I have to reiterate this because it's obvious and yet ignored.
The current good form of Cripps and Walsh is a direct consequence of the players around them making an effort. Instead of standing back waiting to benefit from what Cripps and Walsh do, the players around them are now rolling up their sleeves and helping out more which gets Cripps and Walsh to the end of games in much better condition. That, along with confidence in execution, is the real reason for the current 4-Qtr efforts, not some invisible change of game plan.
We are playing the exact same style that we did from Rnd 0, the difference is we are now making less mistakes at it and sharing the load. Our better players aren't hitting the wall at the end of the game, and the lapses are diminished. It's the same game plan the Lions play, and even with the Lions you can see how it can go horrible wrong when it's left to few.
Akso Hewett’s omission from the team in the first part of this season remains the most perplexing decision I’ve seen from the club in a long time.
Based on his form now versus his form earlier you had to say it was the right decision. He might not have liked it, some fans might not have liked it, but it looks like it's exactly what he needed to get back to his best.
FWIW, it looks like the VFL stint has done Acres wonders as well, funny how not being automatically selected brings some effort.
Maybe some of the list had forgotten about the privilege of playing AFL, they were just expecting to play!
Don't you think it's more than a coincidence these poor decisions stopped when Fraser took over.
Cottrell had two bouts of injury, and started the season off the back of interrupted pre-season, so he was always going to be a player who needed games under his belt to get into the season. Most of us were stating as much before the seasoning opener.
AFL / VFL didn't really make much difference.
As for that strut, that's the way to display it to put you in the proper mindset, when you're there act like you belong there and deliver it cold.
Derksen looks like he belongs and does not deserve to be dropped but he lacks a few inches against taller opponents. If Weiters is back, giving him a look up forward should be on the table as an option.
Yesterday they had Gov floating back into D50, in Ison's absence I'd leave Gov in F50 and leave Derksen in besides Weiters.
Fraser is a bit more tolerant than the fans and quite a bit calmer, I suspect he might persist with the kid for another game or two before he rotates the crew. The thing forcing the MC's hand might be the good form of Derksen.
Maybe give him one more week, but it's probably time for Ison to have a week or two back in the VFL. Just as a developmental thing. He's struggled a bit the last few weeks. Let him go back and get a bit of confidence and a few possessions.
Even by accident, if you had 50+ taps, eventually you have to find yourself in a position to lay one tackle. This is 50+ taps at VFL level. The kids was tapping the footy cleanly in front of himself and stopping like it was job done.
Can't beat the umpires, no matter how hard you work.
This is the pinnacle level of the sport, and a loose ball gets get paid a mark which creates a goal, no video review on that, but have some bloke stubs a toe on the footy as the ball crosses the boundary line and it's a review.
Moir seemed to be playing in defence. The question is are we doing that to add extra strings to his bow or is it an attempt to see what else he offers prior to putting him on the trade table.
Just thin on the ground.
That's not a problem, the problem as I see it is the way the defeat occurred not the why it happened.
It's only halfway through the season, and we look like we've finished up early, getting in the holiday plans before the end of season rush maybe!
btw., Whether this stat is accurate or not matters little but it confirms the vision and the style of the game. We had 64 hit outs to 5, but they had 8 tackles to 0, who do you think had more influence? They won about 50% of stoppages yet our dominating rucks had zero tackles, zero, I can't even fathom this!
I mean, you'd expect rucks being rucks that even by chance they would have tripped over their own feet and fell on a ball carrying opponent!
Riley's getting plenty of the taps but seriously...he's not rucking to Cripps, Walsh, Smith and Hewett . He's not even rucking to all our second string extractors with Ben C missing.
Will this be an indicator to the senior game. We'll know in a couple of hours, but making judgements on the AFL team who haven't even played and the VFL team missing quite a few is probably a bit harsh.
When you win the tap so often, even by dead chance you should be able to influence the next contest 50% of the time, he's not even going at chance!
He wins the tap, at least sometimes he taps where he planned to tap, and yet he is effectively zero in the follow up efforts. At least a few times he should have been first to the footy, or at least lay a tackle when GWS sharked it! 53 Hit Outs, we are smashed in clearances and Riley had 0 tackles, you can't even do that by accident. Was he coached not to touch anybody?
That's not a comment about him long term, but it's a clear statement about how far off he is and how foolish it is for fans to be calling for him to play seniors!
He declares victory and gives his enemy everything they ever wanted. What more can you say?
I read that in the wash up every American, be they man, woman, child or other, will gift Iran US$1000 each.
Something tells me that somehow companies connected to the likes of Trump, Putin, Xi and a host of Middle East others will be rolling in Iranian rebuild cash in 5 or 10 years!
Got one back, but at 59 points, it really is an ordinary showing.
To me it's not so much the scoreline, it's the manner of the defeat, to call it listless would be an understatement.
It reeks of players who have zero pride in performance, the well paid mercenary who quits in the face of the opponent they aren't certain to defeat.
All I want each week is a group that has a crack, I can accept not winning but I can't accept this, especially from some players that I know have the capability to be much better.
Fans worry about the AFL, but 1/3 of our list plays VFL each week and in the absence of one or two who make an effort we are almost toothless.
I don't get it, we got a bit of a rise for a few weeks when Voss was kyboshed, but now it's back to business as usual.
Does it say something about the mindset of our list?
Today's AFL game will be a real tell, I hope I am wrong but I fear the worst. If after this we are smashed today in the AFL, it almost certainly confirms that the tail wags the dog, ............... still!
Looking like a cricket score, against us, we look so small and light compared to GWS.
So far early in the 2nd Qtr we are seeing the worthless nature of winning taps without 2nd efforts, 23:1 in our favour, but clearances are roughly 50:50 and the scoreboard is all theirs! In this regard, Riley is miles off, and it highlights the difference between genuine worthwhile rucks stats and basic counting.
What Riley needs to do is follow up his tap work with clever positioning, to help prevent GWS pegging and forcing turnovers from his team-mates, and to also buy his fellow midfielders time and space to dispose effectively. But at the moment he's a worthless beanpole not unlike others we've had in the past, he's just a spectator after the tap, not positioning, no blocking, when he gets in the way half the time it's in the way of his own team. It's like we've never heard of the word shepherd, when we play like this we are roadkill!
Yes, details matter. The VSC came too early for him to suit his strategy.
The VSC came too late for Russell, Norris and Antonelli to suit their strategy, they had only just pitted.
If the VSC happened a few laps later Hamilton might have already pitted and would have lost the advantage, it was lucky and there is nothing else to say about it but it doesn't detract from Hamilton's good drive or Ferrari's better strategy.
