The big thing out of this victory - is our boys stayed engaged in the contest. Even the final moments of the match where Crippa called TDK out of the ruck contest that threw Jackson into a tangent and made a big error. What a move by Crippa.
The positioning around that stoppage was interesting with De Koning standing goal side rather than in a defensive position. I'd love to know whether that was part of a plan to convince Jackson to go for an attacking hitout.
The players often talk about rehearsing scenarios - was that one they'd planned?
Jackson usually does his best work around the ground, but Tom nullified that totally. It was Tom who took the important marks, not Jackson. However, Tom's ruckwork probably wasn't as good as Jackson's on the day. Freo seemed to have 'worked out' our midfield structure and limited it.
Tom can be happy with his day's work, but not the way our midfield functioned.
I posted this in RR’s “Apparent improvement by umpires” thread but it’s relevant here too;
“A quick analysis of the centre bounces from our game.
The ball was bounced 20 times and was thrown up once for a 666 warning. 17 bounces were perfect, two deviated slightly from the vertical (De Koning got both hitouts) and one was recalled when McKay and Jackson couldn't get near it. De Koning won 12 hitouts and got one clean possession, Jackson won three hitouts and McKay won two. There were no free kicks for ruck infringements and I didn't see anything that warranted a free kick. Not a bad day's work by the umpires ... and Tom.”
Fans will never agree, but for me it's hard evidence that the 24x7 unspectacular and unfashionable stuff that the likes of Cottrell, Owies, Fogarty, Hewett, Kennedy and Cunningham bring is far more valuable than the flash in the pan highlights some others offer.
Fans tend to remember the highlights, the stuff that stands out, without even noticing the grunt work that made it happen.
Some supporters perhaps, but certainly not all or even most.
Carlton players who only offered flash in the pan highlights would be running around in the Magoos.
Fyfe’s hit on Fog did result in a broken wrist. Can he still be cited for making contact with Fog’s hand with his shoulder?
I think they’re saying two weeks for Fog’s wrist but I suspect it will be longer. We’ll miss his relentless pressure but it gives someone else an opportunity.
Jackson was the inform ruckman heading into our clash, he was Brad Johnson's rolling AA ruckman last week.
Jackson is currently rated as the tenth best player in the AFL. At worst, De Koning broke even with him. A more nuanced assessment would recognise that De Koning had significantly more impact on the outcome of the game than Jackson did, even allowing for Jackson's brain fade hitout that resulted in Cottrell's mark and goal to put us in front.
TDK is again overrated imo, I gave him a vote for breaking even with Jackson in the ruck contests but in all the other stats apart from metres gained he was behind Jackson and the disposals TDK got went at around 37% disposal efficiency, Jackson wasnt much better at 57%. For me it was a nil all draw with those two and I thought Freo shaded us in the midfield where Brayshaw was the best player on the ground and Serong very effective as well. Thought our backline won us the game led by Weitering and Kemp plus Freo's tall forwards were a non factor and well beaten all game. Freo's defense is helped by their game plan and its Ross Lyon like both in operation and the lack of scoring which just leads to a grinding predictable low scoring slugfest. While Longmuir is coaching I cant see Freo ever being a serious finals contender...
Not quite correct EB; De Koning was ahead in tackles (5-1), inside 50s (5-1), rebound 50s (2-1), contested marks (2-1) and centre clearances (2-0). That reflects Tom's value around the ground and not just his superior ruckwork this season (averaging 29 hitouts compared to high teens in the last few seasons). As for disposals, most of Jackson's were backwards, hence his 27m, and not under pressure. The same goes for most of his teammates who rarely kick to contests and thrive on uncontested footy. In that context, it's interesting that Brayshaw and Serong wasted so many of their possessions. In part, that was down to us allowing uncontested passes down the line, then erecting a wall across halfback (or half forward).
It's too early in the season for me to make a call on Freo. They've got talent and a system that should make them competitive against most teams but they need to find away to score more freely and know when to go defensive. It will be informative to see how they go against the other top eight teams.
It's disappointing that our hard fought win has become obscured by a segment of the media's focus on one umpiring decision. It's also disappointing that Andrew Dillon was naive enough to add fuel to the fire by his unqualified acceptance that there was an umpiring error. He should have made it clear that field umpires make decisions in real time and don't have access to slo-mo replays and touched ball calls go either way in virtually every game. After all, the Freo players were claiming that the ball came off Aish's head rather than his shoulder.
Cripps was robbed of shot at goal when an out on the full free wasn't paid after Hughes toe-poked the ball in our forward pocket. Then there's Kemp copping a friendly fire kick in the face and not being sent off under the blood rule until after the Sonny Walters' free. As famous NBL referee Eddie Crouch said to me when I was fouled for a perfect shot block on Bruce Doull, "Swings and roundabouts!" So many decisions can go either way in a game of footy that it's pointless to focus on one incident.
It was an interesting game with Freo being a lot cleaner with their ball use and uncontested footy. While we seemed a little off, our defensive work was very good and we were able to shut them down and force kicks to contests. Freo did much the same to us.
While we were well down in the clearances, we often got the first touch but couldn't capitalise on it. When we did win the clearance, we made the most of it. Freo didn't get great value from their clearance work. Jackson has been the standout ruck in the opening rounds with exceptional Champion Data rankings and 18 AFLCA votes but Tom De Koning's all round game was too good for Jackson. An interesting stat; Jackson gained 27m, De Koning gained 325m.
Freo's tall forwards were a constant threat but Weitering's dominance and generalship gave our defenders an edge. McGovern was under a lot more pressure than usual and had a relatively quiet game. The other defenders all had very good games. Williams in particular is improving with each game and he'll be missed next week.
Harry was out of sorts and I thought the heavy knock he copped early in the game may have caused some damage. We missed his dominance in the air but Charley helped to make up for it.
Probably the determining factor was our game awareness. Freo's players were caught out by our surge and didn't respond until it was too late. Our blokes knew exactly what was required when it counted and they got the job done.
PS My shot block on Bruce Doull was in a geriatric competition long after we both should have given the game away
Zac had his legs taken out after he kicked to Charlie for a goal. He was iced after the game but thought he was OK. That wasn’t the case when he’d cooled down.
There's an article in The West Australian (paywall). Whilst not relevant at the time of the decision, it gives some context. The AFL have on this issue at least, been consistently trying to stamp this out.
It covers an ex-AFL umpire's view of Mr Clark. He refers to Clark as a "spoilt brat, noting his repeat offences. Evidently He hasn't learned his lesson"
For some context, the former umpire is Michael Pell who was arrested for conspiracy to pass on Brownlow vote information but never charged.
He said, “I umpired Clark a little bit during his debut season in 2019 in the VFL and then again in scratch matches in 2020 during lockdown.
Things came to a head one day at Ikon Park in a game that meant nothing – a glorified match simulation with 14 per side. Clark was carrying on about decisions and generally just being difficult.
I pulled him aside at a break and told him for the sake of his career he needed to stop with the berating and abuse of umpires – it went in one ear and out the other and I thought to myself: ‘This kid just doesn’t get it’.”
The thing is that, despite Clark’s “explanation”, the umpires know what he said and all umpires will know it before long. He won’t get any leeway in future unless he mends his ways.
As for the Fog incident, I no longer think it can be a fine after looking at the criteria, he will miss a week or 2.
Careless, medium impact to the body; fine at most.
Vossy dismissed it as two players going for the ball and he's usually careful not to comment on MRO matters ... but then there's the Plowman suspension
I'm more concerned about Fog's wrist. He seemed to be concerned about it after the collision and I wouldn't be surprised if he's fractured his scaphoid. Fingers crossed that he's OK.
There is footage from up the ground taken from a phone that shows the ball deflect off Aish's upper arm. In any case, as you said a couple of their 6 frees resulting in goals from the top of the square (the Kemp one I recall) were flat out wrong. We gave away a couple of silly ones trying to take on the tackler deep in defence so they were there. They could not have played any better and we pretty much stayed with them all day. Did we steal the win? Probably. Swings and roundabouts.
I'm not sure that you could rely on phone camera footage from the length of the ground. The Freo players were claiming that the ball touched Aish's head, Fyfe claimed that he had touched the ball off George's boot and the TV commentators thought that the ball could have brushed Aish's hair. Either way, umpires often miss touched balls that are more obvious than that one and it goes some way towards making up for some of the dodgy frees Freo got.
The thing is that we kept our numbers around the contest while Freo players were waiting for a handball receive and left Fyfe trying to beat four players. Cripps did what he so often does and Williams capped it off with a touch of brilliance and daring and an equally brilliant effort from Charlie to mark and goal. Then, after two drawn ball ups, Cripps sent De Koning away and sucked Jackson into an attacking hitout that ended up with Hewett - game over! Cottrell's fundamental forward work - play in front - was critical too. You make your own luck in footy!
From what Crippa was saying about definitely playing but flying to Adelaide a day after the rest of the team, baby Koda’s arrival was carefully planned.
Mum and bub are fine and that’s great!
I wonder if Koda Cripps will be running around with our AFLW team in the 2040s 🙂
We’ve had Durdin and Fantasia as the sub in the last two games and it looks like it’s Durdin’s turn this round.
Raz was good when he came on last week and he is noticeably more vocal than our other forwards. Perhaps that’s part of the reason he’s in the 23.
I quite like the idea of a small forward as the sub and I expect that we’ll see Durdin, Fantasia and even Motlop in the sub vest throughout the season.
