Round 2 2014, @sydneyswans v Magpies

[mcs]

Well said. There were lots of positives. Still math conditioning to go and structures to be refined and gel and lots of little things to click but there were good signs.

Don't panic supporters. Tweaks needed just wait till it clicks

I wish I could see the positives, but I thought that was one of the worst performances we have put in for a long time, and I don't see why we should be still looking for match conditioning coming rd. 3. Most other teams got it sorted to be ready by rd 1, but we still look about a month away from even playing competitive football.

As for structures to be refined - how about any structure at all, especially going forward. The amount of times we kicked to a 3 on 1 in the forward line, or the guy with the ball looked up and saw absolutely nothing to go to was ridiculous. How about actually planting a big guy in the square so that at very least we have someone to kick to up forward? How about playing a crumber at the feet of the big guys up forward?

We look a long way off the pace, and I am dreading the trip to Adelaide next week, despite their equally average start to the season.

[Legs Akimbo]

As was pointed out by many on RWO & in the media when he was first signed, Detrickx was likely recruited as a BACK UP ruckman for Pyke. Laidler was a BACK UP defender in case a regular defender ... say AJ? ... was injured. Baying for their blood with each loss when they actually played the roles they were recruited for reeks of hostile frustration & seems a fairly pointless waste of energy. Neither were recruited as bonafide stars ... otherwise we wouldn't have got them at bargain basement prices that we did. No point lamenting the loss of Mummy. Players had to go to get Buddy. Not much point whining about him either, coz we've got him (or his legacy at very least) for 9 more years.

Seriously, get over it & get on with supporting our club. As a club we've had tough times ... really tough times ... in the past (early 90s, early & late 80s, most years from the mid 30s to the late 70s). On of the special things about our club was the loyalty of the supporters.
Sure, don't be happy with the loss. But however much RWOers think they're hurting as fans, the players should (and I believe are) hurting more. They have pride in themselves, their jumper, their club. They will be feeling the pain & embarrassment of these losses. They need our support, not the immediate post loss criticism that is all too often dished out.

You know, I actually realise that... Derickx is a spud (spud = tries had with limited ability to limited effect). Mumford is a great player who I was upset to see go. There you go...does that mean I don't get it or I am not a 'true' supporter?

As for get 'get over it' and 'support your club'? I personally prefer to say just what I think. It irritates and amuses in equal measure when people on this forum get narky because other posters are not mogadon'.

Can I grab some of your Nitrezepam? Might need it before next week. Still a supporter though.

[wolftone57]

I just didn't see his game this way. He had 14 possessions for the game (according to afl.com.au), 7 of which were clangers, gave away a free kick and laid only one tackle.

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don't get me started on algebra..

Agreed and missed three vital tackles and mad only one. Rhyce did a lot of running without thinking yesterday. Probably to the game plan of running the ball out of defence and bombing it long to the forward line. But there is not point bombing it long straight to an opposition player, or short for that matter. Rhyce managed to do both with the majority of his disposals. He wasn't alone, Mal managed to stuff up more than once kicking a shocker out on full, missing players with passes that turned over to be converted into goals or points. Then Hannas, who had had a pretty good hit out passes directly to an opposition player 20 metres out almost directly in front.

Our players were terrible in the second half but the coaching was ordinary for the whole game. I don't give a damn how much we were up on Pies at one stage, leaving Maxwell without an opponent for the whole game was ruinous. Then just when we look to have a height advantage because Brown leaves the field and it looks like Sammy will have a field day he moves him to loose man in the backline. What the heck was he thinking? That in reality was the move that lost the match. With no Reid the only tall option except for the resting ruck was Buddy, double teamed.

The other thing is at one stage we had Derrickx on the bench and Buddy the only player in the forward fifty against Frost and Young.

Not shifting a tagger to Pendlebury when he got going.

Not having a defender take a mid when he went forward. These moves in reality killed us off. They were reactive and not at all proactive.

Ok many of our players fumbled the whole match. Reg needs lobotomy as he seems to have a pathological need to stuff up and give the dinky HB to a players feet. Hannas shocker. Mal & Shaw's crap delivery. They helped Collingwood kill us off but the problem was definitely in the coached box to begin with and transitioned onto the field.

[barry]

Even though we are 0 and 2, I can see a bright future.

Firstly buddy. He is clearly underdone, and gaining match fitness. But round 4 or 5 he will be better.

Rok, hes running on the spot and has done for a fair bit of last year. Unless hes injured, the game is past him I think.

Coach longmire has to have a better plan when the opposition have an extra man back, especially a 3rd man up specialist like Maxwell. This is where Mitch Morton was good.

As for mummy, no team can affort to play two specialist ruckman. (salary cap, and speed).We had to choose one. When tippet comes back we will be more balanced.

We always start a season slow. In the past we have played weaker team and snuck some wins into the first few rounds. This year we arent so lucky.

[giant]

I like Shaw's attitude and speed, two qualities that I wish would rub off onto some others, but while he is a great runner of the ball, he is a horrible deliverer. Mind you, for large parts of the game, he had hardly anyone to deliver to.

Shaw had a dead set shocker last night - arguably it was his awful turnover (magnified by Ted's howler) that was the nail in the coffin. Barely hit a target all night.

[ugg]

As for mummy, no team can affort to play two specialist ruckman. (salary cap, and speed).We had to choose one. When tippet comes back we will be more balanced.

Tell that to Geelong and West Coast who are playing 3 ruckmen in their side today.

[giant]

Not Horse's best game that's for sure - thoroughly outcoached. In the end, what killed us was Pendlebury being off the leash for 15 mins when our mid-field coach must have stepped out of the box for a feed, and the failure to think thru their extra man in defence.

Still a much better effort than last week - probably still 5 guys who aren't anything near their best form and a team can't afford to carry that many. But good to see Reid and Jetta show some good signs, and good to have Hanners back (though still think that was a long way from his best effort).

[barry]

Tell that to Geelong and West Coast who are playing 3 ruckmen in their side today.

And neither will win a premiership with 3ruckman.

Nicnat might be the exception because he is a one in a million player.

[Ludwig]

Tend to agree with Barry on the 3 ruckmen situation. WCE play 3 very mobile ruckmen. Geelong have a lot of injuries at the moment and probably one will be dropped once he likes Motlop and Christianson get back, and Biclavs is also very athletic. But I think it is difficult to play 2 behemoths. We need both Pyke and Tippett playing to make the ruck division work, because both can take a strong mark and kick goals.

Every team situation is different. I don't think there's an exact formula. You use the tools you've got. Our strength is supposed to be a deep tough midfield. They just haven't produced yet.

[Pmcc2911]

If you watched the Saints GWS game you would know that we have been huge losers in getting rid of a powerhouse prime mover ruckman for an overrated flawed half forward flanker. If it was our choice to let Mummy go someone should be shot.

People keep saying swapping Franklin for Mummy is a no brainer but was happened we have swapped out our best ruck man for a flawed half flanker and at the same time our best contested mark (and straight kicker) - Pyke - has to move out of the forward line to ruck most of the game and not be in a position to kick goals.
Derickx tried hard but give me Pyke and Mummy minus Franklin any day.

[goods78]

A lot of great points in the thread.

It was my first live game for the season, and I thought the effort was there. The boys tried hard......too hard sometimes and I think that contributed to the woeful skill execution.

How quickly can we build a roof on ANZ and the SCG? Our skills drop off so fast as soon as the ball gets more than a little bit of dew on it! How many times did we switch to low % contests or the opposition in the corridor?

Kizza looked liked he was underdone with his injury, but if you could see how hard he was trying to lift the team.

I thought Franklin was ok, but he disappointed me with some of his positional play. He did not seem to be in a dangerous position a lot of the time when we moved forward. He either was not reading where the play was going very well or was not working hard enough to get in to position. Maybe I am being a bit harsh, but I expect big things from him.

ROK and Shaw to be omitted next week.

[aardvark]

Look on the bright side folks, at least our weekend wasn't as bad as Roosys.....

[O'Reilly Boy]

No forward defensive pressure. Zoning off for Collingwood kick outs consistently conceded three easy kicks for an inside 50. Our kick-outs were bombs to contests; sometimes it seemed only Ben McGlynn was challenging. Too many unforced turn-overs across HB?McVeigh particularly disappointing. Jetta was outstanding as he played into the game. Perhaps Shaw needs some game time?he's been out for a long while and from where I was sitting, the effort was there, the timing off. How we miss Adam Goodes?there seems to be no-one who can step up to impose himself on the game when it's in the balance. Buddy was setting up behind the ruck, Goodesy-style, late in the game, looking for a spill and crash through, but too often, as the game progressed and he was trying to get into it, was getting caught in no-mans-land deep in pockets. Reid should not have been moved down back when we were crying out for leading forwards. Arrgh!

[Auntie.Gerald]

OB

"IMPOSE"

that is the word

i use it all the time in coaching..........when you see a few players do it like a parker or mitchell or mcglynn ...........or a hannes in 2012 GF the whole team lifts

but for me we did that enough to have forward entries and any other team in the comp with our same opportunities into the forward line would have won the game

[mcs]

Look on the bright side folks, at least our weekend wasn't as bad as Roosys.....

I'm going down for the Melbourne game at the end of April - at this rate it'll be a batte to avoid the wooden spoon, but by gee they look awful!