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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 8 2024 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Collingwood
Last post by Lods -
In the cold light of day....
What a difference a goal makes. ;)

If we'd won that game narrowly, or even drawn it, the reponse would be completely different.

We didn't, and it seems to have stung....
-because it was Collingwood.
-because it was only a goal.
-because it was kicked by the opposition player who needed watching more than any other.

One of the things that stood out was that when Collingwood went forward it looked very similar to the way Geelong attacked last week so obviously there's been a bit of homework done.
But that poor defensive display is probably due in a large part to missing personnel. We're desperately missing Saad and McGovern. It also doesn't help when the pressure in the middle and foward is lacking.

There's lots of criticism of the lesser lights in our side, probably fair, but it was also our better, more experienced players who didn't really fire.

Curnow is kicking his share of goals but his second efforts are disappointing.
Pittonet started like a house on fire but once he went off with that knock his influence waned.
(It was actually around that time the Pies gained control)
Williams is not a defender. He spent most of the time watching and manhandling his opponent rather than the ball. He doesn't have the tank for mid-field, and I'm not sure what he could offer a forward line where defensive nous is also a priority for us. I did notice him looking and favouring his ankle at one stage. I'm not sure that achilles is 100%, but with a hamstring injury he's likely to miss a few anyway.

One funny (not so funny) aspect of last night's game was the number of our absolute poor kicks that were sprayed or went straight into another player. That was probably due to pressure at the ball and the inclination to just get ball to foot and hack it out.

We're in a block of games where we are playing top sides. It was always going to be a difficult period and it's been made even more so by missing key players.
We've got within a goal of the premiers, who are just hitting their straps, and we played with many of our players well below their best in terms of skills and intensity.
They were missing a few key players. We were missing more.

Lots to work on, but plenty to work with, especially as players return.

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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 8 2024 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Collingwood
Last post by madbluboy -
Quote from: crashlander on
When Pitto was in the ruck, he had the better of the Collingwood talls and he provided most of our clearances. he didn't do a lot around the ground, but he didn't let the Collingwood rucks do much either.
Pitto was our best ruck by far.

Tom had a shocker in the ruck. The few taps he got went straight to Collingwood players. Cameron, in particular, dominated him and got most of his taps against him.
In the forward line, however, Tom had a great day. He was a dangerous target all night, kicking 2 and missing one. He got the ball around the ground quite a bit, but fumbled just so much. He couldn't take a mark around the ground to save his life, tonight, and marking is one of his strengths.

I wouldn't be discarding Pitto. He had 15 possessions and 6 clearances! Granted that he wasn't as effective as he has been: Collingwood worked out some tactics that minimized our mids' effectiveness. In particular, they made Cripps play to his weaknesses instead of his strengths.

If the whole match was played inside the centre square Pittonet would be the best in the comp but sadly for him there is a whole ground to cover.
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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 8 2024 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Collingwood
Last post by LP -
Walsh, Harry, Pitto, Cripps basically played four quarters with an opponent arm around their waist like Williams did to Elliott, and not one free for it.

5 clearances in the opening quarter, then the umpires went back to the old ruck rules, that is adjudication by opinion. TDK gets penalised if he jumps at opponents like Cox started jumping at Pitto.
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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 8 2024 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Collingwood
Last post by Baggers -
A pretty good effort considering we were down three players for most of the evening - small Durds, Fantasia & Williams were liabilities. And Chugga being the sub was silly.

I thought the backline, considering the number of Rottingwood forward entries and Williams gifting them goals, did really well.

Again with a fifteen minute lapse in concentration in the 2nd qtr - in hindsight, that's when we lost too much. We were 'hunted' and wilted.

Presently, we're where we belong on the ladder, but just a fleas eyelash from top 4, especially with better small forward talent - Motlop, Martin & Fogarty.

I wonder if George H was a bit crook with the flu, not his usual standard? And not enough from Cunners.

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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 8 2024 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Collingwood
Last post by laj -
Quote from: JonDorotich on
Think we’re due for a players meeting at Ed Curnows house. We were outworked, made poor decisions at critical moments and worryingly we seem to have lost the ability to switch the play, shift the opposition defence and then take on the corridor kick.

Our lack of depth and durability is also killing us - we simply can’t keep carrying 6 players who miss a big chunk of most years (Marchbank, McGovern, Williams, Martin, Cunningham, Fantasia) and expect to compete.  4 or more of that group have to go and we should also stamp the papers of Young whilst we are at it.

Our depth is probably ok as we push the best with half a side out. I'm more worried about the manner of losses. Been very disappointed in the workrate. In each loss we have lost it more than the other side winning it. What was the pressure rating of 145 in the 2nd qtr. Be a near record low. That was the qtr the actual game was lost. Just not switching on as we should. A decent 2nd qtr for us and the Pies were done.

A couple of those 6 we don't need but the rest, well, we need badly right now.
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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 8 2024 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Collingwood
Last post by Gointocarlton -
Quote from: crashlander on
We badly miss Docherty. He is a steadying influence and he does the clutch things that win and save games.

We miss Jack Silvagni, because he can do all sorts of the jobs.
Our 3 tall forwards are not the problem in themselves, although I was bitterly disappointed in Charlie tonight. He doesn't work hard enough when he doesn't have the ball. It was really obvious. And when he could have stood up, he was beaten in one on ones and the ball left our forward line too easily. The problem with our forward setup is that our smalls are not keeping the ball in and they're not being dangerous.
H played a great game, but his last kick into the forward line probably lost us the game. Had he been able to get his kick to advantage of one of our players, we would have won the game than and there. Instead, he turned it over and the ball went up the other end. Hell, if he'd bombed it and he scored a point, it might have been enough. But just giving it away was lethal.

One of the things that was really obvious was our lack of leg speed.
Another was that we didn't tag Nick Daicos. Smother Daicos and they lose that midfield drive.
Charlie seems very clumsy at the moment, he is horribly out of form. His touch seems to have abandoned him. He used to turn blokes inside out at will. Still, hard to pot superstars when you have so many non contributors.