Round 19: Geelong v Sydney Swans

[jono2707]

What disgusting umpiring, an absolute disgrace. I suspect it was Fitzpatrick organizing some pay back for Colless revealing their conversation. Fitzpatrick will make sure he teaches the Swans a lesson. Cop that Swans! Apart from that we cannot run out a game. We always get beaten in the second half, we look twice as tired as the opposition. Do we need a new fitness coach?? Are we not training hard enough??

So which one was it - an AFL conspiracy or us being outplayed in the second half??? You're kinda on the fence there....

[longmile]

T H E B L O O D S A R E D E A D

[crackedactor]

unbelievable silly comment?? umpiring was disgraceful. I never said it cost the match!! Our lack of run in the second half was the major problem. Though they could creep over the mark, grabs us high, trip us and it was always play on. Opposite happen , or even it did not, the free kick was still paid.to Geelong.

[Melbourne_Blood]

We were outplayed and outclassed tonight.

Stop the bull@@@@ about umpiring - they don't kick the ball, they don't fumble the ball, they don't drop marks, they don't kick the ball to the opposition - all they do is call what they see.

Every decision is going to make only 50% of the crowd happy.

If you think you can do better, then have go at it.

I have respect for those guys, I have been there and done it.

The umpiring was pretty terrible but I agree it wasn't the reason for us losing.

[goods78]

Yep. We always get out coached....

Could not believe Reid being thrown in to defence late in the game.

We needed marking targets up forward not Jack v Taylor!

Longmire looking after the margin rather than giving us a chance to kick a winning score.

[sprite]

T H E B L O O D S A R E D E A D

No, they just need a transfusion.

Let's use the remaining games to see what stocks we have in the reserves and if they can take the next step.

[MattW]

Not up to it at the moment. Too many passengers. No more Brandon Jack, please. The ruck situation is killing us: Tippett needed to play forward. If not Pyke, Naismith.

Leadership deficit at the moment. Can McVeigh really make it through another season? Looks struck with realisation that he cannot match it athletically or anaerobically. Big problem for us is the lack of pace through the midfield - when we're on the back-foot, the slowness of McVeigh, Hannebery, Kennedy, Mitchell and Parker exposes us.

We badly need refreshing, but there's not much coming through, is there?

Umpiring was awful. That's not an excuse, but a fact.

[Swans500]

unbelievable silly comment?? umpiring was disgraceful. I never said it cost the match!! Our lack of run in the second half was the major problem. Though they could creep over the mark, grabs us high, trip us and it was always play on. Opposite happen , or even it did not, the free kick was still paid.to Geelong.

Bloody spot on...

[Nico]

14 to 7 at centre clearances. I am struggling to remember any of the 7. Caddy was the first to the footy at centre bounces with one of our blokes hanging off him. Any chance we can find someone who can read the footy off the ruck or has a bit of quick leg speed. It didn't matter who got the tap, they got the spilled pill. Kennedy was the only one who had a go in the midfield. Our midfielders are so SLOW. I can't get over how our club has not arrested this centre clearance flaw. Other clubs are licking their chops waiting to play us knowing this is a glaring weakness.

Now for the kicking disposal. We are lamentable. That late kick by Smith to a 1 on 4 contest summed us up. It didn't matter if it was into the forward line, across the ground or backwards. We couldn't hit a target, or kicked the wrong side of a leading player, missed the mark by 20 metres, kicked over heads or simply kicked to the opposition. In the end it was laughable. Dunstall was gobsmacked as to how poor we are at disposal. How about Cunningham's back kick in the last quarter. He had no idea what he was doing. Some of our players just seem to kick dinky 20 metre kicks.

People have criticized the coaches, but they can't get out there and play for them. It is not the coaches fault that we make horrible disposal decisions. I don't think our players are poor kicks (Reid excepted) it is just that they make horrible decisions. So many of our players lower their eyes and pick out an opposition player.

[WauchopeAnalyst]

How many RWO's people think that Shaw is going to add this year or next. ROK was dropped last year but Shaw plays every week this year. Maybe 8 good games with 10 poor games from a veteran. A least my Septembers will be free......and a crap magpie team might be able to create enough pressure to make us fold next week

[ugg]

Take out our top 2 tall forwards (Tippett mostly in the ruck) and the task was hard enough, the midfield didn't help the cause by going missing in the second half. McVeigh, Parker and Hannebery all 3 had superb games against Adelaide but were poor tonight. Getting well beaten in contested possessions by a side that had lost the contested possession count in 12 of its 16 games prior to today was a indictment on our midfield.

Add to this the poor decision making and kicking from usually composed players like Lloyd and Smith and the whole second half felt like it was spent chasing the Cats' shadows. No wonder some of the chasing near the end of the game was so poor, we exhausted ourselves out in the 3rd quarter.

I think it's clear that our depth is lacking and to be a premiership threat we need everyone fit and on the field. Right now having Franklin, Pyke, Rohan and McGlynn sitting on the sidelines signficantly weakens our forward line and the youngsters being asked to fill in the breach (Heeney aside) are struggling to do so. Goodes competes well up forward, even when outnumbered but his decision making and disposal going forward is poor

[WauchopeAnalyst]

Coaches can cloud your footy brain with overloaded tactics (t) and structures (s) stopping your natural instinct to function as they have to think about t and s instead of playing footy.

[mcs]

Take out our top 2 tall forwards (Tippett mostly in the ruck) and the task was hard enough, the midfield didn't help the cause by going missing in the second half. McVeigh, Parker and Hannebery all 3 had superb games against Adelaide but were poor tonight. Getting well beaten in contested possessions by a side that had lost the contested possession count in 12 of its 16 games prior to today was a indictment on our midfield.

Add to this the poor decision making and kicking from usually composed players like Lloyd and Smith and the whole second half felt like it was spent chasing the Cats' shadows. No wonder some of the chasing near the end of the game was so poor, we exhausted ourselves out in the 3rd quarter.

I think it's clear that our depth is lacking and to be a premiership threat we need everyone fit and on the field. Right now having Franklin, Pyke, Rohan and McGlynn sitting on the sidelines signficantly weakens our forward line and the youngsters being asked to fill in the breach (Heeney aside) are struggling to do so. Goodes competes well up forward, even when outnumbered but his decision making and disposal going forward is poor

Spot on ugg. Only way we get near to winning a flag is if we have our best 22 on the field. We dont have the depth of others - its our best or nothing.

Glad i missed the game tonight - saw the score at half time and thought we looked a chance, but then saw it later to see another fade out

[troyjones2525]

Take out our top 2 tall forwards (Tippett mostly in the ruck) and the task was hard enough, the midfield didn't help the cause by going missing in the second half. McVeigh, Parker and Hannebery all 3 had superb games against Adelaide but were poor tonight. Getting well beaten in contested possessions by a side that had lost the contested possession count in 12 of its 16 games prior to today was a indictment on our midfield.

Add to this the poor decision making and kicking from usually composed players like Lloyd and Smith and the whole second half felt like it was spent chasing the Cats' shadows. No wonder some of the chasing near the end of the game was so poor, we exhausted ourselves out in the 3rd quarter.

I think it's clear that our depth is lacking and to be a premiership threat we need everyone fit and on the field. Right now having Franklin, Pyke, Rohan and McGlynn sitting on the sidelines signficantly weakens our forward line and the youngsters being asked to fill in the breach (Heeney aside) are struggling to do so. Goodes competes well up forward, even when outnumbered but his decision making and disposal going forward is poor

Agree on our depth issue ugg and the assessment of the game. This will probably not be a popular statement but when all those forwards you mentioned are fit and ready to play, Goodes should not be in the 22. Our balance would not be right and he doesn't apply enough pressure when the ball hits the deck and the opposition has the ball.

[Nico]

Coaches can cloud your footy brain with overloaded tactics (t) and structures (s) stopping your natural instinct to function as they have to think about t and s instead of playing footy.

Agreed. Tactics and structures mean nothing when you turn it over adnausium and lose the centre clearances with regular monotony, that then allows the opposition to lock it in their forward line. In the 3rd quarter Geelong did just that. But for their erratic kicking for goal we would have been 6 goals down at the last change.

- - - Updated - - -

Agree on our depth issue ugg and the assessment of the game. This will probably not be a popular statement but when all those forwards you mentioned are fit and ready to play, Goodes should not be in the 22. Our balance would not be right and he doesn't apply enough pressure when the ball hits the deck and the opposition has the ball.

But has a go and attempts the break the lines. He was the only one who looked threatening in the last half. His attempt to out run his opponent late in the game was testimony to how hard he tried.