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A couple of years overdue but finally got there.A second key defender to partner with Weitering. I think Young will stay in '24, reckon he'll be better next year than this one. I reckon we've lost to the premiers in waiting tomorrow in any case.
It's amazing what a healthy list does to a team.
Expectations met " We don't want to make up the numbers - we want to impact" and did exactly that.
I actually think this list is more than good enough to win a flag - a couple of additions to the squad will help. Zac Williams is a classy player and his foot skills will be a welcome return.
Bit more class in the forward half.
Top two next year lads.
We were moving the ball beautifully during the earlier part of our run but as the run extended over the weeks the effort took it's toll. We kept winning but were able to move the ball like we were earlier in the run. When that happens, you run yourself out of options, hence it's down the line, bomb forward etc. We were brilliant defensively for many more weeks and that got us over the line in cliffhangers but weren't transitioning as we should. Also what helped is that we became a very mentally tough side, extremely hard to break. Even against Brisbane, where a 40+ loss should happened, we found a way of keeping it to 16pt and give ourselves a very small sniff with 8 minutes or so left.The defensive effort can't be faulted and you're right, nine wins out of the last ten, some by small margins, yet only really confirmed for finals in the second last round. We really had a lot to do, but we did it! No team wins pretty all the time. The long bombs are a part of fatigue and being a bit unsteady with ball movement, but yeah, the defence was something we never gave into. The long bombs are also to some extent I find, damage minimisation in case we do or will lose the ball in any case. With deliberate out of bounds being much stricter now and umpires being hot on holding the ball, sometimes the panic kicks long are in fact, the best option to go to. They can create space and with more ground-ball players around, can result in scores as the ball moves forward more. Even on turnover, territory is gained and the players are behind the ball, making it difficult for the opposition to score, as was the case in the second half of the year. Sometimes, it simply could be worse.
In such situations we needed to do what other sides sometimes do with their key forwards, give him the odd run through the midfield to get him into the game. Get his hands on the ball because he is number one for efficiency of kicks into the F50 in the competition. Throws out the opposition too.I know the thing is about smalls and pressure these days, but you always need at least one, preferably imo two, guys to mark or bring the ball to the ground. Lemmey will take time, but looks by the sounds of things a lead-up CHF. Put Harry M to FF and Charlie to a pocket or even a midfield rotation and woah man! Look out!
Just saw a stat re Curnow.That's outstanding, although it must be said that the four others played in better teams and played in lesser games during those years.
He may have had a lean finals but....he's the only player ever to kick a goal in 26/26 games
Lots of 25/25 (Ablett, Franklin and others) and 24/24 (Hudson, Dunstall....) but only Charlie has the 26/26
Yep Harry stood up.McKay worked his arse off as a CHF, took some telling marks around the ground and his kicking wasn't the worst we've seen. 2.2, a goal with a snap and drop punt. Hit the post with one punt kick that was no dolly either. I think I remember him poking at his drop punts earlier, rather than kicking through the ball. If he does the latter, that will help him kick more punts, as he has a naturally long kick in any case.
Despite his wobbles vs Sydney his game against Brisbane was very good.
I'm wondering if voss rotated the squad as much to ensure as many players as possible got a taste of finals heat football without compromising the ability to win.
Internally I think they gave us every chance whilst surrendering that we were unlikely to do much this year and still blood players into the finals fold where and when possible.
Going into this season, we had about 6 senior listed players with finals experience (Ed curnow, Mitch mcgovern, Blake acres, adam saad, george hewett and Zac williams) and now we have about 27 who know what it feels like to win a final. That's an achievement itself.
Charlie just needs to work more when he doesn't mark it. If he can't he has to make sure it comes to ground. Just don't get outmarked where possible. Matty Lloyd was today saying what Sheedy would do. He told his forwards never to get outmarked. Do it once and they were forgiven, it happens a second time though you were joining Sheeds for a chat on the bench.Fair enough Laj. His ground level abilities are also very elite, he can crumb them as well as mark them.
Charlie never had to worry about that much during the season but with the pressure of finals balls are much tougher to mark. It takes alot more work to make sure the opposition don't mark it.
Ball swings more at the Gabba though....lol.Yep, while I also saw conflicting information on the dimensions of the Gabba during my google search, it's known during the cricket season that the square boundaries are very long. Narrower in width than the MCG I can buy and may answer Brisbane's struggles at the big 'G, but not to the extent of being as narrow as GMHBA or Adelaide Oval.
Corey Durdin is the one we missed the most. Genuine pace, kicks goals, applies forward pressure. Very much missed, and was one of our best against Sydney last year which was one of our best wins for the year.Our early season struggles to move the ball forward and his shoulder injury as we got momentum going didn't help. Shows how remarkable Charlie's season was.
Struggled this year for whatever reason.
Well it's over...but at some stage through the final series we had lots of players stand up to show they're more than capable finals performers.McKay.
Week three...and of course Walsh is there again
I'll add
Marchbank (please stay healthy in 2024) stood up
and
Boyd (good selection) stood up.
There are a few more.
Add them on.
So if we had to play GWS in or the Saints it would have ended any different. We lost against GWS if I remember. It wasn’t about the run in. Eventually you lose to a better squad. Pick 6 players from the Brisbane squad you would swap for our squad. If the result is Nill, then we lost by being too tired or just by bad luck. We did well to get the result we finished with.We also beat GWS as well and lost to them as they had more to play for than us at the time.
16pts was a sign of a good fight.Spot on! They were made to earn their score, we defended with heart, spirit and determination. That cannot be faulted at all. Cameron's shanks made it look better than what it should have been on the scoreboard, but we had some near misses as well, which could have made the game much closer or even a most impossible win! But really, the better team won. They were far too good for three quarters around the middle of the ground and with their ball use on the outside, the 'Gabba is a very large ground, they haven't lose there all year and deserve their spot in the GF. They've been knocking on the door for a few years and it is clearly their time now, ours will come. You've generally got to have the experience of finals before you win one. In closing, speaking of large grounds, so is the MCG, why they struggle there so much, I don't know...