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Messages - sydneybluesfan

17
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: Post Game Analysis: AFL 2021 Rd 1: Carlton vs Richmond
Felt a lot like Groundhog day watching that - to my eyes there was way too much of the same old bad stuff from too many players. I liked the games of Saad and Fogarty simply because it was different [and better] than the stuff from usual suspects.

Interesting stat for me was the inside 50's - it was 22-24 at half time our way. Second half was 53-17 and we got run over the top of and could hardly move the ball past the centre. Our defence actually held up pretty well when you look at the weight of possession and territory they had in the second half, and the fact that we were so close mid way through the 4th qtr was actually incredible. But if you give any team 75 looks inside 50 & 39 shots on goal you are likely to get around 20 goals scored against you and you are no chance of winning. We were very efficient inside 50 [and missed a bunch of sitters as well] which was encouraging.

Overall - more negatives than positives for me.
18
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: Post Game .......: AFL 2020 Rd 15: Carlton vs GWS
1 goal from 38 inside 50 entries after half time. Just like last week we get plenty of chances but our forward play is appalling. So many non contributors. SPS was rested so had a 13 day break and was invisible.

How McGovern goes straight in is beyond me.

19
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: Pre game Banter: AFL 2020 Rd 14: Carlton vs Collingwood
With Sidebottom out they are hugely reliant on 4 players for run and carry - Pendles & Adams in the midfield, and Maynard and Crisp off half back. Outside of that they don't have much. Grundy has been up and down, and Moore is impressive but we just need to play smart bringing the ball forward and stretch their defence.

Ed to Pendles for mine. Newnes playing a defensive role on Maynard.

I reckon they have more headaches matching us up, especially Cripps, Martin, Betts and McKay - than we have worrying about them. They are not a high scoring side and have limited threats inside 50. We should get enough ball and shots to win - we just need to convert our opportunities and we should win comfortably.
20
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: Pre game postulations: AFL 2020 Rd 9: Carlton vs Hawthorn
The Hawks relative strength is their midfield - they are pretty poor in the big man department both forward and back and playing against the Swans [who are also very weak in the talls dept] was an interesting battle. Sicily is their only quality tall. Stratton is on his last legs and needs to be run around by his opponent.

They will be desperate for McKay to play as they have no match up for him. McEvoy will probably go to Cas. TDK for Moore is a no brainer as he gave us nothing and TDK has the athleticism that they will struggle with. It sets up well for him.

I would play Dow or Honey [for McGov] to give us more run and fresh legs to combat thier midfield strength Wingard / Worpel / Smith / Scully / Shiel etc. I would also be playing Fisher and giving either Murph or Simmo a spell for a week. I think his pace on the harder grounds after the Hawks slogged it out with the Swans in the wet could be a big advantage for us. I would love MCGovern to have to work his way back into the team because he doesn't work hard enough for me.
21
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: Carlton vs Freo in Freo Practice Match
My Kayo experience has been great as well. The 'Mini' replays are great, especially for cricket where you get an extended highlight package.

Also don't underestimate the ability to 'disappear' to a quiet corner of the house and watch a live game on the ipad. It's gold!
22
The Sports Desk / Re: Ashes 2019
The interesting thing when you line up the 2 sides today it feels to me like the Aussies have a much stronger and more balanced squad. This will count for a lot in a 5 test series.

One way to think about it is on Sunday when the English selectors sit down to pick their side for the 2nd test, if the Australian 'bench' was available almost all of them would be walk up starts to the English team. Right now Hazlewood, Starc, Harriss, Carey & probably Labuschange would all get into the English 11. Root and Stokes are the only test quality batsmen in form, and Broad is there only bowler who threatens on a flat deck.

Archer is going to have to do something amazing to get them back into the series as without Anderson or a half decent spinner the bowling is too thin. 

23
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: In Game Action: 2019 AFL Rd 9: Carlton vs GWS
Just inept - watching it live it is nothing more than a training run for the Giants. We look like the under 17’s.
No words for how tough this is to watch with a young kid desperate to see them play well. Without Cripps we have nothing and we have not changed anything all day.
25
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: Pre-Game Pressure: AFL 2019 Rd 8: Carlton vs GWS
Just back from the open training with my 9yo son

Beautiful afternoon in Sydney and another belter forecast for tomorrow. Not many people there and my lad got photos with nearly every player.

All 3 of the emergencies trained and we didn’t spot Cunningham out there. I might be mistaken but I’m pretty sure he wasn’t out there.

What did surprise me was the size of Liam Stocker. He has very big legs and is a beautiful kick on both sides of his body. Looks like he has all the tools. Weitering has really filled out and Marchbank moves incredibly well for a guy his size. Doc did stride through sand run laps for 45 minutes under Russell’s tutelage.
27
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: Pre-Game Possibilities: AFL Rd 7: Carlton vs North Melbourne
Quote from: Thryleon on
Covering the ground is about the only thing he's doing better.  I'd consider dropping him for garlett or setterfield.
I don't really understand the role he is supposed to [or can] play now that we have Walsh in the team? Walsh and Murphy have played on the wings for most games, and it often seems like he is no mans land with his positioning in general play. I wonder how much of that is coaching and not understanding what his role is?

He probably played his most important game when we played the Dogs and he had a run with role [with Murphy from memory] on Hunter. He did a good disciplined job and Hunter had very limited influence. I can't for the life work out why we didn't get him to follow that good performance up last week with a similar role on O'Meara [or Wingard / Shiels].

I would give him a job this week on either Higgins or Polec. He's not a big possession winner so if he can hold those guys to less than 20 and get 10 himself that is a big win for us imo.
28
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: Post Game Passion: AFL 2019 Rd 4: Carlton vs. Gold Coast
We played 2 patches of good footy - 10mins at the start of the 2nd and 10 mins at the start of the third. In that time we kicked 5 of our 8 goals. For the other 60mins it was largely a mess of skill errors and lack of poise. We have so many dumb footballers and have done for years and years. When the pressure came on in the last quarter we wilted as we always do.

I can't see how Bolton can keep his job next year. 4 games in and we are rock bottom on the ladder again. You can't sugar coat the fact that we can't score, and cant play anything more than the 10-15 mins of AFL standard football before we start to look like a VFL team.

Here a great stat from today - they had 96 marks in total for the day. 71 of those came from our kicks. 3 out of 4 of their marks came from intercepts!
29
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: Post Game Parlay: AFL 2019 Rd 3: Carlton vs Sydney
I walked away from that game with the same sense of foreboding I have felt around Easter time for the last 5 years. We are staring down the barrel of another bottom 4 finish - for the 5th year in a row!! I'm losing faith in BB and my 9yo son has all but given up supporting the club because he can't take being beaten almost every week.

We talk about how some individuals improved, and obviously they have. But at the same time an even larger group have stagnated or gone backwards [or are proving to be not up to the level in the first place]. But more worryingly, our basic game plan, tactics and ability to score points remains incredibly poor and shows no signs whatsoever to my eyes of improving at all.

Our senior players need to be hard, uncompromising types who make good decisions and set the tone for the younger players to follow. Murphy, Thomas and [to a lesser extent Simmo] aren't that type of player. We have one star and bunch of kids and you are never going to be a force with a set up like we have.

We handed that game to the Swans on platter - let Mills & Lloyd run around half back and pick up possessions under no pressure. Cripps v Kennedy was always likely to be a draw, so the real impact was how the respective  second midfielders fared - Jones comprehensively took the points over Dow. We play Lobbe and Cas against one of the fittest rucks in the comp and got smashed again. Heeney v Plowman is a match made in heaven for Heeney and he won easily.

As soon as any team locks down on us and turns up pressure we go to water time and time again. Every team knows it - we are ok when the game is a shoot out but as soon as a opposition coach turns the screws we fumble and go into our shell.

And don't get me started on our forward line. 3 games in and we are track to score 1500/1600 points for the season which will all but guarantee a bottom 4 finish. We haven't had a AFL capable forward line since we had Betts and Waite. Harry is coming along nicely, but with such little support in terms of small forward goal kicking capability it isn't enough to kick a winning score. Ed Curnow kicking 4 goals shows just dysfunctional our forward line really is!
30
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: 2019 AFL Rd 1: Carlton vs Richmond at the MCG: Post Game Passion
Quote from: flyboy77 on
But how many of those points were from stoopid, cheap turnovers by our players?

Once the ball is turned over cheaply, all our players are generally out of position vs a vs defensive structures and it only takes one extra attacker to all but ensure an easy goal....
I think [but I'm no expert in Champion data] the way to read that data is overall they scored 67 points from our turnovers - which can happen anywhere on the ground. Some of the 54 points they scored from defensive mid field chains would come from a turnover in our i50 that they rebounded to score. But I think this also includes where they take possession in our i50 from a clearance or stoppage, or a kick out.

So there is some duplication in the figure, but I don't know how much. But it correlates with my memory of the game - they moved the ball from our i50 to score at their end on multiple occasions, and I can hardly remember us doing it cleanly all night.