2021 VFL discussion thread

[Kafka's Ghost]

Getting totally flogged this quarter. Can’t see Blakey making it back into the senior team at this stage.

[dejavoodoo44]

Disappointing 8 goals to 2 quarter. There's a strong wind, so we have a reasonable chance of swinging the momentum in the last.

[Kafka's Ghost]

Woeful…just woeful. Totally outplayed in the second half. McLean looked good, but Gray and Clark have no future at AFL, or even VFL, level.

[dejavoodoo44]

Not great to be beaten by a goal on the siren, especially after getting 10 points in front, late in the final quarter and coming home with a strong wind. I thought Clarke and Stephens did pretty well in providing the drive to get us in front and Blakey had a couple of nice forward fifty entries: one of which led to a Ronke mark and goal, who's returning well from a long injury lay off.

Then I'm not really sure what went wrong. A lack of composure and confidence when it mattered? A lack of cohesion between players? Is that a result of not very good coaching, or a side whose composition changes markedly from week to week? Who knows?

[Kafka's Ghost]

Not great to be beaten by a goal on the siren, especially after getting 10 points in front, late in the final quarter and coming home with a strong wind. I thought Clarke and Stephens did pretty well in providing the drive to get us in front and Blakey had a couple of nice forward fifty entries: one of which led to a Ronke mark and goal, who's returning well from a long injury lay off.

Then I'm not really sure what went wrong. A lack of composure and confidence when it mattered? A lack of cohesion between players? Is that a result of not very good coaching, or a side whose composition changes markedly from week to week? Who knows?

It’s probably more the latter. Sydney looked a much younger outfit, so lack of composure likely also significant. Sam Day was a constant threat up forward for GC, and I thought after halftime they used the ball far better.
Yes, Blakey had a couple of nice entries, but at this level a guy of his talent should be tearing it up, not performing the occasional cameo.

[chalbilto]

Definetly outplayed in the second half but I thought that the tackling was terrible, too many tackles didn't stick. Time to get the tackling bags out and enlist some tuition from the NRL coaches from the Roosters.

[Matty10]

Definetly outplayed in the second half but I thought that the tackling was terrible, too many tackles didn't stick. Time to get the tackling bags out and enlist some tuition from the NRL coaches from the Roosters.

I wonder if we need a different tackling approach. You can make some bone-crunching hits with a good tackle, but I want our players to be better versed in preventing standing players from giving a releasing handball. Would we get that from NRL coaches?

[chalbilto]

Matty, I think that the NRL coaches would teach the players to tackle ball and all together with bring them to ground. It would be a lot more difficult to give a hand ball from falling to and being on the ground. I remember how Paul Bevan used to tackle, a pleasure to watch.

[Matty10]

Maybe, but I think that would result in more ball ups rather than free kicks. It’s good in the sense that it stops the opponent but it might limit the potential for us to win the ball. Also, if we are taking them to ground that’s where we’ll be too. I think we need a pin an arm and wrench the body approach.

[MattW]

Not great to be beaten by a goal on the siren, especially after getting 10 points in front, late in the final quarter and coming home with a strong wind. I thought Clarke and Stephens did pretty well in providing the drive to get us in front and Blakey had a couple of nice forward fifty entries: one of which led to a Ronke mark and goal, who's returning well from a long injury lay off.

Then I'm not really sure what went wrong. A lack of composure and confidence when it mattered? A lack of cohesion between players? Is that a result of not very good coaching, or a side whose composition changes markedly from week to week? Who knows?

Our defence looks leaky at both levels.

[ugg]

Sydney Swans
Goal Kickers: H. Mclean 4, H. Morrison 3, A. Gulden 2, B. Ronke 2, R. van Huisstede 2, D. Cordell, C. Sinclair, R. Clarke

Best Players: C. Sinclair, R. Clarke, H. Morrison, H. Mclean, N. Blakey, C. O''Riordan

[rb4x]

Sydney Swans
Goal Kickers: H. Mclean 4, H. Morrison 3, A. Gulden 2, B. Ronke 2, R. van Huisstede 2, D. Cordell, C. Sinclair, R. Clarke

Best Players: C. Sinclair, R. Clarke, H. Morrison, H. Mclean, N. Blakey, C. O''Riordan

Notable names missing Stephens, Ling, Gould and Brand. If they can not make the best players list then they are hardly busting the door down to get back into the AFL. Pretty disappointing.

[MattW]

Notable names missing Stephens, Ling, Gould and Brand. If they can not make the best players list then they are hardly busting the door down to get back into the AFL. Pretty disappointing.

Did you watch the game?

I thought Ling was good through the first three quarters. Distributed well by foot and ran well a couple of times.

Stephens got a bunch of it, but again his disposal was not incisive.

[Aprilbr]

I watched the game and I thought that Stephens was good. Did some classy things and kept running all day. Ling was OK too. Brand was solid up back without doing anything especially memorable. Given teams are now successfully exploiting our lack of height in defence in the seniors I think Brand will get a call up for our next game. Gould did little and is in trouble with his career. I doubt he will be there next year but hopefully I am wrong on that.

[bandwagon]

I just caught the replay on Kayo, and from that limited viewpoint I thought Stephens was quite good. He was busy all day, however his disposal was certainly inconsistent. Clarke played a similar game, but appeared to be more aware of his limitations, so was tidier with his disposal.
Brand i thought was solid - Sam Day is a pretty good opponent. However he played a negating role (which might have been useful in the seniors), and was not prominent offensively. O'Riordan I thought played the opposite of this - looking to play on and bring the ball through the corridor, but sometimes took too many risks.
Ling and Gould were ok without really standing out. Gould is a 20yo key position player so I am prepared to be patient with him, however Ling is 22 and been 4 years in the system. If you didn't know his draft position there would be no talk of giving him a run in the seniors. Hope he plays out of his skin in the back half of the year.
I'm surprised Sinclair was given best on. The Suns played without a proper ruck and still seemed to get the majority of clearances. However this may be just because our centre square combination was out-played by Fiorini & Brodie. I thought our best was McLean.
Another player missing from the bests was Ronke. Ran really hard all game, minded his opponent and created offensively. I wouldn't mind seeing him back in the seniors.