Post Game Analysis against Cats / reality check

[liz]

I think Kennedy, Mumford and Smith need to be excluded from any assessment of whether inexperience was a factor. Yes, they all have played under 50 games but none of them still plays like it, and they all have reasonably seasoned bodies now. Certainly the other 8 are still feeling their way at senior level, albeit to different extents.

[DeadlyAkkuret]

The most surprising thing for me is that Kennedy and Smith haven't played 50 games. They seem like veterans out there!

Snap, liz.

[AnsweredPrayers]

It's a good thing to remain calm...but the ball skills thing seems more ingrained than something they can patch up quickly...we got away with it for 3 weeks.

I'm afraid I'm reading Longmire as a little too passive.

I think this is not entirely true. Confidence and skills are interconnected. When a player pauses because they don't want to make a mistake they often get pressured or the window of opporutinty for that pass or handball closes. Possibly Longmire's slightly different game plan is not yet engrained in the players so the have to think rather than do.

[Primmy]

Longmire Senior Coach Game 3.

OK, so he has had a lot of incoming from the Roos era, but still......

We have a lot of low end experience boys, and the rest of them are spread wide, good point Bas; no longer an ageing team.

Settle Petals, we will be fine, just not quite yet.

[ugg]

Coaches' votes

AFL Coaches Association : Coaches votes for Round 4

Sydney vs Geelong
10 Chapman (Geel)
7 Wojcinski (Geel)
4 Scarlett (Geel)
4 Kennedy (Syd)
2 Mumford (Syd)
2 McGlynn (Syd)
1 Podsiadly (Geel)

[Hartijon]

The most surprising thing for me is that Kennedy and Smith haven't played 50 games. They seem like veterans out there!

Snap, liz.

Doesn't that just confirm what a meaningless figure the 50 games mark is. Why 50? Why not 44 (2 seasons) or 5 ( your nerves are settled). How many games did it take Hanners to show out? What will Jesse be like after 55 games? Its meaningless!

Regarding the game,I think its important the players forget it and prepare for the next game and just as important that the coaches remember it! Walking out on the SCG in pouring rain facing such a big bodied team is a real test of character and quite a few names got ticked off as having the right ticker and a few obviously didn't.Various vacuous excuses have been made for a few players that "conditions didn't suit" ,too wet to mark ,"needs a dry ground" but they all add up to one thing. Some players can't play when the going gets really tough. They have shown the coaches how they respond to extreme pressure(ie.Finals type pressure)

These are the players who would get a run in the Magoos until suitable penance had been made. There names have been mentioned here by quite a few posts and we know who they are.

[aardvark]

Doesn't that just confirm what a meaningless figure the 50 games mark is. Why 50? Why not 44 (2 seasons) or 5 ( your nerves are settled). How many games did it take Hanners to show out? What will Jesse be like after 55 games? Its meaningless!
Regarding the game,I think its important the players forget it and prepare for the next game and just as important that the coaches remember it! Walking out on the SCG in pouring rain facing such a big bodied team is a real test of character and quite a few names got ticked off as having the right ticker and a few obviously didn't.Various vacuous excuses have been made for a few players that "conditions didn't suit" ,too wet to mark ,"needs a dry ground" but they all add up to one thing. Some players can't play when the going gets really tough. They have shown the coaches how they respond to extreme pressure(ie.Finals type pressure)
These are the players who would get a run in the Magoos until suitable penance had been made. There names have been mentioned here by quite a few posts and we know who they are.

Begs the question at what stage of a players career does he become "experienced" ? It seems the window between becoming an experienced player and a veteran nearing retirement is getting smaller and smaller.

[Go Swannies]

Begs the question at what stage of a players career does he become "experienced" ? It seems the window between becoming an experienced player and a veteran nearing retirement is getting smaller and smaller.

Even shorter than the time between someone being an exciting new player and being a hack who can't get a kick?

[aardvark]

Even shorter than the time between someone being an exciting new player and being a hack who can't get a kick?

LOL Yes. Which is equivalent to the amount of time between the traffic lights turning green and the bloke behind you tooting.

[Hartijon]

My point is that the term "experienced "measured by your number of games is pretty meaningless. It doesn't give us any prediction about your performance. Eg. Bradshaw was considered an "experienced" forward but missed shots from 15 metres out in a Final. MOL in the 2005 GF was one of the most "experienced" forwards on the ground. The number of games you have played could make you a better player or in some cases an injury prone player. The fact that you have consistently played well applies to players like Smith (inexperienced) and Bolton (experienced) equally and is a much better measure of where your team is at. I would take a team of players consistently playing well (eg Collingwood) any day over a team of experienced players.

[Big Al]

Lots of experience doesn't always equate to better performance. I have a list of old girlfriends who can attest to that.

[Go Swannies]

Lots of experience doesn't always equate to better performance. I have a list of old girlfriends who can attest to that.

The problem is going for old girlfriends. Dodgy hammies, wrecked knees, often cramping up, it's a wonder they get on the field at all. Let alone the problems with concussion.

[Big Al]

The problem is going for old girlfriends. Dodgy hammies, wrecked knees, often cramping up, it's a wonder they get on the field at all. Let alone the problems with concussion.

Also add the number of headaches they seem to get.

[wolftone57]

i meant its a possibility without changing the team too much. Why couldnt he play in the middle as a pinch hitter in the ruck, would probably draw a slower opponent. I just dont see the point in Pyke playing for a 5 minute ruck chop out and adding nothing anywhere else, yes he improved last year, yes he kicked goals in the reserves, but generally he is lost at AFL level.

I disagree with this comment entirely. I have watched Pyke & he is ready & able to play at this level. He played in the pre-season comp & kicked a few goals & is still doing so in the 2's. I think he would add a lot & Jessie needs to go back to the 2's for some soul searching. Our forward set up worried me both talls were always leading to the same part of the ground giving the runners no option but to bomb it in to a pack. Pyke is quite quick 7 has forward smarts (gets into the open) & he takes a great pack mark something missing at the moment.

[Swanner]

I disagree with this comment entirely. I have watched Pyke & he is ready & able to play at this level. He played in the pre-season comp & kicked a few goals & is still doing so in the 2's. I think he would add a lot & Jessie needs to go back to the 2's for some soul searching. Our forward set up worried me both talls were always leading to the same part of the ground giving the runners no option but to bomb it in to a pack. Pyke is quite quick 7 has forward smarts (gets into the open) & he takes a great pack mark something missing at the moment.

a big problem, is we completely lost our forward structure towards the end of the match. they played far too shallow and our players when going out of the backline took the first option to kick long on the boundary. if they tried to run the next kick woulkd have no one on the end of it. when bradshaw and hall played we mostly had a deep option. so when we moved the ball by run and carry we had a forward to aim at. if they did that on saturday night they would have none to kick to.