So for that we would need to win all the remaining games (12). I know we won 13 in a row last year but that's just not gonna happen again.
Positions 2-4 are wide open this year - we need to take the opportunity when we play Ess, Geel, PA (again), Coll, GWS to knock them down a notch. And win the other winnable games well.
Sydney can have top spot - they still have to come to the 'G for the big dance, regardless of how far ahead they are on the ladder....
I reckon sooner rather than later, Orazio is going to hit the scoreboard hard in a game at turn it. He has the ability, he and Fog do "things".
Watched Fogarty's game closely last night - I think it is no coincidence that our forward line has looked far more dangerous since he came back last week. Good overhead for a little guy, and does the in-close stuff so well. And his tackles stick.......
Sometimes I think we mark Charlie pretty hard. He kicked 4, could have had 6 or 7, and was the clear difference between the two sides in the second half. Sure, he got towelled up in the first half, but he only needs 15 minutes to turn a game, and his two marks in the third quarter were classical power forward stuff.
So
Team A- (would have been better if we didn't cough up lazy goals at the end.)
Cripps 5 Walsh 3 Curnow 3 Williams 2 TDK 1 Harry 1
Three weeks for the umpire who made inappropriate contact with Cripps, reduced to $3000 fine as a first offence
And two weeks to the umpire who gave 50m penalty to gift Witts a goal. Umpiring was ridiculous today - up until 3/4 time, we had received 3 frees...... Must have been at least 4 or 5 times where GCS players just lost the ball while being tackled - and it took until the last minute to get a free kick.....
For a team that has consistently lacked run and effort lately, i'm not sure why people feel the need to drop Ollie Hollands.
He gives 100%, 100% of the time. He is not the problem.
If we start dropping people based on output, how far down our team do we get before we get to Ollie Hollands.....and how far down are VFL team to do we get before we find a replacement. I'll save the effort. There is nothing better below. Ollie stays.
I saw one part where he was 'chasing' Warner down the wing, and he was truly in second gear at best.
That's the problem with so many of the team atm - not bad when they've got the ball, but almost disinterested when they don't.........
Let's be honest, to beat Sydney in Sydney, we needed to have absolutely everything going for us.
Reality is, it was exactly opposite - down on a significant number of important personnel (10 or more), probably our slowest possible combination against a team that runs like crazy, and coming off a crap last quarter against the Dees.
I have been saying for several years now, we have virtually no pace through the midfield. Until we address that deficit, we will consistently get done on turnover and out of the middle.
And we simply do not tackle enough, at least not effectively.
need to stop transition footy from our forward line ,most teams beat us when they go quick from there defense so our forwards Must bring the PRESSURE especially on the lizard
We really only got towelled in the last 10 minutes of this game, not the whole last quarter. At the 25 minute mark, we were still 20 points in front when they fluked the goal after Viney's knock-back from the behind line. Then we went into panic mode.
Until then, we were pretty much in control and Melbourne's lack of a forward line meant they needed Petracca to have a career-high 5 goal game to even get close.
Observations.....
* Weitering was great, but had virtually no opposition all night - it won't always be that easy. * Curnow's best game for the year, I thought - really exposed May's lack of run. Would have been even better if he'd kicked straight after his screamer * Harry's quietest game for the year. I was a bit disappointed with how easily McDonald out-muscled him - and Harry needs to stop playing for free kicks. * Cincotta is a fast-developing shut down defender. The best part about this is it should mean that Saad can get more of a free run and not have to worry so much about the other side's best small forward when he returns. * Crippa was great, but that annoying habit of trying to do too much seems to have returned. Sometimes, banging it on the boot is the best answer (especially when the game is greasy like last night). * Walsh - need say nothing more * McGovern's kicking out of the backline was a welcome sight to see. He's probably the best kick in the team. * Martin didn't do a lot, but he has x-factor in spades. A very hard match-up for defenders.
Over the last 3 weeks, we
- had more scoring shots than Geelong and got umpired out of the game - should have beaten the reigning premier - beaten another top-4 contender
All with several key players missing.
Improvements are needed, but if I had offered anyone on this site a 6-3 line after Round 9, I don't think there would have been too many who wouldn't have taken that, especially with Walsh and Weiters missing the first month.
