So, what did we learn?

[caj23]

I thought LRT did a great job on Reiweldt.

Whilst the match saving mark at the end of the game was great, even though he had a bit of the ball he didn't really do any damage to us at all for the rest of the match.

his game was highly overrated by the commentators and media

[NMWBloods]

Riewoldt repelled a number of attacks and drove them forward a lot.

As well as 26 possessions, he took 8 marks (2 contested - half as many as the total for the Swans), had 3 clearances, 3 I50s and 6 R50s.

Also had a lot of errors (8) but overall I thought he was very effective.

[ScottH]

To view LRT's game solely, he was OK.

To view LRT's game against his opponent, his opponent had a much bigger influence on the game.

[SimonH]

Originally posted by liz
I think that's inexperience on the part of LRT. Playing as a true CHB he's probably just told to stick close to his man.
...
And while I know Roos prefers to play man-on-man and not put spare men back (at least that's the way he's mostly going at the moment), if they'd just stuck LRT 20m in front of Gehrig and Barry, it may have made Barry's life a lot easier. An extra Saint in our defence wouldn't have made much difference given that their defence was marking everything that came that way anyway.

I think that Roos needs to start playing more tactical 'shades of grey' with opposition sides that flood by, for example, playing 10 in defence at the centre bounce. It's not merely a question of 'let 'em flood, and we'll just get possession and chip it around until a player on a lead pops up' vs 'don't give 'em a free man; everyone stick to their opponent'.

We need to try a bit more of our defenders still being aware of who their opponent is, just playing 30 or 40 metres behind them (around the half-back to wing zone). Then, if they get the footy uncontested, they can run and share it far enough that they can kick it over the head of their opposite number, taking the flooders out of the contest. More likely to succeed on a dry day, I know; but you can't just let the opposition force you to play a 10-man forward line. You have to rack up enough free possessions, close enough to your forward 50, that these players start getting antsy and start getting dragged out towards the ball.