying on scoring potential on paper this close to September.

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by Bear
Was hoping Ablett would play a decent game today and con Geelong into thinking he was worth sacrificing something for.

A bit of wishful thinking considering he has rarely been anything but a passenger. Was at the back of the bus again today.

So much for the "NOG has arrived" (after one good game) theory.

Yep - thought he played his usual game today. Had pretty much no influence and disposal was rather ordinary. A real shame.

[mpr104]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by NMWBloods
We desperately need to do something to create a game plan that can score goals. We are in 13th place in total goals scored - averaging only 12.5 per game.


This is spot on!

We just dont kick enough goals. 13th place for total goals is not good enough to challenge this year.
On paper our forward line looks the goods - Baz, Micky and ROK, with Davis and Scheinder chiming in, maybe its a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth?