Post match v Dogs..All Spleen venting here thanks!!!!!!

[Cam]

Relax people. One game.

Flooding stops you going direct by putting stacks of people in the corridor - you have to chip it around otherwise you just kick it to a pack of opposition players sitting in the guts. Only time you can go direct is from a centre clearance, which was when we kicked alot of our goals. But as Darcy dominated we lost that opportunity.

We were mostly ok for 3 quarters, but i said to my brother at 3 q time that it would be a very good win if we got there as dogs were going inside 50 much more than we were.

How many of the dogs goals were from a forward structure? Not too bloody many, most of them were back of the packs, running into open goal jobs.

Presti didn't have a matchup down back... Many positions go out the window when 36 players are forward of one teams 50 metre line.

It wasn't the flood that beat us, or Eades coaching, it was our lack of hard running in the last. We harassed in close all game, but we couldn't keep up with the speed of the dogs running game when it broke open.

Tarrant missed goals diver lloyd would have kicked on his wrong boot, Ant couldn't take a mark, fanning was outclassed as you would expect but battled around the ground.

Skunk showed goal kicking skill, leon kicked one out his arse and should have spent more time on the ball, morrison showed poise.

Clemo was solid.

Buckley had to play a limited role, imagine the outcry if he snapped a hammy playing for Willi! Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Yeah it was disappointing but next week Adelaide will be a worse loss if we get done. Wait til after ANZAC day to get a better handle on this team.

[skaman]

Darcy did dominate, but I think we still got most of the clearances. A combination of poor disposals and not using first options(still a confidence thing with some of our blokes), hurt us. I thought we played their game, even tho we were winning. Im forgeting today, were better than that.Hope they get it right at the selection table this round.

[lethalburns]

It wasn't the flood that beat us, or Eades coaching, it was our lack of hard running in the last. We harassed in close all game, but we couldn't keep up with the speed of the dogs running game when it broke open.

Cam, are you telling me we could do nothing but run harder? Yes we lacked run but there is a very good reason for it.

How do you expect to generate run when your fastest players are behind the play? Wowey, Lica, Burns, O'bree are not going to get any room off their opponents which is why they played 1on1 football on us to great effect. They made our pace accountable.

We had the wrong ruck in place for too long which gave them first use the entire day.

We played our most defensive midfield setup, because he was shit scared of losing it.

I don't disagree with you in principal. However there was certaintly more that could have been done and it was not.

[Cam]

yeah we played their game unfortunately.

[mudlark]

Interesting side you've got there for next week I Could Have Been A Champ. Totally agree with it and would have liked to see it in yesterday. No O'bree or Williams is good. Throw in Josh, Richards & Dids when they are ready and I think we've got the makings of a pretty fair team.

[bokka]

I do feel for the players a bit. Maybe it would be good to trade our best players regularly for other very good players - that way they could have a chance to experience glory on the field elsewhere, under good coaching and with good conditioning.

While here they could just have a good time in the new "chardonay" club that doesn't really ever win but has great facilities, tons of money etc etc, and they can bask in off-field glory hobnobbing with fat corporate execs and film stars.. That way they get the best of both worlds during their careers.

[Johnson#26]

Johnson #26 were u at the game today, u've been quiet. Will there be a match report, it will be an interesting one. If you were not at the game, i am happy to write a report, the last one i wrote seemed to be enjoyed. Otherwise im looking forward to an unbiased report which tackles some issues yet still addresses the match for what it was worth.

There will be the match review, don't worry about that. Should have it up by tomorrow night. Just had a few other things to do prior to jumping on here.

[Culprit]

Why are you pleased for a side that beats us?......stuff them.

They won and deserved too as they played basic football even if it was ugly. Most stuck to their opponent which is more than our players did. We were embarrassed. The only good thing out the weekend is the Hawks will save us from the spoon.

[Johnson#26]

yeah we played their game unfortunately.

That is where MM got it wrong. Back in about 2002 he would have coached us back into it.

[stonedpies]

I havent got much to say, everythings been covered here...i am extremely pissed off tho with yesterday, we were freakin pathetic plain and simple...

PPL shld lay off Fanning tho, he is very very raw and under tghe circumstances i didnt think he went that bad...there were far more experienced players that need to be held accountable as well as some very suspect coaching!!

Clemo ur a legend, played his heart out as usual and every other pie player shld look at him for inspiration...

Its only rd 1 but we r going to have improve out of sight if we r gonna do anything this year but to tell u the truth i think we will be very mediocre this year......sighs

[Culprit]

If we did not have Clemo in the backline we would have lost by twice as much.

[Big T]

We need to get 30-40 games into a few of the youngsters such as fanning, Rowe, King and then judge them, but its not going to happen if they only get 1 game in 4 and aren't allowed to play a set position.

FFS Fanning has only played 12 games of footy IN HIS WHOLE LIFE and did as well as could be expected, I thought Darcy would kick 6 goals and he didn't, and I still think Fanning did better than Walker in the ruck. PLus the ruck rules and changes are horrendous.

[rosspies]

Who was on Cooney in the first half? I thought it was Shaw if I am correct all those who said shaw was good. need to realise there are two parts to a game of footy offensive and defensive. Cooney carved us up in the first half. Had he kicked straight the Doggies would have been a few in front a half time. COoney ended up with BOG in my opinion and also got 3 votes from triplem commentators.

The most glaring problems have all been mentioned. Midfield slow without cole, Johnson or Rowe in there. Also the ability to hit targets. IMO we only have 3 to 5 players who can hit targets on the lead. Them being Bucks, Clement, Tarks and Burns and Lonie (debatable).

Lonie no confidece in last quarter approximately 60m out no one around him hand passes to Burns. This should be a bread and butter goal to lonie probally our best kick on the run at the goals?

[ramjet21]

No doubt at all - Rhyce WAS our best player.

rhyce was reasonable but still turned the footy over far too often. he was given a tagging job on cooney in the first quarter and they broke even with about 9 touches each - cooney was more damaging. only when tarks was put on cooney in the third Q did cooney go quiet.
best for us was easily leon davis who threw himself into everything, got plenty of touches through the midfield, provided a spark up and forward and most importantly, pace.
chad morrison was good - caracella's efforts from this game have been over-rated. clement, johnson, licuria not bad. the rest look disinterested.
msg to MM - do not play buckley unless he can play 80% of the game like all other midfielders or 100% of the game out of the goal square. MM has conceeded bucks was only ever going to play 50% game time. let him do this for williamstown rather than have the pies effectively play with 21 men.

[Damien]

I don't mind guys trying to get on their preferred side to kick IF they have time and can still execute properly but from what I saw yesterday I can only conclude that Rhys has absolutely NO kicking capability on his non-preferred side. He was good yesterday but this was such a blight on his performance that it un-did all his good work.....unacceptable for an AFL footballer IMO.