Flip the game on it's head and I know I'd be comparing it to the Rumble in the Jungle. One world weary protoganist with not only undeniable talent and skill, but also supremely confident with an innate sense of self-belief. Aaaaand in the other corner is ... Carlton. They "roped-a-doped" us, sat back and watched, midly bemused, as we landed only enough blows to shake them from their lethargy. We can sting but we can't kill. This is the narrative that has to change.
I think that comes with time.
On the Dawks future, if they fail to attract the big names they are in for a world of pain, there list is heading in the wrong direction! They are behaving like we behaved in the late 80s, early 90s, it'll only ever deliver very short term success.
A good example of how things will change with time is that intercept mark on Walsh.
I think a senior player tried to spot him up in the corridor, I want to say Jones or Weitering. A lot of fans bagged the kick, but while Walsh did attack the footy he only really went at it 80%, which allowed the Dawks to get a spoil in. That won't happen again this season to Walsh, it's a learning moment!
Waiting for the footy in AFL is a no no, yet when you watch AFL kids play it's the most common way they bring themselves undone.
Bagging the kick is easy, but kicks aren't 100% perfect ever, and it was in the good zone. But Walsh only need 1m more on that opponent and he takes an uncontested mark, In fact the opponent might not have even tried to make a spoil out of fear of being penalised 50m!
SPS has had a pretty stiff run from the umpires in the last couple of weeks. We seem to get pinged a bit for holding the ball but get very few holding the ball decisions our way when we lay good tackles.
He's become a bit showy with the ball handling recently but I wouldn't want to change his ways. If you watch him he's doing a bit of the one handed show and go stuff, and especially yesterday the Dawks got hold of that arm quite a bit. The Dawks are well coached, SPS telegraphed some of his moves and they made him pay!
I thought yesterday was Fisher's best game ever, I was pretty please with Cunningham as well, even though both had mistakes you have to back them in a pump up the positives.
Will the Club ask for rule interpretations from the AFL? We won't hear what we want to hear but it will at least be on record and may impact future umpiring.
I've been on about this for a while, fans argue it's pointless, but it isn't.
It's not complaining, but the act of continually querying and investigating the results eventually gets you game day favors. You do it under the guise of wanting to understand, to learn, eventually and naturally umpires start making decisions to avoid your unending barrage of questions. Like the parent of the kid who continually asks, "But why?"
The Dawks and Cats are professionals at it, Dimma has picked up this trait recently as well! Skilled and drilled clubs start asking the umpiring questions before the game is even played! Fans need to keep in mind AFL Umpires are all part-time, they read the papers, watch the telly and listen to the radio like the rest of us!
The thing is that had to be measured. We didn't have the bench to play full throttle footy for 4 quarters given Simpson and kreuzer were down at half time (hence the lack of confidence in the team from that point onwards).
Pre-2019 we would have had a cyclone of Runners out there structuring up the kids to put the breaks on the momentum swing, but not any more and I think that is a good thing.
The lack of Runners is really going to make club loyalty a big issue, because frequently changing lists won't be able to get their crap together.
Agree...we need a younger ruckman who can go the distance...Kreuzer is great and while he is on we need to take advantage but 5-6 goals ahead isnt enough, we needed to be 10 goals ahead to have a decent buffer knowing he cant run out the game injured or not. McEvoy wasnt right either but the impact he had in the 3rd quarter was massive IMO...
That was a significant aspect wasn't it, the first half game dominance was far greater than the scoreboard dominance!
In a year or two, with another 30 to 50 games into the kids, that game would have been over at 1/2 time.
It's a bit hypocritical of some fans, despite that dominance and frequently turning Dawks defenders inside out, they give BB no credit just a kicking for not winning.
That was probably the best we've played as a team for half a decade!
Kreuzer is listed as having 75% TOG. That’s incredibly low for him.
When I watch the replay I'll keep an eye out, but I suspect he started missing a bit of game time and most of the missing time came after 1/2 or 3/4 time.
Can't play two rucks unless they can both do something alot more than just tap.
So you are claiming Kreuzer and Casboult are just tap ruckmen?
The rest of us think it's the worst aspect of their game, and the least important!
Phillips is quite mobile, he's not a great tap ruckmen, he's more likely to push forwrad and score a goal than SpecialK but do we need rucks getting in McGovern, Charlie and McKay's way!
Phillips is less likely to float defensively than Lobbe, it's a weaker aspect of his game, but Lobbe is nowhere near as mobile. Let's face it none of them are supplemental mid-fielders like SpecialK.
In any case your assertion about two rucks is fundamentally wrong, the evidence doesn't support your claim. Even yesterday it wasn't until we lost SpecialK's influence and Casboult was left solo to the mercy of McEvoy that momentum changed. I'm glad of one thing, our coaches held their nerve and didn't give in to playing McKay in the ruck against McEvoy!
It's a fair point. Maybe they stuffed that one or maybe they were counting on winning the clearance and being able to take advantage of the Hawks less numbers on the outside ?
Dawks new Cripps was the go to man, they dumped their opponents and charged into the center square to create numbers at every center stoppage. We had numbers on the outside but couldn't get to them before the Dawks won the footy and spread.
A couple of our young blokes may have become too accustomed to Cripps giving them easy football.
if our coaching had a flaw it was after 1/2 time they ran two against Cripps and we didn't leverage that by having him take them away from the football.
We have become addicted to Cripps being at the coal face, yet if he stays out and drags those opponents with him we get extra numbers all over the ground!
For mine, Krooz is arguably (along with Cripps) the most effective player we have. Whatever it takes to maximise his effectiveness and longevity, Im fine with that. If that means Casboult, that's ok. If it means a 2nd ruck, I'm ok with that too.
I just don't feel Cas is much of a ruckman. It feels sometimes like we have already lost the tap out and clearance.
He needs to be coached to ignore the tap and use his strength and speed, he's the strongest player in our club but he doesn't use it in the ruck. I'd be asking him to hurt some opponents with tackles, giving away free kicks from aggressive tackles will be his measure of success. When the umpire throws the ball up Levi's first thought should be tackle after jumping. That eventually has an impact on opponents, it's the Mumford and McEvoy way!
Kids have to suffer loss before they can win, what is happening is a consequence of turning over so much of the list over the last few years.
Our problem is compounded by the runner bans, we can't tell them to slow down, and yesterday under pressure they did the exact opposite and turned it over by panicking.
